Big Wheel

Unofrtunately for AOL, I think their management has realized that their customer base is only getting older as relatively computer-savvy people get wise and leave. Think about the number of people you know under 30 who are still with them. 30 to 40? 40-50? 50-60? 60 and up? AOL got completely blindsided by the growth of broadband ISPs and a ton of free content being placed on the web, and suddenly their members-only content was worthless and people realized their value as an ISP was inferior. I frankly don't know what they could have done to improve their content competing against the whole world of content providers, but if they had been smarter they would have tried to lock people into 2-year contracts like cell phone carriers, with harsh penalties for early cancellation. They didn't gamble on that, and now they're reduced to trying to stop the bleeding by any means necessary, including haranguing customers who try to leave. Poor guys. I was with them before they even enabled users to access the Web - back in 1994 or 1995, all there was was access to Telnet+FTP+Gopher+WAIS and other databases, plus instant messaging plus chat rooms. Even being the biggest and smartest online service of the time didn't make them smart enough to not be completely caught off guard by the mushrooming of a network they had no power to control.

Ugh. After reading a few threads here on the Jazz in Hollywood Box, I feel like a doofus for not picking up any of the Nocturnes. I'm not sure if they would be my cup of tea, but I guess the point of a $3 sale is that you can afford to gamble on tea...

Looks like one or two of the Coltrane titles keep disappearing and reappearing. I don't remember seeing Soultrane when I ordered last night.

Now down to 214. BTW, the K2 of Dolphy's Far Cry is SO GOOD. I love Booker Little and Jaki Byard, but for some reason had thought that Outward Bound was the essential pick among the New Jazz records.

Gawd help me, I just ordered another 52 (although 10 were for a friend as a birthday present and a few others were for my dad). This brings my total to 103. I think I'm going to check in to a treatment center now.

bump - I bet a lot of people here got this record as a result of the Concord sale. I did and it's in the queue, but I didn't want to forget about the thread.

Solla Solla Enna Perumai

Just checked out the sound samples on Amazon. You're right - definitely sounds different from Spoon, sort of a "narrower" voice to me. But I still sort of like it. For only $2.98....

I'm just now opening a few CDs I picked up back in May at J&R when I went to NYC. It rained the whole time I was there, and J&R doesn't use durable plastic bags to take home CDs - they use paper and wrap everything on the spot, and staple your receipt to the big paper-wrapped stack. So at some point the paper did get pretty soaked. But none of the 7 discs I bought seem to have been the worse for wear - that is, until I opened Miles's My Funny Valentine today. It's a total mess - the booklet is all warped and damp and its staples are rusted. Also, some of the booklet is stuck to the actual CD. Is it possible that water could have penetrated the shrink wrap? And how do I get all that crap off the CD without ruining it?

I've got "Hear my blues" - it's OK; I give it house room. Jaws and Shirley are on it, which I think makes it quite interesting, and the reason I bought it. But I don't like his voice much. MG Hmm...now I'm kinda torn. This AMG review says Smith's voice is like Jimmy Witherspoon's, and I do love me some Witherspoon. Is his sound really reminiscent of Witherspoon's, or does the reviewer have his head up his arse?

Frankly, this sounds more like a scam to me than a case of mistaken identity. What collection agency (or credit card company) offers a credit card to people who are already drowning in debt?

What do folks think of those Al Smith Bluesville albums?

Dig the Lullaby of Birdland quote in one of the interludes. Did they quote anything else I didn't recognize?

Isn't Jerry Lloyd the same trumpeter who's a big turd in the punchbowl that is the Jutta Hipp with Zoot Sims session?

Stop it, Larry. You're costing me more money with every post on this thread.

Sort of. The third email I got was from FedEx, not Concord. The second email, from Concord, also had the tracking number in it.

I see that a well-known filthy Penthouse model has performed with Elmo. Whatever will we tell the children after they watch her True Hollywood Story?

I doubt the article gives us the full story about how PBS was notified. Probably what happened was that either: 1) someone tipped them off before Martinez came forward, or 2) Martinez kept quiet until the clip started circulating widely on the Internet, and figured it was smarter to proactively go to her employer about it rather than have her bosses find out on their own.

She did the spoofs at least 6 years before she ever appeared on the children's show. So it's ok to run the spoofs at a time when kids can watch them, just as long as they don't feature any people they'd recognize? The baby boom generation is shaping up to be history's biggest bunch of whiny neurotic crybabies. The kids will be just fine, folks. Settle the fuck down.

Finally got my order confirmation about an hour ago. Hopefully nobody steals the box off my doorstep.

Whoa...it really IS hot here today. I'm amazed to see the mercury hit 90 within San Francisco. As a Miami native, I'm hardly complaining, though.

Very high estimate of 500 orders * 50 discs average per order (also high) = 25,000 CDs to process in the 7 business days of this sale. That's about 3600 per day, or 446 discs per working hour. If they only have 1 or 2 people in the warehouse processing orders, I guess I can see why this is taking so long. If the number is more like 4 or 5 people, the delays get less reasonable...

It's a toasty 63 tonight in SF. It's a lot warmer in the South Bay during the day, though. I'm definitely not used to needing a light jacket when I leave the house in the morning, then getting to work and having it be in the 80s. I miss the humidity that comes with having a real summer, too.

I agree with much of Ron's post above. These are not easy years, no matter how you slice it. Is it possible the school in NY is just a lot harder/more demanding than they one they went to in AZ? Maybe that has something to do with it. Truth be told, I sometimes wonder if I would have turned out better off in the long run had the rest of the family not vetoed my father's ardent and constant desire to move when I was a kid. The very different details of the situation make it a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison to your predicament, though.

Still nothing. Let's see if they can get my order out by 5.