Guy Berger

I couldn't give a shit, personally. Guy

The western conference just got a lot more competitive. The east still sucks. Guy

I'm not as down on the Fillmore '68 recordings as Big Al, but otherwise agree with him 100%. The band got MUCH better after Livingston was replaced by Shrieve. Guy

FWIW (and this may destroy my remaining credibility beyond repair), I thought "Smooth" was a decent bit of cookie-cutter Santana. Guy

I can't figure out if Bertrand was joking or serious. Bertrand? Guy

I remember loaning Caravanserai to a fellow music nut (more of a 20th century classical guy w/some dabbling in jazz) and he loved it. I wouldn't say I dislike it, but there's a lot of crap on there. (Lon/Jazzbo will disagree with us.) However, I disagree with you about the long tune near the end. Yup. In regards to Love Devotion & Surrender (the album, not the tune) mentioned upthread -- yes, something of a disappointment. I do like "Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord", they work up a nice groove and some of the guitar playing is ecstatic in a good way. WTF is up with the mixing of Larry Young on that album? He's barely audible. Guy

I think his recent forays into the pop charts have made him extremely un-hip. I'd never heard of this album until now. The lineup seems very promising. Guy

I was copying-and-pasting the credits for the album and totally forgot to comment about this. This must've been pretty early in Tom's career. Guy

This I can't quite understand. A classic on all levels, imo. Interestingly, in the DVD's special features Andy Ackerman (the director) mentions that he and (I think) Larry David thought the episode was pretty weak and were very surprised at the popular response. Apparently, after this episode Jerry Seinfeld and a few of the writers were in New York and decided to go to this guy's soup shop. When the guy saw Jerry he totally flipped out and started screaming at him. Guy

I'm inclined to agree with SS about Sam's piano playing -- I'd much rather hear him playing flute, soprano and especially tenor. Guy

Huh? Coltrane isn't playing bebop on this tour, at least to my ears. His playing is crazier than on some of the early Impulse stuff. Guy

Duh, his name is all over the credits at the end of the videos. I mean I heard him mentioned on CNN. This reminds me of something Randy once said:

I got a chuckle out of this one:

Phil, I would have said hello, but I didn't see you. I DID see a really hot woman in the front row, however. Guy

I am renting season 7 via Netflix and finally saw the entire Soup Nazi episode. A little disappointing, I must admit. (Though the Soup Nazi moving to Argentina was a VERY nice touch.) However, "The Wink" is an alltime classic. Guy

Webber is being annihilated by Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Guy

Until I read these obituaries, I'd always assumed that Alexander was British. His novels draw so heavily on Celtic mythology. Guy

I'm not a nutritionist (or even know much about nutrition), but if I had to make an uninformed guess, 90% of the reduction in heart disease risk can be achieved without abandoning meat in your diet. Guy

Charles Lloyd appears on several of his album covers. Paul Motian on Tribute. Jarrett on a bunch of his albums. I'm sure there are others. Guy

Enjoy these low prices while you can. Guy

Assuming AT is Art Taylor, I definitely wouldn't put him in the same class as the other 3. Agreed about Shrieve being a fantastic drummer -- definitely doesn't get his due when discussions of great pop music drummers come up. I've speculated (based on liner notes to one of the 1st 3 Santana albums) that Shrieve introduced Carlos Santana to the music of John Coltrane and Miles Davis, which was an obvious influence on Caravanserai. Guy

Goddamn, that's a lot of great music! Guy

SS1, Have you heard "Brilliant Corners" and "Monk's Music"? I think they are better than the Plays Ellington album. Guy

Aggie, you aren't the only one -- I really wonder about the NBA's scheduling sometimes. Guy

I thought I'd make things interesting by picking this album, Santana's first (and arguably best) foray into jazz rock. I haven't listened to it for a while so I will have to dig out the album. Personnel ======= JOSE CHEPITO AREAS -- timbales, congas, bongos JAMES MINGO LEWIS -- congas, percussion, vocal, bongos, acoustic piano DOUGLAS RAUCH -- bass, guitar GREGG ROLIE -- organ, piano TOM RUTLEY -- acoustic bass CARLOS SANTANA -- lead guitar, percussion, vocal NEAL SCHON -- guitar MIKE SHRIEVE -- drums Hadley Caliman -- saxophone introduction (1) Tom Coster -- electric piano (9) Wendy Haas -- piano Tom Harrel -- orchestral arrangement (10) Armando Peraza -- percussion, bongos Rico Reyes -- vocal Douglas Rodriguez -- guitar (2) Lenny White -- castanets (6)