Guy Berger

Looks like I will be in the Bay Area for Passover when you guys play Berkeley and SF. Assuming that the Seder isn't that night, I will try to get up to one of the shows. Guy

Anybody else read these books? Both are written about foreign aid and its potential gains, or lack thereof, by two economists. The End of Poverty, by Jeff Sachs is very optimistic about the potential for foreign aid; The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good is more skeptical, at least on a macro level. I find Easterly's style to be somewhat more engaging and probably more education about development issues in general. Both are worth reading if you have a lot of spare time and are interested in the issue, though if you want to save some time just read a summary online. Both are readable by the layman. Sach's book is a bit egocentric (all the places I've been blah blah blah). Guy

Deciding between a job offer that exists and one that does not yet exist. I will probably be moving to Charlotte NC this summer. Finishing up a PhD dissertation. Guy

Congrats!

New Haven also has a Firehouse 19, oddly enough. I think the two establishments are unrelated. Guy

I actually thought the slam dunk contest was lame this year. Sticker on the backboard, whoop dee doo. Guy

Apparently Barkley and Bavetta's race is on.

More thoughts on this? I wonder if the influence was more indirect than direct ("defining" is a bit strong). Mitch Mitchell was more influenced by Elvin than Buddy Miles. Guy

Was this a problem on the LP? Guy

My computer (a Toshiba Satellite laptop) is about 2.5 years old and recently has been developing some problems -- crashing from overheating, erratic CD/DVD drive, and hinges connecting the screen to the body coming loose. Fortunately I have a 3 year warranty on the thing, and early last week sent it in for repairs. They sent it back pretty quick, fixed the hinges, replaced the CD/DVD drive, and replaced the cooling fans. I was very excited to have it back... ...Except now the computer will crash after 1 or 2 minutes of being on. I spoke with the technical support guy and it's definitely a hardware issue. So I have to send it for repairs again on Monday. Not having the laptop doesn't make my work impossible (fortunately I am at a stage when I am mostly reading, not writing) but it does make life a hassle. I unrealistically demanded that they send me a replacement computer while this second set of repairs takes place. How many sets of repairs do I have to undergo before I have a legitimate right to demand a new comptuer?

Yesterday I gave my first listen to This Is Criss (OJC) by Sonny Criss, and noticed that my copy has audio issues on "Sunrise Sunset". It sounds like the tape drops out or something at a few points. Does anybody else's copy have the same problem? This sucks -- I bought the CD over a year ago and can't return it as the vendor went out of business. Guy

Nash, Kobe, Dirk, T-Mac, Yao (or Howard if I can't include Yao)

chewy (or anyone else) -- Is IWBSN in print? Guy

Huh? No Dirk or Nash? Or is this the All-Star-but-not-quite-MVP team? Guy

ECM has done a pretty good job in terms of the majority of the catalog being on CD and continually available. Just curious - what are you looking for that hasn't made it to CD yet? The Jewel in the Lotus

The Pistons have a nice little 7 game winning streak going, then they face one of the better western conference team and SNAP. Guy

Yes, I really like that song. You know, I haven't listened to it for a while so I don't remember if he plays electric piano on that album. Definitely a lot of Hammond, mini-moog, and grand piano. Which album is "It Would Be So Nice" on? "Remember Day" is a nice tune. "See Saw" gets slammed a lot and while it isn't great, it isn't horrible either. Great tune, but that's David Gilmour. Guy edit: Doh, of course there is electric piano on Dark Side -- at least on that classic intro to "Time" (one of my favorite Floyd sequences). I will listen to the album next week and will listen for more Fender Rhodes. "Sheep" also has a lot of Fender Rhodes in the intro. edit 2: Yes, there is Fender Rhodes on "Breathe". Guy

link

This collection has some of my favorite Ornette. I am not so hot on the tracks w/Jim Hall and the blues vocalist, though. Guy

I've heard the "prog" label attached to the Police and will admit that I don't hear it at all, though I agree that their world-music-inflected new wave pop-rock does share something with Peter Gabriel's music of the same period. And maybe with the Cars, minus the Cars' hard rock edge. Guy

I'm currently going through my Floyd albums & bootlegs and thought I'd pay tribute to this guy. Usually people talk about Roger Waters's lyrics, Dave Gilmour's guitar or Syd Barrett's quirky songwriting, but not about the guy who as much as anybody else shaped Pink Floyd's sound. Despite being limited technically, he never let his imagination be limited by technique -- check out his improvisations on any live "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" or the playing at the end of "Shine on You Crazy Diamond". Until Dave Gilmour joined the band, he was the group's most important instrumentalist. He had a big hand in some of Floyd's best compositions. Unfortunately he started doing a lot of drugs in the mid 70s and stopped contributing after Wish You Were Here. I've only heard one of his solo albums (Broken China) and it isn't the worst thing I've ever heard. Bonus: "A Saucerful of Secrets" is one of the best Floyd tunes ever. Some nice Wright playing throughout. 2nd bonus: though it's probably coincidence, Wright's predilection for playing Farfisa instead of Hammond makes some of his playing sound like Sun Ra. Guy

Apparently this album is coming out in late February in Europe though us Americans will have to wait until April. Here is the tracklist: 1. Cambodia 2. Wednesday 3. One Two 4. Whirlpool 5. In Remembrance Of Things 6. KT 7. This Nearly Was Mine 8. Party Line 9. Light Blue 10. Time And Time Again I have a few boots of this trio from last September at the Vanguard and they played a bunch of these songs there. "Light Blue" is Monk. I wonder if track 5 is the same tune the trio did (with Dewey Redman replacing Joe) on Trioism -- a tribute to Dewey? Guy

Thanks for the info, Larry. I googled him and couldn't find anything. Guy

I was listening to George Russell's The Outer View, and I was struck by how much Paul Plummer (the tenor saxophonist) reminded me of Wayne Shorter. I assume that was due to a common root in Lester Young. Guy