Guy Berger

I got my hands on Compulsion, the earlier One for One session and the quartet session from Involution. Compulsion is pretty interesting! Looking forward to picking up legit copies when they come out but until then thank god for the internet. update: After listening to each, I think Involution is my favorite. Will have to listen some more. Guy

Actually, I agree with you BUT nobody does it that way; not the other bulletin boards, not the "enemies" I have in my email clan, not the pools I get in, not the NCAA or NIT pools. I don't know why, nobody is interested in making it really interesting by waiting for the survivors of each round. So the picking becomes a crap shoot...... so the choices become whom you "like" - not who is the best of the survivors. Actually what would be most logical, but also tedious, would be to make predictions for every single possible series. I'm too lazy to calculate how many predictions that would be. Guy

I already recommended it in this thread, but Jon Jang's Two Flowers on a Stem (w/David Murray & James Newton) is really nice. Guy

You are crazy! Guy

Marc Stein's All-NBA ballot:

Well, I'm not especially optimistic for next year. But since they've been surprising us in a negative way for the last x years, maybe this is a good thing. FWIW the team's been winning at least 34 games for the past 4 seasons, an improvement over the 4 years before that. So maybe the next marginal improvement will put us in the right place. Guy

Here's how I think we should score this thing: 1st round: 5 pts for every series that's called correctly. Then up to 3 additional pts for how close you are with the number of games -- i.e., bulls-eye 3 pts, within one game 2 pts, within two games 1 pt. So if you predict Lakers-Suns in 7 and the series goes to 7 but the Suns win in 7, you get 2 pts. If the Suns win in 6 you get 1 pt. On the other hand if the Lakers win in 7 you get 8 pts, if they win in 6 you get 7 pts, if they sweep you get 5 pts. Then we double the pts for each additional round. Guy

Thanks mucho. Guy

Alright, playoff predictions. I haven't seen any of the experts' predictions yet so for better or worse these are my opinions. 1st round -- pretty boring this year. San Antonio (1) vs. Sacramento (8): San Antonio won't have too many difficulties. Spurs in 4. Phoenix (2) vs. Lakers (7): Kobe's dangerous, but his team is too weak. Suns in 5. Denver (3) vs. Clippers (6): Probably the only remotely interesting series in the 1st round. Gotta go with the home court advantage on this one. Clips in 7. Dallas (4) vs. Memphis (5): The NBA's screwed up seeding system means that Memphis gets booted out quickly for the 3rd straight year. Dallas in 5. Detroit (1) vs. Milwaukee (8): Detroit will dispose of the Bucks with ease. Pistons in 4. Miami (2) vs. Bulls (7): Miami will finish the Bulls easily. Heat in 4. New Jersey (3) vs. Indiana (6): Indiana's dangerous but I don't think they have it together this year. Nets in 5. Cleveland (4) vs. Washington (5): Washington is weak, but the Cavs are inexperienced. Cavs in 5. 2nd round -- some great series this round. San Antonio (1) vs. Dallas (4): I'm rooting for Dallas to win this, but they can't get past Duncan. Spurs in 7. Suns (2) vs. Clippers (6): The Suns have it pretty easy. Suns in 5. Detroit (1) vs. Cleveland (4): LeBron could cause some damage but Detroit isn't in too much risk. Pistons in 6. Miami (2) vs. New Jersey (3): The Heat have a real dogfight on their hands. Hopefully the Nets will put this one out. Heat in 7. Conference Finals -- a bit of an anticlimax after the previous round. San Antonio (1) vs. Phoenix (2): If Amare was playing this would be interesting (the Suns are better overall than last year), but San Antonio should cruise to the finals. Spurs in 5. Detroit (1) vs. Miami (2): Much easier for Detroit this time around, though the Nets might put up more of a fight. Pistons in 6. NBA Finals -- a rematch, but a different ending this time. Detroit vs. San Antonio: I think Detroit's the better team this time, barring an injury to one of their starters. Hopefully Dallas makes it this far so we can stay awake long enough to find out who wins. Pistons in 7.

happy birthday Erik

happy birthday Erik

I think I will have to dig out Eternal Spirit and Dance with Death. At this point I'm not crazy about either of these albums -- not that there's anything wrong with them, but they haven't clicked yet. The Mosaic Select will be added to the wish list as well... Guy

I've decided I like Claussen much better than Vlasic. The half sours are deliiiicious. Guy

By the way, somebody should kick Fox's ass for the teasers they run 5 minutes before each episode. They give away the whole frickin episode!!! Guy

Penguin gives it a bad rating as well (** or **1/2). Guy

Just listened to this for the first time last night. Chambers does amazing stuff here. The combination of the compositions, Andrew's piano and Bobby's vibes reminds me of Monk's sessions with Milt Jackson, updated for the 60s. I can't wait for Involution, Compulsion and Pax to be released!!! Guy

Last night was really good. It's nice that they've brought Heller back into this, he's a good character. Guy

Trane mentioned Gilmore's influence in the context of "Chasin' the Trane". There's also a story about Trane attending a NY jam session and being floored by Gilmore's playing. Hmmm, I've never heard this before (and am skeptical). Trane DID take lessons from Ornette. Guy

How many games do you think Cleveland and LA would have won without their respective stars? Of course you can. Guy You don't get it, that is exactly what I said, they score a ton, they would be nowhere without them, but Kobe and Lebron do not make their teams better, they just score and win for them.... and.. There are guys on the really bad teams that score a lot, so why not advocate for them to be Most Valuable also. Because Lebron and Kobe are not under consideration for scoring a lot -- they are under consideration for making their teams a lot better. Do you really think that Cleveland would win 49-50 games without Lebron? In case you mean that they don't make the other players on their team play better, why should that be relevant except insofar as it helps the team wins more games? This isn't the "best team player" award. Given Boris Diaw's performance in Nash's absence, I withdraw my support for the guy. It's Kobe or LeBron. Guy

How many games do you think Cleveland and LA would have won without their respective stars? Of course you can. On the other hand, I don't think Billups deserves serious consideration -- the rest of his team would be pretty good without him. Guy

Why? The award is "most valuable player", not "most valuable player who plays defense". Guy

Diaw got a triple double last night with 16 (!!!) assists. (Nash sat the game out.) Guy

Kobe, Nash or LeBron. Guy

I think mine's a cutout as well. Guy

In an interview (Kofsky?), Trane was talking about "Chasin' the Trane" and mentioned that he'd been listening to Gilmore at the time. Guy