Guy Berger

I have live recordings of the Gateway trio doing "Timeless" ('95) and "Remembering" ('75). Guy

Most obvious: Chick Corea, Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock. Do a search for electric piano and you'll find that there's been a lot of discussion on this subject, some of it just a few days ago. Guy

John Abercrombie - guitar Jan Hammer - piano, organ, synth Jack DeJohnette - drums I'll write more about this later when I have time, but it's one of my favorite ECMs. Not without flaws, of course, but most of the music here is incredible. The title track is a favorite. Guy

Not sure if there are laws for criminal negligence. Guy ← In order to be consistent you would have put a whole lot of government folks on trial, the mayor and governor included. If there are applicable laws, "perhaps they should be tried" as well. Guy

Agreed. Guy ← Are you seriously agreeing that they should be "tried"? Not sure if there are laws for criminal negligence. Sorry to disappoint. Guy

Agreed. Guy

I'm on DVD #4 now. Chimes of Big Ben was really good, but A B & C was even better! Guy

While there's obviously a race angle to the tragedy unfolding in NO, I'm guessing that it has a lot more to do with income and class. Guy ← And of course, income and class never have anything to do with race... ← I didn't say that. Guy

While there's obviously a race angle to the tragedy unfolding in NO, I'm guessing that it has a lot more to do with income and class. Guy ← We expect that from an economist. You should get over to the Anthro. and Soc. departments more often. ← Actually, I was wearing my statistics hat this time around. Guy

It's not obvious to me whether this jump in price is good for all oil companies. It's true that they get to sell oil at higher prices, but those dependant on getting their oil from the refineries in the south now have to acquire it from more costly sources. Guy ← Oh, it's good for them alright. They are going to have record on top of record profits, prices haven't gone up on drilling or processing the oil lately...if they "lose" a little profit in the short run,(They may sell a little less, but fuel is over $3.00 everywhere) they'll get by. ← Nobody is talking about them not getting by -- we're talking about whether their profits will decrease, which they very well might at least in some cases. The primary for the very recent increase (last week) in gas prices has to do with a sharp drop in supply due to refineries going offline. Guy

While there's obviously a race angle to the tragedy unfolding in NO, I'm guessing that it has a lot more to do with income and class. Guy

From a psychological standpoint, I think the two are quite different. More similar on substantive grounds. Guy

And if you don't have the means? Then what? ← Then the government should step in. That's why I put that clause in there. Guy

100% in agreement. If the federal gov't's plan in emergencies is to fall back on local gov't, we are fucked. What's happened in NO in the days after the hurricane is an outrage. As for Dan's claim that Iraq had no impact on the Katrina aftermath -- that makes no sense. Our government has limited resources, especially in the short and very short run -- this is basic economics -- and while not all resources are fungible, at least some of the ones currently tied down in Iraq could be used in NO. This Onion blurb from last September, as always, sums things up perfectly (just replace "Iraq War" with "Katrina aftermath": Guy

I dunno if you've ever seen an evacuation-related traffic jam, Guy, but I sure as hell have (going in the other direction before Andrew, no less, talk about surreal), and believe me, sitting in 100+ miles of bumper-to-bumper traffic can seem just as scary as staying home when the hurricane is only hours away. ← I sympathize, but when the government tells you to evacuate and you have the means to evacuate, you should probably evacuate. Guy

If it's impossible to separate Katrina from politics, then this thread should be moved to the politics forum. Guy

A lot of the people that didn't leave were unable to leave due to health or poverty reasons, and it's really tragic and appalling that the city was not prepared to evacuate them. On the other hand, I'm sure the number of idiots who could have left but didn't is non-negligible. Guy

It's not obvious to me whether this jump in price is good for all oil companies. It's true that they get to sell oil at higher prices, but those dependant on getting their oil from the refineries in the south now have to acquire it from more costly sources. Guy

I think Jsngry's response upthread encapsulates my feeling about ep's. As substitutes for an acoustic piano, they suck. (And unfortunately, such substitutions were trendy in the early 70s.) As instruments in their own right, they're great. Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul and Chick Corea all made amazing recordings on the electric piano, and it's hard to imagine classic albums like Bitches Brew, Mwandishi and Return to Forever (to pick only three -- there are many, many more) without that sound. Guy

← This is a reason to potentially reconstruct the commercial areas of New Orleans, but not to put 500,000 residents there. Guy ← Not sure how to respond to that. Couldn't you make the same case about parts of (your beloved) California? Or, it's a good thing you weren't running things in San Fransisco in 1906. Are you proposing a city of longshoremen only? I dunno. Assuming that the city's infrastructure is largely totaled, doesn't it make sense to resettle the people who lived there in a less vulnerable area nearby? I believe that's what happened after the Galveston hurricane in the early 20th century. New Orleans has certain extreme vulnerabilities that aren't shared by neighboring Gulf Coast communities also exposed to powerful hurricanes. Or alternatively, require property owners in NO to purchase hurricane insurance. By the way, I want to apologize for my posts, since they were probably very callous given the calamity that struck the city and you directly. Guy

You're not alone, Soul Stream, Herbie never did that much for me, either. I wonder if Herbie is dismissed (or taken for granted) because his playing style has been so thoroughly assimilated by other pianists. It's apples and oranges as well as personal taste, but I think he was better than almost any other pianist recording for BN between '55 and '70. Guy

It looks like the Spurs will have an easier time winning the title than they did last season. Guy

I was psyched -- I drove past $2.99 gas stations but then found a $2.79 just a few dozen feet away. Though it still cost $34 to fill up 12 gallons!

← This is a reason to potentially reconstruct the commercial areas of New Orleans, but not to put 500,000 residents there. Guy

Well, taxpayers will be forking over some of the money for much of the rebuilding, so they should have some of the say about where that money is used. Guy