Guy Berger

Hmmm.... I watched SNL a lot when I was in Jr. High and that was the period when Miller left and Nealon replaced him. I'm a big Nealon fan (one of the best "2nd tier" SNL comedians) and dug his Weekend Update. No diss against Miller intended, except that now he is a lame and unfunny right-wing hack. Norm McDonald was terrible. (The guy is just not funny.) And I don't think Jimmy Fallon is very good either though obviously better than McDonald. Guy

You know, I watched the Hartman and it actually wasn't that great. (And I'm a huge fan of the guy's work.) Maybe they made poor skit selection (for example the Bush-Clinton-Perot debate from '92 wasn't in there) but a lot of the stuff just wasn't funny. Maybe he did his best stuff in other peoples' skits? Though "Anal Retentive Chef", Bill Clinton at McDonald's, Ronald Reagan masterminding Iran Contra and "Anal Retentive Chef" are all classics. On the other hand, Mike Myers's is terrific so far. (I've seen about 60% of it.) Aside from classic Shprockets ("Dieter's Dream", "Germany's Weirdest Home Videos"), Coffee Talk (w/Madonna, Roseanne Barr & Barbra Streisand), and Wayne's World sketches, the following had me rolling: Weekend Update, "Point/Counterpoint on Cop-Killing Lyrics" w/Mick Jagger as law-and-order conservative Keith Richards & Mike Myers as 1st amendment advocate Mick Jagger ("Mick, you ignorant slut!")* a skit with Nicole Kidman and Myers as 5 year old kids, with Myers as a hypoglycemic & hyperactive ("a hyper hypo") kid *Any opinions on Kevin Nealon vs. Dennis Miller doing the Weekend Update?

Yup. I think the story was that Red was pissed off and left the studio -- perhaps because Miles was giving him so little solo space on the album? Guy

I think the "completely independent of foreign oil" line is misleading -- as long as we consume any oil (or other substitute), our energy prices are affected by international petroleum markets. Guy

I'm going with some friends on Saturday. Here's the schedule. Shows I'm probably catching: Carla Bley Joe Lovano & Dave Liebman mark whitfield trio, maybe (or lunch) McCoy Tyner w/Ravi Coltrane & Terrell Stafford (or perhaps Kurt Rosenwinkel's group) Brad Mehldau Wynton Marsalis, maybe (or dinner) Charles Lloyd

The Mitchell and Turrentine I'll definitely pick up at some point. The Turbanator CD might also get picked up. Guy

This is a fun record. Maybe a tiny bit too slick, but these guys lock into a really nice groove. "The Turnaround" is great. Guy

You need to mellow out, man. Guy

The LPs included (and currently in-print) are 'Round About Midnight, Milestones, Newport '58, Jazz at the Plaza, Kind of Blue and Someday My Prince Will Come (two tracks). I think the four (classic) studio recordings from May 1958 ("Green Dolphin", "Stella", "Fran Dance', "Love for Sale") are now OOP outside of the box. In addition, I think some of the alternate takes on the box are unavailable elsewhere. I'm too lazy to do a search but Losin's discography will have answers to all your questions. Guy

Because costs are higher in the USA. Guy

If we had to go back to wearing American-made shoes, we'd be complaining about the price of shoes AND the price of gasoline. Guy

They are being reissued domestically as well. Not sure why the Jarrett has been postponed. (alldirect.com sells ECMs for under $12) Guy

That's a studio recording. Guy

I'm thinking of picking up either Central Park North or Consummation from Yourmusic. Both are slated for delivery in 2009, but I'm thinking of bumping up delivery. Any recommendations on which to get first? Guy

Frank, thanks a lot for the info (and thank Paul as well) -- it looks like we got a real lead! Guy p.s. I guess it's too much to hope that Paul has a tape of that gig?

They're not real. And neither is the brain. ← YIKES... if she needed to get a fake brain and this is what she ended up with, things must have been pretty dire to begin with! Dig the body though Guy

Looking forward to this! Guy

Don't have enough knowledge or familiarity with the Messengers' live music to make an informed choice, but keep in mind that there are two "Jazz Corner of the World" sets on Blue Note: the "Meet You atJCoftW" (w/Wayne) and the "AtJCoftW" (w/Hank). Others to add to your list: various dates on Riverside from the early 60s and both volumes of Three Blind Mice (all are the sextet with Wayne, Freddie, Curtis and Cedar). Also, the two volumes (Buttercorn Lady and one I can't remember) from the Lighthouse in '66, with Keith Jarrett on piano. Out of the stuff I've heard, I'd rank the Birdland '54 recordings slightly above the Bohemia '55. The "Meet You" is poorly recorded (though certainly listenable), but the music is superb and has really grown on me. Guy ed: In terms of "historical importance" (rather than quality of music), I think the Birdland and Bohemia recordings should be at the top of the list.

That's not a bad album, but the two I've heard on Impulse (Man from Two Worlds and Passin' Thru) are better IMHO. As far as earlier groups -- the live performances by the quintet with Buddy Collette and Jim Hall are excellent. It's interesting to hear a young Eric Dolphy discovering his sound on the Original Ellington Suite, though the rest of the group isn't that great. Guy

Yeah, but Olivier took his trade list (which is, AFAIK, the best "unofficial" discography out there) offline a while back. I vaguely recall an interview with Redman (maybe on the recent KJ DVD -- can someone who owns this check?) where he said that initially he played half the year with Keith and half with Ornette. Maybe he mentioned a starting year? Thanks for the info, Mike. Guy

Next one on the queue is the Jazz Crusaders Lighthouse '68 CD -- if I like it I may pick up the Crusaders box. guy

The Way Back Machine bails me out. Here's the final known (to me) recorded gig of the trio. The first known recorded gig of the group with Dewey is the Village Vanguard appearance on Fort Yawuh. Guy

Alas, Olivier Bruchez's list of Keith Jarrett setlists seems to have disappeared (or evaded my google attempts), so I was wondering: does anyone know when Dewey Redman first appeared in concert with the Jarrett/Haden/Motian trio? I know they recorded together in the studio as early as 1971, but I have a trio-only live recording from late 1972 (Munich). Did Dewey only start gigging with them in early 1973 (c. Fort Yawuh)? Guy

Walker will always be a chucker and Williams still has issues (not as much as in the past), but these guys are huge upgrades on the nobodies that Miami had last year. This is a really good team. The only potential bump on the way to title contention is whether an aging Shaq can still last a whole championship run. He broke down last year by March or April and I could see the problem repeating itself in 2006. Guy

I just started renting "The Prisoner" from Netflix. After hearing so much about it I found the first episode ("The Arrival") a little disappointing. Guy