Guy Berger

Marty, Moose, Jazzbo -- Out of the two nonet projects (On This Day, 52nd Street Themes), which is better? Guy

Lakers won 3 championships in 2000-2005; Spurs have won 2. I'm guessing the Spurs will win at least 1 more through 2009 (Duncan/Ginobili/Parker all in long-term contracts and will be 33/31/27 years old in June of that year). I have a hard time seeing the Lakers contending for another title any time soon though a miracle big-man signing could turn things around. Guy

I guess I don't really hear this at all. I'm guessing Lovano will never be considered a "giant" (though who knows?), but people will probably look back at him and say "interesting straightahead saxophonist that was a versatile player, couldn't straight-jacketed into any format, and made some good music." Whether that makes him a "blip" or not depends on the definition. Your suggestion that Lovano is a phony is ridiculous IMHO. Guy

From what I understand, CD-storage is actually more dependable than hard-drive storage anyway. I'm thinking of burning 20-25 CDs with my iPod files after reading this thread. Are there any good programs for bringing tunes from the iPod back onto my computer? Guy

I agree -- they need another guy besides Billups who can consistently provide offensive firepower. Hamilton is too limited. Guy

Was it maybe the first encore? Was "Last night When We Were Young" the bossa nova at the end of set 2? Guy

Yup, sounds pretty good to me. Especially the intertwining guitars on "War Orphans". Guy

Let's see a domestic (aka US) release of this disk. ← Given that ECM has been axing a lot of their US titles, I don't think this is going to happen. Guy

David, can you say when in each set these tunes were played? I'm trying to construct a setlist but my standards knowledge is lacking. Guy

I'm not a Lovano nut, but I do like his playing quite a bit. The above album, especially the disc with Harrell, is really nice. I also really enjoy his work with Motian and Frisell. Guy

The crazy part is that Duncan is only 29, Ginobili is 27, and Parker is 23. If they don't win at least one more title over the next 5 years, I'll be shocked. Guy

Bob Blumenthal mentions CS's Japanese popularity in his RVG liner note. I love the album and all, but it's weird to think of it as "very popular". Guy

Woah, I totally disagree. We are talking about one of the best 5 players in the league. Guy

I agree -- the more I think about it, Bowen should have really gotten it for (mostly) shutting down Rip, and then making crucial plays when switched to Chauncey. Bigtime PF's have a way of choking in these big series, so to be fair to TD at least he's won a championship (unlike Barkley and Malone). Guy

The only thing you will miss is bad weather... Guy

Ain't gonna happen. ← Manfred isn't gonna live forever. Guy

Alright, now that my predictions for the series and the game were vindicated, it's time to start trashing the winner and praising the loser: 1) Controlling for talent, Detroit TOTALLY outplayed San Antonio. I mean, on paper the Spurs were a much better team, but Detroit played like they wanted the trophy. In the end talent won out, but only barely. SA barely won, if they were serious about winning we'd be talking about a threepeat right now. Pistons played outstanding basketball... 2) Giving the MVP to Duncan was the biggest cop-out in recent Finals MVP history. The guy played alright in this game, but definitely came well short of expectations. I would have given it to either (A) either Horry or Bowen or (B) a Pistons player (probably Billups). WEAK! 3) I couldn't hear what Bill Walton was saying tonight but I'm sure it was stupid. Guy

WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

good Bill Simmons article (by the way, jim asked me a while back if Simmons was only complaining about bad calls that went in the Pistons' favor -- no, he's been bitching about the playoff officiating in general for the past two months) ... ... ...

I'd say Spurs are tonight's favorite to win, but there's a distinct possibility that they choke -- Detroit is definitely determined and focused enough to win if the Spurs give them that chance. Guy

Don't feed her too many donuts until your back improves Guy

I think it was released in 1960. Guy

Keith started with a brief lecture, bashing Bush and New York jazz critics. The first set consisted of a countrified waltz (which is apparently "Tennesee Waltz"), a ballad, "Budo"/"Hallucinations", another ballad, and a moderately fast tune I didn't recognize. The first set was solid, but the second set was terrific. They opened "On Green Dolphin Street" with a Carribean-type vamp (better than the Blue Note intro, IMHO). It was great. They did a ballad, then closed with a bossa nova. I was somewhat surprised by this -- they've done "jive bossa" type rhythms on recordings I've heard, but this was an out-and-out bossa nova. Anybody know what tune this was? (One of the ballads in either the first or second set had a gorgeous solo coda by Keith.) They came back for three oncores -- a ballad, then a free-ish "Straight No Chaser" (opening with a piano-drums duo before Gary came in), and finally "When I Fall in Love". Very nice coda on this last one. Keith got really annoyed (fairly, IMHO -- and I think a lot of his shtick can be over the top) about the flash photography (which went berserk after the first encore), but was classy enough to do two more encores. All in all, a great concert at least from the second set onward. Also, one more thing to add -- Carnegie Hall is an AWFUL place to see jazz. Boooo. Guy

For those who are interested, at tonight's standards trio concert they announced that Jarrett will be playing a solo concert at Carnegie Hall on September 26. The solo concerts aren't really my bag and I suspect it'll be too rich for my budget, but I figure some people will be interested. Guy

I want to endorse Alldirect 100% -- I've been ordering from them for almost 2 years now and have never had a bad experience. The only defective CD they sent was dealt with promptly and fairly. It's annoying when they don't have something in stock, especially when it runs out AFTER you order it, but with those prices you can't really complain. Guy