Guy Berger

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

I only own season 1 of 24, but via Netflix I'm working through Seinfeld. Curb Your Enthusiasm, Star Trek TNG, Sopranos are next. Guy

Wow, very interesting Chris. Hopefully Chuck can chime in with his 2 cents as well. Guy

87-86 with just over 2 minutes left. You want to turn on that TV, Paul.. guy

It happened to me this spring... my ipod-computer connection is really shaky and I'm guessing the hard drive got corrupted or something. Frustrating to re-rip everything. On the other hand it was also a good way to "clean house". Guy

To these two I would add Homsar. Every line he utters is bizarrely funny, and they use him sparingly, so it doesn't get old. Also, I thought the evolution of Homsar was pretty hilarious--someone misspelled "Homestar" in a SB email and rather than point that out, they just created a new character that was a weird-ass version of Homestar. ← Yeah, forgot about Homsar... he's hilarious, and yeah, his invention was pretty cool. Favorite homsar moment: when he's eating the scorpions. - I'm a soooooooooong from the 60s

I was a nut about this site a year or two ago but the Strongbad emails stopped being funny and clever at a certain point. A lot of the best ones are the earliest, when it was just him talking and typing. Anything good since "Dangeresque Three"? I was never that into the other parts of the website -- though Teen Girl Squad was hilarious. As far as the characters, I think aside from Strong Bad and the Cheat they're all pretty annoying though obviously they can be funny in context. I'd say my favorite HR bit is the 1st strong bad email:

Wow... I'm so behind on BN reissues it's not even funny. Hopefully I'll pick a few of these by 2015 Guy

Yeah, that scene in the beginning (with the two guys in the diner) scared the shit out of me. Lynch is a master at building up suspense... Guy

Thanks for the stories, mrjazzman. Guy

Probably not, unless you're clairvoyant -- with the exception of (maybe) Quartet Plays), none of these records were out in '65. Guy

"Serenity" is heaaaaaaaaaaaaaavy on the quartet version... incredible. Guy

I'm listening to a recording seeded at DaD by one of our fellow board members (not sure if he wants to be named, but many thanks to him)... it's the Tapscott octet at a '93 Chicago music festival. Setlist is "One for Lately", "The Black Apostles" and "Sandy & Niles". Lineup is Horace Tapscott (p), Arthur Blythe (as), Teddy Edwards (ts), Michael Session (bs), Oscar Brashear (t), Thurman Green (tb), Roberto Miguel Miranda (b), Fritz Wise (d). Excellent. I need to put Dark Tree on my iPod! Guy

I was listening to the Warner Brothers set over the past few days, and came to the conclusion that Priester's "Wandering Spirit Song" is this group's crowning achievement in the studio. (I haven't heard any of the live stuff.) Some incredible stuff going on there. Guy

I think this is all amazing music -- my favorite period from this group. A Love Supreme probably belongs on this list stylistically (rather than with the earlier stuff) but I thought including it would distort the poll results. I also didn't include some of the unofficial recordings from the Half Note (coming out soon, I hope!) or Europe -- these are great, you can vote for them on "other" if you prefer. (Yeah, I know "Nature Boy" (on Quartet Plays) is a quintet.) Anyway, my favorite is Sun Ship. The most focused and intense -- this is where it all came together, a blueprint for a certain kind of playing, a group that went about as far as it could go and it was pretty damn far. It's hard for me to put some of the May and June stuff without thinking that I should be listening to this instead. I'll post more thoughts later if they come to me. Guy

Tribute arrived in the mail today. I'm itching to put it on but will try to hold off until Friday... Guy

Jesus, that's pretty good for just one viewing Mark. Were you using a cheat sheet? Guy

I had something similar happen to me a few months ago -- I somehow hurt my back and then stupidly aggravated it. Fortunately it was nothing serious but I'm more careful now... Or so I like to tell myself. Guy

By the way, putting Bowen on Billups near the end of the game was genius. I wish the Warrios had a perimeter defender like that... Guy

Slate ran the following article last week (which, to be fair, actually makes an excellent point): Sideshow Bob Also, Bill Simmons writes another Bob Horry tribute. Guy

I think that's what Ben calls the "Shaq Attaq". ← I think Duncan was watching Ben Wallace free throw shooting tapes during halftime. Guy

Prince of darkness (R Horry) rips the Pistons' hearts out... That guy is pure evil. I figure Spurs ice this thing in game 6, but it's not over until it's over. Guy

Bill Walton is such a fool Guy