Guy Berger

I didn't know the guy personally, but I miss him. A real loss. My most recent AH listening was Reggie Workman's Summit Conference. The last tune was composed by Andrew and it is absolutely beautiful. Absolutely.

Don't you also get to shoot a guy? I was sure it included getting to shoot a guy. Unfortunately... no shooting. I did my first swim workout yesterday... a real rude awakening. Though to be fair that was after a fairly intense 30 min on the treadmill. Will be working hard the next 3 weeks. Guy

I've ridden since I was 12 -- but not on a regular basis. Guy

I'm looking for some triathlon advice. I'll be doing a "baby" triathlon (400m swim, 11.6ml bike, 5K run) on July 20th. Honestly, until I spoke to some friends who were training I assumed I would just kind of show up and race - I'm in pretty good shape (cardio 5-6 times a week and I've run 5K before withoutany serious difficulties). Upon further evaluation maybe some training will be necessary. I will have to work a lot on swimming... my freestyle form is absolutely terrible and inefficient. Any advice would be welcome. In particular I'm interested in suggestion for a road bike. I haven't owned a bike since I was 12 and don't know what to look for, besides knowing that I should go to a serious bike shop. I don't plan to be a serious triathlon competitor, so I don't need anything particularly fancy or high-end, but I'm also not interested in buying a piece of junk. Any other advice is welcome.

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We definitely discuss 'em -- good music is good music! -- but circulating them or soliciting for them publicly is against forum rules. I have a few unofficial Threadgill recordings from the 80s but have not listened to them in a while. I may have to revisit. Guy

The first two Weather Report albums have moments reminiscent of Bitches Brew. I would also say that out of all Miles albums, In a Silent Way is the most similar stylistically to BB. Guy

I dunno, at times, I can't believe this is really one of Wayne Shorter's projects. Some tracks heavily border on smooth jazz-lite. Heard all the raves, went to Tower back in the day and was surprised by how unappealing Heavy Weather was, at least, to these ears. It's a serious mistake to judge this group by that album. Guy

I like Yes and KC a lot more than the post-Hymn RtF. Perhaps it is just framing. Guy

Yes - Hymn is the best one from the electric RtF and quite a good album. "Where Have I Known You Before" is not bad either, but really a pale shadow of the "real thing". (Agreed that "Song to the Pharaoh Kings" or whatever the closing tune on that album does kick some butt.) Romantic Warrior I can't get into. The whole thing just oozes cheese. Though Lenny White's tune is nice as is the first long Corea track. Guy

This lineup of RtF struck me as a bad parody of Mahavishnu. Based on your comments I do not think you would enjoy the music. Guy

Let's be fair here. Remember what a Cadillac looked like the the mid 80s? They did respond, but the demand for large vehicles quickly returned with a vengeance. The U.S. automakers get all the heat and yet Toyota in this article clearly takes the position of, "we're not going to panic and sales for the big stuff will be up again real soon". I don't see any of the Foreign manufacturers backing off production of full size gas guzzling models. I do however see them constantly praised as models of efficiency. But I wonder, was the U.S. auto industry so badly mis-managed? Some perhaps, but what shape would Nissan and Honda be in of they had to pay bloated pensions, healthcare for ex-employees and inflated wages for current? After all, their workers are not union. When people were cheering the UAW for going on strikes and sticking to the man, they forgot something. Maybe it was too expensive to re-tool and downsize models because the union still insisted on $28/hr for the guy washing the windshields. Meanwhile, for many years they were cranking out a shit product while demanding higher wages. I realize some of that shit back then you can maybe blame on engineers, designers and upper management, but what about the dude putting on the drive shaft half ass? Well, he's retired now with a pension, full healthcare, AND he gets a 40% ex-employee discount on a new car for himself plus all his friends and family. No doubt the legacy costs are hurting these guys. But let's be frank. The Big 3 have now captured less than 50% of the market share in the US for the 2nd month in a row. For the first time in 16 years the best-selling light vehicle in the US is not the Ford F-series pickup, which is being outsold by 4 popular "Japanese" sedans (I would guess that most are produced domestically, hence the quotes). Honda has outsold Chrysler for only the 2nd time ever and Toyota is within striking distance of GM. The Big 3 are very poorly prepared for the car market that lies ahead. (And it's telling that Toyota, the Japanese company that moved most aggressively to compete with these guys, is the one that is struggling the most.) Guy

Nope - definitely written afterward. There was a separate article on GM's announcement earlier this morning.

The US economy is adjusting to higher gas prices. I wonder how long it will be before the Chrysler brand is owned by a Chinese or Indian company....

You can read the full report at the Brookings Institute website.

I must admit I found the conclusion of this study to be a surprise. One more reason to move to SoCal...

Yup, it's ugly. An industry expert at (IIRC) RBC Greenwich Capital was quoted in The Economist predicting that by the time this all blows over, 150-200 small banks (and presumably other depository institutions) in the US will fail. Shades of the S&L Crisis. Guy