Big Beat Steve

Like Alison Moyet, then?

Aw well, one never knows, do one?

Nice ... Does Son-of-a-Weizen have a bottle or crate of this in his stocks yet?

No people in or on the white car, and a tame Ford Vedette is no sports car (even if it's a convertible - Ford had the Comete for the sports section of their model lineup at that time). Sorry ... missed ... (Yes I know I am wisecracking and nitpicking but anyhow ... )

I don't think so. I'd classify him in the same category as pianist Don Frye (sometimes spelled "Frey" - which makes the pronunciation obvious, I think).

I supposes this depends on which part of the English-speaking world you come from.

I think I see perfectly well what you are getting at and I do understand your point, but to remain with your example/analogy: Assuming somebody only cares to shriek, gargle, groan and wail like he's gone bezerk if he gets up to say whatever he has to say, would you give much thought to what he might have to say for any CONSIDERABLE length of time? Is this how you would like to be talked to on a permanent basis?

Yes, I think you may have nailed it there. (Isn't Literary Studies a form of art too, after all?)

@freelancer: Just trying to convey an image but not to be taken literally Though I remember one particular instance that had me taken aback first and then smiling (and the staff member too) when I asked the one at the counter who was in charge of the jazz books if they happened to have a copy of John Chilton's Louis Jordan biography "Let The Good Times Roll", which caused some skinny, dour, long-haired (literally) and not so youngish fellow customer clad in an almost ankle-long coat of indefinite vintage (who overheard this and apparently took offense at this very down-to-earth book title) to start lecturing about how the "sublime" (of the arts, I suppose) had come to be dragged down and buried by the mundane, etc. etc. Seemed like a failed art student (of sorts) who was still trying to come to grips with what went on in real life outside his own terms of reference ... Apparently not a first-time incident because the staff member silently first smiled to himself and then to me. Unfortunately they did not have a copy at that time ... @sidewinder: I wouldn't know about Christmans there, I always was there either in April/May or in October/November. And I really don't know of any other way to describe those coat-tie-vest-and-overcoat characters (aproaching or having passed retirement age, and sometimes bearded and portly indeed, yes ...) who seemed to be so engulfed in "fiddling with something at waist level in front of them" without ever showing any signs of emotion of what they did pick out. Well, maybe my own attire of jeans and leather jacket wasn't befitting for a Mole Jazz customer ... ... not in the eyes of some fellow customers anyway. Anyway, Mole Jazz and the entire atmosphere there is still sorely missed.

During my stays in Britain in 1992 to 2000 I tried (most of the time successfully) to arrange my itinerary so enough time for a shopping spree in London remained before getting back to the ferry or Eurotunnel. My first port of call would invariably be the vinyl section at Mole Jazz. Whatever they say in the article (would love to see a pdf somewhere), that "urinal" comparison isn't far off the mark. Particularly since I'd often call in the late mornings/very early afternoons there (straight after arriving in London, most often on the way back from Norfolk) when the usual clientele there would consist of "elderly" (well, far older than me in my mid-30s then) gents in overcoats who'd go through the racks in taciturn, introvert, businesslike, noncommunicative silence. No young(er)'uns - except the occasional "eternal freelancer/art student" type if you know what I mean - around anywhere, they'd probably all be at work. I remember a couple of occasions when I went there with a friend (younger than me) whom I'd try to guide to this or that purchase for her interest in swing music, and when we exchanged comments about this or that find and "hey, did you see this", etc., we almost felt as if our (certainly not loud) comments were met with silent universal disapproval by the "regulars" there. The elderly lady handling the counter and turntable upstairs in their Grays Inn Road shop was sweet, though. Always obliging and helpful. Ah, those were days ...

An interesting but somewhat redundant distinction IMO. After all, "Dee jay" (DJ) was/is just an abbreviation of "Disk Jockey", and if you check out U.S. music papers from the 40s and early 50s you will find that they used these two terms synonymously (except that of course DJs at that time were radio-based and not (yet) club-based). Or to put it another way, a disk jockey was colloquially referred to as a "deejay". In each case you spin records but not necessarily talk OVER them. It depended on how you set up your show or what personal gimmicks you used. Interestingly, things have come full circle in more recent years when it comes to talking over records. On the British rock'n'roll (the REAL r'n'r)/rockabilly/jump blues club scene where DJs are all over the place and "name" DJs are major attractions there have been and still are some (major names) among the DJs who have made it a special gimmick of theirs to talk over a lot of their records when they spin their records in the clubs. Seems to be commonly accepted in the UK that DJs do quite a bit of talking not only in between tracks but also over the tracks (at least with these name DJs) but in the Continent most in the crowd find this very, very annoying. Pull the crows to the dancefloor by the way you sequence your tracks to create an atmosphere and keep up the pace but CUT OUT THAT BLURB!

Recommended listening (and liner note reading): http://www.fantasticvoyagemusic.com/jamaica-selects-jump-blues-strictly-for-you/ http://www.fantasticvoyagemusic.com/jumping-the-shuffle-blues-jamaican-sound-system-classics-19461960/ Intriguing ... I have only second-hand (third hand, rather) knowledge/hearsay of this but I do remember reading statements of "witnesses of the era" who conform the existence of a DJ subculture in 50s Britain.

It's the round thing itself and it CAN be made into an automatic transmission (with more components) but basically it is a semi-automatic clutch that still requires thed river to step on the clutch pedal for shifting but you cannot stall the car even if you let it coast to standstill in 3rd, for example. See Wikipedia description.

See below: Pretty much old hat (as far as automatic clutches and transmissions went) by the time Chuck Bery wrote his song ... Also see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_Drive

If it were over here it would be sold by now at that price.

Why, that doesn't exist yet?? Oops ...

Rock'n'ROLL stopped rolling in c.1962-63 at the latest, by much stricter standards even as early as 1960 (some garage punk rock'nroll of the mid-60s possibly excepted). What came after is just plain ROCK. But the Meters? Or Albert King? Rock? Really? No blues/Black Music Hall of fame around? Is this a "non-easy listening, non-middle of the road popular music hall of fame", then?

Is this a trick question? No, a statement of fact: - Beatles and upcoming Beatlemania - Concurrent final death of real rock'n'roll after even the teen idols like Avalon, Rydell etc. had exchausted their "steam" (whatever "steam" they ever had) - Blues notables turning increasingly to the "folk blues" festivals and club circuits in Europe - Wholesale emigration of a not so negligible number of jazzmen to Europe Yes I am biased and this is only part of the musical picture but still ...

On a side note, any word from Paul Swinton on when the third FROG Blues & Jazz Annual is going to be out?

This need not be so if you use the IBAN et BIC (SWIFT) codes of the recipient's bank account for bank transfers inside the EU, and the banks aren't even ALLOWED to charge the customer (at either end) any fees for such intra-EU bank transfers using these codes (for once EU regulations are in the interest of the individual citizen on a practical level). Yet some banks still do (including those in France when you send money FROM France). All that probably helps in the short run is to raise heck directly with the banks (i.e. the bank tellers) each time they want to deduct fees for such transactions. I was told that only euro → euro bank transfers within the European Union are or should be free of charge; transfers involving other currencies are charged with exchange rate fees. Indeed I am not 100% sure about that but the intra-EU bank transfers from Germay to Sweden that I have made, for example (i.e. euros into Swedish Crowns), have always been exempt of fees on BOTH sides. Anyway, I cannot see why "fees" (and certainly not exorbitant fees) should apply to exchange rates. You just credit the recipient's account with the amount at the exchange rate applicable at the time the money is transferred.

This need not be so if you use the IBAN et BIC (SWIFT) codes of the recipient's bank account for bank transfers inside the EU, and the banks aren't even ALLOWED to charge the customer (at either end) any fees for such intra-EU bank transfers using these codes (for once EU regulations are in the interest of the individual citizen on a practical level). Yet some banks still do (including those in France when you send money FROM France). All that probably helps in the short run is to raise heck directly with the banks (i.e. the bank tellers) each time they want to deduct fees for such transactions.

I ordered via amazon.de. The obvious choice as I live in Germany, particularly since the price seems right. Haven't checked for any other online sources yet.

Pulled the trigger on the Diz and Zoot CDs (would have loved the vinyl but THREE times the CD price - well, hey ..) Thanks for highlighting these items, EKE BBB ! Now I'd really wish they'd dig a bit beyond the all-time greatest names and come up with a few of their gems that they have on comparatively underrecorded (but nevertheless classy and deserving) jazz acts from that era, particularly European ones. They are BOUND to have tons of tapes on file there ...

Same here, but I doubt that I will be able to ... Thanks at any rate, Brownie, for making us aware of this!