Indestructible!

Hi Randy, Thanks for posting that article, which is a topic fairly near and dear to my heart! After all, I'm a professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Cal State Northridge, and I've seen/heard these horror stories (and many, many more) related to "gym" classes. BTW, I hate that word, "gym". After all, it describes the facility in which you engage in activity, not the class you are taking... you don't hear anyone call their Math class "classroom 1B", do you? From here on out, I'll use the term "Physical Education" (PE)... BTW, my specialization is not actually in Physical Education Teacher Education (what we call Pedagogy, or what our European friends call Didactics)... I'm actually a Sport Psychologist by training, and that's what I teach here at CSUN. And, I grew up in Canada, which follows a different educational model of PE than the U.S. does... High School, Varsity, Junior Varsity, and even Intercollegiate athletics just are NOT nearly that big a deal in Canada as they are in the U.S. Indeed, most of my PE teachers growing up were NOT coaches of our school athletics teams. They viewed themselves as TEACHERS first and coaches second (if they coached at all, which many didn't). Unfortunately, in the U.S., I've seen many PE teachers who view themselves as COACHES first, and teachers second (sometimes a very distant second). Thus, I'm not surprised at all at the observations that Lewis had when she watched her children in their PE class. But, a number of things in the article you posted alarmed me, and I feel I must comment here. Let's look at the quotes above, shall we. First, the lack of respect for Physical Education is certainly reflected in the fact that only ONE state in the nation requires daily PE (Illinois) through the 12th grade. Imagine if we only required other subjects of our students (e.g., math, science, reading and composition, social science) up until the 8th grade, and then they became optional? We'd certainly notice the citizens of the nation decline in each of these areas over time, wouldn't we? Yet we woefully lament about the nation's "obesity epidemic", and wonder what on earth we should do about it. If you eliminate regular PE in the K-12 setting, why in the hell should we be surprised that this is occurring? Having said that, I was also perturbed by one other thing Lewis mentioned in her article. I agree with her completely that PE teachers need to be held to some measures of accountability (e.g., teaching competence, knowledge of subject matter, etc.), just as all teachers should. But, her statement that "Unless we hold physical education teachers accountable for the fitness of the student ... there’s no way to evaluate who is good or who is bad" is extremely misguided. Using fitness standards is problematic for many reasons. We know that someone's level of fitness is based on many factors (genetics, nutrition, experience, age, gender, level of ability or disability, etc.). Why should PE teachers be evaluated solely on how fit their students are? I tell you what, if that's how I was being judged, I wouldn't take that job in a million years! All the PE teacher has control over is the 38 minutes of activity that students receive in their PE class a couple of times per week (here in California, anyway). The PE teacher has NO control over the other 23 hours of their student's day... How many students will go to McDonalds 5 times per week? How many will go there because their parents use that as breakfast/lunch/dinner for the family? How many students don't get to eat nutritious or complete meals at all during a day (or, for that matter, even get to eat at all some days)? How could I possibly counteract the powerful influence of genetic factors in a few months of teaching? Oh yeah, let's not forget that wonderful time of puberty, where the body changes rapidly (yet differentially) for every one of my students. How can I possibly control that? Should PE teachers be held accountable? Damn straight they should! But basing measures of teaching quality solely on fitness measures is a suckers game. Base the quality of a PE teacher on (a) the level of their students knowledge via homework, written assignments, and written tests after each unit, (b) how well their students learn fundamental motor skills (e.g., running, hopping, skipping, striking, etc.), © how well their students develop a fitness program for themselves, via the setting of individualized goals and indicating a plan of behavior to improve their fitness (that is appropriate for them), and (d) how well students develop skills in the affective domain (e.g., have a greater appreciation for the value of movement in everyday life, understand and practice sportsperson-like behaviors, understand and be sensitive to individuals with physical and developmental disabilities, etc.). Oh yeah, take this from me... the PE classes that children will take over the next 10-20 years will be VERY different than the PE class you and I experienced as kids. The focus now is on physical activity through a variety of movements (dance, games that are not sport related, etc.), and there is a decided push AWAY from the sport model of PE. Let's face it, how many minutes did you actually spend MOVING when you played softball/football/volleyball in your PE class? Not many! Some of the classes these days have the kids moving, in their target heart rate zone, for the vast majority of the class! Some professors (myself included) believe that PE teachers shouldn't even be allowed to coach in the athletic programs offered at their school. In that way, they really will be TEACHERS, and students won't have to put up with a lot of the garbage Lewis reported in her article. One last thing. Many of you might think "who cares, it's just gym, and my gym classes/teachers sucked, so who needs them in schools anyway? Besides, our kids need to do better in math and science in todays technological world, so getting rid of gym just gives them more time to do well in these subjects". Well, PE shares a nice kinship with other areas of study that you may be more passionate about... just replace the term "gym" in the statement above with any of the following subjects: music, art, theatre, etc. Yep, when it comes right down to it, the first subjects to get the axe in the K-12 school setting are PE and the Arts. Hell, even RECESS has been ELIMINATED in some schools! And the leaders of the nation still wonder why its citizens are out of shape, uncreative, and apathetic. Sorry for the length of the rant! Just imagine how long this would be if I were a PE teacher rather than a sport psychologist! Cheers, Shane

Wait a minute.... Holy crap! I can download the entire Coltrane European Tour 7CD set on Pablo for $8.58 (39 songs at 22 cents a song)??? Sure, I don't get the cover art or liner notes (the notes in particular would be important to me), but I can get most of that info off the web anyway. eMusic rules! And it appears as though royalties get paid, so that makes me feel better about using this service. Any ideas as to whether Verve/Universal is ever coming back to eMusic? Or has their move to iTunes pretty much killed the hopes of a comeback? Cheers, Shane

Hi Ray, Thanks for the good news! I've got a bad feeling I'll be hooked on that site! I was reading some of the previous posts in this thread, and it appears as though the eMusic Download program uses LAME variable bit rate encoding, which is usually a good thing. I noticed that some OJC's are listed as 128k only, which I can live with. Other times the VBR encoding rate is much higher. My question to you all: Is there anyway to "self-select" the encoding rate PRIOR to downloading? Cheers, Shane

Hi All, Wow, how on earth have I missed this thread all this time??? I just signed up at eMusic, and I've got to say that the site is great! I got 50 free downloads, which actually make up a whole bunch of jazz albums... especially the ESP albums! I think I just downloaded about 10 ESP's for free! And it looks like they have (just about) the entire OJC catalog on there! I sprung for the 90 downloads for $19.99 deal. With jazz albums, it looks like I can download about 12-18 albums for that price. Is this for real??? (I haven't downloaded anything except the free stuff so far). If this is for real, then this is the best damn deal I can think of!!! 15 albums for $20!!! It sure beats iTunes prices by far! I only wish I was hip to eMusic a couple of years ago, when I would've downloaded everything I could queue up for that low price! No wonder they changed their contract... guys like me (and some of us here, from what I've read in the pages above) probably ate them alive! Anybody put these downloads into their iPod? How much space does the average OJC take up... same as ripping it from a CD? Cheers, Shane

Oh... My... God!!! This quote will have to find a place in my signature! Aric, do I have your permission to use it? Cheers, Shane

Yum... Hey, I just noticed that website page is missing the cover for BLP 5051 (I think it's Gigi Gryce, Vol. 3). He's got everything else on there, and it's a great website for making jewel case inserts! Would love to see the Urbie Green and Best From the West Vols. 1 & 2 10" BNs make it out on CD someday... Not holding my breath on that, though! Cheers, Shane

Oh Yeah, Also another strong voice of support for Dr J in his requests for "Leapin' and Lopin'" and the Complete Ike Quebec 45 Sessions! Both of these would make GREAT RVGs! Cheers, Shane

Hi Kevin, Good Lord, we just gotta have "Back at the Chicken Shack" and "Midnight Special" on RVG!!!!! These might be the most "classic" of all Blue Note titles that haven't been RVG's yet (here in the U.S.). Please pass along a good word to Michael on these! Also, I'm guessing that since "Love Call" was rendered OOP by Blue Note, they have plans to reintroduce it as an RVG sometime soon? I hope so... Cheers, Shane

Hi Ray, Actually, I was thinking about this just yesterday, and I noticed in the BN Discography that every song on Donaldson's Say It Loud! album has been out on CD in some form or another (scattered across a few different releases)... except for one tune listed as "unissued" in the discography. I hope that Water is allowed to include that unissued track. I am looking forward to these Water reissues! The two Gales BN sound great, and I'm going to pick up the Wilson BN this week! Cheers, Shane F.

Damn Straight! Would love to hear both of these in RVG! Cheers, Shane

Nah, It was actually taken from a review on the Blue Note site of "Birth of the Cool". The review immediately below it was MUCH better though! Anyone remember that one? Cheers, Shane

Hi All, As of 4:00 pm Eastern today (Monday, Nov. 1), there are 53 sets left of the Krupa/James. Also, the good folks at Mosaic mentioned that they didn't think anything else would be hitting the "Running Low" list this year. I hope this helps those on the fence (sorry sidewinder!). Cheers, Shane

My Guess: The guy was asking his dog to do a little something untoward (hey, dogs will lick anything, right?), and the dog got a bit perturbed and just bit the whole thing right off! "Yeah, I was trying to kill a chicken, and chopped off ol' Willie by mistake... yeah, that's it... trying to kill a chicken... Where is ol' Willie now, you ask?.... ummm, the dog ate it... yeah, that's it... he saw it lying on the ground and just happened to eat the thing.... yeah, yeah.... no really, man, that's what went down..." Cheers, Shane

Yep, I saw him at the Jazz Bakery last year as well... great show (although the same jokes for both sets was a little much). We need him to come back! Cheers, Shane

Hi Adam, Nah, I think the show is still on KKJZ, and it is a good one! The R.I.P. I was referring to in the post you quoted was my own radio show (called "The Kingston Connection") I used to have in New York. I tried to mix jazz with ska, reggae, rocksteady, and mento on my show. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.... Cheers, Shane

Aftab, PM sent on Jimmy Smith - Cherokee, and also Trio + LD! Cheers, Shane

Hey Berigan, Don't go looking for that Tower Outlet store (was on Hollywood Blvd.)... it's been gone a few years now. Amoeba is definitely the place to go, as is Aron's (on Highland Ave., just north of Santa Monica Blvd.). But if you see an OOP Mosaic lying around, LEAVE IT FOR US LOCALS! Finding them here doesn't happen nearly as often as I thought it would! Cheers, Shane

Oh Yeah, And although it's not exactly what you're looking for, the combination of Horace Silver and Thelonious Monk on Sonny Rollins, Volume 2 was damn interesting! I wish Alfred (or anyone for that matter) has paired those two up more often!!! Cheers, Shane

This NEEDS to come back into print!!! Cheers, Shane

Jazzdude, I'm with ya!!! That is a great show, and for a leftist like me, KPFK is usually on my dial! I just wish KKJZ would realize that there is more to jazz than just the "big" names. The addition of the "Carribean" influenced show on KKJZ on Friday night was an interesting move, though... It reminds me of a radio show I used to do when I lived in New York, where I tried to combine ska, rocksteady, early reggae, and jazz. R.I.P. "The Kingston Connection"... Damn, I wish I had time to get back into radio here in L.A. Cheers, Shane P.S. -- Although, you know that KPFK show time conflicts with "Rodney On The ROQ", so I have to usually flip a coin to decide which station to listen to that night! HAH!

Hi Jazzdude, Yep, exactly what Matthew said. I sometimes volunteer at KKJZ, usually during their funding drives, and one of the things the station does each funding drive is to have a little "popularity contest"... you know, we'll ask the person making the donation to nominate somebody for "The Best Jazz Performer of All Time", or "The Best Jazz Song of All Time", stuff like that. I can tell you that the answers given are always the same mainstream things, year after year. It's always Miles, Dave Brubeck, "So What", "Take 5", etc. I have yet to hear any caller say "Ornette Coleman", or "Ascension". I think I'd have a heart attack if ANY caller I took nominated a Free Jazz (or even Soul Jazz, or Fusion for that matter) musician or tune. Having said that, I love KKJZ!!! The range IS narrow, and I wish they'd have at least a few hours per week devoted to other types of jazz (especially the Avant Garde), but it's always nice to know that I can turn on the radio at any time of the day or night and hear some good jazz! I do miss Chuck Niles though... he was a good dude! Cheers, Shane

My guess is that it's Todd that clicked on the "Got 'Em All" box in this vote. His quest for the Ike Quebec Mosaic needed to complete the collection was something we've all followed since the days of the now defunct BNBB. Out2Lunch indeed! And to him, I say congratulations! Wish I could click that box someday, but for now I'm somewhere around 40 Mosaics/Selects. Cheers, Shane

Hi All, Hey, didn't we actually find an answer to this question over on the defunct *EMI Subsidized Jazz Label* BB? If memory serves, I thought 1533 was reserved for a Horace Silver date that apparently didn't go well, and Lion actually gave the tapes to Horace for him to destroy. BUT, now that I look over the BN Discography (THANK YOU, messrs. Ruppli and Cuscuna!), I don't see any mention of a Horace Silver date around that time. Maybe I'm confusing the planned 1553 with a "rejected" Live at Pep's session recorded by the Horace Silver Quintet some years later??? Hummmm? Cheers, Shane

Yeah Jim and Lon, You know it! Like I said earlier, this is a GOOD album for what it is! And it rewards the listener who gives it more than one shot! B) Cheers, Shane

Hi All, Well, I'd be pretty happy if Mosaic issued a Select of my man Freddie Roach (or Frederick, as he's listed on All That's Good... which, as Grey notes, is an album that takes a while to get used, but is worth it!). I've got all of Roach's dates as a leader, and most as a sideman. He was good at what he did... nothing earth-shattering or innovative by any means, but some good grease most of the time! At the very least, I think Down To Earth should be reissued by Blue Note. Some good playing on that one! Cheers, Shane