Dan Gould

What's the preferred choice that isn't there? I hope its not my original last option: "What? I'm supposed to read all of that?"

I've batted around the idea of sharing this with the board for a while but now I figure, what the hell - I can handle a little ridicule and if this brings out any other "personal experiences" people want to share - or they want to tell me they don't think I'm crazy, that's cool too. And since the story is pretty nutty, I figure I should use the poll function and find out what everyone thinks. So please read my story, then answer the poll question. Its long, but (I hope) worth it. This all started in late October. As many of you know, we have two dogs, Coltrane is the smaller black/white dog in my avatar, Gracie is the Weimaraner. Coltrane is the proverbial "big dog in a little dog's body". He is fearless and the most "alpha" dog I've ever known. He doesn't back down from anyone or anything - at least not until we convinced him who was boss back when he was about 9 months old. So - its about lunch time and I went downstairs to take the dogs out and eat. Gracie did her usual race to the back fence after the squirrels. Coltrane however took about two steps off the back door, stopped dead in his tracks, staring, then his ears went back, his head and butt went down towards the ground, and he slunk to the door. When I opened it, he was off like a shot, ran upstairs and refused to come back down the stairs - I even tried using peanut butter to coax him down the stairs but he wasn't budging. Strange behavior to say the least. Its been suggested that an animal might have been in the backyard recently and it was the scent that he reacted to. But his makes little sense as Gracie spent most of the morning downstairs watching for the nefarious squirrels. Had any animal - particularly something rare enough to emit a smell that would frighten him, she would have sounded the alarm. On top of that we simply cannot imagine any animal that would make him behave that way. As I said, the most alpha dog we've ever known. Other dogs, possums, snakes - he doesn't back down. So - eventually Coltrane comes back down the stairs and behaves normally. Now its about 4:30 and time for another out. Coltrane runs off to the back of the yard, so does Gracie. I'm standing by the door, which is open, when Gracie comes up toward me, stops in her tracks, also looking at nothing, and her eyes went wide open in a sort of fearful grimace and she proceeded to start running around the yard in clear distress. She's drooling, her eyes are big and she is totally unaware of her surroundings. She hits the door running, and I think "close the door, keep her inside and get her under control". As I am closing the door, she is heading back out - and even though the door is closing, Gracie is not stopping. I'm convinced that if I had closed the door all the way, she was going through it. As it was, she banged her shoulder on the door, ran to the back, came back to where she had been when it started, and started violently trembling. She went down on her side, in a seizure. It lasted about two minutes and eventually she came out of it, got unsteadily to her feet and a short while later was moving pretty normally. At this point I am talking to my wife and she has determined in her own mind that something paranormal or supernatural or whatever is going on, and that she will follow her Wicca beliefs (that's witchcraft/paganism to those of you who don't know) to try to secure her family and home. I got the dogs in to the house and without really thinking about it, I said aloud "If you want to fuck with someone, fuck with me, not my dogs." My wife was unhappy when I told her this but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Immediately thereafter there were two loud knocks that emanated in the living room where I was sitting with the dogs. I cannot explain them. When my wife got home, she finally told me about some of the things that she hadn't bothered to tell me before. I should say in advance that her and her sister share a history of what I guess would be called "sensitivity" to these things. When they were young teens, they got out a Ouija board - and all hell broke loose in the house. OK, maybe not Poltergeist hell, but really wild shit started happening - and Patty was subsequently told that it would behoove her not to mess around with Ouija boards again. The two of them have long believed that their deceased grandfather has hung around the family. They know this because of the olfactory presence of his preferred cologne. So - a couple of years earlier, Patty was going to stay at our house for several nights in order to reduce her morning commute to her training sessions for a new job. After the first night, Patty decided not to stay and now, Sue informed me that Patty left early because of her extreme discomfort in the house. She felt that she was being watched by a man. Sue also told me of her own experiences, which included a perception of "something" in the house. All of this is just to give a background understanding, you can take what you will from it. The events with Coltrane and Gracie were my first experiences of any kind. I would describe my own beliefs as a skeptic but one who is open to being shown otherwise. Not a Mulder-like "I want to believe" but "I'm willing to believe, if you can show me a reason why I should." As far as the dogs are concerned, Coltrane's behavior doesn't make a lot of sense. I have a very hard time believing the "rational" explanations I've mentioned already. As for Gracie, it could be simply a seizure, which can be preceded by severe alterations in personality. But she's never had another one since, and in the context of what happened with Coltrane, its also very strange. OK, enough about the dogs. My wife came home and did her Wicca thing. She enlisted her friend who she regards as a particularly powerful witch. Copious amounts of salt was involved to "seal" and "protect" the house. Particular attention was paid to the back gate. And interestingly enough, the next time the dogs were let out, they went straight to the back gate, paced back and forth, and their hackles went up - it was as if they themselves sensed what had been done the night before. Weird. OK, so that was how things started. Sue was concerned that my statement "fuck with me, not the dogs" would make myself succeptible to whatever is in the house. In fact, nothing much happened except for some strange events at night. Twice I was awakened to a female voice in the room (and it couldn't be my wife talking in her sleep because my snoring sent her out of our room a couple of years ago). There were some other things, but I have a real hard time paying any attention to something that happens at night, due to my near-deafness and severely limited eyesight. So I don't really regard any of that as significant. Flash-forward to Christmas. I went home to CT to visit the folks, without Sue. The first night I was there, I was awakened by a loud metallic bang, directly above the bed. I sleep pretty soundly, and with a pillow over my head, so this noise was pretty loud to wake me up. I sat up, looked around, went back to sleep. As I said, things that happen while I'm in bed don't constitute much to me. But I do think that something was letting me know it was there - because on Christmas night, after dinner, I was standing by the dinner table, talking to Mom while Dad went back and forth between the table and the kitchen. As we were speaking, the center of the waist of my pants were pulled backwards, such that my butt moved about 4 inches backwards. My immediate thought was that my father had just tugged on my pants and I turned immediately to my right to see if he was there. He was four feet past me and he couldn't have done it anyway as he was using two hands to put a serving dish back where it belongs. (Here is where I tell you that my brother summarizes the story by saying that "a ghost gave you a wedgie" but I have to say that the motion was outward, not upward, so it really wasn't a wedgie. But other than that, yeah, I guess you could say that.) Edit to add a detail I forgot: After dinner was over I went to my room to change into some more comfortable clothes, and I announced aloud, "You ain't impressing me." (Which was a lie because I was seriously impressed and not a little freaked out by having my pants tugged by something unseen). Later that night when it was time for bed, my mother went upstairs and I went to the other wing of the house where the kids bedrooms are. As I closed the bathroom door, immediately outside the door and to the left there was a loud crashing noise, as if the books on the shelves were being violently brought together or thrown on the floor. This noise was really loud and while my mother wondered whether it could have been coming from the outside, I know that what I heard was right outside the bathroom door. Strangely enough, no books were disturbed or had fallen to the floor. OK, so I get back home, tell my wife what has gone on ... and nothing much happens in the house. We actually discussed a theory that what she and her friend did had protected the house and the family, but when I left the house to go home, I wasn't protected anymore. Who knows? I only know for sure that something unseen pulled me backwards, and that somehow, a very loud noise was created in the hallway when I entered the bathroom. Now, we've had two more events in the house, both involving things going missing. I had three new CDs sitting on the desk below my monitor. They sat there for a couple of weeks, and then one Saturday morning three weeks ago, I realized - they aren't there anymore. Did I move them? Did I take them downstairs to listen to later? I turn the place upside down looking for them but they are nowhere to be found. I even looked through a shopping bag I had taken out of the closet which had about 75 CDRs, work stuff that had been backed up (and that I had to go through earlier in the week to find an audio file that needed to be fixed). I went through the house twice, including the shopping bag. So I am thinking to myself "could something have taken them?" just as my wife says "Maybe your little friend took them." In fact, she tells me now that things of hers have disappeared, including wands that she uses for her rituals. They are either in her drawer or in her hand, and two of them have disappeared. So, again with no forethought, I said "ha ha ha, that was a good one. You got me good - now can I please have my discs back?" I made another pass through the house - the office, the music room, downstairs, every room. Nothing. I sat down at the desk, and as my eyes went down toward that shopping bag, my eyes spotted a printed edge and lo and behold, there were the discs. I know what you are thinking - its simple and obvious: you absentmindedly put the discs in with the CDRs when you were looking for the disc you needed for work, and its easy to miss the discs when they are in a bag with 75 other discs. There's just one problem - these CDRs weren't in jewel boxes, or slimlines. They are all in CD mailers, just barely bigger than a disc. And I went through every single CD mailer in that bag - four times in total, and I did so by taking out five or six at a time and turning them sideways to see if any discs were in between. I took out every CD mailer in this way, and then put them back in the same way. And I did that twice. The CDs were not in that bag. It is not possible that I took the CDR mailers out of that bag and put them back in, four times, while missing the three CDs I was looking for. So I called my wife and told her what had happened - and she tells me that in trying to protect the house, she had summoned "Fairies" which are known protectors of animals and also known to be pranksters. According to the head of her "Circle" I did exactly the right thing in asking for the CDs back. So, just last night I knew exactly what to do when my wallet turned up missing. You see on Monday I had grabbed my wallet and brought it to the office to pay for something online. I didn't need to leave the house again until Tuesday night, so it sat there in the office. I went into the kitchen where I keep my car keys/wallet/watch and I saw the keys but no wallet. Then I remembered, I had left it upstairs in the office (in fact, I left it in the exact same place the CDs had been left before they disappeared - take from that what you will). Went upstairs - no wallet. Asked for it back, and I went back to the kitchen. Turned on the light, and there was the wallet in its regular place. And before you ask, let me say that I looked for the wallet five minutes earlier with the light on. It wasn't in the room. Then, it was. So - that's the story of the Gould household. Do we have uninvited guests? Am I crazy? Does anyone have their own story to share?

WTF? He/she isn't even "Lester Perkins"? No wonder they don't engage in any discussion, they are too busy finding other places to post their stuff.

The reason is right there at the top of the page: The Best Jazz Discussion Forum on the Web Its precisely why I suggested posting on a blog if he doesn't wish to even acknowledge what others are saying or asking about his posts. Discussion implies a conversation, not a monologue - which is more in keeping with the purpose of a blog.

Sad news. I am definitely going to get out the Leo Wright, Nat Simpkins and Soul Sisters and give them a spin. For some reason I want to say that there is another Muse recording she appeared on but I can't think of it.

Whether the difference is demonstrable or not probably depends on equipment, ears, and personal proclivity towards the disease that runs rampant on the Hoffman forum. But the concept is akin to the difference in sound between a reel to reel recorded at 7 1/2 ips or one recorded at 15: The slower the recording, the more information that must be packed into a limited space whereas at higher tape speeds the quality is better. I bought Gene Harris Trio Plus One as an audiophile 45 RPM master on heavy vinyl. The CDR I created from it was indistinguishable from the original Concord CD. But maybe that was a function of my less-than-impressive TT.

Daedulus Books has a "Last Chance Winter 2010" sale going on with a large number of OJC, Milestone, Concord, Telarc cut outs all for $5.98 or $6.98 a piece. Other genres too. Website here.

My first thought was to suggest you locate a really good reel-to-reel machine but I wasn't really sure whether to recommend 16 ips transfers or 48 ips. But maybe some of these other options won't take as long.

I sold the LPs a while back but was Jimmy Jones on the Sweets Roulette sides Patented By and Sweetenings? Some fine music there, as on The Swinger/Mr. Swing reissue.

At these prices I don't begrudge any seller getting a bit extra for no combined shipping discount. Beyond that, what are we talking about anyway? $2.98 plus a dollar or a dollar fifty for each additional? $1.50-2.00 savings per disc, on a highly discounted item in the first place? Some people just can't be satisfied. $2.98 for shipping is pretty fair when you consider the hard cost of postage and mailer.

Well I figured there was some subtext to your question, but its a pretty foolish one. With Lackey sliding into the number 3 spot, its obvious that the Red Sox have superior pitching, 1-12, to the champions of Williamsport-in-the-Bronx.

Where? Uh ... Fort Myers, FL.

You're not seeing them? First photo is Lackey & Wakefield, second is Lester delivering a pitch.

I just caught a glimpse of a guilty-pleasure movie: Burnt Offerings, which apparently was a significant inspiration for Stephen King in conceiving The Shining. When I was a kid, the chauffeur always freaked me out. That is, whenever I could ignore the fact that he looked like Kent Tekulve.

Big Papi is lookin' good: I have no idea if it will help his bat speed or not but he clearly took his conditioning seriously this winter.

Matthew, I can see where you are coming from but Cameron has been awfully consistent in terms of home runs and is coming to a more favorable park. Taking into account park effects ought to at least counter any age decline. I'm very optimistic about Beltre at Fenway and out of Safeco. I think 30 is very realistic, even though he won't have the BA or OBP that Bay had, I do think the combination will offset Bay overall. And it doesn't take that much, because its a virtual certainty that Beltre outhomers Lowell. Lowell was under 20 the last couple of years. I can't imagine that a healthy Beltre playing half his games at Fenway can't hit at least 25. As to Papelbon, one positive is that he recognizes that he allowed too many baserunners and he's also said that he got away from the splitter last season and plans to resume throwing it. I never understood why he stopped and started throwing a slider that wasn't so great and then practically stuck with the fastball exclusively. So I hope he'll get his shit together again and since its Spring, I can't help but be extremely optimistic that he will. Pitching, defense and 3 run homers. Color me Earl Weaver!

A thousand apologies to old Jimmy. There was a time, when I was about 8 or 9 years old, and lasting for about two weeks, when I was utterly fascinated by "the Toy Cannon" and would take huge whacks with the wiffle ball bat in order to duplicate his feats. As to your question, David: My only real concerns are whether we get the April/May Ortiz or the Ortiz who ranked in the top five in home runs and RBIs the rest of the way, whether Papelbon has fewer heart-attack moments on his way to 40 saves and whether Bard is ready to be an elite set-up man without as many ups and downs as his rookie year. Otherwise, I'm excited by the huge defensive upgrades that have been made at SS, 3B, LF and CF (if you believe UZR that Ellsbury isn't that great in CF, everyone seems to agree that he's very good in LF) and aren't nearly as worried about the offense and particularly about the power in the lineup. Beltre in particular should benefit enormously by the move, and so should Cameron. I can easily see 55-60 homers out of those two, which is what you'd hope for from Lowell + Bay. So what's the problem? The only real problem is if Ortiz is a black hole of suckitude. He has to carry his share of the offense - a lower share than in the heyday of Papi/Manny - or they may have to overpay to get Adrian Gonzales. This risk is the reason why I'd like them to keep Lowell around as long as possible as a hedge, or possibly as part of a DH platoon. But I'm afraid they'll trade Lowell by the third week in March.

You really want Gardner, who couldn't hack it last season and was replaced by AAAA Melky Cabrera, in CF next year? The fact is that Gardner hasn't even proved himself anything other than a pinch-runner in the major leagues, and may force the Yankees to play Wynn far more than they'd like, if he can't figure out how to hit major league pitching. That's another reason why no Damon is a bad thing. The downside of choosing Gardner over Cabrera. As to the batting order, Calm Eyes Jeter was pretty happy hitting lead off last year. Replacing his .388 lifetime OBP with Granderson's .344 wouldn't make a whole lot of sense. Granderson batted leadoff because of his speed, not because he actually gets on base. Batting Granderson lower in the order also makes sense because he has a proclivity for hitting his home runs with no one on base. If he bats behind all those decent hitters they might get a little more bang for his blasts.

Or maybe at a label named Ariola, you got a bonus if you made a cover showing them?

It is ludicrous to compare Damon to Granderson. One didn't replace the other. Granderson plays CF, where he is an unmistakable upgrade over Cabrera/Gardner. But Damon plays LF, which will now be manned by Gardner/Wynn. And neither of them are anywhere close to the offensive force that Damon was (particularly at the Little League Stadium). Furthermore, it wasn't Granderson who eliminated Damon from the Yankee's plans, it was Wynn. Granderson doesn't replace Damon. The fact that he is an upgrade over Cabrera/Gardner may minimize the downgrade that Gardner/Wynn in LF represents, but the fact remains that any proper comparison looks at Damon vs Gardner/Wynn. That's the change on the field. As to Matsui vs Johnson, even factoring in age and some pretty major injuries in recent years (wrist, both knees), Matsui has a better record of being capable of playing. And he obviously brings better power. Also, Johnson is replacing Damon in the number two hole, and despite his great OBP, he brings one huge problem to that position: Utterly leaden feet. Damon on first, double to the gap, he scores. 19 times out of 20, Johnson just manages to huff his way to third base. Granted with Teixeira, A-Rod and Posada behind him, there will be dangerous hitters who can string together the hits to get him home. But is that really ideal? Can anyone name a slower number two hitter in the majors? I can't think of one offhand.

:party:

I've never been nearly that concerned about sound. I bought the first two XRCDs because they were $9 used, and the third one simply because it was a Japan-only release by Lionel Hampton with the Ray Brown Trio (I have everything Gene Harris recorded except for three LPs from the 70s). And I've only bought SACDs for the music - like another Ray Brown Trio recording, or a recent Chesky release. And I'm quite fine with my McMaster Sidewinder.

I have to suspect that eight million for one year was important for Boras (and presumably Damon) to show that they could get more for one year than the Yankees had offered and they declined (2/14 million). Now as to the impact on the Yankees (and indirectly on the Red Sox): The only way the Yankees have improved is if you believe that Nick Johnson + Brett Gardner/Randy Wynn is > Hideki Matsui + Johnny Damon. And there is no way you can claim that. Gardner and Wynn have anemic bats. There're no two ways around that. Damon will outhit in every possible way that combination, and I don't think that the improvement in defense is nearly enough to overcome it. Then there is Nick "Mr DL" Johnson. Great OBP - when he plays. Doesn't hit like he used to - his career BA is just over .270 yet it seems like, back in 2003, he just had this beautiful sweet swing that delivered hit after hit. His power numbers should go up at the Little League Home of the World Champions but do they even come close to Matsui? And how long before he is hurt anyway? When the Yankees traded for Granderson and Damon kept floating around out there, my greatest fear was that, no matter what was said, they would still sign Damon at some point. I celebrated when they didn't. The Yankee lineup is now unmistakeably shorter than it was last year. They better pray that none of their senior citizens break down or start declining further. They got lucky last year with health in the lineup and rotation. We'll see if that keeps up.

I guess this is one that makes you say "uhhh ... it's just like the title says."

I can only judge an SACD by the redbook layer, and there ain't nothin' special about the redbook layers I've heard on SACDs.