Dan Gould

Are you offering that as an excuse for what I've said, or as an explanation of what I supposedly am? How about C) "Both of the above"? There's a reason I'm 3000 miles away from my birthplace right now. I'll buy that.

Are you offering that as an excuse for what I've said, or as an explanation of what I supposedly am?

What Jim said.

As noted above, you have to have a rapidly escalating market to pull this off, or else you have to find an under-priced fix-up that you can do a decent a job on and gain that missing value back on the resale. Here in Florida, with the real estate market still "cool", for many of the idiot investors, they are still carrying their last deal, and possibly the biggest problem for the market is the fact that they are reaching the end as far as carrying that mortgage goes. So they are dumping those properties, and its hurting legitimate sellers. My Mother-in-Law has had her house on the market for quite a while. First at $390,000, now at $360,000. The problem is, even if she gets a buyer at that price, there are "investment" properties near her that have gone for $270,000 or $300,000, which will make getting an appraisal to support the selling price potentially difficult or impossible.

In Florida, you've got lots of left turn signals, but because of the volume of traffic, typically three or four idiots try to squeeze through even when their light is red. If I am first at the light going in the other direction, my approach is always to start accelarating through the intersection, regardless of the car or cars that are coming forward. Now, I am not going to hit them, I am simply reminding them that they are pulling off an asshole-move. The best thing is when there is someone in their passenger seat. Typically these nitwits aren't paying attention so that when they see my car coming straight at them (after all, they're the ones that will get hit, not the driver), I love the looks on their faces. Sometimes I even see them turn and say something sharply at the driver, presumably, "you almost got me killed". I realize you all think I am in fact one of those asshole aggressive drivers, and I don't give a shit if you do. Twenty five years as a licensed driver, and I have never had an accident or a moving violation - ever. I must be doing something right. Just because I am on a mission from God to point out the errors of the ways of the true assholes doesn't make me one too.

No, I believe it started with his aggressive driving and escaladed when you decided to be a smart-ass and slow down below the speed limit to "watch while he stewed behind me." Basically, you were both being dicks. Why mess with someone who is obviously extremely aggressive like that? It's kind of like poking a rabid dog in the eye with a stick and getting pissed when the thing bites your hand off. So now after advising people to "slow down and let them pass" you are telling me to speed up and break the law in order to let the ass get past me? I don't reward tailgaters. I drive at the legal speed limit and I did absolutely nothing wrong.

big pickups, and SUVs. The kind that scare the crap out of us Civic drivers.

I believe Rainy is correct. Criminal culpability pretty much requires drunkeness. The only thing the survivors can do is file wrongful death suits.

I was thinking, WTF until I clicked on the link. I've never seen a Japanese CD that high at the Groove. I'm not sure what sounds more wild - the soundtrack or the film.

...cheater! yeah, but what will be the reaction to Gary Mathews Jr and Jerry Hairston? I guess Matthews is lucky, that gigantic contract allowed him to retain the services of former OJ attorney, Bob Shapiro. Too bad Johnny Cochran dropped dead, I'm sure he'd have preferred to hire him (and we would have enjoyed the show that much more - "if the needle didn't stick, you must acquit!" )

That Al Grey is definitely a nice one. Unfortunately, the only other really decent Tangerine release I know is John Anderson, Time Will Tell, a big band recording with Sweets Edison, Bobby Bryant, Teddy Edwards, Harold Land, Jack Wilson among other west coast guys. Back to Percy. Anyone familiar with this 1992 CD? Its culled from shows between 1981-83: I only became aware of it because I stumbled upon a DVD on the same label titled Mark Naftalin's Blue Monday Party Volumes 1 & 2. Naftalin played piano backing touring blues acts at this club in the Bay area and put out these recordings on his Winner label (the "Blue Monday" program actually won local Emmy's, I believe). The DVD is pretty cool, with one show featuring Lowell Fulson solo for 15 minutes, Lowell backing Percy, and then the second show features John Lee Hooker. What's really cool (at least the first time) is that one of the Hooker tracks allows you to use your remote to pick different camera angles. Would be really cool if you could be the director for the whole show! So anyway, I'm thinking about this late-period Percy document. Ought to be good, I just haven't pulled the trigger.

I don't know why I didn't remember this when this discussion started, but I have a story to offer regarding the recommended "slow down til the tailgaiter passes" response: About a year and a half ago I'm driving home from my Sunday morning bagel run. The road is a six lane, main East-West artery that has a 45 MPH speed limit. I'm in the far left lane, driving appoximately 50 MPH (keep in mind, there are plenty of traffic lights on this stretch of road). An SUV roars up behind me, at most 6 inches off my bumper. I do what I usually do in these situations - I introduce the a-hole to the speed limit. I back off to about 42 MPH and watched while he stewed behind me. Finally there is a gap and this idiot shot across to the far right lane, passed me, and shot back across into my lane, cutting me off and then slowing to a 20 MPH crawl (I could see what he was going to do so I was ready when it happened). I now shoot the a-hole the bird. He stopped dead in his tracks in the middle of the travel lane!. I slam on my brakes, and barely miss him, and now it is time to get the hell out of Dodge. He is coming around the corner of his car as I am cranking on the wheel to get around to his right (I even nudged the fucker's bumper a bit). Fortunately, the cars around us who watched this transpire had all stopped a safe distance behind and I had no problem getting around him and out of harm's way. Now, I do not know what that asshole was going to do, but I'll tell you this much: It started with his aggressive driving. It escalated with his tit-for-tat slow down. If I had been armed, he'd be dead. I would have shot first and asked questions later, because after all, he has stopped in the middle of the road and come towards me. For all I really know, he came out of the car with his own gun, and I am alive only because I had room to get out of there. And I'll also tell you the great thing about living in Florida: in all likelihood, I'd be found not guilty. After all, only a few years before, a female motorist got into a road rage situation, and when she got off I-95, the man followed her, got out of his car at the traffic light and approached her. She shot him dead from her seat - and was acquitted. The jury said that she had no way of knowing what this man might do and that her actions were justified. So I would have precedent on my side.

Comments: .... And then there is the special category of critics who praised "Hatto's" recording of Work X after dismissing in a previous review the recording of that work that "Hatto's" recording was pirated from. No responsibility there. Reich already pointed out what you offer as something "missing" from his column. I for one say that Reich is entirely correct as far as he goes, and Larry adds an important additional element, the "boosterism" and the back-story that helped to sell the fraud. Certainly anyone who panned the original recording and then hyped Hatto's supposed work should be laughed out of the profession.

Looks like Hans was posting at the same time, and between the two of us, you've got all the info you need. Great disc, by the way.

You'll have to consult AMG for the track listings for what tunes go with what personnel, but you may be a bit surprised, at least by some of the early personnel: Tracks 1-3: March 23, 1962, NYC Hank Crawford, alto Teddy Edwards, tenor Ray, piano Chuck Norris (?) guitar (question mark is in the booklet) Tracks 4-7 1962, LA Crawford, alto Fathead, tenor Ray, piano Sonny Forriest, guitar Tracks 8-11: February 21, 1963, LA Marcus Belgrave. trumpet Crawford, alto Ray, piano Howard Roberts, guitar Edgar Willis (track 8) bass guitar Al McKibbon (9-11) bass guitar Milt Turner, drums Gerald Wilson arranger Tracks 12-15 January 20, 1964, LA Ray, Edgar Willis, others unknown Tracks 16-18 circa 1964, LA personnel unknown Tracks 19-22 February 21. 1963, LA Mike Akopoff (?) Billy Preston (?) organ others unknown Tracks 23-26 Spring 1967, LA personnel unknown Tracks 27-28 1974, LA Johnny "Guitar" Watson, guitar others unknown Tracks 3-8, 12-13,, 15, 17-18 From My Jug and I Tracks 2-3, 8, 11, 17, 18, 21, 24-26 From Bought Blues All produced by Ray Charles except tracks 27-28

Good for you, Michael. A regular slot at the Vanguard would be a nice thing to have, and I'm sure the band will be ready to blow when you go in the studio.

The production company has the rights not only to sign the winner, but has first dibs on all finalists. That doesn't mean they have to manipulate the voting in any way. The winner has a built-in audience for the first CD, and that's all it takes initially. Only if you can provide 15 synonyms for "atrocious" in ten seconds or less without consulting a thesaurus.

Judy the chimp wrings out the sponge but my wife won't. Would I be taking my life into my hands if I were to point this out to her? (My wife I mean, not Judy the chimp).

Now that I see which one she is, yeah - the background singer with the talent to step out front. Oh HELL yeah - but I am afraid that when push comes to shove she'll fall to one of the pretty young things, for no rational reason at all except that "America" gets to decide. Let's face it, every year there is an African American girl on the show who can sing the hell out of "Valentine" or "Summertime" but it never gets them to the promised land. Her best hope is that this is the exposure she needs to start her career. As for the men, I have to say I can't stand that beat-boxing twerp and I can only imagine how many beat-boxing fools will show up next year for the auditions. Despite his rather unorthodox appearance for a pop star, I do like Chris Sligh's voice and his sense of humor ("I'm sure you're all wondering why I've called this meeting"). The interesting question going forward is how long will the would-be porn star, Antonella, be kept around by horn-dog teen age boys who figure the only way we'll see some video is if she's still in the competition?

This seems to have slipped past most people in the rush to discuss Iverson's approach to interviewing, etc., but hearing that there is so much oral history in his Parker bio makes me think it is going to be quite worthwhile, regardless of what assertions Stanley comes up with. Just publishing the recollections of these eyewitnesses is important in and of itself.

Yes, but Jenks came out of the first game after like 5 pitches. Hope he's OK, Paul, and that you enjoy your birthday.

Good call, Clem, I'd completely forgotten that the terrain isn't nearly as flat as the south Florida I've gotten used to. The level of local talent goes without saying, though. They exist everywhere except Gainesville, where sadly the gene that makes them UF fans also turns them butt ugly. I should also mention that Something Wild, Ray Liotta's debut film and starring pre-plastic surgery Melanie Griffith, was shot partially in Tallahassee during one of my summer vacations.

Of this I have no doubt.