Dan Gould

It has run once already and will again tonite.

I have since found some additional info that seems to suggest that what the Rangers gave up really was worth McCarthy (that former number one pick projects as a front-line starter, for one) and also that McCarthy has had big problems with gopher balls, which I wasn't aware of. Still, for now, I say this was a steal for the Rangers.

What a Christmas present, Big Al! And a big old lump of coal for JazzyPaul What the hell is the White Sox GM thinking? Wasn't the whole idea of shopping the veteran/pricey pitchers to clear up a spot for McCarthy? Now you give him away for a number one pick from three years ago? The whole idea is to get younger but have proven talent. McCarthy is on the cusp of stardom and you give him away for a few prospects, and no one who looks like he will be as good. This trade is staggering and utterly stupefying. Congrats, Al, you got a potential ace for your staff, and now a solid if not spectacular 1-3. With the A's losing Zito and the Angels not doing big things in terms of the bat they need, I think that the Rangers can actually contend next year. Paul, you've got my sympathies. This may go down as a worse trade than Arroyo for Wily Mo. It might even become Sparky Lyle for the crap the Red Sox took back in '74 (?).

Smoking Out Loud is a fine disc, and the other one is on my list for eventual purchase.

According to reports out of Pittsburg, the Yankees are giving up Melky to get this Gonzales guy. So Yank fans get a terrific reliever just in time for Christmas, and clear up space for Bernie. I still say that's a bad deal, because Melky is young, your best defensive outfielder, and sure to continue to improve, while the chance that Bernie regresses dramatically has to be at least even, right? I'd much rather have Bernie filling in than Melky, and if another injury hits the outfield, having Bernie as the number one replacement isn't going to work. Snatching Gonzales definitely bothers me, if only because he's one of the few closers available in a trade and the Sox may have to overpay for Lidge now. At the same time, I'd be leery of his injury history (supposedly he was taking a physical yesterday). Are the Yanks trying to stock up on setup guys or will this mean that Farnsworth will be shopped? He had such an up and down season, didn't seem to adjust to New York and would suddenly tell Torre he was unavailable with back issues, I think the Yanks should cut ties. One other good thing this does for the Yankees: It puts Mike Myers back in the position he's supposed to be in: Lefthanded situational relief. The Sox didn't want him back because his inability to get righties out put more pressure on the pen than they wanted. So the Yanks signed him for big bucks and used him against righties and lefties. He had a better season than I thought he would though his ERA still rose over the last couple of months. Now the Yanks should just use him as their LOOGY only. So what if he makes 60 appearances to face 80 batters and makes 2.5 million doing it? Its only money, and the Yanks have plenty of it.

At least Concord has a sense of humor about their screw-ups.

Yeah! And what about those fuckers who plan to open their presents Sunday night instead of Monday morning? God I wanna kill them all.

I didn't have to wait between downloads, Ray. So long as you encoded the MP3s at a decent bitrate, I think we should be good for anyone who wants to do distribution in this manner.

Not sure how I missed this when it came up, but I've had this for at least a few years. Its nice, but I didn't pay no stinking five dollars for it. Amazon has both volumes, used, super cheap: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/002-4...x=7&Go.y=10 Also available new, but not so cheap. Brownie, are those Eastern Rebellion tunes with Ralph Moore? Edit: No need to reply, Guy - I just listened to a sound sample and know the answer already. You know, I think I saw this at a Borders once but hesitated because aside from the three Eastern Rebellion tracks, I wasn't all that interested in Shearing or latter day O'Day, or much that's on disc 2 either. But at the used prices Amazon sellers are offering, I think I'll pull the trigger.

Session in April, disc out in late summer, hopefully. I would like to include a DVD of some concert footage, maybe some studio stuff as well, but we'll see. It seems we're perpetually in debt and adding a DVD is just another couple thousand in the hole. Wasn't the plan for a live album? Or did it turn out that you didn't have enough topnotch stuff?

Thanks for the report, John. That one is definitely on my radar for the New Year. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll stumble across it when I've got one or two of those Border's gift cards in hand after Monday.

How's that CD, John? The Otis Rush live performance they rescued from the archives was really good, so I'm wondering about this one.

I like the recordings, particularly the first couple where the jazz content is higher, but I think the odds are something less than zero.

There's at least a chance I'll find some of that missing holiday spirit tonite when TNT shows the Patrick Stewart version of A Christmas Carol.

I ain't putting up money on my picks.

2006/07 NCCA FOOTBALL ___ ARIZONA STATE VS HAWAII ___ ___ MIDDLE TENNESSEE VS CENTRAL MICHIGAN ___ ___ FLORIDA STATE VS UCLA ___ ___ OKLAHOMA STATE VS ALABAMA___ ___ CALIFORNIA VS TEXAS A & M ___ ___ RUTGERS VS KANSAS STATE ___ ___ CLEMSON VS KENTUCKY ___ ___ OREGON STATE VS MISSOURI ___ ___ HOUSTON VS SOUTH CAROLINA ___ ___ TEXAS TECH VS MINNESOTA ___ ___ PURDUE VS MARYLAND ___ ___ NAVY VS BOSTON COLLEGE___ ___ TEXAS VS IOWA___ ___ GEORGIA VS VIRGINIA TECH___ ___ MIAMI (FLA) VS NEVADA___ ___ TENNESSEE VS PENN STATE ___ ___ AUBURN VS NEBRASKA___ ___ WEST VIRGINIA VS GEORGIA TECH___ ___ ARKANSAS VS WISCONSIN ___ ___ USC VS MICHIGAN ___ ___ BOISE STATE VS OKLAHOMA ___ ___ LOUISVILLE VS WAKE FOREST ___ ___ NOTRE DAME VS LSU___ ___ CINCINNATI VS WESTERN MICHIGAN___ ___ OHIO VS SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI ___ ___ FLORIDA VS OHIO STATE ___ TIE BREAKER TOTAL COMBINED POINTS BCS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME 50

Yeah? Then what the hell does it mean to a woman?

Yeah, but at least you didn't help us understand with copious bolding and coloring of the text.

I'm in Colorado waiting for a big dump of snow. I'll trade you. Brother, I spent 33 years of Christmas in Florida. You've got yourself a deal. I'll take snow for Christmas anyday over having your damn A/C running. I enjoy snow as much as the next person (spend my first 26 years in the plains or northeast) but I have to say, I have no problem with Christmas weather that is sunny and 75 degrees. And it didn't take me 33 Christmases in Florida to realize that.

Haven't we exhausted the hell out of this topic a few dozen times before? To summarize once again: My wife is a music lover, so she understands the need to explore and to purchase. Her personal preference is for metal and rock (Def Leppard, Sammy Hagar being her all-time favorites) but when we met she had recently worked as sound engineer at a supper club that booked a lot of jazzy cabaret acts, so she had exposure (and appreciation for) a lot of vocal jazz, and since that was more exposure and appreciation than anyone else I had met to that point, I knew I'd found "the one". She is perfectly happy to accompany me to any local show I want to see. Since the main outlet are various local "jazz societies" the acts tend toward the relatively conservative or the well-established, which is fine by me.

When I was a kid, my dad was VP of Syndication Sales for Taft Hanna-Barbera. He had nothing to do with the production end of it, but he was in charge of sales of all of their shows, including a number of live action shows (anyone remember the show that unleashed Patrick Duffy on the world, Man From Atlantis? that was one of theirs). Anyway, as a child I always got a kick out of that paternal connection to those great cartoons, and I especially loved family outings to NYC, when I'd get set up in a conference room with what I now realize was a Beta machine and could watch Wait Til Your Father Gets Home and Dastardly and Muttley whenever there was some down time. Barbera had a big hand in some of the greatest cartoons ever made, and for that I thank him.

I myself am having a mighty hard time getting into the holiday spirit so far. Anyone else got the Christmas blues? Or are y'all just happy as clams waiting for the big day?

I hate to say it but recently, death announcements are the things that have spurred me to pull things out of the archives. Otherwise, its been full-on investigation of the blues genre, trying to keep up with what is arriving while also going back to the recent purchases for at least one more, if not two, spins. Ironically, I do not put music on while surfing the web, even though this is clearly time that should profitably be used for listening. The biggest deficit in my listening time comes from working from home. I've been stuck on the same load of CDs in the carrier for way too long.

Thanks for that tip, Conrad. I was dreaming that we could scuttle the deal, but I'll at least be happier if it becomes a helluva lot shorter than 5 years and cheaper than 14 million per. If you're getting an injury prone guy with no power, why not re-sign Trot for the short term? Even with no home runs, he gave enough protection to Manny with his strong batting eye. Oh please please please please please ...

You like me. You really like me!