Dan Gould

Very surprising and sad. I have to admit I found his voice tiresome at times, but he was good in the Billy Crystal movies and especially good in "Good Morning Vietnam". RIP.

Very surprising and sad. I have to admit that I sometimes found his voice annoying, but he was also very good in many roles, particularly "Good Morning Vietnam". RIP.

Mary Kay Mary Kay Leterneau Van Halen

Will this work on DRM protected .wma? I haven't the foggiest idea.

I think Dan Gould deserves a stamp as well! If nominated I shall not run, if elected I will not serve.

Well, big thanks again to Andy Bleaden, my faithful record scout, as my copy of the Vee Jay single arrived today. Took quite a bit of audio editing to get the pops out (and the B Side, Can't Keep From Loving You, remains in rougher shape) but I can now report that Baby Face Willett sounded pretty darn good doing the blues/R&B vocal thing. "Why" is an uptempo lament summed up by the first line, "Why do my baby always treat me wrong? Tell me why ..." the vocal is kinda smooth but expressive, really kind of reminds me of Ray Charles, particularly in his Charles Brown bag. Red Holloway adds plenty of tenor punctuations for Baby Face's complaints. "Can't Keep From Loving You" is slower and starts with some churchy organ (not really in a good way). I thought that this was going to be some lame ballad, based on the opening, but its actually a very soulful blues in which the Ray Charles influence is even stronger, to my ears, than the A side. It is way cool to hear Baby Face in his original musical millieu. Its too bad he didn't record other vocals later in his career. He actually reminds me of another excellent organ player who has a strong, soulful voice in addition to his fine organ playing: Jim Alfredson. Seriously, here's hoping that we do hear Jim on a future Organissimo album.

A "one stop" is between a distributor and a retail store if the store doesn't do enough business to "earn" an account with a distributor/label. Most indie stores buy from one stops. A rack jobber is a one stop with connections to put "product" in non music stores such as drug stores, dept stores, etc. All worthy enterprises in the day. Thanks! And I think that some of those stores that do have enough business to 'earn' an account with a distributor/label may still use "one stops" for special orders. Witness Sally's Place in Westport CT.

Rod, there's a reason why those labels sell through North Country more than anything else. In the tiny jazz universe, the "experimental music" segment sells, what? Maybe .05% out of the 3% that jazz used to sell? How can any major retailer like a Borders be expected to stock that? I wouldn't appreciate the tirade about "jazz idiot" (being one myself) but otherwise, who can possibly blame the company for canning a buyer who makes purchasing decisions like that?

While agree it is unlikely that Martha picked the tunes, I don't believe her empire is so vast that she isn't fully aware that a decision was made to license a collection of Christmas-themed jazz tunes.

Harold Solomon Michael Chang Bjorn Borg

In an office where I worked, the woman who made the coffee would put some salt in it, supposedly to cut down on the bitterness. So, since I was always the first one to arrive, I offered to get the coffee started so no one would have to wait when they got to work (I always had enough coffee at home in the morning that I never drank any at the office). Well, apparently I oversalted the coffee because everyone looked like this That was the first, and last, time I made coffee for that office.

Chuck E. Cheese Chuck E's In Love Rickie Lee Jones

Hamp Gramps The JAMFS

I know what you mean, this cover had (and has) the same effect on me. There's just something about it. I don't deny its cool, but c'mon, this is the coolest thing ever:

Dan, I don't know about this on again off again thing. Four days ago, you'd checked out completely. I recall saying to myself, with Dan gone, who am I going to have to annoy? Now, it appears you're back. This kind of fence sitting reminds me of the Democrat's connnumdrum over what to do in Iraq. Do we leave now? Do we stay the course? Do we get out but stay close enough to get right back in? I'm afraid we're going to have to call for a decision. Perhaps after this weekend in Fenway? Up over and out. If we get a 4-1 or 5-0 outcome for either team, we'll have a decision. But like the Iraq conundrum for every Democrat other than Joe Leiberman, I may be in, but my heart's not in it. And I really resent the people who've put me in this position.

Like I said, WTF numbers come first!

I am 100% behind Guy's comments except to add that it seems as though there should have been an option for "I never heard of this before, and it sounds like an abomination."

I don't know but I hope it stays MIA for three more games in Fenway!

John Wayne Bobbitt (connected to Little Willie John at both ends, eh? ) John Wayne Gacy John David Stutts

Gordon Jump Venus Johnny Fever

Back to back horrible starts by Wang, and he brings his 5+ road ERA to Fenway on Friday. Maybe I did overreact.

As we get ready for the Little League World Series, check out this article. In Little League, Farce Ends In Forfeit

Mr. Goodbar Mr. Syms Mr. Mustard