Dan Gould

Actually, Dave, since I think we are both deeply worried about our respective teams, it might be best for the pale hose to start winning again, and right now. Think about it this way: They are still 3.5 games up. If they get swept, they might be tied for first and the wild card come Thursday night. That leaves barely ten days for them to continue to fall apart enough that the second place team in the east takes over the wild card. Might be better if the White Sox cool off the Indians (who, let's face it, are due to lose a few) ... that would put the AL East teams (assuming they don't start losing themselves) in position to both make the playoffs, or at least both will be in the lead for a play off spot. But for the White Sox to fall completely out of it, they need to lose probably 10 or 11 of whatever is left (13?). Whereas, with the Indians much closer, they can lose fewer and still finish out of the running.

Considering the damage that wild card teams have done in the past few seasons, yes. ← The problem being, those teams fought and scrapped for the wild card and were playing their best ball going into the playoffs. Doesn't sound too much like the White Sox, who are a .500 team since July.

Here's a good detailing of Trudeau's personal/business history, from the Pittsburg Post Gazette: Here's a link to a compelling analysis of the script of Trudeau's infomercial http://www.infomercialwatch.org/tran/trudeau.shtml And a New York State Consumer Protection Board Press Release about Trudeau and his book: http://www.consumer.state.ny.us/pressrelea...5/august505.htm

so the Yanks are on a six game winning streak ... but they still don't have the lead for any spot in the play-offs. So I don't know if they should feel really good, or something less than that. Do you think we'll ever hear from jazzypaul again if the White Sox back into the play-offs as the wild card?

Oh man are you ever right!!!!!!!!!!(Riddler lite! ) I don't think he is all that legit either...at every bookstore I have worked at, his book ends up being returned a lot.(And the books curl up after sitting on the shelf for awhile, perhaps because they are evil) Dan, you need to revise your poll! ← Yeah, except that I should have made it clear this was the subcategory of charlatans. I agree Tony Little and the other dude are annoying, but as far as I can tell, they aren't frauds.

Maybe I have too much time on my hands on the weekend, but its pretty hard to avoid some of these snake oil salesmen. But the wonderful thing about the Internet is how easily you can find out more about the true backgrounds of some of these people. The Chutzpah Award has to be a tie between the ForEx scammers (for telling you how wonderful it is that you can leverage a small amount of money into a much bigger position in the market without mentioning that if the deal goes bad, you're responsible for the full amount!) and Kevin Trudeau, who has to be the biggest fraud and slimiest scumbag to walk the Earth. What a country we live in when Trudeau can be banned from infomercials for life and then turn around and publish a "book" and go right back to doing the same thing. I can only hope that it will only be a matter of time before the feds catch up with him again, and hopefully put him away for a long time.

I was curious about the Ray Brown, I'm Walkin and asked Hiroshi at Early Records. He tells me the band is: Ray Brown, Ichiro Masuda, Conte Candoli, Jeff Condoli, Pete Christlieb, Cedar Walton, Billy Higgins, John Guerin, John Clayton

Mrs. Vibes is purty. Just kidding about the I know that's your responsibility.

I'd say its Jon Gordon:

On the other thread about Foa Records, the link Mike Weil included shows that all Foa Records are hybrids.

is easily available. This one: has been withdrawn due to contract issues. If you can find it, its real good. For Ledonne on piano with a stellar group of youngsters, I recommend this one: Josh Redman, Jon Gordon, and Ryan Kisor make up the front line. Its very, very, very much in the Blue Note tradition.

No coincidence, I just saw that your link went to more details on the releases, and the tracks are exactly the same.

Mike, a while back, through Red Trumpet, I got an XRCD titled Mack the Knife with Ray Brown, Gene Harris, Jeff Hamilton and Ron Eschete. So it was basically the Ray Brown group backing Hamp, plus Eschete. I am suspecting that this is the same release you've found on this other label. © lists Lionel Hampton Enterprises, but here's what makes me think its out again on this new label: credits are split between "USA Staff" and "Japanese Staff" and the "co-producer" is Ichiro Masuda, the same guy apparently on the "new" Milt Jackson release. Could be coincidence, could be not.

And one more to go tonite. If any team should bring Mr. Small back to Earth, shouldn't it be the D-Rays? Of course I agree with my Yankee friends that Papi is the very definition of an MVP. To get hosed because he DHs (and it really isn't some of the time, I think he's DH about 125 out of 140 games or so) is ridiculous. His stats in clutch situations are just plain sick. I think I saw he's slugging 1.000 after the seventh inning? And with his recent surge he now leads the league in 2/3 of the Triple Crown categories, and his RBIs actually lead the majors. One thing that will work in his favor is Manny's up and down year. While his power numbers are where you expect, his average isn't and no one speaks of Manny as an MVP candidate. So there shouldn't be any splitting of votes like there was last year. That's what bothered me about last year's MVP balloting. Sheffield bitching about not winning it? Head to head, Sheffield was beaten by both Manny and Ortiz last year, it was only vote splitting that put him ahead of the two-headed MAHNSTER in Boston. As far as being DH, the ironic thing is that as we saw in St. Louis last year, he really isn't a bad first baseman. He's got very soft hands on grounders and low throws, his one shortcoming is being so big and not particularly athletic on dives, so his range is limited.

Well thanks for all the happy thoughts and wishes, everyone. Not the greatest birthday ever, but since I always make sure to take care of myself, I did enjoy: Out of This World, The Three Sounds (JRVG) Soular Energy, The Ray Brown Trio (Pure Audiophile LP remaster) Killer Joe, One For All (Venus) And as is usually the case from my friends and family, there are multiple gifts yet to come. See, I'll get to turn 40 several times in the next few days! You know, I've been kinda bummed about this "landmark" birthday, but thanks Ron, this makes it all worthwhile. I have to say, this post made me think of this:

BTW, Robert, I finally checked out your sound clip, you get a big . Ever check out Gene Harris for a supremely bluesy approach to jazz? ← Thanks Dan. Oh yeah Gene Harris! In fact as we were driving through Michigan on the way to Chicago I was playing a newly bought CD - "Bam Bam Bam" I also have a Little Piece of Heaven. I'd rather listen to Gene - than our Oscar Peterson - for inspiration. In fact I was just this morning thinking about how I fell into blues-based improv and whether or not I'll ever be an "out" kind of guy. Ah well. I am going to Barry Harris' workshop in Toronto in November so maybe I can correct my bebop deficiencies. ← You've got two of the best of the Concords there. I love "Summertime" from Bam Bam Bam and just about all of the Little Piece of Heaven. Here's the one I always recommend:

BTW, Robert, I finally checked out your sound clip, you get a big . Ever check out Gene Harris for a supremely bluesy approach to jazz?

Doesn't look like ANYBODY is following the drummer! I hope she can keep time. ← Well, you can see the guitarist ain't lookin in the right direction. But don't let the closed eyes fool you, the harp guy knows where its at!

And there you are, following the beat with no help from the drummer. Seriously though, congrats!

Or as he put it, American Music, Texas Style Already discussed here.

C'mon, how can you trust the results of a poll in which "I'm Henry VIII, I Am" doesn't even appear?

Like telling her its not the outfit that makes her look fat?

I suspect that when all is said and done, Federer is going to break Sampras' record of 14 Singles Slams. I mean, he's got 6, he's only 24 - its up to him whether he wants to strive for that record. But I do think he's going to be number one all time. And here's why: the dominance over his contemporaries. Even when Pete was dominant, there were players that had his number, or could, like Becker, Edberg, Agassi. None of those guys dominated the way Federer does (winner of 6 of the last 10 Slams, and never lost a Slam final ). Unless someone picks it up, or someone new comes along, I think we're looking at continued dominance. And I have to say, as someone who hates girly-men who hit two handed backhands like they're Chris Evert, I really love watching Federer's backhand. Just a thing of beauty.

Well, it took about 90% of the season, but the Yanks finally got the Unit they thought they'd traded for. Its just unfortunate that such a tremendous performance by Wakefield was for naught. Critical win for the Yanks, as I think everyone agreed that five games with twenty to play was too daunting. But I'll still take three games, and if your a Sox fan, you have to regard three games as "par": if the lead goes above, then the final three games at Fenway won't matter. If the lead goes below, they will, and if it stays the same, then the Yanks will have to sweep at Fenway to steal the division. Interesting to note the home/away splits for the remainder of the year (both teams are currently two games under .500 away from home): Red Sox: 11 games at home, 9 away Yankees: 7 games at home, 13 away That's going to be a tough road for the Yanks, unless the Jays and Orioles roll over and play dead for 'em.