Dan Gould

If Bonds doesn't come back because of the testing regimen, what does that say about your objections and suspicions????? And furthermore, if he never comes back for whatever reason, good riddance. There are, if I recall correctly, 15, 30 and 60 day DISABLED LISTS - injured reserve is NFL. Players do NOT go on the DL at their own decision. Disabling a player - especially if he is an important member of the team - is not something any team does lightly, and its nothing they would do on the players say-so. The player would have to convince the medical staff that he is legitimately injured and cannot help the team for a minimum of 15 days from the last day he played. NO TEAM is going to use the DL to help players get 'clean' and furthermore there is another reason that your objections are misplaced and misguided: Drug tests are RANDOM. HOW does a player know he needs to get himself on the DL then? He DOESN'T KNOW when he will be tested. If he's using drugs, cycling on and off, what is he going to do? Every three weeks say he has a hangnail and get himself on the DL? What if he gets tested in the interim period? Your objections on this are flat out silly. As for your suspicions over the wording of the penalties, fine. If you believe with all your heart that baseball isn't serious about drug tests and the union doesn't want them, then that fits right in with your beliefs. But the fact is that NO ONE on the union side said that this was what was negotiated. NO ONE on the Union side objected to changing the wording to reflect what was negotiated in the first place. The holier-than-thou congressman can huff and puff all they want, but there was no evidence ever presented that indicated this was anything other than what baseball and the union said it was: An incorrect copy of the agreement being sent to Congress. Are you aware that there were PLAYERS saying that this is not what was negotiated? PLAYERS saying that they understood that the penalty was suspension, period. Its a non-issue unless you actually think that Congress did a great job last week in their "investigation". Furthermore, the fact is that this is the ONLY thing that Congress hammered the commish and the union on. Its the only thing they found wrong with the testing agreement, and it was a false issue all along. I know I am not going to convince you otherwise and I don't intend to continue to try. But try to remember at least one thing: In the first year of testing, positive steroid tests were 5-7%. In the second year, it was 1-2%. What do you think it will be this year? Yes, I suspect that dedicated cheaters will continue to use steroids and masking agents to try to cheat the system. But as players get caught, ARE SUSPENDED and publicly identified, the number of players who continue to cheat will continue to decline. Someone mentioned Human Growth Hormone: yeah, its a serious problem, and its something that there aren't very good tests on, as I understand it. But tests keep getting developed and evaluated, and baseball is supporting those efforts. At some point in the relatively near future, HGH will be something that can be tested on, and according to this agreement, it WILL be tested on, without further agreement or discussion with the player's Union. Yeah, it is a crappy drug testing program ....

Evan, I have the Gene Harris Maybeck volume and its very good (and other people who aren't a GHF have said the same thing). Hank Jones is also very good.

Except that it is the only opinion that counts, cuz he's the one who's in charge of Blue Note reissues. And, his opinion happens to coincide with the opinion of the label's founder.

Its true that Green's First Session was rejected originally and then put out after Cuscuna was prevailed upon to give it another listen ... but like Tom says, I wouldn't hold out a lot of hope. It seems likely this is one of those dates people will always wonder about, but if the guy's didn't have it that day, there's no reason it should be released, or even get all that much of a re-listening. Your best bet to hear it would be to become the next generation's Michael Cuscuna, the guy who realizes his life's dream and gets access to the tape vault and control over the reissue program. But I don't think Michael's going anywhere anytime soon.

Whatever happened to Michigan? If its urban sprawl that is bothering you, I do not recommend New York, New Jersey or most of Connecticut. Another factor working against those states (and Pennsylvania, I think) is that there are state income taxes. You will definitely take a major hit there. On the other hand, if you are in Westchester County or Connecticut, we'd be able to hook up whenever I visit the folks. Then I'd be able to knock off another name from my list of organissimo buds. Er, I mean, scratch off another name from my list of organissimo buds. Aw hell, you know what I mean.

Father comes home to find his 9 year old son needing help with his homework. He needs to learn the difference between theoretically and realistically. Father says no problem and tells him to go ask his mother if she would sleep with the mailman for a million dollars. The son goes to his mother and then comes back and tells his father that she said yes, she'd sleep with the mailman for a million dollars. Father says, go find your older sister and ask her the same question. Kid comes back and tells his father that she, too, would sleep with the mail man for a million dollars. Father says, "OK. theoretically we're sitting a on a two million dollar windfall. Realistically, we live with a couple of whores."

Supposedly the gun was his grandfather's, who was a veteran of the police force. So, there's really no way to have kept it out of his hands short of the grandfather keeping it locked in a shatter-proof case.

Yes, it is I, the former Gene Harris Fanatic. As I said, good memory, but I'm not sure who you might have been at a different time on a different BBS. As for the LP, I generally agree with you; if you like Timmons and Sonny Red, its something to be curious about, but its a loose live gig that doesn't have a great deal to recommend it other than the two principals being on board.

You've got a good memory to specifically not include me in your question!

I think I have the Sweets as an American Record Society LP, the one with the pink inner sleeves. Got it on ebay for a nice price, and it is indeed a great album.

the Joe Newman is pretty nice, Oliver Nelson is the other horn if memory serves.

I had no idea this had become common. I thought the "in" thing was putting the name of your school on seat of the shorts. Personalizing the fantasy is a bit much, when the American way is to advertise a thing not a person.

Oops, now I see that it seems to only cover recorded concerts and recording sessions, not just gigs. Sorry.

Ray, There was a link posted in my thread about Bird and Don Wilkerson. Here you go.

Congrats, guys! Looks like Greg's earning his keep!

The passing of shrdlu's wife was quite some time before his recent hiatus. He announced it, wasn't around much for a while, and then came back and was a fairly regular contributor.

Thanks for the links, Ray. I particularly like these directions. They're simple, and seem a lot better than my wife's warm water and soft cloth suggestion:

I did think about it, but I'm going to let it come to me first. I've bothered the seller enough about this. And I do think that I'll work on the cleaning myself, either with my wife's suggestion or with the local record dealer, so I'm hopeful that at minimum I can get a transfer done with my own set-up, and then decide whether to pass it on for possible re-mastering, depending on the results.

All I'm hoping for is audibility! BTW, I got the seller in time - he's agreed to double-box. I'm feelin' better that this can make the journey intact.

I went back to the auction item page, and I couldn't believe what the page visit counter is at: 63. When I won this thing last night, it was at 26. Nothing like a link from Organissimo to drive traffic to another site!

Actually, Allen, they gave me a different name, Vince Caro. Looks like he lives in the 'burbs of Westchester County, New York-maybe they use him cuz he's closer to Stamford.

Allen, believe me, I am not putting you on the side in favor of the "pro" (though I honestly did not know how extensive your experience is). Free help is much better than from another guy who i supposedly "reasonable" especially if its using the same equipment with the same expertise!

And thanks, Kevin, for talking with Michael about it. Maybe if this yields good sonics, it could go onto the start of a Mosaic Select that Michael's been thinking about. I could certainly get Michael in touch with Janie Harris.

I've already talked to the seller and he promises to do the utmost with the packaging. I don't even want to think of the possibility of it arriving in pieces. I'm going to email again and ask for double boxing, too.

Allen, I may take you up on that! I'll send you an email after I get the 78 next week and I see what I can do. I definitely want to get the best possible transfer I can, and it sounds like you've got the equipment to work on it. Thanks!