Dan Gould

What exactly makes this a likely scam? The guy gives reasonable disclaimers, and obviously some people believed what he's saying about this item.

AL East: Red Sox AL Central: Indians Al West: Angels Wild Card: Yanks or Twins NL East: Braves NL Central: Cubs NL West: Dodgers Wild Card: Marlins Reasons why the Yankee streak of Division Championships will come to an end: 1. The continuing aging of the team. Bringing back Tino and Stanton won't turn the clock back to 1998 - they're past their prime, period. 2. What rational person would say that Pavano and Wright will be more effective or bigger winners than Leiber and El Duque were? So, Johnson if healthy is a big improvement, but two times out of five, you run out a worse pitcher than last year. How does that add up to more wins overall? 3. The Sox have greater pitching depth, including a legit ace waiting in the wings - Wade Miller - plus Halama in the bullpen if anyone gets hurt. The Yanks have 5 pitchers and nothing else, two of the five are 40+ and injury prone and one is 29 and has had multiple shoulder surgeries. I know, Schilling is starting the season on the DL, but there's nothing wrong with the ankle, its simply a function of getting his arm ready for the season. 4. The Sox have a healthy Nixon to start the season, an outstanding fourth outfielder (Jay Payton) who would start for most teams, and added one of the very best shortstops in the league, Renteria.

Thanks for sharing that memory, Brownie. Interesting that people like Dex had been booking three or four week stays at the Montmartre, and Ben Webster was gigging pretty regularly, too. Was it stiff competition for work among musicians of the next generation as well as competition from rock and fusion and A/G?

I don't think "somewhat tragic" adequately describes someone who, after being a Blue Note recording artist for 16 years, spent the last 16 years of his life making but a single record, losing a lung and sometimes living on the streets. ****************** Thanks, SW, for completing the transcription job. Interesting that this author gives Mobley's work on Breakthrough such high marks.

Paul, there was a time there where I was hearing real, legit jazz on the Weather Channel also - but they didn't keep it up, at least not when I've been tuning in.

Right now I mostly only get commercial work but oh, yeah, there's a whole world of VOs out there that I should be pursuing. Sounds like your friend does imaging mostly. That's one area I could get into more, even though I've worked like a dog to lose my pukey announcer voice. A whole nother area is industrials, which are all of those straight narrations for videos, DVDs, training materials, promotional material for the general public ... unfortunately I really need time and some training to produce other types of demos in order to properly pursue those other areas.

Doin Allright is terrific and shouldn't be missed. I still haven't voted on this one becaue its really impossible to choose. It would be easier to pick the least favorites which would be Dexter's Calling, Landslide and Our Man in Paris but only because I reach for those less frequently than Doin Allright, One Flight Up, Go and Swingin' Affair. But they're all great. Just those latter four are a bit greater for me.

Paul, What's your source for Florida being a "bubble" state? I've read about suspicions of a developing real estate bubble, but no specifics of what states are considered "bubble states" and how that is determined. While rates are rising of course, my strong feeling is that short of the return of Carter-era interest rates, or a season full of Category 5 Hurricanes, the demand for Florida real estate isn't ending anytime soon. Yes, refi's are going to decline as rates rise, but Florida continues to grow by leaps and bounds, and its always a churning market with people constantly on the move. I think that in a situation of rising rates, loan originators will still find an active market in places like Florida, Texas, California, Arizona.

While this will definitely effect my time for posting, believe me, I'm not leavin' the Org behind. There'll be plenty of time to lock horns as the Sox roll toward a repeat. In fact, I'll start: How do you think David Wells will be received at Yankee stadium on Sunday, wearing the uniform of the World Champions?

I made reference to it in my now defunct A to Z thread, but now that there's a path going forward, I thought I'd share: I lost my job on March 1 but in the past month I have been working on satisfying the state licensing requirements to become a Mortgage Broker. And, the test results just came in - I got a 95 (75 is passing, surprisingly, 55% fail the first time they take the test) and now its only a matter of time before I get the official piece of paper from the state. I'm hoping to place my license with the same company that has hired my wife, and I've got an appointment with the boss on Tuesday, so hopefully I will starting my new job shortly. I call it a "job" rather than a career, because I plan to continue to do voice overs whenever I get called, and we have worked on the studio equipment at home to allow for a better recording environment so I can pursue morevoice over castings via the internet. In fact, being a Mortgage Broker is especially appealing because by law, you are an independent contractor. So, whenever I get called for a spot, I will be free to go do it without having to ask the boss. That is very helpful because, if I were to pursue "regular" 40 hour a week employment, it would be very awkward to tell people during interviews that I'm very interested in the job and will work hard, but oh, by the way, I do voice overs and I usually get booked about two hours in advance, so there will be some days when I may give you a two hour heads up and then have to leave for Miami. Not bloody likely. Then the alternative becomes something horrible like evenings and weekends at the 7-11 or doing telemarketing and there's no way I could last very long doing that. So, if anyone has advice about the mortgage origination business, feel free to share. And anyone in the state of Florida looking for a mortgage or a re-fi, I'm your guy! And BTW, I'd say that the A to Z thread is officially kaput, as this job will require lots and lots of phone time and I won't even be able to lug the boom box and CDs into the office.

Uh, was that you or JERRY SEINFELD? I think we know the answer.

OK, I've decided to ship the 78 on Monday, via Priority Mail. Its secured in cardboard, wrapped in bubble wrap, inside an LP box, the box is wrapped in bubble wrap, its all resting on those flaky things, with more bubble wrap and cardboard on the sides and top to provide even more shock absorption. In short, this thing is like the pea under the princess's mattress. If something happens, it was meant to happen.

That's simple enough then. CD format it shall be.

I just discovered that the vote is a four way tie. I think this means that all participants must receive a custom compilation of these classics. Just PM your address to me and I'll get that out to you, though I have to warn you that Billy Don't Be a Hero is going to have to be from a pretty battered 45.

How exactly do you read those words and not hear Terry Jacks singing them?

If you take the data CD and burn an audio CD, it will play in any CD player. Maybe I'm off here - but when I do any editing, its from a wav file, not an audio CD. If I edit an audio CD, I have to convert or "extract" the wav file, introducing another step into the chain before you have an editable format. So, as long as your audio PC has a disc drive, you should be able to copy a wav file (data disc) onto the hard drive and do your stuff. Still pondering the issue of shipping ... I'll let you know when I make up my mind.

I am burning a CDR, but not as an audio CD, as a data CD (the wav files), not an audio CD which would have to be extracted back to a wav for you to do anything to it. I wasn't going to email the wav files to you-they're way too big for an email attachment. I was planning to ship on Monday, although my wife asks an interesting question: If I'm worried about the possibility of breakage, is it a better idea just to mail the disc with the wav files and see what you can do to them first, before shipping the 78 again? I guess it depends on just how much better your source file will be if you can experiment with different stylus to get the best sound. I don't know. I will definitely worry about shipping, regardless of how carefully I pack. Should we err on the side of caution and let you work on the original wav file first, and see what we get, and then decide to ship the 78 if you think you can definitely get a better result with your turntable/stylus options?

Done. I'm burning as a wav file, not an audio CD, so you don't have to go through the extraction process, you can just copy it to the hard drive.

Allen, I'll be sure to include the original raw file for both tracks (raw, that is, except for the sped up sampling to get it to 78 speed - or do you want to do that yourself?). I'll also include the results with only the hiss NR and EQ'd for treble. I only sent the processed file without it being EQ'd. With the treble adjustment, the compression effect is definitely less noticeable to my ears. I also think that artifact you noticed comes from the second NR sweep. Anyway, looking forward to hearing what you can do.

Good suggestion, but I mentioned above that the TT used to make this transfer doesn't even play 78s, I had to use the software to adjust the speed accordingly. On top of that, with the hisses and pops, there's no way I'm going to be playing this at all once I get the best possible transfer on CD. In fact, I'm considering giving the 78 itself to Gene's widow, once I'm done with the transfers. So no need to invest in 78 cartridges.

IN case anyone's curious, here's a before/after to demonstrate the clean-up: Not the best since the before shot is more of a closeup, but you get the idea.

Update: Goldwave allowed me to convert to 78 speed with no trouble and no change to the music. B-) Its also allowed me to do some noise reduction and some compensatory EQ-ing, such that I think I've got some pretty decent sounding transfers. It'll be interesting to see the results Allen gets and how they compare. So, here are some discographical and musical observations. The recording date and composer credits are based on information provided by Janie Harris, Gene's widow, who told me that the song titles "sound like Gene." Demo Recording by The Four Sounds Lonnie Walker, tenor sax Gene Harris, piano Andy Simpkins, bass Bill Dowdy, drums Recording Date: 1955-56 Location: Boddie Recording, Cleveland, Ohio Inez (Gene Harris) 2:25 A ballad feature for Lonnie Walker, "Inez" starts with its rather simple four note melody, stated twice, by Harris alone. While Walker's solo stays close to the melody, he does put a lot of feeling into the notes. Unfortunately, there is a quick fade just as Harris' solo starts. Hot Bread (Gene Harris) 2:43 Another rather simple composition, Hot Bread is a blues which starts with Walker alone, playing a familiar sounding riff, Harris chord punctuation, and then one of those sort of staccatto descending runs that reminds you of any number of R&B hits of the era, and then the whole band joins in as Walker blows the first chorus. Harris takes over for one and sounds like Red Garland with a locked-hands approach-something I've never heard him do otherwise. Simpkins then takes a solo and Walker returns and takes it out. So, all in all, there's not as much Gene Harris as I'd have wanted, and the tunes aren't the greatest compositions, but it doesn't really matter cuz this forgotten recording has now been rescued from the memory hole. And the Gene Harris Fanatic is one happy puppy.

S'allright: You get a free pass just because of the fact that you were digging Dex at the age of eight.

My first time going to the Blue Note to see the Ray Brown Trio, Frishberg opened for them. I'd never heard of him and didn't know what to expect, but I enjoyed myself quite a bit, particularly "My Attorney Bernie" and "Can't Take You Nowhere" and went out and bought the album of the same name. Never went any deeper into his catalog, although I think I have a couple of swing CDs where he's in the rhythm section, but I do have fond memories of that evening. Happy birthday.

I was inspired to start this thread when I raided the easter basket my wife brought home from work. So I voted for bagels and lox.