Dan Gould

What used to rule for me were those fudge-covered apple lollipops. Anyone know those? In fact, I think my rising weight can be traced back to the moment when a friend at the phone sex office brought them in to work.

... I see the Grinch's heart grow three sizes. (And if I get a little verklempt when the Grinch finds the strength of ten grinches, plus two, well that will just be our little secret. )

Brad, I remember when Eric first got some attention, there was a lot of talk of his being inspired by Dex, so its not surprising to me that you would say that. Of course, the fact that Dex played Shadow of Your Smile so often might have something to do with it, too. My wife and I saw Eric with Norman Simmons and local bass/drums and I seem to recall that Norman did all the stage announcements. Glad you enjoyed it. I'll tell you, the best way to solidify your friend's as jazz fans might be something that would remind them of the show, and even though its a different tenor, any of Houston Person's many offerings on Highnote Records. Lots of familiar standards on there, great music. A friend who's been a cabaret singer absolutely loves the Person albums I've exposed her to. There's something to be said for familiar melodies. Just a thought.

....and mine was a nice, signed b&w jazz print; matted and suitable for framing. I guess I'lll hang it in my office..... You wanna swap anyway? ....sure, we may as well have a merry christmas! PM me your address! Mark Great, now Marcus is left out in the cold.

Hey, let's concentrate on the important stuff: Is your commute shorter and will you be able to hang out here more often? (Just got an image of the Seinfeld "Kenny Rogers Roaster" episode where Jerry urges his college buddy to blow off a meeting and he ends up getting fired.)

No, Maren, that was OK. You were right at the time, and that was even before Allison's curious health symptoms popped up! I was just hoping this would all come together and a lot of people would have some fun. But just as people put too much pressure on their family ties this time of year, I guess I hoped for too much. Maybe next year ....

Yours was just the first delivery. I signed you up for the Lump of Coal of the Month club.

Click here (rule eight) Thanks. So, did you guys win the coin flip, or was the last tie in the States?

Dan: remember that Rafael Nadal (yeah, the guy who isn´t Moya) was chosen to play singles instead of Juan Carlos Ferrero, who HAS WON a lot of pro events. And as it was revealed, Spanish team coaches had their reasons. Well, I have certainly heard of Ferrero, but I don't know what your reference is to the "reasons" he was chosen. And that doesn't change my assertion, that on any other surface, Nadal doesn't stand a chance. You have to admit, allowing the visiting team to pick the surface would be an interesting way of countering the home court advantage with your countrymen screaming their lungs out. Weren't those thunderstix I saw in the crowd? As I understand it, in a baseball stadium those things are loud. In a tennis stadium, they must be ridiculous. Which reminds me, does anyone know how home court advantage is determined?

Good for you, Paul.

When I was young and Harold Solomon and Bjorn Borg were my tennis idols, I was the two-fisted baseliner who loved playing on clay or har-true. Then I grew up and filled out and discovered that balls whizzing at you up close aren't so scary and you can get a lot of easy points at the net. Now my game is all chip and charge and if I get stuck in baseline rallies, I have to let 'em rip cause I know I'll make an error soon enough anyway. Not that that has anything to do with Davis Cup, just thought I'd share ...

Sorry Dan. A lump of coal for me then. Your idea had merit and I liked it initially. Unfortunately, the more I thought about it, the less I liked the idea of cd swapping. Then you have to add that I am going through a job change. I don't have the time to get involved in this sort of thing right now. BTW, don't be opposed to other suggestions. When we take an "our way or the highway" approach, we will find that many do decide to "take the highway." Cheer up! Paul, Look at the first post in this thread. There was no "my way or the highway" rules in place!! NONE whatsoever. There was no consensus-so there was no effort to control what people could or couldn't do. It could be CD swapping or it could be anything else. It could be personal choices or internet gift certificates. Some people wanted the rule to be "no jazz". NONE of these had strong support. NONE of them were adopted. The only requirement was the very reasonable price guideline of $20 or so. Now, I understand that people's economic circumstances change and that may preclude participation. And, I certainly understood Late's problem (I think that was him) that he's always traveling and can't know where he'll be. BUT there were a lot of people who seemed interested at the idea. In fact, I offered to be organizer because someone, I think it was Maren, thought that this would be "too much work" for someone like Jim to have to deal with. Yeah, too much work ... when push came to shove, three people signed up. So, yeah, maybe I should lighten up. But the fact that a seemingly popular idea crashed and burned doesn't exactly put me in the Christmas spirit.

The Secret Santa Gift Exchange is officially CANCELLED. Nevertheless, coal will be delivered to the stockings of everyone who was free with their opinions on how it should be organized and what the gifts should be but couldn't be bothered to actually participate.

... and I thought this was a call to end SACD reissues.

You may take this as sour grapes, but its always seemed ridiculous to me that the team with home court advantage also picks the surface. You already have the raucous crowd (which is always tougher to play in front of outside the States-US crowds flat out don't care the way non-US crowds do), then you pick a surface that allows the other guy-you know, the one who isn't Moya-a great chance to beat a top five player. Any other surface-he dosn't have a chance in hell. Has the other Spaniard ever won a pro event? If he has I bet its a minor French Open tune-up on dirt. Believe me, I'd say the same thing if this were the US rolling to a win at home on carpet. The road team should pick the surface or Cup finals should be at a neutral site.

Thanks for joining up, but for future reference, this is the signup thread: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=5509

Did that Heart of the Forrest also come out as a Muse CD?

Randy played with Jimmy Forrest and Shirley Scott? And I thought he was a young 'un, like Joe and Jim!

It wasn't just Chicago. In Dallas, it was Green Valley Raceway. "Green Valley"...sounds like a cemetary of sorts, no? It was in the New York Metropolitan area ... Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey, if I recall.

After wading through this, the most worthless thread in Organissimo history, is there somewhere I can go to get the last five minutes of my life back? The only good thing to say about 80s pop and rock is that it was so bad, I started to investigate jazz and turned my back on pop music ever since.

If anyone's curious, I dug out the vinyl: Introducing George Freeman Live with Charlie Earland Sitting In (Giant Step Records GS005) Wonder what the first four albums the label issued? No dates given, but the liners have a reference to the June 10, 1971 DB, so this must have been the second leader date George had, after the one Delmark put out (the liners also refer to his brother "Vaughan"-is that an alternate spelling of "Von"?). Recorded at the Aqua Lounge, no other personnel identified, tunes are: Stormy Monday Blues, A Very Good Year, 3 O'Clock in the Morning Blues, Let it Be, Something, Getting To Know You, Funky Walk, Wine and Roses, Girl Talk, Strangers in the Night and Old Folks. Pretty neat thing to hear, though it would have been nicer if it had been me finding it at the thrift store.

The best advice I could give is to look at the sidemen on the trumpet discs you have and go from there.

Tell me that doesn't sound familiar!

I gots me a super, super rare George Freeman date, his first as a leader, I think, with Charlie Earland, on a local Philly label, I think ... I need to dig it out. Wish I could scan the cover. Got it on ebay, the seller turned out to be in Miami, told me he haunts the thrifts for these rare finds. He probably paid a quarter for it. I got it for a bit more. Quite a bit more. And he wouldn't tell me what thrift stores he haunts.

There's a lot of good stuff on Nagel Heyer, but I'd have to think a bit before making recommendations. But a nice mainstream label for sure. One disc I've been curious about, can't recall the title, but it looked like an intriguing mix of outcats and straightahead guys. Anyone know the one I'm thinking of? Oh, in the swing vein, I'd definitely recommend the two Buck Clayton CDs (from when Buck was only arranging and conducting) and the two Count Basie tribute discs are real nice, with some fine, still going strong even though he was near the end, Billy Mitchell solos.