Dan Gould

So, no point in giving him another taste of October baseball? No point in finding out if he could continue his recent string of excellent starts against the Red Sox? Does this mean that if the Sox face the Yanks in the play-offs, Torre should leave the 32 million dollar Cuban off the roster?

May I ask what you consider his worst to be then?

I was thinking that the Enja record was from the 70s but I couldn't confirm, being away from home. I second Jim's recommendation.

I had a feeling about where your baseball loyalties were .... guess we can put both national pastimes, politics and baseball, aside now! I certainly understand your point about what happens when its on the line, but the flaws that allowed last year's debacle no longer exist. This year's Sox team is much improved in critical areas; what's missing is an effective Derek Lowe, and the swagger and confidence that last year's team had. And I feel pretty good for the moment that at minimum, the latter is back, if the latter and the former are back, I think the Sox can easily make the playoffs again, even if they can't overcome the Yanks in the division. As for Giambi, I don't know if he has a no-trade clause, but the fact is that no one would take on his contract anyway, even if he still had the strength to clobber the ball. I read somewhere today that Giambi could even miss the remainder of the year-over another two months, the Yanks will come to love Tony Clark's defense, loathe his strikeouts and inconsistent home run output. They need an effective Giambi in the lineup, and they haven't had that for over a year and a half now. Last thing I'll mention: there was an article recently about the relationship between runs scored, runs allowed, and the resultin "expected wins". The Sox actually beat the Yanks by about 80 runs on this measure. And since over the course of a season, things even out, this measure is an excellent predictor of future performance. So, if your team has a better than expected record, you can expect lower performance in the future; but if you're team isn't winning as it should be, the stats suggest that will change. All of which is to say that the Yankees are exceeding their expected wins, the Sox are below their expected wins. I am quite confident there will be a significant tightening of the division race.

And one other thing: why favor the Yankees in any series with the Sox? So far, there have been four series between them, and the Sox have won three of them. They lead head-to-head, 8-4, with seven games left between them. To win the season series, the Yanks have to win 6 of those seven games.

C'mon Jeff, get your facts right: its 7 and a half games out, not ten If the team with the best league record and the wild card team come from the same division, they do NOT meet in the first round of the play-offs. (Yankees had the best record last year, who did they play in the play-offs? the Central winner. Sox played the A's.) And even if they did meet in the first round of the playoffs, why would you give the Yankees an edge if the Sox could conceivably pitch Schilling and Pedro for four of the five games? Even one of the clowns on Baseball Tonite said the Sox are better built for a short series than the Yanks. And the Yankees may have the best record, but it covers up gigantic problems, from starting pitching, to any reliever not named Quantrill, Gordon or Rivera (who are grossly overworked and the first two are sucking wind), to Giambi who is literally a shadow of his former self; Bernie at .235 and struggling to reach 70 RBI's for the year. IN short, there are good reasons why the Yankees are absolutely desperate to get the Unit.

Uh, the Red Sox have a half game lead in the Wild Card and just won an emotional series over the Yankees. I'd lay even odds that in September, this weekend will be recognized as the Red Sox' season turning point.

Harold and Maude, too.

How could this possibly be bad? I am surely the luckiest man alive. A couple of weeks ago my wife asked me if I wanted to see the movie. In a rare moment of total candidness (when it comes to other women) I told her that the only thing that made it a possibility was Halle in the catsuit, and she said, "Well, I figured that." So, basically, she so enjoys my company that she's willing to have me gaze at one of the most beautiful women on the planet in an S&M leather get-up, so long as she's sitting next to me. But this makes me wonder, does she also know why I watch Charmed with her? Is it possible that my carefully constructed "lustful gaze of studied indifference" isn't really that effective, and in fact, my wife reads me like a book? Naaaaahhhh .....

Gene Harris and Ray Brown. Peanut butter and banana. Peanut butter and chocolate (ice cream, though its pretty good in candy form, too). From my drinking days: Rum and coke. Vodka and OJ.

Other than life interfering, I don't have much of an excuse either for my slowness. Thanks to Nate; I was expecting a more "out" disc. Nevertheless, I can't say there were any standout discs, a few that appealed, a few that definitely did not, and even the ones that appealed didn't appeal to the level of being "gotta haves". Without further ado, the appealing ones were #s 3, 6 and 8 and 9; highly unappealing were 4, 7 and 10. But thanks again, Nate, I was expecting my ears to bleed several more times than they did.

That may be so, but they aren't on the recording I received.

The info I have doesn't refer to TV, says Baden Baden, circa 1963. It is a minute of solo piano. All told, the set list is shorter: Off Minor, Bye and Bye, Round Midnight, Blue Monk, Criss Cross. What about my question regarding Monk making a stage announcement?

I am completely shocked that he finally went for the one-day record (not shocked that he broke it though, obviously). Notice the little tics and quirks he has in his wagering? Its been a long-running joke that Trebek knows what his wager will be, always, because he likes round numbers. He also seems to get miffed if his challengers go to another category without finishing the present one. Not to nitpick, but when you have an unprecedented run like this, you get to see a person's quirks. I gave my brother an over/under of 1.5 million; I'll be surprised if I lose that bet (I said "over").

Doing another reel transfer, and on this one-from '63, Monk is heard saying this tune, "Bye bye when the morning comes," was made for a French film. Anyone know more about this? Is the movie obscure? Did he record this tune anywhere else? And something else I'm curious about-in all of the live recordings I've heard or seen, I can't recall Monk speaking to the audience. Is this a doubly rare recording, both for the tune and for Monk introducing it?

Glad I Found You has Thad Jones and Eddie Harris and is highly recommended.

This is one of those 70s LPs that Yanow absolutely utterly dismisses. Basically says, if I recall correctly, that it sounds like everyone is waiting for lunch, hardly even bothering to "phone it in".

Joe Cohn Two Funky People Nat "King" Cole: After Midnight Bill Coleman: Funk to Boogie Gloria Coleman: Soul Sisters (paired with Leo Wright's Soul Talk, on Vortex, also with Coleman but Kenny Burrell instead of Grant Green) Sings and Swings Ornette Coleman: Something Else Tomorrow is the Question Johnny Coles: The Warm Sound Little Johnny C New Morning

No. If I recall correctly, its Curtis Amy.

Jimmy Cobb: Only for the Pure at Heart Cobb's Groove Michael Cochrane: Elements Cutting Edge Minor Matrix Quartet Music Song of Change Footprints Impressions Gesture of Faith Lines of Reason Pathways Al Cohn: Night Flight to Dakar America Overtones Nonpareil The Natural Seven Al and Zoot And my new favorite CD: From A to Z and Beyond

Finally, a thread worthy of that smilie. I'm with Lon, been a long, long while since I've gotten smashed. The precipitating event: After college, I returned to Tallahassee for a wedding. That evening, a large group of college friends got together to relive old times. However, a friend had recently decided to stop drinking, and for that night, I decided to join him. It was a real eye opener, watching the stupid things people say and do when drunk and having it dawn on me that is how I was acting when smashed. Since then, its been wine with Christmas dinner and a little bubbly on New Year's and that's it.

For me its Benny Carter, first and always. Here's one of his best:

Still playing through all these years, Illinois spread a lot of joy. RIP.

Buying faster than I can listen? Not so much. Acquiring faster than I can listen? Definitely!

Considering the appearance of this thread, its ironic that I recently received a late 60s radio broadcast of Art and Lee with Kenny Drew and I'm planning to give it a listen when I get home this afternoon.