Dan Gould

Welcome to the club, Moose! And if you start to suffer withdrawal symptoms, just let me know, and I'll be happy to berate you in a PM.

A haircut Saturday morning, and Bob Weinstock interview transcribing the rest of the weekend, until 8 pm when Pedro takes the mound against the O's!!

Yeah, that's the one-but my source says that a small part of the second set is missing. Do you have the same recording or is yours complete?

Oh, I'm done. Just had to do something "publicly" after John posted the PM and kept up with the coward crap. See ya in the music forums!

For the record, I now find it necessary to announce that, since I was in fact sincere about my declaration regarding the Politics Forum, at my request B3-er has made the political forum disappear from my account. Nevertheless, since I had this done after I had started a thread regarding my decision (here), I wanted to see how this self-banishment was being treated. So, as Claude pointed out, if I logged on as a guest, I could see the political forum but not post. And it was there that I saw that not only were the usual suspects taking their free shots at me (Jerry, Minew, 7/4) but Mr. "I Love My conservative friends", Johnny, had put his own spin and interpretation on my decision, not remotely supported by anything but his rabid partisanship, and declared me a "coward". I didn't take kindly to it-but I couldn't respond to it because B3-er disabled the Political Forum at my request. Quite a conundrum. So, I did the only thing I could, and sent a PM to Johnny. A PM he has now seen fit to post to that thread. Draw your own conclusions about our resident Hero of the Left.

Roots is another terrific effort. The only difference is the band covers some of his better known compositions, while Composer is more new stuff, I think. Similar group of younger lions too. Funny thing you mention Martha's Prize-I am awaiting receipt of an audience recording of a concert that has a number of tunes from the Astor Place albums, but instead of Hargrove, its Art Farmer on trumpet. And Victor Lewis was on drums too. Really ought to be a keeper!

Terrible news. Makes me glad the new music room is on the second floor.

This is how I got the two or three negative feedbacks I have, when I posted negative feedback, I got B.S. tit-for-tat negative feedback in return, totally unearned (in one case, I paid with a money order but he didn't ship for two weeks after receipt, which I thought was outrageous). Please note, though, I am NOT implying that you would be in the wrong to "go negative" if he does-he's the jerk in this transaction, not you! As far as feedback extortion goes, I've only encountered it with one seller. A guy who sells used VHS, he had a horror film I thought my wife would enjoy. But I was pissed when he said that in order to get feedback, I had to post feedback first. I told him that as a member of the community, it is his responsibility to report on the transaction, good, bad, or indifferent, regardless of what I do. His response was that until he instituted this policy, he never got any feedback at all-maybe 5% would post feedback voluntarily, but with the new policy, 80 or 90% would post, and as a result, he was getting what he wanted-a very high number of positive feedbacks. In the end, the transaction was so smooth and the shipping so quick, I gave him his positive feedback as I would have anyway, despite my misgivings. But with my feedback number around 50, I needed more feedback more than he needed it!

Forgive my ignorance, but is this another one of those late 70s, Japanese-only, never previously issued dates? Or was this a west coast date that Alfred leased? Or for that matter, was it an LT "rainbow series" LP in the states?

In the period in between their terms with Blue Note, I think that on the trio albums, the Sounds continued apace. Perhaps the results weren't quite as satisfying as the best BNs, but I don't feel there is a drastic drop-off in quality. It should also be noted that it was here that you got their first live recordings ("Live at the Living Room" on Mercury and "Today's Sounds" on Limelight) and both are excellent. The only non-BN recordings that don't do much for me are the Limelights which matched the trio with big bands and other accoutrements. OK, but not really necessary. As far as when they returned to BN, they had already started to change with the times, as both Vibrations and Live at the Lighthouse include Harris' overdubbed organ on some tracks. Who was responsible for that? Well, no one knows, and it was probably both Alfred and Gene who made the decision. But it was Alfred who took the chance during their first tenure with the company to record Gene on organ with Ike Quebec. I think they were looking to see if they could catch lightning again as they did with Jimmy Smith. In fact, doesn't the discography show that the unissued session with Grant Green was with Gene on organ, too? After those two albums, the band really started to change with the times, and it became much more the Gene Harris band, with assorted add-ons like strings on Elegant Soul, big band on Cold Water Flat and modern grooves on Soul Symphony. I can understand if people don't care for those albums, but what was the driving force behind them? Was it the fact that the original group had broken up? Was it Gene looking to broaden the sound? Did Gene want to do these types of albums and that drove the group apart? Bill Dowdy left first, when the band was still a trio and sounding pretty similar to what it had been. Another thing to remember is that those "oddball" records were studio efforts. The band continued to tour as a trio, as documented on the Live at the It Club CDs. Again, the band was changing with the times, with more modern rhythms and tune choices (like the Beatles set on Volume 2) but the band still played the old stuff, too-I think there are at least three tunes on Volume 1 of the It Club recordings that come from the first tenure at BN and the arrangements are the same. I don't think its a loss of "pizzazz" if there was any. It was a natural evolution and changing with the times more than anything else.

You know, I never checked this thread til now, I figured it was a request for directions on how to establish an avatar. From the stretch drive til this week, I used a Norman Rockwell Cub painting, can't recall the name now, but I kept it up because it seemed to coincide with the cubbies great run, and after it ended in embarassment, I just didn't change it, until this week, when I put up my all-purpose, Opening Day is here, animated bat swinging man avatar. After that, inspired by Berigan's hypnotic cutie, I think its time to bring back Miss Blonde Bouncing Boobs!

Speaking of Eric's comments regarding lemmings and dummies, I made a memorable gaffe on the air once: An imaging statement that was supposed to be "Playing the music you've told us you like the best, we're Mello 105" became "Playing the music we've told you you like the best, we're Mello 105" Luckily, the boss and his entire oafish family was out of town at the time, or I'd have been shit-canned right there. As far as the effects of jazz vs the effects of other music, I'd say I'm far more tolerant than wesbed, though far less tolerant than a lot of people. But at that radio station I worked at, the son of the owner once told me that jazz (and we're talking the smooth variety here) made him "nervous". Then again, a lot of things made this guy nervous, I think he was on every psychotropic drug his Doctor could prescribe.

Blues for Bartok- Do my eyes deceive me? A fellow Red Sox fan, living in the center of the Evil Empire???

What Jazzmoose said. Regardless of whether you think he "worked" you, you freely offered a full refund; you have no choice but to honor the terms that were offered and accepted. One last point: are you certain he kept the set an extra ten days before shipping, or is it possible the delay was due to the postal system? Its not clear from your message.

Well, isn't "Body and Soul" always associated with Coleman Hawkins?

As baseball gets going, here's a great story about a Negro League player, a very admirable man: He's still game At 80, ex-Negro leaguer is raising five children and hoping for a pension By Stan Grossfeld, Globe Staff, 3/31/2004 ATLANTA -- In the Negro leagues, he was teammates with Willie and Hank, and he barnstormed with Jackie. Now, nearly a half-century after he hung up his spikes without fulfilling his dream of playing in the major leagues, Ralph Johnson, 80, is fielding his greatest team ever. He is raising by himself five school-age children, four of whom are grandchildren left abandoned when their father was murdered. Despite having to undergo kidney dialysis three times a week in the hospital, despite having no pension from his baseball career, Johnson is a genuine MVP: Most Valuable Parent. "He's a hero, a very good-hearted person," says Willie Fannin of Family Links Day Care. "He takes good care of those children." Johnson was known as "Big Cat" in his heyday, when he was hitting home runs for the New York Cubans, New York Black Yankees, Indianapolis Clowns, Birmingham Black Barons, and Kansas City Monarchs. He also barnstormed in the US, Canada, and Latin America during his 12-year career. He claims he played on five all-star teams, hit 500 home runs, and batted .296 lifetime. Today, Johnson struggles to make ends meet on meager Social Security payments and a support stipend of $5 a day per child from the state. In 1997, Major League Baseball gave $10,000 annual pensions to 85 former Negro leaguers who had played at least one day in the majors. Johnson, like more than an estimated 120 other surviving Negro leaguers, didn't qualify. Now, he says, he barely has enough to feed his family. "I'm broke," he says from his apartment in a high-crime Atlanta neighborhood. "I'm just barely getting by." "Big Cat" prays that he has nine lives, for the children's sake. "I just wish I could live 10 more years to get these kids through high school," he says. "That's what I'm living for. I'd hate to see them scattered around." But there is hope. At the recent Congressional hearings on steroids, baseball commissioner Bud Selig met with Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Florida), who last year authored a Senate resolution urging fair compensation for and recognition of the sacrifices of the Negro leaguers, who played from 1920-60. The resolution argued that the 1997 MLB pension settlement is unfair because baseball wasn't truly integrated until the last team signed a black player: the Red Sox, in 1959, with Pumpsie Green. Johnson retired in 1955. Selig told Nelson, "We're responsible," and promised a settlement within a month. But the matter is clouded by a pending reverse discrimination suit by white players who weren't eligible for pensions even after the requirements were expanded in 1997. For the remaining Negro leaguers, this could be their last at-bat for compensation. "We contributed to the game, too," says Johnson. "We're old and we're really going down. A lot of us are dying." Last year, 22 former Negro league players died. Walking among kings Despite his health problems, Johnson, who is tall and slender, and easy with a smile, can pass for 60. "The kids keep me young," he says. And when he talks baseball, which is all the time, he seems even younger. He remembers Hank Aaron and Willie Mays as totally different personalities. "Me and Hank played together with the Indianapolis Clowns [in 1950]. He was 18. He was just a shy little kid, but there was a lot of spirit in him. He played shortstop and I played third. He was a small guy, 140 pounds, but boy could he hit. He had those wrists from birth. "I played with Willie on the Birmingham Barons. Willie was just the opposite. Funny and outgoing. He was a practical joker. He used to put frogs in people's beds at night. On the field he bragged that he would do something and then he'd do it. I think he was the best ballplayer I ever saw. Hit, field, run. "We played in major league stadiums on weekends when the teams were out of town. I played in Yankee Stadium, Ebbets Field. I loved the Polo Grounds. The first time I came to New York, I was a 23-year-old country boy from Bartow, Fla. I looked up at those big buildings and I was falling backwards. "I played at Fenway, but that damn wall was too high for me." He said he also played in places in the South where the team bus would be met with a shotgun when it pulled up to a store. He says he would have played baseball for free. "When I was making $290 a month plus $3 in meal money, I thought I was king," he says. "If I get up and hit a home run, somebody would go round with a bucket and take a collection. Sometimes you could get $25." He says he had a tryout with the St Louis Cardinals in Ontario, but doesn't remember the year. "They sent me back home," says Johnson. "I don't know what the reason was. I guess I wasn't good enough. It just didn't happen, but I don't regret anything. Busy schedule Although Johnson could talk baseball all day, it's mid-afternoon and he's off to Usher Elementary School to pick up the youngest of the five children (aged 8 to 13). "The hardest thing is teaching them to do the right thing every day, and they are responding," says Johnson. "J.T., the youngest, is reading at a fifth-grade level in third grade." Likewise, J.T. is proud of his grandfather. "I saw grandpa on the Internet," says J.T. "That made me very happy. I love him." At home, grandpa makes the children do their homework and clean up. When asked if he still can hit, Johnson puts on a replica Barons uniform, orders the children to get the bats and tennis ball, and heads outside. After a few warmup swings, he makes contact every time. He even hits one ball a block toward Martin Luther King Boulevard. "They were talking about having an old-timers day game at Turner Field," says Johnson. "I said, `Don't forget me.' I believe that in two or three weeks I could be ready. Only I can't last long." The days, he says, are long and exhausting. "I get up at 6 a.m. and I see that the kids are ready for school," he says. "At noon I start thinking about what to make for dinner. I don't like them to have fast food. I'm a good cook. Yes, their granddaddy makes the best cornbread in town. Sometimes I have to make two pans." When the kids go to bed, so does he. Johnson says he gets help from several sources, including counseling from Project Healthy Grandparents, a Georgia State College support program. The local church picks up the children every Sunday for services. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, he drops the children at school, then heads to Piedmont Hospital downtown for dialysis. With gospel music blaring on the radio, jumbo dice sitting on the dashboard, and an Atlanta Braves cap on his head, he's a happy guy. "I get my strength from the Lord," he says. He brings his own blanket so he can nap during the three-hour procedure if he wants to. Even when still hooked up to tubes, he does his impression of Satchel Paige throwing his hesitation pitch, kicking up his leg like Juan Marichal. "Paige had size 15 feet," he says. "You couldn't see the ball. When he got to the major leagues, they outlawed that pitch." Johnson recalls that he played in the Dominican Republic for $888 a week. "We lived like kings on that," he says. "I had a suite and a maid, an interpreter, and a car. It was like being a millionaire. Sometimes we played three games a day." With the Clowns, he played with Toni Stone, a female second baseman who wasn't allowed in the All-American Girls Baseball League because of the color of her skin. "She was good," says Johnson. "She hit like .240, but I nearly killed her one night. There was a ball hit to me at third, I threw it to her and it went through her darn glove and hit her in the forehead and knocked her out. One guy looked at her and said, `She's dead.' " Memories of Jackie Johnson doesn't begrudge modern players their huge salaries, though he wishes they were a little tougher. "They get a scratch and they sit out 3-4 days," he says. "But as far as their salaries, I say good for them." However, he thinks most current African-American major leaguers have forgotten about the pioneers in the Negro leagues. "They don't even think of us," he says. "Oh, no. If we didn't catch hell, get treated like dogs, they wouldn't be here. We opened the door for them, and when they got in, they closed it behind them." Johnson remembers playing with Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball's color barrier in 1947 with the Dodgers. "We barnstormed together in 1952 with Campy [Roy Campanella] and [Don] Newcombe," he says. "Jackie was still catching so much hell. Everyone wanted to see Jackie. He wanted to be left alone. He was always sitting by himself. Once, Jackie and Campy got into an argument when Jackie didn't want to go out. They almost came to blows. I understand that kind of pressure. He needed some damn rest. "There were a lot of players better than Jackie, but they got the right guy. Guys I know would not have taken all that hell. They would've taken out guns and knives." Johnson is part of a group of former Negro leaguers who call themselves the "Living Legends." In 1989, there were approximately 350 Negro league alumni; about a third remain. Johnson hopes to get a retroactive pension of $60,000 to bring him up to par with the Negro leaguers who got the pensions starting in 1997. Then he hopes to receive the $10,000 annually. "That's a million dollars to me," he says. "That would mean a hell of a lot. That's a drop in the bucket for them." A father is reborn He says he would take some of that money and send it to his grown-up children; he had eight before getting divorced in 1963. The youngest is now 34, the oldest is 53, and one has recently died. After his playing days, he drove an 18-wheeler delivering rebuilt television tubes all around the country. "I took care of my kids but I missed a lot of their growing up," he says. In 1983, arthritis forced him to retire from truck driving. In 1986, he bought a pool hall in Atlanta. In 1990, an unwed pregnant teenager started hanging out there. "She just kept following me around," he says. Johnson befriended her and tried to counsel her against using drugs and alcohol. After Carnel was born, the troubled young mother showed up unannounced on Johnson's front porch one winter night with the 2-week-old baby. She begged Johnson to take him. "I just fell in love with that boy," he says. "I believe God sent him." Eighteen months later, he established legal guardianship. He says the baby saved him -- not the other way around. "Before, things wasn't going right for me," he says. "I couldn't sleep. When I got this boy, my life just turned around. I put all my time into taking care of him." That included late-night runs to the hospital because of Carnel's chronic asthma. Today, Carnel is 13 years old and thriving. "He's going to be a player," says Johnson. "He looks just like David Justice." A week before Christmas in 1999, Johnson stepped to the plate again. "The father of my grandkids got killed," he says. "Somebody broke in and shot him right in bed. He led the fast life. Drugs and women." Johnson's daughter, the mother of the children, was nowhere to be found. "She was out running the streets," he says. He was appointed legal guardian and is in the process of adopting them. He feels his life is in extra innings because of the children. "If I can just live long enough so they grow up to be respectful people, that's all I want," he says. "Good kids." While those kids play, Johnson starts dinner: fried chicken, okra, cabbage, rice, and cornbread. He is wheeling like a short-order cook. The kitchen is hot and the ground floor windows don't open. When he rinses the chicken wings in the sink, he starts fading rapidly. "I'm sorry, I've got to go lie down," he says. The kids let him sleep and devour dinner without him. They save him the biggest chicken wing and keep it warm. Then they all clean up, wash the dishes, take out the trash, and sweep the floor. Nobody complains about the famous cornbread that never got made. And as an exhausted Ralph Johnson sleeps soundly in his bedroom, he should know that his dream already has come true. They are good kids, brought up by a decent man, hoping to go the distance. © Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.

I know that "The Natives are Restless Tonite", a live date with Carmell Jones and Joe Henderson, came out as "Re-entry" on CD a few years back.

Very sorry to hear of this, David. Hang in there, friend, and come back when you can.

I've discovered an excellent one-step program: Buy a house that you can afford only if you revert to the college-era Ramen Noodle diet. 1 midprice CD=10 weeks of Ramen Noodle dinners CD addiction kicked

A corporation that cares about someone's feelings????? And no, Michael doesn't respond to requests, that's why we ended up with reissues like the very first Grant Green session, which he had originally described as unreleasable; or the Cy Touff West Coast Classic (which Michael specifically referred to as being strongly requested, particularly by the jazz audience that isn't online). And I bet Michael is a huge Four Freshman fan, that's why he put that out.

Hey Alex, If you're unaware, the pattern has been that once answers are posted in the current test, the next test should be shipping, overseas first, then domestically.

Anyone charging $10 to ship a record is out of his mind. I'd check around about "retracting bids" to see what your rights are, but if he changes the rules like that after the fact, there's no way you should be forced to honor your bid.

His scenes are difficult to watch because he looks so prematurely aged.

Funny how I was one of the driving forces behind these polls and discussions, and now with the new house, the likelihood that I could afford to make it to a gathering is quite slim.

Great choice!! I have had this one for a very long time on CD. I still remember what the clerk at Vintage Vinyl in St. Louis said to me when I brought it up to pay for it: "John Lewis swings hard on this!" and for me that is a highlight of the date, for anyone who thinks John Lewis was an effete player, too "third stream", blah blah blah, just put this one on! BTW, can anyone comment on the 2003 reissue sound? If there's any drawback to this, its the 1990 remastering