Dan Gould

John, let me be the first to congratulate you, and if Sangrey's reference is a bit obscure, he's speaking of a material used in baseball to aid in getting a grip on the bat. Meanwhile, may I suggest that in order to minimize postal costs that you solicit three or even five "helpers" here in the States to cover the North American requests (and you to, Marcus!). Previously, the compilers have sent out 15 or 20 on their own to the States, but this might be quite expensive for you, so if you can take care of the non-US requests, maybe you can get enough helpers in the States to take care of the rest, and not have one or two helpers covering 15 discs each. Just a thought.

Here's the current discussion of this change, for those of you who haven't noticed it: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...?showtopic=5378

Happened to grab this one in the batch I dragged to the office this week: Moment to Moment, by The Jazztet, recorded May 30 and 31, 1983, for Soulnote.

I love it, but what would have been even better would be a typo, like "Crenshaw", followed by a dab of white, like white-out, and the correction being typed over.

Let's just say, not even close. Of course, I didn't help by labelling each question's significance as "low"-but to give "Christian Scientist" the number one slot is absolutely insane, considering the fact that I believe that any parent who harms their children by denial of modern medical care should be taken out and shot; followed by lengthy incarceration.

Well, there've been no dissenting opinions, but perhaps we should still go to the trouble of a poll? Or should the change just be declared to be accepted by the board?

There's no telling at this point. I'll offer it to Cadence Magazine initially, but when I told them who I was interviewing, they pointed out that its somewhat outside their usual scope, which concentrates on musicians, not producers. But he said if there's lots of first-person stories about sessions and artists, he'd be interested. But as Chuck said, if Cadence passes, there will be other's who will be interested. Who exactly I am not sure, but I'm sure Chuck will have some suggestions, should it come to that.

Haven't had Thanksgiving Dinner since I left the folk's house in '93, since I met my wife its been dinner with her family but since she has the hellacious schedule of opening her store at 8 AM Friday, there's no way we can join them for a meal that starts at 6 or 6:30, (its an hour drive from here, too). So, it won't even be turkey or ham, probably a small oven-stuffer roaster with the usual fixins.

Hang in there, Tom, and remember-your obligation to me comes absolutely dead last!

Edited for general tastelessness, and when I finished, there wasn't nothin' left.

Do you mean you won't consent to an interview with me, Chris, you're saving all of your stories for your own book?

I am prepared to see how everything shakes out in the next three weeks-there's no reason to announce who should play today when there are several games to go, and for that matter, minew, LSU could end up losing their last game in the conference championship. As for the BCS, I think the solution should either be: A four team play-off with the games to take over the traditional "big" bowl games, the Orange, Rose, Sugar bowls. The problem is, that leaves other "big bowls" like the Fiesta, and traditionally important bowls like the Cotton, on the outside looking in. So, maye you take the top four bowls listed above, drop the Cotton entirely. Every four years, one of those bowls are not involved in the four team play-off, and of course the championship game continues to be rotated among the bowls. OR Go to a 16 team play-off which utilizes a group of the top 15 bowl games and the play-off runs through the month of December. Final games to be played amongst the top bowls, with the championship game to be rotated, as above. As for the selection process, the combination of polls and computers works fine by me, so long as the pool is expanded, as above. Then, it won't be a debate between #2 and #3 or 4, but rather, all the important teams will be in and the team that misses out was a long shot anyway. The one problem here is the extension of the season by so many weeks-considering how upsets can happen, top schools that might otherwise play a single game for all the marbles won't want to have to run a gauntlet of top 20 opponents to get to the championship. But with the recent announcement that the BCS was likely to be changed, I think this is most likely.

I'm with couw on this. I know that Rooster's gonna give me a lot of progressive stuff that I wouldn't otherwise hear, and won't have a prayer of getting right, for the most part, but I'd still want to give it a listen. But I think the best part of these tests isn't the "test" part, its the expansion of horizons, even if its just exposure to a recording you weren't aware of by someone you already like.

And now CNN is reporting that an arrest warrant has been issued for Jackson! http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/Music/11/1...anch/index.html

This is one of the best twp-fers Fantasy has put out, IMO.

Wherever your travels take you, may you always return to Organissimo!

Thanks for that, Chris ... I don't doubt that your perceptions are correct, but I think its still a worthy question, even if we know what the answer is likely to be. Might get some good stories out of it, too.

I'm surprised this hasn't gotten more responses. Should I put this up for a vote or leave it for a few days to get a better "sense of the board"?

You keep outdoing yourself, man! Those last two are awesome!

Plenty of time, Chuck, if I sit down with Bob in January. Thanks.

Thanks everyone, and keep the questions coming! Especially you, Chris! (One question I forgot to mention is about the "Blue Note Sound" vs the "Prestige Sound"-what were his instructions to Rudy to get the sound he wanted?

Well, you can't win them all, I guess. Just spoke with Eddie, and he said that at first Ira wanted to be paid for an interview, and then he pretty much just shut the discussion down and said "NO". Oh well ... I bet Weinstock's a more interesting interview anyway.

By the way, the questions I've got off the top of my head include: The missing trumpet from the Mating Call session. The statement that "the difference between Blue Note and Prestige was two days rehearsal"-an unfair assertion? How well did he know Alfred and Frank? Was there a strong sense of competition? Blue Note and Prestige were two major independent labels in New York, but one became the epitome of cool and fetches top collector dollars ... any resentment over the way history has treated his records vs. BNs? Differences in approach-the Blue Note "repertory" system where new artists guested and then got opportunities to record as leaders. Records supposedly got lifted from Riverside's warehouse to get sold on the street to cover drug needs (isn't that the story you mentioned, Chris?), was that a problem for Prestige? As you can see, I need a lot more questions!

B) Well, I just got a phone message from Bob Weinstock-he's happy to do an interview with me! So, in addition to the usual congrats, I'm hoping to collect many fascinating questions for the interview, plus any suggestions for research sources into Prestige and other eras of his career. (I plan to tell him that I'll need some time for research and with the holidays fast approaching, I'd like to get in touch with him right after the New Year.) Don't hesitate to shout 'em out! That includes you, Chuck! (It was you and Chris who really pushed me, so ...)

I'd like to put up for discussion an alternative method of selecting future compilers of the Organissimo Blindfold Test. If there is support for my idea, we can move onto an official poll to confirm a change, and in all circumstances, any changes should take effect after Jsngrey announces his appointment. Here's the idea: Instead of the current "Tap on the Shoulder" method, there should be a "signup thread" which members post to. This has, in my opinion, several advantages: 1. The "Tap On The Shoulder" method, like with the AOTW, seems likely to leave people out of luck, as the Tap seems to go, usually, to those who have outside-the-board-contact with the lucky selector. How many times have we seen people beg to be chosen for the next AOTW? 2. This method can be very helpful in allowing people plenty of time to plan their compilations and get themselves situated and ready to go when their time comes, resulting in shorter gaps between tests and then we'll all have more fun, more of the time. Note that I am not suggesting multiple tests being in circulation simultaneously-I just think that this method will have less of the "down time" we've seen between my test and Jim R.'s and now with Jim S.'s. Edit: 3. If, as is often the case, people suddenly find themselves too busy to participate, then if the "rotation" is already known, people could easily switch with subsequent compilers. So, for example, let's say Test giver #7 is going to have a hard time getting stuff out. He contacts #8 or #9, and if those people are ready to go, perfect-they switch and the Organissimo Blindfold Test system keeps purring along like a well-oiled machine. Or like the Basie rhythm section. Or something. What do you say?