Dan Gould

Well, I've got to go back and listen again with the answers in mind, but my first reaction is complete mortification at the fact that Tony sent me "Lola" not very long ago at all, I listened twice and dug it, but clearly it did not register enough, and on top of that, I just didn't play "smart" and even consider the possibility that something had already been heard courtesy of the good Doctor. Oh, the shame!

I am positively tingling with anticipation. B)

1. Jim R. has accepted the assignment of producing and distributing Test #3. Let's give it up for Mr. Jim R.! Now, start studying the old geetar and those Brazilian folks, or Jim done gonna make a fool outa y'all!! 2. I continue to accept requests for Blindfold Test #2, but please try to get them to me via PM by this Friday, September 12. 3. Discs are now being sent to points outside of the US in order to get a head start on delivery so that you non-American blokes won't feel so far behind. I am also shipping to my designated helpers, Brad and Jim R., so that they will have the disc on hand a little sooner and will hopefully be able to take care of the latecomers after I have exhausted my stash of 25 burns. All other US participants will ship by Friday or perhaps Saturday. Assuming this works as well as I've laid it out, this might be an approach worth duplicating in the future. B)

I like the Hill, don't care for the Morgan. The TOCJ for Sonic Boom looks better, not so dark.

Well, Mark, just be careful trying to get the disc away from him. I hear cats have claws and aren't afraid to use them Folks, we're getting a big reaction, but I haven't heard from everyone yet, so keep those PMs coming.

CDR. There. You made me say it.

The numbers keep rising ... we've already reached the total number of original participants for Tony's test! Keep 'em coming, but in the meantime I am going to go clear all of those Organissimo "so & so sent you a PM" messages from my hotmail account!

In the spirit of Daniel's thoughts, I am going to endeavor to reduce the distance factor by shipping burns extra early to Europe and Australia. So hopefully the non-Americans will not feel quite so far behind. If we wanted to formalize things, we might try this: When the test-giver ships the CDs (or the bulk of the CDs), discussion begins no sooner than one week after. That would give Europe a shot and it would give the Americans a chance to, as Jim says, absorb the music more before making comments. Just a thought. But I do think it will be a good idea for test givers to ship internationally a little sooner.

As of now, all PM's received. Like I said, this is going to be a big group (hope I do y'all right) considering that I've got 6 or 7 new people already signed up, and I suspect a lot of people from the first batch will want to play again.

An interesting idea, wouldn't think that a points system is necessary, but did you say its for competitive sorts ...

CDRs was the chosen method.

OK folks, since Dr. J. is going to post the answers to test #1 on Monday, I think its time to start compiling the participants for test #2 (MINE!). I have a strong feeling that participation will increase this second time around (I already have 3 "new" participants), so, in addition to providing your mailing address, please let me know in your message whether you are technologically able to assist in distribution. Current participants need not resend their address, but I'd appreciate a reminder regarding technological capability.

Should this be called a Russian Freudian slip?

I'll also start soliciting on Monday.

You're probably right, Jim, though I wonder whether Moose's comment that running things too close together can turn people off is a widespread belief. Plus, I'm bidding on something this weekend, and its possible I'll want to include it!

Sounds fairly reasonable but I'd like to hear from others. Maybe you should start a new thread on this, Tony. There may be people out there who want to contribute to an ongoing discussion prior to the revelation, but they won't even see the question you've posted. On a related topic, when do I start formally soliciting e-mails for test #2? Maybe starting next weekend? That will give maybe two weeks from when the key is revealed to when I ship and we start it all over again.

I'd like to use your butt like a pillow, as many years from now Ben will use J.Lo's butt the same way.

Ah, I see that the voting has been set up to remind Dmitry of his native Russia. Well just call me Sakharov, as I will electronically spoil my ballot with a 'null' vote.

Sorry, but presented with the front of that thong, the *last* thing I'm thinking about f*cking is the RIAA. And presented with the rear, I don't think I'd notice the emblem at all.

Randy, When this poll was started, the suggestion had been made that individuals submit a single tune to be compiled into a sort of joint blindfold test, rather than a single individual, like Tony J., choosing an entire CD worth. That was the purpose of this poll, and while few people participated, I think its obvious that the single-compiler system works best. In option #2, I simply added what had been generally suggested, that we avoid overload by duplicating the approach of the magazine blindfold tests. The thought had been, will people sit for 80 minutes of music not of their choosing. Well, clearly, Tony ignored the limitation, if there had been one, by choosing 14 tunes for his disc. Myself, I expect to have fewer tunes, but I will still fill the disc. Basically, every blindfold test administrator will be free to do what he wants. As to your point about "apprpriateness"-I don't think anyone needs to be "checking" on the selections anyone makes. Unless there are people here under false pretenses, I don't think there's any risk of "press teams" sending out something we don't want to hear. Administrators will choose subsequent administrators, and while that does mean that "friends" get chosen (and some, even many, will wait a long time to get the "call"), it also means that people will be chosen who already have their bona fides confirmed, through off-board or board interactions. Last thing I'll say is that I continue to believe that CDR distribution is best because: not everyone has broadband connections, I think we should avoid downloads like the plague, even with some sort of anonymous FTP server and most of all, because MP3 conversion can be problematic. Even assuming that everyone can rip MP3s, it could limit the selections people make to music that is already in digital form (i.e., what if you want to use a tune from a vinyl record but you can't hook up the turn table to the PC?) I do believe that this first try has worked quite well, and that in the future we should encourage utilization of the Rooster/Jim R. method of posting links to suspected answers so as not to ruin things for subsequent participants.

Lon is correct-the Al Grey is definitely a winner.

I thought the only solo he knows is "Night Train" ... and yes, I've seen Dr. Kevorkian's CD, used in fact, so it wouldn't have cost as much to hear him. Still couldn't, ahem, pull the trigger.

Mike, Are you interested in this particular test or subsequent tests? For this current test, if you send me a PM, I can mail you a burn. Otherwise, I will be running the next test, probably in the next two weeks or so. You can PM your mailing adress to me, now or when I announce that I am accepting requests. I will then name the next "teacher", just as we do it for the AOTW. By the way, are you capable of burning and sending one or two copies on to other members? I have a feeling that the second test is going to attract many more than the 15 or so that I helped Tony with, and that makes it more likely that I will ask for help from several members to deal with the volume and minimize the costs a bit.

How ironic that you heard about Bill from Jim Dye-its Jim's birthday too! Happy birthday to Jim and Bill!

Hear Hear! As they say in español, de nada. B)