Dan Gould

Very hard to choose, of course. Washington probably carries the least amount of baggage, though I am inclined toward the under-recognized Madison and Hamilton, whose vision of American government and the American economy continue to endure.

As the 4th of July draws near, thought I'd bring up this classic film with William Daniels as John Adams, Ken Howard (who knew he could sing!) as Jefferson, an excellent Howard Da Silva as Franklin and a very young and hot Blythe Danner as Martha Jefferson. Guess I was mighty bored this morning, because I started to think who among us could be cast in which roles, and I came to this inescapable conclusion: Johnny IS John Adams, with his tenacious biting at the legs of the rest of the Congress, so cocksure that he is right. And he certainly fits two of the best numbers-the opener, "For God Sake's John, Sit Down!" and "But Mr. Adams"-"But Mr. Adams, dear Mr. Adams-you are obnoxious and disliked that cannot be denied" (here's a link to a page of lyrics.) I'd also nominate Weizen as fun-loving, partying patriot Henry Lee. Anyone else enjoy this film as much as I do?

Isn't that the old Leona Helmsley Suite up in Danbury?

Those covers ought to bring Aric back out into the open.

Looks like a cool store, and you know, the way used record sellers work-they pay maybe 20% of what they think they can sell the album for, so there's a lot of profit in every sale. Still, $225,000 is a helluva lot to pay for that inventory so there goes your profit, at least for a while. Nevertheless, owning a business like that-no more complaining about not having enough listening time!

Don't know the tune Mny is referencing but it brings to mind the Yoko track from John Lennon's final album, the one where she has a three and a half minute orgasm. Brutal. My wife and I had upstairs neighbors who blasted music about 11 pm on a weeknight, and after we complained to the apartment manager, who told them that the law on such noise was 8 am to 10 pm, well, shockingly, the very next night, promptly at 10 pm, we heard a table saw roar to life as they started cutting wood! We'd hear, over and over again, "REEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRR-THUNK" so we called the police and while it took thirty minutes or so, an officer showed up, we told him what had happened, and he assured us he would take care of it and if they don't get the message tonite, if he has to return, someone's going to jail. Well, he definitely made an impression on that couple, because a week later, a young lady appeared at the door, and she said to me (no introduction, so I have no idea who she is) "Hi, ummm, its my birthday and I'm having a party tonite (I'm thinking, what, are you inviting me?) so, if we make too much noise, please, PLEASE, here's the phone number, just call and let us know and we'll stop." (So now I've figured out who this chick is and I also realized that the cop put the fear of God into her and I knew we would have no further problems with these people Don't know if that will help-I'm not sure if the cops are particularly vigilant about enforcing noise restrictions in seedier parts of town (not that they shouldn't be, its just that they may devote more of their time to more pressing matters).

I see I am the first to put him ahead of Ornette. Remember that I was, but still am deep in my heart, the Gene Harris Fanatic. Can't get much further away from Gene than Andrew Hill (though there are surely many others who are equidistant from Gene, but in different ways than Hill). Black Fire is the only release of his I have, and I do dig it, but the other dates I have heard just do not appeal. Too off kilter, I guess. I also have several of his sideman BN appearances and enjoy those.

For what it's worth, B.B. has been doing sets in a seated position for quite some time, I believe. So I wouldn't drawn any conclusions from him doing that on the A&E show.

I don't understand "Monk and Coltrane" as a good introduction to either artist. Both are demanding and distinct musicians and their one CD together is the last thing I would use to introduce them to a newbie. What do you use to show Trane as a leader? Interstellar Space?

Well, since 23 people voted in the run-off poll for the first "Pick the AOTW" poll, I think 10 is a pretty sharp drop-off.

Well, Brad, it doesn't look like too many voted at all ... let alone early and often. But we do have a winner, Charles Kynard, Where It's At on the Pacific Jazz label. Anyone interested in participating is asked to contact me via PM at your very earliest convenience.

To answer the thread question, my inbox gave the answer today: I have a feeling some people are going to take offense at this one ...

Not to mention audio production/voice talent/web publishing people (admittidly, when I am editing audio or doing a voice over I don't have music going but for everything else,

He also co-led Soul Cookin' with Thornel Schwartz, on which Lawrence Olds, i.e., Larry Young, played. RIP.

Just be thankful its not a case of Dance Fever (did anyone else see the promo for that E! program "Star Dates"? Denny Terrio, onetime host of Dance Fever was on this past week! Where the hell did they find him?

I very, very rarely take the approach of or have the need to listen to something in particular because of its vibe or whatever. When I have an afternoon of uninterrupted listening time, I just grab the next 5 off the stack and toss them into the changer. I've never been that particular about satisfying the jazz craving. So, no advice here.

24 hours to go, folks-will one of the also rans rise up to challenge the Kynard?

And what would you have done if you did catch it?

Alexander's bat story reminds me of my own. My first year in Graduate School, I shared an apartment with two other guys in the poli-sci program. One Friday night, I stayed home studying while my roommates went out. I came out of the bedroom to discover that a quite large bat had found its way into our apartment. I dove back into my bedroom, and after crapping my pants, pondered my options. I knew that there was no way I was going to take on this bat myself, but then again, I wasn't exactly ready to leave the safe confines of my bedroom. Finally, I had to do something. I crept out of the room and started slowly going through the apartment towards the backdoor. I made it, and made the three minute walk to the world famous Blueberry Hill bar/restaurant where I knew that one roommate had gone (he was a former Army Ranger so I figured he'd be able to handle the situation) (this gives you St. Louis people a good idea of where this apartment was). I found my roommate, along with several other grad students and told them my story. Being in varied states of inebriation, they were quite fascinated by the idea of a bat in the apartment and several set out for the walk back. When we got there, we had a helluva time finding the bat, but finally, it shot down a long hallway, and stopped inside the apartment's sun room, which had windows on two sides and brick on the other two. But damn if we could see him! When he folded his wings up, this huge bat was tiny, and almost hidden on the brick wall. Then, with inebriation came wisdom. "How about using the vacuum cleaner?" Sounded good to the rest of us, so we wheeled it to the room, one guy held the hose up towards the bat, and on his command, I hit the "on" button. There was a big WOOOOSSSHHHH followed by weird screeching noises emanating from the cannister of the vacuum! Success!!! So they took the vacuum out of the apartment, popped the cannister lid, and out flew the bat, a bit dirty perhaps but none the worse for wear.

After those stories, Conn, how many can compare?! I was about 8 years old when, one summer night, a neighbor and I ran to the edge of my family's property, jumped on the fence and started pushing/pulling it back and forth. Of course, on the other side of the fence was a yellow jacket nest which wasn't exactly pleased at the disturbance. I distinctly remember turning and running towards the house, and as I ran, screaming my head off, I remember spotting my older brother in a tree as I ran by (we had been playing hide and go seek so he had a front row seat) and also, as I headed towards the house I remember seeing my father coming out of the house, his white t-shirt really standing out in the dusk conditions as he ran around the pool towards me. I don't remember him reaching me, but when I came to, I was lying in the kitchen, surrounded by the carcasses of seemingly hundreds of yellow jackets. Here's where it gets weird/funny. Apparently my first words, directed at my Mom, were "David?" which she took to indicate that I was hallucinating and thought she was the neighbor kid, and so they decided to get me to a Doctor. However, in the years since, I have always felt that rather than being confused and thinking she was him, I was in fact inquiring as to whether he was OK or not. Fortunately I wasn't allergic and so there were no (further) ill effects. But I think you'd understand when I say that I have a "thing" about bees, wasps, etc.

Right on, Dr. J! And good to see you here on a more regular basis .... I guess the baby still hasn't arrived

Nice story, Patrick. I'd like to add Yardbird Suite to the list of recommendations; some fine blowing by Frank on Bird or Bird-associated tunes, plus a lot of really fine Mulgrew Miller on that one.

Folks, as Pryan says, just send me a PM and all shall be revealed.

Beanie Babies had an absolutely brilliant marketing plan, by making every one of them "limited" and retiring them. A huge difference between Beanie Babies and Cabbage Patch. Several years ago, Beanie Babies, if I recall correctly, tried to jumpstart their sales by announcing the imminent retirement of the whole line, but then they reneged and hurt themselves because it annoyed their hard core customers. BTW, I do NOT have a collection! I know about this stuff because at the height of the Beanie Baby craze, my Mom brought Beanie Babies into the Gift Shop at the Historical Society where she is the Director. That gives you a good idea of how popular they were-what are Beanie Babies doing in the gift shop of a small New England Museum? They've got beautiful arts, crafts and books for sale, plus an overflowing barrel of Beanie Babies! But the time has passed-the price is down to a buck and everytime I'm there, it doesn't seem like they've sold one in the past year.

Well they are resorting to a whole lot more T&A so that should tell you how hollow the plot and story is going to be. Excuse me, but isn't this the reason to see a Charlie's Angels movie to begin with? Me and a friend saw the first one in the theater and had a fine time. My mother and sister-in-law walked out in the middle they were so annoyed. I tried to explain to them that the whole point is that its going to be stupid and goofy and cheesy and filled with T 'n A. This thread notwithstanding, me and that very same friend will be heading to the theater next Saturday, disengage our brain and (hopefully) be entertained.