Rob C

I am lucky, living in Chicago, because Brotzmann makes regular visits here. He's here as I type this now, in fact. I saw him in duo with Fred Lonberg-Holm on Wednesday night. I don't much care for FL-H, but Brotz blew strong as always. I've probably seen him 9 or 10 times. I wish I had the time (or the ability to stay up late enough on weekdays) to catch a couple more of the current "Tentet 10th Anniversary" shows: http://tentet.umbrellamusic.org/ Anyway, let's see what discs I have here: For Adolphe Sax Machine Gun Balls FMP 130 3 Points and a Mountan... Lowlife Reserve Last Exit-Koln Songlines Die Like a Dog Little Birds Have Fast Hearts No. 1 Chicago Octet/Tentet (disc 2 now playing...) Stone/Water Broken English Short Visit to Nowhere The Atlanta Concert LP Guts Live in Beirut (just picked up this duo with Michael Zerang at Wednesday's show) Plus I have a number of emusic downloads. Oh, and I recently bought but have not yet heard Tales Out of Time. I may have to pick up that Die Like a Dog box set--it wouldn't cost much more than buying the remaining two FMP discs that I don't yet have. My wish is that Okkadisk will someday put out a show I saw at the Empty Bottle, a duo with Robert Barry, that was absolutely unbelievable. Only a handful of people were in the audience, as it was snowing like a motherfucker that night, but I was sure glad I braved it, because it was one of the best concerts I've ever seen. Malachi Ritscher recorded it, like so many Bottle shows, so I'm keeping fingers crossed.

I don't know who jumped whose bandwagon, but the Monk's Casino records are wonderful. (I recently saw Die Enttauschung here in Chicago, and they were just great, BTW.) Smoke is also a killer. Pretty much everything I've heard by Schlippenbach has been good, though.

I was being deliberately over-the-top in comparing a cat to one's grandmother. I didn't actually mean to say that I think an animal's life has the same value as that of a human. What I did mean to point out was the absurdity of saying that because there are "millions" of cats, what's one more or less? The implication that an animal is any more fungible than a human--at least to someone who cares about that particular animal--is what I object to.

There are literally BILLIONS of people, for that matter, so I don't know why people cry when their grandmas die.

Three Reckless Records locations tend to have the best used jazz selections. I like the one in Wicker Park the best, but the newest one is downtown, in the loop, and is small but pretty good. www.reckless.com

Do you go to Mizzou? I was more of a Jim Beam man, when I was there. nah. going to a community college to get the associates, then ill transfer to mizzou. gotta save them moneys where you can. but, eww, jim beam. do you still live around here? i know a guy named rob c, but i HIGHLY doubt to see him posting on a jazz forum No, I graduated in '93. I haven't been back to Columbia in over a decade. As for Jim Beam--I was young, I needed the money.

Do you go to Mizzou? I was more of a Jim Beam man, when I was there.

Oh, man! What a drag. I was (like many here, I'm sure) planning to get the On the Corner box there. And that's where I've bought the majority of my Dylan collection. Ah, well. I've got ECMs stacked up for the next six months or so....

I was lucky to score used copies of two Peacock-led quartet discs yesterday, Guamba and Voice from the Past: Paradigm. Both very good, on first listens, especially Voice.

I was pretty obsessed with The Beatles when I was around junior-high age. I listened to the records I had then so much I basically never feel the need to hear them again. But I had the U.S. versions of their LPs, and so the "extra" tracks on the UK version of Revolver are exceptions for me, because I didn't get that until the CDs came out, when I was maybe a senior in high school. I'm especially fond of "And Your Bird Can Sing". I still love to hear that one.

I have a great compilation (produced by Ice-T) called Pimps, Players & Private Eyes. It's like a greatest hits of Blaxploitation themes: 1. Across 110th Street - Bobby Womack/Peace 2. Make A Resolution - The Impressions 3. Are You Man Enough - Four Tops 4. Trouble Man - Marvin Gaye 5. Theme From 'Shaft' - Isaac Hayes 6. Love Doctor - Millie Jackson 7. I Choose You - Willie Hutch 8. Blowin' Your Mind - O.C. Smith 9. Theme Of Foxy Brown - Willie Hutch 10. Pusherman - Curtis Mayfield

Can't believe no one has mentioned Gato Barbieri--wouldn't a lot of his early work, like the stuff on Impulse!, fit the bill?

Since I posted earlier in the thread, thought I'd drop in again to say my divorce was final on Monday. Very anticlimactic! But we'd been separated for over a year, and I'd hired my lawyer to start the process back in February or March. So it's been a long time coming. But the court hearing, the final thing, was a rubber stamp. I was sworn in, answered "yes" to a few questions from my lawyer, affirmed that our settlement agreement was correct and we'd both agreed to it, and the judge granted the divorce. The end. I thought it was going to feel much bigger than it did. (I was amused by the woman who went before me at the court call. She had the BIGGEST GRIN I've ever seen on anyone's face throughout her testimony. A woman ready to move on, apparently!)

Did you hear what the Pirates of the Carribbean movie is rated? PG-Thirteeeeennnnnn.

By the way, anyone know Kenneth Tyler, the drummer on this? I'd never heard of him, but he's rockin on here.

Listening to this right now, it's awesome. The fidelity is what you'd expect from a cassette recording, but the performance is fantastic, some of the most fiery stuff I've heard under Lacy's name....

Fifty times! You sure are investing a lot of time in "mediocrity"!

I went to Montreal a few years ago and loved it. Hit a few good record stores, but the only one I remember specifically is Cheap Thrills, which was just great.

My divorce should be final this month, though we have been separated now for just over a year. I actually feel pretty good at this point--positive, optimistic (still a little nervous about the "new life", though). The best thing I did was to start seeing a good therapist. I got through the bad times much more quickly and healthily than I would have without that help, I'm sure. I was telling one of my friends about some of my ex-wife's "issues" and said, "It's ironic that of the two of us, I'm the one in therapy!" He laughed, but then said, "You know, not really, because it's just logical to get help if you know you need it. It's the rational thing to do. It doesn't make sense not to." Just to share what I've found over the past year, what really made the difference was slowly taking more control over my own life, as opposed to sitting around feeling sorry for myself as I did for the first few months. In fact, though my wife had made the decision to separate, she never pulled the trigger on getting divorced, and in fact made some (half-hearted) overtures toward reconciliation. But by that time I realized that it wasn't going to work, and I initiated the divorce. And from that moment forward I stated feeling so much better. But it's all a process, and in fact, that's sort of how I look at the whole thing: as a process--it's not an end, it's a change, and change is possible to deal with. It's not easy, but you'll get through the worst of it and probably come out better in some ways. It's a cliche to say "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," but cliches don't come out of nowhere. I can say I really do feel like a stronger person after going through all the pain of the breakup. Anyway, good luck, man!

Har, okay. But there were just a lot of dealers to choose from, and I never heard of any of 'em, so, I figured, who better to ask that people who have at least as many CDs as me...!

Damn! Four hours after I posted the above, Fed Ex arrived. I hadn't even SHOWERED all day because I was afraid of missing them. But the shelving is now built, stocked and beautiful. I think I have room for about 30 more discs, too.

Well, I did end up ordering the Wood Technology unit, from Stands and Mounts, as I originally stated in my first post. I've been sitting around home today waiting patiently for Fed Ex to show up with it. I'd hoped to get it in the morning, so I could do some other stuff today, but nope. Still waiting...!

I've been looking around for some new CD storage shelves, and I think I've settled on the Wood Technology MMC-600 unit. http://www.standsandmounts.com/index.asp?P...ROD&ProdID=1605 Now my question is, where do I buy it from? I see a lot of on-line dealers, all with similar prices, but before paying $300 it'd be nice to know if the company is reputable. I'm leaning toward Stands and Mounts.com, as you can see from the link--anyone bought from them? Or have any good recommendations? Thanks!

Death Certificate was the shit! AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted is awesome, and the opening track on the Predator, "When Will They Shoot?" is still one of the greatest hip-hop track I've ever heard: "Callin me an African-American Like everything is fair again? Shit.... Devil, you got to get the shit right I'm black--blacker than a trillion midnights"

It's one of my least favorite McLean Blue Notes. It's fairly straight ahead and not as avant as Jackie's other Blue Notes of the time which is apparently why it wasn't released. That being said, it is a fine recording, there are just half a dozen or more other McLean's I'd buy first. Yeah, that's about my take on Consequence, too. I like Jacknife quite a bit, though. You can't go too wrong with any of Jackie's BNs that I've heard, but Consequnce just doesn't really hold my attention.