Uncle Skid

Coffee (whiskey and beer, as well) is FAR superior to regular pepsi cola. That shit'll kill ya!

Might try to catch them in Grand Rapids. How much did tickets cost for the Seattle show?

Andrew Hill: "angular". This description might be just a little over-used: a google seach indicates 17,800 results!

Great post, Sal. I feel like I could have written that myself, although much less eloquently. I look at it this way: truly absorbing and understanding all of Hill's work is a lifetime task. Every time I think I "get it", I hear something brand new. Plus, hearing Hill's music has caused me to branch off into all kinds of new music by other artists. I'd guess that it has had a similar effect on you? Incidentally, I'll never forget the first time I heard Compulsion. Luckily, I was able to buy the Mosaic set from a fellow board member!

Ah yes, the "Japanese Buick"! That is a nice car... bigger than I expected. I ended up with an Accord (non-hybrid) that still gets almost 30 mpg on the highway.

Yes. But the 2.6% continues on all of your "earned" income -- salary/bonus/etc.

This year it's $97,500.. It's really 12.4% for self-employed -- the extra 2.6% comes from Medicare, which has no maximum.

Thanks for the reminder!

Have a few more, and you'll be draining something else...

I was waiting to see how many posts before Al was called out for his mental state! Dan, you have to realize that Al is being anal retentive about this now, with his Styx records, in preparation for more serious work: his extensive collection of Night Ranger rarities and his very rare, virgin-vinyl copy of Paul Stanley's solo record from 1978.

Thanks, GA. I haven't heard much of his work, but I've been curious for a long time.

Anybody familiar with Stefon Harris' African Tarantella? I'm hoping that at least some of the extra $$ YM has made with the price increases will go to speeding up their website. Ridiculously slow at times.

Is the sound shitty on it? Sounds OK to me.

I picked up Expansions from a fellow board member a few years back. One of my favorite Tyner Blue Notes.

Here's an interesting perspective: The View from Paradise.

I also had the unlimited plan for awhile, and these three recordings come to mind immediately: Mal Waldron With Eric Dolphy And Booker Ervin: The Quest Steve Lacy Plays Thelonious Monk: Reflections Cecil Taylor: Looking Ahead! I've since bought the CDs, but these were among the undiscovered gems in a 30GB of MP3 files.

Happy Birthday, Big Al! Hope all is well down there in Texas! Have a great day!

What a beautiful composition! I had never head this version (w/Rouse, Shaw, Workman, Blackwell)... thanks for playing it! It's possible that Lacy may have set the bar too high. I don't know if anything can compare to the version on One-Upmanship. From the "I did not know that" department: Kristiansund is a small town on the northwestern coast of Norway. Lazaro (or anybody else), do you know any details of how/when/why Waldon composed this tune? Evocative, to say the least.

Congrats, Lazaro, on 24 years in West Michigan! Was really diggin' the Kahil El' Zabar tune... that was from this record, yes? A request, if you can fit it in: "The Seagulls of Kristiansund", Waldron, from One Upmanship.

Needed to add: I've always thought that this record reminded me of something, and I finally just figured it out: Andrew Hill's Shades has a similar vibe. Could be the presence of Reid and Jordan on both records. Or not. Either way, they are both great records!

"Fairytale Countryside" is one of those "magical" pieces, at least for me. Love Art's playing on this, but it's really the entire group that makes it special. Rufus starts with a simple but elegant ostinato, and it just keeps getting better from there... FWIW, this record is available at EMusic; samples are available as well.

Thanks for the info, Scott. I'll pass it along to my son. Might even save him some money in the long run!

Brother Jim speaketh the truth... but don't forget the windfall for the hardware manufacturers. Faster processors, more memory, "extreme graphics" video cards, bigger hard drives... My gamer son says the only thing interesting for them is new (and supposedly much improved) Direct X software. It sounds like it's only available with Vista, so I guess the gaming companies might get a boost, too.