GA Russell

A year ago I reviewed the first album of a young New York pianist named Matthias Bublath. In the thread I go over how and why I got a copy of his CD: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...&hl=Bublath Late last year he sent me a copy of his second album, just called Matthias Bublath. Those of you from New York may be familiar with the personnel, who I suspect are young New York musicians like he is: Tim Collins - vibes Takuya Kuroda - trumpet Yulia Musayelyan - flute Fernando Huergo - bass Franco Pinna - drums Ludwig Afonso - drums Most of the songs on this album have a latin beat. Bublath plays piano on all tracks. No organ this time. The album is much more accessible than his first album. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The musicians and their solos are all good, but not outstanding. The best are Tim Collins again on vibes and Takuya Kuroda on trumpet. Bublath plays well, but is again a little too heavy-handed for his own compositions! Bublath wrote ten of the eleven songs. This time, the compositions are not intellectual. Although this is not soul jazz, it probably would appeal to the same audience. An organ trio would do well with the same songs. I've been playing this for six weeks, and I continue to enjoy it. It's happy music, and everyone sounds like he is having a good time. At first I gave it 3.5 stars, but over time I have bumped it up to 4 stars. You can listen to it here: http://cdbaby.com/cd/bublath2

I got my Maynard Ferguson Roulette last week, and it is great! Reminds me a lot of the Buddy Rich PJ band, but not as high strung. My pick this month is Stan Getz - Getz au Go-Go. Twenty years ago I found a selection of European (I think Italian) cassette tapes called Collections, and one that I picked up was the Stan Getz Collection. There were no liner notes, as was common with cassettes, but I think that all of Getz au Go-Go was included in it. But I don't think that the songs were presented in album order, or even consecutively. I'm not sure. As I recall, this was the first Getz album released after Getz/Gilberto, and after The Girl From Ipanema was a hit. I'm not sure about that either. Astrud sings on the bossa nova half of the album. Gary Burton is also on it.

MG, Groove Holmes returned to PJ in 1968 when it was owned by Liberty. I would consider that to be a major in those days.

I'd be very interested in the Paul Bley.

...2) How many "regular guys" have "contacts"? Larry, we've been through this before, in the summer of '06 I think. You must have missed it. I have a number of times recommended to the board that anyone interested do what I did. I reviewed CDs for AAJ for a while, and got on a few record companies' mailing lists. After a while I tired of that and stopped. I told the record companies that I would no longer be reviewing for AAJ, and that I would be doing most of my posting on the O board, if they were interested. Some were. As far as I know, every "regular guy" here who hasn't been banned (!) is welcome to review records for AAJ. I think a lot of people here would enjoy it, and I recommend it.

...If you're reviewing these discs for ECM, I'd guess ECM's goal is to generate sales/revenue from your review, and that's why you're getting the free promo copy? It kind of goes against this"agreement" to recommend people wait and buy the disc from BMG then. I wouldn't share your review with ECM, I guess. Aggie, you think I'm a shill for the record companies??!!! Whose side do you think I'm on? All of my contacts know that I am just a regular guy who spends his evenings listening to jazz instead of watching television. My arrangement with them is that they send me copies of new releases, and if I like one I post my thoughts about it and give the guys here a heads up on something they might like. My contacts know that I will be candid with my friends here on the board. They also know that I won't spend the effort to review records I don't like. That's what professional reviewers get paid for. In my opinion, if a record company doesn't want me to recommend buying it from Your Music, it shouldn't let Your Music have it in the first place. That's not my problem. My friends here and I (as you well know) do a lot of shopping at Your Music. People here are always speculating about what Blue Note RVGs will be carried by Your Music. Why shouldn't I do the same about ECMs? As I suggested above: 1) At the Your Music price of $6.99, I consider getting this album a no brainer just because it is so different from every other album in my collection. And 2) If you can't wait, you won't feel that you have been burned by paying the regular CD Universe price. Finally, your suggestion that I not share the review with ECM floors me! It's as if I have something to hide. I don't go through life saying things about people I don't want them to know about; and I don't go through life looking over my shoulder to make sure that everyone approves of my actions. That's no way to live!

Here is an article that says that the Blue Jays are offering April single game tickets to fans in Boston and Detroit before they offer them to the fans in Toronto! http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsBaseball/home

Well, we are trying to find moderately obscure people, I think. Jazz musicians' careers are usually pretty long, if they don't die early or give up through discouragement, so most significant musicians will record for a number of companies over the years. Yes. I was thinking that with jazz many people record for small labels that don't stay in business for a long time. Also, if the artist is destined to have a long recording career, he is likely to move up to one of the majors eventually, at least for a time. The original post sought groups as well as artists. Of the two groups I mentioned, obviously Manfred Mann and the Brecker Brothers (with Dreams) have recorded for more than one label, but these groups did not. I'm a little surprised that other groups haven't been mentioned. Speaking of Dreams, John Abercrombie was with that group for its first year or two, and was on their first album. Has he recorded as a leader for anyone besides ECM?

Many thanks for all the examples of trumpet/piano duets. This board is a knowledgeable group!

Aggie, I believe that is incorrect. When I joined BMG in 1997, there was a website (don't remember the URL) that was devoted to all things about the two record clubs. The website was very credible. It said that the artists receive 50% of their normal royalties on albums sold for a price, but none for albums given by the clubs "free". My conclusion was that when the BMG offer is "Buy one, get two free", the artist for the one gets his royalty, but the artists for the two do not. But when the offer is "Buy one, get unlimited $1.99", all artists get their royalties. Since Your Music never offers a disc for free, all artists receive their 50% royalty. That's how I understand it. However, that was in 1997. Perhaps the arrangement is different now.

Enrico Rava and Stefano Bollani have a new duet album out called The Third Man. The title track is not the Anton Karas song. This is my first Rava album. I loved Bollani's album Piano Solo which came out last year. TTK doesn't like me to use the word "dark" , so I'll say that it is very melancholy throughout. Three of the songs have hummable melodies. The others sound like two very talented musicians noodling. It doesn't swing. Lovers of soul jazz aren't going to like it. But it is very pleasant to have in the background or late at night with the lights low. Bollani plays like a classical musician here. It's unique as far as I know. I'm not aware of another trumpet and piano duet jazz album. The mood would be significantly different if bass and drums were present. Now that BMG/Your Music is carrying ECM again, I will definitely recommend it when they get ahold of it, because at their bargain prices it is definitely worthwhile to own a one of a kind album. Those of you who can't wait or live outside the US will enjoy it as well.

John McWethy of ABC News has died. I used to enjoy his work. He always seemed fair to me. ABC News has posted a three page obit. I won't post it all, only the first page. You can see the rest here: http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4253571&page=1 John McWethy, a longtime national security correspondent -- who, ABC News president David Westin said, "represented the very best of ABC News" -- has died at age 60 after a skiing accident in Keystone, Colo. McWethy died of blunt force chest injuries after witnesses said he missed a turn on an intermediate trail this morning, and slid chest-first into a tree, Summit County, Colo., coroner Joanne Richardson told The Associated Press. McWethy was pronounced dead at 2:05 p.m., Richardson said. McWethy had recently moved to Boulder, Colo., with his wife Laurie Duncan-McWethy to enjoy retirement close to ski slopes and golf courses, Westin said in a statement to ABC News staff. "He was doing something that he truly loved, but he deserved many more years doing it than he was given," Westin said. "He was one of those very rare reporters who knew his beat better than anyone, and had developed more sources than anyone, and yet, kept his objectivity," Westin added. "Jack's work made the people he covered value him, respect him, and always know that he would keep them honest. None of us will forget his memorable reporting on Sept. 11, 2001, when he had to evacuate the Pentagon, and then continued to report live from the lawn nearby. "I wish all of you could have been there for his 'retirement' party to see the highest levels of the Pentagon — civilian and military — come to express their respect and affection for Jack," Westin said. "But as fine a reporter as he was, he was just that fine a man. There was an essential goodness to him that permeated everything he did. He loved his profession, but he loved his family more. And he always had a powerful sense of need to help those around him." McWethy and his wife had two children, Adam and Ian. Before his retirement, McWethy was ABC News' chief national security correspondent, a position he held starting in 1984. McWethy reported on military and diplomatic aspects of U.S. foreign policy, primarily from the Pentagon in Washington. In addition to his daily coverage for "World News Tonight With Peter Jennings," he also filed stories for "Nightline," "Good Morning America" and other ABC News broadcasts.

Interesting that these people aren't exactly household names.

The Argos have picked up Damon Allen's option, and he is working out every day as if he is going to play again this year! http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/Tor...4831113-cp.html

Sandi, have you forgotten Princess Diana?

I'm not sure I knew that you could bet on an NFL game with odds instead of a point spread. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home Sports books hit by Super loss Associated Press February 5, 2008 at 8:26 PM EST LAS VEGAS — Nevada sports books lost a record US$2.6 million on Super Bowl bets when the New York Giants upset the New England Patriots on Sunday. The sports books handled just more than $92 million on the game, the third-highest amount ever but down for the second consecutive year. The record was set in 2006 when $94.5 million was bet. The last time the books lost money was in 1995, when the San Francisco 49ers blew out the San Diego Chargers, 49-26, and Nevada books lost $400,000. Nevada Gaming Control Board analyst Frank Streshley says large amounts were bet on the money line that the Giants would win outright. The payouts on those bets were as large as four times the original bet because New England was such a huge favourite. The game ended with the Giants winning 17-14.

The Riders have hired their offensive coordinator Ken Miller to be their new head coach. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...tsFootball/home ***** Here's a good commentary from the Globe's Stephen Brunt about the Argos' and the Ticats' positions vis a vis the Bills. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...ory/GlobeSports

Happy Birthday BW!

I have quite a number of Greatest Hits albums of people I have no interest in getting more of. As far as jazz samplers go, I used to like them a lot when new jazz CDs were $18.99 and the samplers were $4.99. Now that we have Your Music, the cheap samplers don't seem so attractive anymore! Still, I enjoy listening to the samplers I have. It's just been a while since I have bought one.

Thanks Kenny!

My dad always used to read Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Magazine. I remember seeing Hoch's name often, but it never occurred to me that he was in every issue of EQ. Here's his LA Times obituary: http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...1,6810111.story Edward D. Hoch, 77; short-story mystery writer By Dennis McLellan, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer February 4, 2008 Edward D. Hoch, a prolific short-story writer who was known as a master of the puzzle mystery and for more than three decades was a monthly fixture in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, has died. He was 77. Hoch, a past president of Mystery Writers of America, died of a heart attack Jan. 17 at his home in Rochester, N.Y., said his wife, Patricia, his only immediate survivor. After his first story appeared in 1955 -- in Famous Detective Stories -- Hoch went on to write more than 940 published short stories. He wrote so many that former Mystery Writers of America Executive Vice President Bill Chambers said several years ago that before he met Hoch he used to think "he was a corporation -- a whole bunch of writers working under one name." "There were some really prolific short-story mystery writers in the '30s, but I think Ed beat them all," said Doug Greene, a mystery scholar and owner of Crippen & Landru Publishers, which has published six of Hoch's short-story collections. There was no mystery as to how Hoch (the name rhymes with "oak") wrote so much. "I never have writer's block," he told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle in 2001, the year Mystery Writers of America named him a Grand Master for his career achievements. Hoch's first short stories were published near the end of the pulp magazine era, and his work appeared in dozens of them, as well as in digest-sized monthlies such as The Saint Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. Hoch first wrote for Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in 1962, and since 1973 he had one of his stories published in every monthly issue. "In his early writing, he did a bit of science fiction, but mysteries were his thing, really," Patricia Hoch said. He wrote every day, she said, turning out 18 to 20 mystery short stories a year. "He was working on a story for Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine the night before he died," she said. The magazine, which has four Hoch stories that have yet to be published, plans to include a tribute to its longtime contributor in the June issue. "As a writer, I think his inventiveness is the most notable quality of his work," said editor Janet Hutchings. "He created some memorable characters, and fans of his write to us all the time." Over the years, Hoch created more than two dozen series characters. One of his most popular was Nick Velvet, a crime-solving thief who would be hired to steal objects of seemingly little or no value -- a used tea bag, a ball of twine, a dead houseplant. The character wound up on French television in the 1970s, Hutchings said. Hoch wrote eight novels, including three science-fiction books featuring a futuristic team of "Computer Cops": "The Transvection Machine," "The Fellowship of the Hand" and "The Frankenstein Factory." He also was ghost writer for a 1972 Ellery Queen mystery, "The Blue Movie Murders." But Hoch, who won a 1968 Edgar Award from Mystery Writers of America for "The Oblong Room," considered short stories to be the most satisfying form of writing. "Writing a novel has always been, for me, a task to be finished as quickly as possible," he once said. "Writing a short story is a pleasure one can linger over, with delight in the concept and surprise at the finished product." Greene said Hoch "continued the tradition of Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen and John Dickson Carr of challenging the reader to guess who the culprit would turn out to be. He emphasized puzzle, but within that he also emphasized atmosphere. He loved setting his stories in exotic places. And he loved introducing esoteric lore into his stories." Greene said Hoch's "Simon Ark stories are about someone who may be an Egyptian Coptic priest who claimed to be 2,000 years old, and they're wonderful stories." And Hoch's popular series character Dr. Sam Hawthorne, he said, "is a country doctor in the 1920s up to the 1940s who always faces what we call an impossible crime: Someone is murdered in a locked room that no one else could have entered, for example." Greene said Hoch wrote more than 100 impossible crime stories, "every one with different solutions." "He wrote a story one time about a victim in a revolving door," Greene said. "The guy was walking into the store and he's murdered within the door. I mean, it's completely sealed. No one is there." Born Feb. 22, 1930, in Rochester, N.Y., Hoch attended the University of Rochester from 1947 to 1949, then went to work as a research assistant at the Rochester Public Library. After a two-year stateside stint in the Army, he worked for Pocket Books in New York City, and from 1954 to 1968 he was a copy and public relations writer for Hutchins Advertising Co. in Rochester. Hoch began writing fiction full time in 1968. "He had a brilliant mind; he loved puzzling things out," Greene said.

Those of you who enjoyed The Fugitive will remember Barry Morse fondly. Here's his LA Times obituary: http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...1,2249096.story Barry Morse, 89; played Lt. Gerard on 'The Fugitive' By Valerie J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer February 5, 2008 Barry Morse, an actor best known for portraying Lt. Philip Gerard, who relentlessly pursued David Janssen's Dr. Richard Kimble on the hit 1960s television series "The Fugitive," has died. He was 89. Morse, who maintained homes in England and Canada, died Saturday at University College Hospital in London, his son, actor Hayward Morse, told the Canadian Press news agency. A cause of death was not announced. In the 1963 series debut of "The Fugitive," Kimble is falsely accused of murdering his wife and escapes from Gerard. Kimble spends the next four years eluding the detective and hunting the one-armed man he believed was the real killer. The finale, broadcast Aug. 29, 1967, made TV history -- the ABC show was seen by more than 72% of viewers, a record that stood until "Dallas" eclipsed it 13 years later. In the climactic scene, Gerard shoots the one-armed man to save Kimble's life. Some viewers were so wrapped up in the melodramatic morality play that they had trouble distinguishing Morse the actor from his cop-as-villain character. "Elderly ladies bashed me across the head with their handbags, or some hulking great man would come up to me in a bar and say: 'Don't you understand? The guy's innocent!' It was an enormous compliment -- and quite dangerous," Morse told the London Daily Mail in 1993. He considered the part groundbreaking because the character was "carefully designed to be disliked. . . . I was the most hated man in America, and I loved it," Morse said in the Daily Mail article. His son told the Canadian Press that his father believed "The Fugitive" was "one of the best things television had produced." The widely syndicated show failed to provide him "one thin dime" in recent years, Morse often said, because residuals from the series ran out after five years. Morse was born June 10, 1918, in London, and grew up poor. At 14 he left school, partly to escape beatings the left-hander said he received for refusing to write with his right hand. While working as a messenger, Morse happened upon a public performance by students of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. The discovery led him to attend the school on scholarship from 1935 to 1937, and he was soon acting in West End theaters and appearing in British Broadcasting Corp. productions. After moving to Canada in 1951, he was such a force on Canadian Broadcasting Corp. shows that at least one critic referred to him as "test pattern," claiming the network put him on when it had nothing else to air. In the early 1950s, Morse created "A Touch of Greasepaint," a radio program about the history of acting that aired for a decade. The show was the genesis of his one-man play "Merely Players," which he performed to help establish a show-business retirement home in Toronto in 1993. Over seven decades, he played more than 3,000 roles on stage, radio, television and film, according to his website. His television work included miniseries such as "The Martian Chronicles," "The Winds of War" and "Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story." He also portrayed professor Victor Bergman in the syndicated mid-1970s series "Space: 1999." A role on the police drama "The Untouchables" led to his being cast in "The Fugitive." Because he did not appear in every episode, Morse regularly traveled to Canada in 1966 to serve as artistic director of the Shaw Festival, established in Niagara-on-the-Lake to honor playwright George Bernard Shaw, whom Morse regarded as "a great hero." His wife of 60 years, actress Sydney Sturgess, died in 1999. Their daughter, Melanie Morse MacQuarrie, also an actress, died in 2005. In addition to his son, Morse is survived by four grandchildren and several great-grandchildren, the news agency reported.

The Maharishi has died. Here's his AP obituary: http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-...1,4208394.story Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, 91; taught Beatles meditation Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who introduced the West to transcendental meditation, died Tuesday at his home in the Dutch town of Vlodrop, a spokesman said. Maharishi, who was thought to be 91 years old, saw his movement take off because of his association with the Beatles in the late 1960s. From the Associated Press 4:29 PM PST, February 5, 2008 THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a guru to the Beatles who introduced the West to transcendental meditation, died today at his home in the Dutch town of Vlodrop, a spokesman said. He was thought to be 91 years old. "He died peacefully at about 7 p.m.," said Bob Roth, a spokesman for the Transcendental Meditation movement that the Maharishi founded. He said his death appeared to be due to "natural causes, his age." Once dismissed as hippie mysticism, the Hindu practice of mind control that Maharishi taught, called transcendental meditation, gradually gained medical respectability. He began teaching TM in 1955 and brought the technique to the United States in 1959. But the movement really took off after the Beatles visited his ashram in India in 1968, although he had a famous falling out with the rock stars when he discovered them using drugs at his Himalayan retreat. With the help of celebrity endorsements, Maharishi -- a Hindi-language title for Great Seer -- parlayed his interpretations of ancient scripture into a multi-million-dollar global empire. After 50 years of teaching, Maharishi turned to larger themes, with grand designs to harness the power of group meditation to create world peace and to mobilize his devotees to banish poverty from the earth. Maharishi's roster of famous meditators ran from The Rolling Stones to Clint Eastwood and new age preacher Deepak Chopra. Director David Lynch, creator of dark and violent films, lectured at college campuses about the "ocean of tranquility" he found in more than 30 years of practicing transcendental meditation. Some 5 million people devoted 20 minutes every morning and evening reciting a simple sound, or mantra, and delving into their consciousness. "Don't fight darkness. Bring the light, and darkness will disappear," Maharishi said in a 2006 interview, repeating one of his own mantras. Donations and the $2,500 fee to learn TM financed the construction of Peace Palaces, or meditation centers, in dozens of cities around the world. It paid for hundreds of new schools in India. In 1971, Maharishi founded a university in Fairfield, Iowa, that taught meditation alongside the arts and sciences to 700 students and served organic vegetarian food in its cafeterias. Supporters pointed to hundreds of scientific studies showing that meditation reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, improves concentration and raises results for students and businessmen. Skeptics ridiculed his plan to raise $10 trillion to end poverty by sponsoring organic farming in the world's poorest countries. They scoffed at his notion that meditation groups, acting like psychic shock troops, can end conflict. "To resolve problems through negotiation is a very childish approach," he said. In 1986, two groups founded by his organization were sued in the U.S. by former disciples who accused it of fraud, negligence and intentionally inflicting emotional damage. A jury, however, refused to award punitive damages. Over the years, Maharishi also was accused of fraud by former pupils who claim he failed to teach them to fly. "Yogic flying," showcased as the ultimate level of transcendence, was never witnessed as anything more than TM followers sitting in the cross-legged lotus position and bouncing across spongy mats. Maharishi was born Mahesh Srivastava in central India, reportedly on Jan. 12, 1917 -- though he refused to confirm the date or discuss his early life. He studied physics at Allahabad University before becoming secretary to a well known Hindu holy man. After the death of his teacher, Maharishi went into a nomadic two-year retreat of silence in the Himalayan foothills of northern India. With his background in physics, he brought his message to the West in a language that mixed the occult and science that became the buzz of college campuses. He described TM as "the unified field of all the laws of nature." Maharishi's trademark flowing beard and long, graying hair appeared on the cover of the leading news magazines of the day. But aides say Maharishi became disillusioned that TM had become identified with the counterculture, and he spent more time at his ashram in Rishikesh in the Himalayan foothills to run his global affairs. In 1990 he moved onto the wooded grounds of a historic Franciscan monastery in the southern Dutch village of Vlodrop, about 125 miles southeast of Amsterdam. Concerned about his fragile health, he secluded himself in two rooms of the wooden pavilion he built on the compound, speaking only by video to aides around the world and even to his closest advisers in the same building. John Hagelin, a theoretical physicist who ran for the U.S. presidency three times on the Maharishi-backed Natural Law Party, said that from the Dutch location Maharishi had daylong access to followers in India, Europe and the Americas. "He runs several shifts of us into the ground," said Hagelin, Maharishi's closest aid, speaking in Vlodrop about his then-89-year-old mentor. "He is a fountainhead of innovation and new ideas -- far too many than you can ever follow up."

Here's a link to what ESPN considers the ten greatest upsets in sports history. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=354871 I didn't know that the origin of the use of the term "upset" to refer to a surprise sports victory was the name of a horse!

It looks like a case of a Svengali controlling a mentally ill millionaire. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8...;show_article=1 Spears' Manager Accused of Drugging Her Feb 5 03:46 PM US/Eastern By LINDA DEUTSCH AP Special Correspondent Spears' Dad Still in Charge of Her Affairs Paparazzo Boyfriend Visits Britney Bearing Gifts and Cameraman LOS ANGELES (AP) - A restraining order aimed at Britney Spears' sometimes manager Sam Lutfi alleges that he took over her life and finances, drugged her and controlled the paparazzi who pursued her for months. The order, based on a lengthy declaration from Spears' mother, Lynne, says that Spears met Lutfi in October 2007 and "Mr. Lutfi has essentially moved into Britney's home and has purported to take control of her life, home and finances." The documents released by the court Tuesday ordered him to stay away from her and stop harassing. In a section of the order that detailed previous harassment, Lynne Spears said "Mr. Lutfi drugged Britney, he has cut Britney's home phone lines and removed her cell phone chargers. He yells at her. He claims to control everything—Britney's business manager, her attorneys and the security guards at the gate." Spears' father has been granted control of her finances until Valentine's Day by a judge who also barred the troubled pop star from contacting Lutfi. Superior Court Commissioner Reva Goetz also appointed a physician Monday to evaluate whether Spears, who is in a psychiatric ward, is competent to make decisions. Her father, James Spears, and an attorney were granted conservatorship last week after the 26-year-old was hospitalized for the second time in two months following increasingly bizarre behavior. The commissioner extended that conservatorship until Feb. 14. It allows Spears' father, and attorney Andrew Wallet, to make decisions involving the singer's assets and even who enters her home. The commissioner also tried to further distance Spears from Lutfi, who sometimes spoke on her behalf and had been seen escorting her about town. Spears was ordered to have no contact with him by phone, texting, or any other means. The commissioner extended a restraining order against Lutfi that was issued last week, although court spokesman Allan Parachini said the original order had not yet been served. In a Monday text message to The Associated Press, Lutfi said: "I have no problems with anyone writing anything negative against me. My image is not of concern, hers is." A police motorcade helped shepherd Spears to UCLA Medical Center last Thursday for a 72-hour mental evaluation. She was originally to be released Sunday but doctors and a ward medical officer decided to keep her for two more weeks. They cited a state law that allows holding patients for treatment if they are found to be gravely disabled or a danger to themselves or others. The question of Spears' competency came up again Monday as an attorney, Adam Streisand, unsuccessfully argued that the pop star told him by phone that she wanted her father removed as conservator. "She has expressed to me very strongly (her wish) that her father not be the conservator," Streisand said. "There has been an estrangement for quite some time. With him as conservator, that is causing her more agitation and more distress." Streisand, who placed Spears' estate assets at $40 million or more, also said he believed he had been authorized to represent Spears. But court-appointed attorney Samuel Ingham said he interviewed Spears on Sunday at the hospital and determined she didn't understand the court proceedings, and "she lacks the capacity to retain counsel." Attorney Vivian Thoreen, who represents Spears' father, said her client should continue to be conservator because "his daughter is in great distress." "He's not here to take over her assets," Thoreen said. "He's here to get her medical help. He's here to take over while she's healing."