GA Russell

Mike, I think that Media Mail rates are available only to US addresses. Did I read a couple of weeks ago here in that thread about remastering that Steve Hoffman owned a piece of DCC? That's what I recall, but I may be wrong. Isn't DCC closed down for good? What has Hoffman done lately?

dccblowout.com has been mentioned in a number of threads, so rather than start a new thread about it, I thought I would relate my experience here. I went there Monday the 26th and placed an order for five CDs. There is a minimum order of $25.00, excluding shipping. I picked four Skye/DCC albums (all of which I believe but I'm not sure were remastered by Steve Hoffman): Cal Tjader - Solar Heat Cal Tjader - Plugs In Cal Tjader - Sounds Out Burt Bacharach Gary McFarland - America the Beautiful I also picked a Charles Brown album called Since I Fell for You. The sub-total came to only $26.96. The website automatically set me at the least expensive shipping rate in its system, which was FedEx ground service for $11.98. However, reading the small print on a link they suggest you read if you are a first time customer, I found that they will send it Media Mail rate if you type in the words "Media Mail" in the comment box. They will manually reset the shipping charge for half the stated rate. The following day I received an email with an attached invoice stating that the order had been shipped, and that the shipping charge had been reduced to $5.00. Delivery was promised in 7 to 14 days. I'm not in a hurry for these, so that is fine, and I save $7.00 shipping. So the grand total came to $31.96 for 5 CDs, or $6.39 each.

Hatfield and the North - The Rotters' Club (Jap. Virgin) 1975 Shorty featuring Georgie Fame (Epic) 1969?

I received my Legrand and Tjader order today. I guess ten days isn't too bad. That's three days more than what my Your Music orders usually take. The Tjader has a b&w cover. Its tray card is also b&w. It appears to have been in their inventory since 1998. I would definitely prefer color, but at the price I can't complain. CD Universe has the album for six dollars more - $10.65 plus shipping. edit for typo

Happy Birthday jl!

Red Garland - Red in Bluesville (Prestige OJC) I like this much more than At the Prelude.

Thanks for your input ejp and Aggie. I've ordered quite a few CDs this month, and I don't know where I'll find the time to listen to them all! It's hard to pass up a good bargain.

The league named Mark Cohon its new Commissioner today. He has credentials, having worked for both the NBA and MLB. It was never clear to me what the owners didn't like about the last guy, so it will be interesting to see how long the honeymoon lasts. http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...ory/GlobeSports

Walt "No Neck" Williams You mention Zoilo V. When he came up he was Zorro Versalles.

Does anyone have an opinion on the James Carter, Stefon Harris, Christian McBride or Jason Moran? I've already decided to get the Sonny Rollins.

Henry Mancini - Theme from "Z" and Other Film Music (RCA Victor) 1970 Sue Raney (with Bob Florence Trio) - Sings the Music of Johnny Mandel (Discovery) 1982 I had a headache, and needed something easy to listen to.

Thanks Aggie! Some of those look too good to pass up.

When I was a boy living in Seattle in 1961, the Coast League base stealing champion that year was a shortstop named Rac Slider.

Great to hear, Bruce. I visited Your Music today, and looked at my queue to see how it was doing. There was Trompeta Toccata right on top where I put it, waiting to go out early next month.

Thanks for posting that JL. For those of us who grew up in the 50s and the 60s, it doesn't surprise me (us) that junior high and high school kids prefer singles over albums. It's the college kids and the adults who can afford the albums. But the article mentions that country albums may be on the way out as well. Although I know plenty of kids who prefer country over teenage pop, I still think of country as an adult genre; so I'm a little surprised that their album sales are also sliding. And besides, I imagine that country fans would be among the last to adopt the model of downloading to get their music.

Thanks for those photos Jim!

I don't have the hair!

The Animals Anthology discs 1 & 2 (RAK) 1964-65. Better than I remembered it! The Yardbirds - Heart Full of Soul (Accord) 1982 compilation I'm in the mood for some 60s blues rock after listening to the interview with Joe Boyd on Fresh Air this week.

Now you chockin' em in there Colt .45s! I remember when Harry Kalas did the Houston games. I heard him on the radio yesterday on WPHT doing a Phillies game.

I saw something on Drudge last week about this, and today it was confirmed with this email I received. Concord and Starbucks are starting a new label called Hear Music, and they have signed Paul McCartney. ***** SEATTLE, March 21, 2007 – Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) and Concord Music Group proudly announced today that Hear Music’s inaugural CD release will be from none other than music legend Paul McCartney. The album is slated for release early this summer and will be available at all traditional music retail outlets and Starbucks locations internationally. The announcement was made at the Starbucks Annual Meeting of Shareholders in Seattle where McCartney made a surprise appearance via satellite. “For me the great thing is the commitment and the passion and the love of music, which as an artist is good to see,” said McCartney. “It’s a new world now and people are thinking of new ways to reach the people and for me that’s always been my aim.” “Having the honor of releasing an album by Paul McCartney as our first project under the Hear Music label is in a word, remarkable,” said Ken Lombard, president of Starbucks Entertainment. “This demonstrates how Hear Music can present even the most successful recording artists of all-time with unique opportunities to reach existing fans, as well as a new audience of listeners.” “It is such a privilege to be able to present this amazing new album to the world,” said Glen Barros, president and CEO of the Concord Music Group. “I believe that McCartney fans, like myself, will find that this album connects them to everything that they’ve always loved about Paul, yet also delivers a new personal dimension that shows his continued evolution as an artist. It is a truly profound recording.” With their recent creation of the Hear Music label and the newest offering from McCartney, Starbucks Entertainment and Concord Music Group have taken big first steps in the evolution of their partnership. Hear Music grew from the two companies’ mutual quest for music that demonstrates quality, authenticity, relevance and passion. Hear Music seeks to provide a new platform for reaching music fans and introducing them to both emerging and established artists with inspired vision and a keen sense of purpose. This will result in compelling music selections for consumers. Starbucks Entertainment and Concord Music Group’s past collaborations include Ray Charles’ “Genius Loves Company,” which to date has sold 5.5 million copies worldwide and won an unsurpassed eight GRAMMY® Awards including Album of the Year. In addition, Sergio Mendes’ “Timeless” won a Latin GRAMMY® for Best Brazilian Contemporary Pop Album of the Year and to date has sold close to a million copies worldwide.

I haven't thought of him in years. Sorry to hear this. Here's this from the LA Times: Calvert DeForest, 85; cult hit on Letterman's show as Larry 'Bud' Melman By Dennis McLellan, Times Staff Writer March 22, 2007 Calvert DeForest, the roly-poly character actor with the black-framed glasses and seemingly clueless delivery who developed a cult following as Larry "Bud" Melman on "Late Night With David Letterman" in the 1980s, has died. He was 85. DeForest, who continued appearing with Letterman under his own name after the late-night comedian moved from NBC to CBS in the 1990s, died after a long illness Monday at a hospital in Babylon, N.Y., a spokesman for Letterman's production company said. "Everyone always wondered if Calvert was an actor playing a character, but in reality he was just himself: a genuine, modest and nice man," Letterman said in a statement Wednesday. "To our staff and to our viewers, he was a beloved and valued part of our show, and we will miss him." A struggling sometime actor from Brooklyn, N.Y., DeForest was working part time as a receptionist in a drug rehabilitation center when his role as a deranged studio mogul in a student film caught the attention of Letterman and his head writer, Merrill Markoe. The first thing viewers saw when they tuned in to the debut broadcast of "Late Night With David Letterman" in 1982 was DeForest, in a suit and tie, offering a disclaimer before the show's opening credits: a parody of the prologue to the classic horror film "Frankenstein" in which he warned viewers that what they were about to see "may shock you. It might even horrify you." So began one of the more unusual success stories in show business. "What we liked about Calvert was he had this very odd, naive quality, almost like a kid," Markoe told The Times on Wednesday. "We always had him reading cue cards because of the way he read. It's like what kids do at a grade-school play — that kind of drone. There was just something intrinsically hilarious about it. He didn't have a satiric edge at all; it was a kind of sweet, naive quality that made it very funny." Letterman and his writers soon had DeForest, as Larry "Bud" Melman — a name Markoe said she and Letterman came up with — doing fake commercials for Melman Buses and "Toast-on-a-Stick." He also appeared in countless sketches and was sent on oddball missions, such as handing out hot towels to arriving passengers at the Port Authority Bus Terminal or manning a booth across from the Russian Consulate and encouraging passersby to "C'mon and defect!" DeForest, who was known for what has been called his "braying laugh" — "Ha, ha, ha, ha!" — also offered advice in an "Ask Mr. Melman" bit and did unlikely impersonations of Ronald Reagan, Andy Rooney, Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley and other celebrities. He also once sang a duet of "I Got You Babe" with Sonny Bono and was even sent to Norway to report on the 1994 Winter Olympics. As Letterman's "resident oddball," as People magazine once called him, the unassuming DeForest became an unlikely TV celebrity. He went on to appear in a string of commercials for various products, including MCI, Frosted Cheerios and Pizza Hut. He also appeared in numerous films, television movies and TV shows and even starred in his own home video, "Couch Potato Workout." When Letterman switched networks in 1993, NBC claimed the character of Larry "Bud" Melman as its intellectual property and the character had to be dropped from the CBS show. DeForest, who was born in Brooklyn on July 23, 1921, and never married, made his last appearance on "The Late Show With David Letterman" in 2002. "It was the greatest thing that had happened in my life," he said of his first appearance on Letterman's show. At DeForest's request, there will be no funeral service, but donations may be made in his name to the Actors' Fund of America, 729 7th Ave., 10th floor, New York, NY, 10019.

Is this the set that also includes the previously unissued Bob Zieff tunes? Late, no it's not, unless I've missed something. This was my first Your Music selection. It's OK, but I'm not a fan of Montrose. If you are, it reminds me of the work he did for Clifford Brown's Pacific Jazz album.

Janice Friedman is a pianist who has been a member of the Rutgers faculty since 1993. She is not young. She was born in 1960. Swingin' for the Ride is her third album, but her first as a vocalist. This is a self-produced album available at CDBaby and her website www.janicefriedman.com starting today. Knowing that, I didn't expect much when I put the disc in the player for the first time. There are twelve songs, totalling 49 minutes. Seven of the songs are standards and five were written by Friedman. This is a Diana Krall/Dena DeRose type album. But what a surprise! She can sing. Her alto voice has more body than Julie London's, but she has the same effortless approach to the songs that London had. Her piano playing is good, with brief interesting solos. And for the biggest surprise of all, her compositions are worthy of becoming standards. The music does not challenge the listener, but is not watered down either. Bassist Sean Conly supports well and is given a few brief solos. Drummer Diego Voglino is very competent for the style of music. On several tracks percussionist Daniel Sadownick adds color. If this were released by a major label with proper promotion, it would sell plenty. This is the best new album I've heard in months. 4 1/2 stars

Jen, I would like to see Universal release on CD all of the Cal Tjader Verve albums it has not already re-issued.

I'm very happy with USAA.