Tom Storer

An "organic breakfast joint." Now there's something you'll never find in France. ;-) Buffalo meat, either. But what is an olive burger? Olives mixed in with the meat? Green or black?

Talk about a tempest in a teapot. My speculation: Wynton probably tossed off a humorously provocative statement. "Some guy in Spain stood up for REAL JAZZ? Good for him! Get his name, I'll send him my whole catalog." An "assistant" who overheard happened to know the Guardian journalist, and gave him a call or sent him an email, or maybe happened to run into him. "Hey, Wynton says he'll send his whole catalog to that guy in Spain if you can track him down! Haw haw!" So the guy runs the article. After all, it saves him having to dream up something serious to write about. In any case, big deal. Wynton would probably be delighted to know that the stalwart anti-fascists on Organissimo are pale with indignation over this fluff.

One year I booked us both for ballroom dancing lessons. Let it be said that I am no dancer, so this was a big surprise. It got probably the most delight of any present ever. We did it for three years running, stopped because of scheduling issues, and are always on the verge of starting up again.

The 7th is too far off my beaten track for me to sample these, but if I'm in the neighborhood some day I'll check it out! Burger-wise, you can get relatively discreet burgers from many Parisian bistros, not just fast-food joints, that aren't necessarily bad. However, you can't pick your toppings, and usually get lettuce, tomato, perhaps raw onion, and some mayo-based house sauce of pink or orange hue. One is better off constructing one's own at home. Personally, I make burgers maybe three or four times a year.

Wynton certainly knows how to rile up the opposite camp! Lighten up, folks, he's pulling your strings.

A burger thread on another forum got enthusiastic participation. How do you like your burgers? How often do you eat them? Homemade or favorite provider? Etc. Inspired by that thread, I made myself a burger last night. I got ground beef from the butcher, some American-style bacon from the local supermarket (sometimes they have it); fried the bacon, fried the burgers in the bacon grease. On top, added comté cheese and strips of bacon. A dollop of ketchup and I was away. It was extremely satisfying. Recount your burger story here.

Sounds great. And where are you with your massive blues anthology?

And here it is: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...stmas&st=80

I just picked up Dylan's "Christmas in the Heart" and Carla Bley's "Carla's Christmas Carols." Top ratings for both. Dylan is gloriously kitschy, Bley's is gorgeous and tasteful (Bley and Swallow plus the excellent Ed Partyka Brass Quintet).

Richard Sudhalter wrote a book called "Lost Chords: White Musicians and Their Contribution to Jazz, 1915-1945." It was controversial, as you might expect. I never read the book but I bought the companion double-CD, which you can get separately, and it's packed with excellent early jazz--all by white musicians, but what the hell, if it's good, it's good. I recommend the CDs heartily.

Yes, "prince meet"/"mincemeat" is something, all right. One of my favorites along the same lines is from Yip Harburg's "What Is There To Say": My heart's in a deadlock I'd even face wedlock With you

Then there's always this immortal couplet from "These Foolish Things": "A tinkling piano in the next apartment, Those stumbling words that told you what my heart meant" Of course, when Billie Holiday sings it, all is forgiven.

A lexicographer friend of mine notes that "stuffing" is Northern and "dressing" is Southern. My question for you is: does this include the verb? Would you say, "I have dressed the turkey?"

*CLASP*

This is a book for young people? I always find it awkward when authors attempt to make easily digestible pedagogical talking points out of messy, blurred, exception-ridden realities. It reminds me of PowerPoint presentations. "Just have a look at these few bullet points, then you'll have learned something." Not always.

Here in France, where TG is naturally not a holiday, Americans typically pick an adjacent weekend to celebrate. Every year for decades we've been invited to a festive Thanksgiving weekend by a foodie friend who now lives in Chartres. So I don't control the menu, but typically it consists of roast stuffed turkey and a variety of side dishes. I make the sweet potato pie--the pumpkins here in France aren't quite the same variety, so it's hard to find pumpkin that will set properly. I prefer to use fresh sweet potato rather than overpriced canned pumpkin from some American specialty shop in Paris. Our friend does a thing where she soaks Stilton cheese overnight in vintage port. It makes a sinfully rich confection, half cheese and half dessert. I'd like to weigh in on the stuffing question. I am philosophically and aesthetically opposed to stuffing outside the bird. The whole point is to have it compact and moist, permeated with cooking juices from the bird. Otherwise, I'm sorry, it's not stuffing. It's faux stuffing and its proponents should be banned from the kitchen for life. That is all. Long live tolerance!

My copy came yesterday. What great jazz. What a player, what a sound. I remember buying those Steeplechase quartet albums back in the day and listening to them over and over, just floored at the combination of jazz essence and real originality. This brought me right back--how wonderful that he's still serving the Cause! Thanks, Chuck, for getting this out there!

A good read, all right. I laughed when I read that Art Taylor used to say his whole career was based on Philly Joe not showing up. And when Jimmy Garrison begged off a gig after Coltrane's death, saying that after seven years of playing vamps he had forgotten all the tunes!

I just learned of the existence of Muphry's law: "if you write anything criticizing editing or proofreading, there will be a fault of some kind in what you have written." This seems like the just thread to bring it up! See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muphry%27s_law.

This sounds very much like you are blaming faults in the music on the musicians' sartorial attitudes. They pay a lot of attention to their wardrobe and "as a consequence" you don't like their music? You're being argumentative. I said precisely what I mean. There are musicians whose music lacks the spark I seek as a listener. Many of them are the well dressed variety I see on the glossy, highly produced record covers. I'm not suggesting their wardrobe influences my ears, you are. I'm not concerned if you agree, I'm merely stating the way I see it. You're welcome to your own opinion, but don't put words in my mouth. I just want to defend myself against the charge of putting words in your mouth. You said: in your estimation, some musicians worry as much about their wardrobe as their music. Then you said, "As a consequence," you don't like their music. Maybe you didn't mean to say that you don't like their music because you think they're too concerned with their dress, but that is what you said. Taken literally. I will allow that I may have been guilty of nitpicking. And with that I will say no more on that particular subject.

Sad news. She had a wonderful sound.

Look at it this way: if some Wynton fan were to go to a concert of free improv played by musicians wearing dirty jeans and T-shirts, and then came away saying "That music was terrible! Look at how those musicians dress! So sloppy! No respect!", I submit that many free improv fans would say "That person doesn't understand that music has nothing to do with wardrobe! He is hung up on bourgeois pretensions and superficial appearance!" And then they would go to a Wynton concert and say "That music was terrible! Look at those expensive suits! All pretense and conformism!" The fact that the audience does look at the musicians, and does speculate (and I emphasize "speculate," because that's all it is) about what their dress implies about their music, puts the lie to the notion that dress has no effect on the music listening experience.

This sounds very much like you are blaming faults in the music on the musicians' sartorial attitudes. They pay a lot of attention to their wardrobe and "as a consequence" you don't like their music?

A friend of mine died from swine flu on Tuesday. He came down with it a week earlier and had been in intensive care since last Thursday with grave respiratory difficulties. He was 36 years old and in good health. He had three kids. Wash your hands frequently.

Anyone who says this: "the 'famous' bleu and roquefort - ewww", cannot be taken seriously in any discussion of cheese.