PHILLYQ

On one of their discs they do a smokin' version of 'Freedom Jazz Dance' where Tony Williams leads the way(mostly).

I ride the NYC subway to work and home, and I know that the space the two guys were in is miniscule. A little movement one way or another and someone loses a limb or their life. Hats off(Mr. Autrey had some grease on his hat from the train passing over)to a genuine hero in an age where the word is horribly overused.

Danielle, Welcome to the wacky world of Organissimo- stick around, it gets even better!Alexander, is my grammar and syntax copacetic?

Check out the thread Bebop started- maybe he can help you find it.

Zito also went, as many Boras clients do, for the most money. He's going to a team that is weak and old, and I doubt he can turn them around himself. He would have been better off going to the Mets, better team, pitcher's park, pitching coach he liked. But $$$ rules. The Yankees getting rid of Randy Johnson is a great move IMHO, especially if they get some decent propects in return. He hasn't pitched so great for the Yanks, and it certainly seems that he hates NYC.

Happy Birthday Alexander & Ron S

Who you gonna call?

As Jim so eloquently points out, JB represented a lot more than just music to a lot of people. He was(and is) a source of pride, an example to many about hard work(and he came by his title as 'hardest workin' man in show business' by EARNING it), and a guy who was hugely successful doing things his way. You have to keep in mind that JB was succesful in an era where Jim Crow was very much alive, where civil rights legislation was either embryonic or recently passed(and regularly ignored in many parts of the country). For all of that, JB's impact went way beyond music in ways that many non-black people could probably never fully understand. I'm white and I get only a bit of what he meant to black people. Imagine being at the bottom of the social ladder and here comes a guy who's big, worldwide and doesn't shuffle, doesn't kowtow to the powers that be- what a guy that is! "We'd rather die on our feet than keep living on our knees" JB

I was just thinking about that on a live JB disc, and then JB asks Pink to play the solo from another tune there! Of course, your pun was like a hat- it went right over my head!

"Pink, gimme the wink" "Sex Machine" from 'Love Power Peace'- put on the asbestos headphones

"Can I count it off" "Count it off" "Can I count it off" "Count it off" "Can I count it off" "Count it off" "Can I count it off" "Count it off" 1,2,3,4---------------"Get up, get on up..." My son is 14, and when he was about a year old I started him on JB, by two he was singing along to "Make it Funky" & "Say it Loud". Thanks so much, JB, you helped create a forever memory with me and my son. If you don't have it, get 'Love, Power, Peace'- Bootsy, his brother on guitar, the JBs on fire, it's a smoker!!!

The best concert I went to this year was a rock concert- I saw Jeff Beck in September and three months later I'm still buzzing about it. Incredible technique, but strictly in service to the tune, not technique for its own sake. What a guitar player In February I saw Rashanim at the Stone, a mashup of fusion and klezmer that worked just right. I saw Wayne Krantz with Anthony Jackson on bass & Keith Carlock on drums- excellent and funky.

A buddy of mine took a couple of classes from Ron Carter at City College in NYC. My buddy, who is as easygoing as they come, thought Carter was tough and at times nasty to the students.

Here's an appreciation by a sportswriter who covered the Cosmos at the time: For all the worldwide acclaim that the music business brought Ahmet Ertegun, I suspect he got bigger kicks reading his name in the sports pages. As one of the founders of the New York Cosmos soccer team that for three years, 1977-79, was the ultimate one-hit wonder, Ertegun often was meddlesome, Steinbrenner-ish, making him an easy target for a kid who covered his team. But Ertegun, who died last week at 83, not only didn't dismiss me, he graciously indulged me; he even claimed that I taught him how to take a punch. And while he'd make our jobs difficult by escorting superstars - Mick Jagger, to drop one name - into the post-game locker room, he made sure to introduce them to this kid reporter. Ertegun was a sport. Years later, on two occasions, I ran into Ahmet in a restaurant. Both times he was in the company of big shots. And both times he insisted that I join them. And then he and I swapped Cosmos' stories, probably boring his big shot buddies silly. Nah, together we could work a small room. It's by Phil Mushnick of the NY Post. Link: http://www.nypost.com/seven/12182006/sport...nick.htm?page=2

My 14year old son calls what I listen to "weird music that makes no sense"! My wife is actually tolerant to a large degree of a lot of stuff I listen to, but 'out' stuff and King Crimson(she has said that Crimson makes her want to commit homicide!) I play when she's not around or in bed. She sometimes gets to a bit of eye-rolling when yet another package arrives, but she does get me a J&R gift card every year for Christmas. I'm doing pretty well all things considered.

I would caution you on using Wikipedia as a primary source- articles there can be edited incorrectly or be chock full of errors to begin with. You might want to try some bios of the heavyweights of the time, such as Langston Hughes, Duke, etc. I don't know if it exists, but if there is an online presence for the Schomburg Center they would likely have some very good material.

Update: I came home on Thursday and it was on my porch! I ordered it on Tuesday at around 6:15 PST, and got it on Thursday! That's coming from calif. to NY- EXCELLENT!!!!!

Happy Birthday Jim I have to admit I sometimes skip some posts of yours because you start talking about some music you like, you sound awfully persuasive, then I buy it, I love it, my wallet gets thinner, repeat, repeat... Thanks for pulling my coat to lots of great music- you provide an invaluable srvice to all here

Stereojack, You said exactly what I wanted to say. My condolences to Steve's family and friends.

jazz cat, Try Manny's in Midtown- they have everything!

Just ordered from Buy.com with Google checkout= $35.39 complete.

Regardless of origin, a great laugh- thanks for posting the list.

It's very welcome to see proof that the orthodox party line is a bunch of crap- I knew that the mythology surrounding Wyton Marsalis was exactly that, mythology. It seems that Crouch/Murray(NOT David)/Marsalis decided, evidence to the contrary, that jazz had died and was resurrected by Marsalis and his ilk. Jazz was quite alive, as these blogs prove. I first got interested in jazz around 1972, and there was a LOT going on in the '70s, and it wasn't all fusion. Good to see the truth surface.

It could be, but maybe not. Kerkorian's MO is to buy a big chunk of an underperforming stock and then press for changes to get the stock price up. Once that happens, he usually sells, collects a cool profit and goes on to the next battle. He did make around $100mil on GM, so he may have sold just because he saw a profit. The other scenario, and much more ominous for GM, is that Kerkorian is getting out because he believes that GM can't be saved and that it can't progress any further. One of the changes Kerkorian pressed for were alliances with other automakers. GM rejected that idea, and perhaps Kerkorian saw the alliances as a way to boost GM's profits.

Lester Bowie's is excellent! With Brass Fantasy he also did a cool cover of "My Way"