PHILLYQ

Tonight was Chicken Cacciatore with cheesecake for desert. Tomorrow is buffalo wings for the big bowl.

I'd try cheese- has anyone mentioned that?

That sounds so good I'm getting hungry after dinner!

I've seen the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis big band at the Village Vanguard, Gil Evans at Sweet Basil's, Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabackin(on a double bill with the Mel Lewis big band-by that time Thad Jones had passed away), the Basie band after Basie's passing, as special guests backing Manhattan Transfer(!!!!), Sun Ra(!!!), the Arkestra, Lester Bowie's Hip-Hop Feelharmonic Orchestra(!!!). I can't say there was a bad one in the bunch, and to see and hear the power and sheer punch of a big band, especially in a small club, is a great experience.

Can Clapton play like that anymore? In Cream he used to just go all out when he soloed- hard to imagine him doing that now. Jazz Cat- check out the live stuff if you want to hear some Cream with the doors off.

You know I hardly ever make jerk chicken- there are so many people from Jamaica in Brooklyn that I can drive 5 minutes and get a choice of jerk joints.

Speaking of Italian, the first day of the big Northeast blizzard I went crazy Italian. In the space of three hours I made a big pot of tomato sauce('gravy' to Sicilians), 2 dozen meatballs, baked ziti and eggplant parmigiana. We ate well despite the heavy snow. Tonight's dinner was a dill feature- cucumber salad with dill, steamed stringbeans with butter and dill, and broiled chicken cutlets marinated in olive oil, garlic, lemon juice,parsley, cumin, scallions, cayenne pepper &... dill.

If you go directly to Palmetto's site thay have the disc for $12.99. That may be for a limited time.

Welcome Chandra, no matter who you like. We all have our inexplicable guilty musical pleasures.

I actually enjoyed HOFD more than Hero- the story seemed deeper and the twists and turns of who was a double agent were excellent. Gotta get this one on DVD when it comes out. The echo test scene and the bamboo tree fight scene are worth the price of admission alone, but there's also a great story too.

For about the last 20 years I've been working in back office operations for Wall Street firms doing various aspects of Reorganization. I work now for a large international bank and ride herd on stock borrows/loans. What that means in English is that my firm borrows stock from other firms and then lends that stock out to our London office-they in turn lend it out in England and other European countries. When there is say a takeover attempt or a company issues rights to holders as of a certain day to purchase additional stock at a favorable price, I step in and make sure that we get instructions from those who lent to us and make sure that those who borrowed carry out those instructions. It's tons of deadlines, last minute surprises, hair-raising escapes from certain doom, with liberal doses of accounting and regulations to be followed. Sometimes I just want to SCREAM at work, but it pays decently. I have no job security, as a merger, outsourcing or a decision to operate differently may render me redundant at any time. If I make a big enough mistake(this did happen once, $180,000 error), I get fired.

Delivered newspapers(started at 12 years old) Butcher store delivery/helper Dry cleaners delivery dishwasher cook(promotion when two of the cooks quit!)

CONGRATS Johnny E. & Melissa & Milo. I will now pass on a great bit of advice given to me when my son was born- buy some cloth diapers. Not for Milo to wear, but to put over your shoulder when you burp him. Sometimes you get a 'little extra' when you burp him, and the cloth diaper saves your shirt.

Between 1972 and '73, I saw Rollins several times at the Vanguard and Half Note in a quartet that included Albert Dailey, Larry Ridley and David Lee. Some of the greatest live jazz I've ever witnessed and that's saying alot. As for David Lee, he surely did disappear. I do have the JVC Tokyo date on LP. Since his live dates well into the early '90s could be terrific depending on when and where one caught Sonny, I had great hopes when I picked up this album some 30 years ago. And while Richard Palmer lauds it in his book on Sonny Rollins, I too am of the opinion that Rollins recordings post 1968 are just not as gripping or on the same level as previous recorded work, sad to say. In '74(?) I saw Sonny at the Vanguard a bunch of times with David Lee, Rufus Harley(saxophone & bagpipes), Yoshiaki Masuo(guitar), Mtume, Stanley Cowell & Bob Cranshaw. I was fairly new to jazz then and it twisted my head around until it popped! He was making magic live, even if he was producing humdrum recordings. That band did record one disc together, 'The Cutting Edge', which if I recall had some nice moments on it.

Thought it was newbie!

I lurk at work but I'm no jerk

There goes another $20+(Bastards)

They ship pretty quickly- I don't think that being in a suburb makes much,if any difference.

Haven't watched it this season, but last season I enjoyed the terrible singers more- they were a good laugh.

Totally uncalled for remark about Chris- you should apologize for being so crude and disrespectful. I followed the link posted and you can donate quite easily on WKCR's website. I'll skip a disc and I gave $20-KEEP JAZZ ALIVE! KCR does do a lot of very good things for jazz, from the birthday celebrations to daily Parker(A friend is a bus driver who can't live without that playing on his bus), etc. They also have a Sunday morning country show that has real country like Hank Williams and bluegrass, a good funk show on Saturday afternoons, some nice reggae, etc. Sometimes in the car it's the only station playing anything worthwhile. Brad, thank you very much for posting and providing the link- KCR is too valuable to lose.

Great point , Mike- that was part of what made Carson so special.

I remember once seeing Rodney Dangerfield on the show, and all Carson did was feed Rodney one straight line after another. Carson did such a great job of helping Rodney do his shtick, and Rodney was GREAT. Another time he had Mel Brooks(born Melvin Kaminsky in Brooklyn) as his first guest, and Brooks ended up being the ONLY guest! The show ended with Brooks pouring seltzer into the hanky pocket on Carson's suit jacket- Carson was laughing uncontrollably(I was, too.)

To be produced by Ken Burns? With commentary by Stanley Grouch?

Glen Ferris was also in Billy Cobham's band at one time- he's on the Shabazz live disc, recorded in 1974. also n that disc are the Brecker brothers, John Abercrombie, Milcho Leviev & Alex Blake.