PHILLYQ

When people first started downloading music, the response of the industry was to hire lawyers, stick their fingers in their ears and shout loudly to anyone who would listen(government, media,etc.). They COULD have decided to investigate the technology and offer that same service and try to make a buck from it. So what they got instead of an end to downloading was a ton of unpopular lawsuits and a downloading problem that's much,much worse than the suits could have ever imagined. If I own any of these companies heads would roll for being so myopic and missinga great opportunity, but of course the boobs who hired the lawyers are still employed.

Here's a thoughtful take on the whole brouhaha by Lisa Olson of the NY Daily News(for my money, one of the best sportswriters around): A brand-new ballgame for Bronx crowds Hopefully, action is the only thing they catch in seats Miscreant Walks Upright, Part I: Texas reliever Frankie Francisco raced to the bullpen to defend the honor of his verbally wounded Ranger teammates, picks up a plastic chair, throws it into the stands, breaks a woman's nose. Miscreant Walks Upright, Part II: Craig Bueno, husband of the injured woman, buys season tickets near the opposing team's bullpen, spends much of every game heckling visiting players, convinces himself his verbal diarrhea gives his beloved Oakland team an advantage, wonders if maybe he deserves a share of the World Series pie should the A's win it all. "It's an American tradition," Bueno said of his inalienable right to life, liberty and obnoxiousness. No doubt, millions of like-minded folks burped heartily in agreement. If Bueno were a character on "The Simpsons," his delusions of grandeur might be forgiven. But there is something really creepy about a 42-year-old father of three teenage boys gleefully admitting he gets his jollies from screaming rude insults at ballplayers he has never met. Francisco has no justifiable excuse - nada, zero, Gene Orza, please have the grace to stay quiet - for heaving furniture into the right-field box seats Monday night. It doesn't matter what Bueno or any other fan said, doesn't matter if the A's had their manhood questioned or their mamas vilified, doesn't even matter if racial epithets were dropped, Francisco ought to quietly accept the suspension MLB hands down and pray he isn't jailed or deported. It's a pity Bueno can't be tried by a court where civility still matters. When he's not acting like a total nut job at Network Associates Coliseum, Bueno also happens to be a battalion chief with the Hayward Fire Department. Fair or not, a modicum of decorum should be expected from municipal servants, especially those paid to protect the public. At least we can pity his poor wife, who not only has to get her nose fixed but has to live with a guy who apparently thinks yelling brilliant witticisms like "Rangers ---" is foreplay. There are Bueno clones everywhere, of course, and they seem to be reproducing by the inning. This weekend should be about the Yankees and the Red Sox adding frosting to a rivalry already luscious and rich. Instead, and in spite of the extra uniformed and undercover security presence, you can bet your Carlton Fisk rookie card the Stadium stands will rock, and not necessarily in a good way. The fights that clear entire rows, the vulgarities no decent parent wants their children to hear, the forceful ejections - it's all nonsense that will resume next weekend at Fenway, when the AL East convention moves to Boston. Some might argue the fans are merely taking cues from the players, who aren't exactly waltzing when they pair up. To hear some of the Red Sox and Yankees talk, Jason Varitek and Alex Rodriguez have yet to be separated. Last week in Oakland, I asked Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein if he was concerned the rivalry had become too overheated. "If I were a security officer I'd be worried about it," he said. "To me, it's on the verge of getting out of control off the field. On the field, despite the fight and despite a few examples at Game 3 (of the ALCS, when Yankee relievers pummeled a Red Sox fan who was working in the Fenway bullpen) last year, I actually think it's baseball at its best on the field. It's just two tremendous teams going at it on the highest level." Irony being a cruel witch, we were talking on the same field where last season Carl Everett was clocked by a flying cell phone, where Ichiro Suzuki has been pelted with coins, where Boston's Manny Ramirez soon would be showered with debris just inches away from the Black Hole, that infamous spot where Raiders' fans practice a particularly nasty form of savagery. Shea and Yankee Stadium and Fenway and any joint in Philly certainly spawn their share of trouble, but players from the diamond and the gridiron insist Oakland's venom has no parallel. "It was a real break from the normal trash you hear from fans," Rangers manager Buck Showalter said of the taunts from right field that set off Monday's highly charged melee. That "they were mean to my guys" argument does nothing to mitigate Jennifer Bueno's shattered schnozz, or her dizzy spells and headaches. She plans to file a civil suit, a perfectly reasonable response to Francisco's reckless behavior, but doesn't seem to understand that her lawyer sounds as dumb as her husband acts by insinuating a mass conspiracy led to her injuries. "What the Texas Rangers did is wrong," said Gary Gwilliam, the Buenos' attorney. "It's like the Abu-Ghraib prison scandal (in Iraq). It all starts at the top." It's doubtful Tom Hicks, the Rangers' owner, held secret training sessions at which players were taught to charge mouthy punks in the stands. There are reports Bueno mocked Texas pitcher Doug Brocail's weight, and shouted derogatory things about his mother, as well as wondering loudly which reliever was going to lose the game (probably the most vicious ridicule of all). Another report had Bueno yelling a racial slur at Francisco. All we know for sure is a chair flew through the air, a woman's nose was left bloodied and broken, and the miscreants are becoming more and more impossible to dodge. Originally published on September 16, 2004

Zappa to Miles through Jean-Luc Ponty via John Mclaughlin(a bit tortured, but...)

Blach Uhuru- 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'- deep deep grooves, with Sly & Robbie.

AB, Nice to hear from you- I hope everything is going well for you and you're settled into your new digs.

the anorexic one should do a mini version of 'Super Size Me', say for a wek or two- that would get her weight up to a nice level!

A slice of pizza at Frank's(Flatbush Avenue & Quentin Road, Brooklyn, NYC). Cheesy, sublime, great sauce, under $2. Frequently voted onto top ten lists of the best slice in NYC.

You're always welcome here to chat or vent or whatever you feel like. If you can, hook up with somebody that you feel comfortable talking about this stuff with-I speak from personal experience, as I found it helpful to talk with some buddies who also worked downtown that day. Hang in there, be strong.

Heaviest of all is to look at photos from a 1996 show of his at theStudio Museum in Harlem. Woah! I met someone else (can't think of his name) who had a space in one of the WTC towers. He placed contact microphones on the walls and recorded the sounds of the building moving in the wind. Later, after it all fell down, he made the recordings part of an installation at a mid-town gallery. Pretty creepy, all that moanin' and groanin'. It's odd that you mention the sound of the building. That's one thing that will stay with me for life, the sound of the second tower falling. I was walking north on Water Street in a daze, with my wet napkin over my nose and mouth, through thick dust comprised from the first tower, when I heard the groan of the second tower falling- it was the most sickening sound I ever heard.

Is that the best price out there? You do realize you are dealing with a group of obsessive bargain-hunters, right? I've only looked at a few sites, but CD Universe seems like the cheapest.

Remind her of this the next time you want to buy a Mosaic...

Jazzbo, If you don't have the cd set and you want it, shoot me a PM.

Jandr.com also has it for 9/21 release.

I worked about 12 blocks away on 9/11- it was horrible, enraging & surreal all at the same time. I was sitting at my desk, which had a window right there, and I saw a cloud of burnt paper fly by- it was just so strange, and I couldn't figure out where it came from. My building was evacuated, and I walked through the streets with a wet tissue covering my nose and mouth because the cloud of dust was so thick it would make you choke. I walked home that day, as did thousands of others-for me it was about 6 miles.It felt then like the world was going to end soon. I spent three days at home after that(Stock Exchange was closed, so I couldn't work), obsessively watching the news. Thankfully, a friend called and we went out and played some handball and that snapped me out of it. Now it's a part of memory and I erupt in disgust when people try to exploit it for their own ends(I probably would do that anyway even if I weren't around there that day.) and twist things up. I was raised a Catholic (lapsed now)and taught that suicide was a sin, but how can you blame those who jumped? Surely God forgives that. When people jumping to their deaths is a rational response, we've come unglued.

My 12 year old son, also. "Daddy, your music is weird." "Daddy, your music is crap." I've heard both in the last week. It can't be genetic- my father hated jazz/rock/blues.

Dan, There is a backstory to this episode. Last year, with a hurricane or its remnants approaching Baltimore, the Yanks asked MLB to postpone the game. MLB flatly said NO and threatened the Yanks with a forfeit. They played the game on a very wet field with about 1000 crazy fans. In this recent situation, MLB claims that they TOLD Tampa Bay to leave on Friday, as the Tigers did and got out just fine. Tampa Bay claims that MLB SUGGESTED they leave on Friday. I think the Yankee response is to a double standard, that last year they were forced to play in horrible conditions and threatened with a forfeit, and in a similar situation MLB seems to have sat on their hands. There is also one other striking similarity in both situations: THE TICKET BUYING FANS GOT SCREWED ROYALLY. In Baltimore last year, they had to sit through a wicked storm, and this year, they showed up for a 1:00 game that started at 7:00.

I didn't see the match myself, but everyone in my office was highly critical of the officiating and said that more than one call was blown against Serena Williams. it's a shame when a player loses because of that and not her performance on th e court.

Right now, I think the Cards are the best team in baseball, they're strong everywhere and deep. Unless they tail off terribly or have some injuries, to my mind they are the favorites to go all the way.

...and there may be others? QUEL SURPRISE!

There was an album that came out in the '70s, and I don't know if it was ever released on cd titled 'Shorter by Two' with Kirk Lightsey & ? that was all Wayne Shorter tunes on two acoustic pianos. Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea have also recorded a two-piano disc.

God how horrible! Hopefully everything will be fine! There's a lot of crazy stuff going on in Venezuela, kidnappings of people who have $, etc. Another player(can't recall his name) was shot in the offseason.

Me too, but Belew played Strats back then. I sit corrected, it was Strat abuse.

How about this- everyone who is interested in getting on this tree, pop me an email at pmquirk@msn.com with your real name and snail mail address. I'll put them together and make an order of mailing and send that out to everyone who replies, so everyone knows who to send to and where it's coming from. If that's agreeable, I'll get the copies from Guy and send on to the next & so on. I'll volunteer to assemble the mailing list so as to get the least postage for everyone(well, almost everyone). Do we want to do the whole shebang? That's about 25-30 discs. I'm OK with that-what sayest fellow leaves/branches?

I had never heard this album previous to this release on disc, and I have to say that the first disc was a bit underwhelming. the songs are good, but ouside of Tina Weymouth's bass playing it didn't float my boat. Disc two was a totally different ball of wax. The combination of extreme telecaster abuse by Adrian Belew and a much stronger rhythmic bent really made the tunes come alive.

I've been on Atkins for about a year, and I've lost about 40 pounds and got rid of a nasty snoring habit along with the weight. Fridays are my 'cheat' day, when I eat pizza for dinner(sometimes lunch, too!) and maybe even have a regular cookie. I have always walked a lot because I work in Manhattan and my neighborhood in Brooklyn lends itself to walking to a lot of places. Whatever you do, though(Atkins is not for everybody), the key is to be disciplined and consistent but not to punish yourself. If you're starving yourself and thinking about food constantly you're not going to be successful in losing wieght. If you can work out a way to be good dietwise for 5 or 6 days a week, then you can indulge for a day and not feel deprived. Of course, you MUST get back on the track after the indulgence period. It is also easy to say but not so easy to do. Best of luck, and keep us posted on your progress. For myself, I do feel so much better after losing the weight, and that certainly helps me to keep it off.