Brandon Burke

I would add Live at the Cookery to this list as well as the rather obvious, but as yet unmentioned, Zodiac Suite. Fans of Herbie Nichols should especially check out Zodiac Suite. One shouldn't expect a mirror image or anything but he was very clearly infuenced--among other emotions--by Mary.

I was just there over the summer. Beautiful vineyard. The most commonly distrubuted Coppolas are the "Diamond Series" of which there are five: Claret, Zin, Pinot, Chard, and Merlot. (I hope that's right.) Anyways, these range from about $13 to about $18. I usually love red zins but found this one to be pretty flat. Conversely, I usually find merlots boring and rather like this one. The cab (claret) is very good as well. I've not tried either the pinot or the chard. They also produce a lower priced blend marketed as a "table wine" that's very affordable and exceptionally good for the price; something around $11. Anything above the Diamond Series gets expensive....quickly. But they're really damned good. Especially the Rubicon which will run you between $100-$300 depending on the vintage. (If you get to know your rep--i.e. pretend to be really interested in whatever he's talking about--then you'll get to try some of that Rubicon. It's worth it.)

I'm amazed to hear that so many of you don't have the Infinity date. This leads me to believe that it must not be in CD yet. Haven't played it in ages but I do remember liking it. The overdubs are quite heavy handed, on top of simply being *heavy* (in the aesthetic sense). Very psychedelic as well.

I won't be doing the kind of work that would require Powerbook capabilities. Like your wife, impossible, I'm finishing graduate school in library science and will be using it mostly for word processing, research and simpe data logging (Excel, etc). As for the HD space, and like I said before, I plan on getting the minimum from Apple and buying more elsewhere. It'll be much cheaper. Also, I always use external HDs anyway. Almost more as a safety precaution than anything else--since I back everything up--but I also house a lot of lesser accesed information on the external. This allows me to conserve space on the compuer itself and keep processing speeds where they need to be. That said, the iBook seems like it will be quite enough. My concerns were with hardware or any other problems like heat, etc that one would only really know about from experience. I agree that, from a design perspective, the Powerbook would be prefered but, again, I'm in school and whatever I end up buying will run me about 10% of my annual income in 2003. As such, I'm not in the market for "neat" or "cool". I'm in the market for functional and portable (and, of course, the ability to make beats while riding on airplanes).

This is Our Music was reissued on LP about two years ago but it wasn't an "audiophile" situation. I agree with Chuck. It's not exactly a situation where you're even going to make your money back so......

My Royals are really blowin' it. The starters had a combined 7.54 ERA before tonight's loss to the Twins. Everybody knew the starting rotation was gonna be the X-factor but this just flat out stinks. And Appier gave up a few tonight as well. Too bad because we're scoring runs and always make a push in the late innings. I mean if you're averaging something like seven runs a game and you're still losing you're in serious trouble. We had four dingers against Minnesota on Friday and still lost. C'mon fellas.....

Thanks Irwin. I'm definately going to buy new so I can get the extended warranty. So far I'm leaning towards the 12" iBook. I like the idea of it being pretty small and I'm getting this primarily for portability since I have an eMac at home. I was thinking of getting the standard model with the 60 GB hardrive upgrade, combo drive, and the Airport Extreme card. I figure I'll get more memory elsewhere. Next question: where did you find that price quote? On the Apple site (even with my education discount) the model detailed above comes to $1,338.00. If I can find a 14" with the combo drive and all of the other goodies you list then I'll likely do that instead. Please let me know where you found that info. I especially appreciate the tip regarding the processor boosts. Didn't know about that one. I hope they do it sooner than later because I need to decide by sometime in June. Again thanks, Brandon

Hey folks, I'm looking at getting a laptop before I head to D.C. to do my practicum. I'm definately getting an Apple--so there's no swaying me there--but I'm undecided regarding the two models. The first several people I asked said that they regretted getting an iBook (but a few of them have older G3 models which changes things a bit). Another friend of mine said that I'd be crazy to blow the extra money on a Powerbook when iBooks are just fine on their own. I should add that everyone I asked is very computer savvy and almost all of them work in I.T. in some capacity or another. Any opinions or testimonials.....?

Back to the topic at hand......I very much like Shepp's Blase record. It is easily my favorite of his BYG dates. The second half of that 2-fer is a little suspect but I think you'll find that the Blase session--and, more specifically, "My Angel"-- is worth the price of admission all by itself.

I bought the Claude Delcloo/Arthur Jones BYG date. Been wanting that for a while now......

It's definately a way of emphasizing a word but I tend to use it in cases where my word choice may or may not be ideal. It's rather like prefacing a word with the phrases such as: "I guess I want to say...", "for lack of a better word...", or "I know I'm kind of being a wise-ass when I say this but..." I used it the other day when writing to a friend back in Lawrence. We were discussing the merits of a somewhat girly/frilly pop band and I think I said something like "...I know they come across as sounding a little *precious* at first but they..."

That's what I'm sayin'. My father turned me on to a French Rhone called Perrin about two years ago and I never looked back. Best part is: it's only ten dollars. I think it stands up against any number of $15-$20 bottles. As a result, I've been stuck on Rhones for quite a while now. I could stand to revisit the Australian varieties. It's been a while. Haven't tried the Rosemount Shiraz in a few years but, for a while there, it just kept getting jammier by the vintage and that's something I like to avoid. I don't like that Smuckers taste.

I completely agree. If I had the spare time I'd write that damned book.

Supremes "You Can't Hurry Love" vs. Iggy Pop "Lust for Life".

Anyone interested in this stuff should check out David Katz' Soild Foundation, which came out last year. Very good in my opinion. The Blood & Fire fans among us will recognize the artwork as it was done by the same design team (Intro). I'll admit I'm a considerably bigger rock steady fan than I am a ska fan, though I certainly love ska. Among my "can't miss" rock steady titles....... * Alton & Hortense Ellis (Heartbeat) - Their biggest Studio One hits. This is what I usually suggest for folks who are still hung up on the (unfortunate) hippie stigma surrounding reggae in the States. This one never fails. They always come back for more... * Slim Smith This Feeling - A comp of his post-Uniques and post-Techniques material. Produced by Bunny Lee. Slim was arguably the best vocalist on the island and, in any case, one of the most soulful. There is a very clear connection here with U.S. soul singers such as Sam Cooke. * Delroy Wilson - Good All Over (Studio One/Coxsone) - Unfortunately this is not available on CD but it has never gone out of print on LP. Another example of the U.S. soul influence on Jamaican vocalists. * Ken Boothe - Mr. Rock Steady and Black, Gold, and Green. Boothe had a gravelly and rough tone, making him comparable to many of the great Memphis Stax singers such as Otis Redding, Rufus Thomas, and Wilson Pickett. * Solid Gold Coxsone Style (Heartbeat) - An expanded reissue of the original Studio One comp. You simply can't lose with this stuff. More soul-influenced gems. Excellent by any standard. This was the record that turned me into a fan of reggae. * Nice Up the Dance (Hearbeat) - Don't be fooled by the word "disco". These are old school rock steady jams extended by both their (original) instrumental and dub versions. By this I mean that each track is three times its original length. Each version (vocal/instrumental/dub) is beat-matched with the next, making a seamless and cohesive whole. In most cases, they're up in the 8-to-11 minute range each. Alton Ellis' "Can I Change My Mind" is over 11 minutes and absolutely flawless. I love this record. * Mojo Rock Steady (Hearbeat) - Another great comp of mostly Studio One material. Many of these songs are staples on my rock steady mix tapes. This is a fantastic collection. Needless to say, I'm a much bigger Studio One fan than I am the Trojan material. I tend to think of it in much the same way as Stax v Motown. Studio One was more like Stax (i.e. rougher and muddier production, more grit and grime) and, to me anyways, Trojan was more like Motown (i.e. crisper production and more happy-go-lucky songs). This is perhaps an exaggeration--in fact, it probably is--but I still say that Sudio One is where it's at, man. Definately more gritty and grimey. More Otis than Smokey.

I'm listening to Carlton & the Shoes "Love Me Forever" right now and surely there must be a kindered soul around here somewhere..... There's simply too many common threads with U.S. soul. Especially among the Studio One and Treasule Isle catalogs. I'm thinking of, among others, Alton Ellis, Ken Boothe, Delroy Wilson, Cornell Campbell, John Holt, etc.

Well, I'd certainly get the Metal Circus demographic......

Not sure he applies here but, as far as guys with these sensibilies go, I really prefer Donald Barthelme the best. He might be a little too PoMo for this poll however.....

I'm a huge Thurber fan. I've read everything I've ever seen of his (including his collected corresponsence). My favorite quote? I'm glad you asked...... "One martini is perfect, two's not enough, and three's too many."

Nope. I run an audio digitization lab so I listen to whatever we've got coming down the pike at that time. Right now it's the University of Texas Conversation Library. When Royals games are on the radio, however, I usually find something more "administrative" to do so I can listen to that.

I've been wanting to name a rock band The Joseph Boys for about ten years and, as fate would have it, there appears to be another Joseph Boys somewhere on the east coast. I'm assuming, judging from their photo, that they didn't intend the Beuys reference. Oh well.....

Done and done.

Went to see the/your Kansas City Royals over Easter and endured a 48-degree game under light rain. We did, however, win it in the bottom of the 10th. I ate a jumbo hot dog and got a free Tony Pena t-shirt to boot! The game was documented in my current avatar......

Pinoccio in Venice is one of my favorites and can claim the honor of having one of the best resolutions I've ever had the pleasure of reading. I absolutely love the way that book ended. Have not read The Public Burning but intend to do so eventually. David Markson? Totally unfamiliar with him so you can trust I'll be looking his stuff up in the next couple of days because Briar Rose was really short and only took a couple of hours. Thanks for the suggestions. Sounds like we're on the same page. (gulp.)

This one? If yes then......yes. you're scary! Well.......I hope this one--despite my stocking cap--is less "scary". This is me at the Royals game on Saturday. (We won in extra innings, by the way. And I ate a jumbo hot dog.)