ghost of miles

Here's a really nice story about a black inspector who as a precaution called the police to let them know he was going to be out on a site doing some work, and ultimately struck up a friendship with the officer who talked with him. I'd meant to post it earlier this morning, as a sort of antidote to the general culture of hostility that prevails right now.

I was responding to Catesta in that regard. I rarely, if *ever*, copy and paste an entire article like that. I did so in this instance because it was behind a paywall, which I know doesn't justify it, even if I am a paid subscriber--but I thought it had important points that are quite relevant to this discussion. But if we're going to get holier-than-thou about such issues, why is this thread allowed to stand, when it is calling attention to what seems to be a bootleg not authorized by the Davis estate?

I copied and pasted the article because it was behind a paywall. I'm a paid subscriber to TPM, so I was able to access it. Delete it if you wish--or I will, since it's got some folks so out of sorts.. The point is partly, WTF is the NYPD Union doing tweeting about Doug Jones, ffs? And talk about an overreaction! Jesus God almighty, look at the crap the NYPD union folks put out about this. It's just further evidence that cop culture in this country has gone off the deep end. Here's the link instead, though it gives you only the introductory para. You think what NYPD union tweeted out wasn't an overreaction, perhaps? You think in the current climate, or ANY climate for that matter, that it's grossly irresponsible? It's not the first time they've done this kind of crap. That was part of the point of Marshall's article. Would have been good advice for the NYPD "spokespeople" to heed as well. Plus this bogus tale has already made its way into the rightwing media ecosphere, Twitterverse, etc. "So bad out there that food-service employees are trying to off cops!" etc.

I'd much prefer to see this material getting released via Sony's Bootleg series... but is said series defunct? Dormant? Can't believe they've run out of things to issue, especially from the late 1960s/early 70s period.

So much for hydroxychloroquine: FDA revokes authorization of drug Trump touted

I thought about trying to make room for a Lighthouse recording--not to mention tearing my hair out over what to include from the Black Hawk. Quite a wealth of music to choose from, that's for sure.

Thanks for the heads-up on this... I'll definitely be getting it. Any sign of a release date?

Last week’s Night Lights show, broadcast in honor of drummer Shelly Manne’s centenary, is up for online listening: West Coast Manne: Shelly Manne In The 1950s It includes music from Manne’s collaborations with Shorty Rogers, Jimmy Giuffre, and Russ Freeman; an excerpt from Bill Holman’s Quartet; tracks from Manne’s recordings of the music from My Fair Lady and Peter Gunn; a sideman appearance with Ornette Coleman; a cut from the first Poll Winners album; and a live recording at the Black Hawk in San Francisco.

You've nearly reached the end of the Commodore trail! I'm only 59 LPs behind you!

That was *the* weekend party album my freshman year at college. (And still pretty new-ish at that point.) Re Exile On Main Street, yeah, it’s currently occupying that “like-it-so-much-nothing-else-holds-a-candle-to-it” spot that certain albums occupy from time to time in my head. Just finished reading Bill Janovitz’s excellent book about it in the 33 1/3 series. (This on the heels of reading Stanley Booth’s True Adventures of the Rolling Stones... last summer I was on a Replacements binge, for 2020 apparently the Stones.)

Planning to listen to all three of the Commodore sets across the summer. On record 7 of V. 1 this afternoon—the Willie the Lion Smith sides. ❤️

Wow--came across mention of this interview while reading about Maria Golia's new book about Ornette. Somehow missed it when it was first posted to Ethan Iverson's Do The Math blog, as part of an in-depth two-part article. I'm about 20 minutes in--fascinating conversation! It was part of Gunther and Nat Hentoff's weekly WBAI "The Scope Of Jazz" program: Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry February 1960 radio interview with Gunther Schuller

Just starting:

Silvio and his crew are gonna be very displeased!

Just read it via your Facebook link—thanks for posting it. I’ve been thinking about revisiting the RCA box ever since Larry’s thread about whether or not SR worked at all w/Miles circa 1961-62. Amazing to think of all that Sonny’s seen and played in his near-90 years on the planet. He’s a master human being.

Per Jsngry's prior comment, sounds like things are going to hell in a handbasket in Arizona.

I don't even know where to begin with this. (Doctors who "kill" people generally don't do it by slowly crushing the life out of them with a knee to the neck, for starters.) I'll begin, I guess, by saying that I had three cops for uncles and a mother who was a deputy prosecutor. So I don't come from a background of f-the-pigs or what have you. But frankly, the less guys like this as cops, the better. *Please* leave, and step aside for a new generation of law enforcement officers who don't act like entitled fascists. Dude's attitude on display in this article is a symptom of why so many people have taken to the streets to protest.

Josh Marshall actually just now published a post at TPM that addresses this very topic. You have to be a paid subscriber to read all of it, but here is a pertinent passage: >> Police abuse of minority communities in the United States is a story stretching back decades and centuries. The militarization of American policing is a much more recent phenomenon though the two phenomena have overlapped and compounded each other. Much of this debate over militarization has focused on the Pentagon’s 1033 Program which charges the Secretary of Defense with donating surplus military hardware to the nation’s thousands of police departments. (The photo above is of an MRAP, a vehicle designed to withstand IEDs and guerrilla ambushes. Numerous US police departments have them.) But there is another dimension of the story that has only partly made its way into the national conversation about policing and violence. The United States has been in a constant state of war since the end of 2001 and in many ways since the Gulf Crisis of 1990. Through numerous channels this has led to a broad militarization of life in the United States. Policing and military hardware is only the most obvious manifestation. The 1033 program begins with the Defense Authorization Act of 1990 and first focused on counter-narcotics. The program was further expanded in 1997 for “use in counternarcotics and counterterrorism operations, and to enhance officer safety.” 9/11 and the Iraq War led to still further expansions and a new generation of hardware designed for urban combat and counter-insurgency operations. In the nature of things access to military hardware primes people to act in militarized ways and to see their work in militarized terms. But hardware is only one part of the equation. Two decades of being at war – which again really stretches back to 1990 – has created a steady stream of military veterans who go into law enforcement. This means people who are trained in military actions and in many cases people who carry the psychological baggage of PTSD. One study of the Dallas Police Department found that officers with military backgrounds were significantly more likely to have fired their firearms in the line of duty than those who hadn’t. The point here isn’t to create a stereotype of trigger-happy vets bringing the trauma of their service onto American streets. There are other examples of police vets who say their training has helped them deescalate situations. But these experiences are shaping even if they are not traumatic per se. The more or less constant deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, much of it in urban environments, has certainly had a deep imprint on the policing cultures which have followed many of those veterans into American police departments. To pick just one example, Josh Kovensky has been reporting on this incident in the clearing of Lafayette Park a week ago in which at least one National Guard helicopter flew low over crowds inundating them with the rotor downwash, an established crowd control measure used in military situations to overawe demonstrators. The Pentagon is investigating who gave the order to use this tactic and the identity of the pilots is unknown. But given the near constant deployment of National Guard troops to Iraq and Afghanistan over the last two decades and the highly specialized training for helicopter pilots it seems quite possible that whoever the pilot was had experience with the tactic from overseas. Indeed, it is almost a certainty that whoever trained that pilot had such experience. It is a constant theme of much of the 20th century literature on colonialism that the tactics and strategies great powers use on their peripheries are often brought back and used at home. The militarization of American policing is unquestionably highly driven by this dynamic. The flow of weapons is only the most concrete and literal manifestation. But even hardware and personnel are only one part of the equation.<< Militarized policing and bringing the war home