ghost of miles

No shipping notice yet, but my credit card did get charged yesterday, so the journey to my doorstep has evidently begun.

I did—if there’s a drop-off in quality, at least the first one establishes a great height. I’m only 70 pages or so into this one.

Inspired by Scott Wenzel’s anecdote in the Mosaic Gazette to revisit this one for the first time in quite awhile:

Memorial Day reading (started it a couple of weeks ago):

Normally I’d be ecstatic that the Indians softened up the Astros’ bullpen for us today, but unfortunately it’s Verlander’s turn in the Houston rotation. 😖

Scott has mentioned other possibilities, but the only one I know of that seems to be in some kind of motion is the aforementioned Armstrong. At one point they were considering an Art Pepper Contemporary set, but that didn’t pan out.

Red Sox are definitely winning the Martinez-vs.-Stanton upgrade war so far. What a comeback by the Tribe today! I had assumed another W was rolling along for the Astros, but then this happened: https://www.mlb.com/video/c-2090282483 ... and they went on to win it with a walkoff in the 14th.

He was just speculating, but in this age of jockeying for any micro-advantage you can find, it wouldn’t really astonish me. Obviously video is plentiful to study, but it’s still not the same as having actually faced a pitcher in a game. I’m also not as confident as you that the Yankees will edge Boston for the division. Here’s a NY move of which I don’t approve: Yankees activate Bird, option Torreyes Why Torreyes instead of Austin? Toe is versatile, playing well at second, shortstop and third, is an excellent contach hitter, and plays well off the bench no matter how long he’s been sitting. Austin hits HRs against lefties and that’s about it... I’m not as sold on him as other Yankee fans are, and we’re well-stocked against lefties as it is. Plus Toe brings such a great spirit to the clubhouse and dugout. Oh well, he may not be down at Scranton for long, given how brittle Bird’s proven to be.

The later throw was pretty good as well! Judge is definitely an asset in right field. That first assist definitely saved Severino’s bacon in the third inning. Odd that the Angels scratched Ohtani as tomorrow’s starter—second time they’ve nixed him from facing the Yankees. Michael Kay had an interesting long-game speculation about it last night... are they looking ahead to a possible Angels-Yankees wildcard game scenario in which they could run Ohtani out (as a pitcher) against a Yankee lineup that had never seen him before?

Damn, Gleyber Torres is exceeding the hype so far... best #9 hitter in baseball right now. And seems like an upbeat class act too; after he homered in his first AB and came to the plate next time on the heels of Walker’s HR, Colon pretty clearly drilled him on purpose. Torres put his head down and ran to first; next time up, he went yard on Colon again, this time to deep centerfield, and knocked him out of the game.

One for Dan, copied and pasted from an Over the Monster thread: Betts/JDM versus Judge/Stanton? No contest. And to think that I was mortified at the thought of the 111-HR Yankee duo pulverizing the league the way the M&M boys did in 1961,… when the Yankees won 109 freakin’ games. I made the comment this morning that they were envisioned as the second coming. Well, something different has happened thus far. Mookie Betts and JD Martinez are outperforming the Yankee twosome in just about every department. Betts at .365 and JDM at .343 are one-and-two in the league for BA, and tied for the lead with 15 HR. Judge and Stanton follow a ways behind at .282 and .263, respectively, and with 11 HR apiece. The combined Boston duo leads in runs scored, 79 to 65,… doubles, 31 to 20,… SB, 11 to 4,… RBI, 73 to 62, and WAR, 5.6 to 3.5. Betts is OPS’ing 1.198,… JDM, 1.077. Judge has .962 and Stanton, .872. Like I said,… no contest. I know that performance rates change and it’s only a quarter of a season,….. but who would have guessed this out of the gate?

They'll be using the Kenton band's arrangements, right?

Just double-checked, and some of the June 6, 1943 Pastel Period broadcast was previously issued on Storyville’s DKE Hurricane CD. DETS 25 includes the whole broadcast.

But wait—there’s more! ☺️ The second half of disc 1 is a complete “Pastel Period” Sunday-evening broadcast from the Hurricane in June 1943. And disc 2 includes a Betty-Roche-with-DKE vocal that I’ve never heard before, “‘At’s’ In There” (a song she had recorded with the Savoy Sultans two years prior). My copy just arrived in the mail (along with the new Michael Chabon book POPS) and I’m digging into it right now.

Lots of great recs already, I'm pretty much echoing what's already been said--in addition to the heavyweights you mention at the beginning of your post: Jimmie Lunceford Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band (and yes to that The Spirit Is Willing civilian-band rec, an excellent compilation) Chick Webb (Hep has a couple of CDs that are mostly or all instrumentals, minus the Ella vocals, since you say you don't generally care for vocals) Don Redman Fletcher Henderson

My fourth time through this set and my appreciation for Kelly’s playing on these dates continues to grow.

It looks like you can still get the West Coast Rarities CD if you become a member of LAJI ($50). They no longer show that particular Rumsey/Lighthouse All-Stars disc as being available, though. L.A. Jazz Institute membership

Whoa! Robinson Cano suspended for 80 games

Whoa! Hadn't thought about him in awhile, but a significant writer for sure, especially when it comes to New Journalism. I read The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and some of his other writings from the 1960s and 70s many years ago.

Re Coach of the Year and WTFs, the Celtics' Brad Stevens didn't get a single vote from his peers, despite winning 55 games after losing Gordon Hayward in the first five minutes of the season and then Kyrie Irving for the last 15 games and playoffs: Despite snub, Stevens deserves Coach of the Year Not a single vote?!