ghost of miles

Thanks for the heads-up, Dan--I'll definitely check that out.

I've put together a new bibliography for the Night Lights blog--this one covering jazz autobiographies. Heads-ups for the inevitable oversights, omissions, etc welcome as always: Songs Of Themselves: Jazz Autobiographies

Some folks here in Indiana do the same for IU basketball with radio announcer Don Fischer. Here's his call of IU's 2011 win over #1 Kentucky--a moment that signaled that the program was once again a contender: Don Fischer's call of IU buzzer-beater victory over Kentucky at Assembly Hall, Dec 2011

Tried to upload the photo, but even after resizing it to 19 KB, I keep getting the message that I'm allowed to upload only 102 KB. I'll try again later.

Jsngry, I've experienced this very same sensation over the past couple of years! I sometimes walk to work holding my phone up to listen to music and definitely feel the old-school transistor vibe. Last year I asked my dad if I could have one of our old transistor radios and sometimes listen to Cincinnati Reds games on it... will post a photo momentarily. I loved transistor radios, listening to sports on them as well as music.

Last week's Night Lights show, focusing on Waldron's late 1950s and early 60s music, up for online listening: Soul Eyes: The Early Mal Waldron Songbook

Up, sadly... RIP, Bobby. Later: Bobby Hutcherson In The Mid-1970s

Yesterday a friend gave me her late ex-husband's original 78 edition of Norman Granz's The Jazz Scene set. The records are in great shape, as is the booklet, but at some point the cover went missing. I know it's a longshot, but would anybody have any leads on a copy of the original cover (it was black and simply said, "The Jazz Scene," with "Produced by Norman Granz" in the lower left hand corner). I'll probably have to settle for putting the 78s and booklet into a modern generic binder or album of some sort, but would love to track down a standalone original.

Here's a recent Night Lights show about Hugh Hefner and Playboy Magazine's relationship to jazz, including commentary from Patty Farmer, author of Playboy Swings: How Hugh Hefner And Playboy Changed The Face Of Music. Also check out the clip from Hefner's late-1950s TV show that features Nat King Cole and Lenny Bruce chatting side-by-side with Hef & friends: Swingers: Hugh Hefner, Playboy Magazine, And Jazz

Yep, first time in MLB history: Austin and Judge first teammates to debut with HRs in back-to-back AB

... And they each hit home runs in their first MLB at-bats, in consecutive order! Paul Secor, has that ever happened before?

Joe Girardi getting very emotional last night after A-Rod's final game: Girardi post-game presser I listened on MLB Gameday last night, and they gave free look-ins for audio-only subscribers whenever Rodriguez came up to bat. As much as I wish that they'd let him play out the rest of the season, it turned out to be a very nice send-off, and one that nobody would have predicted even a year and a half ago. For whatever reason, I always found myself rooting for the guy to redeem himself, and ultimately he did.

Aaron Judge and Tyler Austin in today's Yankee starting line-up! Prospect watch: Aaron Judge and Tyler Austin

Yes to all of the above--the Truesdells are both excellent, as is Live In Cuba. I also liked Miguel Zenon's Identities Are Changeable... great topic, I'll try to think of some more.

Gary Sanchez! Sanchez throws out Bradley Jr ... Not to mention his 4-5 performance at the plate last night.

For the sake of Harper's future megabucks, he'll have to figure this out: Why Bryce Harper has gone from great to good

I would have preferred to see A-Rod finish out the season and DH a couple of times a week, at least against lefties... the rosters are expanding come September 1 anyway, and he could have played a valuable role simply helping to mentor all of the younger players who are coming along in the Yankees system. In that scenario, he might have had a shot at reaching 700 HRs, too. This season's already a wash, so why not? I also think he went a long way towards redeeming himself in the past year and a half. I can certainly understand why for many that's all well and good, but not enough to wipe away the aura of his past behavior; but I really believe he did the best he could in the past 18 months, both as a player and as a person. It was also great to see him turn back the clock sans steroids for the first few months of the 2015 season. I doubt that he'll ever be admitted into the Hall of Fame, but better for him, I think he's finally found a kind of peace with himself. Regarding Andrew Miller, hopefully Clint Frazier and/or Justus Sheffield will pan out and make the trade worth it. But I regret seeing Miller go because I don't think the Yankees are writing off 2017, let alone 2018. With players like Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez (looks like the future is now at catcher), and Greg Bird all at or nearly at MLB level, Castro solid at second base and Gregorius exceeding expectations at shortstop, and Torres now in the pipeline, the Yankees IMO won't be out of contention for the next two years, though undoubtedly not division favorites. The rotation is a bit iffy--hopefully they'll resign Tanaka, but Pineda, Eovaldi, and now Severino (back in the rotation this week) are all question marks in one way or another as starters. If another reliever emerges to be a good set-up man and Betances works out as a closer, then perhaps the Yankees won't miss Miller at all in the next two years. But I'm like Paul--all for dealing Chapman, much more ambivalent about getting rid of Miller, who's pitching at his peak. I would have preferred to see NY keep him for the remaining two years of his contract and then let him walk... but I hope to be proven wrong, wrong, wrong as Clint Frazier soars to stardom in the NY outfield and Justus Sheffield becomes a key cog of the Yankees' rotation.

I still hate to see us give up the guy who's arguably the best closer in baseball right now, or at least one of the best... but hopefully one or two of the Indians' prospects will pay off for us in the long run. Hey Dan, via Over the Monster, look who's interested in Beltran! Beltran to Red Sox?

I do want to see the Yankees rebuild, but would have preferred that they did it without trading Miller, who, as Paul notes, has two more years on his contract and is in his prime. Are they that confident that they can sign Chapman back as a free agent over the winter, or are they putting it all on Betances now? (And who will replace Betances as set-up man? Unless they've already decided to give up on Severino as a starter, which I hope they haven't.) Re Beltran, any team that needs to bolster their hitting, particularly an AL team, could definitely use him in the next two months, as he's clearly shown that he can still perform at the plate, for this season, anyway. Right, we won't get a Torres for him, but we could surely get something... nobody will want Tex or A-Rod. Tex's contract is up at the end of this year anyway, and Alex should retire. It's crazy and surely coincidental, but his statistical plunge began almost immediately after he turned 40. I'm talking a couple of days, but the demarcation is there, if you look at his game-by-game performance through his birthday last year and then afterwards.

I agree, Paul. While I've read good things about the prospects, none of them seems to rate as highly as Torres (and are they planning on moving either him or Gregorius to second or third, given that Gregorius has proven to be one of the few bright spots this year?), and we were giving away less in that deal, with Chapman's contract running out at the end of the season. I understand the apparent decision to give up on this season and build for the future, but it would have been good to have both Betances and Miller on the backend for the next two years while we did so. If we're doing a fire sale, why on earth are we holding on to Beltran? Or was there no interest or potential trade of value being offered for him?

I'm really looking forward to reading Loren's commentary while revisiting this vast and amazing stretch of Prez's career. His notes for the previous Young set were, as always, dense with insight and appreciation.

I'll second Larry's recommendation of the van de Leur book. Invaluable for anybody interested in a detailed examination of what made Strayhorn's music tick. Wasn't he also involved in some way with the Dutch Jazz Orchestra's four-CD overview of the Strayhorn catalogue?

Scott told me that mine's shipping either today or tomorrow, so hoping that it might show up on my Indiana doorstep by the end of the week.

It's a done deal, but no word of an extension yet: Chapman to Cubs

It'll be interesting to see what trades get executed before August 1--sounds as if the Yankees are close to dealing Chapman. That would be a smart move at this point, as they are, as I thought early on, pretty much a .500 non-playoff ball club. They'll still have Miller and Betances in the bullpen, and Chapman, who will be a free agent at the end of this season, says he enjoys playing for the Yankees so much that he wants to come back if he does get traded away.