ghost of miles

By the way, when exactly was the original story posted?

Another nice start by Nova today, and reports that Andy Pettitte's pitching session went well--maybe there's some hope for NY's rotation after all. Not too optimistic about tomorrow's game, though, with Moseley going up against Cahill.

Video clip of Frank O'Hara in 1966 (not long before his death) reading Having a Coke With You

I completely agree. I think I've noted both here and at Pinstripe Alley that irony of ironies, the bullpen--main source of concern for the first half of the season--has finally found its groove, while the rotation has gone south in a big way. Really, every single starter after CC is a big question mark right now in one way or another. Innings limit or no, Phil Hughes has only sporadically shown the kind of dominance he exhibited early in the season. Bad AJ is showing up much more than good AJ these days. Javy is, IMO, probably finished for the season as a starter. Pettitte is a huge question mark, of course, and even if things go well, he won't be able to jump right back in at the top of his game. Moseley is Moseley, hopefully able to go 5 innings and limit the other team to 3 runs, pretty much--and that's on a good night. So we're currently in the position of pinning our hopes on Nova, a rookie! Given how tough our schedule is in September, I really do believe NY's chances of making the playoffs have dropped dramatically... something that seemed impossible to imagine not all that long ago. Having Pettitte out of the lineup has been a major blow, what with the AJ/Javy/Hughes starters failing so badly to pick up the slack. I can understand Dan's not wanting to get his hopes up, given everything the Bosox have been through, but like it or not , they're still very much in the hunt, with plenty of opportunities in September to knock games off the lead on their own, and to watch NY and the Rays knock each other around as well.

Stephen Strasburg probably needs Tommy John surgery.

Are we approaching a million posts... or are a million posts approaching us?

Yeah, terrible start by Hughes tonight--he's great at getting two strikes on hitters and absolutely terrible at then finishing them off. Curry and Shpigel tweeted that he got to two strikes on the first 10 Blue Jays that reached base tonight; he got to two strikes on 18 Jays overall, and 12 of them reached base. His pitch count went over 100 and he didn't even last four innings, walking 5 and giving up 6 hits. So again, NY's rotation, as of now, is in no shape for any kind of postseason run. Pettitte won't be back until mid-September, and that's if everything goes perfectly--a big if. Worst-case scenario is that he could be done for the year. After CC, we've got to hope that Burnett gets on a good roll, that Moseley functions effectively as a journeyman starter, and that Nova throws down some more good rookie performances... that's a hell of a lot of hope. Hughes continues to run out of steam and Javy already has; if Pettitte doesn't make it back we're utterly through. Assuming we lose tonight (a safe assumption, given that we're down 6-2 going into the bottom of the 8th), we'll have posted a record, since July 29, of 13-13. And almost entirely because of the rotation, that's what we're playing like right now--a .500 club. It's ironic, as I was worried so much about the bullpen for most of the season, and in the past few weeks they've really stepped it up. EDIT: Dave, I will say that Javy's fastball has evidently been hitting 90-91 again tonight, and outside of the homer he's pitched decently.

Memo to Yankee opponents: please, please keep IBBing Tex. Via the New York Post:

NPR's A Blog Supreme: The Jazz Boyfriend

Thanks much, Chuck and Jazztrain. I've updated the post with a credit to you both for the ID.

It does seem like umps have gotten a lot quicker on the trigger with ejections (of both managers and players).

Thanks much, Brownie--really dug those Prez and Herschel Evans solos!

Anybody seen this film in its entirety? I stumbled across a clip of it the other day on YouTube and did a little writeup about the jazz club scene for the Night Lights site: Night Tide jazz club scene Paul Horn is the flutist--not sure about the others, though somebody on Facebook ID'd the drummer as Milt Turner and the bassist as Victor Gaskin. Looks like the whole film is posted right now on YT.

Glad to hear it--I think Damon would have been a sparkplug for Boston. Sounds like Detroit promised him lots of playing time; otherwise, he might well have gone back to the Bosox. NY clobbering the Jays tonight, so at least we're assured of staying tied with the Rays for first.

I loved the shot of Peggy riding round and round the soundstage on the Honda bike.

Many thanks for all of the great suggestions. On the exotica side, I also ordered Les Baxter's SPACE ESCAPADE.

There was an interesting article in the New Yorker recently about Moscow's traffic problems--not quite comparable to this, however.

Can't wait to buy and hear that Roscoe, Chuck. I'm already thinking about doing a sequel to this show at some point, too. Meanwhile, I stumbled across this--whoa!

Still up, working on a couple of Night Lights shows. At least it's cool tonight and we have the windows open.

Not much here, but a Google search turned up this passage, which mentions Cano's stint with the Pachuco Boogie Boys before going to NYC in the late 1940s, and also Paul Lopez (who apparently left Central Avenue for NYC as well).

Hey all, I'm working on a Night Lights show called "Space Age Jazz" that will feature music from the late 1950s/early 60s with either space-related titles or (to a lesser extent) jazz/exotica "space effects" sounds. Here are some of the pieces I'm considering: Duke Ellington, "Blues in Orbit," "Spacemen" "Ballet of the Flying Saucers" Buddy DeFranco, "Blues for Space Travelers" Shorty Rogers, "March of the Martians," "Chant of the Cosmos" "Martians Come Back" Gil Melle, "Four Moons," "Mars" George Russell, "Waltz From Outer Space" Hank Mobley, "Space Flight" Dave Brubeck, "Countdown" Mel Torme, "Swingin' On the Moon" And, of course, Le Sun Ra: "Lights of a Satellite," "Distant Stars," "Spacemates," "Planet Earth," "Saturn," etc. Ellington wrote an essay about space, "The Race for Space," and John Szwed has an interesting section about this topic in his Sun Ra bio (pg. 138-141). Anyway, looking for more suggestions from the wizards, experts, and assorted jazz knowers of Organissimo...thanks much in advance.

I'm starting to think the Yanks would be better off just IBBing Bautista every time up...how many HRs has he hit off us this year? #40 probably wraps up tonight's game for the Jays, coming on the heels of #39 he hit earlier in the game. At least we got a decent start from Nova, and Brett Gardner proved once again that it's foolish to try and run against his arm. Re: Damon, I wouldn't be surprised to see him decide to go back to Boston (very interested in Dan's take on this). If nothing else, it puts him on a team that's still got a shot at a wildcard slot or more.

Timothy Garton Ash's tribute at the New York Review of Books blog.

Cal Tjader comes to mind--I'm sure there are more. EDIT: oops, sorry, forgot--Cal was San Francisco-based in the 1950s, wasn't he? So he doesn't really count in terms of artists for whom you're looking. Or I guess he does in the broader sense of "West Coast," but not L.A...and his Latin/bop hybrid bag comes along a little later than the years you're pinpointing. EDIT 2: and you already mentioned him! Never mind...looks like I picked a bad week to cut back on coffee...

Red Sox claim Damon on waivers ...though JD can block and (so far) says he's not inclined to go back to the Red Sox. Still, quite a potentially interesting development.