ghost of miles

The Nichols bio is back in stock at Amazon.

Man, Greinke--a 2.27 ERA and he's 0-3.

Big Al--Texas now sitting atop the AL West!

Only in about 70 pages, but so far, I'd say yes. Very interesting in-depth material about Irving Mills' marketing of Ellington in the late 1920s and the 1930s, the development of DKE's "Harlem Aristocrat of Jazz" image, etc.

When I DJ'd at Landlocked Music's Record Store Day a couple weeks back (vinyl only, per the store's request), I played "Consequence" off that 1979 LP and had a rush of people come to the table, asking me what it was.

Yes, that's an amazing, disturbing story. Wasn't there an incident much later in his life when he told somebody, half-jokingly, that the scar was his "stigmata"? Now reading:

Another great start from Phil Hughes today for the Yanks--he's now 3-0 with a 1.44 ERA after four turns in the rotation. Some buzz that he may indeed be going for NY against Boston next Friday, with Javy being skipped till Detroit. Granderson out for a month, which will be hard on the OF...glad that Brett Gardner is having such a great year so far (and Swisher putting in good numbers at the plate now as well). Platooning Winn and Thames in left will be a no-hit or no-field situation, unfortunately. Dave James and other NY fans, check out the May 3 issue of Sports Illustrated if you get a chance; the Core Four are on the cover, and there's a great group interview with them that starts on pg. 38.

Best wishes to Coltrane for a robust recovery, Dan, and glad to know that Gracie's separation anxiety has been alleviated.

Berigan, I'm so sorry to hear you lost Baby. I lost both of my boys within a few weeks of each other last autumn--one of them had come to me in a way somewhat similar to what you describe. You are a wonderful person and I hope other cats find their way to you, in one way or another; they will be blessed to be in your care.

Yes, he seemed really taken aback--I think he was quite happy with Philadelphia, and I still can't believe they traded him. In other news, Detroit manager Jim Leyland's gonna have to give up smoking in the dugout.

Agreed, all good points. In the past there usually has been a comment from Jim to the effect that "I think we've talked about this enough," etc., usually when it was quite clear that a topic had run its course, or that a poster or group of posters were simply running on in a way that was very counterproductive and/or irrelevant--or that the thread itself had become utterly toxic and destructive to the larger purposes of the board. Re: the "for sale" threads, why not bring back the feature that allows topic starters to delete their own threads? I've certainly missed that one on several occasions.

"Mechanics" is the mantra everyone's using to describe Javy's woes so far. (Also talk that his fastball is a couple MPH slower than it was for the Braves last year.) My concern is that his head will get all messed up from these woeful starts before he gets said mechanics back in gear. I think all NY's looking for from him is 30+ starts and a .500 record, preferably a little better than that; not unreasonable to surmise that he'll end up achieving that, but compared to the other NY starters so far, he's looking pretty awful. Hopefully Phil Hughes will continue to pitch well, and Javy will be the only question mark/weak link in the rotation.

Yep--we've got that one on LP here at the station, and I'm taking it home tonight to give it a listen. Interested in the India Navigation especially to hear the much longer versions of "I Can't Get Started" and "Jug Ain't Gone," which clock in at about 4 minutes apiece on the Columbia LP.

Ah--that might explain why we don't have an LP copy of it here at the station (no CD, either). We have quite a few of the other India Navigation releases, including some of Chico's.

Wow, no comment from Girardi about the Boston start? Over at Pinstripe Alley they were debating which would be worse for Javy--not getting the start at Fenway, or getting shelled at Fenway. New York does have an off-day on Thursday, so they could skip Vasquez's turn in the rotation. I'm not sure what we do if he keeps pitching like this for the next month or so... he's a real drag (literally) on NY's win-loss record right now. Agreed that NY being at 15-8 is pretty good, though, when you look at the performances of Javy, Nick Johnson, Tex, and A-Rod (of late, anyway, though he's still doing much better than the other two...but only 2 HR in 23 games! Same with Tex... not the kind of power production you expect from your 3 and 4 hitters). But New York has a pretty tough schedule in May--not a good time to be without the starting centerfielder. On the plus side, Brett Gardner is really proving himself worthy of being a day-to-day starter. He'll be back in center now...meaning we'll either have to play the non-hitting Randy Winn or the non-fielding Marcus Thames in left.

Yes, I know the rules etc. and I know this has been, in the past, an extremely relaxed forum. Putting aside the dustup over one poster's umbrage, locking Jazzmoose's thread strikes me as excessive and also "making a mountain out of a molehill." I know--I don't like it, I can take my ball somewhere else and play, etc. etc. That's not what I'm saying here, simply that locking threads because of one board member seems heavy-handed and unnecessary to me, and a departure from past board practice.

If anybody has an LP or CD copy of this 1981 release, could he or she drop me a PM? Many thanks!

Many thanks for hipping me to this one, Weizen--got it the other day and gave it a spin late last night. Especially liked the first Ronnie/Freddie date.

So now the "Forbidden topics" thread is locked as well?

Listening again to Texas vs. Seattle right now--great pitching duel of Lewis vs. Lee, though Lee's now been pulled after 7 shutout innings (I'm guessing because his pitch count was about to hit 100). Matthew, I'll bet you're pleased--seems like Lee has picked up right where he left off last autumn. On the NY front, great night for Derek Jeter with a game-tying home run and a game-winning triple, and Robbie Cano became the first Yankee ever to end April with a .400 BA and 8 HR. Tampa Bay showed a flash of mortality, losing to KC. I like NY's home/away breakdown vs. TB: the Yankees are 6-1 at home, 9-6 on the road so far. Tampa Bay's 8-5 at home, 9-1 on the road.

Best wishes to you, Mr. Impossible.

May you herald another birthday with great happiness!

Nice: Baseball alarmed by Arizona's new immigration law Given the large number of Latino and Latino-American ballplayers, it might be a good idea to move the Rookie League to another state--and move next year's All-Star game while they're at it. Further discussion: Will baseball move the 2011 All-Star game?

Revisiting the Alfonso Soriano-A-Rod trade Sure glad Cano's smoking hot, given how Tex and now A-Rod have struggled at the plate. Plus Nick Johnson already seems to be in danger of falling into disfavor, in spite of his 20 BB. I think we may be seeing Thames as a DH against lefties more often, a la tonight.

Can I just thank the baseball gods again that Texas did not pick Robinson Cano as their additional player from the Yankees in the A-Rod trade? Cano just hit his second homer of the night against the O's (his 8th of the season overall) and is batting over .400 out of the #5 slot in the NY lineup. EDIT: he made a helluva throw too.