ghost of miles

Dave, another moment I enjoyed tonight was how Teixeira ran down the first-base line still holding his bat up in his hand as he watched to see whether or not his homer-in-progress would stay fair. Big Al, isn't Texas now tied with Boston for the wild-card?

What I want to know is if success will spoil Rock Hunter or not. Much as I love the 1920-1990 era of jazz (and a quite a lot after), I get bummed when I see intense/reflexive reactions to things like the "Re-mixed" projects. Granted, a lot of those aren't successful for one reason or another, and I'm not saying they're the salvation of the music or anything like that...it's just that often there's such a "How dare they!" response to such things. A bassist who used to play with a local group I like quite a lot here in town was visiting a couple of weeks ago, and he was talking about how the younger musicians (this includes him--he's 31) in his current city just don't pay much attention to hard boundary lines when it comes to music. For one thing, they can't afford to, or they'll be shutting themselves out of gigs. We also joked about the attitude that "Everything must sound like 1963! (or insert some other year) Jazz is all about FREEDOM and IMPROVISATION, so everything must sound like 1963!" I think that from the historical perspective musicians, educators, writers, DJs etc. can all make a better effort to hip people to what's happening in the music and how to listen to/better enjoy it. (Two DJs I really admire in this regard are Lazaro and Jae Sinnett.) And to do that in a way that's fun & enthusiastic (which can simply be playing music that's alive & having a good time doing it, a la Organissimo). But I'll do my broken-record routine and say yet again that any "jazz future" that extends beyond the classical/museum model is likely to be in different instrumental configurations than we've been used to--not to mention different aesthetic configurations. (And some people are going to argue that it's not "jazz.") Quartets/quintets, piano trios & all that will continue, to be sure. Players like Josh Berman will come along and extend the sound in interesting, compelling ways. But I think the most creative and intriguing developments will allude to the tradition and bounce off it and around it without being prisoners of it at the same time. And they'll also reflect everything that's gone on in music and the wider world over the past 5, 10, 15-30 years. Some of this is already happening, but it's under the middle-brow radar (a place where I all too often find myself gravitating towards as I get older... it's too damn easy, for one thing). OTOH the Internet makes it much easier to investigate new scenes & sounds if you get hip to them. For me, the future ends up being more murky than gloomy... I know I'll never get tired of listening to Ellington, Coltrane, Bird, Bud Powell, etc. I could probably live with just that music for the rest of my life! But I know my life would be a richer one if I also kept my ears open and listened for new sounds...albeit ones that won't give me the same immediate pleasure/comfort that Ellington et al do. And in fact, new sounds tend to rejuvenate my appreciation for the older players, whether I find myself liking said new sounds or not.

A-Rod's definitely not at his best--probably in large part to lingering hip issues (certainly has affected his running, as we saw tonight with that infield grounder he would have beaten out in the past), but yeah, he seems genuinely happy and really into the team spirit of things. BTW, Dave, you probably saw this mentioned in the ESPN broadcast, and it was in the online recap as well: Surprising! More than Ruth & Gehrig or Maris & Mantle ever put together? In any event, I was whooping it up after Teixeira's shot...my wife called down the stairs excitedly and said, "What happened?" After dejectedly watching Lester dominate the Yanks all night long (save for A-Rod's blast) and Bard make short work of Matsui and Jeter, I had logged on here to say, "Hey, 3 out of 4 ain't bad..." And 4 out of 4 is even better! Is that truly the first time we've swept the Sox in 24 years? I'm sure not counting Boston out yet, though. Martinez is obviously a great addition to their line-up. And when are Dice-K and Wakefield due back from the DL? Just hoping we can take 2 of 3 at Fenway.

Maybe they're anticipating that some of these sets will soon be available again, and don't want the current catalogue to discourage people from trying to order? But it certainly can't be a desirable situation for them...being unable to fulfill certain orders. I've been buying Mosaic sets for 13-14 years now & can't ever remember a similar situation. It might have been good to put some sort of general note addressing the issue into the new catalogue.

Whew! Rivera let the tying run come to the plate but got out of it. Always nerve-wracking when he goes up against the Red Sox... If the Yankees can make it all the way to the World Series, I'd love to see them face the Dodgers. Lots of history there, not to mention the modern-day drama of Torre now being L.A.'s coach.

Man! I was logging in to lament Girardi's not putting Hughes in in the 8th (& the Bosox subsequently breaking their dry spell w/Martinez' two-run homer) when the Yanks erupted with 2 out in the bottom of the inning. Six straight hits! Hopefully Rivera can mop things up here in the top of the 9th.

Nice article: Rodriguez understands Ortiz's plight. Even though he's been putting up somewhat substandard A-Rod #s this year, he really seems to feel much more at peace as a Yankee.

Man--I would not have guessed a week ago that the Yanks would now be sitting on a 5.5 game lead in the AL East. I think the Bosox have a good chance to take tomorrow's game, though, given that Lester's starting. Pettite's been strong for NY lately, so it'll be a great match-up.

Bosox can't catch a break...they bring on Ramirez in the 7th and the ump throws him out of the game after he brushes back Teixeira and hits Rodriguez on the first pitch.

Just ordered a copy--thanks for the tip.

Very nice write-up on Hughes from A.O. Scott in the NY Times.

I've got all 8 of the Hep releases, which are probably the most comprehensive documentation of CT on record that we'll ever get. Have a few of the obscure Victor 78s, too, but haven't transferred them to cd-r yet. Glad to know you're a fan too, TTK!

If there's already a thread like this, apologies & I will delete...was trying to fix our cellar door this a.m. and finally figured it out...but briefly contemplated starting this thread to solicit advice. Thought I should go ahead and do it anyway, for present/future reference.

Just read this whole thread for the first time--never realized Aric's "Rush is the poor man's Yes" remark had provoked so many hilarious posts!

This week's Night Lights show--originally intended as a centennial tribute--is now up for online listening: Claude Thornhill: Godfather of Cool It covers Thornhill's career from 1941 to 1953, with some historical background, reflections & items of interest (For instance, "Snowfall" originally had a very different title!). I tried to provide a fairly broad overview of the band's sound, including a couple of the more pop-oriented tunes. Turns out, according to the Terre Haute Trib-Star, that it's not Thornhill's centennial--they recently discovered that he was born in 1908, not 1909. I'm going over there Monday night for a tribute concert that will try to raise funds for a headstone (he's buried there in an unmarked grave).

WOW!!!!! That was some game!!! I spent a few innings standing up in my living room because the tension was too great. Great pitching by both sides and it came down to Francona having nobody left, so he has to put in some kid making his MLB debut. That was Tazawa, the promising guy Dan referred to several posts up the thread... man, tough game and environment to make your debut in. Amazing catch by Drew in the 14th, btw, to keep the Bosox alive. I'm also really impressed that the NY pitchers limited Boston to only 4 hits over 15 innings. The bullpen seems a lot more solid than it did earlier this season. Did you see any of the postgame, btw? Again, this strikes me as the loosest Yankee team I've seen in years. I mean, even A-Rod seems to have finally found his place and fit in...I was glad that it was Jeter on base when he hit his walk-off.

F*&#in' A! F*&#in' A-ROD!!! Lord, that was an epic.

I didn't realize that Hughes had become such a recluse in the past 15 years: 2008 L.A. Times article Another memory: 1986's Pretty in Pink was disappointing and a sign that the freshness of his teen flicks was wearing off (though Hughes would score big one last time in that regard with Ferris Bueller), but I remember being so psyched that somebody had used a Smiths song in a Hollywood movie. And not surprised that it was Hughes (though I hated the new version of the title song from the Psychedelic Furs...the original was so much better).

Nice quote from somebody on YouTube:

Don't forget "National Lampoon's Summer Vacation," which remains a wickedly funny satire of a middle-class, middle-American family's trip gone amok. Sorry to hear this news. As a teenager in the early 1980s I was deeply p*&^ed off by all of the stupid, stupid movies out there depicting teens as sex-crazed fodder for either comedy or Jason-the-13th's ultraviolent homicides. There were movies before Hughes' Sixteen Candles that portrayed that phase of life with more sensitivity--the flicks based on S.E. Hinton's books, Gregory's Girl, even Fast Times at Ridgemont High--but Sixteen and The Breakfast Club (yes, overwrought even in 1985, but hell, "overwrought" goes with the territory in adolescence) signified some sort of mainstream achievement for the idea that you could make a decent, still-entertaining film about what it was like to be in the middle of growing up. (Lagging a good 10-20 years behind the young-adult fiction industry, though, which went through a golden age in the 1970s.) Hughes had tasteless moments in his films, and (as many have pointed out) he always tacked on sentimental, credulous happy endings that undermined some of the darker humor in his work. But I still remember the gratitude I felt for how he put characters up on the screen that seemed at least somewhat close to my friends and me, particularly at a time when youth culture in America was at a rather low ebb.

I've got a copy of the book but haven't read it yet. I like his Billie Holiday bio quite a bit...he's a friend of Chuck Nessa's, btw, and I think his name's popped up from time to time in a few discussions here.

Sam Kinison on the Tonight Show.

Not a "snipe," but one of the most beloved TV openings from my childhood--I mean, sometimes the show just went downhill from here, y'know? Six Million Dollar Man intro ...and then years later, well into adulthood and jazz fever, I find out that it was written by Mr. Blues and the Abstract Truth!

Well, glad to see the Yanks taking a 2.5 game lead into the big series--but they have yet to solve the Bosox this season, and Mitre had another dismal outing tonight. With luck we'll be able to stretch out Joba's starts & innings, so the lack of a good 5th starter shouldn't hurt us in a playoff situation--but could be a big problem in a division race down to the wire.