ghost of miles

Whew...that's great...I'm just too damned old to stay up all night and get up at 5:30 in the morning anymore! Moose, just do like the cats: get up at midnight and go to bed at 5:30 a.m.!

Have completely lost interest in Hoosier Hysteria since we went to the class system.

I read an excerpt from Stewart's book in the New Yorker a few weeks ago called "Partners," dealing exclusively with the Ovitz/Eisner relationship. One would think it nearly impossible to feel any modicum of sympathy for Michael Ovitz, but after reading that article, I did.

Have a great one, JP!

"Word From Mingus" has now been archived.

Whatever. "Excuse us, my good man, but could you kindly return the set that we legally sold to you?" I really don't have a dog in this fight... just still honked off for fellow board members.

We honestly don't watch it. We can't! Even the regular networks won't come in without cable in our neighborhood. We have a television, but it's there only for DVD viewing. In our old apartment, we had cable for free--and you bet we watched. That's one reason why we decided against picking it up when we bought a house. I think I miss it most when something big happens in the news. When the Oklahoma City bombing occurred, I watched CNN a great deal, whereas on 9/11, we no longer had TV and I listened instead on ABC Radio. I also miss it during the baseball playoffs and sometimes go over to a friend's house. That's why I don't snub people who watch it; but I feel a lot better now that I don't.

RDK, I don't look down on people who watch TV. Hell, I watched enough as a kid and a teenager to fill a lifetime quota, and I buy series collections on DVD (LARRY SANDERS SHOW, DICK VAN DYKE, PETER GUNN, etc.--still waiting for HILL STREET BLUES to come out ). And I get a serious jones for things like TVLand and Turner Movie Classics sometimes. It's just not for me these days, though; sort of like giving up smoking. Folks may be inclined to brag about not watching simply because they're often treated like weirdos (i.e., "How could you not have a TV?! Gasp!?") for going without. Somehow we've been inculcated with the notion that having cable TV is a necessity of modern life. Bosh to that, I say! I'd rather spend the $500-600 a year on something else.

39!? Man, that's old... ah, s#$t, keep forgetting... Well, we're still a lot younger than this guy: Have a great one!

Well, Scorsese now joins the ranks of Hitchcock and Altman for "Most times nominated without winning" (5). Sure, THE AVIATOR isn't his best movie--not by a longshot--but I would've much preferred seeing it win over the Eastwood flick. I didn't watch the show--my wife and I don't have cable by choice. We watched HORSEFEATHERS on DVD instead. Much better choice, IMO.

BMG has it (I'm planning to pick it up w/my music points).

Yeah, yeah, I secretly rigged the Ohio election as well... time for me to come clean. Weizen offered me a sweet deal on JRVGs and I couldn't say no.

I recently (Feb. 7) posted an emergency request for a CD-R of something that has gone OOP because I needed it for a radio show... in retrospect, I could've worded it slightly differently. I've normally adhered to the policy and think it's totally cool.

Best birthday wishes to ya!

What about those Jenna Jameson DVDs that we sold while B3er was away? (Sorry, man... Weizen narced us out.)

LOL ! I thought it completely plausible ! No kidding--don't let Disney get wind of this thread.

Dusty Groove has been carrying the Rene Thomas JIP titles THE REAL CAT and MEETING MR. THOMAS for $5.99. Currently out of stock, but you can use the "send request" feature. The listings are near the bottom of the page here.

Anybody yet mention the Parker/Navarro/Powell/Blakey ONE NIGHT IN BIRDLAND? For live bebop, I think I like it even more than the Massey Hall concert... of course, many of us will be adding the Parker/Diz Town Hall to this list when it comes out on Uptown. I can all but guarantee that.

More likely it would finish me.

You mock people who won't buy at Wal-Mart because they pride themselves on union-busting, and then you complain about how they treat their employees on the floor? Unions do make a difference; that's one of the reasons why Wal-Mart fights them so hard. They just busted an attempt to unionize in Colorado by firing a pro-union employee and transferring six anti-union workers into the shop, then bombarding the employees several times a day with anti-union videos and talks, and not allowing a union representative to witness the election. In the two instances I know of where a Wal-Mart or a Wal-Mart dpt. did unionize (a store in Canada, and a meat dpt. in the U.S.) Wal-Mart closed the store or shut down the department. Sends a nice message to those trying to organize, don't you think? Things like unions and the minimum wage didn't come about because employers and big businesses were swell people and the workers got along with them just fine and nobody was being exploited because of their economic desperation. They came about because greed and human nature require some modifications to our free-market system. Unfortunately, laissez-faire, 19th-century, let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may thinking really seems to have come back into vogue in the past two decades. Suffice to say that I will never give Wal-Mart a penny for anything... and I hope that their "associates" (great Orwellian word for employees, that) are one day able to win their fight to unionize. As in many other matters, looks like we're going to have to fight the battles of the early-20th-century all over again.

Interesting aside -- The author of the song later adopted the Rosenberg's children after their execution. Yes--didn't he also co-write "The House I Live In?" (For those unfamiliar, a great anti-racism song from the 1940s recorded by Sinatra as well as Paul Robeson.) For an interesting book about the song, its origin, and its impact, check out David Margolick's book Strange Fruit.

Alan's just kidding--though these days, ya never know.

If I ever get into the Reprise material, I'll probably opt for the 4-CD compilation that came out a few years ago. Chaney: PERFECTLY FRANK is definitely on the to-get list. I'm still digesting the Complete Columbia box... which is a lot to digest. Very glad that I got it.

Jenna Jameson? Isn't she a trumpet player of some sort? Anyway, gotta run--the local Burger King has a "2-for-1" deal on Double Whoppers.

This week on Night Lights it's "Word From Mingus," a program of Charles Mingus' 1950s spoken-word collaborations with poet Langston Hughes, monologuist Jean Shepherd, and actor Melvin Stewart. We'll also hear Mingus' own performance of his piece "Chill of Death," written when Mingus was a teenager in the late 1930s and recorded for release on the 1972 album LET MY CHILDREN HEAR MUSIC. You can listen to the program live this Saturday night on WFIU at 11:05 p.m. (8:05 California time, 10:05 Chicago time) here, or listen to it in the Night Lights archives, where it will be posted Monday afternoon. Next week: "The Late Miss D." Dinah Washington's Roulette recordings.