ghost of miles

Belated but by no means belittled... happy b-day, Aggie!

Belated birthday greetings from Bloomington, Alon!

Have a hip/hep/happy Hoosier holiday!!! See you soon, I hope.

Excellent news!

Actually, it turns out that I've been seeing white snowflake spots everywhere I go... care to recommend a good physician? B-)

I would gladly banish myself to the basement if we had one, but we're in a 1920s bungalow with a crawl-space. It appears only several of my booklets and CD trays have been afflicted, so I think the Bestine/warm suds suggestion should take care of the respective problem--and I'm going to look into buying a de-humidifier. Once we expand and put in central air, I think things will be OK.

Too hip for the room, dude. Orange peels and glass jars. That's all I'm sayin'.

Thanks for the advice, all. I'll give the afflicted boxes and booklets a good scrubbing ASAP. For the most part I keep the CDs stored with the rest of my jazz CDs, esp. if they are OOP--no problems there. We're thinking of expanding the house (esp. for that "Ellingtonia wing" ) and will be putting in central air if we do... hopefully that will help prevent it from happening again.

I pulled out my Duke Ellington Capitol Mosaic for a listen this a.m.--got it around '98 or '99 and haven't listened to it in a couple of years. The booklet and the plastic CD tray on the inside have a constellation of white snowflake-looking spots--what I fear may be mold. Pulled out some of my other older sets and found the same on the Blakey and the Andrew Hill. In each case they appeared on the cover and back of the booklet, sometimes on the black CD tray, and a bit on the outside of the box. I used to store the boxes (w/booklets inside) in stacks against the wall of my study in our old, un-airconditioned apartment. We moved into a small bungalow about 5 years ago, and for the past two years I've kept the boxes in a tall, narrow bookcase. I have a window unit that I use in the summertime, as southern Indiana tends to get quite humid. (1) What would cause this apparent mold to appear? Has this happened to anyone else here? (2) How do I remove it? Goo-gone? (3) How do I prevent it from happening again? I'm never going to sell these sets, so I'm not concerned about fiscal value--I'm just concerned about health issues and crappy aesthetic deterioration.

Mine too, Ubu--a nice little gem, that Gruntz is.

OK, here's an interesting one--I was looking up some info about the 1937 Paramount short "Record Making With Duke Ellington" in Stratemann's DAY BY DAY AND FILM BY FILM and came across this aside: In 1963, this commercial recording of "Daybreak Express" served as inspiration and background music to D.A. Pennebaker's first film, a six minute short entitled "Daybreak Express", which, in increasingly abstract images, gives an impression of an early morning ride into New York along the since demolished elevated railway, the "Third Avenue El". With its parallel rhythm of images and music, this little film is justifiably regarded as one of the most imaginative uses of Ellington's music for background purposes. Sounds like something I'd really like to see. Puzzled by the "since demolished" passage, though; wasn't the El torn down in 1953? Were parts of it still standing in 1963? Or is Stratemann's wording simply confusing me--and Pennebaker's film was a cinematic reconstruction of the already-gone El?

"Backseat Betty!"

Lots of Ellington (hmmm, that definitely happens on more than Sundays). Definitely a tendency towards early jazz and big-band on Sunday a.m.--with room for the occasional rocking-out a la Kinks or some such.

Marla, I'll definitely mention them in the series, and possibly in the class as well. I've had an e-mail exchange with Dan Gould about Simpkins' Hoosier roots... the series/class may be pushed back to next April. Since taking these projects on, I've ended up doing two weekly programs at WFIU in addition to my fulltime library job... everything's gotten a bit crazy in the past nine months!

Thanks for reminding me! I think I have that on the Ellington Centennial CD/DVD that came out last year. I was thinking about showing "Jam Session" (aka "C Jam Blues"), but I might show "Cottontail" instead as a result of your prompt.

Yes, I have a couple of clips along those lines. A friend loaned me a DVD compilation of movie excerpts; unfortunately they're not ID'ed, so I'm trying to figure them out. One clip is titled "Swing Fever" and comes from a movie with Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, and a bandleader who looks a lot like Kay Kyser (not actually Kyser, though, I don't believe); there's a good dance sequence with one woman and two men to a tune called "Undecided." Also some great, funny stuff titled "Dancing Co-Ed" that comes from a flick with Artie Shaw.

Nipping right at its heels: the introduction of this newfangled wheel device!

D'oh! He was from Cleveland... but I know what you're getting at. And thanks for the rec on the box-set--I'll look around to see if we have a copy at the station.

Jim, I had completely forgotten your recommendation... happened across a copy of a Lees book at a local bookstore a couple of months ago, read that essay, and thought, "Hot damn!" Then remembered your rec when I came back to view this thread today. You're absolutely right.

I like it too, Harold. Alexander & John L with earlier comments.

Working on my big-band class and viewing a DVD that a friend loaned to me--DUKE ELLINGTON IN HOLLYWOOD (IDEM Home Video). An hour-long compilation that includes "Black and Tan," a clip from "Check and Double Check," "Symphony in Black," "Belle of the Nineties," and other material (no "Murder at the Vanities," however): Duke Ellington in Hollywood Watching "Symphony in Black" all the way through again, I'm struck once more by what a remarkable piece it was for its time. Work, love, religion, and dance in the African-American community all expressed in one short nine-minute movement... it really does foreshadow Jump for Joy and Black, Brown and Beige, as others have pointed out. There's a quiet but powerful air of protest to it.

Count Basie, THE COUNT BASIE STORY (via BMG for 50% off & free shipping) Duke Ellington, V. 3 and V. 4[b/] (the Circle 1943 recordings) Some Clarke-Boland big-band titles Duke Ellington, TREASURY SHOWS V. 7

Up for broadcast in just a minute.

I guess it would also allow someone else to win the AL East... right now Toronto proudly sits atop whilst the Yanks and Sox pound each other to a bloody pulp.

He sounds pretty A+ on that Dexter Mosaic Select... that's where I've been digging him lately. First heard him when I got into late 70's Art Pepper and immediately felt that this must be one of the "unsung" guys who probably never gets the credit that he deserves. Best wishes to Mr. Cables.