ghost of miles

Well, that's not TOO far from working w/Jerry Lewis... Tonight's movie - The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone. Never seen it in, at least not more than a few clips here and there. Don't know if this is necessarily my bag, but who knows? Anybody got some good and/or kind words for this one? Yes! My wife & I watch this every Thanksgiving Day (and the 2-disc DVD that came out a couple of years ago has some great extras on it). "Swashbuckling fun" and all that indeed, but it really is an unabashed celebration of the epic-entertainment form... a well-done celebration, as opposed to the static and staid versions that seemed to take hold in the 1950s. Historical aside: Flynn's son (Sean, I believe) is mentioned in Michael Herr's incredible Vietnam War journalism book DISPATCHES... he was a photographer who disappeared in Cambodia in 1970 (only recently, I think, have they learned that he and his friend were executed by the Khmer Rouge). Herr's description of Sean Flynn sounds a bit like the characters his father played in movies.

Off-topic somewhat, but be sure to catch FIVE CAME BACK (1939) if it ever shows up on TCM. It's about a plane that goes down in a South American jungle, a sort of early disaster/survivor flick with class overtones and themes... Eleven passengers survive the crash, but the plane (as repaired) will be able to lift off with only five on board... and they're deep in the Amazon rainforest, surrounded by headhunters. It was written by Dalton Trumbo and Nathanael West, directed by Maureen O'Sullivan's husband Joh Farrow, and had a very interesting cast (Lucille Ball as a shady woman, Chester Morris of "Boston Blackie" fame as a pilot, and John Carradine).

Volume 11 is here. Together with a Louis Armstrong live CD, the first of four volumes. More information at the Storyville site. D.E.T.S Vol.11 Louis Armstrong (April 12 release in the U.S? according to Jazzmatazz) Great, great news, LAL--thanks for posting! I'm going to be featuring these once a month on my WFIU program The Big Bands, starting in April. (April 1945 broadcasts for the April show, May 1945 broadcasts for the May show, etc.) Hope the sound improves over V. 10...

Coltrane and Herbie Nichols. 9/23 and 1/3 are almost holy days for me... also Bud Powell on 9/27. I also play Elliott Smith's music now on the anniversary of his death.

Happy birthday, my man!

You're presuming that the most dependable family of precision-guided munitions originates in the Pentagon. B-) The Ministry of Silly Walks?

Hope it's a swingin' one!

To a truly great guy!

Nabbed more Heps from an Allegro sale and they came yesterday, including Johnny Bothwell's STREET OF DREAMS 1946. In the liner notes Alastair Robertson writes:

I think Weizen copped to my "surgical missile strike" idea and called up a buddy at the Pentagon who was into him for a few JRVGs... Glad some folks are getting theirs and hope everybody else who ordered does too. "Thousands of dollars..." yes, I'm sure Seagram stock is reeling as badly as those who imbibe too much of it.

Might be a case of re-reading him so many times, but lately I've come to prefer THE GLASS KEY and THE DAIN CURSE--the former for how it works a big-city political machine into the plot, the latter for its depiction of drug-and-cult-crazed 1920s California. THE MALTESE FALCON is obviously a masterpiece, and I re-read it every couple of years. Allen, have you ever read the original THIN MAN? It came out in a magazine in the mid-1970s and has showed up in at least two anthologies in the past few years, including the Library of America volume of Hammett's short stories. Fascinating--much as I like the published THIN MAN, I wish he'd been able to finish the earlier draft, which has no Nick and Nora, but rather a solitary detective named John Guild, who may be a mulatto (DH recycled the name for a minor character in the published THIN MAN).

Wish I lived in the Bay Area... I'd sure give it a whirl: Hammett exhibit in SF

Eh? You say he introduced you to the wonderful world of Jim Beam?! Happy belated but doubled b-day wishes, JimR.

Some previous Roy discussion here.

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'm a death-penalty opponent and am not aiming to start a debate about that here in a non-political forum... but for those interested, there are rumors that the Kansas police may be able to connect Rader to a murder committed after 1994, when the Kansas death penalty took effect. So there is a chance that he may face execution after all. There's something rather Ellroyian about this case to me.

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.

"King Jazz" Frank Greaves? Now there's a name lost to the mists of time... Where do you find all these cool old archive clips, RT? They're a hoot!

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.

"I vant to drink your band... I mean, with your band!"

I think I'll phone mein freund over at the NSA and see if he can help to crack the code here. I just know there's a cynical little message hidden somewhere in there. Just the facts, Doc... you spend too much time perusing those dusty tomes! Signed, Spouse of a churchgoer & former Cub Scout/Boy Scout P.S. Say, howza 'bout getting your buddy over at NSA to call in a surgical missile strike on the office of a certain Universal Music employee? Tell him we've heard reports that a WMD is hidden onsite... either that or a number of Bill Evans box-sets being held hostage.