ghost of miles

Chris, WDAS has eight listings in the index, and WHAT has six. I haven't gotten to any of the mentions yet, but here's the first one regarding WDAS: The first mention of WHAT refers to Ramon Bruce, a former pro football player who hosted a show called Ravin' With Ramon there.

Well, what better place for my thousandth Organissimo post than my beloved "Now reading" thread? Jim Sangrey & I simultaneously came across this title one day after I put up a thread looking for books on black radio. I'm about 60 pages into it, and it's exactly what I was looking for--scholarly without being jargonistic or pretentious, a fascinating study of how the struggle for equal rights (cultural as well as political) intertwined with the 20th-century medium of radio. I'm diggin' it!

I'm pretty sure we had a thread like this back on--where the hell did we come from again?? Anyway--I started compiling a list this morning: Hugh Masekala on the Byrds' "So You Wanna Be a Rock 'n Roll Star" Sonny Rollins on the Rolling Stones' "Waiting on a Friend" Phil Woods on Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are" Chet Baker on Elvis Costello's "Shipbuilding" Curtis Amy on the Doors' "Touch Me" (is this correct? I know he or somebody else from the Pac Jazz scene showed up on some Doors' records)

Dancin' with myself in the now-reading thread again... BOOGALOO, by Arthur Kempton. Mixed feelings about this so far and will post more tomorrow night after I've finished it. ROOSEVELT'S SECRET WAR, by Joseph Persico. Just started this one, which seems to be taking a fairly positive view of FDR & his covert efforts to bring us into WWII. And delving periodically into the first book of Dos Passos' U.S.A. trilogy.

Hey man, you jest, but a friend recently sent me this passage from Steve Otfinosky's THE GOLDEN AGE OF NOVELTY SONGS! The Cannonball Adderley/Don Elliott/Chipmunks connection... who woulda thunk it?

The two-part Gryce program with Mike that I did for WFIU-Bloomington last March didn't go out over the web because we were streaming news about the invasion of Iraq. My station manager has graciously allowed me to re-broadcast it on the other station where I have a show as a one-part, three-hour broadcast, on Wednesday, July 30 from 6-9 p.m. EST. WFHB has a semi-official streaming link, and I'll post it a day or two before the broadcast.

With my interest roused by the Doctorow novel, I went on to read THE ROSENBERG FILE, a non-fictional investigation of the case by Ron Radosh and Joyce Milton, published in 1983. Radosh was a leftist who began by presuming the Rosenbergs innocent. However, when the Rosenbergs' two sons successfully won a lengthy court battle to make public the FBI files about the case, the evidence seemed to overwhelmingly indicate that Julius did indeed run spies in the U.S., and that Ethel may have helped him. After reading the book it's almost impossible to believe that they weren't involved in espionage. But the book also details the highly dubious maneuverings of the judge who delivered the death penalty (which the authors believe was unjust, and mostly due to the political climate of 1950-53), as well as the bizarrely incompetent defense work of the Rosenbergs' lawyer. The book does come pretty close to delivering an objective history of it all. FWIW, Radosh has apparently degenerated into a rabid right-wing convert of the David Horowitz stripe--but his historical scholarship in the case of the Rosenbergs is still solid. Staying with spies and the Cold War, I'm reading my first John le Carre novel--THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD. Just started yesterday and am now two-thirds of the way through, and I keep sneaking in a few pages whenever I can, because I'm really caught up in it.

Chris, She was really warm--I think it was just that I was her third interview of four in one hour, and she thought I was a print reporter asking her to confirm her press release or something. After the first minute it went swimmingly.

Posted to the Coltrane list today:

Excellent advice. Yes, I always end my interviews with this question. (Great minds and all that, right, Dan? ) I also agree with the comments about thorough research and finding or framing questions that, by virtue of being somewhat fresh, are more likely to generate thoughtful responses. Some artists and writers who are frequently interviewed may have (understandably) some pre-programmed responses to certain inquiries, simply because they've been asked so many times about incident X or person Y. The toughest interview I've had so far was Odetta. It was a telephone interview, and we got off to a rocky start because she thought I was a print reporter and was asking her questions that were already answered in her press release... but I simply wanted her to talk a little bit about her childhood, as opposed to me reading some info off a sheet. First she became irate, then startled when she found out I was a radio interviewer--"Are we on the air?" she asked. I assured her that we weren't, and we ended up having a really good interview. But man, I was on edge for a few moments there! She's tough!

Bit on a couple of used Artie Shaw Heps that I found online--EVENSONG (the early-40's band w/strings) and 1944-45, a 3-CD that collects just about all of that edition's studio recordings. There's some slight overlap with SELF-PORTRAIT, esp. on EVENSONG, but I love nearly all of Shaw's bands and am eager to hear the extra material that's not on the BMG set. BENNY GOODMAN PLAYS FLETCHER HENDERSON and Roy Eldridge's HECKLER'S HOP are on the way, too, so I'm hoping for a Hep a day in the mail this week.

Still in a state of disbelief, but through an unexpected series of conversations, it now transpires that I'll be interviewing Anita O'Day via telephone for a two-part radio program in August. I'll be sure to post the link when we broadcast...

God help me, Mny, I took up another last night and am more than halfway through it, as I set aside U.S.A. and the Harlem book for the weekend. I've had a 1970's Modern Library edition of this book for a long time, but some recent discussion on the board concerning McCarthyism inspired me to pull it out, and I ended up being completely engrossed: E.L. Doctorow, THE BOOK OF DANIEL. It's a fictionalized account of the Rosenbergs, told by a fictional son. (Note to jazz fans, a Mnytime-factoid, if you will: the actual Rosenberg children were adopted by Abel Meerepol, who, under the nom de plume "Lewis Allen," wrote the lyrics to "Strange Fruit.")

Or what happened to Michael Jackson...

Can you imagine? And the guy essentially went straight from age 19 to 39... coma

These are on my Hep want list, WL (which totals 25+ so far). Are they all live performances? I'm wondering if there's any overlap with the '45 Carter band sides that appear on the Capitol Sessions Mosaic set. I picked up the Moten set used a year ago and love it. Man, I'm just so into this label right now!

And you don't? My friend, I think you're the most voluminous reader on this board! I, at least, stand in awe of your literary intake... My problem is that I get interested in too many titles & topics at once. I forced myself not to start LIGHT IN AUGUST because I was starting these other volumes as well (God help me, I will never call a book a "tome" again, and you know the reason why). I'm trying to restrict myself right now to books that I need to read for literary and radio projects.

Started last night on U.S.A. and also re-started one that would make the Red Menace himself blush with pride: THE COMMUNISTS IN HARLEM DURING THE DEPRESSION.

Yeah, I'm still on the fence about the Wilson CDs... I'd love to have the non-Holiday stuff, but there's so much overlap with the Holiday Columbia set--except for V. 7, which I already have, and V. 2, which I probably will order as well. I have both Jazz Factory Thornhills (purchased before I saw the light) and will probably ditch 'em for all of the Heps. I'm getting really addicted to this series!

I've been going on a 30's/40's kick lately (again--seems to strike me every year or so), and I thank the re-issue deities for Scotland's Hep label. Recently picked up Bunny Berigan's GANGBUSTERS and have a lot more in my sights. Over the years I've bought the random stray title from Hep (like their collection of Teddy Wilson's 1939-40 big band sides), but I think it was deciding to opt for their Benny Goodman titles that really made me realize what a wonderful catalogue they're offering. I mean, they even put out compilations of people like Teddy Powell... bandleaders whom I can't imagine turning up on re-issues anywhere else, at least anytime soon: Hep

I'll seek out those Vernon CDs, Lon, given that you're one of the leading Teagarden authorities around these parts. I understand from my reading that financial problems forced Teagarden to alter the band's makeup somewhat after its first year of existence... It will be interesting to investigate this phase of his career.

Getting ready to take a crack at John Dos Passos' U.S.A. trilogy, which I've been meaning to read for years. The Library of America is bringing out more of his work this fall--his early novels and his travel writings/political essays from 1916-1941.

The other day I was listening to a Kitty Kallen collection that I recently picked up. The first 8 or 9 cuts feature her with Jack Teagarden's 1939 big band, with some wonderful trumpet work by Charlie Spivak. I have to admit that this is the first time I've heard Teagarden's big band, which evidently continued on in some form or fashion for the next several years. I'm guessing the Classics are probably my best route for exploring this particular unit... Any fans of big-band Texas Tea out there?

Hey, thanks, Dan, I'll look around for that. I'd like to find the date Clay did with Billy Higgins for Contemporary, too (BRIDGEWORK). And thanks, too, Joe, for the discography and the reminiscences. Picking up the Morgan GNP will be an added bonus, as I'm a Morgan fan as well.