ghost of miles

Charlie posted an amazing outtake from EITHER/OR on the Sweet Addy site. It's called "Pretty Mary K," but it bears no relation to either the FIGURE 8 version or the demo of the FIGURE 8 version. It's beautiful... and listening to it brings the loss back all over again: PrettyMaryK(either/or)

Which Faulkner got, in part, from Joyce! And I'd take DUBLINERS over anything that D.H. wrote. So there.

Should help keep me on my toes.... "Listen, whippersnapper, I was there and I know it ain't so!"

Thanks, I surely will! I don't have that particular book, but I can copy the essay from the library volume that we have here.

Jim, I probably will talk somewhat about post-1970 big bands... the trick is trying to get everything into, at most, five two-hour classes. Ten hours total sounds like a lot of time, but there's so much to cover in this subject! Just curious, David--what are some of the challenges & pitfalls of continuing education? I've never taught it (or anything else) before. Fortunately my wife is a former associate instructor, and I'm friends w/a professor here who's an expert on this period of American culture, and who's also extremely knowledgeable about music & jazz in particular.

I've been meaning to check out that McCourt book, and yeah, O'Hara is one of the greats--I read "To the Harbormaster" at my mom's funeral a couple of months ago (one of her & my favorite O'Hara poems). Thanks for the Fantasy news, Jim. I've been planning to order that HOWLS, RAPS & ROARS box for some time now & will probaby toss in the full-length Rexroth as well.

Found dirt-cheap this afternoon: the ignominous Chet Baker BLOOD, CHET & TEARS. Up next: the Mastersounds, THE KING & I.

Thanks--I'm diggin' it right now!

I've got the Aladdins, the Savoys, and the whole Verve set, so I know the postwar myth is just that... but a couple of people whose opinions I generally respect have written off these particular volumes as passable at best. The Organissimos carry the day for me, however, so I shall purchase with due haste.

Man, you're not kidding... ReJoyce Happy 100th Bloomsday to all fellow Joyce fans!

Yes, I found it in the "import" bin at a store called the Listening Booth in late '78 or early '79, and was thrilled, because I didn't even know it existed. I may still have the vinyl, buried somewhere in my parents' basement. (I don't wanna go down to it, ya know... )

Thanks, but please don't ask me about Glenn Miller, Father Jim... I've been a baaaaaddd boy. In the past week I've nabbed el cheapo copies of SECRET BROADCASTS and the AAF Bluebird box--I will indeed be talking about Miller & the AAF band in one class. (There'll be five classes in all.) The timespan I have in mind will probably cover 1925-1960 or 1970. I don't think I'll be able to require students to buy specific books, but I will be allowed to put together a "reader." So far I plan to include excerpts from Lewis Erenberg's SWINGIN' THE DREAM: BIG BANDS AND THE REBIRTH OF AMERICAN CULTURE and Sherri Tucker's SWING SHIFT, among others. I'll also probably include something from George Simon; I'm not a big fan of his work, but he was an early authority on the subject, and I still turn to his BIG BANDS book from time to time.

Yes... I love that record! (2-LP set, actually.) Had it on vinyl when I was a kid--it's a 12/31/77 England show, correct? I need to grab the CD one of these days. BTW, any Ramones fans who haven't picked up the LEAVE HOME re-issue should really grab it... they've restored "Carbona Not Glue" (I loaned my LP w/the song on it to an 8th-grade buddy and he lost it... ) and also added a great live show from L.A. in 1976. LEAVE HOME was the first Ramones record I ever bought, in the summer of '77, and it rocked my world... then ROCKET TO RUSSIA came out in the fall and rocked it further! Perhaps goofy to say, but they were to me what I imagine the Beach Boys were to many in the early 1960s.

Pretty exciting news that I thought I'd pass along--I'll be teaching two jazz history courses next year in my local university's Continuing Studies division. Each class lasts for five 1.5-2 hour sessions; the spring class will be "Big Bands in American Popular Culture," and the autumn class will be "History of Indiana Jazz." I'll probably solicit advice/input from the Organissimo round-table when I go to prepare the syllabi...

Terrible news--Johnny Ramone was my guitar hero when I was 11:

All right, all right... Uncle! I'll get all five.

Man, oh man... I can't wait to get this box & do a radio special around it. My, my!

There seems to be a divided school of thought on the Fantasy-owned LESTER YOUNG IN WASHINGTON recordings... what do y'all think? I'm leaning towards picking them up, as I like a fair amount of late Lester... these emanate from 1956, I believe.

I'm getting ready to place a large order, given that everything may change in 60 days... I already have quite a few Fantasy titles, but just out of curiosity, what are some Organissimo board members' favorites?

Cool! I saw 'em back in 1989 or '90 at Alumni Hall in Bloomington (cripes, I'm gettin' old) and it was a rockin' slamfest. Joey Santiago IMO never got proper respect for his guitar playing.

Ah, you flatterer... you're just trying to get me to pick up the tab for our future Hammett walking tour!

The day that Joyce and Nora went on their first date--more famously, the day upon which he set ULYSSES: In commemoration, I heartily recommend that all Joyce devotees consume 6-8 bottles of Guinness Stout tomorrow and then read FINNEGANS WAKE aloud to friends & colleagues... B)

They've upgraded the free accounts, which is great (much more storage space), but the new account is movin' slooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwww... and not carrying out some basic commands, such as forwards. Anybody else having this problem today?

Lovely, lovely set. I'm a big fan of late-40s club blues, so I can listen to it in more than small doses. There's also a nice amount of Maxwell Davis here (the tenor saxophonist/arranger/composer who also appears on the Milburn set); if you're a fan of his work, another reason to pick up the Brown. I had long hoped that Mosaic would do a set of Brown's pre-Aladdin Three Blazers music, but finally snapped up the Chronological Classics instead.