ghost of miles

Damn! Wasn't it a plumbing problem, if I recall correctly, that got him onto the Blue Note board in the first place? I hope his day gig doesn't interfere too much with his music. Thanks for the update, Chuck.

Kenny, I never heard the Shoes or the Records. Any recommendations on where to start & what's available? Even though I lived through that era, I know that a lot went under the radar...there was so much good underground pop coming out in the 80's that I inevitably missed out on some. Another band I heard occasionally and really liked was the Go-Betweens. A friend of mine is an absolute fanatic and has just about everything they've ever laid down or burped onto disc. He & I were/are also big fans of Felt, a rather twee English pop band that had quite an influence on latter-day popsters Belle & Sebastian.

Last 24 hours: Lee Morgan, CARAMBA (sounded much better the second time around when I played it late at night. Does all jazz sound better late at night?) Carmell Jones, Disc 1 of Mosaic Select set Count Basie, OCTET SOUNDS Various artists, NUGGETS II (disc 1)

I remember Christmas vaguely... I think my girlfriend at that time had the first two records, plus some early Wonderstuff... of course we're now getting into the late 80's/early 90's, or Pixies era as I like to think of it. Some of those bands showed up on an early Neil Young tribute called THE BRIDGE. I started getting into dreampop around then, but that's a whole different thread...

Another Coltrane quote surfaces in a later-era record by the Cowboy Junkies, a post-breakup song called "Sun Comes Up, It's Tuesday Morning": Too true!

Yes! I remember listening to that record (agreed that it was a letdown after DAYS) and thinking, "Oh yeah, John Coltrane, he was some sort of very heavy jazz musician... have to check him out some day." What an anti-jazz snob I was in my late teens. Little did I know the man would take up nearly a whole shelf of my music collection some day.

Just had an exchange of PMs with White Lightning in which our ol' fave J.J. Johnson came up--what are your favorite J.J. records? I love most of the Mosaic set, PROOF POSITIVE, and THE TOTAL J.J. JOHNSON. And is it true that he wrote the theme to "Starsky and Hutch?"

Hey, I get the connection... "Venus" followed by "Venus in Furs" "Robert Deniro's Waiting" followed by "I'm Waiting for the Man" "I Heard a Rumor" followed by "I Heard Her Call My Name" "Hot Line to Heaven" followed by "Heroin" ..etc. On another Velvets note, I meant to play "I'll Be Your Mirror" on my public-radio show the other day. I had led off with Dylan's "Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" from the LIVE 1975 set, following it with the Byrds' "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better," and was anticipating the sweet opening strains of "Mirror" when I heard the crazed violin riff of "Black Angel's Death Song" instead, going out to five Indiana cities at once. Turns out the box-set CD that I had listed both tracks as #11. At first I was going to stop and re-program, but then I decided I kind of liked the way it ended the set... let it play out. Man, it was my public-radio blooper of the week, though!

I know he's posted lately on Jazz Corner... did he start another job recently?

Well, a band that I liked at first and later couldn't stand was 10,000 Maniacs. They opened for R.E.M. here in '85 on the FABLES tour; I bought their then-current album, THE WISHING CHAIR, after the show, and I still spin that once in awhile. But then John Lombardo left the band, and I just couldn't go for the "Hey Jack Kerouac/Peace Train" direction of the next record.

I just played the Connoisseur on the radio last week... Damn. Wish she'd lived long enough to see some more of her music come out again. Didn't she leave it behind for painting?

The Plimsouls (featured in the Nicholas Cage movie VALLEY GIRL) and the irrepressible Camper van Beethoven also come to mind. I spun X's LOS ANGELES, UNDER THE BIG BLACK SUN, and MORE FUN IN THE NEW WORLD quite a few times, once upon a time. A lot of X's catalogue has been re-issued in the past couple of years and I keep meaning to pick it up.

Collectors' Choice says they'll be re-issuing all of the Let's Active records. However, I think there were only two after CYPRESS (BIG PLANS and another title that escapes me); however, it was CYPRESS that I listened to over and over again. I still have the cassette of it, which I've hung onto ever since missing the CD release. (This one will have the two bonus tracks that were also included on the brief I.R.S. CD release.) Trying to think of other underground American pop bands I listened to in that era, besides the obvious Replacements/Husker Du/Sonic Youth axis: Rain Parade Guadacanal Diary Minutemen Dream Syndicate the db's Feelies ...God, I know there were others, but I've forgotten some of them.

...or maybe it's just me. Anyway, Collectors' Choice is re-issuing the first two Let's Active records (AFOOT & CYPRESS) on a single CD. This was in print for about 10 minutes in the early 90's and has commanded $100plus on e-bay in recent years. It's the band of Mitch Easter, producer of the first three (and the best, IMO) R.E.M. albums. Lotsa great harmonies and chiming Rickenbackers, if you're into that sort of thing, as I was and am. Bring on the Rain Parade!

Our fair city recently voted to enact a comprehensive ban on smoking in public and private establishments (including, gasp! bars) as of Jan. 1, 2005. As somebody who quit smoking a few years ago, and who feels for the waitstaff and musicians who have to work in smoke-filled atmospheres, I thought it was a good move--but still found myself jonesing for a cig and a brew at the local pub. How many here have kicked the habit, and how many still indulge?

You also get the added excitement of knowing that a fellow board member is busily at work posting a response in a thread where you just posted. You can start work on your riposte immediately! (If it's politics, that is.)

You can even log in & then open the site again as a guest in another window, allowing you to watch yourself watching the online list... It's all too perverse and voyeuristic, if you ask me. Well, enough of this... I gotta get back to checking on where everybody else is!

I have and greatly enjoy the Doughboys, Playboys Western Swing set and the Dawn of Doo-Wop set. The Good News gospel one looks quite appealing as well, and I'll probably pick up the forthcoming Nazi swing set, which sounds quite interesting from a historical perspective. I'm generally reluctant to buy the sets that overlap with in-print Mosaic boxes... does anybody know if the Krupa does so with Mosaic's transcriptions collection?

Ah, cripes, I'm in the midst of a CD-buying ban that doesn't end till May 1. Guess I'll wait for the new one, then. Thanks for the info, Hans & Weizen.

Brownie, thanks for the quick education on the French New Wave. Perhaps I'd better broaden my approach to "Jazz and postwar French cinema..."

Hans, Any word on whether or not Eddie Costa's HOUSE OF BLUE LIGHTS is still coming out in one of these batches?

Hey all, I'm preparing yet another radio show, this one on jazz and its usage in films of the French new wave. Some of the films and soundtracks I'm focusing on include ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS (Miles Davis), BREATHLESS (Martial Solal), and DANGEROUS LIAISONS (Art Blakey & Duke Jordan). I'm looking for any articles and/or books that might discuss this topic.

The Yanks & the Sox both overpowered their opponents today, leaving Boston still trailing by half a game . New York opened 5-1 on the road, and Soriano had multiple hits in every game. It's a sweet April so far...

Got sick several days ago and took a day off from work, which gave me time to read TWO books in one day. I should get sick more often... Read the Lester Bangs bio LET IT BLURT (style and narrative a little rote, but lots of interesting info about a music/cultural critic whose work I've always enjoyed) and James Cain's MILDRED PIERCE, a psychological study of a very dysfunctional mother/daughter relationship. (Also a Joan Crawford movie and the title of a Sonic Youth instrumental.) Now it's on to MISS LONELYHEARTS and/or ZENO'S CONSCIENCE... and I'm hoping to track down a copy of a book that Weizen once recommended (no, not RIGHT FROM THE START --it's called GREAT HILL STATIONS OF ASIA. I'm also reading a Gershwin bio entitled THE MEMORY OF ALL THAT.

Phineas Newborn Jr., GREAT JAZZ PIANO OF... Lee Konitz, AT STORYVILLE Shelly Manne, PLAYS PETER GUNN Shirley Scott, SOUL SHOUTIN' Billie Holiday, ALL OR NOTHING AT ALL