AfricaBrass

Is it Ozzy?

Where do you see your member number? We're glad you are back AB. Thanks impossible!! I still remembered my member number after all these years. lol

I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your friend. I lost a dear friend last year and miss him a lot.

Connoisseur series500 was one of my favorite people to talk to, back in the good ol' days. I was disappointed that he wasn't still here when I returned. If anyone talks to him, please say "hi" for me. Thanks!

What a wonderful post, Big Al! I have appreciated all of you so much in my time here. When I left the board in 2006, I never had any desire to participate on any other boards. This was always the my favorite place and I never forgot about it. Back in the day, it took me a while to finally start posting on the BNBB. I'd been lurking there for years and felt as if I knew many of you already by the time I started posting there. Back then, I was afraid that I didn't have anything of much value to say. I've found that same feeling arising since I returned here. I'm just a guy who loves jazz (and most all music), but I don't have as much knowledge about it as many of you. I remember clearly that first day here when we all left the sinking BNBB. I'm so proud that I'm member number 51 and I'm so grateful you have welcomed me back.

Thanks Big Al! I'm really grateful to be back here too and I appreciate that you count me as a friend! I'm glad that you understand the whole midlife crisis thing. If I had the cash, I'd love a Caddy myself. I watch Top Gear and read car magazines all the time and lust after the amazing vehicles being made today. Unfortunately, I'm closer to living in my car than buying a new one. lol It's funny, eight years ago, I was on the top of the world. Now, I've learned to count the blessings that I do have and I appreciate my family and friends more than ever.

Thanks Shawn! I just ordered a used copy of Damnation.

I'm so glad that you had a great birthday!! I was glad to wish you a happy birthday eight years ago and I'm really glad that I had a chance to send my greetings this year. I'm grateful that you're my friend, Big Al! I'm with Dave that it's weird that we've known each other for so long through these boards. It's weird to think that I was still in my 20's when I visited the old BNBB and now I'm in my 40's. I think I'm having a midlife crisis because I've been thinking a lot about how quickly the time has gone by. lol

Happy Birthday, Johnny E!! I hope you have a great one.

I hope you have a wonderful day, Big Al! Happy Birthday!!

Thanks Dan!!

Welcome back! I'm glad to see you are well

My top two are Billie Holiday and Anita O'Day. While I like other female vocalists, there's a pretty wide gap between them and my possible third choice. So I'll just list my top two.

I drive by one of these signs everyday (in 2012) and chuckle.

R.I.P. Davy I have loved the Monkees since I was a kid.

I've bought a lot of reissues that I hadn't heard yet because I either trusted recommendations from friends, there were musicians on the recording that I already knew and liked, or I trusted the label releasing the music. There are many classic Blue Note reissues I bought on faith and I buy every Nessa release I can because I trust both labels. Years ago, I bought the 3 cd Verve Elite Edition pressing of Lee Konitz' Motion for around $40. I had never heard the album and had no Konitz in my collection, but that cd became one of my favorites. I don't have a problem spending $50 on something that Jonathan releases. He has proven to me with his previous two releases that he is someone to trust and I know any product he puts out is going to be of the finest quality and will be great music.

One interesting thing is that around the same time Nirvana hit it big, I completely threw myself into jazz (this had nothing to do with Nirvana, of course). I still listened to other music, but jazz started becoming a bigger and bigger part of my life. By 1994, I'd say 95% of my music purchases were jazz. Oh yeah, back to the topic... The Sex Pistols haven't been relevent to me since I was a teenagers (and I did enjoy some of the PIL stuff too). "Anarchy in the Retirement Home" for the win! lol

I'm just going start saving my money, so I'll be ready to buy it in whichever format you choose. I can't wait!

I don't really blame Nirvana themselves, more the record industry for "deciding" there was a style of music called "Grunge" (which never existed, it's fashion, not music) that was somehow superior to everything else at the time. I actually like Nirvana's "Bleach" album, but never warmed up to their later recordings. I started listening to Soundgarden in 1988 when Ultramega OK was released, they were more my cup of tea at the time and were ahead of the curve in the Seattle scene. I always enjoyed their new/retro approach of putting an alternative spin on the basic Sabbath building blocks...even going so far as re-recording Into The Void with new lyrics. In that era of the early 90s, the bands I really liked were the So-Cal groups like KYUSS and Sleep, the whole stoner/desert rock thing, cause it grooved like mad and had more of a psychedelic vibe to it. Plus it was just "fun" and had no delusions of importance. Kyuss and Sleep were great! I still listen to their cds. I got into the Sub Pop scene in 1989 and used to go see all the bands. I loved Nirvana's Bleach and the Blew EP. I loved going to see the Melvins, Mudhoney, Tad, Nirvana and lot of other great bands. We were having a great time. I don't remember any delusions of importance back then with these guys, but I never saw Nirvana again after they made it. It's so funny, we used to think Pearl Jam was a corporate sellout band. I had spent the 80's playing shows in LA with my band and being frustrated at the success of the "Hair Farmers" as we called them. No one wanted to hear music influenced by Pink Floyd, the Velvet Underground, Can, Loop, Spacemen 3 and the Beatles. I was glad to see the whole Grunge movement rise up. P.S. Mudhoney were fantastic! I still listen to them and even dig their new recordings.

I think I missed a LOT around here.

Thank you so much, Hans! I really appreciate it. I'm glad he's doing well.

I've read things about Aspertame in the past, but I'm not really up on the research. All I know is that I feel better not consuming the stuff. My situation could have been a number of things. I didn't lose any weight either due to the switch to water. Wow! That's amazing! I sometimes don't realize how fortunate I am to have good drinking water from the tap (through a filter).

I agree!

Agree on both counts. They both made this a better place! Thanks Aggie!! I really appreciate it. I was wondering what happened to both couw and catesta. I looked up catesta's account and saw that he was last here in January, so hopefully he's still coming around. I used to exchange a lot of messages with John (couw). Is he okay, or is it something that happened on the board? They were both real assets to this place! Catesta was last here over a year ago, in January 2011, and couw left the board years ago after a major fight about the direction this board was taking. I'm in regular contact with him; he's had some major changes in his life and he has no intention whatsoever to return here. Unfortunately, many of the "old guys" from the BNBB and the early days of this board have left. Time's been flying by so quickly that I'm getting the years confused! Sorry! As one who has also gone through many major changes, I feel for couw. It's so hard. If you remember, please say hello to him for me the next time you communicate with him. He's a really good guy! I didn't realize that so many of the "old guys" from the BNBB had left. Thank you so much for taking the time to fill me in! :tup I haven't been here in a long time, but I miss them both. They helped make this a great place!

thx for the enlightened remarks. i'm going through some serious arm nerve pain the last 2 weeks;i drink too much cola. I'm so sorry to hear this. It's terrible pain! I never imagined my pain would go away, so there's hope for you! It will be interesting to see if there are more people like myself who have or had nerve pain that may have been caused by Aspartame. I was drinking the stuff since it was introduced and it turns out I may have been a good little lab monkey for this stuff. I didn't know why I felt compelled to write my story here, but now I feel better for doing it. I was like Tony Montana of the coke fiends and I've come to love water. lol - Good luck!