Noj

I enjoy to read and exchange information with the community which taught me practically everything I know about jazz, and whose recommendations have lined my shelves with great music.

I haven't got a clue about jazz from this era so I asked Alex to allow me to download the tracks. I can't possibly venture a guess on any of them. With so much music out there that is pretentious, overly serious, and/or self-important, lately I've really enjoyed listening to music the 1940s and earlier which has an uninhibited joy to it. Thus far, however, I only have a very limited collection (mostly those inexpensive multi-disc RCA/Victor sets that Sony put out) so it was great to add these tracks for a possible primer for future purchases. Really fun listen, much like RDK's Bonus Disc back on #11. Thanks Alex!

I'm betting this is just a quick shuffling of the lineup to make sure the Dodgers face him on Saturday.

Fun game, six lead changes. A whole lot of wasted time and botched plays there in that goal line series by FSU.

^^^ Doug

Trojans' freshman QB looks solid, from whatever one can take from that matchup with San Jose State. Fairly impressive number of points to put up in three quarters, mostly on the ground. USC will be tough to beat, I'm sure. Bruins survived a scare from the SDSU Aztecs who took an early 14-0 lead. UCLA's own freshman QB Prince looks pretty darned good too (again from as much as can be gathered from such a weak match up). I expect the Bruins to be about the same as last year, but a QB with some touch will help. We'll see how well the Bruins compete in Tennessee next week. Nice to see Marshall Faulk in attendance.

Aside from Bruce "Karate Kid" Bowen's tendency to position his feet underneath offensive players on jump shots and deliberately cause them to roll their ankles, I must confess to admiring his continual effort to stop the offensive player from scoring on every last possession. That's how I always tried to play ball, I didn't want the guy I was guarding to score...period. As a Laker fan, I pretty much *hate* him just like Doug Christie, Raja Bell, Paul Pierce, Shane Battier, etc.

Damn it Agg, how the hell did you ever get through the first three? Fun game.

I didn't mean to say Shorter can't--more that he doesn't. So Donaldson hears what Shorter plays, and Lou hears it as a limitation because it doesn't fit HIS idea of how it should be played. But it's entirely possible that as a non-musician I have no idea wtf I'm blabbering about. I have only the vaguest idea what "changes" are. I just have the impression that Lou's playing is more grounded, and Wayne's is more exploratory. I enjoy both musicians immensely, Shorter slightly more.

That quote might sum up the entire debate. Clearly Shorter is a brilliant musician who has written beautiful, moving music. It is contrasted against a train of traditional thought which produced a whole lot of successful art, wherein players are asked to fit the mold, and Wayne chooses to not fit the mold for the convenience of achieving his greatest potential as an artist. Essentially, we have a situation where there are two interpretations of what is right and wrong and both are correct. That's art for you. Lou is right to Lou. I'm right to me. You're right to you. Opinions are like assholes, but no one should act like one. Being an asshole about it is the only place Lou goes wrong--but he's entitled to his opinion and like it or not he helps to validate the dissenting opinions.

I live on the northeast end of Burbank, Matthew.

Not sure what was up, I couldn't log on for a few days. Had to reboot my computer for some reason. Only this website, so weird. I'm in, I made my picks.

Hey, my glee is not so much directed at you, WB3--but to our boy GoodSpeak who drops F bombs on my Dodgers left and right. The Dodgers get the pleasure of going into Colorado with them on the high from that win. Hopefully we'll knock the Rockies back down a notch or two. The bats have got to come to life here at some point. If not, the lead will be entirely blown.

Hehehe, loved that end. Great job Rockies.

I like Chris very much--but I want it to be known that in my opinion Jim Alfredson has dealt with every altercation on this board in a fair, honest, and classy manner, and he has my utmost respect and trust. Thank you, Jim, for how you moderate your site.

Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings Disc 1

I miss reading Chris' posts about music, so the blog will definitely be my fix. Thanks for posting the link, EKE BBB.

My friend the bobcat was lounging in my back yard today... Shot me a look at one point. I took some video of it hunting a rabbit, but it would take forever to load and it is fairly uneventful.

I never thought of that, but you're dead on! My mom and I were sharing a laugh at Rowand's stance during a game earlier this season. Looks constipated up there! Don't give him a pitch to drive, though. Wolfy drives in both Dodger runs and pitches great in a 2-1 victory over the Cubbies. The Dodger offense is still dreadfully mired in a rut, with seemingly everybody swinging at bad pitches and having poor patience at the plate.

As much as I hate the term, Jordan was the greatest "closer" ever. He was the most well-rounded player I've ever seen, with virtually no weakness. Prolific scorer, one of the most explosive dunkers ever, a lock down defender, efficient passer...Jordan did it all. Magic was the greatest passer I've ever seen, unsurpassed by any player in terms of floor vision. Magic was also as clutch as any player I've ever seen, and consistently won games from the moment he came into the NBA. His rookie season is the greatest season any NBA rookie has ever had, culminating in a World Championship and a Finals MVP award in which he played center for the injured Kareem Abdul-Jabaar to clinch the series. That's something that will likely never be matched.

Bitter! BTW, I carry no hate for Barry Bonds. In fact, I have no hate for any of the steroid users and consider all their numbers legitimate. Terrible evening for the Dodgers. Kuroda took a liner off the noggin that careened clear into the stands behind home plate. Then Broxton served up back to back homers to the DBacks in the bottom of the 9th to blow a 3-1 advantage, and Arizona won it in the 10th. Maybe that will brighten Brother Goodz' demeanor.

Brian Wilson does this "X" thing after every win/save to honor his family and his faith in God. Casey Blake was mocking him during the Giants' last visit to LaLa Land. What a jackass. Wilson's display, despite what he claims it means to him, is going to be taken as showing up the batter. The display doesn't come with a spelled out disclaimer that he's "honoring his family and his faith in God," and doing it in a celebratory manner in the wake of a win/save makes that excuse for it not only lame but disingenuous.

Not sure why Goodie's so full of hatred for the Dodgers, especially on a night when his boys hit a walk-off homer to beat the Dodgers. I'd think he'd be a bit less seething with anger and a bit more excited since his team is playing good baseball. Anyone else I could see hating Manny, and Ethier and Blake are about as classy as baseball players get... By the way, I went to high school with Freddy Sanchez--super cool dude and I hope he plays well for SF.

I remember hearing stuff about GG Allin throwing his own feces on the audience and what not. If I wanted to experience that, I'd just hang out at the chimpanzee area of the LA Zoo!

When a group performs together for a spell, they synchronize their ideas and "speak" to each other in the context of sound. But, where do they begin? What's the "jumping off" point? How do they find their own voice but by playing what they all already know? They have to get on the same page first, and usually that's done by playing some standards or cover tunes, right? I'm not a musician, but I'd imagine this is just a necessary progression that in order for people to make new music together they have to know what each other are capable of. I mean, it's been done. The Jazz Messengers had an instantly recognizable sound behind Blakey's drums. Even the cutting edge musicians in the electro acoustic improvisation context must rehearse and discuss their ideas to make sure they have a common goal--and ultimately in what ways can improvisation be approached which have not yet been tread but in sounds yet to be selected? Group efforts in the visual arts are common. Nearly every film is a group effort. Cristo conducts huge collaborative efforts in order to produce his sculptures. The Clayton Brothers are a collaborative fine art duo. I think that the individual voice and group voice are both the means toward developing a "personalized" take on creativity within the confines of art that has already been done.