Spontooneous

My favorite Beavis and Butt-head putdown of a band: "Didn't we see these guys at the state fair?" Latest: Albert Mangelsdorff, Three Originals

According to The New York Times: SONY BMG RECALLS CDs FOR GLITCH By TOM ZELLER Jr. c.2005 New York Times News Service The global music giant Sony BMG announced Tuesday that it planned to recall millions of CDs by at least 20 artists — from crooners Celine Dion and Neil Diamond to the country-rock act Van Zant — because they contain copy restriction software that poses risks to the computers of consumers. The move — more commonly associated with collapsing baby strollers, exploding batteries, or cars with faulty brakes — is expected to cost the company tens of millions of dollars. The company said it would remove all unsold CDs containing the software from retail outlets and offer exchanges to consumers who had bought any of the CDs involved. A toll-free number and e-mail message inquiry system will also be set up on the Sony BMG Web site (sonybmg.com). “We deeply regret any inconvenience this may cause our customers and are committed to making this situation right,” the company said in a letter that it said it would post on its Web site. Neither representatives of Sony BMG nor the British company First 4 Internet, which developed the copy protection software, would comment further. Sony BMG estimated last week that about 5 million discs — some 49 different titles — had been shipped with the problematic software, and about 2 million had been sold. Market research from 2004 has shown that about 30 percent of consumers report obtaining music through the copying and sharing of tracks among friends from legitimately purchased CDs. But the fallout from the aggressive copy protection scheme has raised serious questions about how far companies should be permitted to go in seeking to prevent digital piracy. The recall and exchange program, first reported by USA Today, comes two weeks after news began to spread on the Internet that certain Sony BMG CDs contained software designed to limit users to making only three copies of the music, but which also altered the deepest levels of the computer systems of consumers and created vulnerabilities that Internet virus writers could exploit. Since then, computer researchers have identified other problems with the software, as well as with the software patch and uninstaller programs that the company issued to address the vulnerabilities. Several security and anti-virus companies, including Computer Associates, F-Secure and Symantec, quickly classified the software on the CDs, which is known only to affect users of the Windows operating system, as malicious because, among other things, it attempted to hide itself on the machines of users and communicated remotely with Sony servers once installed. On Saturday, a Microsoft engineering team indicated that it would be updating the company's own security tools to detect and remove parts of the Sony BMG copy-protection software to help protect customers. Researchers at Princeton University revealed Tuesday that early versions of the “uninstall” process published by Sony BMG on its Web site, which was designed to help users remove the copy protection software from their machines, created a vulnerability that could expose users of the Internet Explorer Web browser to malicious code embedded on Web sites. Security analysts at Internet Security Systems, based in Atlanta, also issued an alert Tuesday indicating that the copy-protection software itself, which was installed on certain CDs beginning last spring, could be used by virus writers to gain administrator privileges on multi-user computers. David Maynor, a researcher with the X-force division of Internet Security Systems, which analyzes potential network vulnerabilities, said the copy-protection scheme was particularly pernicious because it was nearly impossible for typical computer users to remove on their own. “At what point do you think it is a good thing to surreptitiously put Trojans on people's machines?” Maynor said. “The only thing you're guaranteeing is that they won't be customers anymore.” Some early estimates indicate that the problem could affect half a million or more computers around the world. Data collected in September by the market research firm NPD Group indicated that roughly 36 percent of consumers reported that they listened to music CDs on a computer. If that percentage held true for people who bought the Sony BMG CDs, that would amount to about 720,000 computers — although only those running Windows would be affected. (Consumers who listen to CDs on stereo systems and other noncomputer players, as well as users of Apple computers, would not be at risk.) Dan Kaminsky, a prominent independent computer security researcher, conducted a more precise analysis of the number of PCs affected by scanning the Internet traffic generated by the Sony BMG copy-protection software, which, once installed, quietly attempts to connect to one of two Sony servers if an Internet connection is present. Kaminsky estimated that about 568,000 unique Domain Name System — or DNS — servers, which help direct Internet traffic, had been contacted by at least one computer seeking to reach those Sony servers. Given that many DNS servers field queries from more than one computer, the number of actual machines affected is almost certainly higher, Kaminsky said. Although antivirus companies have indicated since late last week that virus writers were trying to take advantage of the vulnerabilities, it is not known if any of these viruses have actually found their way onto PCs embedded with the Sony BMG copy protection software. Kaminsky and other security and digital rights advocates say that does not matter. “There may be millions of hosts that are now vulnerable to something that they weren't vulnerable to before,” Kaminsky said. For some critics, the recall will not be enough. “This is only one of the many things Sony must do to be accountable for the damage it's inflicted on its customers,” said Jason Schultz, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group in California. On Monday, the foundation issued an open letter to Sony BMG executives demanding, among other things, refunds for customers who bought the CDs and do not wish to make an exchange, and compensation for time spent removing the software and any potential damage to computers. Sony BMG is jointly owned by the Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann. The group, which has been involved in lawsuits over the protection of digital rights, gave the company a deadline of Friday morning to respond with some indication that it was “in the process of implementing these measures.” “People paid Sony for music, not an invasion of their computers,” Schultz said. “Sony must right the wrong it has committed. Recalling the CDs is a beginning step in the process, but there is a whole lot more mess to clean up.”

"So when that sauerkraut is in my blood, and when that blood is in my head..."

What Stereojack said. Jonah could really play, when he wanted to.

It isn't in my collection. Last I knew, the only Bird solo with Cootie was "Floogie Boo." Might the Lem Johnson credited with vocals here also be the Lem Johnson who was a saxophonist, and perhaps he played the alto part in the sextet?

The 1995 sounds like a Collectors Choice issue, which is a straight reissue of the older American CD. But the discs are painted white for some reason.

Another reason to be afraid... link

That's written by a friend of mine. St. Louis is lucky to have someone with ears and taste as good as his writing about jazz for the newspaper.

Thanks, guys. I feel better now. I'd like to recommend 6-16-74 to any and all. Don't be put off by the iffy sound in the first set. This was one of the great jamming nights.

There seemed to be a surge in Nimbus activities after Horace Tapscott died. I think they're new pressings.

Go easy on the birthday cake, Paul, or you'll end up smiling like Ishmon Bracey...

And the arch is just a few minutes away from another landmark human endeavor, the world's largest ketchup bottle.

Wasn't there a Barney Bigard date in this series too?

Surely I'm not the only one here who's heard Hanna's claim, am I?

Hanna claimed to have written the tune. He said this, with several hundred witnesses, during his last concert in Kansas City. The tune seems to stand apart from Thad's other writings, and it seems closer in style to Hanna's writing. I tend to believe him. Hanna said it started as a piano interlude he'd play between numbers with the Thad/Mel band. Thad liked it, wrote the arrangement -- then told him, "It's my tune now." If it is indeed Hanna's, he may have been a Christmas connection in mind. Consider that other piano interlude he played with Thad and Mel, which he called "Bible Story."

That's not Olive Oyl, is it?

From what I've heard, yep. Tolerable in small doses. Catch him bursting through the Don Redman arrangement on Basie's "Five O'Clock Whistle," on Columbia, '41 or thereabouts.

I heard the 8-27-72 "Field Trip" for the first time the other day. Yes, it does seem overrated. The best of it is very good, though. Today my perspective is being altered by 6/27/69, with Bobby on a Buck Owens trip.

OK, here's the info on the Stoltman "Ebony," as given on his "The Essential Clarinet" CD, RCA/BMG 09026-61360-2, copyright 1992: The Thundering Herd: Frank Tiberi, Dave Riekenberg, Jerry Pinter, Mike Brignola, reeds; Roger Ingram, Diane White, Greg Gisbert, Ron Stout, Bill Byrne, trumpets; John Fedchock, Paul McKee, Joe Barati, trombones; Joel Weiskopf, keyboards (that's what it says); Dave Carpenter, bass; Dave Miller, percussion; with Alex Brofsky, french horn; Sarah Voinow, harp; Howard Alden, guitar; Richard Stoltzman, conductor. May 11 & 12, 1987, RCA Studio A, NYC. Can't find the personnel for the Stravinsky/Goodman "Ebony" after all. Sorry. I promise to atone for this thread hijack by hauling out "City of Glass" ASAP.

Paul and Mike: The Stoltzman/Herd "Ebony" was reissued in another collection with the personnel listing. (I remember this because I saw Paul's name there.) Will post it when I get back home. Larry: I think I have the personnel for the Stravinsky/Goodman "Ebony" too. Will check when I get home. That's the version I grew up with. I played the "Octet" on that LP to death.

I think he means this. Homemade tryout recordings, from the looks of things. Apparently the earliest Parker on disc. Not sure it foretells what was to come, though.

Can't beat the original, though the version on "Ellington Uptown" kicks my ass too. One of the rules I've set for myself after years of club-hopping in Kansas City: There's no point sticking around after somebody calls " 'A' Train."

That's how I ended up with DEEP's mailing address, long after his departure from the board.

I want to live long enough to see the day when this sort of story is no longer news and the news media do not treat it as such.

Soulfinger?