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I think it would be terrific fun if all athletes could take whatever steroids or performance-enhancing products they could find. Don't just stop at a juiced ball or corked bat. It'd be hilarious to see bulked-up players hitting balls 500 feet, then dropping dead rounding the bases. Bionic parts should be acceptable too. Could you imagine someone throwing a 150 mph curveball. I bet if this happened, attendance would also go way up. I also have the cynical view that someday again some form of performance enhancements will return to the games for this very reason.

I really regret missing Weston at the Bakery. Too bad I had filming last week. I think Alex Blake steals whatever show I see him in. Let's hope they come by again soon.

Maupin is in Los Anglees and is playing around a lot. One lovely thing about Cryptogramphone releases is that if you go to a Crypto night show, the CDs are all $10, and you're buying them straight from the artists & label. Gauthier does a nice job on the artwork for each of the CDs as well.

Just when you thought the story was going away, more news this week: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-05090...-home-headlines Ferrari Crash Leads to Confiscation of Badges, Guns By Richard Winton and David Pierson, Times Staff Writers 2:21 PM PDT, May 9, 2006 Authorities confiscated guns, badges and several police cars while serving search warrants today as part of their investigation into a tiny San Gabriel Valley transit agency that finds itself at the center of a growing investigation into the crash of a Ferrari in Malibu. Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies searched the headquarters of the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority in Monrovia, as well as the homes of four officials. The probe comes three months after a Swedish businessman crashed a rare Enzo Ferrari on Pacific Coast Highway, telling deputies who responded that he was a deputy commissioner of the agency's "anti-terrorism division." A few minutes later, two men arrived at the crash scene and told the deputies they were from "homeland security" and needed to talk to Bo Stefan Eriksson. Eriksson was charged last month with grand theft, embezzlement and being drunk when he crashed the exotic car. A onetime business associate was charged with illegally obtaining a gun by claiming to be an officer with the transit agency's police department. Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said today that detectives and prosecutors are trying to figure out why the men were connected to an obscure private company that provided rides to disabled people in Monrovia and Sierra Madre. "This investigation is entirely focused like a laser beam on the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority Police Department and whether laws have been violated," Whitmore said. "Detectives are seeking to determine what the badges were used for and what is the extent of the agency." More than 25 deputies searched five locations, including a large home at Woodlyn Lane in Bradbury belonging to Yosef Maiwandi, a founder and transit commissioner, and his Monrovia business, Homer's Auto Service. Also, Los Angeles city prosecutors said they charged Eriksson with misdemeanor hit and run and driving without a California license and insurance after he allegedly crashed a Porsche Cayenne into a SUV near his Bel-Air home. Eriksson, 44, allegedly rear-ended a Ford Explorer on Jan. 4 on Sunset Boulevard at Beverly Glen Boulevard, said Jonathan Diamond, a spokesman for the city attorney's office. "Rather than exchanging information, he drove off," Diamond said. Diamond said Eriksson did not own the Cayenne, but authorities linked it to him. Diamond would not elaborate. A manual for that Porsche model was seized during a recent search of Eriksson's home, court records show. Eriksson, a Swedish national, was to appear in court today on the three new charges, which were filed Friday. The arraignment was delayed to later in the month. David Elden, one of Eriksson's attorneys, said the hit-and-run accusations were minor compared to the charges filed by the district attorney's office in connection with the Enzo and other exotic cars. Eriksson faces up to 14 years in state prison if convicted of seven felony counts of embezzlement, grand theft auto and possession of a firearm by a felon and two misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence. He is accused of trying to defraud three British banks by importing three luxury vehicles — the red Enzo, a black Enzo and a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren — into the United States without the banks' knowledge. Deputy Dist. Atty. Tamara Hall said Eriksson tried to conceal the importation by using different Swedish passport numbers on customs forms and bank documents. Eriksson has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His attorneys insist that he did not steal the cars and was negotiating a financial settlement with the banks before his arrest last month. He is being held in lieu of $3-million bail pending trial.

Oh yeah, GA, if you like this, I would check out work by Jenny Scheinman. Also, for violin work of a different nature, you simply must investigate Billy Bang, who most assuredly incorporates "much blues or black sound" There is definitely some interesting jazz violin work going on these days.

Gauthier runs the Cryptonight series at Club Tropical (or is it Cafe Tropical). A good guy. The Cryptogramophone label is rather interesting, IMHO. I had something more to say, but I've blanked for the moment.

Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite. My aunt & uncle have a tempur-pedic, and it is fabulous. I figure that you spend 1/3 of your life in bed. It's worth spending more on that than really on anything else you own (except the house). That said, I've only had hand-me-down beds. Whenever I get to buy one, it will be a tempur-pedic or equivalent.

More news: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fe...-home-headlines A Pileup of Charges in the Case of the Totaled Ferrari The man arrested after the crash of a rare Enzo faces weapons, theft and drunk driving counts. By Richard Winton and David Pierson, Times Staff Writers April 18, 2006 Los Angeles prosecutors filed embezzlement, grand theft, drunk driving and weapons charges Monday against a former European video game executive, whose involvement in the crash of a rare Ferrari Enzo in Malibu two months ago has mushroomed into a case filled with international intrigue. The charges, more extensive than prosecutors had suggested last week, come as officials with Scotland Yard and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement continue to investigate the case, which involves the Swedish underworld, fake Homeland Security officials and an exotic car collection. If convicted on all counts, Bo Stefan M. Eriksson, 44, would face up to 14 years in prison. He pleaded not guilty through his attorney, who described the charges as "overblown." The case stems from the 162-mph crash of the Enzo, one of only 400 made, on Pacific Coast Highway on Feb. 21. Eriksson told sheriff's deputies that he was a passenger and that the driver, a man he knew only as "Dietrich," had fled into the hills. But prosecutors charged Monday that Dietrich never existed and that Eriksson had been behind the wheel — with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit — when the crash occurred. The charges were filed after officials received results of a DNA test of blood found on the vehicle's driver-side air bag. Laying out their case against Eriksson for the first time, prosecutors accused him of embezzlement and grand theft for allegedly bringing the Enzo and the rest of his $3.8-million car collection to the United States, even though he had only leased them from British financial institutions. The lease contract, authorities said, prohibited him from taking the vehicles out of England. He was also charged with possessing a handgun, which is illegal because he had been convicted of drug and counterfeiting felonies in Sweden. Eriksson, dressed in an orange jail uniform, appeared in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom packed with journalists from around the world. His attorneys protested that the $5.5-million bail set by Judge Mary Strobel was excessive. Prosecutors sought the high amount because they said detectives searching his Bel-Air estate April 8 found an airline ticket in Eriksson's name that would have him depart to London two days later. "Right now, I have six or seven murder cases, including a death penalty case, where the bail is $1 million," said attorney Andrew Flier outside court. Eriksson's other attorney, David Elden, said the .357-caliber handgun was not his client's but belonged "to a deputy sheriff for Orange County." The attorney did not elaborate, and Orange County Sheriff's Department officials declined to comment. In an interview outside court, Elden described Eriksson as "totally innocent of all these charges." "The press has blown this out of proportion," he said, adding that Eriksson is in a dispute with the British financial institutions over ownership of the destroyed Ferrari as well as two other expensive vehicles. Elden also said Eriksson is not a flight risk because he has business ties in Los Angeles, though he did not say what they were. Eriksson arrived in Los Angeles sometime last year, moving into the posh Bel-Air Crest section of Los Angeles with his wife and young son. Eriksson had been an executive with Gizmondo, a London-based video game company that filed for bankruptcy earlier this year with more than $200 million in debt. The finances of that company are now under investigation. According to Swedish police records contained in the prosecutors' court filing, Eriksson in the late 1980s and early '90s was involved in counterfeiting, assault and drug crimes tied to a Swedish underworld group in Uppsala, a city 50 miles north of Stockholm. He was sentenced to prison three separate times, according to the records. Some observers Monday marveled at how the single-car, non-injury crash in Malibu could unravel such a string of revelations. "It's amazing. If the guy didn't get into the wreck, none of this would have happened," said Malibu Mayor Andy Stern, who said he hopes the charges send a message to other sports car drivers who exceed the speed limit on PCH. "I've seen guys like him before get away with things so long and never get caught," he added. "So they do it more and more. But eventually, you get caught."

Oh, here's the rest of the list: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/arts/pulitzers2006.html Pulitzer Prizes for Letters, Drama and Music By THE NEW YORK TIMES The Pulitzer Prizes were announced on Monday. Following are the winners in Letters, Drama and Music. FICTION: 'March,' by Geraldine Brooks Geraldine Brooks's novel concerns slavery, the Civil War and Mr. March of "Little Women." Review (March 27, 2005) GENERAL NONFICTION: 'Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya,' by Caroline Elkins Caroline Elkins's catalog of atrocities and mass killing perpetrated by the British is an important and excruciating record; it will shock even those who think they have assumed the worst about Europe's era of control in Africa. Review (January 30, 2005) BIOGRAPHY: 'American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer,' by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin recount the great tragic epic of the 20th century: the discovery of how to release nuclear energy, and its application to making bombs capable of blasting, irradiating and burning out entire cities. Review (May 15, 2005) HISTORY: 'Polio: An American Story,' by David M. Oshinsky David Oshinsky, a professor of history at the University of Texas, frames the conquest of polio within the cultural upheavals of the time. Review (April 10, 2005)` POETRY: 'Late Wife,' by Claudia Emerson Epistolary poems about losing love and finding it again. SPECIAL CITATION: Edmund S. Morgan From the Pulitzer site: A Special Citation to Edmund S. Morgan for a creative and deeply influential body of work as an American historian that spans the last half century. From the Pulitzer Site SPECIAL CITATION: Thelonious Monk From the Pulitzer site: A posthumous Special Citation to American composer Thelonious Monk for a body of distinguished and innovative musical composition that has had a significant and enduring impact on the evolution of jazz. From the Pulitzer Site Audio Excerpts: "Straight, No Chaser" from "Jazz Profile: Thelonious Monk" | "'Round Midnight" from "Genius of Modern Music, Vol.1" | "In Walked Bud" from "The Very Best" (mp3 format) DRAMA: No Award There was no prize awarded for drama this year. MUSIC: 'Piano Concerto: "Chiavi in Mano,"' by Yehudi Wyner Yehudi Wyner's comments on the piece, from the Pulitzer site: "'Chiavi in mano' - the title of the piano concerto - is the mantra used by automobile salesmen and realtors in Italy: Buy the house or the car and the keys are yours. But the more pertinent reason for the title is the fact that the piano writing is designed to fall 'under the hand.'" From the Pulitzer Site

Pulitzer Prize Winners for 2006 include: Two Special Citations A Special Citation to Edmund S. Morgan for a creative and deeply influential body of work as an American historian that spans the last half century. and A posthumous Special Citation to American composer Thelonious Monk for a body of distinguished and innovative musical composition that has had a significant and enduring impact on the evolution of jazz. Congratulations!

So many stires on antiquities looting recently, from the Met agreeing to return the Eurphronios krater to Italy, to the trial of former Getty curator Marion True, to the Gospel of Judas, which is also a looted antiquity. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ju...1,4755347.story Judas Gospel Figure Has Tainted Past A dealer credited with 'rescuing' the document allegedly played a major role in the looting of antiquities. She received a suspended sentence. By Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino, Times Staff Writer April 13, 2006 In its unveiling of the Gospel of Judas last week, the National Geographic Society credited Swiss antiquities dealer Frieda Nussberger Tchacos with "rescuing" the ancient manuscript, described as one of the most important archeological finds of the last century. But National Geographic made no mention of a suspended sentence Tchacos received in Italy four years ago for possession of looted antiquities, nor her alleged involvement for years in antiquities trafficking. "In the past, she was at the center of the looting in Italy," said Paolo Ferri, the Italian state prosecutor who has led an investigation of the illicit trade for 10 years. National Geographic purchased exclusive publication rights for the Gospel of Judas' contents for $1 million from a foundation run by Tchacos' Swiss attorney, Mario Jean Roberty. The deal will also give Roberty's foundation and, indirectly, Tchacos a percentage of National Geographic's royalties from two books, a documentary and other proceeds stemming from the Judas Gospel. Though Tchacos' past has no direct bearing on the legitimacy of the Judas Gospel, the fact that she and her attorney stand to benefit from the financial relationship with National Geographic has raised sharp questions from leaders in the archeological community. "Nobody should be doing business with these people," said Jane Waldbaum, president of the Archeological Institute of America. "You get down in the mud with these people and you legitimize them…. You encourage not only the trade but the looting that feeds the trade." Harold Attridge, dean of the Divinity School at Yale University and a noted biblical scholar, said that given the importance of the text, he understood why the renowned scientific and educational nonprofit would publish the document and then return it to a museum in Egypt. But, he added, National Geographic has made "moral compromises" in publishing the Judas Gospel. "So far as you're an ethical purist, you have to cringe at it all," he said. Yale chose not to buy the document from Tchacos in 2000 because of legal concerns about its origins, he said. A top official of National Geographic said Wednesday the organization was told that Tchacos had legal troubles in Italy, but went ahead with the publication of the Gospel of Judas after finding no record of a conviction and doing the best it could to answer other questions, including whether it had left Egypt and entered the U.S. legally. "We decided that on balance, yes, this is something we should do, and we felt comfortable about doing it," said Terry Garcia, executive vice president for mission programs at National Geographic. "We had an opportunity to add an extra measure of certainty to make sure it was returned to Egypt, that it was authenticated and that the best scholarly minds were involved." Roberty's promise to transfer the manuscript to the Egyptian museum after it was exhibited in the U.S. made moot many of the questions about its legal status, Garcia said. A law firm could find no record in Italy of Tchacos' legal problems, he added. The Judas Gospel is part of an ancient manuscript that dates to about AD 200 and is an account that gives a dramatically different view of the disciple the Bible says betrayed Jesus. It portrays Judas as Jesus' favorite disciple and states that Jesus asked Judas to hand him over to the Romans for crucifixion and liberation from his earthly body. National Geographic's authentication and translation of the lost gospel, in partnership with the Waitt Institute for Historical Discovery and Roberty's Maecenas Foundation, made headlines across the world. In a documentary aired Sunday and a related book, "The Lost Gospel," Tchacos is portrayed as a heroic figure who fought to save the deteriorating manuscript. She is quoted as saying she was "guided by providence." "I think I was chosen by Judas to rehabilitate him," she said in the film. "I think the circumstance of this manuscript coming to me was predestined." Tchacos bought the gospel and other texts contained in the manuscript in 2000 for about $300,000 after it had sat moldering for years in a Long Island safe deposit box. Her initial attempt to sell it to Yale fell through because of concerns about the legal status of the document, said Attridge, the Divinity School dean. In deciding whether to purchase the Gospel, Attridge said, Yale found itself faced with a dilemma: Should the university buy an object that may have been illegally brought into the United States in order to preserve it? Or should it risk losing the piece for ethical reasons? "This is kind of like a hostage situation where you have some artifact that is in effect being held for ransom. What do you do? Not do business with them…. Or do you preserve it, and try to save the piece?"

I have a page with a sample of my music and I haven't noticed any spyware yet. Then my software is owrking perfectly! Thank you for letting me know. BTW, I don't find her particularly attractive.

http://www.cheetathechimp.org/

I think the problem is definition of jam ... When ropeadope's touring entourage came through SF last, definitely wasn't many rich white college kids in the audience. Avg age was above 30. Totally mixed crowd: race, ethnicity, gender, dreds, skulls, substance habits, etc. Probably highest % were Deadheads, but still a low %. But like I said, maybe that's just the SF scene. How is jam about money? You dress like a slob, have shit for wheels, smoke dope ... White college kids and whites who have graduated from college, plus dopeheads. That sounds about right.

There's also a short passage from Isoardi's book: http://www.laweekly.com/art+books/books/bo...termined/13055/ Bound and Determined An excerpt from The Dark Tree: Jazz and the Community Arts in Los Angeles By Steven L. Isoardi Wednesday, April 5, 2006 - 2:00 pm Steven L. Isoardi’s The Dark Tree: Jazz and the Community Arts in Los Angeles belongs on a shelf with the few jazz histories that do it all: John F. Szwed on Sun Ra, David Hajdu on Billy Strayhorn, Gene Santoro on Charles Mingus. Thorough, contextually insightful and crisply written, it leaves a reader knowing more not just about art life in this city, but about American life in general. The appendix by Arkestra bassist Roberto Miranda throws a warm light on Horace Tapscott’s music-making process, and the accompanying CD makes the result wonderfully tangible. All this could have disappeared. But a few people really cared. An excerpt, about African-American artists’ place in the cultural spectrum, follows. –Greg Burk Even those artists who pursued a more commercial path remained bound to their communities. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, segregation forced all African-American musicians of whatever genre preference and of whatever class into being community artists. Those few who attained national renown and toured a good part of every year spent most of their time within African-American communities around the country, leaving only to play commercial gigs. In urban areas, it was important for black musicians to gain a union card, but they were confronted by a segregated American Federation of Musicians, which maintained separate black locals in most cities. Consequently, even the most commercially successful artists remained very much a part of the larger African-American community, physically, emotionally and artistically. Whether sharing day labor in the fields, rambling from town to town, juke joint to juke joint, or traveling in buses from theater to theater, musicians carried and drew from a common reservoir of social experience and cultural attitudes. As visible members of their communities, no matter what degree of renown achieved, they provided not only inspiration and their art to the community, but also everyday accessibility to the succeeding generations, those young people gathered outside the hotels, theaters, union halls, diners and boarding houses. By the early 1960s, Horace Tapscott and other artists had concluded that an alternative value system and aesthetic that drew from the communal aspects of their history and addressed contemporary needs was necessary.

Somewhat tangential, but Session is one bad MF. His sextet (featuring, among others, Phil Ranelin) has been doing annual free concerts at LACMA. I was there last summer; it remains one of my (all time) favorite concerts--three blistering sets of powerful, heartfelt improv. These cats deserve all the support they can get. Thanks for the article, BTW--what issue of the LA Weekly is it from? I believe that it's in the current issue... Yeah, under books: http://www.laweekly.com/art+books/books/the-arkivists/13054/

Where did you get the actual list of recordings? It's not up at that link yet.

And this was a couple of weeks ago: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fe...-home-headlines Ferrari Owner Is Minus His Second Car Stefan Eriksson's priceless Enzo was totaled in a crash last month. On Sunday, his very pricey Mercedes was impounded. By David Pierson and Richard Winton, Times Staff Writers March 28, 2006 Stefan Eriksson's famous exotic car collection keeps shrinking. First, the former European videogame executive's rare Enzo Ferrari was destroyed in a mysterious crash Feb. 21 on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. Then, on Sunday, he lost his 2005 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, valued at more than $400,000. Beverly Hills police confiscated the vehicle after Scotland Yard said the car might have been stolen. The officers stopped Eriksson's wife, Nicole Persson, 33, about 2:30 p.m. on the corner of Beverly Drive and Wilshire Boulevard because an officer found the car's European license plate suspicious. The officer then discovered that Persson lacked a driver's license and that the car was not registered in the United States. "We contacted Scotland Yard and subsequently learned that the car was perhaps stolen" out of the United Kingdom, Lt. Mitch McCann said. The entire incident was caught on tape by a 13-year-old exotic car buff who has filmed Eriksson's vehicles in the past. Beverly Hills authorities said they didn't have details of the British police case. But Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Phil Brooks said that an unidentified financial institution says it owns the Mercedes and that a financial institution in Scotland says it was the owner of the Enzo. This leaves Eriksson with only one of the three exotic cars he imported to the United States late last year, Brooks said. "He brought in through San Diego two Ferraris and the Mercedes and said they were show cars and that he was not going to drive them on the streets," Brooks said. Last month's crash prompted both an accident investigation and a probe by the Sheriff's Department's Homeland Security Division. Although no one was injured in the crash, the investigation has generated significant attention because of the strange circumstances and the fact that it destroyed one of only 400 Enzo Ferraris ever built. Eriksson, who lives in a gated Bel-Air estate, told deputies who arrived at the scene that he was not the driver and that another man, named Dietrich, had been behind the wheel. Eriksson said Dietrich fled the scene. But detectives said they were skeptical of his version of events. Investigators have taken a swab of Eriksson's saliva to match his DNA against blood found on the Ferrari's driver's-side air bag. Eriksson also told deputies that he was a deputy commissioner of the police department of a tiny transit agency in the San Gabriel Valley. A few minutes after the crash, two men arrived at the crash scene, identified themselves as homeland security officers and spoke to Eriksson at length before leaving. According to Car & Driver magazine, the Mercedes SLR McLaren is capable to going 200 mph and can go from 0 to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds. The car didn't just capture the eye of Beverly Hills police. Spyder Dobrofsky, a 13-year-old car enthusiast, happened to be at the scene of Sunday's traffic stop and switched on his camera. The teenager has photographed cars in Eriksson's collection before and knew immediately that the McLaren was his. "The car really stands out because of the British plate," Spyder said. Spyder said Eriksson's wife was with a young child when she was pulled over. On the tape, Spyder asks the tow truck operator called to remove the Mercedes where he's taking it. The man jokes: "To my house."

News on this: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fe...-home-headlines Ferrari Case Continues to Widen Man whose car crashed in Malibu could be deported. A firearm and possibly cocaine were found in his home. By Richard Winton and David Pierson, Times Staff Writers April 11, 2006 The investigation into a former Swedish video game executive whose rare Ferrari crashed in Malibu widened Monday as the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency confirmed it is investigating Stefan Eriksson. Eriksson, 44, is expected to appear in court today or Wednesday after Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies arrested him over the weekend. They allege that his $3.5-million car collection — the red Ferrari Enzo, a black Enzo and a custom Mercedes — belonged to British financial institutions, not to him. Sheriff's officials told The Times on Monday that in addition to the cars, detectives who searched his Bel-Air home seized several computers, a firearm and a substance believed to be cocaine. Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore said the substance is now being tested. Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, declined to provide details about the inquiry. But one question that has emerged since the crash is how Eriksson was able to get the rare cars into the United States — especially if British financial institutions claimed ownership of them. Kice said that the customs agency has placed an immigration hold on Eriksson so if he is released from the county's Men's Central Jail it will be able to take him into custody. "He is potentially subject to deportation," she said. The federal probe is just one of several into Eriksson and the crash. The Sheriff's Department is investigating the Malibu accident as well as a San Gabriel Valley transit company where Eriksson served as a member of the "anti-terrorism" unit. Scotland Yard has told local authorities it is investigating the ownership of at least one of the cars in his collection. Although no one was seriously injured in the February crash, the investigation has generated significant attention because of the strange circumstances surrounding it and the fact that it destroyed one of the only 400 Enzos ever built. Authorities believe the car was going 162 mph when it smashed into a power pole. Eriksson told deputies who arrived at the scene that he was not the driver and that a man named Dietrich had been behind the wheel. Eriksson said Dietrich fled the scene. Investigators took a swab of Eriksson's saliva in order to compare his DNA to blood found on the Ferrari's driver-side air bag. The results are back, but detectives won't release the findings. A blood-alcohol test on Eriksson at the time showed him to be above the legal limit for driving in California, so he could face several other charges if he is found to be the driver. Eriksson also told deputies at the scene that he was deputy commissioner of the police department of the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority, a tiny private agency that provides rides to the disabled and elderly. A few minutes after the crash, two men arrived at the scene, identified themselves as Homeland Security officers and spoke to Eriksson at length before leaving. Detectives are investigating any connection Eriksson may have had to the agency. Eriksson's attorney could not be reached for comment. Detectives over the weekend spent more than six hours searching his home in the posh Bel-Air Crest gated community. Several neighbors reached Monday said they didn't notice the search and didn't know Eriksson. Before arriving in Los Angeles, Eriksson was an executive with Gizmondo, a European video game company that filed for bankruptcy earlier this year with more than $200 million in debt. According to Swedish authorities, he served prison time in the early 1990s after being convicted of financial crimes.

Ah, Jaleel Shaw makes sense. He was using a soft "j" sound not a hard "g" or a 'h" (like "Julio"). But more importantly, I'm concerned about Horace Silver and his health.

Wasn't sure where to post this article in today's LA Times. Here or Jazz in Print, and decided here. Notice the growth of vinyl. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-ft-viny...dlines-business Factory Making Record Profits From Modern-Day Nostalgia A company in eastern Germany spins out 4.5 million vinyl LPs and singles a year. By Hugh Williamson, Financial Times April 10, 2006 BERLIN — Looking for an old-style vinyl version of the latest album by your favorite band or orchestra? Then Jorg Hahn could be your man. In a remote factory in northeastern Germany, the mild-mannered businessman is keeping alive a relic of the music industry that most people assume died years ago — and many children have never even heard of. Perhaps equally surprising, he is doing so not for love of crackly sounding music but for money. Profits can be made in a segment of the recording industry written off by the big players. Music production company Optimal is a classic case of how an unlikely niche business can be exploited in an equally unlikely place — in this case Robel, a small town in the former East Germany and a 90-minute drive north of Berlin. "We moved into the niche when big companies like Sony and Universal moved out of it," says Hahn, the 42-year-old managing director. "That was 10 years ago and we have been going strong ever since." Optimal's record workshop produces 4.5 million long-playing albums (LPs) and singles a year. Hahn lists small independent music labels, exclusive classical music publishers and the music industry giants as Optimal's main vinyl clients. "The big labels often use the LPs as promotional tools but find it uneconomical to produce them in-house," he said. "Then there are the real freaks, who just love the sound and even the feel of vinyl records, with their traditional sleeves and other features." Optimal, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hamburg-based Edel Music, makes great efforts to please such customers. Colored records, rather than the usual black vinyl, are one specialty: a pink Madonna LP was in production during a recent visit. "Picture discs," with an image of the band pressed into the vinyl, are another. Optimal is Germany's largest vinyl record producer and one of the biggest in Europe. Yet the true nature of its niche only becomes clear after a tour of all the production facilities it has developed since shortly after reunification in 1990. As well as vinyl, Optimal makes 150 million compact discs and DVDs every year, and — in another innovation rare in the music industry — the company has diversified down the production chain. Printing presses churn out colorful covers for CDs and LPs, while in the next building thousands of packages whiz around mid-air conveyor belts before being dispatched to music industry clients and private customers. "We have seen an increase in demand from music companies for logistics services, so we are responding," says Hahn, a technician by training and one of Optimal's founders. Compared with the modern electronic CD production machines, humming quietly as they produce one disc every three seconds, a visit to the vinyl workshop is like a trip back in time. Here, heavy green record-pressing machines, reminiscent of oily engineering factories of the 1970s, huff and puff, struggling, it appears, to spit out discs even at the leisurely pace of one every 25 seconds. Indeed, as a plaque above one of the machines makes clear, the equipment conjures memories of a lost industrial era precisely because it comes from that time. "On loan from the German technical museum," it reads, referring to the machine used for picture discs. The other machines also date from before the 1970s and have to be imported from Sweden, Russia and elsewhere. "No one makes these machines anymore, so we have to buy up what is on offer and use spare parts as best we can," Hahn says. The mayor of Robel, Heinz-Fritz Mueller, is certainly pleased that Hahn and his team are so industrious. Optimal has 500 employees, making it by far the largest employer in a town of 5,400. Unemployment in the area is 22%. "This is traditionally an agricultural region. We are branching into tourism but tempting companies to come here is not easy," he said. Optimal is a rare success story in the region where generous investment subsidies since 1990 often failed to generate long-term investors. Optimal has invested about 95 million euros ($1.1 billion) since 1991, with approximately 20% covered by public subsidies. Hahn notes that profit margins on records are higher than on CDs, "where the competition is much more fierce." As a result, vinyl had a "small but significant" part in the company's 10.2 million euro profit in 2004 on sales of 58.5 million euros. He is cautiously optimistic about the future. Sales of vinyl LPs in Germany (not including singles or promotional giveaways) have doubled to 1 million a year since the mid-1990s, and sales of record players are also rising, growing last year by 18% to around 100,000. As Hahn concludes: "Long live the vinyl freaks, we need their business."

I saw the Roy Haynes Quartet tonight at Catalina's in LA. Seated in the front row, right in front of the drums, was Horace Silver and his son. Horace was in a wheel chair. Many people were talking with him (including Haynes before the set), and I greeted him as well. He was friendly and could talk, but at the same time certainly seemed like he's been ill. I didn't ask him any details. Haynes recognized Silver after the set, and the crowd gave him a big hand. haynes told a story about how they were playing together with Stan Getz in 1951 or 52, and the two of them were driving together to a gig in Pittsburgh. They were testing each other on tunes. Haynes said that he was a few years older than Silver, and even though he thinks Silver could beat him now, he thinks that he (meaning Haynes) knew more tunes back then. [Tangent: Haynes closed the set with a duet with his sax player, Julio ??? Does anyone know his correc name? haynes never said it. Anyway, they played "My Little Suede Shoes," whcih Haynes said that he recorded with Charlie Parker back in teh 50s. He also said that Parker didn't really write it, but just took credit for it. But he didn't say who did write it. By the way, I think Haynes will outlive us all.]

Over whether John or Paul are punk?

Quite possibly the best website in existence ('cepting this one, of course)! Dime a dozen dot org. Get yourself a registration spot, grab an external hard drive (it'll fill quickly), and have fun! Cheers, Shane Thanks! But I haven't been able to get one of the 93,000 spots yet.