Adam

Guys, meet Rhapsody Films: https://ssl46.pair.com/fisf/rhapsody/dvds.php?dvd=43 Rhapsody Films, meet the guys. BTW, be sure to check out all the other DVDs and VHS tapes that they release. You might be interested in a few. :-) https://ssl46.pair.com/fisf/rhapsody/index.php

The first one - they must have found a lump of ambergris. That used to be vital in most perfumes, and was one reason sperm whales were hunted. But they mostly use man-made chemical versions these days.

I did watch it at the Pan African Film Festival, and I thought it was a really good portrait of Cecil Taylor. I didn't find the editing irritating - I thought it kept the film moving, with several "storylines" intertwining. I thought the direction was pretty clear. And Taylor's sense of humor, and delight in the world, was marvelous. But then, I'm also used to experimental documentaries, and this didn't seem so unusual. I was also delighted by Cecil visiting Mal Waldron (my favorite). This doc must have found footage from several years back, or could the doc maker actually have been filming for several years? Either is possible. In any case, for those in Los Angeles, I'm going to try to screen it at Los Angeles Filmforum at some point.

An update: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fe...1,3019293.story The Plot Thickens in Ferrari Crash A gun's magazine found near the wreckage may be connected to the accident, and a Scottish bank says it might own the destroyed car. By Richard Winton and David Pierson, Times Staff Writers February 28, 2006 The mystery deepened Monday in the case of the puzzling crash last week of a $1-million Ferrari Enzo on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. Sheriff's detectives said Monday that they believe a gun's magazine discovered near the wreckage is connected to the crash, and they plan to interview an unnamed person who they believe was in the car with Swedish game machine entrepreneur Stefan Eriksson. The crash has also garnered the attention of a leading Scottish bank, which has informed sheriff's investigators that it may own the destroyed car. At the same time, detectives are trying to figure out why another exotic car in Eriksson's extensive collection, a Mercedes SLR, was listed as stolen by Scotland Yard in London, said Sheriff's Sgt. Phil Brooks. The totaled Ferrari was one of two Enzos that Eriksson brought into the United States from England along with the Mercedes SLR, Brooks said. But detectives concluded that the totaled vehicle did not have appropriate papers and was not "street legal" for driving in California, he said. Detectives have been trying for nearly a week to sort out what exactly happened last Tuesday morning when Eriksson's Enzo — one of only 400 ever made — smashed into a telephone pole, totaling the car. Eriksson told deputies that he was the passenger and that a man he knew only as "Dietrich" was behind the wheel. But detectives have been openly skeptical of the story, noting that Eriksson had a bloody lip and that the only blood they found in the car was on the driver's-side air bag. Brooks said detectives have called in Eriksson for another interview. Eriksson has declined through the security guard at his gated Bel-Air estate to comment. An attorney who has previously represented Eriksson in civil matters, Ashley Posner, also declined to comment Monday. But some city leaders in Malibu, where the crash has been the talk of the town, were less circumspect. "The guy should have had an IQ test," said Malibu Mayor Pro Tem Ken Kearsley, who has been following the coverage of the crash with a half-grin. The driver's IQ "couldn't come up above 60 if he was doing 120 on PCH," Kearsley said. But in fact, Brooks said Monday, the car was traveling 162 mph when it crashed, far faster than the 120 mph originally believed. The Ferrari, with just a few inches of undercarriage clearance, hit a bump at a crest in the road, sending the vehicle airborne and into the power pole, Brooks said. Brooks said they are investigating whether someone else may have been present and are trying to determine whether the recovered gun component is connected to the case. He declined to say more about the find or elaborate on the status of the Scottish bank and Scotland Yard in the case. The question of whether Eriksson was the driver is key to the case, Brooks said. Eriksson's blood-alcohol level was 0.09%, higher than the legal limit for operating a motor vehicle. Sheriff's officials are still trying to confirm witness reports that the Ferrari might have been drag racing with another car, and officials aren't sure if that's what happened. Sheriff's officials said Eriksson was an executive with a game company that attempted to take on Sony and Nintendo, but the firm collapsed last year. In Malibu, officials said they are not sure what to make of the accident. Kearsley said the stretch of road was not known for drag racing, but for run-of-the-mill speeders. He said the Sheriff's Department has had success for the last year and a half using radar and lasers to catch overzealous drivers. The lasers are not detectable to drivers, he said. "It's straight as an arrow where the accident was," he said. "You really have to go out of your way to hit a telephone pole." Carol Moss, a longtime Malibu resident, activist and meditation group leader, said the accident came as no surprise. "It was horrendous, but Malibu is full of idiots," she said. "There are a lot of wild cars and irresponsible people. The roads are dangerous. You always see people with those sorts of cars. You see some wild behavior." But, in keeping with her Zen frame of mind, Moss extended an olive branch. "Everyone is welcome to attend the meditation group. Even the drag racer."

Hi Allen, Can I visit?

Mengelberg and the ICP are playing in Los Angeles at Club Tropical on March 24! Sometimes I just thank god for Jeff Gauthier. http://www.icporchestra.com/concerts.htm March 24 Los Angeles - CLUB TROPICAL - www.cryptonight.com

Oh hell, I need to see that. Bennink just passed through Los Angeles and did a show with Mark Dresser - that was really fabulous.

I've had that on my "to get" list for years, but still haven't. Sigh. Black Saint?

The same Lafcadio Hearn of future Japanese travels?

Let's see if I can stay up that late! I've never been to Small's

pm sent

No s@#t, Einstein. 240 kmh = 149 mph. What happened to the spirit of adventure here. Are we just a bunch of old farts? Maybe we are. Who can say? Maybe I get my adventure from music and travel and hot air balloons, not from traveling at high speeds and endangering other lives and my own if a tire should blow out or something, but I'm not a car person. I'm uncertain why you are being so hostile about it. You like to drive fast. Cool. I'm saying that it's unsafe to drive PCH, and indeed most roads & highways, at such a speed. Personally, I think it might be kinda cool to go 150 or 175 mph on a clear straight road, but it's not so important to me, and I doubt that I'll ever get around to it.

I thought the arguement was already started... PCH IS a staright strip of road and I doubt any pedestrians cross it. heck, I wish I could go 175 mph on it. I did do 240 kmh this past summer on the way from Paris to Amsterdam. It was FUN. The driver of the Enzo was probably drunk like a Cheney, that's another story. PCH has a curve along much of its length. There are houses all along one side, with cars pulling out. Pedestrians do cross it, because people park on the land side of the road and cross it to get to the beach. There are also other businesses on the land side of the road. It's also a HIGHWAY, so there are other cars on it at all times of day & night. And early in the morning, when he/they were racing, visibility would be low due to light and probably marine fog. And 175 mph doesn't allow any room for error. And it's faster than 240 kmh. 175 mph is unquestionably less safe than 65 mph. And if they were racing at any speed, even 35 mph, they should be arrested.

I received mine yesterday - thank you Allen! Haven't listeend to it yet. But I noticed in the booklet that Music & Arts has listed volumes 2, 3, and 4, with their track lists as "also available." So they must have good hopes of getting those done relatively soon.

Actually, the culture of LA is pretty darn good these days. Visual arts, experimental films, galleries, music of all sorts... I wouldn't say that LA is an old city. I'd say it's a pretty new city with poor planning.

What kind of show is yours, Ned. Jam session? Multi-media extravaganza? Oh, I'll just look at the site.

I'm going to try to make it when I'm in NYC on the 15th.

Yes, that sort of stuff does float my boat. Thanks! Is the sea already rising over Manhattan? or is that the melt-off from the snow?

Thanks!

Still no sign of it in Los Angeles yet, alas. Probably after the holiday...

Adam, thanks much for posting this... I'm esp. interested in the "Kong's New York, 1933" featurette (I was really impressed by the NYC '33 settings). Was there much disappointment over the ultimate U.S. box-office take? I assume that global receipts, DVD sales, etc. will still ensure that the film turns a good profit. I don't work at Universal, so I can't speak to all that, although I do believe that the USA gross was lower than hoped for. Actually, I can't even tell you what are in my featurettes yet, due to NDAs. I'm happy that I can at least say when it is coming out and the titles of the segments, because that has been officially announced.

Hi, I'll be in NYC that week, originally to see the Pogues on Sunday the 19th. What else is going on? I already saw that Anthony Braxton is at Iridium, and I plan to go to that, since it seems like he will never play LA. Roy Haynes Quartet at the Village Vanguard. I'll try to see that. And I'll try to make the Mingus Big band at Fez on Thursday. Is that right? Who are these folks at Tonic? Wed, Mar 15 8pm Dysrhythmia plus Jersey Band 8:30pm Pure Fire in the ))sub((tonic lounge Thu, Mar 16 8pm Zbignew Karkowski (solo) plus Kaspar T. Toeplitz (solo) plus Karkowski & Toeplitz plus Michael Haleta plus RAM Anything of note that I might be overlooking?

Hi all, This is spam, but relevant spam. Peter Jackson's "King Kong" on DVD March 28. But be sure to get the special edition: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E97Y6...&v=glance&n=130 I produced & wrote two of the featurettes on there, "Kong's New York, 1933" and "Skull Island: A Natural History"

Ah, so old news to all you guys...

Now here's a reunion that I'd like to hear! But get Cranshaw off the bandstand or buy him an upright bass, PLEASE! @ Epistrophy: thanks for your considerate answer to my grumpy remark... still, I stick with the general points I made, but I was a bit out of line with regard to this being merely a day-dreaming thread. Sorry for that. Now, about those Blue Note reunions: somehow these do bore me on paper, already... I've heard some live recordings of the likes of Jackie Mac and Woody and Booby getting together again, and it doesn't work for me, I'm afraid. It's just not the Blue Note years any longer - that is now not a statement meaning travelling back in time is impossible, but rather a statement implying that nowadays this music (or these musicians?) have lost a lot of their relevance and - I dare saying that - fire. I know this is unfair, but it's just not the same anymore, if after 30 or 40 years they hook up again... all of them had been at or close to where it was happening in the mid sixties, but nowadays it's ye good ole mainstream, I'm sorry to say, and just fails to really grab my attention. Ok, Ornette can still bother people, sure Cecil can do so as well, *but* all considered, what they're playing is by now mainstream, too! I hope this comes not over as just another grumpy rant. I hear what you're saying, and agree. Cecil and Ornette are mainstream today, but hearing them in 2006 is similar to what it was to hear Ellington or, perhaps, Ben Webster in the 1960s. I wonder if Ornette and Cecil will be the last of our giants. (Sonny Rollins is no doubt another, and that story has been hashed and rehashed in another thread.) I do think that musicians such as Von Freeman or Roswell Rudd (there are certainly other names to be added to these two), who endured long periods of being ignored, and perhaps partly for that very reason, have been able to retain that fire you speak about, and still play with it today. I can't agree with the idea that Cecil and Ornette are mainstream. They are each popular, with their own following. But when Ornette played at Disney Hall last year, a great many people walked out! They are still very challenging to the majority of the folks on our planet.