ejp626

Hmmm... I've have nothing under the tree this Christmas WTF?!?!?! CrAzY. Frustrating. I was hoping to have this in my hands a week or two from now... Thanks for the heads up. Frustrating but still good to know. I was on the fence about a pre-order, but had basically decided to wait out of fiscal prudence (just had to buy a new computer and still am saving up for a commuter bicycle that I was supposed to be getting this month ). With the delay, I'll just have to suck up the extra cost and have it sent to Canada, so there really isn't any rush any more.

Not sure I could narrow it down to 3, but I could live with that list, though I would substitute Farmer/Golson Jazztet for Bix.

Saw Bassekou Kouyate and his band Ngoni Ba in Vancouver last night. Almost sure I saw them one time a while back. Last year they were coming through Chicago but something came up and the gig was canceled. Definitely a great group to see live, though I have to admit it took them a while to really get the crowd going after the intermission. Still the closing number was ace! Probably should have stuck around for the encore, but I was way out in Kitsilano and the trains and buses really start slowing down around 10:30. Thinking back over the last 5 years, it really is amazing how many great African bands I've gotten to see live -- Toumani Diabate is probably still the top, then Tinariwen (twice), then perhaps a tie between Konono #1 and Ngoni Ba. And a bunch of other great concerts. I have to be honest, if it came down to a world music concert and a jazz concert, I would probably go with the world music if it was an African group -- you can always count on a strong rhythmic component (even if it doesn't swing in 4/4).

You know -- I do have some empathy for the split-second reaction. I hope I would have been more of a hero in the first instance, but just am not sure. I don't have any empathy for the not following up, instead of just trusting that the higher ups would take care of things. That's where I definitely would have done things differently.

It is hard to know what precisely one would do in that situation in the generic. I'm pretty sure I would have gone to the police unless I actually saw Paterno (or whomever McQueary talked to first) pick up the phone himself. But that's because I have always been a bit of an egoist, willing to buck the chain of command. Sadly, many people are not. Anyway, I do wonder what some of the other football "greats" would have done when this landed on their desk. I can definitely imagine some coaches covering it up or letting the buck stop somewhere else. I'm pretty sure Woody Hayes or Bo Schembechler would have gone to police, but it is all speculative. Sad thing is that Joe Paterno was from that school of old-timers who supposedly always did the right thing, and he certainly did not.

In cases like this I buy the box, sell the older duplicates and both make some money back and free up some space. Par for the course for long-time jazz collectors! I've never wanted to get into all that hassle with selling stuff... some discs have scratches, some digipacks don't look like new. Too much work there, I think! And frankly the market for used CDs has collapsed, esp. for titles like More Blues and the Abstract Truth and some of the common Coltrane titles. You'll end up more or less giving them away to the used CD shops.

I have to admit I don't have this, but I did get a chance to hear Toussaint playing live in Chicago and it was very enjoyable. He's actually said in a number of interviews that if it hadn't been for Katrina he would never have started touring or making some of these more recent recordings (I believe there is another one in the works to follow on from The Bright Mississippi). That said, some people were getting up on their hobbyhorse and saying what a farce that he was inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame (is that right?) but only in the non-performer category. My feeling is that for the vast majority of his career he has been a behind the scenes writer and producer, so it wasn't really that much of a slight.

It rarely pays to be (too) honest these days. Anyway, it shouldn't be anything to do with the TV. What is probably the case is that the DVD player, while it is possible to unlock it to be multi-region, hasn't been unlocked yet.

2012 Why bother?

This post made me sad. Hearing music the way it's supposed to sound probably does seem quaint or ridiculous to a lot of folks now, especially younger people. My 25-ish nephew, who definitely likes music, visited me about a month ago, and I don't think he had heard any music on anything except computer speakers or iPod earbuds for years, if ever. I can beat David in the "sad" department. I haven't had an actual stereo system with speakers in 10, probably 15 years. CDs get listened to on the computer or portable CD players. I do have a turntable, but it is only used for digitizing LPs. I've never once heard an LP on it properly, i.e. through a stereo system. I'm sort of looking to change this, but with small children and a likely in-town move next year, it will probably be two more years at least before I can do anything about it.

But be sure them reds still take oaths on the queen or that free shipping deal may be over fast! (Kind of perverted, anyway - free shipping from UK to OZ! Holy shit!) Yeah, that's kind of wack. And free shipping to India and South Africa too! I'm sitting here in Canada, and I don't get free shipping (still part of the Commonwealth last time I checked). It wouldn't be such a big deal, but Amazon.ca is definitely the poor cousin to Amazon.com and even Amazon.co.uk in terms of selection and price.

It all comes down to taste, but I loathe reboots and will never accept Craig and this new gritty Bond. Won't watch another one as long as they continue in this vein. No skin off my nose (or theirs I'm sure). For that matter, I certainly won't be watching the reboot of Superman or Spiderman. As the guys in Freakonomics put it, only put your money on things you want to see more of and withhold it from things you want to see less of. I don't want remakes and reboots (and generally not even sequels though there are honorable exceptions), so they just won't get my dosh.

There isn't a feature that makes the image go full-screen? That's pretty much standard on all the packages (might be tucked away near the pause and fast forward buttons).

HAHA! I probably should ignore this set too, as I'm more of a 50s-60s jazz fan, but HEY, it's a new Mosaic! I like a fair bit of early jazz, but I am very particular about vocal jazz -- not a fan of it in general with a few exceptions. Ella is not one of those exceptions...

Yea! A Mosaic that I can safely ignore. Sort of feels like more money in my pocket already.

very interesting - don't know much about this label - how legit are they (anything like Membran?) probably will have a lot of this material already. Can't seem to find track listings for the set. This was the most detailed I could find, but it still leaves much to be desired: I think between Odyssey (Savoy recordings), Birk's Works (Verve), Afro (Verve), Complete RCA Victor Recordings you would have all or virtually all of this except the Capitol recordings. Since I do have these, it isn't nearly as tempting.

I don't know about the music, but the song titles look like straight out of J.R.R. Tolkien.

I was spinning this, as well as Black Fire and Smokestack, as the little kiddies came to the door. Didn't seem to scare them away...

I used to be able to play clarinet and saxophone at a reasonable skill level in high school (usually 2nd or 3rd chair out of 15 or so clarinets). I later picked up flute. I even joined the jazz band, but I found I just wasn't a good improviser. The chord changes and so forth weren't innate and frankly practicing just didn't make me better at playing jazz. I knew I wasn't going to cut it as a professional so didn't pursue music in college. I kept the instruments but don't play them much any more -- often only once or twice a year.

I guess I'll never understand why the record industry seems so determined to push the remaining few fans willing to pay for legit products into the blogosphere.

How about "The Whiter Than Thou Album"

I believe on the other thread, someone found it was just under 50 tracks that overlapped with Affinity, which makes it even more of a no-brainer in my case. I just need to come up with the dosh now!

I'm sorry but it is just incredibly lame that TOJC omits two available tracks. It is such a short CD. I paid for the legit product and I do feel ripped off.

And I just placed an order with them two days ago. Shoot.

Not sure this is precisely a bargain, but another one of these doorstop sets is coming out in Nov. The Decca Sound -- a 50 CD box set. In virtually all cases, they start with original LP artwork and contents, but then fill up the rest of the CD to 75+ minutes. It's running a little over $100 in the US and about 75 GBP at the usual suspects. Not sure I need this when I have so much else to absorb, but I will at least consider it. I think the most useful listing of the contents is this one (which isn't disc by disc but by composer): Decca Sound contents There is also a 6 lp version, which frankly seems stupid, and a 5 CD sampler of the best of the box. I lost interest in the sampler when it was clear that single movements (rather than complete works) were included. I suppose the lp version is a slightly different kind of sampler (it might have complete works at least, but I wasn't interested enough to press into the details). I will give them some credit for moving beyond obvious choices. No Beethoven symphonies at all but the Septet is included and several recent recordings of the String Quartets by the Takacs Quartet. I would have a bit of overlap with Messiaen's Turangalîla Symphony (Chailly) and Haitink conducting a couple of Shostakovich's symphonies, but that seems to be it. I would deduct a couple of points or stars for including some of the Three Tenors crap (including Andrew Lloyd Weber's Memories I kid you not!). I honestly don't think the audience for the Three Tenors and for this box set overlap that much , so it could have been left off...