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"Tender Gender" along with one other album was released on CD as "Soulero", which I think is also OOP, but sometimes shows up on eBay. Just did a quick scan, and Soulero is now available as MP3 download for $10 on Amazon (and possibly iTunes but I didn't check). Granted we don't all like MP3s, but in these kind of cases with OOP material, I usually go that direction.

Living in Chicago, it has been ages since I've seen anyplace where you could fill up before paying. I was out in the suburbs a few months ago (I guess I go every couple of years ;-) ) and saw a few places you could do this. I bet they are all converting over now. By the way, I agree about the fees etc., so I usually pay cash. However, it could be worse. In the UK, it is the consumer who pays through the nose to call up a bank, credit card company, store etc. and make a complaint. Some of the time these are free numbers, but an awful lot of the time it is a paid call and it can easily rack up to 20 or more pounds, if for instance you are calling a computer help desk. I was absolutely shocked when I realized this.

To reiterate, Stevie was great. What a show with pretty much all the hits and some more obscure songs. Millenium Park was a nice break though, much more relaxed and in fact there were quite a number of seats for the Orchestra Baobab. Since I had been standing for roughly 3 hours, I grabbed a seat. I thought I would relax for the whole show, but they were pretty infectuous and the music was clearly meant to be danced to. Then three young African women started dancing in an open section near me and I couldn't resist the opportunity to pretend I was in Dakar at some all-night celebration so I danced (badly for the rest of the show). This show went on for just a bit over 90 minutes. So a pretty great night, particularly with the weather cooperating.

Saw Stevie Wonder perform at the Taste of Chicago, just under 3 hours for free! Of course, the Taste was total madness, the worst I've ever seen with people trying to spread out their huge blankets and then getting trampled. So I had to stand the whole time and watch on a large screen. Still a great show with a so-so sound system (and lots of fans singing along). He closed with Superstitious and unfortunately this was when the sound system crapped out with the bass suddenly overwhelming everything. Still totally worth it. Then I walked over to Millenium Park for another free show - Orchestra Baobab, but I will have to write that up later.

Right, but if you put a LP on, then how would you see the markings? With this turntable, even fairly small differences in LP thickness and weight means you need to adjust the speed. You put it on before you play the LP, or if you're bold, you place it on top of the LP. These are usually 7" in diameter or smaller. I was having a senior moment. It's a good suggestion. I'll still see if they can repair it, but if not, I am sure they sell the strobe and strobe disk.

Right, but if you put a LP on, then how would you see the markings? With this turntable, even fairly small differences in LP thickness and weight means you need to adjust the speed.

So I finally set up my turntable after having it packed away for most of a year. I primarily use it to transfer LPs to .wav files, so it just sits on my desk. I'm sure some day I will have the space for a decent system, but with very young children running around and knocking over things that day is several years away. Anyway, this is a Vector Research VT-155. Nothing fancy but it did its job well. When I got it going again, I noticed that I was having a great deal of trouble seeing the strobe light that helps me adjust the speed. This is one of those units where it is all internal (so just buying an external strobe won't work because all the markings that you could use are underneath the platter). I took everything apart to see if the mirror needed adjusting and so on. Now it looks like the little light itself has burned out. I really don't feel competent enough to break out a soldering iron and put in a new light, even if I could find this part. And the mirror still seemed to have slipped, but I couldn't figure that out either. I will get in touch with the store (in Chicago) where I bought this, but I am not expecting they do repairs. Any other suggestions? I'm guessing that with labor costs and so on, I probably should get another low-end turntable, since it will work out to around $100 in either case. It really kills me, since the player sounds fine but I just don't want to have to guess at adjusting the speed, since the whole point is to play the records once while converting them over. Thanks for any suggestions or just commiseration. Eric

Yeah, it is...although you can probably thank recent trends in fuel prices for that one. Postal rates haven't gone up that much. They should be able to find a bike messenger to cart the stuff over to the post office. They are in SF, right? This is pretty much the tipping point for me. I really liked the first two sets (and the first set was a bargain with 3 CDs). And I had to get the Monk set, since he is one of my jazz heroes, but the sets just cost too much for the amount of time I actually listen to them. I'll probably only buy them at concerts when they come to town, usually every couple of years.

David Sanchez - Cultural Survival is worth checking out

Barney Kessel Let's Cook Rene Urtreger Move Rene Urtreger Jazzman Herbie Mann Live at the Village Gate (this was a bit of a let down)

Yeah, I dropped HighNote a line. I'll report back if this results in some more music getting uploaded onto eMusic. Personally I think all this region 1, region 2 stuff is ridiculous, particularly since it does so little to actually curb "bad behavior." But yes, people do begin to feel that what is up on the web should be available to them and really get enraged when they can't have it. I guess I'd cut the eMusic subscribers some slack as they are at least trying to obtain music legally. I think when you spend a little time surfing the blogs and searching through torrents, the entitlement attitude is a bit out of control -- and it is at least a little contagious. (I know we've gone over this hundreds of times, but it really does seem that no one under 18 is going to pay for music ever again.)

I may have raised this before, but is there any way to contact eMusic about CDs that they probably ought to have (based on their having most of the other new releases from a label for instance) but don't? They seem particularly spotty on Delmark, though have been adding some new ones recently. I'm more interested in High Note, where they seem to have most of the releases except for one or two I'd really like (David Newman's Life esp.). Obviously the label may just have decided not to release that album to eMusic, but it could also just be an oversight that could easily be corrected with the next set of releases to eMusic (if someone let them know, that is -- so I suppose the other direction would be to contact High Note, but that seems an even longer shot to me). Anyway, the contact them page is so specific and mostly about technical problems or canceling one's account. They claim not to monitor their Message Boards, so I don't think that is a feasible option either. Any ideas would be helpful. Thanks. Eric Actually I changed my mind. I think it is probably easier to just contact the label and ask them to release Life to eMusic when they have any other new releases. But I am still wondering if there is a way to ask eMusic about such issues. By the way, in addition to the RVG sampler that is still there, eMusic is offering 25 free songs from artists appearing at Pitchfork (at least a few people will be interested in some of the bands -- and for free you can dl the whole thing and delete any you don't like): Pitchfork. Apparently the offer is only for US and perhaps Canadian members, which has gotten a bunch of people worked up.

Kind of wish I had noticed that, but I got the CD in near mint condition for a good price, and it is a nice one. To make up for that, I held off from getting Ghost Rock by Nomo when I was in Dusty Groove, and it showed up right away on eMusic (yea!), so I downloaded that as well as two others that were available (Better Than That and New Tones). I also grabbed Barney Kessel - Some Like It Hot Eric Kloss - About Time Eric Kloss - First Class Ojos de Brujo - Bari Astor Piazzolla - Pulsacion And then it was all over, like a kid spending his allowance all in one day. There are a few others that are really calling to me, so I may try this Circuit City booster card deal. I think I'll be near one Tuesday evening.

I haven't actually counted the number I have from the second batch, but there are more that I would consider key here, though obviously all such lists are pretty subjective. Still, Afternoon in Paris by Lewis and Distel is great, as is Woody Shaw's Blackstone Legacy. The Rene Urtreger (Jazzman) has sent me on a bit of an internet search. I am finding it very difficult to track down much about these albums released on Universal in 2003, though I have a list here: Recidive No. 2 In Direct d' Antibes No. 3 Jazzman No. 4 Masters No. 5 My question is what was the No. 1 in this series? I'm guessing they are all worth tracking down, but if anyone has any reviews I'd like to hear them. Thanks.

We probably only disagree a bit. I agree uncontested dunks are boring (though still not as boring as a team that never takes it inside), but I think Stern thinks the three second rule makes the game more exciting. I don't have particularly strong feelings either way about it. What I would like to see are rules that heavily penalize intentional fouling in the last five or so minutes of a game. And some rules that don't reward flopping would be nice too, but I guess you can't have everything.

They could score, but it would be all perimeter shooting. Boring. The NBA is all about getting the inside game working. You sell posters of slam dunks. You don't sell posters of outside shooting. I doubt it, its all bout getting face time, if you can dunk over someone you get an even bigger poster. Think John Starks and Barron Davis playoff dunks. Yes, but if the big man camps out under the basket and has better position, you would see far fewer of these dunks. Of course there would still be some. If the coach puts two big men in there clogging up the lane, you aren't going to have any dunks, just a bunch of trips to the foul line.

I think I have 15, but I don't really feel compelled to search the others down.

They could score, but it would be all perimeter shooting. Boring. The NBA is all about getting the inside game working. You sell posters of slam dunks. You don't sell posters of outside shooting.

I thought this was pretty interesting. I'll have to see if I can make it. It does look interesting, but I've already gotten a warning signal that I am planning to be out of the house too long during the festival. Anyway, I really dig Vieux Farka Toure, but wonder how well he would fit in this context.

I was thinking this the other day. Celtics were fairly lucky to cling to their Game 2 victory. Lose that one and the whole tenor of the series changes. Maybe the pressure on them is a bit higher and they don't believe in themselves quite so much. Maybe they don't get the miracle comeback in Game 4. A few commentators have said that Bynum would have made all the difference in the series. Don't know about that, but if he is healthy next year, and the two teams meet again, that will definitely be something to watch.

I knew this was going to be a great year, but Holy Cow - Kenny Burrell, Gerald Wilson, Dave Douglas and Vijay Iyer in addition to Ornette Coleman and Sonny Rollins! I'd say the best line-up in at least 10 years. Anyway, it looks like the schedule got cut off for Sunday. Here are some more listings: Sunday, August 31, 2008 12:30-1:30 - "History of Jazz" with Ron Perillo 2:00-3:00 - "Art of the Solo" featuring Julian Priester 3:30-4:30 - Karl Montzka Quartet 5:00-5:50 - Ron Dewar Quintet 6:00-6:55 - From the Netherlands: Instant Composers Pool 7:10-8:10 - Eight Bold Souls with Special Appearance by Dee Alexander 8:30-9:30 - Ornette Coleman On a totally different subject, anyone local to Chicago might want to check out Orchestra Baobab on June 28. I think they are playing Millenium Park. Of course, this is during (but separate) from Taste of Chicago, so don't expect to be able to park.

Just sort of casually checking the score in between work things, and I see that Tiger is 1 down going into the 18th. What a crazy run these guys had, esp. Tiger with his bum knee. Then they go to Sudden Death and Tiger pulls it out. Wild. Well, the legend continues. He must be the greatest golfer of all time. Too bad it's not a real sport...

So does this mean that the whiny, trade-me Kobe resurfaces this summer? There's no question that Kobe is a fierce competitor, but this time Garnett and Pierce want it far, far more. Looks like they're going to get it.

Yes, but you could also say that about all the yahoos in the US that kept buying the frigging SUVs and kept GM and Ford from making the tough decisions then -- and spewed out another few million tons of unnecessary emissions into the atmosphere. I'd say they all deserved what they are getting now, but of course this just puts Michigan in an even deeper hole. I'm certainly no expert on assembly lines, but I think switching over from wide bodied SUVs to the compact cars is not cheap, esp. when they do have plants that already specialize in smaller cars. Of course from the automakers' perspective they can also use this as an excuse to move away from unionized labor in the midwest to the right-to-work plants in the south.

Brookings is a funny place, a bit all over the map ideologically (compared to American Enterprise Institute for example). Personally I think this study is kind of poor, but a lot of their urban planning and regional governance studies are good. But their transportation folks are hard-core "privatization is the answer to everything" zealots.