ejp626

Jazz tunes or jazz recording titles? We do have Ornette's Complete Science Fiction Sessions and Christian McBride's Sci Fi.

There's an interesting study funded by the National Science Foundation (not a fringe environmental group) showing certain drawbacks to GMO corn and its byproducts entering water ecosystems: NSF study The study doesn't necessarily say that these new impacts outweigh the benefits, but I think it does point out how we (US producers) do these things without really thinking through all the consequences. GMO can mean all kinds of things, and if it makes crops more weather resistant that's generally a good thing. When they build toxins into plants to make them pest-resistant (part of the problem here) you really are talking about potentially upsetting a number of ecosystems. Humans have been doing this for a long time (Cronin's Nature's Metropolis is particularly good on how what seems natural about the midwest is almost entirely the product of human intervention) but the scale of the changes we can achieve now and the potential for something getting out of hand are so much higher now. GM-skeptics like myself mostly want to slow down so all the consequences can be examined and informed decisions made. Of course, capitalism or really hyper-capitalism does not afford us this luxury. Interestingly, even the study write-up lends support to the idea that the system is out of hand: "Farmers are, to a large extent, required to use the latest technological advances in order to stay competitive and profitable in the current agro-industrial system."

If you are staying downtown, I think Jazz Record Mart and the new Reckless Records are your best bets. Dusty Groove is a short cab or el ride away, but it has a miniscule used section, and they don't have in-store sales, so you are just as well off going through the website, unless you have a yen for flipping through vinyl.

I guess it depends on your definition of "here." It's at Landmark's Century Centre in Chicago and the CineArts6 in Evanston. I probably will skip it. I do see that the Music Box (just down the street from me) is doing Blade Runner the Final Cut this weekend, and I may try to get to that.

This looks like it should be good: Rudresh on BBC This will be up for another week (through Friday). Probably simplest to go here and click listen to latest programme:Jazz on 3 I saw these guys when they came through Chicago, and some folks saw them at the Ann Arbor Vision Fest. Definitely my favorite players of the really young (younger than me) jazz set.

Am really sorry to hear it, Jim. My son is 3 1/2 and does the same stuff. Spinning in the chair, somersaults off the bed (it's really low), jumping on the couch. Of course, I try to keep this behavior to a minimum, but boy he has a lot of energy. I figure it is all but inevitable he'll break something. But kids do heal fast at least.

Personally, I think the spread of GM food will have mostly negative long-term impacts, including loss of genetic diversity and further concentration of economic power in the hands of 3 or 4 companies. Of course, I also think it was a enormously foolish mistake to allow the patenting of genes, as it will have mostly negative unanticipated consequences (a la Robert Merton).

I am reading Goffredo Parise's Abecedary and then the companion book, Solitudes. These are very short stories based on a theme, like hunting, others, sweetness, etc. They were conceived as long prose poems essentially, so they tend to cut to the chase and try illuminate something about the human condition in a couple of pages. I'd say they are a bit like Raymond Carver stories refracted through a European (Italian) perspective. I enjoy them, but I haven't decided if I like them enough to buy the books to read later. I'm leaning towards it, however.

That one has been on my "to read" shelf for almost three years now. Someday... I read it back in the early 80's. I recall it being damn good, but a tad depressing. Two African novels I read fairly recently might be of interest: The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born by Ayi Kwei Armah I think this is pretty similar to Things Fall Apart, though I must admit not having gotten to that one yet. Certainly depressing but with flashes of humor. This one is a fictionalized account of the Nigerian civil war. It is really well-written and disturbing. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

How much for a ticket to Rome? Well, in this day and age, it will probably end up on YouTube by the 11th.

Whales were a source of fuel back in the day (not a common every day one though), as well as ambergris used in perfumes (and that might be found in the tail, depending on how you defined tail).

Killing [and eating] swans is illegal in the UK - as they are the property of the monarch.

May be worth noting that at the link JSngry provided, you can buy the CD for $15 (roughly the DG price) or the MP3 version for $10. That may not be so appealing, but there were a couple of funk 45s they had on-line where the MP3 price was $2, and I am thinking about springing for a couple of those.

The Gilles Peterson is still not a bad deal, with just one track gone. Now that I have investigated more carefully, Jazzman is being kind of lame, putting up these Quantic albums but then leaving off 4-5 tracks! For Florida Funk, they left off 7 tracks. If you want people to buy your CDs, then keep them off eMusic; otherwise, put all the tracks up there. This totally lame strategy of giving people a big taste with downloads, but then expecting them to buy the full CD makes me less likely to buy the downloads and their CDs. Anyway, I did get Vol. 2 of World's Rarest Funk from DG, but that will probably be the last thing I buy on the Jazzman label while they follow this stupid strategy.

Stan Tracey - The Return of Captain Adventure David Fathead Newman - Captain Buckles

I was kinda wondering what a 10-15 minute organ trio jam of Kashmir would sound like ...

I thought that alcohol was its own enhancer. The more you drink, the better the quality later in the evening.

I have heard Take 5 in 4/4, but it was just for novelty's sake. The only problem I see is if you have a great idea, like a Baby Face Willette tribute album, and they do all those songs, you will be out some serious scratch. But overall, it sounds like a good idea, and I can see ponying up for a couple of songs.

True, and I probably will dl Cityscape. However, I'm trying to get Life, which was a Jan 07 release on High Note.

Absolutely. I think I paid $15 for several used, and that was a pretty good bargain. EMusic also has Quantic Presents The World's Rarest Funk 45s Vol 1 and Vol 2. I'm torn on this. I bought Vol. 1 from DG and enjoyed it, but I paid a fair bit for a CD that is less than 40 minutes long. From that perspective the eMusic is a much better bargain. However, the liner notes are really informative and interesting, and you still aren't getting that from downloads (when are the labels going to catch up?). So I am leaning towards buying Vol. 2 from DG as well. I did download an on-line exclusive of the Best of Jazzman (or some similar title). Other recent downloads: Gilles Peterson Digs America v. 1 and 2. (One track missing out of 30, which is annoying but not fatal) Robert Mazurek (Chicago Underground Orchestra) Playground Ted Sirota Breeding Resistance Chris Potter Follow the Red Line Frank Rosolino Free for All Chick Corea-Bela Fleck The Enchantment (for my dad) Grdina-Motian-Peacock Think Like the Waves Red Garland Soul Burnin' I'm really bummed that they are not updating High Note consistently. The Eric Alexander albums are being added, but there are two fairly recent David Fathead Newman albums that have not shown up. I'm going to try to ask them what's going on with that.

What about Jimmy Smith's Monster? Or Philly Joe Jones Blues for Dracula? Blues for Dracula

He'll be bringing the show to Chicago in about two weeks, and I have tickets to see it. It sounds fairly interesting.

I think I spent $25 or so for some of the OOP Hutcherson BN albums on CD. Some have not yet been reissued, though some were. I think I went up to $20 for an Andrew Hill CD when it was out of print. Then I started hanging here and got a better sense of what was going to be reissued (from BN anyway) and have generally refrained from going over $20.

They will have cloned Bird, Bean, Prez and Hawk from random DNA samples (easier to find preserved DNA in reeds than from a trumpet mouthpiece or piano keys, so no Monk or Diz ). They will have cutting contests every noon in Central Park Zoo, which is where they live (as non-citizens of the state). This will be beamed directly into the cortex of DownBeat subscribers.

It's typically based on appraised value, and sq. footage is only one factor (number of bedrooms, baths, garage size). Appraised value tends to be roughly half market value. Property tax rates vary widely in the US, with some communities paying nearly nothing and poorer ones paying a much high proportion of the house value. It's very hard to compare council taxes, though I feel as if I paid more council tax in Cambridge than property tax in Chicago, certainly when you look at the value of the houses and what I got in return. One thing that is completely different in the US is that renters do not pay property taxes (not directly anyway) the way that they often pay council tax in the UK. And property owners get a much better deal in the US because they can offset property taxes against income taxes. I bitterly resented the fact that I kept falling between the tax regimes (UK and US) and got screwed each way. I would actually have been better off if the council tax was an income tax, since I could have applied it against US taxes. Instead I got nada, I didn't own the property, and Cambridge kept cutting back the services I did use, esp. refuse collection.