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It's ALL done for money. Show me the musician who didn't want paying. MG You should read the stories of the Jimmy Giuffre Trio. They knew they were playing playing unpopular music and kept at it for quite a while for artistic purposes, though they could have made a lot more money going to a different format. And yes, they eventually threw in the towel (after making $0.75 at a gig), but an awful lot of musicians will follow their artistic bent rather than just go where the money is. That's why so many die broke and we don't have 100% smooth jazz artists (only 85%). If it was only about money, we probably wouldn't have musicians at all, only more doctors and lawyers.

I think she has written novels of widely varying quality. I personally don't think her SF novels are any good (unfortunately this is the work she is proudest of). I loathed The Good Terrorist. I can't recall if I read or just read about The Fifth Son, but I wasn't terribly impressed. On the other hand, I think The Golden Notebook is a very solid and important novel, and the Children of Violence series is also good. I guess for me, I haven't really liked much that she's written past the mid 1970s. Well, maybe the Jane Somers novels (Diary of a Good Neighbour and If the Old Could). There is some vaguely interesting backstory about this -- how she submitted these to her publishers under a pseudonym but couldn't get published:Jane Somers

This was last weekend (I've been ill). I saw Stefon Harris with his chamber jazz group playing cuts from African Tarantella as the first half of the bill, then Roy Haynes with his Fountain of Youth Quartet. This was at the CSO. John Litweiler's review in the Sun-Times was basically on target, though I think he was a bit too dismissive of Harris' set: Litweiler review What was unusual about the Harris set is that he is basically playing Ellington suites or his own compositions inspired by Duke, but he has emptied the whole middle range of soloing instruments. He had a clarinet and a flautist who each did a bit of soloing (not much), a viola and cello that just provided support, then the lower range, a trombonist (who did put in a couple of good solos), bass, piano and drums. Of course, we really were there to see Harris, and he did not disappoint. I don't know if it was an attack of nerves or dry mouth, but in her one solo spot the flautist was just not very good and even the clarinetist was just ok. Maybe he should have tried a different instrumentation to cover these spots (backed by the cello maybe). But it was beautiful music, and Harris told a couple of amusing anecdotes between songs. Roy Haynes was just incredible. I've seen him before, but he was really on fire this time. He is spry for an 82 year old. On the first number, I thought Jaleel Shaw (the saxophonist) was just going to be a Bird clone, but he was really good on the ballads in particular. The most interesting part for me of the set was him soloing on soprano with the bass player walking behind him. Really wild. Definitely glad I made this set.

Well, here are a few songs Billie Holliday really made her own (staying away from the most melancholy ones): Fine and Mellow I'll Get By (As Long as I Have You) Lover Man My Man (Mon Homme) You Go to My Head Love Me or Leave Me I Thought About You I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm And of course to keep the party rocking, you can't miss with Gimme a Pigfoot (and a Bottle of Beer).

Gotta go with the Jazztet, the enjoyment will last much longer! But will it keep you from freezing in the winter? (Of course, a Jimmy McGriff boxed set would, but there ain't no such thing.) MG Well, that warm fuzzy feeling from the inside should do the trick. The Jazztet is definitely one of their best sets.

Well, I read a bunch of comments from runners on the Tribune web site, both those that finished and those that didn't. I think there are stations every mile or 1.5 mile, but people train for this marathon to be a lot cooler. Many people commented that they took 2 cups of water to drink and 4-5 to pour over the heads. Only later did it become clear that this completely depleted water at the water stations, since the expected usage was 3 or more times what they had bought. So it was a combination of not reacting to the weather on the part of the organizers and a lot of individual selfishness (I guess that is a little harsh but when you read about how the slower runners had no water and the front runners were dumping it all over themselves, there is some selfishness). Anyway, it was a mess, and if it hurts the Olympic games, I'm glad for that.

LaSalle Bank is being bought by Bank of America, so this would have been the last one under the LaSalle Bank name anyway (way to go out on a bad note). I imagine there will still be a marathon next year, hopefully better organized. Some people have commented that this will further hurt Chicago's chances to get the 2016 Summer Olympics. Others say, no these things are isolated and it was freak weather conditions. Having spent some time around the world and realizing that in fact our perceptions of other places are based on shockingly little information, I tend to believe that yes this will hurt the chances of getting the Olympics (supposedly Chicago is only in 3 or 4th place and this might drop us to 5th). That's ok by me, since I think the Olympics coming to Chicago would be a bad thing overall. Let Rio or Tokyo have them.

The rehearsal take of "Round Midnight" is the best introduction to Monk's music and jazz in general, I mean you can hear him "thinking" through the music! One of the most illuminating experience in my journey in Music Land. Another one that recently came out on Explore Records is called Monk the Transformer (I believe on emusic as well as CD). There are 6 solo variants of I'm Getting Sentimental Over You, and then 3 concert performances. Really quite interesting.

I don't know. There have been successful cases of prosecuting drunk drivers riding lawn mowers and bicycles (Arizona for instance). It probably depends on your state. In Washington State and now New Hampshire, cyclists are exempt from DUI charges.

Ok, well there goes that theory. Not the first time Lonehill has been less than forthright about these things.

As boring as I find these debates about European PD releases, I have looked through the liner of the Lonehill Complete 2 Feet in the Gutter sessions and it is certainly implied that Bailey had some participation in getting this out there. There is a newish interview with him in the liner notes, but far more important there are 3 unreleased tracks on the 2nd CD, so they got the tapes from somebody, and I would assume that wouldn't be anybody at Epic. (Maybe the tracks are on some Japanese release, but I don't think so.) It reminds me a lot of the Graas project, also on Lonehill. There are still problems with this model (artist okaying a PD release for Europe), as Lonehill surely isn't paying all the rights holders, but it may be one we see more in the future.

He would've been 100 this year. If I recall, it is this one where Heinlein started in on his dirty old man of SF routine (well maybe Time Enough for Love). In fact, there are stretches that are essentially fan-fiction but at a really high level. You'll see what I mean when you get to them. That said, it is an entertaining novel, but not as good as Heinlein in his prime.

Contesting Neoliberalism: Urban Frontiers edited by Leitner, Peck and Sheppard. If it sounds like work, it is. I'm writing the book review for a journal actually.

PM sent on the Fuller

I got 2 Guitars quite recently and have enjoyed it. There were still a number on Amazon marketplace at a reasonable price. It is pretty interesting watching which OJCs skyrocket in price (over $20) and which stay stable (around $8-10). If the price goes too high, then I download it from eMusic, since most of the material is (still) there. Eric

Odd story from Chicago: Woman killed boyfriend over porn: prosecutors October 3, 2007 A Chicago woman killed her live-in boyfriend after finding his porn stash, prosecutors alleged Tuesday. Jeanette Strowder, 58, faces first-degree murder charges in the shooting death of Jesse Martin, 54. The shooting occurred after Strowder found CDs in their apartment that contained nude photographs of women, prosecutors said. Strowder confronted Martin about the photos, said assistant state's attorney Tracy Stanker. "The defendant then got a gun and shot the victim multiple times," Stanker said. When police arrived at the couple's home in the 5300 block of South Shields, Strowder pointed a gun at her head and then at officers, Stanker said. Strowder later gave a statement admitting to shooting Martin. Eric Herman

I think you'll want the 2 Guitars album, so that means either this new Lone Hill issue or ideally the three OJCs. They aren't particularly rare (or they weren't).

I think I probably could live with the 4 disc version, but I wonder what the odds are that Netflix would someday get the 5 DVD version so I could rent just the Workprint version.

I'm a little chuffed that the 5 disk Blu-ray set costs half what the 5 DVD set will cost. I guess they are really trying to get people to buy Blu-ray. But the studio knows what will really sell -- the DVDs so that comes with some fairly cool extras like a unicorn and a toy car. I could probably live with the 4 DVD set (again half what the 5 DVD set costs), but I'll decide in another month or so. In the same vein, Dark City is supposedly coming out again with a longer version (almost 15 minutes longer) and that would probably be worth getting as well.

Dammit not again... Of course I'll buy it. (I even have a good transfer from laserdisc of the original with voice-over.) But there had better not be a 50th Anniversary re-re-release.

If I'm interpreting your request correctly, then you ought to try the Andre Hodeir discs: No. 70, Le Jazz Groupe de Paris joue Andre Hodeir, and No. 97, Jazz & Jazz. No. 39, Kenny Clarke's Sextet plays Andre Hodeir is worth a try, too, though less angular and certainly less longhair. I think Modern Jazz At Saint Germain Des Pres by Bernard Peiffer/Bernard Zacharias might be considered longhair, but probably not terribly angular. I like it a lot anyway.

Jimmy Smith - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? So what's the verdict on this? It looks like one of the more interesting re-issues. I don't think this has been out before. 3 of the tracks are on the Nelson Mosiac, but that's it, AFAIK.

I've picked up several more Paris recordings. Some from the Vogue "In Paris" series (Eldridge and Raney v.1) and the Dizzy Digs Paris 2-CD set. This one is pretty nice. It covers the entire In Paris v. 1 with one additional track from the Salle Pleyel concert and almost all of the In Paris v. 2. Then several more of the "Americans Swinging in Paris" series. Then Jimmy Raney w/ Bob Brookmeyer, which I am listening to right now. Finally, I ordered the Dave Bailey Two Feet in the Gutter sessions and the last copy of Wilen from CD Universe. So enough to work through for a couple of weeks, I think. I totally forgot my Yourmusic order of Andrew Hill's Change and Turrentine's A Bluish Bag. I'm just a bit disappointed they added the Frank Foster as well, since I paid too much for a used copy the month before. Anyway, I was really digging the Raney/Brookmeyer, esp. the last track "Too Late Now" which has just a bit of a Midnight Blue vibe going on. I'm certainly glad this was reissued. In general, I think this Decca Originals series has a pretty low profile.

Let's not forget the crazy low pre-order price for Miles' Cellar Door set (around $40) before they corrected it. I forgot what the final resolution of that was, but it was still pretty low. Yeah, I got in on that deal too, thanks to this board. I mean you've got to spend money to save money, right?

I got a used set back in the day for $50 I believe, so this would have been an incredible deal. They might get a few more in, but I won't sweat it either way. (I was one of the few people to get the crazy low deal on the Sly and the Family Stone set, so I've had my share karmically-speaking.)