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You might need to figure Houston in there too. They don't have the most wins, but they appear to have the most wins against quality teams. And the Bulls are going to be in the playoffs. Barring a late season collapse that just doesn't appear likely, since the kids are responding very well to a real coach. I'm thinking they'll make it to the second round. This honeymoon probably won't last more than a season or two before they get swole heads though. What's really interesting is that the team is almost all rookies plus Chandler and Curry. I don't think it is an accident that the other players are just out of successful college programs -- where you listened to the coach and learned to play basketball. A few notable successes aside, I much prefer the players who played three or four years of college ball. I think they are simply better team players. I've heard that the NBA Players Union is going to not fight terribly hard against a minimum age limit to enter the NBA (like the NFL has). Personally, I think this is a good thing, though there will be a few youngsters who have to wait a year too long.

I don't have all the dates in front of me, but I wanted to let the Michigan board members know that Stanko is going to be at the Firefly on the 15th, then coming to Chicago on the 16th where a number of us will see him, then heading up and down the West Coast. Should be a good show.

I have one ticket to see the Bad Plus/Bill Frissell (separately) on May 6, at 8 at the Chicago Symphony Center. I believe Bad Plus are the opening act. The ticket is Lower Balcony Row I Seat 102, so good but not the very best seat. Face is $18, but was part of a subscription, so more like $25. There should be more tickets to the show (but not next to this seat). I'm looking for $12 OBO. Thanks for looking! Eric

That is awfully generous of you, Guy. And in return I can take some of those useless pieces of paper the Americans call dollars. But seriously, I am thinking of selling close to half my collection, which I probably ought to do even if I don't move, since I just am not really listening to it. I am tired of moving it around, since I move on average every 18 months. There will be some gems amidst the dreck, and I will post them in the appropriate forum when I have a chance.

I'll definitely be talking about it with them, but it can wait until after I am actually hired. I did take a look and have a better understanding of the Social Security situation, where I have to fill out a form and am then exempted from US Social Security taxes, as long as I work in the UK and pay into the UK pension fund. My impression of the tax situation is that after the first year, I will basically fill out a 1040 that says 100% of my income is foreign-based, though I guess that won't be true for interest and dividends. Hmm.

The only Mosaics I have are CD ones, so they should ship relatively well. I am thinking of putting a lot in storage here (books and maybe some CDs), just in case I am only there a few years. I've actually spent the last few months making CDR backups of all my LPs, so that's probably all I would take at first. And probably would take almost no furniture, etc. I lived in Canada for a year, but wasn't working (student visa), so I had a health card but no pension insurance. Probably not going to make 45 years working in the UK. 35 would really be pushing it! I'm most worried about the interface between UK and US tax systems, but the company has done this in the past, so they'll have somebody to talk me through it. It's certainly exciting. I should know in just a few more weeks if it will really happen.

Well, it is looking more and more likely that I am going to land a job in Cambridge, England. And I think Sal is making headway as well. This might last for a few years, or it might be permanent, depending on a number of factors. Where should I go for some immigration-related questions, like cheapest way to ship large amounts of goods (books and files and CDs of course) overseas, the tax laws related to US citizens working overseas, whether foreign citizens are allowed to/are forced to participate in UK Health system and pension system, etc.? Thanks in advance. Eric

Sure, the Mantis and Grand Max are on reserve. Just PM with details and they'll go out sometime before the weekend. ejp

I'd be interested in the Harris if still available. I'll PM details later. I have several available, and more to add later. Charles Tolliver Grand Max (Black Lion) Erik Truffaz Mantis (BN) Johan Horlen Trio Chills (Dragon) Charlie Hunter Ready Set Shango (BN) ejp

Do you have a windows or Mac machine? Generally, making folders is easiest in the Explorer tool, which is part of the desktop and not inside any specific program. The most common way is to right click and then you go New --> New Folder. Then you drag things into the new folder. There are other ways, but that is the easiest.

Do you think this is really true, or just someone trying to start an urban legend? Part of the blade appears to be sticking out past the skin, which would certainly be noticable. And the part about desparately looking for a knife just doesn't sound right -- it's pushing the joke just too far. I suppose it might be true, but I've stopped believing most of these internet tales.

So we should all add $0.06 to our bids just to foil Dave. Yeah, that's pretty much the strategy I follow, though I did lose out on a few things, since my internet connection went out at a bad time. I guess there are actually snipe programs out there, but I don't have time to learn about them. And sometimes I do prefer just to bid my max (on something I am lukewarm about) and just forget about it.

If Mean what you say is still available let me know, and I'll PM with details. Thanks.

Yeah, I'll be there. And I'm about to buy tickets to Stanko and Grimes?. March is shaping up to be an excellent month for live jazz. I do wish I had known about the Dave Douglas show. Actually this thread should be moved to Live Shows, but I have no idea how to do that. Maybe the moderator can work some magic.

I hope he drops in somewhere else in Chicago, but I haven't seen anything so far.

I know there is a link to another page with some of this info, but the title is pretty obscure. Johnny Griffin is going to be one of several tenor players at this: "Great Chicago Tenor Saxes" to perform with Chicago Jazz Ensemble™ The Chicago Jazz Ensemble™ (CJE), with artistic director Jon Faddis, announces "Great Chicago Tenor Saxes". This is the second program of the Sixth American Heritage Series themed "The Roots of Chicago Jazz" and it features Johnny Griffin, Von Freeman, Ira Sullivan, Franz Jackson and Eric Alexander along with CJE, 8:00 P.M., Saturday, March 19, 2005, The Art Institute of Chicago, Rubloff Auditorium, 230 Columbus Drive. Tickets are $25 and $30. Call this number and leave a message to reserve your seats: 312 344-6269. I will be there with my father in law. ejp

Sorry if this is beating the horse. Anyway, I was also most interested in Basra, since I had the others in this batch on CD or LP (I'll still probably upgrade the Hi Voltage but will wait until it hits yourmusic). So I decided to order Basra through HMV.co.uk, even though it had copy protection. It just showed up and I had no problem making a clean copy using FreeRip. I assume most other software would be just as successful. So I agree it should be released in the US (and probably will be once certain people come to their senses), but this is a viable route if you just can't wait.

Offhand I guess I'd say Dolphy's Uppsala Concert v. 1 and 2 on CD. Not that rare, I suppose. I've also got something called Earth Prayer by Russell Baba with Andrew Hill on piano. I think it is only available by ordering directly through Mr. Baba. And some CDR that Vandermark sells at his concerts.

I was being generous. Actually, I think the very expensive FLW houses in Oak Park, IL don't leak, but they also aren't particularly representative of Wright's later work, i.e. they have pitched roofs and the ceilings are taller than 7 feet high. By the way, I used to live in Rogers Park in the far north part of Chicago, and there is a FLW house there I used to walk by. It is up for auction (again). If anyone wants details, I can probably dig some up.

Well, it's just another case of architects living so firmly inside their heads, they don't always interface with the real world that well. Many of Wright's homes leaked. Mies insisted on marble inside and out of his buildings (with the breaks lining up perfectly). This became a hazzard in Chicago when it rained or snowed and most of the sidewalks have been replaced with rougher surfaces. But there are still many sidewalk treatments that are a total hazzard.

Over in new releases, we talked about Moran's latest - Some Mother - which is adventurous but not completely satisfying (to me). I also wasn't so crazy about the Bandwagon release, but I like the previous BNs. I saw Osby and Moran live at Chicago's Green Mill, and they smoked. I really hope they decide to record again together some day. They both have their own groups now. In addition to the Osby dates with Hill (Invisible Hand is really good), you might check out two Hill albums with Osby in a backing role - Eternal Spirit and But Not Farewell. They are OOP but there are usually copies floating about. Maybe we can press MC to re-issue these as well, since the Hill is starting to sell pretty well.

It is tough. For me, it is hard to separate the pianist from the composer, since the ones topping my list generally wrote most of their own materials. Or were on albums I particularly liked, so great sidemen are also contributing to their score. As someone else wrote, I am looking at the entire career more than their current playing. Nonetheless top five living pianists: Andrew Hill McCoy Tyner Herbie Hancock Horace Silver Jason Moran Next group would contain Mabern, Ibrahim, Brubeck, Kenny Barron, Uri Caine and Vijay Iyer. I've been lucky enough to see almost everyone on this list at least once, except for Horace, Vijay Iyer and Ibrahim.

I did see Caiman has the Jazztet and the Eldridge, but at very high prices (worse than the source). Not sure about Jazztet, but given the size of the run (and the fact they are both Verve only), I suspect that the Eldridge will eventually be marketed similarly to the Farlow, so give it six months to a year.

I guess it depends on your perspective. I liked Malkovitch, didn't like Adaptation, and really enjoyed Sunshine. So for me, Sunshine is really the best. The other two are a bit too smug almost in their -- hey look how weird I can be -- cleverness. Sunshine married the cleverness to a more genuine emotional core (and that's what often drives Oscar voters - that they can care about the characters) so is a better movie in those terms. Feel free to disagree with me though.

It definitely sounds good, though I do have all this material on CD or LP, so I will probably pass unless the new sound is incredibly good. Still, it is always good to get this material back into circulation.