ejp626

Well, the Aoki hasn't happened yet, so there's time. Wednesday, February 9 - Hothouse Tatsu Aoki's Miyumi Project Celebrates Chinese New Year 8:30pm Free, (21 & Over) I didn't make Spaceways either, but I read that one of the members (Drake ?) moved back to Chicago and they will probably be performing more regularly, so I will definitely keep my eyes open. Still don't think I can make Fathead, but we'll see...

You and me both. While it would have been nice to have more of the original covers tucked away inside the liners, the photos are really amazing and quite a nice bonus feature of this series.

Sadly, I am writing a couple of academic papers this weekend and can't get away. I'll keep my eyes open though. I did see that Tatsu Aoki has got something at Hothouse to celebrate the Chinese New Year, and it appears to be free! Did either of you make it to see Vandermark and Spaceways at the Empty Bottle yesterday?

Well, I have about half of those, but I only post half as often as most board members (if that) so I should be ok. And I also have Teshissimo, which is my ace in the hole. Caught on private security tape, the members of Organissimo secretly rehearse the music of John Tesh. To be released as a bootleg DVD if I am kicked off the board ...

I don't know if this counts as a find, since I can't truly keep it, but the Chicago library has a pretty decent collection of Mosaics. If they had two copies, then one might circulate, and the other is in reference. In the circulating library, they have the 3 LP set of Art Pepper Small Group Recordings on Pacific. It is actually in pretty decent shape, and I am making a CDR backup now.

Wow. I had no idea they had so much new material, relative to the VHS tapes. I've seen a few of these (Basie, Coltrane, Gillespie), and thought they were pretty great. I guess I will get this a bit later in 2005. Was Ellington ever invited and/or make an appearance? Obviously, if he did make an appearance, the tape didn't survive or they would have issued it, but I would certainly have thought he might have appeared with a small group like Basie did.

I'm pretty sure he means the Hill Select coming in Feb/March next year, and as discussed over in Discography, Mosaic is going to do a Select of Hutcherson's 1970s BN work. No word yet on exactly what it will be, but that is pretty exciting. I wonder if it will be ready in late 2005.

I ultimately asked for, and received, the Gordon Select. I was considering the Roach Mosaic, but that seemed a bit more than we were spending this Christmas. I may order it for myself before too long though.

Just back from Dusty, where I got on LP Jimmy Smith Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf Woody Shaw Stepping Stones Woody Shaw Master of the Art Max Roach & Booker Ervin [something on Riverside - actually left it at the office] on CD Ghana Soundz 2 (this one looks great) Jimmy Smith La Metamorphonse des Cloportes (French soundtrack)

Don't want to disagree with Brad too much, but the GREs really are different and probably easier than law school boards. I think a course is probably not necessary, though a good book is helpful. One strategy might be to take the GREs early next year. If the scores are good, then no worries, since they are good for 5 years or so. If a subject or two is low, then you can investigate a course or study harder, and still have time for a second set of scores before applying to schools.

And some of the previous case law preventing discrimination in clubs was actually rolled back recently under the Constitution's provisions on freedom of association. This was ultimately was the deciding factor in the Supreme Court ruling that allowed the Boy Scouts to bar gays and atheists from membership. [side note: truly unbelievable that this came to pass, but the Boy Scouts are run by a bunch of dumb fuck Texans -- big surprise. I learned some valuable lessons from Boy Scouts, despite being a hardcore atheist at the time, back when it was not really an issue. Sort of don't ask, don't tell. But I won't let my son join the Scouts on these terms. And indeed it will be interesting to see if membership in the Boy Scouts declines in the Blue States. I believe I read that giving to the United Way was down in Blue States, except in those places where the United Way explicitly said they weren't funding the Scouts any more. People such as myself were really holding a grudge against the Scouts for being dumb fucks.] Anyway, my understanding is that in order to keep complete control over membership (including the right to discriminate) then a group has to largely forego any government funds and certainly any government contracts (though again, Bush is trying to undermine this for religious organizations). Many school districts ultimately decided they had to sever ties with the Scouts because of this whole messy situation.

Larry: Do let us know if you have any other local signings, since I couldn't make it to Jazz Record Mart. I did have one idea (sorry if already mentioned) that might cut down on shipping costs. You could buy front plates or bookplates or whatever they are called (the squares of paper library books have in the front if they were part of a collection or donated by someone with money). Sign those and mail them off, rather than wait for the book to show up and then return it (with two opportuties for it to get lost in transit). Eric

Yes, this is a re-issue of Philips 70306. Johnny Griffin is on the album. Not sure if he really is the featured artist or that was just the marketing of the time. Other notable musicians are Roger Guerin on trumpet, Raymond Guy on flute, Jimmy Woode on double bass and Art Taylor on drums. (I skipped about 15 other names.)

That's really a damn shame. I think Sports as an industry has to decide if it can survive these ugly fan-player interactions. My personal feeling is that the beer sales have got to be cut back and probably ended about mid-way through the third quarter. Sure it will be a drain on team revenues, but the long-term success of these franchises depends on not alienating families. The bad behavior of these drunks is really getting out of hand, and here I am talking generally, not specifically about Detroit fans.

Here is our Holiday card, shamelessly using our son to spread goodwill ... Happy holidays, everyone. Eric

Specifically in the Lakeview/Lincoln Park neighborhoods, Reckless is still open. There is a pretty lame CD store on Belmont. The good one closed up, as did an ok one on the corner of Clark and Belmont. On Broadway near Wellington is Disc-Go-Round, which has a so-so selection of used jazz. It has a pretty good used DVD section though. On Clark near Wrightwood, there is a vinyl store (Dave's maybe?) but the store connected to Django's went under. There is still HiFi Records just south of Wrightwood on Clark, and that is pretty good. More generally, Dr. Wax is good. They have stores in Evanston, Chicago (near Argyle) and Hyde Park (Chicago). HiFi also has a store in Evanston, but it's hard to find (way west of the Main St. stop on the Purple line). Those are the ones I go to regularly. There was a Crow's Nest with a very good jazz selection near the Harold Washington Library in the south Loop, but they lost their lease and merged with Rock Records in the north Loop, and they have just a crummy, tiny jazz section now. I guess neither had much in the way of used CDs. Many of the places I liked to shop have closed in the last six months.

Not to rub it in, but to lose at home, while getting some very generous calls from the refs... Oof. I don't take it too seriously one way or the other, but my wife is very pleased that Chicago has started to turn it around in the last few weeks. Bulls' fans have had very little to celebrate for a long time after Kraus's terrible trades (though now in retrospect trading Artest wasn't such a bad idea) and then that motorcycle accident. They still aren't a great team by any stretch of the imagination, but they are staying competitive and they now believe they can win, which the previous five teams did not. And they have one of the best benches in basketball. So the future is starting to look better for Chicago. I think they may actually make the playoffs, given the weak nature of the East, though I doubt they'd get out of the first round. Not going to bet on it though.

I guess here is as good as anywhere, since we've been talking about the Hutcherson/Land team. A New Shade of Blue is up on ebay for an ok price Land - New Shade as well as an ok copy of Total Eclipse. Not my auctions. Hutcherson - Total Eclipse

My understanding is that they have done away with Analytic completely and replaced it with an essay section. It probably wouldn't hurt to buy one of the guides to the GRE, particularly if it talks a bit about the computer scoring and gives some sample vocabulary and math problems. But if you take multiple choice tests well, it shouldn't be a problem.

But it has just been reissued in Japan, and Dusty has it (that's the link at the end of that thread). Still, I agree it should be reissued here, with several of his out of print Verve albums.

Mark: I had actually originally planned on Thurs, but had to change it. Basically the first sets were the same, but he substituted Surrey for Along Came Betty in the first set. I do wish I had heard Terminal 1, since I like that album as a whole a lot. It appears that he isn't doing Killer Joe at all, or very infrequently, on this tour, and perhaps it is the lack of a trumpet holding him back. Anyway, I will try to catch him next year. Eric

Here is a review in the Tribune of Golson's latest stop at the Jazz Showcase. Reich was there on Tuesday. I made it Friday evening. I thought about stopping back on Sunday, but it didn't work out. My comments will follow the review. This seems like a pretty accurate review, though I think Golson's tenor playing picked up a bit. He may be having some embouchure trouble, since the slow and piano parts of the songs didn't sound so great, particularly noticable on I Remember Clifford, but once he picked up some steam, he sounded great. And the band was really hot, particularly this bass player Larry Gray. He is the second-best bass player I have seen live (after Christian McBride). He does some amazing walking bass runs. I think we'll hear more of him in the near future. For the Friday show, Golson did a fairly new song called Horizon Beyond (or something), Pierre's Moment, I Remember Clifford, Coltrane's Mr P.C. and one (or two) I can't recall right now. I was hoping to hear Killer Joe, but that often works best with a trumpet/sax line-up. Anyway, a good show, and I'll definitely try to see him next year. Eric

Any thoughts on the following: Art Taylor - Taylor's Wailers Art Taylor - Taylor's Tenors Charlie Rouse - Takin' Care of Business I have a kind of funny/annoying story about the Taylors. Quite a while back, I picked up Taylor's Hard Cookin' on LP, which has the contents of the two Taylor CDs mentioned above. It turns out that I have sides 1 & 2 twice, but one time it is mislabeled as sides 3 & 4. So I only have one set really. To make matters worse, this was the side that is on Wailers, which I own. Grrr. I better order Tenors now, and probably the Rouse. I guess if someone wants a mislabeled LP of this set, I could send it their way.

A compilation would really blow. If they want to do that, it should just come out on BN, like the Grant Green set. I believe all the Selects have been complete albums, so I will cross my fingers and hope for 5 or 6 complete albums. I don't think they would reissue Montara or San Francisco, since they are still readily available, but I guess you never know. Still hoping for the ultra-rare Inner Glow. (I think that would create some buzz in jazz circles -- never released in the US in any format.)

Well, my teaching experience was unusual and fairly horrible, being dropped into the Newark (NJ) public school system with almost no experience. They didn't have the mentoring program set up properly, so I actually taught everything myself for a couple of weeks, then when I started getting into a groove, they yanked me out and undermined my authority further. I got into it with the teacher who I shared the classroom. She would literally write her problems up on the board at the beginning of the school day, then sit at her desk while each class went through the problems. I wasn't "allowed" to use the board, since it would have meant she would have had to write the problems again. I finally threatened to quit, and was given a different set of classes (in three different rooms) that were even worse (here they grouped all their behaviorally challenged kids who had failed their reading and math pre-test together -- and this was the group they gave to the starting teacher!). The whole place was mobbed-up (the teachers more than the students), kids pulling the fire alarm an average of once a week, trying to get kids caught up after they were returned from stays in juvenile homes, etc. Real movie of the week stuff, but without a happy ending. It really was a hopeless situation, and tragic for the children, and I left after two years (right before attacks on teachers went up incidentally). Anyway, the small advice I would give is not to overdo it on the multi-media stuff up front. If the kids decide you are too friendly or enthusiastic or just different, you risk being marked as a pushover (as I was), and this will make your job so much tougher. You are not there to be their friend, as a few other people have remarked.