J Larsen

Isn't a borken chord a type of arpeggio (ie the notes of the chord are played individually instead of all at once)?

I'm only 90% sure it was him, as no one was announced - but he was quite good. Somewhere between semi-avant jazz and Fahey. Marc Ribot was arrested for refusing to leave.

The police have kicked everyone out of Tonic now.

I've been hanging out at Tonic all day - musicians and fans have been drifting in and out. Matthew Shipp, Marc Ribot and John Abercrombie have all turned in impressive performances, along with some others who I didn't recognize.

Tonight I'm seeing Jandek.

Well, I got back from the last show at Tonic about a half hour ago. I'm depressed. NYC has really lost something for me. That was a special place.

Playing straight through to noon on Sunday would be a pretty serious Blue Law violation, no?

Do you figure 8:30 PM to 12:00 PM a mistake in Monk's contract?

They're great, but there's three discs of material and it's all available as a Mosaic Select set already. Thanks - I really haven't followed the Mosaic Select series very closely. Too overwhelming.

In a bizarre twist, the governor of New Jersey is in critcal condition after nearly being killed on his way to moderate the meeting between Imus and the Rutgers team: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/04/13/cor...h.ap/index.html I have conflicting feelings about this incident. Clearly what Imus said was tasteless and worthy of reprimand by his employer. On the other hand, I'm beyond tired of how much attention stories like this get, and I am also sick of how eager many people seem to be to play the victim role. A marginally relevant person says something nasty about you, and bam - you're doing to the press conferences, the teary-eyed interviews, the book deals, negotiating the rights for the made-for-TV movie, etc... I'm sorry but part of me just finds that sickening.

Tonight I'm going to try to get myself into the last show at Tonic. Sure to be a zoo.

How about a 2CD of the Dexter Gordon Keystone Sessions? I haven't actually heard these, so I'm open to being convinced that they are not worth of reissue. Also, are there still any good Ike Quebec sessions waiting to be reissued?

Because they still have the dumbest and most stubborn management group in the league (the fact that but for the ownership group they'd be in Florida doesn't change the fact that they are dumb and stubborn). I can not tolerate people who make the same mistakes over and over again, expecting a new result each time. Fire Sabean, fire Righetti, get a GM who can identify young talent (as opposed to, say, trading Joe Nathan and Francisco Liriano for a bunch of b-leaguers) and a pitching coach who actually coaches, stop signing has-beens (about half the team) and never-have-beens-and-never-will-bes (Feliz) to ludicrous contracts, develop the farm system, and then, after a few years, you might have something. Oh well, at least it is only sports. I generally have no interest in sports, but I have to confess that I still do take a passing interest (maybe slightly more than passing) in the Giants. I really loved them as a kid, but they sure didn't love me back...

Sorry, but that just isn't true. The lasers in cd players operate in the infrared. They are completely "indifferent" to the dye of the cd. It used to be true that the green cds had shorter lifespans because the material used to make the dye simply did not maintain its reflectivity for very long, but that is no longer the case. Things change and I guess I haven't kept up, as I burn a LOT less than I used to because bit torrent & hard drive storage has taken the place of burning & trading. I was refering to the inability to extract the music later in (shelf) life from a few discs from 5-8 years ago. Dreaded Taiwanese TDKs, the "bad" Maxells, so on & so forth. Just make sure they don't have wheat gluten in them. Yes, they used to use a cheap chemical in the green ones that lost its reflectivity quickly (within a couple days if left in the sun), which is why people used to buy the more expensive gold ones (which actually have gold or silver in them) or the blue ones (which have a chemical developed by Mitsubishi, the name of which I can not remember. But they have now made the green dye much more stable, so the practical benefit of one dye vs another is very small. I guess the caveat here is that the products on the market now haven't been around long enough to directly measure their lifespans, so they have been approximated by stress testing, which can be imperfect. But this is as much a problem for the gold and blue ones as it is for the newer green ones.

Sorry, but that just isn't true. The lasers in cd players operate in the infrared. They are completely "indifferent" to the dye of the cd. It used to be true that the green cds had shorter lifespans because the material used to make the dye simply did not maintain its reflectivity for very long, but that is no longer the case.

The brand shouldn't matter at all. 0s and 1s are 0s and 1s. Lon has the right idea, get whatever is cheap.

Just received this via mass email: Okay -- it's official. We are planning a demonstration at Tonic on Saturday, starting at 11 am. Below you will find the flyer we're distributing -- both in text form and in PDF form. Please forward this flyer on to everyone you think might be interested in coming down to support our action. We will there playing music and hope to have a great peaceful demonstration that calls attention to how much we need a place like Tonic to keep our musical scene vital. We will be sending out more mailing tonight: we need bands to play at the club; people to make sure the demonstration stays calm and peaceful; and all the press attention we can get. Thanks for all your help. #------------- CULTURAL EMERGENCY Musicians and Friends: It is time to Claim what is our Right! COME to TONIC Saturday April 14th FROM 11 a.m. until... 107 Norfolk Street (between Delancey and Rivington) WE MUST DEMAND: AN ADEQUATE, AFFORDABLE SPACE, CENTRALLY LOCATED IN THE LES! TONIC IS BEING HANDED OVER TO THE REALTORS. WE ARE MAKING AN APPREAL TO THE CITY, TO EITHER GIVE US THIS SPACE OR ONE COMPARABLE IN SIZE FOR THE USE OF AVANTJAZZ/NEW MUSIC/INDIE COMMUNITY. WE CAN NOT LOSE SUCH AN IMPORTANT HOME! YOUR PRESENCE - YOUR MUSIC- YOUR VOICE – YOUR ART - IS ESSENTIAL. SHOW THE CITY YOU CARE ABOUT WHAT IS HAPPENING. DON’T LET REALTORS DECIDE NEW YORK CITY’S CULTURAL FATE! STOP THE LOSS OF IMPORTANT VENUES, ONE BY ONE FORCED TO CLOSE BY RENT INCREASES AT AN ALARMING RATE. STOP THE DESTRUCTION OF THE LES AS A CENTER OF DIVERSE & VARIED & UNIQUE CULTURE. Tonic is scheduled to close on Friday, April 13th, 2007. The following day, we will gather to fight the eviction of this crucial venue, the diminishment of our livelihoods, and the destruction of our culture by peacefully resisting. Please join us. For the last nine years Tonic has been at the center of NYC experimental music. When the tsunami of rent increases and mal- development engulfing the LES forces its closure, NYC will have lost the last avant-jazz/indie/new music club in Manhattan with a capacity over 90. A vibrant community of musicians and fans worked for years to maintain Tonic -- raising over 100,000 dollars through benefit concerts and donations to pay off debt, fund repairs, buy a sound system, and keep the club open in devastating times such as following 9/11/01. We’re taking action now to dramatize the market failure of which Tonic’s closing is a symptom, and to ask that the city save this home for us or provide a minimum 200 capacity, centrally located venue for experimental jazz, indie, and new music. We want for ourselves and the communities around us the right to stay around long enough to enjoy the culture we’ve created, not harassment and a bum’s rush into eviction the minute real estate decides we’ve made the neighborhood ‘safe’ and ‘cultured’ enough for them to cash in. This is where we tell the landlords, developers, and the city: Enough. Genucht. Basta ya! Coming on the heels of the closing of CBGB's, Sin-e, Fez, The Continental, and numerous other varied downtown venues, the closing of Tonic represents the shutting down of NYC's most important live music experimental jazz, indie, and new music scene. This wave of live music space closings constitutes a market failure. The downsized or geographically marginal venues arising in the wake of the established club closings are not generating enough to maintain the economic viability of this scene. If there is not immediate and sufficient PUBLIC INTERVENTION, either in the form of limiting rents, or supplying alternate space and funding - or both - New York City will lose an essential part of its heritage, culture, and economy. “My band plays some of the biggest festivals in Europe...Meanwhile there’s only one club I can play in New York and it’s about to close.” Steven Bernstein, Trumpet player and leader of Sex Mob and the Millennial Territory Orchestra (NY Times) According to Patricia Nicholson Parker, organizer of the Vision Festival: “We have come together to say we deserve a space and in essence, we have already paid for our space. Musicians contribute to the economy of this city every day with world class performances. In the case of Tonic, many musicians came together and invested in the space. Through benefits and organizing they raised significant sums of money (100+ grand) for the venue, Tonic. The city needs to acknowledge this. It is good for the city and good for the artists and their audiences that the city make available a musician-friendly community club/space which holds up to 200 audience members. It is important that it not be in the outer boroughs but be centrally located in the LES where this serious alternative music has been birthed and where it can be easily accessed by audiences.” #-----------------

Well, that's a question with There's a Riot... Should it be made to sound "good?" It seems to me that an essential part of it is its murkiness (like Exile on Main Street). In what way does it sound "better?" The old version sounded like a fifth generation tape of a murky record that was dubbed over an old Ozzy casette. This sounds like a cool-sounding murky record.

Well I played about half of There's a Riot last night at pretty high volume - it sounds MUCH better than the old version (granted, that's not hard) - Poetry in particular pratically sounds like a different song! Looking forward to getting some real time with this set.

I really enjoyed this show, but it didn't make me want to run out and buy any records. I think this kind of thing is a lot more fun to see live than to subject yourself - I mean listen to - at home.

Tonight my live show marathon continues with the Bill Frisell Trio and the VV.

Everyone respects Hank and what he accomplished and maybe there are a few Barry fans who would actually take it to heart if Aaron said "I believe he used steroids, he should be banned from the game and his statistics erased from the books". No, there really aren't. The only ones left are either indifferent to the allegations or will never be convinced. The only thing that might happen is a few Barry fans might lose their respect for Aaron. Being from SF, I can tell you that the level of denial among his remaining supporters is absolutely staggering. They'll have you believe that not only is he totally innocent and that the whole BALCO thing has been orchestrated by Bud Selig to distract attention from baseball's real problems, but that Barry is in fact the nicest guy in the league. At the same time, he has far fewer people in his corner now than he did a couple years ago.

I too am jealous. Maybe the distributor had about 5 copies at that prce. I won't deal with or get it from Best Buy, but how does the set look & sound? I actually think the design of the box itself is a little cheesy - I'm not going to have a chance to spin it at a decent volume until this weekend so no comment on the sound, but I expect it to be great.

Well guys, I don't know what to say - mine just arrived. I am done with BB, though.

Last week at the VV the house announcer introduced Paul "Motion".