J Larsen

Tonic never seemed to be hurting for attendance, especially not downstairs. If they hadn't lost the downstairs, I doubt they'd be closing.

85 last I checked.

Y'all try that with a Cockney cabbie in London! [i did. First time I was in London, I got a cab and said "How much?", and I paid him the amount he said. "That's wivart the tip, Guv!", I was angrily told. Really, I had no idea that you had to tip a cab driver.] Don't you Americanz tip cab drivers? I was only in a taxi in America once, and I tipped him. MG We should...I do. I've frankly never heard of anyone not tipping a cab driver.

BTW, that new "luxury condo" that just opened next door to Tonic is hands down the ugliest building that has gone up in NYC in the last several years (maybe ever): http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/8477/blue02ctu2.jpg That is a real photo, not an artists' interpretation.

Tonic is by far my favorite place in all of NYC. For the past seven years, if I felt like going out but couldn't think of anything in particular to do, my default has always been to head over to Tonic, which is about a 10 min walk from my apartment. When I was there last weekend, I saw the sign that the basement had been condemned (per the official city notice, it wasn't a "raid" on the bar per se, but rather a condemnation by the heatlh department), I turned to my friend and told her that would be the end of Tonic. I'm sad to be right.

I'm not sure what areas those would be. At that income level, you end up taking whatever you can find wherever you can find it, so my impression is that they are pretty scattered throughout the boroughs, mostly living in ethnic neighborhoods where such venues would be out of place. But that is just my impression, based on the experience of the handful of musicians that I know.

Tortoise are kind of like what you would be left with if you took out everything that was good about the Soft Machine. Sea and the Cake are even worse: poppy with a really annoying, pretentious sounding singer. But I've talked with McIntire before and he does have some pretty good taste in music; so I wouldn't be alarmed just because he is the producer. I'll check this disc out.

Going to see Anthony Braxton in a few hours.

Worse than the "Stupid questions" thread? Way stoopider.

Well, when I'm honest with myself it's more accurate to say that I'm often happy to help.

Always happy to help.

I've never been convinced that the man knew anything other than how to promote himself. I don't think he's ever made a film on a subject that he actually knew anything about before deciding to make the film. This wouldn't necessarily be a problem if not for that fact that his production values suck and his research sucks.

I wasn't around to hear that.

I'm out of here.

I really mean that. I'm ashamed to even be seen here.

This is the most pointless thread ever.

I believe the wiki article mentions that a popular theory is that recently introduced nicotine-base pesticides are to blame. It seems like there ought to be data on when various regions started using these chemicals so that the theory can be tested.

I was just going to post words of similar effect. For all the complaining I occassionally do about various recordings being OOP, the fact is that there are more good in-print cds than I can reasonably expect to even find the time to listen to. For the most part, I stay away from the collector's market. (But if anyone has a spare Chico Hamilton set they'd like to sell me....)

This is quite unnerving; I'm very surprised that I hadn't heard anything about it until this morning: http://money.cnn.com/2007/03/29/news/honey...dex.htm?cnn=yes More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder This has wide-ranging ramifications beyond just honey production. Besides the fact that honeybees are really cool animals, we need them.

Me too.

I don't think AF are as good or as bad as they are made out to be. They just don't get me excited, one way or the other. (U2, on the other hand, makes me want to join the NRA.) I'll tell you one "hot new indie band" that I really can't stand - The Decemberists. God they make me want to barf. I've never been able to stomach cutesy/twee/poppy bands. But that's my problem, I guess.

Too bad it is on Charly - all the cds I've ever heard from them sound pretty awful. But Sweet Exorcist is, IMO, Mayfield's best, and Got to Find a Way is a pretty good record too (especially the first track, IIRC - haven't spun it in at least a year).

Smog ain't even close to new - I saw him for the first time about 15 years ago! He is pretty good, though.

$9.99 in store as of last Saturday.

I have all the albums on vinyl on Curtdom. The vinyl quality isn't very good, but the records are all great.