J Larsen

I think you're making a lot of assumptions about what makes "collectors" as a whole tick. I also think these assumptions don't necessarily agree with what I've observed. I've never personally known a serious jazz collector, but I have known serious collectors of other genres and I think they'd be depressed if they ever knew they had everything, because it's the hunt that they get their kicks from. (I'll admit I've known one exception who fits your profile very well, but he is very wealthy and very poorly socially adjusted.) Also, your theory clearly doesn't apply to other types of collectors, such as collectors of paintings. It is obviously impractical to collect ALL the paintings of a particular artist, but people seem quite content to collect the few that they can find, afford and enjoy.

But you can say that about anything. The most you can do is make yourself (and perhaps others) happy while you're here. If collecting records makes a guy happy, I'm not going to rain on his parade. It's not really for me, but then again I'm not a rich guy and spending what money I have on travel, sports and the occassional fancy restaurant is what makes me happiest.

...but you would pay $2000 for a litho, which is more similar to a record. A poster would be a cdr at best.

I don't know, $2000 isn't much to spend on a painting, so why shouldn't someone spend that much on a record if they want? Personally, even if I was rich I'd just buy the damn cd, but I'm not judgemental about it.

Hey New Mexicans, would it be feasible to live in Santa Fe and work in Los Alamos, or is that a long, nasty commute? I've been to your state a couple of times, but just for conferences. I haven't really travelled around there.

I don't know how accurate this thing is, but I registered normal.

I was at Wed. night's game when Bobby was in attendance and Saturday's game when his passing was announced (I actually went to every SF home game this week, that was one of the main reasons I wanted to come out here). What a sad note to be leaving the city on. RIP, Bobby, and take care, Barry.

Absolutely, and by the same token it is useful to have threads warning of perceived over/under-ratings.

Dude, it's that bad.

My copy of Jazz on the Barbary Coast just arrived yesterday, just in time for my trip! It looks like the perfect length for my plane trip, too. Thanks for the recommendations. BTW, Bruce, I used to shop at Green Apple all the time as a teen. I'm glad it's still there. I don't know what it's like now, but in the mid-80s it was a, well, off-center shop. They kept copies of the Anarchist Cookbook and the Satanic Verses in the window. It may be pricey overall, but one day in 1988 or so I walked in with about $40 and walked out with a stack of ultra-rare 70s punk singles - like the first Bad Brains 7", the first two Husker Du 7"s, etc. I barely made it around the corner before I started dancing in the street! I still can't believe they didn't know how to price those records!

Oh yeah, I forgot to add that I did get to listen to Blue John again today. It's a solid 3.5. The first two tracks are as bad as I remembered, Braith bugs me as much as I remembered, but, IMO, the Patton and Green originals warrant a 3.5 for the album.

Hey Late, I really, really like this album, too. I rate it up there with Trio Fascination 1 and Friendly Fire. I'd like to add some insightful comment so that this is more than just an acknowledgement that someone else on the board really digs the disc, but I'm not too comfortable writing about music and your comments sum up most of what I'd try to say anyway. It's a great disc!

I don't know, I'm sure this will raise some eyebrows, but I find AMG to be accurate much more often than not.

Hey, I said a "tad bit" stingy! It's my least favorite of the four or five Patton cds I have, but I think that's mostly due to the fact that I don't care for George Braith's playing or compositions. Consequently, I find the first two tracks in particular to be pretty dumpy. But the Patton and Grant Green originals on the album are solid, IMO. I interpret 2.5 stars as being on the bad side of average. With that in mind, I'd give Blue John at least 3.5. I'd need to listen to the last four tracks again to see if I'd give it more.

Thanks for the pronounciation tips. I guess I'll have to ask a Brazillian some day!

Fair enough! BTW, 2.5 for Blue John seems a tad bit stingy to me.

Well, we are in the recommendations forum... I think we're having a useful discussion in this thread. I don't see why you would want to come post in an "overrated" thread just to piss on the parade and say that it's a bad topic for conversation.

Then read another thread, dude.

Christian McBride's "A Family Affair" gets four stars from AMG. It gets two from me, and one of those is a courtesy star. What they hail as a fusion of "70s funk and soul" with "50s and 60s hard bop" strikes me as closer to smooth jazz. More egregiously, Lovano's "Celebrating Sinatra" gets 4.5 stars from AMG. NO WAY!!! The only time I pull that disc out is when I need a coaster! I give it a half a star, as it even makes a pretty lousy coaster!

Hey dude, the last thing I want is for people to accept everything I say because of "greater apparent knowledge"; that would make life pretty damn boring! I'm skeptical of almost everything I hear, myself. Brian Sabean's weekly radio show aside, I've always heard about the early-August waiver wire from fanatical non-insiders (the "amature Moneyball crowd", I guess you could call them). My guess as to why they keep waiver wire transactions under wraps (which even Stark implicity acknowledges they do) is this: the rules are so complicated that few people understand them, so the possibility of a headline in, say, Seattle along the lines of "Boone Waived by Mariners" would make people very upset, even though it's a completely benign transaction. They therefore choose to just keep it quiet. That's NOT a fact or some "insider info" I'm stating, it's just how I rationalize the fact that August waiver-wire info is not made public.

Fair question, although I must say that Gammons and Stark are probably the two least reliable of the national baseball commentators. Sometimes I think GMs BS those two all the time just for kicks. Not that that really undermines your point. I've always been told that the teams all put their full rosters through at the same time so that their true intentions are as masked as possible. For instance, if you waited until next week to clear a player, it would be pretty clear that you were trading him, as by the time he made it through there would only be a few days to the deadline. Actually, there would be another reason that many players have yet to clear that would be consistent with both my story and Starks': it could be that the vast majority have been put on waivers, but only some have made it through *so far*. Teams get something like 12 hours to decide whether or not to put a claim on a player when their turn comes up. There could be a few teams on the chain that are just slow with the clerical work.

While were on the subject, could someone tell me how Joao is pronouced?

Dan, waiver wire info is not made public, Stark only has access to a few names that were leaked to him. My comment is based on what Giants GM Brian Sabean said (perhaps inadvertently) in his radio address last week. In any event, it has always been my understanding that nearly everyone clears waivers on or about August 1. Because of the way the waiver rules work, it really makes no sense to claim players off waivers in early August unless you think a team really wants to dump the player in question (in which case they likely would have put the player through waivers earlier) and you are willing to accept their salary, or if you are trying to block a trade to a rival team. The later is a dangerous strategy, as it is a real bridge-burner with the waiving team. Edit: there's one other circumstance where it makes sense to claim players off waivers in early August, and that's when you have a pre-arranged trade in place for the player in question. If the trade falls through, the waiving team can still put the player through waivers once more. After that, they lose the ability to pull players back. If you couldn't already tell, I'm a bit of a contracts/transactions/stats junkie. We used to have big office arguments about this kind of thing every day when I was working on Wall Street - those guys are really fanatical about this stuff!

You're right, Mule, $30 is low. In fact, I actually paid $40. The sticker is still on it. I didn't realize that the set is $140 new, I thought it was quite a bit less than that. I guess $80 would be a reasonable target price for a used set. Nonetheless, I've seen it for under $70 more than once in the shops. At $90 I'd still keep looking, but then again I'm a penny pincher when it comes to cds.

This is easily one of my favorite sets. I play it all the time. The sound is fine (to my ears) and the music is, for the most part, incredible. Dolphy's playing is uniformly stupendous throughout. That being said. $90 is way high for a used set. I got mine used for about $30. Shop around!