Kevin Bresnahan

Ahhh, yeah, cat-chop used to have a whole bunch of mini-LP OJC K2s a while back for around $5-7 each. I picked up a bunch. They also used to carry the mini-LP versions of some of the Akiyoshi/Tabackin Big Band's RCA material for about $8 each. I don't know how cat-chop sells their stuff so cheap and manages to make enough to stay in business.

Uh... Venus has a Red Garland date? News to me.

Isn't that because Venus has a distribution (manufacturing?) deal with the Korean outfit kangmusic? Bought a couple of Venus albums samplers clearly marked 'For Korean Music fans'. Yes, that's what I meant to say above. They are officially licensed product. The Kang & Music CDs I bought from cat-chop are all clearly marked "Not for distribution in Japan". There are several Korean sellers and all of them offer some great deals. The Eddie Higgins two-fers for $13.99 are a steal (if you like that style of music). Some are gold CDs, even though the eBay listing doesn't say so. I have bought several CDs from cat-chop and they were as advertised. Later, Kevin

Disappointed to read the word "boring" next to Eric Alexander's....i'm trying to save some money to buy the Venus Ballads albums : is there anyone else who would have an opinion about them? Thanks I am a big fan of that boring Eric Alexander. Big big fan. I was being as sarcastic because of the many threads we've had here where others have expressed less than enthusiasm for Eric's playing. The cheapest place to find Eric's Venus CDs is on eBay. Dusty Groove carries a few for around $22. If someone is looking for cheap Venus CDs on ebay, check the Korean seller who sells under the name cat-chop. No Eric Alexander CDs, but plenty of other good ones. They are licensed to Kang & Music in Korea and for some reason are a lot cheaper there. Kevin

I do agree that they make loud CDs. At the wine store where I work on Saturdays, I created an mp3 playlist of all ballads. Whenever the tracks from Eric Alexander's "Gentle Ballads" come on, they are noticeably louder. It's to the point where I am probably going to remove them from the playlist. It's annoying when some nice bluesey ballad ends and then when the next one starts, it's blaring away like you cranked up the volume. The strangest thing about it is that the playlist has tracks from many labels and many artists. These Venus tracks are the only ones that get too loud. Kevin

Eh, Venus Records only puts out hard bop albums with guys like that boring Eric Alexander. They're not worth the money. If they were any good, I'd buy a few. As it is, I bet I only have 50 or so.

Even though I was a child in the 60s, I had a coonskin cap. PETA would have poured blood over my head if I wore it today. Today, Fess Parker is more known for his wines. RIP Davy, Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier.

CDs today have: Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. Why is this any different?

http://www.jazzloft.com/p-50169-ballads-blues.aspx

I picked up my new bike last week and drove it into work today for the first time. It was pretty cold this morning!

Coupled together on the Prestige Willis CD LEGENDS OF ACID JAZZ, which Newbury's currently offering for $3.49 plus shipping. Just listened to this today. The ballads kinda drag a bit but are bluesy enough to keep up your interest.

JJ Johnson and Kenny Dorham "Cafe Bohemia" were in there, weren't they?

Thanks, Kevin. That was a good one, Dan! I'm still laughing.

The thing that bugs me about Rapidshare is that they advertise as a place where you can share files for free. A few years back, I needed to get a file to a few friends. We had someone upload it to Rapidshare and we were all set. I have used it a few times since and thought it was a good service. If I used it more often, I would have upgraded to their paid service, but I just don't download that much stuff. Now, I can't download anything. They claim I can, but if it's true, I haven't found out how. There was talk a few months back that they were in financial trouble. I guess forcing users to their paid tier is one way to bring in the revenue.

I have stopped even trying to get an open "free" slot on rapidshare. They don't want me there any more so I've been obliging them.

Darn - wrong CD! It's Freddie Redd's "Redd's Blues" from the TOCJ-16XX series that has Mcmaster's name in the credits. Sorry for the confusion. Of course, there's still a chance that Brooks' "Minor Move" was done by McMaster.

The first Japanese Blue Note CDs were given a catalog number of CP35-XXXX and done in the mid-eighties by an engineer in Japan. They had a unique mastering. There were only a few titles... maybe 6? The next batch of 50 CDs, called "The Best 50 Series" had a CP32 prefix and as I understand it, used Ron McMaster's digital master. These should be digital dupes to the US CD. In fact, many of the first "US CDs" were pressed in Japan and only differentiated by the paint job. The TOCJ-15XX, 42XX and 43XX series started as 16 bit and switched to 20 bit very early on. As far as I know, these masterings are unique and were done in Japan by a Toshiba engineering team. However, there were a few TOCJs, mostly in the 16XX series, that consisted of unissued or rare titles. Some of them used Ron McMaster's digital master. I believe they listed this on the back of the CD. I have TOCJ-1616, Tina Brooks' "Minor Move", and it lists McMaster on it.

My feeling on these two audiophile reissue series is this: If I have the title on a Japanese TOCJ-4XXX CD, I'm not ordering the new remaster. I prefer the sound of these mid-90s TOCJ CDs. Quite frankly, the XRCDs of two of them that I already had on a TOCJ CD sounded almost identical. As for RVG CDs, there are some clunkers and some beauties. Some need no replacement like the Japanese RVG CDs of LaRoca's "Basra" or Morgan's "Search For The New Land". Kevin

Back up to a hard drive and then shut it off and store it somewhere. Only pull it out if you need it. It should last a long time with no wear & tear. BTW, I would stay away from DVD media for long term storage. I have had several that stopped reading after a little over a year on the shelf. Scared the heck out of me. I'm glad I did not delete what I had burned onto these DVD-Rs. Kevin

I don't know why you would expect anything different. Why do you think I posted what I did here instead of there? It's because if I had posted this, not only would they have deleted it, they likely would have banned me. If you want to talk about it, do it here not there. If you keep bringing it up there, you'll just wind up being banned. Kevin

Story link not requiring a login: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100216/ap_en_mu/eu_britain_abbey_road One line in this article got me to chuckle: "Abbey Road is one of the company's most high-profile assets, as both a recording studio and a tourist attraction for Beatles fans." Tourist attraction? They've obviously never tried visiting this "tourist attraction". I took the Tube to Abbey Road Studios during a London vacation in 1998. It was not a short trip. All the way there, my wife was telling me how much time we were wasting to see a "stupid recording studio". We had trouble finding it too. There are no signs directing you there and when you finally find it, it looks like a regular house in the middle of a neighborhood. I went in the front door expecting some kind of lobby/shop where I could buy a coffee mug or something and instead I was faced with a very snotty receptionist who basically kicked me out. She wouldn't even let me take a picture of the front desk. "We are a working recording studio, not a tourist shop". No souvenirs. No pictures. No nothing! Well, not nothing: I did get a picture of me in "the crosswalk".

It turns out that it was the gayest Super Bowl ever! :lol: :lol:

If you want to dupe a CD using EAC: Click Action-> Copy Image & Create CUE Sheet-> Uncompressed. Note the file name of the .cue sheet you're creating. After the disc is backed up to the hard drive, put a blank CD in your burner and then select Tools-> Write CD-R... This will bring up the CD Layout Editor. In this window, click File-> Load CUE Sheet and click on the CUE sheet you created with the first step. After it loads, click CD-R-> Write CD... Remember that EAC does not remove files after you make your dupe. You have to go and manually delete them.

Talk about hijacked... a few weeks back, I went to ronniecuber.com and was shocked at what came up. His domain name was taken over by some company selling rape tapes! I had to run a virus scan after that.

I really like "The Antidote" on Arabesque, but then again, I'm probably digging it because I really like Ron Blake.