Kevin Bresnahan

Paul, read what I wrote. Yes, my wife drives a Sienna van. Do I commute to work with one? No. Does she commute in Boston traffic with it? No. It's a "kid's bus". One or two mile jaunts. Maybe a 10 mile one thrown in there to bring one of daughters to a clarinet or violin lesson. BTW, the reason I want my wife in a bigger vehicle is because seemingly all of the mom-mobiles are huge SUVs. There are more than a few Hummers. 5 or 6 easy. If she's only driving down the road to drop the kids off at school and everyone else has a monster truck, she's gonna have a bigger car too. I might wish the vehicles were smaller but I ain't gonna jeopardize my family on a wish. I still don't like what we have to pay for this "priviledge" of driving a mini-van but for these short drives, it's worth it to me. Funny thing is, we only have two daughters. We really don't need the thing. Kevin

Last night, the Boston news stations were reporting on a station in Wrentham, MA that was selling 87 octane for $3.39. They were talking to people at the pumps and they were all complaining how expensive it was to drive... a couple of them were saying this as they pumped the gas into their SUV. BTW, one of the newscasts said that SUV sales hit a record level last month. People are still buying their SUVs. My wife tells me that it's probably going to cost us over $600 per month this winter to heat the house at the current oil prices. We'll be feeling the pinch up here pretty badly soon. At least with my Prius, my gas budget won't break our bank. My wife's getting tired of filling up her Sienna mini-van to the tune of almost $50 every other week. She has me looking into the Toyota Highlander hybrid. It gets 33 mpg on the highway. Not great, but better than her 99 Sienna (which gets around 18). The thing is, we can't afford one of these Highlanders. They start at $33K! Oh well, one can dream. Kevin

Thank god I'm not the only who has this! And I agree, his first Christmas disc is pleasant enough and it does find its way onto the player during the holidays. Other than that, eh. Why are we even wasting space on the Organissimo server for this? Kevin

I'd love to pick up some XTC but the word on the street is that the CD versions out there are all terrible-sounding, including the oop Mobile Fidelity gold discs. I once came close to buying a Japanese import (for chump change... maybe $10?) but then I checked and found out the treble is painfully boosted on all of these remasters. Kevin

Alright, Jim's messing with my brain! I swear it said "Kill Him" when I first looked at it. Is it one of those animated gifs? Kevin

Organissimo member stereojack has a store in Cambridge, MA and he has had this in his bins recently. Send him a PM or call his shop at (617) 497-9447. They do ship. Kevin

Some people have had luck using metallic ink on the label side to get a damaged CD to play enough to rip a new one. If you are looking to experiment, try a silver Sharpie, although that might not be reflective enough. I think some people have had luck with metallic fingernail poilsh. Be warned to allow it to dry fully... you wouldn't want that spraying all over the inside of your machine. NOTE: Only apply the ink to the label side. That's where the metal is, not on the playback side. Kevin

Be aware that the first pressings of several of the titles of the Connoisseur CDs from this set of six had a lot of quality problems. I bought two copies of "Basra" before I got one that wouldn't skip. Many people had similar problems with Morgan's "Lee Way". I can't remember all the titles, but my memory is that all of them had problems to some extent. Remember, this batch was also the first one to sell out and it was mostly because of people returning their first pressings. I talked to Michael Cuscuna about it at the time and he was bummed that Blue Note "counted" that first pressing because (I am pretty sure) the beancounters only allow two pressings for Conns (hence the "Limited Edition" tag). You probably have an early-issue "Basra". Those holes were probably always there. Try putting it into your PC and see if Exact Audio Copy can extract the audio files. Burn a CD-R if it can and consider yourself lucky. I had a copy that skipped in two CD players and played in two others. I gave it away when I got the JRVG. The person I gave it to said it played fine. Kevin

Not only was it part of the Collector's Choice release, but it was one of those titles that seemed to "hang around" forever. Heck, Tower Records still had a few copies as late as last year. I see it in used bins pretty frequently too. Why Blue Note (or Michael Cuscuna) chose this title is beyond me. Maybe they need one title to flop in every batch? The next thing you know, they'll be putting out James Newton's "African Flower", another Collector's Choice release that's sitting in bins all over. Kevin

I am curious - why not load iTunes on her PC? ← iTunes takes over the PC's playback and ripping activities. As I understand it, if you use iTunes to rip CDs, the resulting files will only play on the PC they were created or the iPod that they were copied to. No "sharing" allowed, even if it's in your own house. mp3 files have no such limitation. Therefore, I was hoping to use the iPod as a fancy mp3 player and I tried attaching it as such. I even formatted the hard drive for the PC to "see it". I was also able to copy a bunch of mp3 onto it. However, the player wouldn't play the files. It kept saying it was unformatted. I just think the iPod is too smart for its own good. It's a simple mp3 player with an attitude. Kevin

If you're gonna quote me, get your facts straight. I would like to see gas go to $5 a gallon to get commuters to stop buying SUVs. If you've got a better way to get the car companies to stop making more & more SUVs, tell us. If you looked around on the roads, it doesn't take a scientist to see that SUVs are much more prevalent on the roads today. Almost every car company is making or planning to make one. Hell, even Porsche started making one. Volvo has one. "Liitle car company" VW came out with the Tourag. Jaguar must have one in the pipeline. Next up will be Rolls. The car companies make what we will buy, not what we should buy. We will continue to buy bigger & bigger SUVs in the effort to "stay ahead" on the road. It's human nature to want to protect yourself. So, how to get Joe Commuter to stop looking at a Ford Explorer first? Easy, have the goevernment make laws mandating it. Oh wait, that won't happen with the oil barons in office. How about giving incentives for people to buy smaller, more fuel-efficient cars? Well, the government decided to phase out that tax incentive. Maybe they should penalize buyers of large gas-guzzlers with a tax surcharge? Well, that not only ain't that gonna happen, but the morons in Washington "accidently" put a "Hummer tax exemption" law on the books that allowed businesses to write off 100% of the purchase price of any vehicle with a gross weight of over 3,500 lbs (which includes Hummers & B&Ws). Due to an outcry of protest, they've actually modified it, but the damage was done. 1,000s of Hummers were bought and paid for by the American people. So, what'll do it, Paul?? How can we get Americans to start buying "cars" again? You got a better idea? Tell us. Better yet, tell your congressman. My thinking is simple. Money. Money is the way to effect change. That's the "American Way". If gas prices go up, Joe Sixpack will reconsider his next automobile purchase. He may look at that mpg window sticker that says "12 city 15 highway" and think "No way". It's the only way I see to get this terrible trend to start reversing. And Paul, businesses have always bought big trucks and transports. That isn't the problem and you know it. Hell, jazz drummers driving Jeeps ain't the problem either and you know it. Just look around on the highway and you'll see it, plain as day. And please re-read this whole thread. I mention why I think Ford F-350's are dumb... I just had a fellow engineer buy one as a commuter vehicle. He ain't hauling manure. I can always tell when gas prices go up a lot, not by my gas slips, but by the number of people who ask me how I like my Prius as I gas my car up. When prices soar, I get asked at almost every fill-up. HIGH GAS PRICES GET AMERICANS TO STOP AND THINK ABOUT THEIR DRIVING HABITS. Kevin

I'll be buying a couple of these and just to spite the morons at Sony/BMG, I'll crack the thing and burn the heck out of it. The last disc I was sold as "copy protected", it took a whole 5 minutes to figure out. As mentioned by Use3D, you should be able to hold down the shift key and prevent any autost program from executing. Once you stop the program, the "data" should be viewable in any Explorer Window. As I said, I'll check it out. Hey, worse case will be that I make a CD-R in my audio standalone burner. Once I make that burn, I'll be able to make as many copies as I want. However, I've yet to find a CD that's pushed me that far. The challenge is on! Kevin

Huh?!? Do not equate my stance as pro-Bush. That's a very odd take on it. Please start a thread about Bush and gas prices over in the political forum so I can continue to ignore it. Keep that stuff outta here, please. Look, I'll admit that I helped derail this thread a bit. But just a bit. All I said was that I would love to see $5 a gallon. That can be debated. I'm fine with debating that. Why don't we at least try to keep the personal attacks out of it? The thread is called "The Gasoline Blues". I have them, you have them... we all have them. I am trying to find a silver lining in all of it and the thread bogged down into a politics. Sorry if I initiated this plunge into "the dark side". Back to The Gasoline Blues. I'm outta here. Kevin

Yeah, this packaging does certainly suck. I mean, the plastic's so thin... why? And the artwork all tumbles out when you try to get at the discs... why? Were they trying to create a bad package? I'll be sending off for the old-style package. Kevin

I don't give a rat's ass about gas mileage. I see gas prices as a way to get the number of people buying SUVs to go down. Period. I like to see behemoths like the Ford Expedition rotting on the lots. I'd like for Hummer to go out of business... or at least go back to making troop transports. Jazzypaul, I'm tired of arguing with you over this. You already told me what you think of people like me who drive normal sized cars. So just go ahead and buy your SUV. Just do me a favor... when you plow that high-riding bumper of your SUV into some family out for a drive, think about what you said here. If you get out and see that bumper lodged on top of a baby seat, how will you feel then? At least buy a Mercedes ML. They lowered their bumper down to "car height". And your harping on who's fault it is for accidents... well, for the record, they are called accidents for a reason. People don't mean for them to happen. Ooops and all that. One "oopsie" by Buffy in her Hummer and there's a good chance that I'm road kill. If I have that same "oopsie" and Buffy's driving a Honda Accord, I have a chance, especially with my front & side airbags. Gas went up 15 cents this week. A survey of Mass drivers was done yesterday and it showed that the gas prices are getting them to change their driving habits. I figure when gas hits $3, it might start getting buyers to re-think that Hummer. $4 and maybe they'll stop buying those Explorers. $5 and maybe those F350s will go away. Those truck guys won't drive a car for nothin'. Kevin

Most cars today have stereo with multiple I/O paths so that the head unit can accomodate add-ons. You may have to buy an after-market cable, but in the end, you should be able to get a direct line-in. As for anyone coming up with an interface that can control the iPod from the head unit, I doubt it. The fact that Apple wouldn't even make the iPod plug & play with Windows shows how open they are to doing this kind of thing. I tried everything with my daughter's iPod Mini to get it to work on her PC without iTunes to no avail. What I think will happen is that car manufacturers will have a front panel USB II jack so that you can plug in a memory stick loaded with mp3 files. Simple & easy. I'm looking forward to that. You can fit a lot of music onto a 1GB memory stick! Kevin

Out on what label? I have a Japanese 24 bit remaster that sounds pretty good. Before that, I had it on a US CD on the Portrait label. That one sounded like crap... all tinny and harsh. Sounded like an early stab at CD making. Kevin

There's an article in my local paper that talks about gas breaking $3 a gallon out on the Massachusetts islands. Gas prices are making headlines again. If we're lukcy, these articles will continue to hold the front page. Every day that "HIGH GAS PRICES" leads the news is another day that someone in the market for a new commuter vehicle will think, "Jeez, maybe I shouldn't buy this Ford Expedition because the gas prices are still going up". I'm still hoping that gas hits $5 a gallon... for a month. After a month, drop back down to $1.00. After a month of crazy-high gas, maybe the SUV sales will shrink back down to a normal level and commuter vehicles might actually start looking like "cars" again. BTW, I would never make that mod to my Prius. First off, it invalidates your warranty. My electrical motor and battery have a 100,000 mile warranty. Secondly, I DO NOT want to have to plug my car in. I'll let the gas engine charge my batteries, thanks very much. I will look into alternative fuels when they come out, but until then, I'm waiting for the Toyota Sienna hybrid. My wife's 1999 Sienna only gets about 20 mpg. Even she's complaining about filling it up and she only fills up about once every two weeks. Kevin

No, mine wasn't a SuperSport (I don't like the 65 SS anyway... all they did was paint the trim black). Mine had the 283, which I liked better than the 327. The 327 was just a bored and stroked 283. Better gas mileage with the 283 and plenty of power.

I'm talkin' lowrider! ← Ah man, they did that to a '65 Impala?? That was my car. I had two... one was a four door that I had in high school and college and the other was a cherry convertible that I bought as an investment. Both had the "you can't kill it" 283 V8. What an engine. What a car. BTW, the "investment" wound up losing $2K. The worst thing was I didn't even like driving it. Memories have a way of making you forget the bad shit about your young obsessions. After I got used to driving modern cars with tight handling and no yaw during turns, these beasts take some getting used to. The bias ply tires were the first to go. It was like driving on solid tires. The funniest thing was the steering. You could go down the highway and move the steering wheel back and forth about 2 inches and the car went straight. Mushy, mushy, mushy. Turn the wheel and the nose dives. Ah, give me a modern car any day. Kevin

The way I see it, it's only a matter of time before the EU laws change to 70 years. All it's going to take is when those Beatles dates start hitting the magic "50". Watch how much pressure gets put on the Parliament then! Elvis's stuff has put a lot of pressure already but face it, he's American. When those Beatles/Stones et al start getting this treatment, the English lords will act. Kevin

The Ty Law signing is intriguing. When the NFLPA releases the cap implications, we'll find out what the contract really is. The scuttle over on www.patsfans.com is that Law's contract has no signing bonus and a fixed, low first year salary of about $3.4 million with performance-based escalators that could get it as high as $6 million. If this is true, the Jets could simply cut Law and save a bundle if he doesn't perform. Kevin

What, me worrying about my safety is crazy? Don't you care if you get killed in a car crash for simple reason that the other car is a monstrosity? I worry about it a lot. I am a very safe driver. It's the guy/gal in the SUV that I worry about. So, join 'em if you can't beat 'em? Is that what you think will change this horrible change in the cars driving on out highways?? That is crazy thinking. Me buying an SUV just puts another SUV on the road! We don't need more, we need less if we ever want to decrease our dependence on foreign oil. The only way some of the people buying these behemouths will stop and reconsider is if gas goes through the roof. The rich will still buy them, but "Joe Blow" and his family won't. There are far too many SUVs on our roads today. Nice. I guess if you get crunched by a Mack truck, we can all say, "Well, that serves him right". Why? People like you won't buy 'em anyway! Why should they build more? Just so you'll have more people you can crush and tell 'em that it serves them right?

Stereo Jack's is a great place. Highly recommended. One place would have to be there. Cheapo's Records has a decent amount of vinyl and the Looney Tunes in Cambridge too. I never had much luck for vinyl at the Boston Looney store. You may also want to consider stopping at Intergrity 'N Music in Wethersfield, CT (it's just off I-91... really close) on your way up from the city. Well worth the visit for inexpensive Jazz vinyl. BTW, if that picture of that diseased lung doesn't get you to quit, what the heck are these people in Boston going to do? Kevin

Have a good one, Lon. 50... I used to think that was old but as I approach it, I think 25 is too young. Later, Kevin