Kevin Bresnahan

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

The thing is Claude, all of these sales would be pure bonus. Because it would be a hybrid, all of us Jazzers, even those without an SACD player, would buy and play them. The "all-SACD" buyers would buy it and give the sales a bump. Who knows, maybe they'll even dig the music so much that Jazz gets another convert. Kevin

Shit, I missed this thread! I just got off the phone with Mosaic where I was calling to let them know that they might want to re-think their decision to do that upcoming Monk LP on 200 gram vinyl when I got to talking with a new voice. It turns out it was Jerry Roche. He pointed me out to his website and I was floored. I was told this was happening but I had a "gag order" until it was finalized. I guess it got finalized. Jerry is a really nice guy. We got talking and he talked about some other titles he's working on, including both Herb Geller dates from Jubilee on 1 Disc as well as Roy Ayers' "West Coast Vibe". It sounds like he's gonna go for most of the PJ material. The remastering is being done by Mantis Evar, a really nice guy who I met years ago at Blue Note. I thought he was mostly doing A&R at BN but I guess he's branching out. I knew he had his own recording studio but I was unaware that he was involved in remastering too. He's a fairly young guy so I don't know if we've heard his work elsewhere. I think he'll do OK. He has a great ear for the music. I went out club hopping with him in NYC one night and we got to talking. His taste is mighty fine. Erik Truffaz even named one of his recent CDs after Mantis. I also tried like hell to get Jerry to tap into the SACD buyer's market. I told him that if he made these SACD hybrids, he'd get sales from "weird" places... people who would buy the disc simply because it was an SACD. He's going to look into it. Maybe Sony will pony up some free time again? Later, Kevin

I don't know if this is his best since I haven't heard it, but it would be hard to top his playing with Crash on their Cellar Live CD "The Doctor Is In". This is a smokin' date. Kevin

To everyone, I got an E-mail from our friends at Mosaic Records looking for some help designing some web pages for a charitable auction to benefit the Jazz Foundation. Unfortunately, there isn't a budget for this work so it would have to be done pro bono. I suppose that if this kind of work was your line of business, you could probably write it off for a charitable expense. The auction will be November 16, 2005 at B.B. King's Blues Club & Grill on 42nd Street in NYC. The E-mail I got said that they were thinking about coordinating the live auction with a simultaneous eBay auction i.e. schedule the eBay auction so that it ended during the live auction at B.B. King's place. Sounds pretty tricky to me. I am willing to help, but when I saw the auction items, I blanched. I would not be able to design and lay out a web page that could do these items justice. They need to grab the attention. They need to extract the highest bids possible. I wouldn't know the first thing about how to do this within the confines of eBay, or if eBay is even the way to go. When you see this list, you might understand my hesitancy. If anyone is willing to help out, contact me and I'll get you in touch with Wendy Oxenhorn of the Jazz Foundation. As I said, I will help however I can but I do have a pretty busy day job. Some of the items up for auction: * The famous Blue Note Club’s Bösendorfer Grand Piano, played by all the legends * Miles Davis’s boa constrictor snakeskin jacket * Frank Foster’s Gold-Plated Selmer Tenor Saxophone * Remo Palmier’s early 1950’s custom-designed one of a kind prototype Vega Guitar * Private Piano lesson from Dr. Billy Taylor * Clark Terry’s Eterna Bflat Silver-Plated Cornet used on The Tonight Show in the 1970’s and many famous recordings * A stay at the “Palais Schaumburg in Salzburg” The 33-room palace built in the 14th century will be opened to an outsider for the first time by Prince Max of Schaumburg-Lippe. Jackie O and Aristotle Onassis, His Highness the Aga Khan and Jean Paul Getty are among the few outsiders to have stayed with the royal family. * Freddie Hubbard’s Saxophone, yes, that’s what we said… * Lunch for 4 in Time Inc.’s Private Executive Dining Room with Editor-in-Chief Norm Pearlstine who is responsible for 138 magazines including Time Magazine, PEOPLE, Fortune and Money to name a few. * Private Guitar lesson from Bucky Pizzarelli * Jazz All-Nighter from Harlem to New Orleans - This adventure will be hosted by Jazz Foundation's Director, Wendy Oxenhorn, and one of Harlem's legendary musicians. First make the rounds to the greatest unknown clubs of Harlem then fly to New Orleans on a private jet to finish a perfect night of jazz. You can watch the sun rise on the way back to New York. For 6 people. * Guitar lessons from Danny Kalb, Founder of the Blues Project, (The band that influenced Led Zep and so many others.) * Dinner with Dave Bruebeck at the fabulous Ellington’s Jazz Club on Sanibel Island. Package includes weekend stay on Sanibel Island, luxurious hotel, exquisite dining and dinner with Dave! * Handwritten lyrics by Jimmy Norman, co-author of the famous rock n' roll tune recorded by the Rolling Stones "Time is on my Side." Jimmy Norman will write a song for a special occasion * Stage costume donated by Cyndi Lauper from one of her tours * Freddie Hubbard’s trumpet. (He’s getting a new one and giving us his!) * Drum sticks used by Buddy Rich, Roy Haynes, Louis Belson * Original Cape and Clothes worn by Sun Ra * Coffee mug designed and autographed by Yoko Ono * Lunch with McCoy Tyner (must check dates)

SPOILERS!! SPOILERS!! Man, I just finished the 6th book. Rowling is simply fantastic. She does not come close to creating "me too" mamby-pamby children's stories. She reels the reader in by writing a very believable story. She will kill off a main character because the possibility of that happening is always at the forefront of the story: everyone is in the line of fire. So she really caught me off guard when she had Harry's god father Sirius Black get killed off in book 5. Now, she exploded the whole Potter world in book 6! Dumbledore dead? But he's the "only one" who Voldemort is afraid of! Close Hogwarts? Well, according to Harry at the end of the book, even if they reopen it, he won't be coming back. What will the next book say? It's not like they can label it "Year 7"... not if Harry keeps his word and doesn't come back. What's going to happen with this series? Will it end with Voldemort killing Harry? Rowling really has everyone guessing. Her story is totally unpredictable. I am so looking forward to the next book! BTW, some thoughts I had while reading this latest one. I think Dumbledore knew he was dying already by the time Snape arrived to finish him off. By the way Dumbledore talked to Snape there, I got the feeling that Dumbledore was giving Snape the order to finish him off. I expect that somehow Harry & Snape will meet where Snape will tell him as much, even it is on Snape's dying breath. I don't think for a minute the Hogwarts will close. I also don't think that Harry will stay away. I am guessing that something happens over the summer that convinces Harry that the best way for him to find the remaining horcruxes is to finish school. This will also give him, Ron & Hermoine the chance to find out who R.A.B. is. I thought for sure that Fawlkes the phoenix was going to fly into the infirmary and drip a few tears into Bill's werewolf wounds. I think it would have made that scene better than it was with that sappy stuff with Fleur & Mrs. Weasley. The way this one went, I'm seeing Fleur and Bill in divorce court in a couple of years, tops. Next book, I'm betting that Ron and/or Hermione gets whacked. Rowling seems to delight in whacking main characters and with each of the last 4 books, she's moved up the food chain from non-characters (no name "muggles") to minor characters (Cedric Diggory), to lesser main characters (Sirius Black) and now to full-blown main characters (Dumbledore). I'm betting that the next one is Ron. Of course, my bets don't mean anything... Rowling really has me guessing. Anyway, I just love these books. I was so happy when I was at the store last week and I saw all those kids lined up by the hundreds to buy a book. A book! Anything that gets kids to read is good in my mind. Bye Dumbledore... you were a great character. Kevin

Is this cover really showing up in stores with this error?? If it is and they are fixing it for US distribution, I have to get a copy. It's gonna be quite the humourous rarity. I want one in my collection. Does anyone know the best place to order one? Kevin

The person I talked to said he called Joe Lovano, who was apparently touring Europe on the bill with McCoy. Joe said McCoy has been looking pretty sick but as far as he knows, he checked into the hospital because he's exhausted, nothing more. However, even being so exhausted that you need hospitalization is serious. I hope he's OK and back on his feet again. Kevin

I made a few calls. McCoy has been feeling a bit "under the weather" for the last few weeks and apparently checked into a hospital in Turino for exhaustion. Hopefully the cause for the exhaustion is nothing serious. Later, Kevin

It's only $5.99 at vinyl.com but I'd probably pay the extra 5 bucks and get the 180 gram version. Kevin

Maybe by using "Handcock", they figure no one will scan the artwork for bootlegs... you know, taking their love of copy protection to a new level?

BTW, supposedly RVG had better sources for the Monk and Davis sets so these two are the only ones that you might find sounding a little better if you get the US versions. I believe for the Monk RVGs, they found the original metal masters. As for the JJ Johnson set, I am almost certain that US BN used the same masters as the Japanese twofer, however, I really like the packaging/artwork of these complete CD sets. I still say the Sonny Clark set has some of the best sounding CD audio I own. Kevin

Brownie, what's "reasonable"? I have a few of these "Complete" sets and I'd like to get them all. Unfortunatley, Red Trumpet, the only place that stocks them, wants almost $45 + shipping for each of them. Too rich for me. I'd buy both of these sets if they were reasonable and since you don't want that JJ set, let me know how much it is. I might be interested. Kevin

You can also buy paper that is cut specifically for labels and inserts. http://www.provantage.com/buy-7vbtm27t-dvd...63-shopping.htm And for printable blanks: http://search.store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/nsea...1Zs6a9KpnYTN44- ← Chris, I would avoid stick-on labels. There is a much greater chance that you'll have playback problems now & in the future. They can unbalance the disc on many players and if you use a slot-loading machine, there's a good chance it could jam. Heat causes them to curl (and most players generate heat). If you don't have very smooth CD-Rs, they release after a while. I recommend avoiding them. I have seriously looked at these new Epson printers. They are intriguing to say the least. How good do the labels look? Kevin

James Carter is bringing this band into Cambridge's Regattabar next month (August 5th & 6th) and I'm on the fence about going. I have seen Carter live several times now and I've got to say, he seems to go downhill every time I see him. The last time was his electric band and it didn't seem like Carter was "on" at all. He seemed to be on auto pilot and his showmanship was uncomfortably forced. I felt that the band wasn't digging it either. I really miss his old band with pianist Craig Taborn, bassist Jaribu Shahid, and drummer Tani Tabbal. They put on show of shows at Ryles one year. I'll never forget it. So should I take a chance or pass? This thread makes it seem like I'd be in for another let-down. Kevin

So, I had managed to "pass" on this title for that last 6 months or so... then Acoustic Sounds got it in for $30 (more than I like to pay) and I figured, there aren't any other Ben Webster SACDs, and there probably won't be any more so screw it! I am soooo glad I got this. I love Ben's breathy tone and it's audible in all its glory on this SACD. They only dropped one tune from the large band session, "The Jeep Is Jumpin'". Funny thing is, I thought the Black Lion stuff was the live material I have on two German CDs. It turns out that I didn't even own this material! What a nice bonus. Well worth it for me. Later, Kevin

Someone told me that myelodysplasia is a form of bone marrow cancer that has no real cure. There are experimental drugs that he could consider and in young patients they transplant stem cells with moderate success. Michael's not young so that seems to make that less likely. I found a website it appears that the expected survival is 6 months to 5 years, depending on the type of myelodysplasia and how far it's progressed. This is a major bummer. The guy's only 56. I sincerely hope it turns out that his diagnosis isn't this disease. Maybe they made a mistake at the lab? I really feel for Michael and his family. I hope he can keep upbeat. One of my co-workers is here at work every day with a similar diagnosis. He is as upbeat as can be. I am constantly amazed by him. When I ask him how he does it when he knows the clock is ticking, he says, "Why go down being depressed? Live life and enjoy yourself. You never know when it will end". On the bright side, he's already surpassed the doctor's initial prognosis. I often wonder how I would take such devastating news myself. Facing one's mortality is never a good thing. I just hope by the time I do, I am able to look back at a good life and leave little regrets. Play on Michael. I hope you can swing through Boston soon. I'll be there cheering you on. Kevin

Funny how everyone has their own turn-ons/turn-offs for this stuff. I agree that side 4 of "The Wall" rarely made it to my turntable back in its heyday. However, with the advent of CD, I found myself spinning disc 2 (for "Comfortably Numb") and actually liking it a lot more. It's really one continuous piece. I think the flow gets interrupted by the LP. When I hear it on CD, it just fits together better. Side 4, including "The Trial", is the finale. Of course, the best is where the whole thing ends with someone saying "Isn't this where..." with the obvious tie-in to the first words of the record, which were "... we came in". Now, my fellow Floyd fans, could all of you do me a favor? I once owned the first US edition of Floyd's "Wish You Were Here". Even though it was the first CD version sold here, the CD itself was made and printed in Japan. I really, really want to get this again so I can compare it to the other versions. I am still kicking myself for giving this away... to who, only my dead brain cells know. Probably too much wine. This version is unique in that when you put it into a CD player, the display only shows 2 tracks instead of 5. They basically break the LP into sides with index marks (like any player today has an index function!) for the tracks. The disc will have numbers on the inner ring that will say 35DP-4 in them. This is version I am looking for. A description from a post on another forum describes it this way: "The Japanese CBS/Sony plant pressing with catalog number CK 33453 (again, divided into two tracks) is found with either "CSR COMPACT DISC" repeating in the clear plastic ring or "MANUFACTURED BY CBS/SONY RECORDS INC." stamped on it. The matrix code is in a neat font and has the original Japanese CBS/Sony catalog number "35DP-4" in it. The back insert does not have "Now Made In The U.S.A." above the barcode." If anyone visits their local used CD shop and finds this, I'll make it worth your while. Later, Kevin

Sidewinder, I ain't touching this last one... it's all yours! Other board members need not get in on this inside joke. You're really better off. Kevin

Cute? Valuable? Tell you what, if you want, if these UK reissues come in a jewel case, I'll swap you one-for-one for the Japanese mini-LP version of "Mexican Green" and "Tubbs Tours"! Of course, I am assuming you had tongue firmly planted in cheek when you wrote this. I do hate these cheesy cardboard sleeves on these Japanese CDs. "Cardboard" is actually a misnomer with these... it's better calling it "thick paper". Later, Kevin

Maybe you can get your hands on a copy of this Japanese CD to compare? I imagine Roger might be able to help you find a "listener's copy". I'd be curious as to what you think. No one seems to know what the Japanese reissues had for source material. Later, Kevin

How do you think I felt? I saw it at an IMax theater! The fight scenes made me nauseous. Really not well done at all and made worse when staring at a 45 foot tall screen. And another thing... Katie Holmes has crooked bottom teeth and her complextion isn't that good. I believe she had a cold during the filming of the movie, at least from what I could see up her left nostril. I believe I saw some spit on her lip... Gaaaaaahhh too close!!! Too close!!!! All in all, I liked this movie more than any of the others. I do think it dragged a bit though. By the end of the movie, I was wishing there had been an intermission. make sure you visit the bathroom before going in to see this one. Kevin

I do not have "Mexican Green" on LP. Roger, you have this on a stereo LP... how does it compare to the Japanese CD? As I said above, I thought these Japanese remasters sounded OK. Maybe the stereo version of "100% Proof" might pry my money out of my hands, but would it really be worth it for "Mexican Green"? Later, Kevin

Roger, being on the "Trio Label" seems to indicate that this would be a piano trio date? No info all at www.allmusic.com on this session. BTW, good to see you posting over here on Organissimo. Later, Kevin