Kevin Bresnahan

These are on sale for $349/pair on the Klipsch website right now: https://www.klipsch.com/products/r-40pm-powered-speakers BTW - one thing I failed to mention about these speakers is that they have multiple switched inputs, including a Moving Magnet Phono input with a ground lug for a turntable. The included remote controls the volume and allows you to change the input source. You could set these up in a den or small room and they would act as a nice stereo system. You can feed a line-in source (CD player) through the AUX mini-jack or switch the phono input to "LINE". This allows you to have a turntable on the Phono input & a CD player on the AUX input. Plus, you could still hook up your PC via USB and play your music server through it as well - all with two small-ish speakers. Pretty slick. Oh, and you can link your cell to them with BlueTooth to play music from your favorite app (XM, Apple Music, Pandora, etc.)

I went to a Boston Celtics playoff game (first Celtics game for me in over a decade) and the whole area outside the bathrooms smelled like weed. It was very noticeable.

George Winston, a pianist whose style is often grouped in the "New Age" music category has died at the age of 73 after a 10-year bout with cancer. Winston himself preferred to be called a "folk pianist". https://www.georgewinston.com/about/ My wife & I have often listened to many of Winston's recordings over the years as we found them very enjoyable in a relaxed sort of way. We particularly liked playing his music at meal times. We saw him live several times as well, including the last time he came through the area just a few years ago. A memorable performance was when he played in Boston at the old Opera House, a beautiful venue to see/hear musical performances.

Dave Brubeck - Countdown - Time In Outer Space (Columbia). This one never knocked me out. It's enjoyable enough but I don't find myself pulling it off the shelf too often. I never did pick up the CD version either.

Billy Bang - Rainbow Gladiator (Soul Note). Looking at the lineup, you'd think this would be further out than it is. It's still not a fav of mine but it's good to break up the day. This evaluation board layout review document I'm working on from home is a bear. An 8 layer circuit board with buried RF traces that I have to make sure are properly matched. Yeah, Billy gets it.

I'm sure that I got a majority of mine from there as well but I have some newer reissues that I likely got elsewhere.

Gene Ammons - Funky (Prestige). One of a multitude of Ammons LPs I've somehow managed to acquire over the years without even realizing it.

Miles Davis - Workin' With The Miles Davis Quintet (Prestige/Craft Recordings). This is the latest LP release of this that I bought mainly because it was on sale. I already had the OJC LP from the 80s, so this purchase was made mostly out of curiosity. Comparing the two, I don't hear enough of a difference to justify the purchase. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

So I somehow ended up with 14 Gene Ammons LPs & going through them right now, I can't even remember when or where I got some of them. I have a version of "Funky" with an alternate cover that I forgot existed and the version of "Jammin' With Gene" that's titled "not really the blues" and the back has "Jack Woker" in block letters at the top.

It does exist! Although I've heard about it here, I never did find a picture of it. From a recent eBay sale:

It's not pointless for George though. It comes with a $25,000 check that I'm sure he would appreciate.

Thanks. Great sound there. I'll have to try and get my hands on it. Does anyone know where I can buy this? I'd even pay for a good download at this point. I'd actually prefer a download since there were only 300 CDs made so a physical copy would probably cost more than I'm willing to pay. The Cellar Door label is defunct now, isn't it?

Never heard of this one. Looks to be long gone too. How's the sound?

But doesn't your feeling about "What's Love Got To Do With It" somewhat validate what I said? She left Ike in 1976, right when R&B was being subsumed by disco - in fact, her first two solo efforts were basically disco LPs ("Rough" & "Love Explosion"). It took her 8 years to finally break out with the LP "Private Dancer", which not only gave her her first #1 hit, it also garnered her 3 Grammys that year (1984). I just have to wonder if she had been able to break away from Ike years earlier, maybe she would have done this much sooner. I mean, think about it... she was 55 in 1984 and she was able to pump out 3 hit singles. Not a lot of rockers her age were still charting in the mid-80's. And FWIW, I can hear why some people don't like her singing. She definitely adds a lot of grit, particularly her held notes. On some songs it works, on others, it doesn't. I don't get why Frank Zappa gets so much critical acclaim. I've never been a fan. I get that he's trying to have fun and make a point, but the nonsensical lyrics often just rubbed me the wrong way. When I was a teenager, I had a couple of friends who would crank up "Dinah-Moe Humm" and I thought the lyrics sounded like something a stoner might write to Penthouse Letters.

I've always been a big fan of Tina Turner's singing. Her cover of "Proud Mary" was one for the ages and her "What's Love Got To Do With It" is a blast to crank up. I never did get a chance to hear her live. It's too bad her early career was so messed up by Ike. You have to wonder how much bigger she would have been if she had been able to do what she did in the 80s, twenty years sooner.

Was this ever issued under a different title? The discogs listing only shows a German LP from 1961 and 2 CD releases from 1999.

Are you talking about "The Scene is Clean" on Milestone or "N.Y. Cats" on Steeplechase? There is not any added Latin percussion on "N.Y. Cats", not even on the one Latin tune.

I'm feeling rather low as I prepare to head back to my hometown out in Western Massachusetts for my mom's funeral so I decided to put some Jazz on the turntable. As I looked at the racks, Frank Kimbrough's "Meantime" jumped out at me. These Newvelle LPs are oversized and the spines really stand out in the LP rack so they're tough to miss. But just like I miss Frank, I'm really going to miss my mom. Appropriate selection.

This is my favorite Gonsalves recording & this OJC CD sounds really good. It's too bad it has an ugly "tab crunch". I hate when one of those jewel case tabs gets in front of the booklet and you close the jewel case before you realize it. They never come out. At least it's only one here.

The Cars - Greatest Hits (Elektra). I need some workout music. 😀

Contains George Benson's "The New Boss Guitar of George Benson" & McDuff's "Hot Barbeque"

I assume you've heard that Mars Williams is going through some tough times right now? There's a Go Fund Me page here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/marswilliams

I'll have to try it. They sell it at Costco.

A hot cup of Gold Star Coffee's "Gourmet Blend". This blend of Colombian, Brazilian, Guatemalan & Kenyan coffees is really smooth. Gold Star Coffee out of Toronto is still the best place for whole bean coffee at a good price.

The political threads were crazy back then. With today's polarized political scene, can you imagine what it would be like now? Eeek!