paul secor

No offense taken, Allen. But NH is seriously, MUCH worse than Maine. A friend of mine had a good line - "New Hampshire is the Alabama of the Northeast." I've never been to Alabama and only been to New Hampshire once - wasn't impressed, to say the least - but it sounded like a good cheap shot to me.

Late in the day, but Happy Birthday!

Brian Wilson Mike Love Kevin Love

Great story! Thanks for sharing it with us.

No one will top Chris' card - it's a classic. But - Happy birthday to a honest guy who's always willing to share what he knows with the rest of us!

Elmo Hope Sextet and Trio: Homecoming! (Riverside/OJC) Son Cubano NYC - Cuban Roots/New York Spices 1972-82 (Astralwerks)

It looks like you've been analyzed pretty thoroughly so far, but it's hard not to do some of that when giving advice on the problem you've posted. I have the sense that you're an intellectual person. I don't mean that you don't feel things, but that you enjoy "understanding" things. I don't know you personally - I'm saying this strictly from reading your writings on music. Perhaps your responses to listening to recorded music would change if you listened to music you don't normally listen to and might not listen to on any sort of intellectual level - Latin music, African music, blues music you're not familiar with, country music (western swing, or perhaps Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, or Lefty Frizzell - people who sing words that mean something important), or some old r&b you're not familiar with. Perhaps the fact that you can enjoy live music is due to the fact that you might listen to that in a different way than you listen to recorded music. Perhaps there's less need to understand or analyze it because live music is strictly in the moment. I hope that I'm not out of line here, but your wife's passing isn't something that can be understood. It can only be felt, and I'm sure that the feelings are overwhelming at times. But I'm sure you know this and feel this. There's a current film that I plan to see this weekend - The Visitor. The plot is that of a professor who is widowed and depressed, makes a connection with with two immigrants who are squatting in his vacant apartment, begins to play an African drum, and finds his spirit renewed. Sounds corny, but it got pretty good reviews, and I'm looking forward to seeing it. Perhaps you might feel a connection with it. I hope I haven't overstepped bounds. Everything I've written could be off base. You seem like a good guy, and I just hope you find a way out of the place you're in. Tommy Duncan - the vocalist with Bob Wills' Texas Playboys - wrote a song entitled "Time Changes Everything". Not the whole truth, but a good part of it.

Coleman Hawkins: Dutch Treat (Xanadu) - 1936-38 sessions

Bill Dixon 7-tette/Archie Shepp and the New York Contemporary 5 (Savoy)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/arts/mus...erns&st=nyt Not an in depth article - but interesting. Besides Rochereau, the article says something about the state of a small label in today's music business.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/17/arts/dan...amp;oref=slogin

Marty Mills Edie Adams Groucho Marx

As far as I know, people create music and listen to music all over the world, and have been doing so for many, many years. That must mean something.

A few more Black Saint recs: John Lindberg Trio: Give and Take - trio w. George Lewis & Barry Altschul John Lindberg Ensemble: Bounce - w. Dave Douglas, Ed Thigpen, & Larry Ochs & George Lewis: Shadowgraph, 5 [sextet] - more abstract than most Black Saints, but rewarding if you listen

Reading - Walt Dickerson R.I.P. - really hit me hard. You were unique, Mr. Dickerson. Thanks for all you gave us.

Gene Ammons Doug Raney Chico Freeman

I highly recommend the Rouse-Rodney Social Call CD - very fine Rouse and Rodney - probably the best later Rodney I've heard.

Charlie Parker/Dean Benedetti Box - disc 5 Listening to this tonight was like being in an insane world where the only things that made sense were Bird's solos. Interesting place to be.

Rain, rain, rain - all day.

I read the article in my magazine copy a few days ago - only skimmed it on the screen, since I don't enjoy reading for any length of time on a screen - and enjoyed it. I thought that the connection that David Remnick made between Schaap and Henri Langlois, the director of the French Cinematheque, was an apt one. Langlois, like Schaap, was an obsessive and a preservationist. I hope that someone - Schaap is probably not the person to do it - compiles a book of Schaap's interviews as an oral history. For all of Phil Schaap's foibles, I think that his existence is a benefit for the jazz world.

Or the insurance company is.

Wish we had someone like him on one of the New York City news shows. I might start watching the news.

A truly intelligent comment. Looking for a sarcastic smiley, but can't find one that's sarcastic enough.

To use an old line - if you believe that, I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you.

Never heard of him before today, but found this: