mjzee

He has a heavy-duty work ethic, which I think works against him: He puts out one, sometimes two movies a year, every year, all of which he writes. They can't all be gems. "Whatever Works" was originally written for Zero Mostel, who died in 1977, so who knows how many screenplays he has stockpiled. At this point in his career, he should slow down and consider his films more thoughtfully. Probably the business side gets in the way of this: he regularly uses the same casting directors, cinematographers, etc, and would probably lose them on a different schedule. But the world is different now, too. Back in the day ('70's, '80's), the auteur idea was in full effect: films are art forms created by the director, etc. I can't imagine anyone these days being excited by the directors we have today, as they churn out too much product, are beholden to the studios or to fads, etc. I mean, back then we had the French auteurs (Truffaut, Godard, Rohmer), '50's & '60's Americans (Cassavetes, Sam Fuller), the up-and-coming Americans (Scorsese, Coppola, Cimino), the masters (John Ford, Hitchcock). Who today could give their individual stamp to a picture? More importantly, the public simply doesn't care. So if there's less of an interest in Woody's movies, it's probably due to: 1) Familiarity (he's trod the same ground over and over) 2) Subject matter (academic life on the Upper West Side - not exactly a subject with broad appeal) 3) His age I think if he wants to reinvigorate his career, he should remake some recent movies. I'd love to see him remake "Booty Call" or "Dude Where's My Car?" Wouldn't you want to see that?

Officials with Austin's Solid Waste Services expected to receive offbeat ideas when they asked residents to suggest a new name for the city department. They didn't expect the top online vote-getter to be Fred Durst Society of the Humanities and Arts, followed by, among others, Ministry of Filth, Hufflepuff, Lemon Party and Keep Austin Wasted. "We knew we'd get some creative names, this being Austin," spokeswoman Jennifer Herber said. "Boy, (Austinites) did not disappoint." More here: Statesman

I have NY Album (it was briefly available on Galaxy). In the last phase of his career, Pepper was astonishingly consistent...and great. I'd grab them.

Super Sunday is a great day to shop - the stores are nearly empty.

This is the thread I was looking for!!! Thanks, Jim! But I'm not getting the promised results (the "clicking on the highlighted arrow in the lower left corner for the selected item" that will bring up multiple images). I simply do not see any highlighted arrow. I've just tried dragging in two images to one album. I have a Mac; could this be a Windows-only feature?

In all seriousness, if I had to guess, I'd say that BN and all jazz-related labels (Roulette, UA, etc - but just the jazz titles) might be sold to a rich "white knight" who loves jazz and would get a kick out of operating it on a break-even basis, not looking for profit. Think Clint Eastwood, someone like that.

LONDON—In a dramatic end to one of the most disastrous leveraged buyouts of last decade's deal boom, Citigroup Inc. seized EMI Group Ltd. from financier Guy Hands's Terra Firma Capital Partners LP in a move that is expected to kick off an auction of the storied music company. Terra Firma bought EMI in 2007, largely using a loan from Citigroup that eventually was too much for the private-equity firm to manage. Now, EMI said in a statement Tuesday, Citigroup has acquired 100% of its shares and slashed the company's debt to £1.2 billion ($1.92 billion) from £3.4 billion. The timing is somewhat surprising, as Citigroup wasn't expected to officially foreclose on debt-laden EMI for five months. WSJ Let the bidding begin!

Bloomberg Business Week published an excellent think piece about the future of Apple after Steve Jobs...er, no longer works there. Apple With or Without Jobs

I also have to say that, in some small way, the Smith sounds like nothing else in my collection, and I love it for that. You know how sometimes the artist takes a form and just somehow puts an individualist stamp on it? Another example that comes to mind is the Lou Blackburn 2-cd set. It sounds like intelligent hard bop, but somehow, it sounds like nothing else I own. I think that's an important quality.

Any idea if their Candid Mingus is in mono?

I had one without an outside lip - totally flat disc.

Count Basie - The Golden Years (4 CDs, Pablo), $12.99: Amazon reseller If you like late Basie...

I just got some good deals from Amazon resellers: Charlie Parker at Storyville, $5.49 Kenny Dorham, Blues in BeBop (Savoy), $4.68 Stan Getz, Complete Savoy Recordings (Savoy), $2.43 Zoot Sims, Live in Philly (32Jazz), $2.26 Duke Jordan, Flight to Jordan, $5.98 Jimmy Smith, Straight Life, $3.50

I really like the Johnny Smith box, and recommend it.

There's an interview with Adam Klein, President and CEO, eMusic, in the 1/24/11 issue of Financial Times (which, alas, I cannot link to). In the interview, he says eMusic is "pretty close" to an agreement to carry EMI.

Yeah, it's totally stupid. For $10 less you can get Uranium Ore. http://www.amazon.com/Images-SI-Inc-Uranium-Ore/dp/B000796XXM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1295879041&sr=8-2 Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed: Barbie Video Girl Doll Yodelling Yodel Pickle The 2009-2014 Outlook for Wood Toilet Seats in Greater China Genuine Squirrel Underpants Heinz Spotted Dick Sponge Pudding Barry Manilow Color Poster Print Fresh Whole Rabbit

Well said.

I met him once in the '80's. Nice guy. RIP.

Did you ever see this? One of my favorite Amazon pages. Be sure to read the customer reviews! Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon

I thought this was a cute piece. It could've landed in the Audio Talk, In Print, or Vinyl Corner forums, but for the sake of simplicity I'm posting it here. It's about a guy trying to get his portable KLH stereo fixed, but it's also about all sorts of other stuff. WSJ

Reminds me of that old joke: How do you make a small fortune in the wine business? Start with a large fortune.

For those of you without, Decals just popped up on eMusic as a legit download. The history of this staying around has been a bit spotty, so you may want to jump on it. eMusic

In the latest sign of waning consumer demand for recorded music, the Billboard 200 album-sales chart just registered a dubious distinction: The No. 1 position was held by an album that sold fewer CDs and downloads than any predecessor since at least 1991, when accurate weekly tallies first became available. The 44,000 units sold by the band Cake's sixth album, "Showroom of Compassion," marked the second week in a row that the No. 1 album notched a new low-water mark. Last week's chart was dominated by Taylor Swift's "Speak Now," which sold just 52,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan. More here: WSJ

I noticed this on eMusic, for those who do mp3's. The Ahmad Jamal Mosaic for $52.50: Mosaic

I was thinking that too. I have a lot of these titles on crackly Atlantic cutouts. That's probably enough for me, since the music doesn't thrill me; it's too polite.