Son-of-a-Weizen

I stayed at the Kitano Hotel in NYC this past weekend and had the good fortune to catch Jason Lindner who was playing in the hotel's small jazz lounge in a quintet and trio setting on Fri./Sat. night. I'd only read small bits about him and knew little more than he'd played with Roy Haynes and had steadily built a solid reputation as a somewhat innovative big band oriented composer/post-bop pianist. Thought about catching both shows but decided to zero in on the trio show and headed off Fri. to see Eric Alexander & Vincent Herring (as an aside: when the 'live' cd of this show at 'Smoke' comes out it's going to be a killer!!!) Anyway, on Saturday, Lindner had John Benitez w/him on bass (a monster of a guy in person! ...must be 6'6 & 275!?) and Jonathan Blake on drums -- both super nice guys. I can't remember the last time I saw a small group have so much fun. Lindner improvising like mad and grinning like a kid at Blake while slowly turning up the heat...and Blake just eating it up & hammering the drums toward the end. During one number, Lindner deftly changed gears and moved into carrib/latin land which really got Benitez all ginned up and playing like mad and delivering two or three 'Oooay' calls with that deep voice (he told me that he got hooked on jazz listening to Philly Joe recs as a kid in Puerto Rico). I'll always have this mental image of Lindner grinning at the two throughout and just leading 'em on and on.....great stuff! We stayed for both sets and it was a shame that there were so few folks there....no cover either. When they started up at 8:15, my wife and I were the only two sitting there....and a handful of others trickled in during the set. By the end of the 2nd set there were about 30 bodies....the lousy weather probably had something to do with it. Anyway, he said he'd just put the finishing touches on a trio recording....so that's definitely one to look forward to.

The 'One-a-Day' Mens formula (blue label) which contains no iron. Women, as we all know, need the extra iron...and there's a growing body of evidence suggesting that excessive levels of iron negatively impacts the 'ol pumper in men. Most men who take a standard multi-vitamin are getting way too much iron.

You didn't happen to walk past the Heidelberg Restaurant up on E. 86th yesterday afternoon 'bout 4:15, did you. I was standing out there in the light drizzle waiting to share a Camel Light & a Bitburger Pils w/you. B-)

Stefan Wood Marvin (back at BN.....I don't know if he lurks here anymore??) Free for All Spoke to KB & Dmitry on the phone and came within an inch of hooking up w/Tod (Out to Lunch) in Boston last year. Wife & I spent the weekend up in NYC and was hoping I might bump into Chris Albertson sipping a glass of vino at either Henry's or Carne up at Broadway & W. 104th. B-) Some pleasant little neighborhood joints up there around Smoke.

Absolutely.

Yes, the Mastercard only biz is nuts. I don't think that my wife could have sent in a request because we have the same card # and I think that the rules cautioned against that!! The other thing is that these instructions are quite confusing and I'm happy that the organizers are getting an earful. We have four people who're going for tickets -- 2 people living in Germany and then my Dad and I sending in our requests from here. Each one of us submitted the names/data of the other 3 people as 'guests'. Since my Dad and I have the same name....it shows up twice on each of the four applications, which after again carefully reviewing the ticket/rules section (English version) seems to be prohibited?? If you look at the 'FAQ' page on their site --- and specifically question #11 -- they tell you flat out "One applicant....can order up to four tickets per match. In addition to ticket for themselves, applicants can order so-called visitor tickets for up to three more persons." It then tells you to note the "the following limitations" - one price category per match - per household only 4 single tickets in price categories 1-3 for up to 7 matches - matches cannot be on same day - only one application can be submitted per sales phase - if accepted in early phase, deduct those matches from total of 7 for any later phase request. And then says "failure to comply with these limitations CAN cause complete rejection." So, so far, so good. But then it goes into the "please ensure you do not order more tickets than permitted per person, per household" and then defines that by stating: "The applicable criterion is the SUM of applications in which persons appear as applicants AND applications in which persons appears as VISITORS on other applicant's applications.” What??? These people are insane. This seems to indicate that you are supposed to total your own applications (7) with that of the number of times you are listed as a Visitor and that total should not be greater than 7. But because of the way it is written, people would have a strong case that it does not list this apparent requirement under the "limitations section", and thus would be very unfair. But since they do not define “per household” in the limitations section, they would probably argue this is their definition. Why do I have this sinking feeling that I'm already screwed?

The last day to e-mail in your applications for World Cup 2006 tix. Man, that's one confusing & highly regulated system they have in place there. No ticket transfers?? I put in a request for four games in Munich, two in Stuttgart....one in Nuernberg. If lightning strikes, I suppose I'd get two of the seven? Anyone have an idea what the latest odds are at getting selected in the April round? Must be infinitesimal.

Think we'll skip the quadruple battling saxes in favor of the Alexander/Herring 'Battle of the Saxes' over at Smoke. Guess they'll be recording for High Note Recs, so what should I yell out??? B-)

Happy Easter!

I was scanning some NYC club schedules for next weekend and saw that the Jazz Standard has a world sax tribute to Hendrix w/four battling saxes. How does that work? Poor 'Hey Joe'.

TOCJ 9561-9590

Based on what you've said, there seems to be a comfort factor issue in play.....and as such, I'd probably take a pass and not return the call.

Never answer the phone unless you hear who it is on the machine....works 100% of the time.

Wow, that Photo Shop program works wonders!! You really can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!!!

Gentle Giant

Last night, I noticed this line in one sellers item description (for a book): I do not refund postage, just the cost of the item if I have grossly misrepresented an item. Well that outta give ya an extra confidence boost!! Bid away!!

Heck, I slapped on a suit and strolled into the National Gallery of Art yesterday and offered it up (for free) as an Object d'Art and your superiors quickly summoned the guards had them escort me from the bldg.

I just sold a disc to a very nice man in Austria who hadn't read the payment instructions (PayPal, check, cash) and kept inquiring about the possibility of wiring the money to my bank etc.. I told him I wasn't set up to do that and finally suggested he just send me a 10 Euro note and I'd send him 1 Euro change w/the disc. I then discovered that I only had a few 100 Euro notes in the drawer and no small change.....must have tossed all the coins in the 'spare change/charity box' in the airport -- %$#@ !! Asked a few friends over the weekend if they had any coins...nope! Aware of her recent trip to Paris, I then asked my kids 2nd grade teacher at school yesterday if she had a spare Euro? Winner!!!!

Yes, thanks Mark.... 'PB' is the one!!

Is your pleasure the important factor here?

Are any of those european ZYX Fantasy 20-bit titles copy controlled? Reason I ask is that it took a good 8+ minutes (each) for Nero to 'fight' its way through the Adderley 'SF' and Monk 'Himself' digipaks. Normally, the data extraction stage would take 2 min. or thereabouts.

There have been a boatload of 'em for sure...but the one that comes to mind at this hour is that Bill Murray 'Stripes' one ---- and anything else that Goldie Hawn was in (excluding 'Death Becomes Her').

I bet that 'plane wreck' is better than Byrd's 'Street Lady' by an order of magnitude.

<<<By the way, I called Friday AFTER the first set and they couldn't tell me who was in the band. Of course, Wallace only announced it at the beginning and end of each set. Blues Alley is a fucked-up joint in many ways.>>> I know what you mean. During the Curtis Fuller show it took some 30 minutes for someone to pass me a note with the name of the trumpet player scribbled on it (Donvonte McCoy). I wasn't expecting 'snap too' service or anything but the funny thing was that she said she'd had a difficult time finding anyone in the 'back' who actually knew. I dunno, maybe that's not all that odd? <<<<I love the way we totally derailed this thread.>>>> Too true......I suppose we should bug out & refrain from offering up thorough critiques of the chips & salsa and assorted beverages that they serve in there.