patricia

Well, Jeffrey, I would snap up the Rushing and the Jonah Jones discs, as well as the Dixieland in Chicago. At $7.00 per disc, it's a good deal, I think. Chicago Dixieland, during that period is really amazing. You're in Teagarden, Pee Wee Russell, Miff Mole and all those greats' period. Hell, I'd buy all of them, except for the Lucinda Williams and the McShann. But, of course, I love old vinyl.

I don't think there is much sand in Afghanistan. I think it's pretty mountainous. Much as I think Newt Gingrich is a total twit, I would be interested in what freedom has accomplished, so far, for the Afghan people. I understand that there is a resurgence of the Taliban, women have reclaimed their head-to-toe robes and that the Canadian soldiers who are keeping the peace are finding that there is not that much peace to keep. As for how many miles of road have been built, that's a metaphor for post-war help. As long as there are still criminals and disgruntled warlords running around, it's unlikely much construction will take place. Does anyone know what conditions in Afghanistan are now?? I understand that a record crop of poppies [their most profitable cash crop] was harvested this spring. The results of that, the processed commercial product have been shipped out, to us, as evidenced by the huge cargo apprehended by the coast guard a couple of weeks ago. Who knows how many other shipments got through. Perhaps Gingrich was making reference to some of those news items. I have never felt that I had to apologize for wanting a relatively peaceful world, in which countries can trade with each other and accomplish progressive inventions and innovations, without greed and a relentless lust for power compelling leaders to send their young men and women off to fight their wars. I have never felt that not wanting to kill or to be killed for someone else's gain was the wrong way to think about life. I know I'm an idealist, but I don't know what else to be. Someone said, years ago, "What if they gave a war and nobody came?" I've often asked myself that question...

DAMN!!! Again, I say, really?? I had that record [the Monty Python one] for years and it always ran the same way. Was I missing half the yuks?? Is it possible that I always set the needle the same way, every time I listened to the record? Now I feel that I cheated myself. Holy Man!

Well, now back to musicians with nicknames. My next one is "Baby" [Warren] Dodds, the younger brother of clarinettist Johnny Dodds. Baby Dodds, played drums in Willie Hightower's band at sixteen, for ice creams. His style was very showy, using every one of his drums. He was soon playing all over New Orleans and moved to Fate Marable's Streckfus orchestra. By 1922 he had secured a place in King Oliver's great Creole Jazz Band and one has only to listen to Oliver's records to hear Dodds' groundbreaking talent. Baby Dodds was apparently the bad young brother and after the financial problems that broke up Oliver's band left Dodds with no regular job, his older brother kept an eye on him, to Baby's chagrin. For the next twenty years Baby Dodds was around Chicago, playing occasionally and even driving a taxi to support himself. Baby Dodds' career took off again in 1945 in New York. He joined Bunk Johnson's band, but his style was considered controversial. According to George Wettling, "the way he played drums behind the band was a solo in itself." This approach was disturbing to Johnson, as well as other musicians, including Lester Young, who preferred a discreet "tick", but it had a liberating effect in the modern and avant-garde jazz styles. In 1947, on a Rudi Blesh show, Dodds became facinated by Max Roach's work and decided that he would work out a drum symphony for five or six drummers. This was an echo of Roach's own M'Boom percussion ensemble. Baby Dodds had started drinking seriously as a sixteen-year-old, while playing for ice cream in New Orleans. His hard living escalated over the years and Jo Jones said of Dodds, "Physically, he's about 95. He did more living than three men." Sadly, after a series of strokes, Baby Dodds died, at fifty-nine years old, in February of 1959. Next............

Well, Clint, it's easy to talk of being CONQUERERS but, after hundreds and hundreds of wars, over hundreds and hundreds of years, war has not brought peace. On the contrary. War sets nations, and the people of those nations against each other, for no other reason than a handful's lust for power and their greed for more and more. Those who stand to gain, at least in these modern times, don't give their lives. They make speeches, beautifully set up, choreographed and photographed. Those who declare that war will be waged, do not risk having to be replaced in their family circle with a precisely folded flag and a medal. The logic of killing thousands of human beings, whether they are young men and women who volunteered to be soldiers for a cause even they didn't understand, or civilians, who just wanted to live their lives and raise their families, escapes me. Just how does bombing and killing and gaining more political power in the world, at such a high price in human suffering and death, bring peace?? History has taught us little, unless you count the invention of more sophistocated and terrible ways to kill and destroy. Progress?? Yeah, right. I find it interesting that the same people who claim to revere life, in fact call themselves "Pro Life" will, without a second thought, launch a war which they know will take the lives of thousands of innocent people and leave many more maimed and homeless. Now, I'll step down from my soapbox........ Next............

Absolutely. This was Polanski's first feature film and is excellent. It has tension, a good story and the soundtrack is perfectly realized. As David says, don't hesitate.

REALLY??? I had that record and I didn't know that. I just played it and it was a straight record. It was a long time ago and I don't have it anymore. "The Cheese Shop" sketch was one of the tracks. The cover was a suited torso, with a really ugly matching [i believe yellow polka-dotted] tie and pocket handkerchief. Again. REALLY???

Well, duh; obviously you build more shelves! Easy for you to say. Just because my father was a cabinet-maker doesn't mean I know how to build shelves. So DUH right back at ya. But, you're right. The stacks of books everywhere, and under everywhere should go on shelves. I kept taking them off, and replacing them with my vinyl, as my collection grew. I had every intention of getting more shelves, but haven't yet. So, my apartment is like those ones in fancy decorating magazines, that have books in stacks, for show, that nobody reads. Problem is that I do read them and they don't look the way the ones in the decorating magazines do. So. SHELVES. Check.

Being too trusting is something that I have a little experience with. I know this isn't about over-grading, or mail fraud, but I once shared my apartment with a woman I didn't know was a hooker. [OK, OK. Laugh it up.] She moved out, while I was at work, taking everything of value that I owned. I called my brother and when he looked around my apartment he said "What have you learned from this?" Sometimes we learn the hard way, but with E-Bay, you do have a few avenues of recourse. Just giving an unflattering "feedback" could be enough.

NO KIDDING. And, it hardly hurt at all!!! Reminds me of conversations after I've had a couple of glasses of wine. You're all in my living room and that's what happens when friends are just sittin' around, talking. Can't help smiling...........

Indeed.. Maybe refer your friend, Marc, to the Misc. Non-political thread, right here on Organissimo. No two-week miracle diets, or magic. Just boring changes in eating habits and lifestyle. Too late for Ray, but Marc can still turn it around and gain a few more healthy, productive years.

Well, I've been about the same weight all my adult life [about 110 at 5'4"], except for when I was pregnant. Then I gained about 20 pounds, losing that and a little more after the birth. So, you would think I wouldn't know anything about weight problems, but my daughter has become quite heavy in the last couple of years. She admits that it was due to stress and her frequent uprootings and movings, leaving her friendless. She, sensibly, did not look for a quick fix, but, being young it's easier for her to lose pounds which were put on in only a couple of years. For the most part, she ate healthily up until then and was average weight. She has been making a concerted effort for the last few months, just by following Canada's Food Rules and it's working for her. I know, that sounds boring and I guess just eating sensibly is. She has started running with me [about two miles] in the mornings and is almost at her goal weight and feels much better as a side benefit. Exercise can be as simple as regularly walking where you usually drive, if it's less than a couple of miles and taking up some kind of activity, like dancing or tennis, or something low-impact. My doctor says that jogging or running is not good for anyone who is more than a few pounds overweight, because it's hard on the ankles and knees. Best to leave that for after you attain your goal. The exercise part, I think, is to keep as physically active as you can, especially after you lose the weight, or you'll be doing it all over again.

Thank you, Harold. I'm almost embarrassed that I knew almost nothing about DeSio, but he sounds like a great guy. I always appreciate a man with a sense of humour and joy in life. A shame that he's gone. One by one...... DAMN! ......................................... But, speaking of trombonists, I thought I would mention Melba Liston, who would have been seventy-eight years old, tomorrow. Unfortunately, Vermont, April/99. In any case, having studied trombone in highschool, she first played in a theatre pit band, led by Bardu Ali, a former frontman for Chick Webb. While working there, she wrote her first arrangements for that band. This was in the early forties. She went on to be a member of Gerald Wilson's big band in the mid-forties and later worked alongside Wilson in the Count Basie band. I first became aware of Liston, because of my interest in the Gillespie bands, two of which Melba Liston was a member, one in 1950 and the other, from 1956-1957. Then came a period in which she worked with her own all-women quintet in 1958, which played in New York, as well as in Bermuda. During those years, she began free-lance arranging. In 1959-1961 she was one of two women members of Quincy Jones' touring band. The other "chickie" was Patti Bown, on piano. After those experiences, Liston concentrated more on her writing and did wonderful work for Randy Weston, Johnny Griffin and Milt Jackson. She also did arrangements for singers, such as Tony Bennett and Diana Ross, as well as a lot of work for TV commercials. Where she found the time, I don't know, but she also taught in Harlem and in Brooklyn in the late '60's as well as Watts in the early '70's and Jamaica in the late '70's. Her teaching stopped when she moved back to New York in the early '80's and resumed full-time playing, following the second annual Kansas City Women's jazz festival in 1979. She followed that by leading a seven-piece group, Melba Liston and Company. Then, in 1985, Melba suffered a serious stroke and her activities were severely restricted, but luckily she was able to continue arranging, via computer software and resumed her writing relationship with Randy Weston. Melba Liston was unusual in the forties, as a female trombonist, but her potential was undeniable. Though she was rarely featured, except on ballads, nobody questioned her talent as a musician. I love the story about her first rehersal with the Gillespie band in 1950. Apparently, she was asked to bring an arrangement and did. As Liston recalled, "Of course, they got about two measures and fell out, and got all confused and stuff. And Dizzy said, 'NOW who's the bitch???' " Next.......

Harold, I'm not familiar at all with Ray DeSio, beyond that he was well-known around New York and played trombone with Louis Armstrong's All Stars as well as being a vocalist. Although I was able to discover that his career spanned over thirty years, not much else was available. He was also on the cover of Peggy Lee's "Basin Street East" album. Could you tell us more about DeSio??

Ah, let the cat have fun.

Thanks Mule. I'll look for the book. Scorcese also seemed to see the same quality that I did, when he used Leonardo di Caprio, opposite de Niro in "This Boy's Life". That seemed risky at the time, since di Caprio was the main character and had to play alongside de Niro and hold his own. I guess di Caprio passed the test, since Scorsese used him again, in "Gangs of New York", opposite Daniel Day Lewis. I do think though, in this case, that Day Lewis' character, "Bill the Butcher" was so flamboyant that the more subtle role which was assigned to di Caprio was over-shadowed. The story was the di Caprio character's biography, but the Butcher role turned out to be the most memorable. Unfortunate, because I believe that Scorsese was right in seeing the talent in di Caprio. I think that de Niro is a little more generous in sharing the light with his fellow actors, including di Caprio, who was a young teenager when they played opposite each other. de Niro also had a small role in "Basketball Diaries", again, opposite di Caprio, who in this instance was brilliant, IMO, this time directed by Scott Calvert.

Do you mean that you set the needle at what would be the end of the side and it would play backwards?? How??

Thank you, Quincy. It makes sense that an instructional record would benefit from a longer playing time. Puzzling though, why the producers of those discs wouldn't have just used the 33 1/3 format. Loved the comment about making the Chipmunks sound like Tennessee Ernie Ford. My older brother used to play my father's Ella LP's on 78RPM and risk execution. Ella sounded like one of the Chipmonks. Dad was convinced that not treating a record properly was akin to blasphemy. My brother had found the key to Dad's record cabinet [always kept locked, against possible invasion by my three brothers and me] and it was very daring of my brother to even touch the forbidden albums, much less play them at the wrong speed. Kids these days don't have the option of amusing themselves with such simple tom-foolery.

I think that the ending was deliberately ambiguous, much as life is. Scorsese left the aftermath to our imaginations. I must say that the malevelant eyes in the review mirror gave me the idea that Bickle's obsession with Betsy was taking on new life. I remember thinking that she was in some potential danger, although the movie was made before all the well-publicized stalkings filled the papers almost daily. The ending was interesting to me, in much the same way that the ending of "The Pledge" was. Both left loose ends, which made the rest of the plot one in which we all can identify. Life isn't neatly wrapped up, which which is why it continues to facinate. I think that "Taxi Driver" and "This Boy's Life" are two of de Niro's finest films, although he has done a lot of amazing characterizations. Taking over the Mitchum role in "Cape Fear", I think, was a risky move, but one that paid off. His Max Cady was astounding and didn't, in any way, try to imitate the earlier portrayal by the very scary Robert Mitchum, who had a cameo in the re-make.

Picky, picky, Clint. But, you're right. They were a great band and not given as much credit as they deserve, in my opinion. I'm almost sorry that I am re-visiting the world of vinyl. The journey, and it's endless, is keeping me poor. The covers are seductive and the sound is different than it is on CD. Maybe it's the little hisses and occasional clicks. The only drawback is that I had become spoiled by the hour or more of music on CD's, compared to the fifteen minutes or so, per side on an LP.

I thought I'd start a thread to help us with all those weird little things that we wondered about, but didn't know how or where to find the answer. There must be other odd things that have puzzled other people, that could be cleared up, so......... I'll start: I didn't know where to ask, so I hope that somebody will answer a question which has plagued me for years. Record-players evolved over the years, from the crank '78RPM, to later ones which had '78RPM, '45RPM, 33 1/3RPM and..........16RPM. Now, of course I'm familiar with the first three, but, has anyone ever seen a record which played at 16RPM?? Were they common?? Are there any out there?? I have no idea what they looked like. Oddly, the 16RPM setting was only available for a short time, but there must have been records, formatted to that speed. Help me out here.

No point in getting mired in political correctness, since fraud is fraud. Of course it's not isolated to any one country, but this was a problem which originated in Argentina, so, if the same person or a group of people there is involved in dishonesty, then it's good to know the details and take note. But the old precautionary "caveat emptor" always applies in any transaction, on E-Bay or anywhere else.

Laughing like a crazy person. Brilliant!!!!! I don't keep my CD's on a shelf. They are stored [but played often] in four carved Chinese trunks, which have glass inserts on top and double as coffee-tables. There are four rows of CD's, on their ends, in each of four trunks now They are alphabetical, which used to be a problem, before I zeroed in on the type of music I wanted to collect. Now, the non-jazz is a small number and in with the jazz. I keep them in their original jewel-cases, or boxes, alphabetically, left-to-right in the trunks. So, although the order is not obvious to anyone but me, given the separate containers, it works. The only exceptions are the 12" square Bear Sets, which are stored, on end, on the bookshelf, because they take up too much room where the other CD's are. All the CD's then have their liner-notes with them and I do read them, at least once, when I buy the CD, and occasionally afterward. The problem, for me, with music-storage was how to store my vinyl. My books are stacked all over my apartment because their shelves now have records [alphabetically] on them. Aside from moving to a bigger apartment, the only solution is to either cull my books, cull my records or build more shelves. It's a quandry.

Now that the polishing of the liner notes has been done and with them, the newest "Bloviation" offering is about to be released, I'm proud to introduce the next nicknamed musician, Glen "Spike" Gray. Gray is probably better known as the saxophonist who masterminded the Casa Loma Orchestra. This group, put together in the late-twenties/early thirties, laid the groundwork for later successful swing kings such as Benny Goodman. The Casa Loma orchestra was named for a hotel, which never, ever opened. The genesis of the band was the Orange Blossoms, which was an orchestra contracted to Jean Goldkette. The newly formed Casa Lomans were booked into New York's Roseland Ballroom by the Tommy Rockwell-Cork O'Keefe office in 1929. While the band was playing at the Roseland, they were heard by Bob Stevens, who was an OKeh talent scout and he offered the band a recording contract. The band built their sound up over the next few years [with a book written by guitarist, Gene Gifford]. The lineup included calrinettist, Clarence Hutchenrider, trombonist/singer, Pee Wee Hunt, a spectacular high-note trumpeter Sonny Dunham and also another singer, Kenny Sargent. The best years for the Casa Lomans were between 1931 and 1935. This was the period during which they produced strings of records for three different labels, Victor, Brunswick and Decca. The band was broadcast on the Camel Cigarette programme as well as playing summers at the Glen Island Casino. At the Casino, the band played music which combined sentimental favourites and swing specialties, such as "White Jazz", which was later covered by Lew Stone. The Casa Loman's music became the anthem of a generation, surviving even the tremendous popularity of Benny Goodman's band. By 1935, the Casa Loma Orchestra was resident at the Rainbow Room on top of New York City's Radio City Music Hall. Soon after, Gray took over fronting the band from violinist, Mel Jensson. "Sun Valley Serenade" was a hit for the Casa Lomans, two months ahead of Glenn Miller's version, in 1939. When the war came, in the forties, key line man, Dunham left to go out on his own and the draft took more. But, Gray replaced them with fine, young talent, like pianist, Lou Carter, guitarist, Herb Ellis and a singer, Eugenie Baird. This was in addition to tried-and-trusted players, such as cornettist, Red Nichols and Bobby Hackett. Glen Gray retired from touring in 1950, but continued to record regularly with his orchestra until he died in 1963. The band, however, carried on, bringing in Jonah Jones, Conrad Gozzo, Si Zentner, Nick Fatool and the list goes on. I have a couple of their LP's and my favourite is one called "Sounds of the Great Big Bands" This is a collection of what amount to tributes to the Big Bands. I usually peer, gimlet-eyed at tribute albums, but this one is an exception. My favourite track is the Casa Loman's version of Erskine Hawkins' "After Hours", with Ray Sherman doing the original pianist, Avery Parrish, proud. Fabulous!!! Among the personel on this album are Pete Candoli on trumpet, Ray Sherman, playing a terrific piano and one of the best drummers I've heard for a while, Nick Fatool, who does great work on Gene Krupa's "Symphony in Riffs". Next............

No need to apologize. Thank you. I did mark the passing of another year with music, wine and optimism.