Kevin Bresnahan

Happy Birthday Lon!!!!! Hope it's not too hot down there. We've been melting up here on the right coast for a few weeks now. Kevin

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I have not set foot in Norman's since the day I went in there a few weeks after Mosaic got robbed (an inside job) and Norman's shelves were full of saw-cut Mosaic CDs with no boxes. I talked to the manager on duty (Norman?) and asked him where he got them, telling him that Mosaic had just been robbed and that these CDs were "hot". He basically told me it was none of my business. It was not said nicely. I believe "fuck off" was in there somewhere. He absolutely knew they were hot. Well, it might have been none of my business but now, he's getting "none of my business". I've been spreading the word about that place ever since. I would be very pleased to find out that Norman's went belly up. BTW, in case anyone is wondering, Mosaic never saw-cuts promos and they never remainder left over stock.

I highly recommend Wood Technology. I have their CMV-44 TV stand and FGH-21 speaker stands and they're rock solid. Great quality at pretty low prices. For solid wood furniture, they beat any of the stores in my area. Price a Salamander TV stand! I'd recommend buying it direct from them. http://www.wood-tech.com They list it at $319 and I think shipping is free. They offer "Hot Specials" on other furniture but not the MM-600. Give them a call and see if you can get a "Hot Special" MM-600. BTW, they say these hot specials may have blemishes. My TV stand had no such blemish. Kevin

Contact Michael Cuscuna via the Mosaic Records website (http://www.mosaicrecords.com). Michael does appreciate these e-mails. They help him decide on titles to reissue. If they get a lot of requests, it's more likely to get reissued before a title that no one asks for. I'll ask him about it next time I talk to them. Kevin

Yup. From the Mosaic discography: Roost LP 2204 Plays Arrangements From The Pen of Quincy Jones (D) Sonny Stitt (as) w/ Quincy Jones Orchestra: Jimmy Nottingham, Ernie Royal (tp), J.J. Johnson (tb), Anthony Ortega (fl, as), Seldon Powell (ts), Cecil Payne (bari), Hank Jones (p), Freddie Green (g), Oscar Pettiford (b), Jo Jones (d). NYC, September 30, 1955 tk.2 My Funny Valentine Roost LP 2204 tk.5 Lover - tk.6 Sonny's Bunny - tk.9 Love Walked In - (E) Sonny Stitt (as) w/ Quincy Jones Orchestra: Thad Jones, Joe Newman (tp), Jimmy Cleveland (tb), Anthony Ortega (fl, as), Seldon Powell (ts), Cecil Payne (bari), Hank Jones (p), Freddie Green (g), Oscar Pettiford (b), Jo Jones (d). NYC, October 9, 1955 tk.2 If You Could See Me Now Roost LP 2204 tk.2 Quince (alt) previously unissued tk.3 Quince Roost LP 2204 tk.1 Come Rain Or Come Shine (alt) previously unissued tk.2 Come Rain Or Come Shine Roost LP 2204 tk.1 Star Dust (alt) -1 previously unissued tk.3 Star Dust -1 Roost LP 2204 -1, as, p, g, b & d only.

Yeah, "sour" is what I'd use to describe his tone sometimes too.

Got 'em! All 30 arrived this morning. How am I going to listen to all of these?

I have "Blue Ballads", "True Ballads" and "True Blue" on CD. I havne't played them in a while but from I recall, they all have some great playing but Shepp's embrousure might bother some listeners. It can sound sour in places, with vibrato, almost like he can't hit the note right. A weak sound? I don't know. Some days I really dig it and others I just have to switch discs. My wife & daughters don't like his sound at all. Every time I put him on they comment that they don't like it. And I'd rather he didn't sing. Kevin

First, thank you everyone for the kind words. It means a lot to me to read them. The funeral was yesterday and I just got home from my Mom's place. It still feels weird saying "Mom's place". Organissimo was well represented at the wake. Thanks Mike and Rob. I was stressed out but your visit helped me relax a little bit. In fact, when I spotted Rob, I did a double-take. It looked like Lew Tabackin was in front of him! Joanne said it was the first time she heard me laugh in two days. Can you have a funny wake story?? Well, my Dad would appreciate a funny wake story, so I'm going to tell it! There I was, all of these people, many whom I hadn't seen in decades, shaking my hand and telling me how sorry they were about my Dad. This younger-looking guy stops and says, "Hi, I'm Mike. Sorry about your father." Well, I like to ask a few questions in case it might stir up a memory that will allow me to talk about my Dad, so I ask, "Mike? And your last name..." And he says, with a bit of a raised eyebrow (I guess I was supposed to know him), "Mike Sullivan." So I say, "And how did you know my Dad?" He says, "I'm the mayor." I was confused. I've been out of Holyoke for a long time and totally spaced out, so I say, "Of what?" He says, "Of Holyoke! I'm the Mayor of Holyoke." I started laughing... I couldn't help it. He started laughing too. The Mayor of Holyoke. He then told me he'd played golf with my Dad a few times and knew my Mom. My mother. She knows everyone! And anyone my mother didn't know played golf with my Dad! At the wake, two of the guys that were helping my Dad restore his 1931 Indian 101 Scout stopped by to tell me that in honor of my Dad, they put the finishing touches on his bike. He almost finished it. Three of them worked on it for about 8 hours and finished it up. My Dad was trying to finish it to show it at an Indian event in Hebron, CT August 4th, 5th & 6th. I told them I'd take the bike to the show with my Mom. It's the least I can do for my Dad. It's a sure-fire medal winner from what these guys say. My Dad's final masterpiece. Well, enough rambling. Thanks again to you all for letting me do a little reminiscing here. Later, Kevin

If you guys will indulge me, I'd like to use this space to wax poetically about the man who made me who I am. My Dad died Monday night at the young ago of 70. Totally unexpected. Heart attack. Really knocking me on my butt but he'd want me to get back up. His death notice is listed at: http://www.legacy.com/masslive/DeathNotice...rsonId=18523417 but it's funny when you read these things... they always miss stuff. Like the fact that he could fix anything. Cars, motorcycles, boats, bicycles, clocks, telephones... nothing he couldn't fix. He has about 6 old Indian motorcycles out in his garage, and those are just his latest projects. He loved restoring those old Indians. I remember going to a huge estate auction of antique motorcycle stuff with him many years ago. We had a blast bidding up a box of garbage that some deep-pocketed phone buyer wanted. Jay Leno was there (he's a huge Henderson fan) and even he got beat out by Mr. Deepockets. He was doing stand=up with every item. We entered in line just in front of Leno so I got his autograph on the program. My Dad must have that somewhere. The toughest thing about being back home is his workshops. The basement was where me & him worked. Every tool has it's place. Just today I had to put in a new faucet for my Mom and I just broke down getting the tools. I knew where every one of them was and I haven't been working down there in years. Lately, I'd become the teacher, showing my Dad the ins & outs of PCs. He was very good. I used to get calls all time in the beginning. Later on, he started teaching "PC Basics" at the Senior Center! Dad was a quick learner. Dad worked at the telephone company, back when it was "Ma Bell". He used to get called out late at night to fix the lines. He was a toll tester. Even though it was against the rules, he used to bring me. I remember once when he got the truck with the "special" phone. It was a radio phone. We called my Mom when we were drinving down the highway. I was yelling at her, "Mom, I'm talking to you in a car!!" How times change. Dad was an early geek. He always had the latest electronic stuff, which was mostly telephone related. It went on even today. Just 2 weeks ago, we installed a 12 disc CD/mp3 changer in the saddle bag of his Kawasaki Voyager XII. He has these CD-Rs of mp3s of old-time country music. He was in heaven. He only got to drive it twice since we installed but Mom said he loved it. We also put an mp3 player in his truck. He's the guy all the old timers ask when they need PC help, just like I am in my circle of friends. That's probably what bums me out the most. Me and my Dad were so alike. I have two older brothers and today when we fixed the sink, it was comical watching my bros... I love 'em, but they are so inept with tools! One of Dad's favorite things was his E-mail joke lists. He maintained a joke list of probably 150 people. I showed him how to manage e-mail lists, and even how to use BCC so no one can see everyone else's E-mail address. He had lists for his grandkids, lists with more mature humor and even a special list for political stuff. He covered all the bases. Mom hates the computer, so I had unenviable task of e-mailing them all the bad news. Mom was surprised when many of them, who she hardly knew, started sending flowers. I feel like I'm in "It's A Wonderful Life" but there's no happy ending. Everyone Dad influenced is going to have to learn to live without him. Even me. After the dust settles, I'll come back in a bit. Until then, I'm bummin'. Kevin

I placed an order for one of my overseas friends from our community tonight and it was 5860. My order last Wednesday afternoon was 5559, so a little over 300 orders in about a week. Seems like most of those literally would be from this community. I posted a link to this at an audio forum and that generated some orders. I bet that there are many others ordering besides the fish in this little pond. I posted this sale over on the Steve Hoffman forums and it looks like Concord got quite a few sales from that place too.

My 30 are on the way!

Order Number : 5541 Placed : 07/12/2006 11:47:01 CDT 30 CDs at $2.98. I paid $15 shipping. Still no second e-mail, but in their defense, someone else who uses my yahoo account (she who shall remain nameless) may have emptied the "spam" box and that's where the first e-mail went. Kevin

So as a result of this lawsuit, what are BMG's current S&H fees? Have they reduced them? I'm on the fence as to whether or not I should mail them anything. It seems that it would just give them fodder to start barraging me with "Come back to the club" mailings. Kevin

FWIW, if it's really dead and you need a cheapie alternative in the future, I just installed and set-up an Oppo Digital DV-970HD universal player at my sister-in-law's house last weekend. This thing works like a charm! Best bang for the buck ever. Yeah, it converts DSD to PCM, but who cares if it sounds good? $149?? For $149, it's a very good "second system" player and a perfectly good one for most of us. Kevin

Sony's gaining some noteriety for their SACD players failing on hybrids. Knock on wood... I've yet to have any failures on my Denon. Kevin

I'm not a big fan of Berliner Weiss. The local German place offers three kinds of syrup in it, with the recommended one being maple. "Slightly sour" hefe?? I don't think I've had one of those and I've had a lot of 'em. And Weizen, that bottle looks like it says "Schultheiss Berliner Weiss". I've never heard of that maker or seen this one. I never even knew that Berliner Weiss was a beer style. The only one I've seen looks very different from this one. Kevin

I think it used to be Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon", but today, it's probably a Britney Spears CD.

Eeeeeewwww! Ein Radler Mann!!! Zat's vhat I buy for mein frau!!! Yeah, that's what my German friends say too... "Radler? That's for girls". Well, you know what, I don't care what they say, I ain't getting tanked at lunch and the stuff tastes good. Prosit! Kevin

I just called and not only would they not take the $15 shipping charge off of my order, they are removing the free shipping for orders over $100 on this sale. So, if you haven't pressed "Place order" yet, DO IT QUICK! I think the free shipping on this sale will be gone very soon. Kevin

I'd like to know where this "lemon wedge in Hefe-weiss" stuff comes from. Go to Germany and they don't stick lemon wedges in your beer. They serve it straight-up, just the way I like it. My favorite German restaurant always serves hefe with a slice of lemon. They stopped bringing the lemon to my table. FWIW, when I'm in Germany, I drink radler at lunch. It's half beer, half lemonade. Even the Germans don't consider it "beer" but more a "beer flavored drink". However, it is very refreshing and generally tastes pretty good. Ahhh... 4:00. Almost time to head home and pop open a nice cold Erdinger. Later, Kevin

I just ordered 30. Ouch. I called my wife (who balances the household budget) before I hit the "Place order" button and she gave the OK with a caveat: No CDs for 3 months! Double ouch. You guys are killing me. Some great CDs winging their way to me though. Later, Kevin

Any mp3 player has to go through the whole disc before starting playback. Some players are better at it than others. Also, be careful when making mp3s. Many mp3 encoders create large track "tags" that include everything, including the kitchen sink... well, maybe not the kitchen sink... but a lot of extraneous stuff. Seriously, after you are done creating the mp3 files, make sure the track tag doesn't include the artwork. This not only uses unecessary space, some players choke on this added data and create long delays in playing back any track. I always remove any album art from my mp3 track tags. It really speeds up initial playback. Kevin

Who reads liner notes? Maybe every now & then, but usually I just put the disc in the player and judge the music on my own. I don't need a liner note writer to decide if I should like a date or not. I think anyone who avoids this reissue because they don't like the producer is cheating themselves out of some great music in much better sound than any other version ever issued. If you don't have this version, the version you have sounds inferior. If the extra stuff bugs you, do like Big Al and make a CD-R of just the concert recordings.

This is one instance where modern-day digital did some good. They merged two mono recordings into stereo with incredible results. I highly recommend this. Unfortunately, there are some annoyances on this two CD set, like those "pause tracks", but the sound, when it's coming out of your speakers is heaven-sent. Wait to you hear Gonsalves' solo... it's actually on mike.