Stan the Man essays the Duke. My two cents: don't deny yourself Duke Ellington and His Orchestra at Newport either. A life without "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue," featuring the startling solo by Paul Gonsalves, is not complete.

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I've spent the evening watching The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Haven't seen it in years, but it's a very, very familiar movie to me. Only just occurred to me this evening that it's a comedy -- a broad, leisurely Italian comedy set in the American West during the Civil War, with Eli Wallach having the time of his life hamming it up as Tuco.

Last night I watched From Dusk Till Dawn -- I have got to start watching movies I haven't already seen. I can't recall whether Stanley Crouch addressed this film in his massive Tarantino commentary in The Artificial White Man. Goofy-gory thriller involving thugs, bikers, and vampires; very steeped in Christian symbology for effect.