ejp626

New might be a problem, but there should be a number of used copies floating about. These are from amazon.fr: Amazon.fr search

Definitely not a fan of BP. They are coming to town (Chicago), and I might even have a ticket as part of a subscription series but I wouldn't go. I was very underwhelmed by the first album, and in fact I actively disliked it, thinking I would never bother to listen a third time (trying to give it one more chance). Then I really got turned off by the massive hype.

Oh no, not another CD to add to my get list... But I have also been following Vijay Iyer. I've got Memorophilia, Blood Sutra and In What Language? Language is kind of a concept album about airports. Blood Sutra is the better album in terms of musicianship. Anyway, this is off topic, sorry...

Sorry - let me repost from New albums. One of these days, I am going to work on an article on "last works," i.e the last thing an artist accomplished before death. I think there would be two general categories -- one where the artist was pretty sure this would be their final work (either due to old age or extreme sickness) or where death was sudden and more unexpected. The article will probably focus on fiction and painting/sculpture, so I thought I might throw open the topic for music here. The kinds of issues that interest me are the commonalities, especially in the first category. Are there a lot of songs that seem to sum up life? Are the songs angry or resigned? Were the albums completely finished, or did someone finish them up? Not really trying to be morbid, but just thinking about the last creative acts of artists. The three recent CDs that come to mind where the artists probably knew it was their last work: Ray Charles, George Harrison and Warren Zevon. I think we have heard plenty of testimony that with the Zevon album in particular, working on that actually provided Zevon with a purpose and he seems to have lived on longer than expected. I am much less familiar with how this plays in jazz. Perhaps more frequently death was unanticipated (Dolphy, Booker Little, Lee Morgan, Clifford Brown, etc.). Perhaps Dexter Gordon's work in and for Round Midnight comes close to fitting the bill. And His Mother Called Him Bill is something quite different -- a magnificent tribute but not directly created by the artist himself. Anyway, just thought I would throw it out there.

One question would be that there does appear to be a huge push behind this album. Would the marketing have been about the same or slightly less if this hadn't been Charles' last album. Perhaps you could ask if there were any duets that didn't work out for whatever reason (scheduling conflict or creative differences). As a side note, this doesn't seem to be a bad album to go out on, compared with Sinatra's stunningly bad Duets and Duets II.

I've seen some Gumby but not a complete edition. BTW, I believe Rocky and Bullwinkle season 2 just hits stores. I saw it in Target yesterday, though I might have been hallucinating from jetlag.

Another shout out to the Critic. I was able to rent the whole series on Netflix. I had forgotten that Marty's son went to the UN High School. There are some classic laughs related to this, including the son falling in love with Castro's grand-daughter.

It looks like this album is getting massive exposure. There's some licensing deal, so it will be playing in Starbucks all over the country. I still haven't heard the whole thing, but I did hear three or four tracks while listening to the jazz station in the airplane. For once, the pilot did not have "sounds from the cockpit on" instead of the jazz channel. Has anyone else noticed this? I am wondering if it is one of the few benefits stemming from the general paranoia these days, i.e. we can't eavesdrop on the pilots anymore so we get the jazz channel back. Of what I heard, the Bonnie Raitt duet was the best. You did notice that Ray's voice was pretty weak on the Elton John duet, but what bothered me was that it was overproduced with strings slapped on (possibly as a way of compensation). It kind of reminded me of the extensive postproduction work done on George Harrison's last record. Anyway, I am more interested in buying the record now, but I'll still probably wait a few more months.

PM on Sclavis

I've heard of Invader Zim, but haven't watched it. It's good, huh? Maybe I'll grab it for when my kid is a little older (at least that's what I'd tell the wife). CN only shows reruns of Futurama. New episodes of Futurama are kind of up in the air but unlikely. The team would definitely like to do more, CN would like to order new ones, but it cost so much money, they simply can't afford it, even if Fox relinquished the rights (which they probably would not do). Barring a change in Fox programming, there probably will not be more Futurama. There is some chance that Groening could pull off a Futurama movie. Anyway, I've done my bit by signing the petition (to bring it back) and buying whatever merchandise I could to show support. I've even got Futurama beer coasters! And Futurama Xmas ornaments! And a wind-up walking robot! Well, you got the picture ...

This looks good indeed, especially What's Opera Doc!! This will be a pre-order for sure.

Far and away my favorite set is the Futurama set. I actually do prefer this to the Simpsons (particularly current Simpsons as opposed to Seasons 3-7 Simpons). Anyway, I was going to ramble on about more sets, but I think I will just post some news about upcoming sets. Apparently, Tripping the Rift (a vulgar but funny spoof of sci fi shows airing on Sci Fi channel) is coming to DVD. I taped a bunch of these, then just couldn't keep up. Sci Fi also renewed it for another season. Stuff from Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. I don't know if anyone watches this. I am kind of disappointed that all the classic cartoons have gone to Boomerang, instead of airing on CN. I don't get Boomerang. Now it happens that I don't like a lot of the new CN cartoons, but I am heartened that there is finally a new batch of cartoons that isn't entirely about selling merchandize. There have always been commercial tie-ins from the early days of Disney to today's Powerpuff Girls. But in my mind, from the mid 1980s through the mid 1990s, Saturday cartoons were only about toys -- GI Joe, Transformers, then Pokemon and today's Yu-Gi-Oh (which CN does show). I think there are finally some decent alternatives for kids where there is some merchandizing but that isn't the raison d'etre of the show. But I don't watch most or any of these cartoons (though the one with the guy whose hot rod got fused with a battle robot is hysterical). I do occasionally watch Adult Swim (mostly because they show Futurama and Family Guy). If I am traveling, I might watch the rest of the schedule (Sea Lab 2021, Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Brak Show). I don't even like most of them, but I am fascinated by them. I think they are the cartoon equivalent of crack. What I appreciate about them the most, is that they are truly surreal mash-ups of mediocre Hanna Barbera cartoons (well not Aqua Teen). Where else are you going to see them blow up Sea Lab at the end of each episode? I find it refreshing that a network would show such cracked cartoons. That said, curiously the only show I actually like of the bunch is Harvey Birdman, which is about the least popular of all of them. Nonetheless, it is coming to DVD in Spring 2005, along with the Brak show and Space Ghost season 3. Sealab 2021 should be coming out sooner than that (probably late fall 2004).

Hard to say if this will work out or not. History says it won't be so great. What is your favorite form of HHGG? I like the books best, then the radio shows (yes, I know they were first), then the DVD of the shows. I also have the computer game floating around somewhere, but I just never got far enough into it to enjoy it. Anyway, what about Red Dwarf? Any fans here? I thought the last season or two wasn't that good, but I am still looking forward to the movie, which is (was) shooting in Australia. At least they do have the original cast and many of the original writers/producers. If it does well, they might consider another season or two of Red Dwarf.

I was at Dusty Groove today and decided to spring for the 12 inchers they were featuring on their website a while back. If you heard David Murray and Pharoah Sanders on Gwotet (a great CD and perhaps on vinyl), they took the title track and remixed it and put both on a the 12 incher. Also, there is a Japanese group called Sleepwalker that released a 12 inches with Pharoah sitting on one the track on one side and Bembe Segue on the other side. As far as I can tell, both of these are vinyl only. I haven't actually played them yet, since I need to get a different turntable that actually plays at the correct speed!

WalMerlot ? WalMart Wines: When you simply can't get the very best

I'm a real fan of quirky shows, so I am very glad that Northern Exposure showed up (season 1 anyway). Does anyone remember The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, starring Blair Brown? In many ways the forerunner of Ally McBeal, but I think much better written. It lasted a few seasons, had poor ratings, and I think ran for two seasons of new episodes on Lifetime. There doesn't appear to be any clamour for this, or the fan websites are just incredibly poor, so it will probably come out long after F Troop. I would like to see Get Smart, and I think there is a good chance that will come out in a few more years.

The good stuff I offer here first, then to the local record store, and then half.com. The record store wouldn't even have looked at that disc I sold, so it was infinitely higher than I could have gotten there.

My impression was that they were trying to push people to open up Ebay "stores" where you can have buy it now items and so forth. I have sold on half.com, actually more items than I have sold on ebay. I feel it is a little lower pressure, and a good place for items that are going to stay on the shelf for a while, as it were. I think it took four months for my copy of the Pet Shop Boys Greatest Hits to sell (insert joke here), and the probability that I would have kept relisting it on ebay would have been 0.

Does anyone remember this parody/spoof from 2003? It sounded so in character that thousands (millions?) believed it was true. Here's some follow-up to the hoax that I hadn't read before:

Sending a PM on Soviet Jazz.

Under $75 for the pre-order!! I just couldn't resist. But I don't see how they can make any money on the deal, especially with all those goodies in the box.

Lou Donaldson?

I will eventually get these, mostly for the bonus disc and the commentary track. I don't believe they will ever be released individually, but I guess never say never. I have been very appalled that the originals will never be released and the fans have to put up with Lucas' constant tinkering. After poking around on the web, I found a place that reviewed four or five Star Wars bootlegs (taken from laserdisc). I bought one set and was pleasantly surprised at the quality. They are letterboxed, and don't have any of the odious changes that Lucas added.

Mingus?

I've been fairly happy with Netflix, though there are a few titles they should have but don't. I usually manage to turn the DVDs over in two days, so I am usually able to get about 35-40 DVDs a month (I'm on the three at a time plan). One nice thing is that when DVDs are damaged, Netflix hasn't hassled me about them and just sent replacements. They have only a few NC-17 movies, the ones that have some "artistic merit" to them, so this isn't the place for hardcore. Don't know how Blockbuster will stack up, but I've never been impressed with the selection at the store, so I don't see how their on-line selection will be any better. (I think I watch 40% foreign film, 40% anime and 20% mainstream Hollywood films, so Blockbuster hasn't been worth it at all.)