Kevin Bresnahan

I do buy used books too. But this thread is about new book sales.

I am Groot.

I would guess that the main reason physical book sales are down is because they keep jacking up the prices. Why would anyone pay $30 for a new book when they can pay $12-15 for an e-book version? I used to try buying physical copies but I eventually switched over to e-books. The only times I find myself reading an actual book is when i check one out from the library.

That is a great Mosaic set. For some reason, it doesn't get the accolades. Maybe because it's Columbia & not Blue Note?

I was reading a somewhat positive review of Jimmy Smith's "Bluesmith" & saw that it has Teddy Edwards on it. I have ever heard this session. Is it worth finding? Has this material ever been out on a legitimate CD release?

I thought it was his Connecticut home we talked about? Brubeck sold that Oakland house ages ago. https://www.townandcountrymag.com/style/home-decor/a28396899/dave-brubeck-midcentury-connecticut-house/

This LP is mono and I wish it were stereo. It has such a flat sound. Little ambiance, unless you count the reverb added to Elvin Jones' drums in places. It makes it sound like each player is in an isolation booth and when they solo, you only get the mic from that booth.

JJ Johnson - J Is For Jazz (Columbia).

I stopped watching the Marvel movies when they started having to be watched in some sort of "timeline". Now this timeline has pre & post death arcs because apparently, a bunch of Marvel's superheroes were killed off in one of the Avengers movies? Anyway, if I need a syllabus to watch any movie, I'm less likely to watch it. Having said that, "Guardians of the Galaxy" was very enjoyable. The sequel less so. By the time III came out, I lost interest. PS - I'm sure I watched "Guardians of the Galaxy" out of sequence but I don't care.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/25/arts/music/michael-cuscuna-dead.html When Michael told me about his cancer, I was hoping for the best but expecting the worst. Esophageal cancer has a very low survival rate, but I held out hope that he would be one of the survivors.

There is some conservation going on here. Many years ago, I went to look at a home for sale in Newburyport, MA. It was deemed "historic" so the buyer could not change the exterior of the building, particularly the front facade. It was fairly inexpensive for the area, so we went to take a peek. We found out why it was cheap. The current owner was trying to update it without affecting the historic aspects and it was so expensive that they ran out of money. The dining room had no floor because after they removed some rotting wood they found foundation/structural problems and to fix that, they would have had to red-do the side of the building. The town wouldn't give them the permit. Old isn't always better and it's often expensive to keep it looking that way.

This is happening where I live and I see the same arguments on Facebook. "How can they tear down such a historic house?" But when it's pointed out that the house went up for sale and no one talked about buying it to preserve it, they all shut up quickly. Everyone's for preservation until someone asks you for money. There was one tiny house by the beach that caused a lot of angst. This place was tiny - a 2-story ugly box that was maybe 1,100 sq.ft. It had 4 tiny 9 x 9 bedrooms on the 2nd floor and a single bathroom on the 1st floor. Fun! It reportedly had some old knob & tube wiring. Double fun! The new owners bought it for $2.2 Million and went for approval to tear it down. People asked the town to stop them. Yet, diagonally across the street, another, similar building was torn down and replaced with a modern beach house without a peep from anyone. The town knew they couldn't do anything about it so it got torn down. The mansion that's there now looks pretty good, better than the old house in my opinion. Old isn't always better.

Now playing - Wretches & Jabberers (Soundtrack) I picked this Americana/folk/rock/country collection mainly because it was getting rave reviews as a sort of audiophile LP. I ended up enjoying the music more than I thought and I always think I should play it more when I finally do get around to it. 1. The Reasons Why J. Ralph 2. Change Is Gonna Come Norah Jones 3. The Letter Carly Simon 4. More Like You Ben Harper 5. Killingly Hard Antony & J. Ralph 6. Flower and The Lion Vashti Bunyan 7. Given to Us Ben Taylor 8. Breaking the Hold Bob Weir 9. Lying Down Statues Devendra Barnhart & J. Ralph 10. Birdsong Judy Judy Collins 11. Low Barefoot Tolerance Stephen Stills 12. One Whole Hour Scarlett Johannson 13. No Regard Vincent Gallo 14. Four Brave Souls David Garza 15. Breakers & The Wind Bonnie Bramlett 16. Pretty Words Lie Nic Jones 17. Fighters & Factitioners Martin Carthy 18. Hello For The First Time (Four Words) Paul Brady 19. Entenderse Lila Downs 20. Birdsong Reprise Leah Siegel

Forget trying to get a copy… I found it pretty much impossible. It was very limited and you had to be a LAJI member to order it. I tried joining just to get it but no matter what I tried, I could not get that sucker into my cart to check out. I gave up, figuring some day they’ll offer it as a download. 😀😀