T.D.

I recently re-read the book (after mentioning it above). It's overall very good, and a pretty quick read, so not really essential to pick out highlights. FWIW, if I arbitrarily divide the chapters/essays into three categories (autobiographical, composing-oriented, art-oriented {Feldman being rather an expert on painting}), I prefer the autobiographical material, though the other stuff ain't chopped liver...Off the top of my head, I particularly liked the title piece and "I Met Heine on the Rue Furstemberg" (that's how it's spelled in my edition). Many nice anecdotes about growing up in NYC, John Cage, the "New York School" (art and music), etc. I once read somewhere that Feldman was "one of the most Jewish of composers", and never really understood from his music, but certain essays cast some light on that issue.

I think TWC always oversensationalises things, and find the channel almost unwatchable. OTOH, anything that impinges on media capital NYC is gonna get hyped to death. But I don't think, at least in NYS, that this storm is being taken lightly. There have been all kinds of emergency declarations (the Ulster Co. one I cited above is from a county bordering the Hudson Valley, 60+ miles North of NYC), and I've heard of numerous mandatory evacuations in sections of NYC and Long Island. Probably (such is human nature), people are under-prepared for long power outages, though.

The Barber of Seville Sal "The Barber" Maglie Sweeney Todd

Another 6-hour model update (they come out at 8AM, 2PM, 8PM, 2AM), and (from the standpoint of a NY resident) the computer models have just as much spread as they did this morning. [Added] Tom 1960 [We live in the same county, Tom at the East end and myself at the far West], FYI the Ulster Co. Executive just declared a State of Emergency: COUNTY EXECUTIVE HEIN DECLARES A STATE OF EMERGENCY FOR ULSTER COUNTY IN ORDER TO TAKE ALL NECESSARY ACTIONS TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF COUNTY RESIDENTS Kingston, NY – Ulster County Executive Mike Hein declared a state of emergency in Ulster County in preparation for the potential impact of Hurricane Irene, which may hit New York State this coming weekend. A state of emergency is issued under Article 2B of New York State Executive Law. At the County Executive’s direction, county departments are planning cooperative response efforts to take all necessary actions to sure the safety of county residents. The state government is communicating with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Weather Service to discuss the potential tracks of the storm. The County Emergency Management Office is monitoring all such communications...

I'd never watch TV coverage for the reasons you mention (and I don't watch TV). There's some pretty objective and balanced coverage on the Internet, for instance Dr. Jeff Masters's blog.. And you can find out a lot by navigating the National Weather Service / NOAA sites.

That looks promising! I've always liked Aperghis.

The passage ...the driver of a Greyhound bus carrying the freight alerted the fire department he had lost a part of his load... is pretty funny. The Reuters columnist must have gotten some high fives.

The boffins still don't seem to have a great handle on where it's headed. Forecast for my area (Catskill Mtns, NY), slightly inland and West of the worst, is for total of 7-10" of rain, winds up to 60mph. It's been a really wet last month (year, decade...) and that much rain'll be a big problem. I fear it'll be real bad for NJ and metro NYC area. Don't want to get any more alarmist yet... I don't expect the forecasts to really "converge" until Irene touches down in NC Outer Banks.

Apu (Nahasapeemapetilon) Freddy Adu Abou Ben Adhem

Pierre Pagé Québec Nordiques Nanook of the North

Seymour Butz (author of Under the Bleachers*) Claude Balz (author of Revenge of the Tiger*) Hu Flung Pu (author of Stains on the Wall*) *ancient schoolboy jokes

Taras Balzov Kotcha Kokov Bendin Spredyachiks (These are fictional names from the National Lampoon's "KGB Phone Directory" published some time in the '70s...)

Loren D. Estleman, Retro. Fairly recent in the Amos Walker series (#17?). I used to read lots of Estleman, but got out of touch in recent years. This is a good one, but it'd help to have read some in the series going in.

"Parkeriana" from The Great Concert of Charles Mingus.

Harvey Pekar Peter Bonerz Steely Dan

Dummy Hoy Prince Myshkin (The Idiot) Parsifal (der reine Tor)

Is it easy for a US citizen to emigrate to Canada? My impression (vague, I haven't researched the matter) is that there are pretty strict work permit issues.

Whatever course the Raiduhs elect, you can pretty much count on them messing it up. [Added] Not looking good for my NY football Giants. They pretty much stayed out of the free-agent derby, are being hit hard by the injury bug, and there's possible dissension (Umenyiora).

That Naxos (ex-Koch) was my least favorite Feldman recording, and I sold it (after buying as a Berkshire cutout). The only other Feldman recording I ever sold was "For Philip Guston" by the California Ear Unit (on Bridge), which I liked in places, but was just too long for me... Disclosure: No more than personal taste, but I don't find the string quartet timbre optimal for Feldman; apart from solo piano (a favorite), I seem to prefer hearing, say, mallet instruments, perc., piano, winds, etc. mixed in. I haven't heard (or had a big ambition to hear) the monster String Quartet #2 for that reason. The one-disc Koch quartet disc dragged, and even grated on me a bit. On the other hand, YMMV and Naxos price encourages experimentation. I listened to "Neither" again last night, and now more strongly recommend it. I prefer it to, say, "For Samuel Beckett", which I also listened to last night. Sound quality was better than I recalled, though a wee bit murky.

I have that recording (original release). It's a re-issue. There's another recording, on the Col Legno label, which I haven't heard. I admit I haven't listened in quite a while. I'd call it more a "nice to have" than a MUST-have. But my personal taste in Feldman's music runs more to small ensembles than to orchestral pieces. From what I recall, it has very "dark" tone colors for Feldman, with an ominous pulsing effect. Not really an "opera" structurally, most of the singing is in vocalise/melisma. The sound quality of the hat art recording is not immaculate; I recall some tape noise (also audience noise, but I don't consider that too important). I did see above that you have a recording of "For Samuel Beckett", so "Neither" might fit in well. I'd go for it if the price is reasonable (wouldn't pay up for oop disc). I also thought the old Montaigne recording of the radio play "Words and Music" (Feldman/Beckett) was interesting. There's very little music (but it's recognizably Feldman), and more straight Beckett text. Much more a Beckett than a Feldman work. But it's likely hard to find.

Remarkable! I'm not ashamed that I didn't guess.

Funny. I never could have guessed it, but as soon as I read the answer, said "yeah, sure!". Used to love those Truffaut films, but it was decades ago...

George Wallington Giacinto Scelsi Marc Ribot

Nothing more than a curiosity, but Wayne Gretzky's teenage son just signed with the Cubbies.

Excellent one! The car was a total fake-out! I got the answer by Google, but too late...