Chrome

I seem to recall some Joyce fans around here ... some of this stuff reminds me of the thread about people who "get" late era Coltrane. The concern over whether some people are just pretending to like it, etc. I can say I didn't quite get "Ulysses" ... it seems more important for the technical stream-of-consciousness style than for the content itself. (FYI: The Roddy Doyle novel mentioned below, "Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha," was fantastic, but I would exactly call it a comedy.) Joyce's 'Ulysses' Under Fire in Centenary Year Wed Feb 11, 9:37 AM ET By Gideon Long DUBLIN (Reuters) - James Joyce's "Ulysses," regarded by many as the greatest novel of the 20th century and by some as the finest work ever written in English, is under attack. As Ireland gears up to celebrate the centenary of Bloomsday -- the day in June 1904 on which the novel is set -- some disgruntled writers and columnists say they are sick to death of the impenetrable book and its cult following. By elevating him to the status of literary God, Joyce's fans are doing other Irish writers a disservice and creating a "Joyce industry" which has more to do with tourism and money-making than literature, they say. Roddy Doyle, author of comic best-seller "Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha" and the screenplay for the hit film "The Commitments," opened the literary Pandora's Box last week with a scathing attack on Ulysses and its devoted followers. "Ulysses could have done with a good editor," Doyle told a literary gathering in New York. "People are always putting Ulysses in the top 10 books ever written, but I doubt that any of those people were really moved by it." Continuing his attack in an Irish newspaper interview at the weekend, Doyle said Joyce's legacy cast a long and pernicious shadow over Irish literary life. "If you're a writer in Dublin and you write a snatch of dialogue, everyone thinks you lifted it from Joyce," he said. "It's as if you're encroaching on his area...it gets on my nerves." Doyle's comments struck a chord with populists. Writing in the Irish Times Wednesday, columnist Kevin Myers described Ulysses as "one of the most unproductive cul-de-sacs in literary history." "It is about 400,000 words long, which is probably about 250,000 words too many," he complained. A NOVEL WITHOUT A PLOT? Journalist Sean Moncrieff, writing in the Irish Examiner, said Ulysses would never see the light of day if written now. "What happens in Ulysses?" he asked. "Well, not much. Bloom has breakfast. Goes to a funeral. Wanders around Dublin a bit. Stephen Dedalus does the same. Gets pissed (drunk) and makes a fool of himself. They both go home." "Send that plot outline to any modern publisher and see how far you get." But Joyce's fans hit back. "It's unfair to say that no one is moved by Ulysses," said Helen Monaghan, director of the James Joyce Center, a museum in Dublin dedicated to the writer and his works. "Many people enjoy Joyce's work and are moved by it." "Our aim has always been to create an awareness and understanding of Joyce's work," she told Reuters, saying everyone, not just intellectuals, could find pleasure in Joyce's daunting prose. Ulysses is widely regarded as one of the most inaccessible works in English literature. Stuffed full of meandering, unpunctuated sentences, classical references, snatches of song and even the occasional diagram, it tells the story of advertising salesman Leopold Bloom's wander around Dublin on June 16, 1904. Toward the end of the book, Bloom meets Stephen Dedalus, an aspiring young writer modeled partly on Joyce himself. The novel's plot is minimal and the beauty of the book, for its fans, lies in Joyce's ostentatious use of language. Thousands of people flock to Dublin on June 16 each year to retrace Bloom's footsteps, and this year the celebrations will be bigger than ever. Some 10,000 people are expected to savor a Bloomsday breakfast on Dublin's O'Connell Street and there will be dozens of readings, Joyce-inspired art exhibitions and other Ulysses-related events in the city over the coming months.

Thanks, Ghost.

So it's going to be (modern) pop standards? I was surprised when you mentioned "standards" in the first post ... didn't fit my preconceived notions of Mehdau music, although the idea really piqued my interest. I'm less piqued by the idea of him doing stuff like "Still crazy ...," especially after what you said about the cut. This isn't some kind of Norah Jonesification thing, is it?

Jim Thompson is an awesome noir writer ... check out "The Grifters" (made into the John Cusack movie), "Pop. 1280," "After Dark My Sweet" (made into a pretty decent movie but I can't remember who stars in it ... Bruce Dern?), "A Hell of a Woman."

I came to them a little later ... I have Oranges and Lemons, as well as Nonsuch ... I love their poppier songs (Mayor of Simpleton, Peter Pumpkinhead, President Kill Again, Madame Barnum), but, IMHO, they get a little too "precious" on some of their other stuff.

Thanks, Jazzbo.

That diagram was pretty cool, especially for me as a non-drummer ... is the "wheeled console" thing a structural piece that holds the kit together? Or is it some part of what actually gets played?

Although I've got them all separately, I'm pretty sure BMG offered them together in the some kind of "Complete Prestige" set. Pretty much a four-way tie for me.

Exactly ... the real story is Ken is going to move to Massachusetts ...

Slooooow news day ... It's splitsville for Barbie and Ken Couple 'will remain friends,' says Mattel Thursday, February 12, 2004 Posted: 1:06 PM EST (1806 GMT) NEW YORK (AP) -- Just like J.Lo and Ben, the romance is over for Barbie and Ken. After 43 years as one of the world's prettiest pairs, the perfect plastic couple is breaking up. The couple's "business manager," Russell Arons, vice president of marketing at Mattel, said that Barbie and Ken "feel it's time to spend some quality time -- apart." "Like other celebrity couples, their Hollywood romance has come to an end," said Arons, who quickly added that the duo "will remain friends." Arons denied that there was any truth to rumors that the breakup was linked to the Cali (as in California) Girl Barbie, arriving in stores now. To better reflect her single status, Cali Barbie will wear board shorts and a bikini top, metal hoop earrings, and have a deeper tan. This new style already has attracted a new admirer, Blaine the Australian boogie boarder. Barbie -- the most popular fashion doll in the world, according to toy maker Mattel -- met Ken on the set of a TV commercial in 1961, and they have been inseparable ever since. Arons hinted Wednesday that the separation may be partially due to Ken's reluctance to getting married. All those bridal Barbie dolls in toy chests around the globe are really just examples of Barbie's wishful thinking, she explained. Another possible factor is Barbie's career. The doll who was "born" Barbie Millicent Roberts in 1959 has been everything from a rock star to military medic, and she's currently marketed in more than 150 countries. According to Mattel, every second, three Barbie dolls are sold somewhere in the world. So where does that leave Ken? Said Arons: "He will head for other waves."

Thanks for the lyrics 7/4 ... when I read the review and everything I thought she was pulling a Liz Phair ... anyone familiar with the following song off her newest disc? Note: parental guidance suggested! ---------------------------------------------- H.W.C. give it to me, don't give it away don't think about what the others say my skin's getting clear, my hair's so bright all you do it fuck me every day and night you're my secret beauty routine na na na na, what my body has seen i am looking good and i'm feeling nice baby you're the best magazine advice give me your hot white cum give me your hot white cum give me your hot white cum i'm gonna throw you back down between the sheets everything is fresher when the day is sweet in the morning light when you're already on the phone face it one of these days without you i'm just another dorian gray it's the fountain of youth, it's the meaning of life so hot, so sweet, so whet my appetite give me your hot white cum give me your hot white cum give me your hot white cum face it one of these days without you i'm just another dorian gray it's the fountain of youth, it's the meaning of life baby you're the best magazine advice give me your hot white cum give me your hot white cum give me your hot white cum --------------------------------------- No room for confusion there ... and, JS, no room for maturity or self control here!

Anyone familiar with this tenor player? I just picked up his "Airegin," and, based on my first listen, I'm looking for other recommendations. He really seems to play with some fire, although the liner notes indicate he had pretty up-and-down career, with mental probs, etc.

JS: You know, not having heard any of the first (or second) of her discs, I was a little non-plussed at that comment in the review, too. Does she really have a song about the big O?

Didn't Richard Lloyd also play on some Matthew Sweet discs?

The French horn = zzzzzzzzzzzzz

From Slate ... The Faux Life With Norah Jones Debunking the pop star's "word-of-mouth success." By Seth Mnookin Posted Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2004, at 3:46 PM PT The carefully crafted down-home Jones Unless you're housebound, you've heard Come Away With Me, Norah Jones' first album—for the last two years, it's served as an unofficial boho soundtrack for coffee houses and bookstores around the country. But unlike other semiesoteric java joint mainstays, Come Away With Me is a record-selling tsunami: It's moved 18 million copies and won eight Grammys last year. (By comparison, Britney Spears' most recent album has sold about 2 million copies.) The release on Feb. 10 of Jones' sophomore effort, Feels Like Home—a slightly more upbeat album than her first one—presents a complicated challenge for Jones' savvy handlers. The conventional take on Jones is that she's a homegrown success who prevailed in an era of pre-manufactured and overmarketed pop stars. The truth is a little more complicated. Beginning about six months before Come Away With Me was released in February 2002, Blue Note Records sent out advance copies bearing breathless testimonials. The label also set up a series of press-only showcases at places like New York's now-defunct Bottom Line, a club notable for having showcased "legit" artists like Bruce Springsteen and Miles Davis. These efforts resulted in so much attention that Jones was featured in Rolling Stone as an "Artist To Watch" weeks before her album even hit the streets. (I reviewed the album for the New York Observer almost two months before it came out; my editor and I agreed that Jones was being pushed so hard it was silly to wait until the actual release date.) But as soon as Blue Note's PR campaign started to pay off, an interesting thing occurred: There was a paradoxical effort to promote Jones as an artist whose success wasn't the result of promotion. She was, we were told, a word-of-mouth phenomenon, someone you could feel good about listening to while you wrote in your journal. This type of promotion worked well among a crucial part of her fan base: college students, aging baby boomers, and sensitive writer types—people who think of themselves as independent and open-minded. Jones' continuing success will depend at least in part on getting these fans to be as evangelical about Feels Like Home as they were about Come Away With Me. So how do you market one of the best-selling artists of the past decade without making her willful fans feel as if they're being spoon-fed a star? By continuing to pretend you're not marketing her at all. This time around Jones and her handlers don't need to ask for coverage; instead, she's being carefully parceled out. Advance copies for Feels Like Home weren't sent to reviewers until a couple of weeks before the album's release date, and only one reporter, Rob Hoerburger, was allowed access to Jones and her new album as it was being made. The result was a perfectly positioned—and highly uncritical—feature called "The Anti-Diva," which ran in the Jan. 25 issue of the New York Times Magazine. In addition to amply praising the product, Hoerburger bought into the now overdetermined story line about Jones' career trajectory: The success [of Come Away With Me] happened without the usual promotional tools, a Top 10 pop radio hit or a high-concept video, on a boutique jazz label, Blue Note, whose executives usually listen for talent first and chart positions later, if at all. Julian Fleisher, a New York nightclub singer who released his own album of smart, genre-busting pop in 2002, said: "It was like Howard Dean. It was a grass-roots success that people heard about in their living rooms. That's where I heard it first—in someone's living room." It's a nice story, but it's not exactly true. Jones didn't have a high-concept video because watching Jones strut around on a strobe-lit set would have turned off her fans. But she did have a pair of low-concept videos, one of which featured Jones wandering barefoot on a beach, flip-flops in hand. Jones didn't have a pop radio hit, but that was just because her fans don't listen to pop radio—they read the New York Times, and they buy CDs instead of downloading songs off the Internet. And while it used to be true that Blue Note was a boutique jazz label, it's now owned by Capitol Records (home to Radiohead and Snoop Dogg). These days, Blue Note focuses on both jazz and boomer artists like Van Morrison and Al Green. Jones conveyed to Hoerburger that she wants to be seen as part of a tradition that views art as antithetical to commercial success, and on Feels Like Home, she has tried to cement her status as a legitimate artiste. One persistent criticism of Come Away With Me is that Jones didn't write enough of the songs herself—which is seemingly fine for Madonna (or Billie Holiday, for that matter) but apparently a no-no for an "authentic" singer-songwriter. She's more active on that count here, but the results are less than stellar. "What Am I to You?," the only song Jones wrote by herself, is a train wreck of clichés and platitudes, with line after line of deep blue seas, falling skies, and butterflies. "Toes," which Jones co-wrote, features an odd kind of attenuated solipsism—the entire song is an internal debate as to whether the singer should go swimming. (She doesn't.) There are also requisite homages to her brethren in all those coffee shop CD players: Feels Like Home includes covers of both Tom Waits and Townes Van Zandt compositions, as well as a nod to the night watchman of Bob Dylan's "Visions of Johanna." It's also a more countrified album than Come Away With Me, with two pinches more twang and slightly less torch. Everything from the album's title to its trajectory (it starts with Jones in bed on "Sunrise" and ends with her watching the snow out her window on "Don't Miss You at All," a Jones composition set to Duke Ellington's "Melancholia") is designed to make the listener feel comfortable. If one of the strengths of Come Away With Me was the unexpected and unobtrusive beauty of Jones' voice, Feels Like Home is actually too unobtrusive—about right for background music while you're trying to decide whether to order that second cup of cappuccino, but not the type of thing you'd force a bunch of friends to listen to all the way through. The surprising sexuality of her first album, where the 22-year-old Jones didn't know why she didn't come and was waiting for her lover to turn her on, has been replaced by rusty nails and long ways home and handfuls of rain. At its best, Come Away With Me was like a revelation—there are young, sexy singers that sound this intelligent and artful? It was distinctive and fresh. Feels Like Home is too tepid and bland to serve as a fully deserving follow-up. But when you've sold 18 million records with your first release, you can afford to not do quite as well the second time around. Plus, it sets up a nice story line for next time: scrappy Norah Jones, fighting to prove she still has the right stuff.

Hank Jones will have his trio at the Firefly in Ann Arbor, Mich., for two shows this Thursday!

Saturday, right before I went to bed, I put on something kind of groovy and relaxing to help me wind down ... Grant Green's "Idle Moments." Then, on Sunday, I wanted to get bagels, but the only bagel place I can stand is 20 minutes away, so I took a disc in my car ... something more challenging, because I was going alone and would be able to concentrate on the music ... Andrew Hill's "Point of Departure." You can probably see where I'm going with this ... was there anyone else who was so versatile on the same instrument as Joe Henderson? I mean, others have different, distinctive voices for different horns they play, but Henderson is able to excel in different settings with the same instrument.

Whether it's 4:20 or you have a fear of large, six-legged vermin, it's hard to top Max Roach.

Seeing Peter's will reminded me of something ... not to be morbid, but has anyone else already picked out the music they'd like played at their funeral? I made my wife promise to play the Charlie Musselwhite version of Christo Redentor at mine.

www.molecularexpressions.com This is a "photograph of recrystallized beer taken with an optical microscope" ... in fact, it's McEwan's Export IPA! This is a pretty cool site ...

Andre Kertesz

Pointless or not, my, uh, point was that the reaction would be MUCH more explosive if it were 50 Cent/Duff because of the way people view Duff. If it were 50 Cent/Spears, which I think is a much better comparison, there would be much less negative, racist reaction because of the way most people view Spears. On the other hand, despite being exposed to just about every "-ism" imaginable through my work, I am probably a little naive ... I still do have trouble believing/understanding that grown adults can be so hung up on race.

I totally agree with what you're saying ... but as the situation stands now, the original writer's choice of Duff to make a point smacks of someone trying to play the "race card" for ulterior purposes. Regarding young-adult pop-sluts, I've got an 11-year-old daughter and watching the shows she watches has been quite an eye-opener, so to speak. I can't believe what some of these girls wear ... or don't. Has anyone seen "The Amanda Show" on Nick? A regular feature is Amanda and a guest spending some time together in her hot tub!?!?

Excises 'ER' Breast Scene Thu February 5, 2004 02:26 AM ET By Nellie Andreeva LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Days after Janet Jackson shocked the nation by baring her breast during the Super Bowl, NBC has agreed to edit out a brief shot of an 80-year-old woman's breast from Thursday night's episode of medical drama "ER" -- to the chagrin of the show's executive producer. In the scene, the breast is visible for less than two seconds in the background of a scene where doctors are giving the woman emergency care. The network's decision to adjust the scene to obscure the bare breast drew a strong rebuke from "ER" executive producer John Wells, who said it sent a bad message. NBC's decision was finalized late Tuesday, two days after the Super Bowl halftime stunner in which Jackson bared her breast during a performance with Justin Timberlake. The incident has spurred a national debate about indecency on television and triggered an investigation by the FCC. "In consultation with our affiliate board we have asked 'ER' to remove a shot of an exposed breast of an 80-year-old woman receiving emergency care," NBC said. "Though we continue to believe the shot is appropriate and in context, and would have aired after 10:30 p.m. Eastern and Pacific time, we have unfortunately concluded that the atmosphere created by this week's events has made it too difficult for many of our affiliates to air this shot." While the final decision on the "ER" shot came a few days after the Jackson incident, Roger Ogden, general manager of NBC affiliate KUSA-TV in Denver and chairman of the NBC affiliate board, said that affiliates had been concerned about the propriety of the scene for several weeks. NBC executives first showed the scene in question to the affiliate board during a meeting at NATPE in Las Vegas last month. "In looking at it myself, it wasn't something that ... felt totally out of context. It was very brief and it wasn't something that would've shocked you if you're watching the show as a normal person," Ogden said. Nevertheless, after a number of affiliates raised serious concerns, Ogden said the affiliate board notified NBC early this week that "we thought it wasn't in the best interest of the network or the affiliates to include the shot," Ogden said. "ER" executive producer Wells said his objection to editing the breast out of the shot came out of concern about artistic freedom rather than the specifics of that particular scene. "It's really not about this," Wells said. "We could've easily cut the small piece of the breast and it does no damage to the show whatsoever. But the chilling effect of having this one incident now affect programming content across all the networks, that's what I'm concerned about." Wells added that he felt a certain obligation as the steward of a hit network show to take a stand on the matter. "It makes you ask those questions about other things that might be perceived to be controversial," Wells said. "Should you talk about sexually transmitted disease among teenagers? Should you be dealing with certain types of violence and the effects of that violence? And while on a show like 'ER,' where we have the success to not bow to too much of that pressure, (for) pilots and newer shows that don't feel as confident in their future, it will be very difficult for them to stand up to questions from the studio or their network about them."