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I saw Allison Au and her quartet at Hirut, which is sort of a restaurant that turns into a jazz club at 8 pm. It's my first time, which is a bit ironic, given that it is the only club of its nature on the East Side of Toronto, but I only just found out about it.

It's Bandcamp Friday again. 👍 I picked up a few things: https://pmg-label.bandcamp.com/album/sahara-all-star-band-jos-sahara-all-star-band-jos-1976-2016 https://sunramusic.bandcamp.com/album/supersonic-jazz-expanded-edition (Very expanded Sun Ra album!) https://bbemusic.bandcamp.com/album/if-music-presents-you-need-this-world-jazz-grooves-compiled-by-jean-claude-victor-kiswell https://bbemusic.bandcamp.com/album/if-music-presents-you-need-this-world-jazz-grooves-volume-2-compiled-by-jean-claude-victor-kiswell I'm a bit on the fence on pre-ordering of what is essentially a remake/update of The Revolution Will Not Be Televised by Brian Jackson, who was heavily involved in the original, but I'll probably order it before the day is over. https://thebrianjackson.bandcamp.com/album/now-more-than-ever (The code bbetwenty is good for 20% off today for the last three items in my list, including the Brian Jackson pre-order)

I also saw an outfit called www.forcedexposure.com has it for pre-order, though I have a lot more experience with DG. 😜

It is a great set, though I didn't have any luck selling my copy either. I did, however, find a university music library that accepted it as a donation. (Not that easy these days, as we discussed on another thread...)

I finished Kundera's Ignorance, which I didn't really care for. I'm in the middle of a few books: Russo's Empire Falls (quite entertaining), Canetti's Auto-da-Fé (a bit pretentious but overall ok) and Buzzati's The Singularity (NYRB), which seems promising though I haven't gotten to the SF core of the novel yet.

A blast from the past - Devo and B-52s were playing in Toronto last night. It threatened to rain the whole evening, and I think the B-52s cut a couple of songs from their set list to make sure people didn't get caught in the rain, which finally started around 11. It could have been a lot messier! Fun night!

Not one of the all time great LPs. It had a few good moments. Mostly I am just surprised no one has put it out on CD.

Is it actually the case that Stan Kenton's Plays for Today has not made it to CD? I've been digging around and it seems like a few of the songs were on CD compilations, but not the whole album, which is quite surprising to me. I haven't listened to it yet (I just picked it up from a charity shop!), so I can't really say if it is a great LP, though it seems promising. Do let me know your thoughts.

I have to admit, based on what showed up from Nagel Heyer (on iTunes etc.) I assumed it was just another one of the PD labels muddying the waters, and that still seems to be the majority of its newest releases. I only just found out that it does put out legitimate releases of new music. The one that caught my attention first was Marc Copland & Greg Osby – Round & Round. Copland and Osby also have a CD called Night Call, but I haven't heard that. I do wish there was a simple way to sort through their various releases and figure out what is a new release and what is repacked PD material.

I enjoyed Kajillionaire, though the parents (Debra Winger & Richard Jenkins) were really hard to take. Gina Rodriguez was quite good in a supporting role. The movie didn't really have an opening in Toronto (due to COVID), though it did eventually open in the States, so it was nice to have the chance to see it in a theatre here. I hadn't connected the dots to realize that it was Miranda July (author of All Fours) who wrote and directed this. It was her third (and so far final) feature.

I'm probably going to see this. Not sure where it is playing though. I just saw a screwball comedy called Midnight with Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche. Quite fun. John Barrymore was particularly amusing. They were showing a quite gloriously restored print.

We shall see how long it takes to stabilize and if some exemptions for records and LP are carved out. At the moment, postal traffic into the United States has plunged by more than 80%. Article here: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/06/postal-traffic-us-plunges

It definitely looks promising. I also put in an order for a few things on Bandcamp, as it was Bandcamp Friday. Gary Smulyan Royalty at LeDuc Eddie Higgins Haunted Heart Tsapiky! Modern Music From Southwest Madagascar Mr. Bongo Record Club No 7 Soft Boys Underwater Moonlight (not the recent remastered version but an older version with a ton of bonus tracks)

I ended up putting in a fairly large order of random used CDs from Dusty Groove. The main CD that caught my attention was Charlie Rouse - Soul Mates (Uptown), largely curious about the interplay between Rouse and Sahib Shihab, but I also got Eddie Harris There Was a Time (Echo of Harlem) (Enja), Larry Young's Mothership (possibly have this in some form already, LP??, but it was cheap), a couple of George Wallington CDs, and Lou Donaldson's Play the Right Thing (Milestone). I suspect I'll end up paying some import fees, but I'll find that out in a week or so.

Planning on checking out Out of Sight tomorrow, and then Naked Lunch a few weeks after that. And should squeeze in Kajillionaire in between. Of the three, I've only seen Naked Lunch before.