ejp626

So I reread Simic's Master of Disguises and decided I liked the 4th section a bit more the second time around -- it actually had some of the surreal touches of his earlier collections. I find it interesting that we dwell on some of the same imagery -- keys to lost locks, broken bottles, etc. -- though these are not that unique in poetry of course. Then I checked out That Little Something, which was published a few years prior to Master of Disguises. Not as good -- I only connected with a few of the poems. I think in general his collections from the 1990s are the best: Hotel Insomnia, A Wedding in Hell, Walking the Black Cat, maybe even Night Picnic from 2001. Maybe there is too much of a sameness to his recent work, but when he tries to depart too much from his earlier style that doesn't work as well and people keep asking him for more poems like the earlier ones. I think it is a real problem for artists who kick around for long enough (another reason why it is better -- from a legacy perspective -- to only be on the scene for a relatively short while -- Rimbaud or Jackson Pollack). One equivalent from the art world might be Giorgio de Chirico who tried to make a major shift in his painting style but was roundly attacked for it. One odd thing at the library today. I have been reading Robert Kroetsch's late poetry. The Snowbird Poems -- not too bad. The Hornbooks of Rita K. -- kind of a long and tedious metawork where the author is commenting on short poems by a poet (Rita K.) who has vanished. For completists only. Anyway, it turns out that one of the fairly recent Galway Kinnell books has been catalogued in the midst of the Kunitz's books (so even if someone like me filed it properly, eventually it would be reshelved into its proper, i.e. wrong location). The librarian just sort of threw up his hands and said that sometimes the Dewey decimal system was off. Frankly, that strikes me as unlikely. I think it is more likely that when the book came through, someone on staff put the wrong sticker on it -- and maybe they have a Kunitz book shelved with Kinnell. It's awfully annoying when librarians act as if they are completely helpless to fix errors (and this isn't the first time). When I worked at a library (many, many long years ago), we wouldn't have been quite so quick to admit defeat.

While I don't know the ins and outs, I can't imagine that it would be worth pressing 300 or 500 LPs. That strikes me as real money. Personally, I am 60% CDs, 40% mp3s, but that is mostly because in many cases, you can get used CDs for next to nothing. Since you aren't gigging and selling CDs, you probably shouldn't press many this time around. I wouldn't have any problem just with MP3s.

Yeah. I'm finding that out. I think it was already problematic, and now that the postal workers union was basically broken by the PM (shades of Reagan and the air traffic controllers), service is even worse.

What do you base your assumption on that "99% of the people here own the material in various forms"? ... I think 99% of the people on the forum have some of it (like "Body and Soul") but to have all of it? 10-20% maybe. Even if you have the Affinity box, the Mosaic appears to cover more material. Anyway, I think it is a great looking set, and I will pick it up, despite some overlap. Might be my last Mosaic for some time actually. My U.S. mailing address is going away in early Jan. I guess it isn't that much more to ship to Canada, but it's still a disincentive. Well, nothing lasts forever.

I probably have a fair bit of this, but mostly from PD sources. Between the improved sonics and the discography/booklet, this is a must-get for me. I'll probably pre-order but depends on finances at the time.

So there was a little snag in terms of the Giulini in Chicago (DG), but Amazon replaced a copy that was lost in the mail. Both are quite nice, but in terms of the performances I am far more interested in the recordings with Chicago (than LA). The repertoire is a bit more adventurous at least relatively so. In the Chicago box, you have Dvorak Symponies 8 and 9, Schubert Symphonies 4, 8, and 9, Prokofiev #1 and Mahler #9. In the LA box, you have Beethoven #3, 5 and 6, Brahms Symphonies 1 and 2, Schumann #3 and Tchaikovsky #6. All pretty much mainstream canon, but the Chicago contents still grab me a bit more. I was hoping that the Melos Ensemble box would get here this week, but it is looking like next week for that one.

I know. Most of the movies I've looked up have been "DVD only." Not bad for a dying medium. Are you saying DVD's are dying because of Blu-Ray discs or is it due to other means of access, e.g., streaming, or a combo of the two? I've noticed lots of discount DVDs, quite a few of which I've copped, because I prefer tangible access, e.g., disc, notes, cover art, extra features only available on a 2nd disc, etc. Visual fidelity is excellent, a feature of which I suspect there exists the proverbial law of diminishing returns on the significantly pricier Blu-Ray editions. I know people who have switched have been really impressed by Blu-Ray. I'm not convinced it is worth it to me, esp. given the quality of my TV and player. I think most exec. are thinking that streaming is the way of the future, though it seems the fidelity is so spotty. On the other hand, MP3 downloads (legal or mostly not) have more or less crushed CD sales, and they probably assume DVDs are headed the same way.

And maybe he feels, justly in my opinion, that there is a world of difference between trading CDRs or tapes of what are obvious bootlegs and a CD from an actual label purchased through Amazon. I personally don't feel it is my responsibility to call up each label and ask if they paid the artist and/or the artist's estate.

This is certainly my impression. You try to have a discussion with someone about the underwhelming selection of streaming content on Netflix, and they get all defensive -- but look at the huge number of TV shows and 80s movies you can watch. Weird. Since most people are mostly interested in recent films and whether they can stream them, it seems perfectly legit to point out that Netflix isn't doing that well in this area, and my impression is that they will probably be even worse after their current contracts expire.

For me, it would be someone like Eric Alexander, esp. if he is playing with Harold Mabern. I've seen this combo 3 or so times.

I'm much worse with DVDs than CDs. That said, there is a lot of my recent classical music splurges I haven't listened to. As I was preparing for the move, I came across at least 10 jazz CDs still in shrink-wrap (odd because I usually at least unwrap them). And several Mosaic sets where half the CDs are still wrapped. I will make a point of addressing that at least when they show up (should be Wed. that the delivery guys unload my boxes). On massive box set that I did get through was the Jazz in Paris box (back when it was only 75 CDs). I've listened to every CD at least twice -- I remember since this was a bit of a mission of mine while I was doing final revisions on my dissertation. Now whether it was quality listening is a different story. But honestly, most of my listening is basically background listening, which in itself begs the question of why I need so much variety...

Yeah, I've had this happen from time to time. It is frustrating. I actually find that a middle setting (not highest or lowest speed) is more reliable. Other things to watch for -- are all the files coming from one location or are they on different drives? Sometimes waiting 10 minutes after a successful burn for the next one may help (the burner may be overheating).

So I've been checking out the Vancouver library. It's pretty nice for a city roughly the size of San Francisco. I was impressed by their poetry section. They seem to have almost the entire run of August Kleinzahler's recent works and a pretty complete set of Charles Simic. They even have one I haven't gotten to yet (Master of Disguises), so I checked this out. Several sections are very similar to Simic's previous work, which strikes me as a kind of melancholy urban reverie (not totally dissimilar to Ben Katchor). I like the start of this poem -- "Worriers Anonymous" The middle section, however, is more of a rural melancholy, which doesn't work as well for me. In any case, one thing that is different is that many of the poems (in all the sections) struggle with the idea of the divine and the absence of the divine for a confirmed skeptic (who may in fact wish for the comforts of faith but is denied them). This may make the book more or less interesting for those who are more used to Simic as a poet who has a bit of a smirk about him. And I wouldn't say that Simic has really pulled off the effort of tackling such issues in any depth. Here's one example: "I'm just a shuffling old man,/ Ventriloquizing / For a god / Who hasn't spoken to me once." I guess I'd say this seems a bit forced. He pulls it off a bit better in the title poem, however. Definitely not my favorite collection by far, but certainly worth checking out (if you can find it at a library)...

That's kind of how I feel. I have an awful lot of the previously issued material (and I've have to give away another set of his "Time" albums, but never say never. Anyway, perhaps discussed elsewhere, but the Getz Complete Columbia set: http://www.popmarket.com/stan-getz-the-complete-columbia-albums-collection/details/25809734 looks like it has far more material not on CD before or at least not in the US. AFAIK, the only material here I have or even have listened to is Captain Marvel. Anyone have an opinion on the rest of the set?

So in addition to Herb Geller's Fire in the West (which seems to be the same as That Geller Feller), I got Two of a Kind, which is a compilation of the EmArcy LPs of Herb and Lorraine Geller. Looks pretty interesting, even though I am not terribly familiar with Geller. Kind of a lesser known figure over here at least (probably a lot better known in Germany).

About halfway through The Geometry of God by Uzma Aslam Khan. Am also reading Amitav Ghosh's The Hungry Tide on the bus. After this, I will probably tackle some Canadian lit. I recently learned that Robert Kroetsch died in a car accident this past summer. I've read perhaps half of his novels, and I think I'll go back through them chronologically. The Studhorse Man is one that people should definitely seek out, and I plan on rereading this for certain. After that, perhaps Jack Hodgins, who writes a lot about BC. And possibly read some of Timothy Findley's novels (only read about 1/3 of those).

The Onzy Matthews Select is great! It took repeated listens to really enjoy it. Great composer/arranger and his bands were top notch. I see that the Jonah Jones is Last Chance, thoughts on it? Don't have it. I love the Onzy Matthews set. Don't know about the Jonah Jones. Just listened to the sound samples liked them but not crazy about them. Might change my mind... I do have the Onzy, though I haven't spun it in a long time. It appears that the Jonah Jones is also available as an MP3 download at Amazon, and that's probably the route I will take (in the next couple of weeks perhaps).

This may be more South American, but seemed in the spirit:

Does that mean the code expires or that the MP3 value expires after the code has been activated? They can be different. I hope it's the former not the latter, as I probably cannot dl from Amazon.com for the next few weeks. But thanks anyway!

I used to enjoy his commentary, but that was a looo-oong time ago (and even then he was a bit of a cranky old man chasing kids off his lawn). Probably should have hung it up 10, even 15, years ago.

No new news on this, other than the majority of scientists (contacted by the Guardian) appear to believe the researchers have made a measurement error: Guardian science page I do like this quote:

I've generally been pretty good, selling off far more than I've taken in, though I couldn't resist a few on my last trip through DG, selling them $100 worth of LPs but picking these up: Heck of a line-up: Curtis Fuller, Kenny Dorham, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Herbie Mann and Ahmad Abdul-Malik. We'll see how it coheres. Sadly it is on the short side -- just around 42 minutes. Then just for a lark

I've seen quite a few. I saw the interlocking exhibits of the Summer of China up at Milwaukee Art Museum. My absolute favorite was the contemporary Chinese print exhibit (Emerald Mountains: Modern Chinese Ink Paintings from the Chu-tsing Li Collection). I took my son up on Amtrak for the day and we had a really nice time. The I saw Joseph Cornell at the MCA:Cornell. This runs through mid Oct., so a few more weeks. While the Cornell boxes they have on display area generally not as impressive as those over at the Art Institute, they were drawn from private collections, mostly in Chicago. So there is definitely something to be said for seeing pieces that will never be more widely displayed (and in fact I think it's a shame that there isn't a show catalog). They then alternate the Cornell boxes with other art from the MCA collection. This works best in the southern half of the exhibit. Certainly worth checking out if one is in the area. (One of my favorites was William Copley's Blue Mood, which is part of the MCA collection, but not available on line. I'll have to double check if it is in their big collection guide, but I doubt it is.) Also, worth checking out is the newly reopened DePaul Art Museum. Unlike the old one, hidden away a few blocks away, this one is literally next door to the Fullerton Red Line stop. It's still not an enormous space, but they can put on more substantial shows, like their re:Chicago show, focusing on Chicago artists in their collection. Anyway, they have two of the really great Art Shay prints on view, as well as a stunning (to me) photo of part of Cabrini-Green midway through demolition, looking like a doll house (because the outer wall has been removed and you can look right in) with the Hancock Building in the background. Finally, yesterday I went to the new exhibit at Intuit (the center for Intuitive and Outside Art here in Chicago): Intuit This was not a happy experience. It started off really badly when two vagrants were sitting on the stoop outside the gallery, completely blocking the entrance. One was smoking and really quite belligerent, so I just had to wait a few minutes until he picked himself up and left. They were sort of concerned when I told them this inside, but seemed to also think I just wasn't being tolerant enough of the locals. I thought the art was pretty sucky and left after 5 minutes. So a huge thumbs down for Intuit and I would strongly avoid going there under any circumstances. Kind of a sour note for my last Chicago art exhibit, though I'll be back in town frequently through Jan. at least and will probably catch something else (maybe Scott Reeder at MCA).

Yeah, I'm definitely taking this news with a grain of salt. Seems highly likely to be measurement error or even contamination from some other source.

I guess you can build a better mousetrap!