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I've been reading some of Eugene O'Neill's later plays -- Iceman Cometh, Touch of the Poet, Moon for the Misbegotten. (I'm actually going to see a production of Long Day's Journey into Night next month, so I'm holding off on that.) I can't help but notice how many are set in bars or are about drunken wastrels. While he is still a terrific dramatist, his range, particularly in his last few plays, is pretty narrow, particularly when compared to Tennessee Williams who went in some really crazy directions in his last plays. While I am not going to "read" this in any serious way, I was stoked to find a digital copy of I. N. Phelps Stokes' Iconography of Manhattan Island. Given this sells for upwards of $5000, I think I'll settle for the (free) PDF version: http://clio.cul.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=5800727

I don't think so. Some albums will still only be available as entire albums or more accurately some tracks will only be available as a full album DL. Emusic clearly is reserving the right for full album pricing. What that will work out to is unclear. While it still may be a better deal than iTunes or Amazon, according to my calculations when the new pricing goes in, I will be getting 1/3 the tracks for the same money (taking into account a couple of price increases). That's just too much for me to swallow.

So what are the better alternatives for someone primarily interested in jazz, especially from labels like Clean Feed, Black Saint/Soul Note, Delmark, etc.? There may not be anything better, at least not anything legal, but everyone has a tipping point/price point. I have far too much music as it is, and the latest round of price increases has simply made me look more closely at whether I need this on-going expense, and the answer is no.

More changes to emusic, specifically another increase in prices and a move to iTunes-like pricing. At this point, I think I am through with emusic. I need to go through my saved albums and decide which ones I can't live without and download them this month.

You might try it again. I had no problem listening to it (I usually wait til the last day, but definitely wanted to catch this one). Very nicely done.

Not sure about that. There's always be some nostalgia for the old LP cover art and liner notes - in a form that you can touch, feel and fondle ! Always is too strong. Always with our generation perhaps, not so much with the kids that are only 15 now and have only ever heard music on iPods. Sort of like being nostalgic for bank tellers compared to a whole generation that grew up knowing the ATM.

Nope - at least not where I live. That's interesting. I've virtually always been able to listen to BBC radio online, and I'm in the US. Will try it later.

Just wrapped up Nabokov's Laughter in the Dark. I'm just not enjoying his books at all. Four novels in, and it's becoming a chore. I'm thinking about reading Lolita and calling it quits. At least I've found more of genuine interest in Mahfouz and Narayan. Taking a short break to read a South African writer: Ivan Vladislavic's The Folly.

Because not everyone is like you and some people really enjoy it. Ditto. You're both entitled to your opinions and your enjoyment of sports. At the same time, some people who had followed sports have become disenchanted with all the stuff that's gone on and will continue to go on as long as there's BIG $ to be made. I personally think caring about sports is pretty foolish. I would consider it harmless, except for the excessive government funding spent to subsidize stadiums along with tax breaks these teams get -- to say nothing of the truly obscene levels of government funding for the Olympics, World Cup, Commonwealth Games, etc.

Sure, that would be terrific. Let me know. Merci beaucoup!

Too bad. It's actually just 3 tracks, but quite enjoyable! If I am not mistaken, you hear Toshiko getting carried away a bit and egging the others on.

Just testing the water to see if anyone happens to have (and is ready to part with) the following: Toshiko Akiyoshi Toshiko's Piano aka Amazing Toshiko Akiyoshi (slight preference for Toshiko's Piano version) Toshiko Akiyoshi Four Seasons of Morita Village Toshiko Akiyoshi Monopoly Game (I think I missed out on Monopoly Game by about a week on this board a year or so back , but I don't check the Offering thread every week) Barney Wilen Tilt (definitely prefer the CD version with the bonus tracks) I think the first two I can probably still get as imports if no one here is selling. The other two have gotten pretty rare. Thanks in advance. Eric BTW, does anyone know if Akiyoshi and Wilen recorded together except for on the 4 tracks of Newport '59? (I was digging these the other night.)

Seem to be some inexpensive copies of Sanctuary and Talisman floating about on Amazon and elsewhere. I picked them both up but they haven't arrived yet.

Order arrived. Very fast shipping! Thanks again.

According to this site: http://www.discogs.com/Contemporary-Jazz-Quintet-The-Featuring-Sunny-Murray-The-Original-Debut-Recordings-1964-1967/release/1033789 the tracks have been released on Steeplechase for those interested in the music solely. I don't see a price for the original LP. Sorry.

Or he bought a second set to speculate with, which would also get him in trouble, natch. I think with sealed set I would go with eBay, despite it being a pain in the ass.

I thought the Monk show was ok but not amazing. I've seen Bandwagon live (I believe at the dearly departed Hothouse) but wasn't crazy about it. I much prefer him in more straight-ahead settings. I'd probably have to go look to see if I saw him play with Osby or not.

Big Bang Theory season 3 just came out on DVD, so I rented that (yeah, I probably could watch during the season, but no time really). I guess it's just me, but I thought the actress playing Penny looked different. I even wondered if they had replaced her, but I guess not. The extras were great, especially the behind the scenes look at the set, even the wardrobe area. The Howard character has a room all to himself with his 70s inspired duds, including a section for novelty belt buckles. What detail!

So Rudresh was playing with Craig Taborn on piano. It was a good set, though I think I liked the sets at the Green Mill in the past more. He basically played one song off Apex (Playing with Stones), 2 off Codebook (Enhanced Performance and Refresh) and Killer (which has been in his live show on and off for a while, but I am having trouble finding which album it is on). This was a much different version of Enhanced Performance. In general, he let the rhythm section take over for long stretches. I think my favorite song this time around was Playing with Stones. I was able to pick up Apex a couple of days before it officially hits, so that was cool.

Saw the Portico Quartet, a group from the UK, which I had heard of through the BBC. This was in a real dive called The Empty Bottle. The crowd was pretty light at the beginning, fewer than 20 and only about half paying any attention to the music, but was about 50 by the end of the set. They actually were only the opening act (which worked out well for me, since I could scamper home early) and played 45 minutes or so. They are heading to the East Coast for a short tour so you might want to check them out: http://porticoquartet.com/ The instrumentation is sax, bass, drums and hang drums (which sound essentially like steel drums). It is a really interesting sound, somewhat reminiscent of a harder-edged version of the the soundtrack to Soderbergh's Solaris. The sax player often used electronic effects, even a modified guitar pedal. So if you are a jazz purist, you might not be interested. They are sort of in line with other UK bands like Polar Bear or Tyft, but a little "spacier" because of the hang drum sound. I thought they were quite good and managed to talk to one of the guys while they were hawking CDs. It was probably Nick Mulvey (hang and percussion), but I wouldn't swear to it. Going to see Rudresh tomorrow at Jazz Showcase! Pretty swell weekend.

Nice one. One of the last things I read prior to leaving the UK. It's a nice photo, though it is a bit odd to use one of London when probably 3/4 of the book takes place in Paris. Must be a couple of photos floating about of people sleeping rough near the banks of the Seine...

I'll try to send a PM on this, if still available: The Harold Land/Carmell Jones Quintets "Complete Studio Recordings" 2-cds sealed I can't always get PM working from work. Might have to wait until tonight.

It was discussed elsewhere that Bloom County is coming out in a complete edition. Might take a while to get through the run, esp. if they decide to include Outland and Opus in there as a final volume. Anyway, getting back to Krazy Kat, I had several of the early Fantagraphics volumes of the Sunday strips, but had held off before the switch to color. After considerable passage of time, Fantagraphics has gotten through the final strips (1944) and has indeed circled around to reprint the OOP collection that Eclipse put out years ago. I was a little skeptical they would make it, but it looks like they will. (For these "reprints," they are doing 3 years at a time, so they only need 3 volumes to complete all the Sunday strips. 1916-1918 is already out, 1919-1921 hits in Dec. and I guess 1922-1924 will be mid-2011.) I was able to pick up all the color Sunday collections in one fell swoop, so that was very cool. I definitely prefer the 2 (and 3) year collections for casual browsing, but Fantagraphics will also put out a 3 volume set of all the Sunday strips (basically 9 years at a time). There is some talk of going to the dailies now (and Fantagraphics did something called the Panoramic Dailies of 1920). While it is heretical, just in terms of storage space, I could probably live with the dailies on CD-Rom.

Up. I'm giving away the book Voices of Decline (though I am asking for shipping costs). I plan on listing a large number of CDs over the weekend, but am starting with this. Thanks and more soon. Eric

Ric Burns (Ken's brother) You be the judge. (My hunch is the Ken has done something to his hair.) I actually met Ric Burns at a talk/screening he gave at the Museum of the City of New York. I believe this was right before PBS screened New York, but I could be wrong. He seemed like a decent guy. No question I have far more respect for his films than his brother's...