ejp626

I've gotten a little off-track reading forbidden Soviet literature, but soon I will be returning to Narayan and Mahfouz. Moscow 2042 is quite good, quite droll in some places. I don't have it at hand, or I would quote him on prophets and beards, for example. Basically, the plot is that an exiled writer gets a ticket to go visit Moscow in the future (2042 -- knock wood, I'll live to see this, though it probably seemed like forever in the early 80s when written). Pure communism is practiced only in Moscow, which is walled off from the rest of the world, and it has reached new levels of brutality. On the other hand, most Muscovites are also secret Simites (followers of a writer very much like Solzhenitsyn with a pinch of Tolstoy thrown in). It should surprise no one that ultimately the government is overthrown and a new Tsar comes to power. Indeed, I wouldn't go quite so far as to say Putin has tsar-like powers, but the Russian character does seem to respect or at least respond to authoritarianism. One interesting twist is that the writer is venerated in the future because of a book he wrote, which turns out to be one he hasn't yet writen -- and which contains his report on what he found in the future. Several people, in the future as well as the present, try to get him to change the book to see if it will change the future, but he wisely refuses. Then I read Venedikt Erofeev's Moscow to the End of the Line, which is sort of a prose-poem on alcohol consumption and its consequences. I didn't find it particularly enjoyable, but it was engaging, sort of like watching a writer labor under deep compulsions. I was reminded a bit of Christopher Smart's For I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffry actually. Also reading a non-fiction book called Divided Cities for a book review. Then back to my master plan for the year.

Ok, you convinced me. In at level 3. What's the ETA, roughly?

Congrats! That's pretty high profile for UK jazz coverage. I'll make sure to listen again later in the week. Is Jez Nelson a decent bloke? I'd say so, from his enthusiasms and on-air personality but then one never really knows. I was a huge Andy Kershaw fan, but his inner demons took over, sad to say.

In addition to the Fawlty Towers, two fairly recent non-jazz CDs 6 Magnetic Fields Realism 6 Thinking Fellers Union ... Bob Dinners & Larry Noodles Present Tubby ... I'll list them for about a week, then back to Reckless. Thanks for looking.

2 music items added: 6 Integration Amancio D'Silva 20 30 Years of Montreux Jazz Festival (4 CD box set) and a DVD set 15 Fawlty Towers 3 DVDs (not the new mastered edition)

Definitely b) My parents had a few Brubeck LPs, and then in the late 80s I started listening to Mingus, Monk and Miles (his work from the 60s).

I'd be interested in the following: Satoko Fujii/Gato Libre - Strange Village $5 Satoko Fujii Quartet – Angelona $5 Brad Shepik – The Well $5 Brad Shepik And The Commuters – The Loan $5 Kenny Werner – Lawn Chair Society $4 For some reason I can't PM from work, but I will tonight and work out the details. I would also recommend someone pick up Priester's Love Love

3 minutes I can buy. 30 minutes?!? Really?

Nabokov King, Queen, Knave to be followed by Voinovich's Moscow 2042, which just showed up.

I'm surprised at how upset I am, but I really felt NO got away with a lot of dirty plays. I probably watched 3 minutes tops, and every time I wandered by the tube, they were putting another late hit on Favre. Oh, wait, I did see that ridiculous pass interference play in OT. So between playing dirty and the refs giving the game to NO in OT, I am definitely pulling for the Colts.

What a total bullshit call. I can't stand these pass interference calls. When the league went in this direction, I really lost all interest in it.

Bombay Bicycle Club: Emergency Contraception Blues Yeah mostly because of the title, but it's the first cut off "I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose," which isn't a bad album at all in the indie vein.

Most CDs sold off to Dusty Groove or Reckless. Price drop on the remaining CDs. I have one more to add 6 Vandermark/McPhee/Kessler A Meeting in Chicago (Okka) I'll be listing some ECM LPs pretty soon.

Well, this will probably get yanked to politics, but someone has shredded Yo-Yo Ma playing at Obama's inauguration: . What really sells it is the hideous clarinet playing -- and someone in the crowd hacking up a lung.

Cairo Modern by Naguib Mahfouz Wondrak and other stories by Stefan Zweig Hopefully followed by Moscow 2042 by Voinovich (it's still in the mail but should arrive soon)

I don't know who books it, but you might look into Green Mill as well, esp. since you are talking about four months out. I could probably make it to the Velvet, but the Green Mill is a lot closer.

A short, but interesting, analysis of Rohmer's technique from Slate: Slate piece

I actually pulled the plug on my son watching Foster's Home, since he was adopting some of the annoying characteristics of Blue, despite my warnings. He's almost a year older, so I might try again. He's not nearly as interested in Backyardigans as he used to be, which is too bad, as I think it is one of the best of the current kids' shows. However, he has started getting into Phineas and Ferb on the Disney Channel. I'm really digging this one, since it is so absurd (the two young kids -- apparently half-brothers -- build something crazy in the backyard, but it always disappears by the time their mom gets home to the annoyance of their sister who wants to "bust" them). Also, their pet platypus is actually a secret agent. It's interesting to see that the writers have decided to stretch a bit in season 2 (or perhaps 3) and vary the formula a bit. This is one where the writers are clearly adding in lines meant for adults, kind of like the classic cartoons. The arch villain has dialogue like "It's a conundrum, isn't it?" Or a friend's mother stops the pair from firing up a blow torch and getting her ring out of the drain, saying "I'll call my regular plumber; he's bonded." I know we aren't supposed to ever say things are better now than when we were kids (and this is largely true), the contemporary cartoons are certainly better than the cartoons when I was growing up (He-Man, Thundercats, etc.) Neither are as good as Looney Tunes, of course, but those are from the era before, so I can't really claim them. They've become almost timeless.

One of the last major figures from the New Wave movement has passed away: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/jan/11/eric-rohmer-death I have to admit that I have sort of skimmed his films and not watched them in a serious way, but I will try to rectify that soon.

Probably the last two additions: 6 Russell Gunn Gunn Fu (w/ Greg Tardy & Stefon Harris) 6 Elvin Jones And Then Again/Midnight Walk (Collectibles) Hold has been lifted on Impressed 2 for anyone with an interest in obscure British jazz cuts.

I've updated the list with lower prices and added the following: 5 Count Basie in London 5 Cyrille/Dresser/Ehrlich C/D/E 5 Hot Club of Detroit Night Town 15 Oscar Pettiford First Bass (IAJRC) light scratches, do not affect play 7 Oscar Pettiford Manhattan Jazz Suite (Lonehill) includes Barry Galbraith Guitar and the Wind 6 Sadao Watanabe Jazz Samba 6 Sadao Watanabe Bossa Nova '67 Most CDs will be taken around to the local stores next weekend, so this is essentially the last week of the sale. Thanks for looking!

I actually went three winters in two different apartments without any heat at all. This might have been understandable south of the Mason-Dixon line, but this was Newark, NJ (old cold water flats that had been grandfathered in, I guess, though I did have hot water in the sinks and tub). I suppose technically the second apartment had a kind of built-in space heater in the kitchen, but since this was a railroad car type layout, and I spend my time in the front, it would have been pointless to run. So indeed I could see my breath inside the apartment much of the time. I tell this to my wife anytime we discuss lowering the thermostat, but she has the advantage over me, since we have small children who can't regulate their body temperature as well, so the heat stays on...

Head's up on this program, which looks pretty good: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pl1q4 Even the other cuts (not off of Iyer's new album or live) look like they are quality (mostly Jason Moran or Nasheen Waits). It isn't available for Listen Again until roughly mid afternoon on Sunday, then will be up for 7 days.

Man I almost wish I didn't have the set already, so I could take advantage of this deal. I probably paid $50 for the CDs and booklet but no box. Of course, I have been able to enjoy the music for something like 10 years in the meantime. However, I did take advantage of Newbury's price for the UA Bergman box (Persona, Hour of the Wolf, Passion of Anna, Serpent's Egg) for $25. http://www.amazon.com/Bergman-Special-Collection-Persona-Serpents/dp/B0001MIK6I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1263086675&sr=8-2

Of all the Atwood novels, I like Cat's Eye the best, which is so rooted in Toronto as a place. Haven't read that in ages and should give it a go, though it would have to go towards the bottom of the list. I have reasonably high expectations for Oryx and Crake and its follow-up, The Year of the Flood, but haven't read them yet. I finally wrapped up The Master and Margarita (two different translations). For most of the time, the experiment worked well and I really got much more out of comparing the two. At the last 5-10% though, my energy was flagging, and I just wanted to be done. This also may reflect the structure of the novel, which is frenetic pretty much from start until the last 15% when the bacchanal ends and the devil and his retinue leave Moscow. If you aren't of a religious persuasion, the ending can feel like a bit of a let down. Still, a great novel that I would encourage anyone to read. I am reading a very short novel by Voinovich called The Fur Hat, which is an ideal companion piece. There is this writer of turgid fiction who, upon hearing the Writers' Union is giving out hats, applies for one and instead of a fox (or even rabbit) hat is given a living tom cat as his hat. It is also very much in line with Gogol's The Overcoat, though marginally less surreal.