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Wrapped up Ted Mooney's Traffic and Laughter. As I said, definitely some parallels to Crash. The ending is supposed to be ambiguous I guess, but also seems to imply that a fission bomb could be set off by being struck by a bullet. Highly unlikely I believe, not that I would want to test this out. Anyway, surprised myself by finishing American Fuji by Sara Backer on a long airplane ride. This is one of those books that tries to get at the truth of contemporary Japan and explain it to American audiences. For that, it was still well done. Some parts of the plot stretch credibility, and yet the ending was still more moving than I expected. Am in the midst of a short story collection by Lynne Schwartz called Acquainted with the Night. I am very underwhelmed and probably will just read a few more and drop it. The stories are from the late 70s and early 80s and just feel completely dated, particularly a few where everyone is in therapy. I wonder in general if short stories date worse than novels, or at least those that rely heavily on their setting rather than aiming for "the universal."

Well, I saw part of Stefon Harris' set at the Jazz Showcase. I am on the verge of getting sick, and my son was coughing a lot as well. So we sat in the back in case we had to leave early if we became too much of a distraction. So let than ideal conditions. My mood did not improve when they started 30 minutes late. The opening song (Gone) was quite nice, but then immediately they switched to a vocoder for the song "For You." I absolutely hated it, though some in the audience were digging it. Probably only a few years back, Joe would have pulled the plug. Anyway, this is one of the featured tracks on their new album Urbanus and I probably will pass on the album specifically because of this song. (To my taste, even worse than Jason Moran's Bandwagon stuff.) Sadly, 40 minutes in, we were feeling worse and worse and decided to bail, which was particularly disappointing as I liked what they were playing as we left.

To be honest, I had no idea he was still alive. I've got a couple of his books but really only browsed through them. Still, certainly an intriguing figure. I did like the Quai Branley museum, which was inspired by his approach to the study of cultures. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/world/eu...tml?_r=1&hp

Shoot. Hope all goes well for him and that the fest can fill in the big empty spot. I'll pass on any info on the latter if I hear it. Yes, pass it along. I was thinking I might actually be able to make the 10 pm show, but probably will pass under the circumstances. While this isn't quite as exceptional as the Umbrella Fest, Stefon Harris will be at the Jazz Showcase Thurs-Sun. I intend on making the Sun. matinee.

Well, it was a few days ago, but I saw Vijay Iyer with his new trio at Chicago Symphony Center. Very good. Mostly playing material off of Historicity but also Andrew Hill's Smokestack. (Both Vijay and Jason Moran have always given props to Andrew.) The bass player's string broke right as they were tuning up! Somehow he managed to get through the performance and still sound great. I believe that was why he had to lean over the bass much of the time and play at the very bottom of the strings, trying to get the correct notes. After the break it was Dave Holland, Jason Moran, Chris Potter and Eric Harland on drums. As you would expect, they were also very good. I'll look over my notes to see what they played, but it was essentially all originals by the various members of the super-group.

Finished up Glen Gold's Carter Beats the Devil Really plot-driven, and a bit over the top, but in a good way. I could absolutely see this as a movie. I'm about 1/3 of the way into Ted Mooney's Traffic and Laughter. This is somewhat reminiscent of Crash, though it actually came out a few years before the movie. I suppose any book set primarily in LA with a large cast of characters is going to remind me of Crash. It is also set in a slightly alternative future. As far as I can tell, the book is set in the late 1980s-early 90s, but they are only now getting around to testing the atomic bomb. Most parts of the book are fun, but when Mooney leaves LA, he leaves his footing. For example, when he shows us diplomats arguing about testing the bomb (in South Africa!), the dialogue is not convincing.

Well, I was fairly close. I've been scanning and then recycling a ton of paper lately. Kind of feels like passing my entire academic career through a shredder at 50 pages a pop -- though not quite so satisfying. Anyway, this reminded me that I never got the answer to this question, so I went back to the interwebs, and what do you know, now this poem shows up, cited in Google Books a couple of places. I know there is a lot of controversy over Google Books and copyright etc., but I think what they are doing is great. Anyway, it turns out it is not Baraka but Don L. Lee (aka Haki Madhubuti) "In the Interest of Black Salvation." Now I just need to track down if I have the chapbook the poem is in. It turns out he is releasing a new volume of his collected poetry -- and is giving a reading in Hyde Park next week, though I don't think I will be able to make it. Well, I'll keep an eye out to see if he is doing any downtown or northside readings.

Well, this is more of an earwig song, but it certainly has got me. I've got Lexxus & Benz by Macka Diamond running through my head. Part of it is the weird juxtaposition of harmonica overlaying dancehall rhythms. Part of it is probably just really listening closely to it in a failed effort to untangle all the lyrics. I suspect that if I can get ahold of the lyrics, it's hold over me will be broken. If that doesn't work, I'll listen to TMBG's Here Comes Science, which is insanely catchy.

well, yes. And no. And yes. A few years back, maybe a decade or so, it used to be four days. Then the Thursday was cut from Grant Park. Then they brought back the Thursday as a paid event. Then they got rid of the paid event. I'm biting my lip here, but I think that there are a lot of wise things that could be done that aren't being done, and the end result is that the Jazz Festival will either turn into a one day affair or will be completely ravaged by sponsors. Well, it has gone up and down, but 2008 had three days in Grant Park plus a free event (Sonny Rollins) in Milennium Park on the Thurs. I think 2007 was the same. So it feels like it has gone from 4 days to 2 in 2 years. Almost all the smaller music festivals are moving over to Milennium Park. I suppose a year or two down the road that will happen to the one day jazz fest.

Probably mentioned above, but I cannot stand the fact that you need Administrator overrides for everything. I am working at a library computer, and I need to move some files into different folders (on my own portable HD), and it won't let me do that, since I don't have an adminstrator's password of course. It just seems intrusive and a memory hog. I explicitly went back down to XP when I bought a new computer (getting harder to find sites that will let you do this). If I absolutely need to upgrade, I'll switch over to 7 but never Vista.

The main Newbury site says this is back-ordered, but the deal is still up on Amazon. I figure it is worth a shot.

O'Brien's A Way of Life was good. I particularly liked the details of how the narrator started acting like a heel during late adolescence, often even knowing he was out of line but seemingly helpless to stop himself in time. I can relate to that. A very fast read Anyway, I am starting this, which is going to be a bigger investment of time, but has been entertaining so far: I wonder how it will compare with Davies' Deptford Trilogy, which also features a magician. This is the opening of chapter 2: I can relate to this as well. It isn't quite as extreme with my son, but he does pretty much follow me from room to room unless I use extreme diversionary tactics (playing TMBG videos seems to work).

And perhaps redownload some of your favorite OJCs to try to get the better bit rate (would be nice to know for sure). I wonder what will happen to the ability to redownload once they move to album pricing. I'm thinking probably you will "lose" your old dls. I've been sort of hanging in there after the changes, but once they move most of the jazz CDs to album pricing, I think I will be done with them. It was a nice ride.

Tipped off to a free gig by Brad Shepik, my son and I went and saw him play selections from his Human Activity Suite. It was nice, particularly when we went up afterwards and talked to Brad, Ralph Alessi and and Tom Rainey after the show. They were extremely gracious and nice to my son (he's only 5 but seemed to enjoy the music). Anyway, H.A.S. is on emusic as well as a bunch of other places. I put Shepik's Places You Go in the queue for next month. Prior to this, McPherson's Mood and Jimmy Forrest's Out of the Forrest. I almost got something from the Clusone 3, but it looked to be a better deal going through Amazon, so I'll probably do that tonight.

Well, at the very least Niall Ferguson is a jazz fan, so that excuses a multitude of sins! This audio essay will be up for another 4 days or so at BBC 3: Historian Niall Ferguson recalls with fondness his days as the double-bass player in a jazz quartet: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00n6vks

That sounds like fun. I managed to get to the Manchester once and saw the Manchester Art Gallery and also the Lowry in Salford that was having a bigger than usual exhibit on Lowry. I think I missed out on the Whitworth. Too bad. Some of Stuart Davis' works are really quiet jazz-inflected and he is towards the top of my personal favorite list of artists. I actually shelled out for his Catalogue Raisonne (still around on Amazon for slightly less than I paid). Funny story. I was in City Lights Bookstore with a friend and saw one behind the counter. I mentioned it to my friend that I owned a copy, and he asked the clerk if he could take a look. The guy pretty much sneered at us and said he didn't want people pawing through it! Hell, we weren't that scruffy. But yeah, the odds of my friend buying a copy were awfully low.

Here is the second. Here in Chicago, Around the Coyote has somewhat stupidly decided to leave Wicker Park. I went to the subsequent art show in the FlatIron Building (Around the Coyote in everything but name) and after some thought picked this up. Sometimes I make a decision in an hour or so (especially if I am at Art Chicago and the paintings are only on display for a weekend). Other times I really agonize over it, but of course a lot has to do with the price.

Ok, here is the first of two small pieces. I'll probably have to take photos of the larger pieces. These are both collages.

Holy cow! Maybe should not have let the cat out of the bag on that... I have quite a few framed posters (mostly transit/train related) but also a framed poster of Stuart Davis' Super Table (from right around the time the Terra Art Museum went out of business and they were giving them away for free. * I don't have anything that is strictly jazz-related on the walls. I also have a few original paintings, mostly abstract. I'll try to get some of them posted. * They were giving away unframed posters for free, just to be clear.

I think I'll be able to make that matinee -- it's at the Chicago Cultural Center at 2 pm. Sweet! Thanks so much for the head's up.

What an annoying, navel-gazing review. No point in hating the book reviewed -- not the writer's fault they picked such a ditz -- but I will obviously need to find another source to find out if it is any good. Review continues

I guess actually 4 days (Jan 20-23) at the Jazz Bistro, but still that's pretty decent. I am partly waiting to see if he manages to get Chicago date around then. Anyway, I'll post in the appropriate thread closer to the time.

Ya know... I had my music spending under control until I came back last month. I bet I've spent more on music in the last month or so than in the previous 7 - 8 months combined... On the plus side, I have co-workers randomly stopping by my office just to chat and see what's playing. Too true. On the flip side, when I feel the need to part with some CDs (and I am very close to that now), this is a good place to offer them before practically giving them away at Reckless (or Dusty Groove). Totally unrelated, but Vijay Iyer is going to be doing a week-long stand in St. Louis in January. If you haven't heard him live, you should check him out. I'm trying to come up with a plausible reason to make the trip down...

Thanks for bringing this to our attention (at least those of us who don't have it). I read through the entire related thread and while I trust Chuck that the K2 monos sound better, it seems both are now out of print so for $4.30 this seems like a no-brainer (for someone who doesn't have any previous versions). I wasn't planning on getting this at all, since I have the Riverside box, but at this price it is worth it for the two extra tracks (also curious about the Monk-less jam). Of course, while I was at it I got one of Newbury's Art Pepper Hollywood boxes. I gotta stop coming around here.

Congrats!!!