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Well, I would go for Philly-as but that's just my midwestern accent. Since Fogg is supposed to be a British character, I would think that all syllables are pronounced, so not File-as. One thought would be to take a look at the movie version (with David Niven) or even the crappy remake, and see how it pronounced there.

Well, this is really about 2016 (again) but I think it fits. The 2012 is really shaping up to be a fiasco for London. I have seen first-hand how even the faint hope of getting 2016 for Chicago has completely distorted all kinds of political decisions. I've never hated Mayor Daley as much as I have now. He's actually firing commissioners who aren't 100% on board with this fool's crusade. But as badly as he wants it, he refused to put into the bid the only thing that would actually benefit the city and its residents (inproved transit infrastructure). I've actually taken the step of requesting the addresses of the IOC to write to them to explain my opposition and to show how badly the Games will go with the existing transportation system. If they actually respond and anyone else wants in on the letter-writing campaign, let me know. Eric

I don't think anyone was that interested. I was hawking a copy here for a month or two and gave up and sold it to Reckless.

The tag end of one of these is Nation's Pretentious Mourn Unknown Novelist, which is pretty funny though I hope it wasn't in response to Updike's passing. He was hardly an obscure/difficult writer, esp. with Witches of Eastwick.

Guess I haven't done a very good job updating this. I have been buying a handful of poetry books, mostly books that I was a bit on the fence about when I was younger, but were now super cheap on amazon or half.com. For instance, I picked up Thom Gunn's The Man with Night Sweats and A.R. Ammons' Garbage for close to $5 (w/ shipping). Wow, Gunn's book really was a flashback to the height of the AIDS epidemic in the US, but I think this book does stand the test of time (not as sure about his other work). Anyway, there are sufficient ties between Thom Gunn and August Kleinzahler that his name kept cropping up as I made these purchases. Now I had never heard of Kleinzahler but he has quite an impressive ouvre, including a recent book with a totally kick-ass title: The Strange Hours Travellers Keep. So in a very short period of time I've become a bit of a fan and picked up 4 of his books and have pre-ordered his newest collection (it's out in hardback but the paperback is a bit cheaper). It didn't hurt that he is another case where they must have over-printed and you can get most of his books for a couple of bucks. His mature work tends to be in the style of the urban vignette, fairly accessible with perhaps some surreal touchs (not nearly as much as Simic though). So I think this was a pretty good find and am happily exploring his work. I was also surprised to see that Adrienne Rich has a new collection out called Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth. I've been a fan of her work for a long time, but this is not a particularly strong collection. For me the highlight was the title poem and not much else, but I will wait and reread at a time when I am not so pressed for time. I might be a bit more enthusiastic then or at least more forgiving. Edit: I see that way up in the thread Paul mentioned Kleinzahler, but I didn't pick up on it. We seem to have a constellation of favorite poets in common, so I guess I'll check out some of the others. I'd also echo the praise for Neruda, and I have a fair bit of his work, but like Gluck I find each collection can be completely different from the last.

I don't know how tough these guys are if they're going to cover the Stone Roses.

Don't recall the name of it, but Newhart has a fairly recent autobiography where he talks at some length about his friendship with Don Rickles ... and the first time his wife saw Rickles doing his act (180 from the man in private). I was starting to meander a bit and just deleted the last bit, but I would agree with Larry, the DVD Show had some of the purest physical comedy and was one of the great expressions of the sitcom (maybe precisely because it was so early in the history of the medium). If only more TV had lived up to the legacy of I Love Lucy, DVD Show and MTM Show. Not to say there hasn't been good to great tv afterwards, but the hit to miss ratio is often pretty low.

I know it's still a sore spot, but this was easy to pick up when I was in the UK (and they were the ones with the troops in Basra itself), though at that time I only could get the copy-control version.

Well, couldn't get one of the Newberry copies, but Wherehouse has generally been ok by me, so I bought one of those and it showed up today. I've just read through Laurie Pepper's notes. Wow, just wow. I've had the previously issued material but am really interested in seeing how it flows together with the shows reconstituted as organic wholes. Might not be able to start until tomorrow though. This sounds like it was one of the last things that Les Koenig recorded. Anyone know of any sessions he (Koenig) recorded later? Would this be a reasonable last project for his legacy, or was the whole thing too uneven and too chemically-enhanced? I should know what I think about it in about a week or so.

Doesn't strike me as that complicated (if it were Walmart, well maybe a different story). Either you decide you like the Handy and pay for it, or you contact them and ship it back to them (and ask for the return postage as credit to your account).

I think this may be the oddest re-issue fad yet. This label (plustapes) is now re-issuing unusual recordings on cassette, limited to 100 copies. The offerings either seem to be metal or Asian-related. I picked up this one, based on the reckless records review: http://plustapes.com/?p=104 It is not bad, and already OOP. I would definitely pick up more by this group (The Travellers), so I'll keep my eyes open.

I would say of all them Quadromania/Membran and JSP have the best sound quality. Proper generally has the best value for overview sets. Definitive and Lonehill are pretty average in terms of sound quality, though that hasn't stopped me when they have had some interesting item that would never be reissued in the States.

Eric, I happened to get both of these books using a Borders gift card given to me a couple months back. Haven't read either one, but heard lots of positive things about both. Please let us know what you think of them. I just finished The White Tiger. It is a real page-turner! I didn't quite read it in one sitting, but maybe three. It's really interesting, has lots of local color (the detail this writer goes into about the lives of the poor servant class in India!), and is written with a kind of sardonic wit. It is also kind of Bizarro-world version of Crime and Punishment, which is made apparent about 15-20 pages in, but I don't want to go into detail here. At the same time, I don't think I would read it more than once. It's got one thing to say, says it brightly/sharply, and then slinks off. Maybe it would benefit from repeated readings, but I don't think so. It is more of a surface-type book. The Bolano looks like one you might want to read more than once (if anyone had the time of course). Far more consciously literary, has more depth, etc. I will be able to start this one more seriously later next week.

The other thing about the Dead is that they were mellow in the extreme about where their audience was -- some being fully committed to the music, some only interested in the recreational aspects of following the Dead around, most somewhere in between with a bit more emphasis on the music. They didn't insist on everyone experiencing the magic the same way as the artist, which is part of Jarrett's problem IMO. I guess the reason Keith gets under my skin so much is that he is following in the footsteps of Glenn Gould but hasn't a 10th of the talent, again IMO. Glenn ultimately had the courage of his convinctions and stopped doing live concerts, since the interaction with the audience was so distracting to him. If Keith feels that strongly that the auditorium should be like a recording studio (he has now taken to berating the audience for coughing according to the BBC), then he should stop performing live. I for one am more than willing to help him on his way by no longer buying tickets to see him perform.

PM sent on Buck Clayton

Agreed that it is good hearing about future Mosaic plans. I'll probably get these two though they are not at the top of my list. But I would be all over a Select with live Handy/Hutcherson! Here's hoping.

Unfortunately, the copy of Bolano's The Savage Detectives I was going to start was missing the first 100 pages! Grrr! So I went back on the wait list at the library for that one. In the meantime, I got to the top of the list for Adiga's The White Tiger, which is the recent Booker winner. It is a fairly dark novel about a self-made entrepeneur from a village in India who gets his big break as a driver for a rich family. Reviews are generally positive, though there are some who feel he really wades into the muck too much and overdoes the backwardness of rural India. I'm enjoying it so far.

So I saw Benny Golson at CSO celebrating his 80th Birthday. He has put together a sextet that includes Eddie Henderson on trumpet and Buster Williams on bass! Not that familiar with the others. Well, the show more or less doubled as a CD release party for his brand spanking new CD New Time, New 'Tet. They played Grove's Groove, Epistrophy, L'Adieu (adapted from Chopin), Gypsy Jingle-Jangle, Verdi's Voice (based on a short theme from Verdi) and Uptown Afterburn. So 6 of the 10 tracks. This would have been a great show by itself, but they came back for one encore and did a killer version of Killer Joe. Benny still errs a bit on the side of talking more than playing, but this was only really notable in the introductions. And indeed, I was interested in some of the stories where he got his inspiration, particularly the Gypsy Jingle-Jangle and Verdi's Voice. I would say everything was good with the possible exception of L'Adieu which didn't really grab me. My favorite performances were Verdi's Voice, Killer Joe, Epistrophy. Uptown Afterburn and Gypsy Jingle-Jangle in roughly that order. He's definitely locked into that mid-tempo groove, which in my understanding is actually one of the hardest tempos to play in. I expect I'll be picking up his new CD soon (I was pretty wiped out or I could have bought it there for him to autograph). Mulgrew Miller was the opening act and he was leading a new trio. They mostly played Golson compositions including I Remember Clifford (though they transformed it to the point I didn't recognize it) and ended with a blistering Relaxing at Camarillo. Definitely a good night out, though it's still colder than a witch's bottom here in Chi town.

He who lives by the hype, dies by the hype. What does this article do other than feed Keith's meglomania? Personally I have so little respect for Jarrett the person (and esp. his view of himself vis a vis "the audience") that I am boycotting everything he touches. Don't see anything that would make me change my mind.

Well, this originated in certain professions where it would be particularly easy to steal key information and/or client lists if you had all day to clean out your cubicle. (Or release a virus in a handful of extreme cases.) But it does seem spectacularly useless given that most people take laptops home, back-up email (and take it home), and in general giving them short notice just makes their lives miserable to no end. That said, it would take a solid day to pack up my desk, esp. trying to separate out which files are personal and which belong to the company. Then my bookcase of books and drawer full of CDs! I wouldn't mind having someone do the packing for me.

Very sorry to hear this, but not that surprised. If anything it's more surprising more people haven't been affected yet. My company will probably be ok, esp. as we mostly deal with transportation and there will be more transportation funding from DC soon. My problem is I just don't fit that well with the culture there (and we've lost all of the proposals I have worked on -- not a great sign). I figure if even a handful of people get cut, I will be among them. On the other hand, if we win this big proposal I just wrote that's going in next week, then I would be set for another 18 months. Needless to say, just looking over my shoulder all the time is very stressful, and I am working on several leads to get me out of there. But as everyone knows, this is not the best time to be looking for work.

Bev: We seem to be moving in very similar circles these days. As I mentioned I picked up Apti (though I've generally tried to get CDs rather than downloads for Vijay and Rudresh). I actually went ahead and got a booster last night and picked up three Texier albums on Label Bleu: Mosaic Man Respect (V)ivre I had a few left over so I got Afro-Rock Vol. 1 Special People by Andrew Cyrille I find it kind of interesting that the Texier CDs are almost all on eMusic (and some are quite rare) but the Aldo Romano CDs, many with Texier, are not. In a way, I find this discouraging, though for these particular CDs (Suite Africaine and some others) the liner notes and artwork is pretty essential, so I will try to get a physical copy. (The previous month was a mix of world music and jazz): Diggin' the Crates for Afro Cuban Funk Issa Bagayogo's Mali Koura Butch Morris Dust to Dust Walt Dickerson Life Rays Kenny Drew Trio At the Brewhouse Tommy Flanagan Beyond the Bluebird Bill Perkins Quietly There Andrew Cyrille X-Man Still haven't listened enough to the Bagayogo, but I'll probably get the rest of his albums on eMusic next month (no more booster packs for a while).

He also cancelled an appearance at the Jazz Showcase in early Jan. Sheldonm and I showed up only to find out that he wasn't making the gig. Very sorry I didn't get the chance to hear him previously. Will spin Life and Captain Buckles later today.

Not sure when/if I will get to this. I do have Bolano's The Savage Detectives, and it is "on deck," so to speak. I just finished Chabon's Yiddish Policemen's Union (particularly appropriate that it is snowing yet again -- one thing that seems weird is that he talks about cold and snow but it just doesn't seem bone chillingly cold -- maybe it takes place in what should be spring or something). I enjoyed it greatly and yet I felt a little let down by the ending. It was almost as if it morphed from a riff on Hammett/Chandler to a neo-noir like Chinatown, specifically in terms of the scale of the conspiracy. Of course, there are also a handful of pratfalls in the middle, and maybe Chabon is riffing on some of the 1970s detective films here (Long Goodbye) that play the genre for laughs a bit. So maybe he is doing a metacritical riff on the detective genre (a little like Joyce's Ulysses is a riff on all English literature). Well, if I ever run into Chabon, I will ask him. Right now I am in the middle of Chuck Klosterman's Downtown Owl, which is a novel set in rural North Dakota. I'm feeling he has just a bit too much distance from these characters (maybe a bit too snobby about people who never escaped the small towns like he did) and maybe it would have been a bit stronger if he had written it before moving to NYC. But it's an entertaining read so far. And then I should be able to start the Bolano.

If you mean homogenized and dumbed down, then yes. If you mean will it just disappear, I doubt it. It is much easier to force people to listen to the commercials on the radio. Sure more people are moving to internet radio (or Sirius) but I think the cost/hassle factor is high enough that enough people will stick with commercial radio. I think newspapers were particularly vulnerable since they have had a much narrower subscriber base for a couple of decades (far more people just get their news from tv) and their subscribers were precisely the people most likely to move to on-line news distribution.