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How's the Armstrong? We might need an occasional reminder that some of these are still available elsewhere (I know I don't always check in time ). For instance Dizzy Cool World and Dizzy Goes Hollywood are both on the recent Mosaic box set, and Hobo Flats is on the Nelson Mosaic set. (I'm pretty sure Hobo Flats is one where the entire album shows up and not halfsies.)

Yep. TCM or bust.

This looks pretty tempting. I'll try to give a listen the next time I am at Dusty Groove: http://www.dustygroove.com/item.php?id=g58...p;ref=index.php Their reissue program seems to be going strong, though as eclectic as ever.

Looks like I can make the Sat. show. I'll make sure to check in if I turn up a bit early.

I did order the book. I like it, but it certainly has shortcomings. The usual suspects, particularly Miles Davis and John Coltrane, get the most covers. Very few for Ellington for instance. As far as "early" covers go, there are a fair number from Norman Granz productions and not so much otherwise. Overall tilted towards Blue Note, Prestige, Riverside, but plenty of unusual choices from lesser known labels. Certainly there are a number I would have included (Magnificent Thad Jones, for instance). I suppose my main complaint is that I couldn't tell what the criterion was for selection. Grouping by musician rather than label or designer undercuts the design aspects and basically leaves it as an interesting selection of jazz covers.

PM sent on Cole Transcriptions

Yep, we discussed this briefly. It has some great extras - an entire extra disc for In the Footsteps of M. Hulot. I believe that Jour de Fete is the only one not available in the US through Criterion; you still need a region 2 import for that. I was somewhat indifferent to Playtime the first time I saw it (on video). It has almost no plot and very minimal dialogue. But it sort of haunted me (in particular what was I missing that so many critics loved). And I was challenged by it in a way. A few years ago, when Criterion was prepping for the new release, a 70 mm print was making the rounds, and I managed to see it on the big screen. This time I enjoyed it a lot more, paying more attention to the visual and sound gags. However, I think Playtime (and perhaps Tati in general) really appeals to people who are attuned to two things -- 1) paying attention to film as a medium rather than looking for conventional plot and 2) people with a nostalgic, even melancholy nature. Tati is fundamentally a backwards-looking artist, examining how modernity is hollow and people are much better off retaining older (presumably pre-WWII) modes of life. Now this is oversimplifying a bit; nonetheless, modernity and consumption culture only serve to impede people's relationships with others. This is certainly what I find so fascinating about Tati, looking at his depiction of France's coming to terms with modernity.

aloc's everyday car has 200,000+ miles and a dozen years on it and he isnt looking. Well, that's one thing I do have going for me. I've always tried to live near transit and/or close enough to bike to work. We have a car that is probably 7 years old, and has fewer than 11,000 miles on it. (Most of this was my wife driving actually.) So we probably won't be getting a new car for years. While I've actually thought about getting a Prius from time to time, given how little we drive, we would never make back the up-front investment. (Our car is a compact anyway.) I haven't felt much yet, though I did notice that my college fund accounts for my kids were way off. That bums me out, but I'll just ride it through like most people. I probably ought to cut back a bit more, but I've never gone off and spent more than I earned. Like Jim, I insisted on getting a fixed rate mortgage (and we did buy less than we wanted but it was something we could afford), so am not too worried about a ballooning rate or going upside down or anything like that. Eric

Peter: Interested in these. PM sent. Eric

I should be able to make it, though I have to clear late night activities.

I did go ahead and order this, and it looks like a good transfer with very nice audio commentary. Criterion/Eclipse have an awful lot of Ozu's films in circulation. There's one called Green Tea that so far is still only available on a Region 2 Tartan box set. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the insert -- the middle pages were missing. While I could certainly return to Amazon, it seemed kind of wasteful, so I contacted Criterion and pointed out the situation. They are mailing me a new one today. On the whole, the customer service isn't quite up to Mosaic standards (based on other experiences), but it's awfully good for such a company.

I think his decisions in game 1 were really questionable, particularly expecting the pitcher to pitch his way out of a jam when he had control problems from the first inning. Just too old school for me. Now his real dilemma is the middle relief has pretty much sucked all season. So maybe he didn't feel he had a choice, but the grand slam really sucked the life out of the Cubs. Then when Z imploded the next game, they all tightened up, realizing it was all over. Given they couldn't get over the hump with a talented club, I can't see it happened any time soon.

I was only planning on getting the Three Sounds Soul Symphony of the recent Blue Note reissues, but at the local used store (the only one worth a damn anymore in Chicago), they had this plus Elegant Soul and Reuben Wilson's Set Us Free. While the price is still higher than YourMusic will be (if they get them), it was low enough that I sprung for them.

Well, this is hardly definitive, but a site called bowker.com claims that it lists 5.8 million books for the US (including some out of print, and obviously a lot of duplication between editions and variants). For the global version, they have 15.4 million books (including 5.8 from the US). In other words, the US has produced roughly 1/3 of the current books in print. Now the UK market may be roughly the same size as the US, but no way are they generating 5 times the number of books as they US. If you broke that down to fiction/literature, I think the relationship would hold about the same.

I saw them at Fez once, and it was quite good. I am sorry I didn't make it more while I was living in Brooklyn. I've seen them in other settings -- once in the Lincoln Center Plaza (where they weren't all that) and another time in Chicago, when they were very good again.

This could probably go in the Film Corner as well. Anyway, I remember we had discussed this a while back, but Ozu's An Autumn Afternoon was just released by Criterion. Amazon still has good prices on this, so I think I will jump. Another really interesting entry in the Eclipse series is this -- Kenji Mizoguchi's Fallen Women. Four films on "the plight of women in male-dominated Japanese society": Osaka Elegy, Sisters of the Gion, Women of the Night, and Street of Shame. While there are certainly gaps, this simply has to be the best time for film lovers (in the gap while DVDs are still a viable medium and almost everything is still in print).

Don't know if Ellington/Strayhorn have been on Composer of the Week, but this should be an interesting week. Possibly the first jazz-related composer to be featured. Anyway, several days still to catch the first episode (of 5). I'll probably listen to the whole batch this weekend. BBC Composer of the week

I've got a couple of the Joe Bataan's (hopefully the rest will crop up). I've got a really interesting Fania remix sampler, but it doesn't seem to be on eMusic yet. Another label that looks veeerry interesting is Emusica with something called Tito Puente Complete 78s and De Panama a Nueva York by Ruben Blades. I'll probably get me some dls from them as well.

JSP was once a great legit label that did superior remasterings of classic recordings, and also made new recordings. Now they are pirate label, and one of the worst. They ripped off the remasters of the Mosaic Bunny Berigan set and Revenant Charlie Patton set only months after they were released. Those sets required significant investments by Mosaic and Revenant, which were, in effect, stolen by JSP. Lonehill may be a bad label, but they sure have made available a good number of long lost older recordings that the companies with copyright never had any plans to release. So I have mixed feelings about Lonehill. And yet, I think that they (JSP) are still putting out good product mixed with bad. I'm thinking specifically of Django on the Radio from 2008 and their truly massive Fats Waller set (scheduled to be 24 discs).

Two words: lynch mobs. Also, it is illegal in many states to "profiteer" and charge excess prices for gas. I know they busted gas stations in NC during the last huricane, and they will be doing so again soon. Obviously, it is a simple matter of legislating against the notion of supply and demand. It really is interesting how we made fun of communist countries and how they never had bread on the shelves because they were command economies, but when the chips are down, we nationalize and engage in price fixing (including Nixon!).

How's this? It's been getting good reviews, and I'm looking around for a good used copy here in Chicago.

Just finished a boatload of books on China, the most interesting are Concrete Dragon by Capanella and China's Urban Transition by Freidman. After reading 6 or so academic books for various reviews hope to read a few fiction books. Am halfway through To Say Nothing of the Dog, which is a time travel romp by Connie Willis. Will probably next try to read Murakami's After Dark and Jesse Ball's Samedi the Deafness.

Just get the "Best of-" and start there. If you like it then you can buy the others any time. If not, you can stop there. Was a big, big fan of Cordwainer Smith when I was younger. I'd probably still like the core stories, but I haven't thought about reading him for a while.

I've read nearly all the early ones -- Midnight's Children, Shame, Satanic Verses, Haroun, and the Moor's Last Sigh. I really did like MC and Shame. Satanic Verses was a bit of a chore, and I read it mostly because I was supporting Rushdie against fundamentalists. Don't know what I would think now. Haven't read him in ages, though I think his newest looks kind of entertaining.

The ones by Raschka look pretty interesting. I'll see if the library has them. It is fun reading books with jazz-inflections to my kids.