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I don't really listen to live radio ever. I do listen to podcasts, but mostly I stream BBC Radio 3 (a couple of days out of sync). This is a habit I picked up while living in the UK, and so far it is still available outside the UK (there are occasional calls to restrict the listen again features outside the UK). I find it so much richer than US Public Radio, though I suppose that is unfair since I don't follow Public Radio to get a sense of how many concerts they broadcast and the range of classical and jazz performances available. I probably should, but am just barely able to keep up with the BBC. Anything more would be too much. Anyway, I generally listen to about 2.5 hours/wk of jazz and 2 hours/wk of world music, and 10 or so hours of classical programs. The world music programs lean towards recordings, but the jazz leans towards broadcasts of concerts, so you get a decent overview of who is playing in London each week.

This morning I had a melody running through my head and finally realized it was the theme from the first movement of Shostakovich's 7th. That's fairly remarkable for me (to actually recall a theme I haven't heard dozens of times before). Of course it may simply reflect the fact that the theme is repeated over something like 350 bars (according to the program notes).

Most of what I bought was a reissue, so I'm not sure whether to count it here or not, esp if I had it in LP format. My favorite new CD was Brecker's Pilgrimage, which I spin once a month or so (high by my standards).

Saw a concert by the Chicago Symphony today. This was the program: Ravel - Piano Concerto in G Major Yundi Li, piano Shostakovich - Symphony No. 7 (Leningrad) Don't know how others view Ravel's Piano Concerto but I was not impressed. Even a soloist much better than Mr. Li would still not make me rate this concerto highly. Kind of a poor man's Gershwin (ironically Gershwin asked to study under Ravel but was turned away). But I thought they did a magnificent job with the 7th Symphony. Really stirring (though the whole symphony could definitely stand to be 10-15 minutes shorter). I'm getting the opportunity this year to see 4 or 5 Shostakovich symphonies live, and am appreciating it.

After staying off eBay for a long time, I won a few things from Newbury Comics in their $0.01 sale, though I mostly paid $2-3 for them: Young Bloods by Phil Woods Late Hour Special by Gene Ammons Everything in their eBay sale was OJC -- these guys must have bought out the warehouse! I also ordered some classical music (Lionel Rogg and Dorati conducting Tchaikovsky) from them through normal channels.

I've been waiting for this for a while. But it still caught me by surprise, since I thought they were arriving in Dec. Fox Studios (not the Fox Network) worked out an agreement with Matt Groening to create 4 movie-length episodes of Futurama. They got the main voice cast back together and many of the key writers, so it shouldn't suck like some reunion thingies. The new "movies" go straight to DVD, and then will be carved up into 4 episodes each and shown on Comedy Central. So it is essentially a completely new season of Futurama and a chance to wrap up various loose threads. (I think they are all essentially done and are just being doled out, so the writer's strike shouldn't affect them.) Wired has a good interview on the whole thing: Wired I am so incredibly psyched. Futurama was/is my favorite show, and I hope to have this in my hands by Friday!

I am sorry to hear of your loss, esp. for her to die so young. I don't have cats now, but have had them in the past and understand how attached one can get to them.

Uri Caine also has a jazz-inspired or at least jazz-infused Goldberg Variations. Maybe I should give that a spin today, since I have been listening to the Gould 1955 and 1981 Variations.

Dusty Groove is carrying a few copies of Blue Mitchell's Bantu Village (LP) so I grabbed one of those. Of course now this and Collision in Black will probably be released by Water -- or maybe will be available as MP3s on the Blue Note website. Whatever. I just ordered a set of Lionel Rogg playing Bach on organ, but it hasn't arrived. Looking forward to that, as well as getting the replacement for the Glenn Gould OJC collection.

My son (about the same age) is doing the same thing, and he insists that I stay in the room until he falls asleep. In his case, he is starting to get afraid of the closet, under the bed, etc. I imagine it is all these free-floating anxieties (as his world keeps expanding and he has trouble making sense of it) sort of coalescing. It is frustrating, but it is only a phase (I keep telling myself). Anyway, we are going to the south side of Chicago for dinner with the in-laws. My wife and kids stay through the weekend, but I have to work Friday, so I'll come back north. Then we'll meet up again on Sat.

As if there wasn't already enough nannying and nagging in the UK. I don't use an iPod, but the idea that this self-righteous group can take it upon themselves to go around telling people to turn off their own (not piped-in) music (even in a humorous way) is odious to me. Come try it in New York or Chicago, and you'll probably not get the response you are after.

Dizzy Digs Paris (on Giant Steps) is a re-issue of the 1953 Pleyel concert (on the Vogue discs). They claim this is the first complete version of the concert. "Digitally remastered two CD live set recorded to a standing-room-only audience of jazz aficionados at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, February 9, 1953.For the first time ever, this CD presents the newly remastered and unedited version of that evening's events with a number of previously butchered solos fully restored plus the addition of Bill Graham's previously discarded showcase 'I Don't Stand A Ghost Of A Chance' for which Dizzy makes a rare appearance on piano." Sound is quite good and the playing superb.

Jazz tunes or jazz recording titles? We do have Ornette's Complete Science Fiction Sessions and Christian McBride's Sci Fi.

There's an interesting study funded by the National Science Foundation (not a fringe environmental group) showing certain drawbacks to GMO corn and its byproducts entering water ecosystems: NSF study The study doesn't necessarily say that these new impacts outweigh the benefits, but I think it does point out how we (US producers) do these things without really thinking through all the consequences. GMO can mean all kinds of things, and if it makes crops more weather resistant that's generally a good thing. When they build toxins into plants to make them pest-resistant (part of the problem here) you really are talking about potentially upsetting a number of ecosystems. Humans have been doing this for a long time (Cronin's Nature's Metropolis is particularly good on how what seems natural about the midwest is almost entirely the product of human intervention) but the scale of the changes we can achieve now and the potential for something getting out of hand are so much higher now. GM-skeptics like myself mostly want to slow down so all the consequences can be examined and informed decisions made. Of course, capitalism or really hyper-capitalism does not afford us this luxury. Interestingly, even the study write-up lends support to the idea that the system is out of hand: "Farmers are, to a large extent, required to use the latest technological advances in order to stay competitive and profitable in the current agro-industrial system."

If you are staying downtown, I think Jazz Record Mart and the new Reckless Records are your best bets. Dusty Groove is a short cab or el ride away, but it has a miniscule used section, and they don't have in-store sales, so you are just as well off going through the website, unless you have a yen for flipping through vinyl.

I guess it depends on your definition of "here." It's at Landmark's Century Centre in Chicago and the CineArts6 in Evanston. I probably will skip it. I do see that the Music Box (just down the street from me) is doing Blade Runner the Final Cut this weekend, and I may try to get to that.

This looks like it should be good: Rudresh on BBC This will be up for another week (through Friday). Probably simplest to go here and click listen to latest programme:Jazz on 3 I saw these guys when they came through Chicago, and some folks saw them at the Ann Arbor Vision Fest. Definitely my favorite players of the really young (younger than me) jazz set.

Am really sorry to hear it, Jim. My son is 3 1/2 and does the same stuff. Spinning in the chair, somersaults off the bed (it's really low), jumping on the couch. Of course, I try to keep this behavior to a minimum, but boy he has a lot of energy. I figure it is all but inevitable he'll break something. But kids do heal fast at least.

Personally, I think the spread of GM food will have mostly negative long-term impacts, including loss of genetic diversity and further concentration of economic power in the hands of 3 or 4 companies. Of course, I also think it was a enormously foolish mistake to allow the patenting of genes, as it will have mostly negative unanticipated consequences (a la Robert Merton).

I am reading Goffredo Parise's Abecedary and then the companion book, Solitudes. These are very short stories based on a theme, like hunting, others, sweetness, etc. They were conceived as long prose poems essentially, so they tend to cut to the chase and try illuminate something about the human condition in a couple of pages. I'd say they are a bit like Raymond Carver stories refracted through a European (Italian) perspective. I enjoy them, but I haven't decided if I like them enough to buy the books to read later. I'm leaning towards it, however.

That one has been on my "to read" shelf for almost three years now. Someday... I read it back in the early 80's. I recall it being damn good, but a tad depressing. Two African novels I read fairly recently might be of interest: The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born by Ayi Kwei Armah I think this is pretty similar to Things Fall Apart, though I must admit not having gotten to that one yet. Certainly depressing but with flashes of humor. This one is a fictionalized account of the Nigerian civil war. It is really well-written and disturbing. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

How much for a ticket to Rome? Well, in this day and age, it will probably end up on YouTube by the 11th.

Whales were a source of fuel back in the day (not a common every day one though), as well as ambergris used in perfumes (and that might be found in the tail, depending on how you defined tail).

Killing [and eating] swans is illegal in the UK - as they are the property of the monarch.

May be worth noting that at the link JSngry provided, you can buy the CD for $15 (roughly the DG price) or the MP3 version for $10. That may not be so appealing, but there were a couple of funk 45s they had on-line where the MP3 price was $2, and I am thinking about springing for a couple of those.