ejp626

I believe there is some salty language after a breakdown. I didn't have it turned up high enough to really catch what was said.

Antobal's Cuban All-Stars ‎– Havana Big Sound!

No, I just went from Toronto to Ottawa and back in the same day. (If the trains ran a bit better here, this should only be a 6 hour round trip...)

I spent a lot of time on trains yesterday (~9 hours), so I used that to read Thien's Do Not Say We Have Nothing, which is basically about the impact of China's Cultural Revolution on a group of musicians and then the impact of the events at Tienanmen Square in 1989 on them and their descendants. Sad and moving, though also an overwhelming novel. It did leave me a bit numb. For a complete change of pace, I'm going to tackle Burroughs' Naked Lunch and Craig Nova's Wetware. At some point after that Murakami's Men Without Women.

Julian Bream - Popular Classics for Spanish Guitar

I've pretty much given up selling or trading on-line. It doesn't help that Canada Post prices are quite steep and there is no media mail option.

As you can see, he is touring, but my understanding is that most of these dates are solo shows. (I know for a fact the Toronto show is a solo event.) I'd be fairly surprised if he plays much material off this CD without a band backing him (what would be the point?), and indeed, I suspect it is mostly going to be Cockburn playing his hits solo. I've been waiting to hear him play in a group setting, so I think I'll pass (yet again).

I'm bailing on FKA USA, though I'll read it tonight on the train home, as I don't have anything else with me... It's basically a cynical mash-up of The Wizard of Oz, The Road, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Ready, Player One, and it has just worn me down (the endless footnotes really grate after a while). It definitely reads as if one eye was on the movie rights, and indeed, it has already been optioned... While I had quite a few issues with Ready, Player One, that at least feels like it was written by someone who understood and loved video games/puzzle games/quests. This feels like it was written by someone with only the most cursory understanding of or appreciation for dystopian SF as a genre. While Thien's book is a bit of a downer, I still think it is more worthy of my time. Not sure when I will actually get it in my hands, but I'm intrigued by the upcoming novel Quichotte by Salman Rushdie. (Apparently, it comes out in Sept., and I'm pretty deep on the wait list...) It sounds as if this would make a good pairing with his previous novel, The Golden House. I do own that book, but I'll wait to read the two together this fall.

I was fortunate that most of the "black covers" in my collection were cut-outs (and probably mostly from Tower Records in NYC), but yes, quite a bit of duplication and still a few rare sides were not issued in the first box. But overall, pretty happy with the set.

It was a tougher decision for me for the first box, where there was a large amount of duplication, as I did have a lot of the black cover CDs, but less so with this second box (though of course I have the Lester Young and Miles Davis material). But they are very attractive packages.

I have to say I didn't like the final third of the book very much. There was some cheap surrealism, along with frankly unbelievable conversations between Rainey and Clotho and Rainey and Minnow. An awful lot of the actions of the characters in the last 50 pages didn't make a whole lot of sense, i.e. weren't even internally consistent. It's a shame, as I liked the middle section a fair bit, but this ending definitely downgrades my opinion of the book. I do think the movie has a slightly tighter ending (including making Rainey a more decisive character), but I'll report on that in Film Corner. I'm now reading FKA USA by Reed King (a SF road novel taking place after the fragmentation of the US) and will read Thien's Do Not Say We Have Nothing after that.

I have the first box. I thought the sound was fine. All or almost all of the sessions had already been mastered for CD (for a series of Vogue recordings with plain black labels). I don't recall anything that sounded like a needle drop. However, I am not terribly fussy about mastering. I've never even heard of the second box, but I think I'll try to order a copy.

Toni Morrison passed away at the age of 88 - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/aug/06/toni-morrison-author-and-pulitzer-winner-dies-aged-88 I actually saw her at University of Michigan giving the Tanner Lectures that was eventually published in Michigan Quarterly Review - https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/mqr/2019/02/unspeakable-things-unspoken-the-afro-american-presence-in-american-literature/ (This link gives a significant portion of the lecture, though then you have to go page by page through the archive for the rest.) The themes are fairly similar to the Massey Lectures that were published as Playing in the Dark. I have to be honest that I kind of run hot and cold with her novels and pretty much stopped reading them at Jazz (more due to running short of time than anything else). I recognize the importance of The Bluest Eye but don't love it. Beloved left me fairly cold. My favorites among her novels are Song of Solomon and Tar Baby. I think this year I will commit to rereading The Bluest Eye (it is quite short) and Song of Solomon. I'll then restart with Jazz and try to read one or two of her later novels each year until I get through them all.

I had no idea that A Hall of Mirrors was made into a movie (WUSA) with Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, and Anthony Perkins! Why have I never heard of this movie? Anyway, I have a copy on hold at the library and will post in the Film Corner thread after I've watched it. I should just manage to get through reading the novel first, which is my preference when watching films based on novels.

I noticed that too. Are they expecting an epidemic of toe-tapping?

Agree that these are all strong. One day will have to reread to see how they stand up (or rather how I react to them on second time through). I had the privilege of hearing O'Brien read from The Things They Carried not long after it came out. About 1/3 into Robert Stone's A Hall of Mirrors, and it is starting to grow on me. Not sure if this will tip the balance and lead me to order the upcoming LOA volume of his later novels.

Last night saw Angela Hewitt playing Bach's Goldberg Variations (completely from memory, which is an incredible feat in its own right). The place was packed, and they actually had some people (20 or so) seated on the stage itself! This makes the third time I've seen Goldberg live, and while the other performances were good, Hewitt is in another class altogether. She's coming back around in April to play Bach's Art of the Fugue (for piano, not organ), and that should also be outstanding. What made last night a bit more special is that they had the author Madeleine Thien come out before and talk about the connection between her novel, Do Not Say We Have Nothing, and the Goldberg Variations.

Let us know how it goes. I've heard generally good things. It supposedly doesn't quite live up to Life and Fate (partly because Grossman did work with the censors on this book) but is still deemed a worthy "prequel." I'm hoping to read the two together this winter.

I've dipped into the short stories (eventually I upgraded from the old volume to Library of America's Collected Stories and Other Writings) but haven't gotten through all of them. I'm pretty sure I read The Wapshot Chronicle in my early 20s but none of his other novels.

Just wrapped up a debut novel - To Me You Seem Giant by Greg Rhyno. It tells the story of a high school rock 'n' roller who doesn't make the big time, but one of his bandmates does. Anyway, the chapters alternate between Peter's senior year in high school and 10 years later, as we watch him try to carve out a satisfying life far from the limelight. It did give me some serious flashbacks to my own teaching days (fortunately long behind me...). It does help to know something about the Canadian indie rock scene before diving into this one.

Just saw this obituary. https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/articles/2776--obituary-anner-bylsma-1934-2019 I never had the pleasure of seeing him perform live (at least not that I recall), though apparently he worked with many of the folks at Tafelmusik, and I do go to their concerts from time to time. I've owned 3 box sets in the Anner Bylsma collection for some time now (all purchased at Sikora's (also RIP)), and I just broke down and put in an order for the last one - Chamber Music vol 2 (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GH1X1CU/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A30I8KTV4DUTWQ&psc=1#customerReviews) It's a pretty sweet deal - 12 CDs for around $20. Nonetheless, it may be best to start with his Cello Suites set, which actually has two completely different recordings of the Bach solo cello suites. The actual box set seems to be OOP, but downloads are available and it can be streamed at the usual locations.

Read Play It As It Lays fairly recently. Haven't gotten to this one yet, but it's reasonably high on my to-read pile.

Debated between this thread and box set bargains. Anyway, Bernstein 1953 Decca recordings is a 5 CD set of 5 symphonies and the accompanying lectures on the music. For me the lectures are probably slightly more interesting than the symphonies as Lennie rerecorded all of them often multiple times. Amazon resellers are offering this as low as $13! https://www.amazon.com/Bernstein-1953-American-Decca-Recordings/dp/B000VGO00E/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=bernstein+decca&qid=1563664415&s=gateway&sr=8-1 I'm very tempted, though at the moment I am just streaming the music. It's available on iTunes, Hoopla and Naxos (though Naxos may not be available in the US)

I thought Hardwick's NY Stories were pretty good. I read Sleepless Nights, but it didn't really stick with me (probably a bit too experimental/impressionistic). I do remember not liking Adler's Speedboat very much. As an aside, Hardwick wrote the introduction to the NYRB edition of Powers' Morte d'Urban. I don't think it is an appropriate introduction as she gives away far too many main plot points. I also think the cover for this edition is not terribly fitting, so I guess I'm saying I would turn elsewhere to pick up this novel... Incidentally, I have gotten back into this novel. It's good, though not quite as good as I remembered (though I haven't gotten to the part where Father Urban is exiled to Minnesota and basically has a spiritual re-awakening).

Kind of torn on Robert Stone. I had Outerbridge Reach forever and never cracked it. I suspect the same would happen if I bought a 3-book anthology of his works. (Also, if I bought them as used paperbacks it would be a small fraction of the cost of LOA.) I'm about to start reading A Hall of Mirrors. Perhaps that will decide me one way or the other. The Joan Didion collection they are putting together is kind of odd, mixing fiction and non-fiction. In this case, I would recommend the Everyman edition of her non-fiction (basically everything except The Year of Magical Thinking and Blue Nights) instead.