ejp626

Just wrapping up the 3rd (of 7) novellas that make up Mutis's Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll (NYRB). I had read these first three not long after the English translations came out, but then never got around to the rest. But NYRB published all of them in one volume, which I have finally gotten around to reading. The remaining stories will all be new to me. I'm also wrapping up Alice Munro's Runaway. I wanted to make sure I had read the first half of the collection before watching Almodovar's Julieta, as the film is based on 3 of her stories.

I'm in a sort of similar bind. UPS and FedEx absolutely refuse to deliver to P.O. Boxes. But if you are mailing a passport to the US for renewal, they only give you a P.O. Box. Well, as you may or may not have heard Canada Post workers were on strike for 3 weeks and they were forced back to work (and are seriously unhappy about that). Due to the backlog, they simply refused to accept mail to the States for another week or so. (Apparently, Canada Post can mail to P.O. boxes...) The FedEx folks said I was completely out of luck. UPS looked up the street address and hopefully the passport will get to the right place, but I have serious doubts. 🥺

The End is bizarre. It's probably 15-20 minutes too long, and I didn't like the musical aspect of it. If all the songs had been stripped out it would have been much more powerful. So I guess I'm saying I thought the director's vision was naff.

Apparently a few people here caught Tolliver at the London Jazz Fest. Jealous... Anyway, this episode of BBC Round Midnight (on BBC Radio 3) with him being interviewed and introducing tracks he either played on or inspired his music is available for just under two weeks. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0024xv8

Lots of Tilda Swinton this month. She (and Julianne Moore) are in Almodovar's The Room Next Door. I'm seeing that towards the end of Dec. at TIFF Lightbox. Then next week, I see her in Joshua Oppenheimer's The End (also at TIFF). It's a post-apocalyptic tale about a wealthy family living in a salt mine when an outsider arrives. And it's a musical! It sounded too bizarre to pass up.

A lot of short stories this Dec.: Lucia Berlin - A Manual for Cleaning Women Joy Williams - Taking Care Alice Munro - Runaway

I was hoping Toronto would pull it off, so I decided the best thing to do would be to pull for the Bombers instead, as my sports bets never pay off... 😉 Anyway, way to go, Argos!

Scored a real bargain on Dorati's complete Haydn Symphonies (re-issued as a Decca box set) at a library book sale. Worked out to less than $1/CD. Now when I'll have listened to the whole thing is another story.

RIP. What a legacy! I saw him once in NYC in the early 2000s and then again in Chicago in 2007. There may have been another time, but that's likely it.

Winnepeg 50

I'd hoped to check out Guy Maddin's Rumours, but it lasted in theatres all of 2 weeks then vanished (during a time I was extremely busy at work). It isn't on any streaming services yet. Anyway, TIFF is doing an Almodovar retrospective. I have tickets to 10 of his films and hope to sneak in to two screenings that are currently sold out.

Argos definitely the underdogs now, but I suppose stranger things have happened (than them pulling it off...).

I saw him just a few months ago and he declined requests to play "Rocket Launcher." Maybe he'll have a change of heart tomorrow. I should try to catch him on his next Toronto show. As fine as he is as a solo artist, I would also like to see him backed by a band.

>>Next will be Eric DuPont's Songs for the Cold of Heart. (Which is much better known as The American Fiancée.) I'm mostly done with this. I'm liking the second half (in modern era) more than the parts set in Quebec in the 50s and 60s (pre-Quiet Revolution). I decided to take something different on a trip out to Edmonton. I got almost all the way through Oliver Twist (never tackled it before) and read a bit into Manu Joseph's Serious Men.

I saw The Shining for the very first time last week. This must be one of the most spoiled movies of all time, as I knew all the main plot points. That was fine. I'm not a fan of scary/eerie movies, though I obviously made an exception here, and it helped not wondering when the next scary scene would be.

An awful lot of the stores I went to are gone (Dr Wax and Rose Records - sigh) but Reckless Records is still around. It carries both CDs and vinyl. It doesn't specialize in jazz like Dusty Groove, but the one in Wicker Park (in Milwaukee just off the Blue Line) has a fair selection of everything. https://www.reckless.com/

Wrapping up Dawn Powell's The Golden Spur. I believe this is the last of her "New York" novels. Quite droll. Next will be Eric DuPont's Songs for the Cold of Heart. (Which is much better known as The American Fiancée.)

Just saw Dave Young in a quintet at The Rex with Reg Schwager on guitar and Brian Dickinson on piano. The first set they played quite a few of Young's originals. The second set was mostly standards, like Blue in Green, some Cedar Walton tunes and then Gershwin's "I Loves You, Porgy." I left a bit early as they were digging into another Cedar Walton tune, Shaky Jake.

Caught Beetlejuice Beetlejuice today. The parts with Catherine O'Hara and Winona Ryder are not nearly as interesting as those involving Jenna Ortega, at least until we are dropped back into the underworld. Overall, quite entertaining though perhaps more fake gore than I was expecting...

👍

I'm not sure when this happened, but Patton's Soul Connection hit Bandcamp. https://bigjohnpatton.bandcamp.com/album/soul-connection I guess it was still vinyl only, which is sold out, but the DL is still available, which is close enough for my purposes.

PM sent on Akiyoshi and one of the Wilens (More from Barney)

I gave up on The Gold Bug Variations by Richard Powers as I was nearing the halfway mark. I'm really enjoying The Quick and the Dead by Joy Williams, and incidentally am also near the halfway mark.

Just saw a film called DiDi, which is about an Asian-American boy growing up in the early years of the internet (2008). It felt a lot like Boyhood at times. Parts were certainly tough to watch, even a bit triggering for somewhat who was extremely socially awkward in middle school and high school. Here's a pretty good review: https://www.theguardian.com/film/article/2024/jul/30/didi-movie-coming-age-internet Fun fact, Didi's mother is played by Joan Chen, who also played the mother in Saving Face (2004).

RIP. So fortunate for me, I was actually able to see him on a couple of different times he was passing through Chicago and playing at the Jazz Showcase.