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There have been enough negative reviews of the Restored Finnegan's Wake (with the worst decision being to completely reset and change the pagination of the work!) that I won't go that way. If I ever do get a new copy, I will probably go with the Oxford Press edition, which has some emendments and a better appendix at the back, discussing the editorial changes. But I am not super likely to get this any time soon. Speaking of odd editorial judgements, I just picked up this book: It contains the text of America and Americans, which has long been out of print (basically since the late 60s), as well as a number of other essays. But it doesn't have any of the photos that accompanied Steinbeck's text. I believe in many cases, Steinbeck actually refers to specific images. I suppose this is a case where the rights-holder(s) couldn't be reached or wouldn't deal. And consequently it will be another 50+ years until the complete work can be released to the public. Very unfortunate, though I assume the essays are generally of more interest than the photos. It looks like the local library does have a copy of the original, so I'll borrow that (and probably scan the photos that grab me). Anyway, I have finished both Lolita and Pippin IV and have just begun Dostoevsky's The Idiot, which will probably take a few weeks.

I've really tried to get into this a few times and decided it just isn't for me, at least for now. I do know that the recorded versions (Joyce reading some excerpts) are supposedly quite entertaining. There is even a Restored Version that just came out (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0141192291/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=), and I came very close to buying it (an impulse buy) but realized it would just sit on my shelves for ages. I might as well not add another book that is sure to gather dust until I am ready to read it.

Actually, Pippin IV is a quick read, and definitely a light-hearted romp. I've really enjoyed reading some of Steinbeck's later work where his basic decency shines through. About the only time he ever gets really riled up is after a trip to New Orleans where he sees the white mothers coming in to scream racist abuse at the Black girl who had the temerity to integrate a public school. Still sick at heart, he picks up a hitch-hiker who turns out to be a horrible racist. Steinbeck dumps him at the side of the road, while the man keeps screaming he [steinbeck] is a n***er-lover. Way to stay classy. And really, who doesn't have the sense to pipe down while catching a ride from a stranger? But emotions certainly ran high back then, overriding common sense (and certainly basic decency). And in some parts of the US today, emotions are just as high, with people who want America to live up to its better nature are called Muslim-lovers. Anyway, I am clearly doing things all wrong, since the way my book pile worked out, I have all the really tough books coming up in the summer, so up next are Dostoevsky's The Idiot, Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, Mahfouz's The Cairo Trilogy, and topping it off with Proust! This will probably last me through the fall, but I'll have a lot of key works on my bucket list crossed off... I'm sure I'll have to add in a few shorter books just to cleanse the pallet as it were.

Almost certain that I had The Message on CD. It didn't strike me as terrible mastering, but perhaps I just didn't know what I was missing... If they sell the downloads to Canadian IP addresses, I might go that direction, since I don't believe I've ever heard "In Action."

Saw the Vancouver symphony doing Brahms Double Concerto (Violin-Cello) and they did a very nice job. This may be the only time I've heard the composition live. Probably should have left at intermission. The VSO did a credible job on Sibelius' Legends Suite, but I don't think the piece is actually all that. So much bombast for so little effect. The English horn solo part is not completely without interest, I guess, and that sort of dominates the 2nd and 3rd part of the suite.

Nearing the end of Lolita. Still not my cup of tea. Despite Nabokov's protests in the Afterword (and his obfuscations in the text itself), this is still basically pornographic lit. I can't see ever warming up to Nabokov, given that I haven't liked any of his earlier novels either. So the question is do I even bother to crack open the later novels in the Library of America series, or do I just take them to a used bookshop now. I am leaning towards taking them to the bookshop. Next up is Steinbeck's The Short Reign of Pippen IV, which is somewhat out of character with his other novels. I think the Library of America made the wrong call in not including it in the volume of his later writings (the one with Travels with Charley in it).

I agree with Hot Ptah that it is pretty easy to overwhelm a kid, and I really do question those members who would push free jazz on a child. I think they would in nearly all cases hate it. Generally kids that age like melodic music with hooks and they simply won't appreciate anything with either polyrhythms or essentially a-rhythmic music. I had an early Columbia sampler with some Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, and Benny Goodman. To me, that was about the right speed and might not be as overwhelming as the Smithsonian Jazz Anthology (http://www.folkways.si.edu/jazz-the-smithsonian-anthology/ragtime/music/album/smithsonian), which while really nice and covering a decent spectrum is too big an investment for a kid who might just have a very passing interest in jazz.

There has been a lot of discussion about this with regards to Zack Braff raising money for a film (quasi-vanity project): $2 million in 3 days. And he gets all this stick for it, when an essentially identical project for a Veronica Mars movie is praised to the skies. While there are certainly critics saying that this is an inappropriate use of Kickstarter, I don't really see it that way. These are still essentially independent projects not likely to make a ton of money, and it is a way for fans to support artists that they like. Emotionally, I draw the line at the inevitable next step, which we have already arrived at -- corporations basically saying to fans -- you can have these releases but only if you support the upfront costs of development, since it no longer makes financial sense for us to produce music in the traditional way. But is it really all that different from the Veronica Mars project? Capitalism is so accelerated these days that we didn't even get to enjoy Kickstarter for very long before the big corporations moved in. But nothing says that the smaller fish won't still be able to use the system. It may feel better to directly support Organissimo or Harrison Bankhead rather than some BN artist, but from a fan perspective, is it really that different? You put in $25 or $50 or whatever, and you get a CD and maybe some bonus track and a nice email about how you made someone's dreams come true... Just because BN "should" be doing this on their own doesn't change the fact that the industry has changed and the old ways don't seem to be working any more.

I've found ArtistShare to be too rich for my blood. I think Kickstarter is a lot more reasonable, and I've backed a few projects. I don't think that basic dynamic will change too much in the coming years.

To pivot off of Bev's image, I think it's good that society has some place for grasshoppers that follow their dreams (yes, I realize it is a mantis). We certainly wouldn't have much jazz to listen to if everyone kept their day jobs. At the same time, society can't function without a large number of "ants" keeping things going. I do find it a bit boring to only read the life stories of the grasshoppers.* Or maybe just how it is such a cliche to completely devalue the positive aspects of "straight life." Rhodes just so blithely tosses off how his obsession with becoming a concert pianist cost him his marriage and so on. Judging by the comments in the Guardian piece, dozens if not hundreds of readers want to join him in a Parisian garrett or something, but this way of selling himself and his art is just a big turn off for me... * In the same way, during the height of the Olympics I get so tired of hearing how hard these athletes train, as if huge numbers of people aren't putting in a heavy workload without any real public recognition, and in some cases, only moderate financial reward.

Watched Community with the family. Not a bad episode overall. I PVR'ed The Big Bang Theory. I haven't really kept up with the show but enjoy it. Apparently, Bob Newhart comes on as a tv "science guy" like Mr. Wizard. His stage name was Professor Proton, and he was a childhood hero of Sheldon. So they hire him to come to a party, and of course he thinks it is a kids' party. Supposedly a bittersweet part, since Professor Proton always wanted to be taken seriously as a scientist but was just an entertainer. Sounds good anyway. Newhart said he took the gig only if it was a semi-recurring character, maybe 2 or 3 episodes a season. So we should get to see him come back. Can't wait.

About halfway through Steinbeck's Travels with Charley. It is a pretty good read. Steinbeck's basic decency shines through his somewhat wry observations about the people he encounters on his trek. The book I am reading on the bus is Lolita (fortunately no lurid cover!). I made it halfway through and stopped maybe a couple of years ago, so I decided to restart from the beginning. I am enjoying it a bit more on the second go-around, but I still don't think I'll ever really warm to Nabokov as a writer.

Now I would definitely be interested in the Columbia Shaw box, but just don't see the need to upgrade to the Shaw Muse Mosaic.

I think this did happen to me with an old player. I ended up disassembling it to get the CD out. For certain this happened with an old computer as well.

The (sad?) truth is, you get used to anything. I've had offices where I had an amazing view of the Sears Tower, of the World Trade Center (of course, that ended up being terribly painful on the day) and now of the mountains in Vancouver. It eventually just becomes part of the background, even if it is a nice background.

If there is literally only one unissued track, then heck no. I'm glad it's coming out -- this is great material that is hard to come by now -- but this is one of those cases I was the ant and not the grasshopper.

I think I will pass. I have all the 32 Jazz issues and while there is probably material missing from those -- and maybe even additional unreleased material -- I just have to prioritize...

I know it's lame to blame the officials, but the Bulls have just gotten robbed in the 2OT with about 3 or 4 calls that didn't go their way, including Robinson getting mugged on the way to the basket and it being a non-shooting foul and then Noah pushed out of the way on a shot and not getting a call. Even if they somehow do win this game, I think Noah will be out of service next game. (They just went into triple overtime! And Noah fouled out, maybe out of self-preservation. )

Wrapped up Grossman's Everything Flows. Not bad but 2/3 in he breaks from any attempt at fictionalizing his material and writes a long, long essay on the crimes of Lenin and Stalin (at the time it was still fashionable in the U.S.S.R. at any rate to be blaming everything on Stalin, since Lenin was still a "saint"). The book certainly doesn't succeed as a novel, but is interesting reading nonetheless. One of these days, I really will have to finish Life and Fate. I am halfway done with Crummey's Galore, which is ok but I'm not loving it. Next up after that is Steinbeck's Travels with Charley. Then things get lo-oong (Anna Karenina, Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy and Proust, ideally starting that this summer).

My avatar still appears (at least for me) but Dolphy's head is cropped! I really ought to change it, but I was (am?) in the running for the never-changed-avatars-since-joining marathon...

I don't feel obligated to rush out and get everything, but there are two sets that I plan on ordering within the next few months.

Can't stream the show from work, and will be too busy with other things when I get home. Oh well.

Hmm, seems a little crazy to get just for 2 tracks, but they are there on CD2. If the prices stay ultra low, I guess I will get it for EBony Rhapsody, but probably pass it on eventually. (I was trying not to buy any more CDs in April, but ...)

I saw the Smetana Trio this afternoon. They played Dvorak's Dumky Trio and one of Brahms' piano trio. Really nice, though I came close to falling asleep -- it has been a really, really long week. For the encore, they played "Prelude and Waltz." I think this was by Nikita Koshkin, though I cannot verify that this piece was ever officially scored for piano trio. In any event, it was really nice, so I hope it ends up on one of their CDs some day. (It appears that pretty much their entire discography (with an earlier line-up) is on eMusic, and I'll probably dl at least a few of their recordings. Best of all, it had been raining much of the morning and early afternoon, but the sun came out at the end of the concert and we had a couple of hours of sunshine.

I think there are ones on sale that have been modded to be multi-region (if you search Amazon for example). I think I will go that route, but I am trying to hold off until next summer (most likely will be moving again and don't want one more thing to move). The real problem is that there are so many players out there that it is really hard to get a meaningful review.