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Sounds like a great show, though I do like some of his solo hits quite a bit (Valerie, Arc of a Diver, even Roll with It). It turns out that he is playing Vancouver tomorrow. I hadn't really intended on going, but there are still some relatively cheap seats in the balcony, so maybe I will. Have to check it with the wife though... What I am really hoping for is another Bowie tour coming to the West Coast, though he usually plays pretty much straight-forward rock, not jazz-rock.

Maybe this should go elsehwere, but I figured I would start here. In May 2010, I was making a short visit to NYC. I was running a bit late and was moving quickly through the subway (transferring at 14th-Union Square). I ran across 2 buskers doing a kora duet. They sounded quite good and even had a CD for sale. I really wish I had stopped the 5 minutes it would have taken to pick one up, but I didn't. They may be on the web for all I know, but without even a name there isn't much to go on. I haven't found anything so far at least. While a long shot, if this sounds familiar to any of the NYC board members, do let me know. Thanks!

Taking a bit of a flyer, but if anyone is offering to sell these two Leo CDs (not part of the sale) with "reasonable" shipping to Canada, please PM me. Should be able to obtain through other channels, but just thought I would check here first. Thanks! Nabatov/Bennink: Chat Room Perelman/Sclavis: The Ventriloquist

I had this on downstairs: And my son came down and said it was really nice, like Christmas music. Not really sure how to react to that, but I was glad he enjoyed it...

I do wish shipping outside Europe was a bit less, but it's a pretty good deal nonetheless. I might be swayed by the Simon Nabotov CDs. About half the ones I picked out aren't in the sale, leaving me with 4 or so. I'm taking that as a sign that I really don't need any more CDs, esp. a box of 10. I'll just pick up the one at the very top of the list from some other vendor.

Probably about the same as the 3-CD set from Definitive that covers 1946-51 (master takes only).

Yeah, the last paragraph is a real kick in the gut. But seriously, how many people have actually reduced their driving due to "global warming"? I have tried to organize my life to minimize car use (don't even own one at the moment) and I even work for a transit agency. I can't think of that many people willing to follow my lead, esp. just for environmental reasons. But shee-et, I sure miss the convenience and with two growing children, I'll probably get a car next year. And I did rent a car to road trip down to Seattle, and I'll probably do a road trip this summer as well. To say nothing of the plane travel I do from time to time (related to work or not). Not much point in pointing fingers, since we essentially all are part of the problem (unless you really are a hermit and a locovore, etc.).

Howard has been Shaqiriffic in his free throw futility. The Lakers may have to avoid letting Howard touch the ball at the end of games or we may hack-a-shaq part two. Very true. Shaq might actually have been slightly better free throw shooter than Howard, but still pretty awful.

It's early. They might figure it out, but they probably need a more effective coach. (Somebody not afraid to make Howard practice free throws for hours on end )

Suggests to me that he found it an unpleasant memory, best repressed. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for him to change his mind...

And if you deregister, can you still access the books? I think not, unless you do strip off the DRM and convert the files first -- which in itself violates Amazon's user agreement.

Jazz is dying -- to me at any rate. The scene is at a creative dead end (to me). It mostly feels like picking over old bones when obscure releases from the 1950s or 60s (like this Ben Webster in Norway set) are far more satisfying to me than 95% of the new releases (which on top of everything else generally seem few and far between). There are some new directions, but they just don't speak to me (aside from Vijay Iyer and Rudresh Mahanthappa I guess). I also feel I came to the scene too late (well past the peak) and am starting to drift away again...

I think I do have all of Andrew Hill's output, including one or two super rare sideman appearances. It helps that recorded so little when he wasn't leader. Maybe Julius Watkins as well...

That looks nice! Ditto. Would like more info on that, as there is nothing on the Storyville website at the moment. I did find out about a relatively new release - Jure Pukl - Abstract Society. Vijay Iyer is on piano, so I will want to check it out. It appears eMusic has this, so I will see if I can download tonight. But if anyone has heard it, please weigh in.

I am re-reading Rushdie's Midnight's Children -- possibly his best novel. I've decided to go ahead and see the movie, so I wanted to have the book fixed in my head before it can be "spoiled" by the movie. But just in general, I'm hoping to read or reread some decent novels, after a really long string of duds. I also have a couple of much shorter novels that I may end up tackling on the bus: Futility by William Gerhardie and The Waitress Was New by Dominique Fabre.

And Importcds for $23 (before shipping): http://www.importcds.com/Music/1492799/Vladimir-Sofronitzki-Vladimir-Sofronitsky-Edition-Hist-CD Those are great deals, but I was having trouble with shipping to Canada. There is also an ebay seller with a few (6) left with very competitive international shipping rates: ebay seller I don't think I've ordered from them before, but it looks like a reliable outfit. I'll edit the post if it turns out to be a scam...

Most likely if you want to explore Sofronitsky, you will want the 9 CD set (I'm looking into it right now), but there is a 3 CD set with the Scriabin (or most of it) and then a disc of Borodin and Prokofiev compositions that is a little easier to source: 3 CD set

Now will they believe in global warming...

What I had forgotten (or repressed) is that the ending is basically a several page-long homophobic screed. Really brought me down with a bang. I'm through with Reed -- he's just such a hateful, pitiful person (I still vividly remember what a d-bag he was when he started dogging out Alice Walker and other Black female writers) and that always ends up coming through in his writing.

Was fortunate enough to catch two exhibits in Edinburgh -- one on the closing weekend, so it was pretty crowded. This was Van Gogh to Kandinksy: Symbolist Landscape in Europe 1880-1910 at the main exhibition space. At the Modern Galleries, they had Picasso & Modern British Art. I thought both were pretty decent exhibits, but I didn't feel compelled to buy the catalogues in either case. There was a somewhat similar exhibit at the Whitney called Picasso and American Art (or something equivalent) and I thought the American artists were stronger than the British artists in this exhibit. In this exhibit, really only Ben Nicholson came at all close to holding his own. I did find it more than a little ironic than in 10+ visits to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, I had to travel to Edinburgh to see their copy of the Picasso print La Minotauromachia. It is pretty stunning work when seen up close, so it is unfortunate that it is so rarely in public view.

So I got about halfway through Mill on the Floss. (I probably could have finished it up on the plane ride home, but after they dimmed the cabin lights, my personalized light actually shone on my neighbour's seat -- so frustrating!) I think Mill on the Floss is a pretty good book, but one that I admire a bit more than I enjoy. The father is just too stubborn for me to really care for him, and I really don't care for Tom, who seems a right prat on top of being pretty thick. I probably can relate a bit more to Maggie now, given that my daughter is a pretty willful child (like Maggie, she even cut off a bit of her hair, which is not that uncommon for young girls apparently). I'm also about halfway through rereading Ishmael Reed's The Freelance Pallbearers. (Appropriately enough, this is a bathroom book. I know, TMI, but if you've read the book, you'll understand why this is relevant.) I liked the book a bit more the first time around, but I still like it a lot more than Flight to Canada, which we were discussing a few weeks ago. The verbal exuberance and general craziness is about the same, but Reed's targets of scorn are a bit more generic, i.e. he isn't attacking any specific politician or religion. As shallow as it sounds, I really could not get past his purile put-downs of Abraham Lincoln in Flight to Canada, though I disliked a lot of other aspects of the book. But the same general problem remains in that Reed seems to take down everyone and everything he comes in contact with (organized religion, Black nationalists, fifth columnists, double agents, lesbians, government workers, social workers, etc.). I'm genuinely curious if he views anyone or anything in a positive light. I find it exhausting being myself, and I am probably only 25% as critical of the world as Reed is.

I'm thrilled for you guys. Given the built-in audience you have, definitely consider Indiegogo next time (maybe less nail-biting), esp. if the admin fees are lower, and extending the pledge period just a bit more.

Track listing for Philips OJC collection here I think I am finally done with the big boxes. I still listen to the Living Stereo quite a bit and pull now and then from the Decca Sound Box. I very rarely delve into the Harmonia Mundi box, and when I look over this box, there is precisely one CD I would listen to with any regularity. Definitely diminishing returns for me (though I will see if I can order that one CD as a single...)

I can recommend The Corrections, but you'll need that time! Well, I'm flying from Vancouver to Glasgow and back, so I figure 10 or so hours that aren't spent sleeping or on the laptop... It was a bad series of plane rides today. Not only did we have to deplane because of a fuel leak (second time in 3 months, am I unlucky or what. Yes, better to catch it on the ground, blah blah blah, but seriously WTF is wrong with maintenance now). I strongly disliked Gentleman Death, though I finished it. And I hated The Corrections and left it half unfinished in an airport lobby (then went on and bought The Mill on the Floss for something more to my taste for the return trip). If I could point my finger on what bugged me about the book is that Frazen (to me) has a lot of barely concealed contempt for the characters, who make all kinds of terrible life-choices (many of which struck me as frankly cartoonish). A good novelist should have more genuine compassion for his characters, and I didn't sense that at all. But I suppose I have been in an unusually grumpy mood for quite some time, maybe related to my own life-choices. For better or worse, I disliked Frazen's early novel The 27th City, so I probably will just avoid him from here on out.

I can recommend The Corrections, but you'll need that time! Well, I'm flying from Vancouver to Glasgow and back, so I figure 10 or so hours that aren't spent sleeping or on the laptop...