Leeway

Yeah, I am talking about Abstract. Sounds like a boogaloo to me, adjusted maybe for time and place, but not out of the BN idiom. BTW, has anyone deconstructed the title of the album, "For Losers." and who is the object and subject, and indirect object of same?

Could have come off any number of post- Sidewinder Blue Note albums back in the day. But I have no problem with what Shepp is doing.

ROXANA - Daniel Defoe - 1724 (but set in the time of Charles II) Another "bad girl," another "Martha Quest" (17th c. style), the first person narrative of this mistress, whore, and ultimately accessory to murder (of her own daughter), yet also proponent of women's financial and legal independence, opponent of marriage, erstwhile mother, female anti-hero. The redundant style does tend to bog down from time to time, especially towards the latter part of the book.

Admittedly, not a common sight.

Thanks for the account Steve. I'm glad, but not surprised, at how well it came off. When I went to the Ochs residency last year, I was blown away by his artistry. Too bad not many people joined the audience at that time. Ochs, outside of ROVA I suppose, is still vastly under-rated or under-appreciated. Focused on Ochs here, but it's a treat to hear Tarasov and Dresser also; major players. Anyway, glad to hear it was a great show. Folks should check out the Jones Jones disc if they can't make it to a show.

You recall what Mary McCarthy said about Lillian Hellman? McCarthy answered a question about Hellman by stating that every word Hellman uttered was a lie, including "and" and "the." That bit of witticism resulted in a lawsuit against McCarthy by Hellman.

Don't forget: cartridges - stereo and mono- are extra! (Figure $5000 plus).

MADAME BOVARY - Gustave Flaubert. Translated by Lydia Davis Coming off Lessing's work, it occurred to me that Martha Quest is Lessing's Madame Bovary, and, conversely, Madame Bovary is Flaubert's Martha Quest. I was also thinking of the similarities between Bovary and Cervantes' "Don Quixote." I was prompted to re-read "Bovary" because of Lydia Davis's new-ish translation. I found it quite good at capturing Flaubert's tone and style. As for the novel itself, it's truffles to me. I do think it's a great novel qua novel, practically note-perfect, except perhaps for the very end, where the "conductor" let's the baton slip a bit, as if in a hurry to conclude the piece. Still, a great work of fiction, an actual "masterpiece" if there was one, in my estimation.

Ditto!

I bet that's good I'll take that bet. I love Butcher's aesthetics. I'm inclined to consider him the finest avant saxophonist on the scene these days. WP: OpenMouthRecords#40 I Can Repay You Steve Baczkowski-baritone and tenor saxophone Bill Nace-electric guitar, loops, voice > Side A: Worn in the Grass Side B: Folded > Recorded January 11 2014 by Bill Sack Buffalo NY > 12" LP Edition of 50 Tour Only Ecstatic, Mind bending.

BOTTLE BREAKING HEART LEAP - John Butcher & Gino Robair Extended techniques? Hell yeah!

Release date June 15th.

A sad turn of events. Those names bring back a lot of memories from the old board.

Just finished A Ripple From the Storm, by Doris Lessing, from the "Children of Violence" series, following the travails of Martha Quest. It seemed a natural segue from Schreiner's The Story of an African Farm and in fact, that story is mentioned in Storm, where the book served as an inspiration for one of the characters. Martha Quest is the same old Martha: saying all the right things one minute, doing all the wrong things the next, including a spectacularly ill-considered marriage (her second and she's only 23 here), that doesn't survive the wedding night. Martha will always leave you scratching your head, like a bad shampoo. Anyway, the interest here, for me at any rate, is Martha's involvement in the "Red" or Communist movement in South Africa/Rhodesia (given as Zambesia in the story) during World War II. The explorations of race and feminism are also fairly interesting. The other characters are rather irritating, not to say irritable with each other; there is constant friction among them. Not surprisingly, their efforts don't come to much. The narrative places one very tactilely into the story; not always comfortable but sufficiently interesting.

Didn't Charles Ives sell insurance also? The great poet Wallace Stevens also sold insurance, out of Hartford, CT no less.

First class and so marked on the package (a one CD mailer).

Going to be neighbors with a certain Mr. Braxton? BTW, I'm in. PayPal sent.

We can all relax, it arrived today, as these things tend to do once one starts kvetching about it. Only 12 days for a first-class parcel!

Continuing with the Africa/South Africa theme, Schreiner's book (1883) is less a novel than a set of linked vignettes, often quite vivid, depicting life on a Boer farm, as well as many aspects of colonial life in the British colony. The book's questioning of colonial strictures on race and religion, and its advocacy of feminism, is quite strong. Lessing was a fan of the book and it is easy to see why; I suspect she was quite influenced by it. Still it is a bit of a peculiar read, as it veers from realism to fantasy to philosophy to soliloquy, covering many genres and forms of storytelling.

Entered on the record: Ordered CD from DG on May 2, first-class shipping selected. May 4, received shipping notification from DG. May 4-7 at sorting facility in Chicago. May 7 at USPS Forest Park, IL facility. May 11: Supposedly shipped from there but no further info offered on the tracking page. May 13 still waiting. I don't have this problem with Squidco or Amazon shipments. Is DG's shipping info not accurate? Or does USPS have a problem with its mail centers in Chicagoland? From here on out, if I can get the same thing from another source, I'll skip DG.

I have these two and like them quite a bit. A bit of a mystery to me that neither Anker nor Furuya have caught on in a big way, although they certainly have their followings.

That's the other Mr Coleman... The JT article makes it clear he's talking about Steve Coleman.

Thursday past at the Kennedy Center: National Symphony Orchestra: Christoph Eschenbach, conductor: Mahler's Symphony No. 5 / Leonidas Kavakos, violin, plays Sibelius's Violin Concerto Gotta change it up every once in a while

I went out to the Lincoln Memorial (Washington DC) and watched WWII-era warplanes fly down the Potomac and over parts of the National Mall in honor of VE Day. Amazing experience.

A WORLD OF STRANGERS - Nadine Gordimer - 1958. My first exposure to Gordimer. The story of 26-year old Toby Hood, who heads to South Africa to take up the family's publishing business. Toby comes from a family of social progressives, but Toby intends to live his own life. He becomes friends with some of the Africans in J-Burg and runs into the repressive race laws of the country, causing him to see the world in a new light. If Naipul dislikes his characters, Gordimer I think loves them. Really a novel of manners, that ends up throwing some political punches, Gordimer loves describing the social scene- shipboard life (another novel that starts with a boat trip to Africa), luxurious parties, after-hour booze joints, hunting trips. Often enough, it seems rather pleasant, really, not at all didactic or polemical. But the political aspect is never quite lost, and seems all the stronger for that understatement in the end.