Leeway

Lady Madonna Lady GaGa Lady Marmalade

Keen depictions of working in a used bookshop (I have several years of such experience) and most scarifying accounts of being hard-up for money since Gissing.

I can't disagree with you more. I've not seen Halvorson or Fujiwara on "autopilot" in concert and I've seen each of them a bunch of times.

Basil Rathbone Ginger Rogers Red Hot Chili Peppers

Well-crafted, erudite, often enigmatic, enjoyable stories.

Plan to see her at the end of August in the DC area. Her ensemble includes Mary Halvorson, Tomas Fujiwara and Jason Roebke. Very promising.

TONO-BUNGAY - H.G. Wells I rarely give up on a book, but I had to do so with Tono-Bungay. I made it to page 200, but could not face finishing the remaining 172 pages. I found the book surprsingly badly written and prolix. On page 190, Wells has the following sentence: "In the end of this particular crisis of which I tell so badly, I idealised Science." A previous library reader pencilled in after "badly, "and at such length," which I think sums up the defects of the book. Wells tells it badly (just look at that specimen sentence!) and at excruciating length. I surrender!

Looks interesting. Do I wish it wasn't solo. Not sure. Mary Halvorson's solo album, Meltframe, is out 4th September http://www.amazon.com/Meltframe-Mary-Halvorson/dp/B0133G18B2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1439074642&sr=8-3&keywords=mary+halvorson Can't remember if this has been mentioned here before but it's all other peoples tunes. Should be interesting: 1. Cascades (Oliver Nelson)2. Blood (Annette Peacock)3. Cheshire Hotel (Noël Akchoté)4. Sadness (Ornette Coleman)5. Solitude (Duke Ellington)6. Ida Lupino (Carla Bley)7. Aisha (McCoy Tyner)8. Platform (Chris Lightcap)9. When (Tomas Fujiwara)10. Leola (Roscoe Mitchell) Looks interesting. Do I wish it wasn't solo. Not sure. I think a solo disc could work nicely. She's covered most other ensemble sizes from duet to Septet. Anything with 'Blood', 'Ida Lupino' and 'Sadness' should sound good. Interesting to see Akchote on the list I saw her perform the album live in concert in D.C. a few months ago and it was great (I posted on it in the Live thread). Some very cool interpretations. Looking forward to picking it up.

Gustave Caillebotte: The Painter's EyeJune 28 – October 4, 2015 National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. I've always enjoyed Caillebotte, and this exhibit brings more Caillebotte together than I've seen before. Those off-angle paintings still produce a luscious vertigo.

POINT COUNTER POINT (1928) - Aldous Huxley Huxley's 3rd novel and his longest and most ambitious (longer than the first 2 novels together). Huxley plumbs the cynicism, despair and sexual mores of the age. A lot to admire here, but maybe too long, and the philosophical debates can become tedious at times. I also miss the humor of Crome Yellow and Antic Hay. Interestingly, the Intro to my edition is by Nicholas Mosley, novelist and son of British Fascist Oswald Mosley (whom Huxley satirizes in the book in the form of Everard Webley, leader of the "Britsh Freemen" Greenshirts). Nicholas asks in his remarks if a man has to be a "creep or a shit" to attract women!

BLACK SUITE - Jacques Coursil, Arthur Jones, Anthony Braxton, Bob Guerin, Burton Greene, Claude Delcloo. 1969. Paris. Actuel reissue. Some beautiful music here.

I agree with the comments about poor Cecil, but something else that's really shocking is just how rich dentists as a group have become. Getting dental treatment is becoming unaffordable for many people. Even with a very limited amount of insurance, I feel like a big game trophy when I visit my dentist.

THE RAW AND THE COOKED Bill Orcutt (g), Chris Corsano (d).

Rob Brown

The Schlippenbach Trio will play the Bimhuis on 4 December. I look forward to experiencing them live. That First Recordings, from about 40 years ago, has a vibrancy that is really amazing.

ANTIC HAY - Aldous Huxley (1923) Huxley's 2nd book and a very good one too. Post-WWI cynicism melded with sex, humor, ideas, social satire and the sort of fungible reality that Huxley seemed to specialize in.

About 200 pages in now, and I'm still not sure how it is offensive. I guess the knock on Rand is that the plot is contrived, the characters wooden, and the philosophy a paean to utter selfishness. OTOH, she has many acolytes, so I suppose you'll have to read through and decide for yourself. Still going, around 450 pages in now. I can only manage 10-20 pages at a time. I will finish, to claim the right to say I actually read it. I should have given the other side, and said that her beleivers view her as the philosopher of rugged individualism, free enterprise, capitalism and limited government. Anyway, what do you think of the book?

CROME YELLOW - (1921)- Aldous Huxley (Having a lot of trouble inserting image from URL, so this will have to do). Continuing to delve into Huxley's work. Re-reading "Crome" and it holds up marvelously. Huxley's first book, and a fine novel by any standard. Humorous, witty, thoughtful. Already traces of Brave New World poking forth.

NIGHTMARE ABBEY (1818) & CROTCHET CASTLE (1831) - Thomas Love Peacock Peacock is often cited as a progenitor of the satirical philosophical novel, a predecessor of Aldous Huxley's early works. His works are quite witty, although age and familiarity have taken some of the edge off them. I found Nightmare Abbey to be the stronger and sharper of the two. A dubious distinction: I read both of these on a Kindle (borrowed from my wife). I found it easier and cheaper to download them. (The KIndle is great for loading the complete works of early English authors for free or very little). But reading on a Kindle is different somehow from reading the book version. Not necessarily worse, just different. If I had the book texts available, I would have stuck with them I'm sure.

Interesting interview, many good insights.

Bobby Few, Sten Sandell, Siegfried Kessler.

I've seen violinist/violist Mat Maneri sporting one, or something pretty close to one.

I'm in. It's not a website, it's a lifestyle

I've always been interested in Huxley's life and career, and Nicholas Murray provides a serviceable, relatively concise biography. Murray is the most candid on Huxley's unusual conjugal life. Huxley and his first wife, Maria, shared female lovers, and Maria often procured women for Huxley's bed and her own. Indeed, Huxley's major biographer, Sybil Bedford, was also a lover of Aldous and Maria. Very brave new world I should say.

Having just re-read Brave New World, it seemed a good idea to re-read Nineteen Eighty-Four as these books are so often twinned in the public mind. And it does seem as f the world oscillates between these dystopian visions.