No motivation today. Just sat around and watched some TV. I note with great interest that Sen. Bill Frist is joining the fray on stem-cell research. The move would seem principled if he did it when the president first announced the severe funding restrictions (after "much deliberation," if memory serves), but now makes me wonder if he's found the wind has shifted after the California proposition to fund the research has passed. I'm inclined to distrust the Senator's motives, but glad to see him support this. The so-called "Culture of Life" issue should be an interesting one here, given that both sides can lay claim to supporting life.

CDs listened to:

• George Crumb: Night of the Four Moons (Dawn Upshaw singing. This disk is a curious mix of moldy oldies from the Baroque period and even earlier combined with 20th century composers. Dawn Upshaw is a fine singer, but I find the timbre of her voice bothers me the more I hear it. I think it's because the tone of her instrument is too distinctive, lacking a certain purity. What that adds in character, it takes away from the enjoyment of hearing the song and not "Dawn Upshaw singing." A shame really.)
  
• Dogs Die in Hot Cars: Please Describe Yourself (A glance at google shows that most of us have noticed that the singer, Craig Macintosh, sounds a whole lot like Andy Partridge of XTC. When you add in the lyrics mentioning "Apples and Oranges" and compare with XTC's disk, Oranges and Lemons, it's hard to avoid the subject. Still a solid disk with some nice production following traditional pop forms.)

Another record high temperature in Denver again today. I didn't really even notice during the day, but my house faces south and the main living quarters are in front. The bricks get miserably hot from the sun and radiate heat all night... It's midnight and my living room is still registering as 86 degrees Fahrenheit.

I attended a company picnic thing today and the heat didn't bother me at the park. Like a fool, I didn't ask to borrow any sunblock and now I can feel the skin tightening in my forehead that says, "sunburn." The entire group at the picnic are nice people, so I wind up asking the same question I always ask: why can't I make normal human connections with these people? It's just not my natural predilection to make good friends, but I should be able to do more than just chit chat and make myself seem boring. I'm not boring and I honestly don't think I'm self-involved (on-line journals notwithstanding!).

CDs listened to:

• Various Artists: Totally 80s (disk 2) (When you have a large music collection, you need to have an appropriate amount of cheese. I'm happy to argue that this 2-CD set isn't really cheesy, but anything with Nena's "99 Luftballons" automatically has a decent dairy content. There's something magical about pop-music confections. They don't set out to be "fun," it's really more of an unintended outcome. Somehow, the context of being "pop songs" liberates the recordings from the heavier requirements of more serious music.)
  
• Peter I. Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (Complete ballet, conducted by Semyon Bychkov. A 2-CD set and I did listen to both disks today. Is it just me, or do Russian composers have better melodic skills than other groups? Such a treat to listen to the full score--even on a hot day when this Christmas-themed work seems a bit out of place. I've come to prefer the full ballet score to the Nutcracker suites. The brief use of a children's chorus and other touches in the full score show such a brilliant dramatist's mind. Plus, did any composer score for firearms before old Pete T?)
  

Well, in keeping with the aim and title of this journal, this post won't be large or ambitious. Over time, the language will relax and lose the slightly formal air. Let's just see where this goes (apologies for the special character problem--I do know that cliche has an accent, but the publisher doesn't recognize that).

CDs listened to yesterday:

• SR71: Now You See Inside (I will probably always have a weakness for power-pop like this. This disk is hampered by lyrics that, at times, don't even rise to the level of cliche. It's still a fun, punky romp)
  
• Paul Motian Trio: Trioism (This disk is fairly new to me and, so far, wow. The only complaint on this rambling, rather free jazz romp is that the drumming by Paul Motian never quite coalesces into a groove or any other consistent rhythm, leaving me yearning for just a little bit of consistent rhythm. Bill Frisell's guitar work dominates the feel of the harmonies with his beautifully off-kilter, astringent harmonies, leaving Joe Lovano's saxophone work to bind together the trio by playing his typically well-ordered, somewhat conservative solos [just the right ingredient to offset what's going in with his partners]).
  
• Heinrich Schütz: Es steh Gott auf (And other works for sackbut. The disk is actually titled "La Sacqueboute" and is performed by Michel Becquet. For those who aren't total music geeks, the sackbut is the predecessor of the modern trombone, lacking its descendant's power and big sound. Hey, we're talking solo works for trombone from the 16th-17th centuries; not exactly the greatest music ever written. Quite good for what it is...)
• Various Artists: Best of Techno, Volume 2 (An ancient view into the birth of the electronica movement. Like most straight-ahead dance disks of this genre, the individual pieces may lack a bit of personality or identity--save for the clever branding of "Fuck You." That lack of clear identity between artists is truly its strength, allowing DJs to blend tracks together seamlessly and create the longer artform of the DJ set.)
  
• Robin Holloway: Fantasy-Pieces on the Heine Liederkreis of Schumann (I'm still working out my thoughts on this new-to-me disk. In a way, the concept reminds me of some works by the late Luciano Berio, who would embed shards of famous works into his own. In this conception by Mr. Holloway, the Schumann stands on its own as a separate performance and the Holloway seems to serve more as commentary than a medium like the Berio works. Hmmm... I think I may like this as I grow to understand it. The Schumann song-cycle just reminds me why I don't get into Robert Schumann.)