CDs listened to today:

• Metallica: Metallica (aka The Black Album)
• Dogs Die in Hot Cars: Please Describe Yourself
• Peter Lieberson: Drala
• Pavement: Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
• Steven Stucky: Nell'ombra, nella luce
• Edgar Meyer: Quintet

CDs listened to today:

• Elastica: The Menace
• Paul Motian Trio: Trioism
• John Cage: Thirteen
• Van Hunt: Van Hunt
• Robyn Holloway: Fantasy-Pieces on the Heine Liederkreis of Schumann
• Vittorio Giannini: Symphony No. 3

CDs listened to today:

• Benedict Mason: String Quartet No. 1
• Harrison Birtwistle: Pulse Shadows
• The Elms: The Big Surprise
• Bela Bartok: Divertimento
• Frank Black: The Cult of Ray
• Elliott Carter: Symphony No. 1
• Ludwig von Beethoven: The Symphonies, disk 3 (Nos. 4 & 7, conducted by Roger Norrington)

CDs listened to today:

• Dizzee Rascal: Boy In Da Corner
• Edgard Varese: Ameriques
• Various Artists: Trojan Ska Box, Volume 2 (disk 3)
  

CDs listened to today:

• Charles Wuorinen: Genesis
• Alexander Scriabin: The Symphonies (disk 1)
• Various Artists: Compilation #1 (DFA Records)
  

CDs listened to today:

• Dogs Die In Hot Cars: Please Describe Yourself
• Frank Ezra Levy: Symphony No. 4, "Structures of the Mind"
• Pavement: Slanted and Enchanted
• Steven Stucky: Nell'ombra, nella luce
• Olivier Messiaen: Visions de l'Amen
• The Replacements: All Shook Down
• Ted Leo & The Pharmacists: Shake the Sheets
• Steve Reich: The Four Sections
• Stereolab: Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements
  

CDs listened to today:

• Elastica: Elastica
• Paul Motian Trio: Trioism
• John Cage: Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano
• Hothouse Flowers: People
• Robyn Holloway: Fantasy-Pieces on the Heine Liederkreis of Schumann
• George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
• Metallica: ...And Justice for All
  

CDs listened to today:

• Bela Bartok: Concerto for Piano No. 2
• Joe Lovano: Joyous Encounter
• Benedict Mason: String Quartet No. 1
• Bela Bartok: Concerto for Violin
• Bjork: Vespertine
• Elliott Carter: Symphony No. 1
• Ludwig von Beethoven: The Symphonies, disk 2 (Nos. 2 & 8, conducted by Roger Norrington) (I realized today that I find Beethoven's second symphony to be my least favorite. To me, it seems like that's the one closest to the style of Mozart, and that's a bad thing. Still, the worst Beethoven is better than the best Mozart [pretty much].)
  

I'm too tired to write much.

CDs listened to today:

• Ted Leo & The Pharmacists: Shake The Sheets
• Steven Scott: Minerva's Web
• Various Artists: Club Africa
• Charles Wuorinen: Genesis
• Vladimir Ussachevsky: Line Of Apogee
• Various Artists: Trojan Ska Box, Volume 2 (disk 2)
• Dizzee Rascal: Boy In Da Corner
  

I have a long-standing frustration with local police officers. From my travels in other American cities, it appears to be the same issue elsewhere. I can't speak for other societies, and I'd be interested in knowing if it's the same in, say, Peru, or Malaysia.

Here's my beef: Tonight I watched a cop on a motorcycle stop at a restaurant. He pulled into the parking lot and immediately swerved onto the sidewalk, nearly knocking down a mother and small child. He then parked his machine in the middle of the sidewalk, effectively blocking it. Why did he do that? Maybe the parking lot was full? No. Perhaps the street right next to the sidewalk didn't have any spaces and he needed to get away quickly? Not likely, the parking space two meters from the spot where he rested his bike was empty.

This practice by local police appears to be the norm. I was at an office picnic a few weeks ago at a park. Two officers in a cruiser spotted some parking violations by members of the group, so they drove up the park sidewalk in their cruiser and pointed out the infractions. I certainly appreciate the warning they gave us (I suppose they could have just ticketed or towed), but driving 20 meters on a sidewalk?

This is arrogance. Then they wonder why people, especially those from modest backgrounds, resent and distrust them. I can only shake my head.

Jerks.

CDs listened to today:

• Benjamin Lees: Concerto for French Horn and Orchestra
• Parliament/Funkadelic: The Best of Parliament
• Dogs Die In Hot Cars: Please Describe Yourself
• Vernon Reid: Mistaken Identity
• Steven Stucky: Nell'ombra, nella luce
• Steve Reich: Four Organs
• Steely Dan: Two Against Nature

CDs Listened to yesterday:

• John Mellencamp: The Best that I Could Do
• Robin Holloway: Fantasy-Pieces on the Heine Liederkreis of Schumann

I have a tendency to go in phases when it comes to attending movies at the theatre. It's especially eccentric when you consider the fact that I don't own a DVD player and never watch movies at home, either. It's not that I don't enjoy films (if someone else wants to go, I'll be happy to), I just don't have a big interest in schlepping to the theater and paying almost ten dollars for even the best movies. To me, they're more of a date thing.

That said, I went to see "The Fantastic Four" today. Not much of a movie. Perhaps my enthusiasm for movies would be healthier if I was more selective.

CDs listened to today:

• Hot Hot Heat: Make Up the Breakdown
• Paul Motian Trio: Trioism
• Harald Genzmer: Sonata for Trombone and Organ (No doubt, it's official that you're a trombone geek when you have a recording like this. Alain Trudel has some nice moments, but he's far from the best artist on the instrument and these are mostly undistinguished works).
  

I've been overwhelmed at work lately. I feel more like I'm defending and reacting than improving and taking action. The frustration can make me want to cruise since I can't really make headway, anyway.

Today's verdict against the maker of Vioxx, the arthritis medication, has me reflecting a great deal on pain drugs and my own use of NSAIDs. I'm fond of ibuprofen, but even it has been recently reported to be riskier than, say, aspirin. With some recent joint discomfort I've had, not to mention a headache or two, I'll definitely use ibuprofen, but my already-modest use is likely to decline out of concern. At the core of this tale is my doubt about the worthiness of the media reporting on drug safety issues. You can't help but wonder if they are "juicing up" the reporting about safety for the sake of attracting readers/listeners/viewers. While my general philosophy toward medication is one of avoiding them unless my life is going to see less enjoyment, I'm now faced with even more difficulties in choosing medications.

CDs listened to today:

• Bela Bartok: Concerto for Viola and Orchestra
• Bjork: Debut
• The Elms: The Big Surprise
• Ludwig von Beethoven: The Symphonies (Roger Norrington conducting, disk 1 with Nos. 1 & 3)
• Either/Orchestra: Across the Omniverse, disk 2
• Elliott Carter: Symphony No. 1
• John Cage: Solo for Sliding Trombone
  

Catching up on the listening part of the journal (just looking in the iPod):

CDs listened to Friday Aug. 5:

• Dogs Die In Hot Cars: Please Describe Yourself
• Various Artists: Totally Hits 2
  
• Steven Stucky: Nell'ombra, nella luce
  
• Elliott Carter: Of Challenge and of Love
• Neko Case: The Tigers Have Spoken.
  
• Dizzee Rascal: Boy In Da Corner
• Ted Leo & The Pharmacists: Shake The Sheets

CDs listened to Saturday Aug. 6:

• Charles Wuorinen: Genesis
• Bela Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra
  

CD listened to Sunday Aug. 7:

• Big Daddy: Cutting Their Own Groove!

CDs listened to Monday Aug. 8:

• Joe Lovano: Joyous Encounter
• Ludwig von Beethoven: The Symphonies, disk 4 (von Karajan conducting nos. 7 & 8)
  
• Dressy Bessy: (eponymous)
  
• Harrison Birtwistle: Pulse Shadows
• John Cage: Thirty Pieces for String Quartet
  
• Dizzee Rascal: Boy In Da Corner
• Dave Holland Big Band: What Goes Around

Tuesday, Aug. 9--only iTunes stuff and not CDs.

CDs listened to Wednesday Aug. 10:

• The Elms: The Big Surprise
  
• Gunnar de Frumerie: Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra
  
• Sarah McLachlan: Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
  
• Elliott Carter: Symphony No. 1
• Libby Larsen: Solo Symphony
  
• Charlie Parker: The Legendary Dial Masters, disk 1
• Paul Motian Trio: Trioism
• Olivier Messiaen: Turangalila-Symphonie (Myung-Whun Chung conducting)
• Reel Big Fish: Turn The Radio Off

CDs listened to Thursday Aug. 11:

• Robin Holloway: Fantasy-Pieces on the Heine Liederkreis of Schumann
• Steve Reich: Different Trains
  
• Lisa Stansfield: Affection
  
• Dogs Die In Hot Cars: Please Describe Yourself
• Joseph Schwantner: In Aeternum (Consortium IV)
  
• Benedict Mason: String Quartet No. 1
  
• Various Artists: Brazil: Forro (Music for Maids and Taxi-Drivers)
• Steven Stucky: Nell'ombra, nella luce
• Peter Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4

CDs listened to Friday Aug. 12:

• Various Artists: Totally Hits 3
• Ted Leo & The Pharmacists: Shake The Sheets
• Elliott Carter: Piano Sonata
  
• The Futureheads: (eponymous)
• Charles Wuorinen: Genesis
• Benedict Mason: String Quartet No. 1
• Dizzee Rascal: Boy In Da Corner

Saturday, Aug. 13--only iTunes stuff and not CDs.

CDs listened to Sunday Aug. 14:

• Bela Bartok: Piano Concerti Nos. 1-3
• Big Pig: Bonk
  
• Harrison Birtwistle: Pulse Shadows
• Ludwig von Beethoven: The Symphonies, disk 5 (von Karajan conducting No. 9)

CDs listened to Monday Aug. 15:

• Either/Orchestra: Across the Omniverse, disk 1
• The Elms: The Big Surprise
  
• John Cage: Music of Changes
  
• Buddy Holly: Greatest Hits
  
• Elliott Carter: Symphony No. 1
  
• Celso Garrido-Lecca: Cuarteto No. 2
• Megadeth: Rust In Peace

CDs listened to Tuesday Aug. 16:

• Paul Motian Trio: Trioism
• Lars-Erik Larsson: Concertino for Trombone and Orchestra
  
• Charlie Parker: The Legendary Dial Masters, disk 2
• Robin Holloway: Fantasy-Pieces on the Heine Liederkreis of Schumann
• Olivier Messiaen: Turangalila-Symphonie (Simon Rattle conducting, 2 disks)
• Benedict Mason: String Quartet No. 1
• The Refreshments: Fizzy Fuzzy, Big & Buzzy

CDs listened to Wednesday Aug. 17:

• Dogs Die In Hot Cars: Please Describe Yourself
  
• Steve Reich: Drumming
• Lisa Stansfield: (eponymous)
  
• Steven Stucky: Nell'ombra, nella luce
• Salvatore Sciarrino: Infinito nero
• Benedict Mason: String Quartet No. 1
• Various Artists: Breakbeat Massive
  
• Ted Leo & The Pharmacists: Shake The Sheets

CDs listened to Thursday Aug. 18:

• Joan Tower: Concerto for Orchestra
  
• Charles Wuorinen: Genesis
• Gustav Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde
  
• Green Day: American Idiot
• Dizzee Rascal: Boy In Da Corner
• Benedict Mason: String Quartet No. 1

So, time to journal again.

CDs listened to:

• Paul Motian Trio: Trioism
• Steve Reich: The Desert Music
• Stabbing Westward: Ungod
• Robin Holloway: Fantasy-Pieces on the Heine "Liederkreis" of Schumann
• Joseph Schwantner: Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra
• Charles Wuorinen: Genesis
• Various Artists: Best of Techno, Vol. 3
• Dizzee Rascal: Boy In Da Corner (First listen ever! I've heard a few tracks from this before now--OK, I stole them from the internet. He is a rapper who has the voice and stylings of an excited dog: yelps, growls and barks.)
  

So I'm looking forward to sleeping in a cool house tonight as the recent heatwave is broken. That's triggered me to reflect on some things around sleeping. I'm certain we all have sleeping preferences ingrained from the earliest parts of our life; an acquaintance told me he prefers wearing a t-shirt at all times (serious issue or minor habit?). As for me, I always feel the need to cover at least some small portion of my person while sleeping. It doesn't have to be much more than a calf or a shoulder, but I'm intensely uncomfortable without the "ceremonial" covering. It's really only a pain when the place is really hot.

I doubt that these male sleeping idiosyncrasies are truly due to any profound issue other than pure habitude. The women I've known, however, seem to have other, more deeply rooted issues leading to sleeptime quirks. A couple of them have been positively rigid about sleeping clothed. Maybe not a sweatshirt and jeans, but a top and bottom. I'm not sure if that's any different from the guys' quirks, but I always had the feeling it was a much different matter.

CDs listened to:

• Jean Francaix: Wind Quintet No. 1
• Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass: The Brass Is Back
  
• The Elms: The Big Surprise
  
• Elliott Carter: Symphony No. 1
  
• Olivier Messiaen: Trois Petites Liturgies de la Presence Divine
  
• Charles Wuorinen: Genesis
• Lou Reed: New York
  

It's late and I'm tired.

CDs listened to:

• The Donnas: Spend the Night
• Joe Lovano: Joyous Encounter
• William Byrd: Suite (Including other assorted works performed by the Denver Brass.)
  
• Billie Holiday: The Quintessential Billie Holiday, Volume V
• Harrison Birtwistle: Pulse Shadows
• Charles Wuorinen: Genesis
• Gyorgy Kurtag: Messages of the Late Miss R. V. Troussova
  

Part of the reason I started this journal was for the purpose of improving my writing. Most of the skills I exercise these days are my business writing and producing technical/instruction documents. I'm sure they're the finest, most fascinating items ever to be produced in the genre, but they bore me.

I'd like to keep the woolgathering interesting enough to read later.

CDs listened to:

• Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band: XXL (A little bit academic and pat in the arrangements and the playing, but a really good band.)
  
• Steven Stucky: Nell'ombra, nella luce (Among other works. Good stuff! Another relatively new-to-me CD. The Cassatt Quartet on this disk is just superb. I need to find more from them and see if it holds up. I picked up Stucky's name from a review in the NY Times online. Not too easy to peg Stucky's style, since it shifts from work to work on this disk.)
• Bela Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle (A Deutsche Grammophon disk, but I can't remember the singer or conductor. Over the years, I've grown to like this opera, but I still don't think you can call me an opera fan. there's real sense of structure to the work that gives the single act a dramatic coherence.)
  
• Belly: Star (A nice, old pop nugget from the days when alternative pop still had a feeling of fitting in with the broader pop music and wasn't trying so hard to be obscure-sounding. Tanya Donnelly never had the strongest voice, but the sound of the band is just right for her.)
• Bela Bartok: Piano Concerto No. 2 (Sviatoslav Richter on the piano. It's like a Bartok festival today! I bought this disk for the Stravinsky "Movements for Piano and Orchestra," recorded for the old USSR Melodiya label. And yet the pleasant surprise is the "Kammermusik No.2" by Paul Hindemith, a composer I don't usually enjoy much. It's always fun to listen to Richter hammer that piano.)
  
• Ted Leo & The Pharmacists: Shake the Sheets (I think I've mentioned this disk last week. I have a rule that I listen to a new CD four times before I decide how much I like it. This was the fourth time and I really enjoyed it.)
• Ludwig von Beethoven: The Symphonies, disk 3 (von Karajan from the 1960s. This is the one with Nos. 5 & 6. Karajan is the only really big-time conductor who seems to take Beethoven at the specified tempos, but his later performances are noticeably slower. I swear, these guys love to make themselves a show by slowing Beethoven down and emphasizing the pomposity and wordiness of the works. The real tempos make the same works seem light and brief--even nimble.)