CDs listened to today:

• Henri Dutilleux: Tout Un Monde Lointain
• Roger Sessions: Symphony No. 9
• Urge Overkill: Exit The Dragon
• Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That
• Various Artists: Sounds Of The Seventies: 1973
• Anton Bruckner: The Symphonies, disk 4
  

CDs listened to today:

• Ludwig van Beethoven: Triple Concerto (Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting)
• Claudio Monteverdi: Il Quarto Libro dei Madrigali
• Prince: Batman
• The Streets: Original Pirate Material
• Verne Reynolds: Partita
• Anton Bruckner: The Symphonies, disk 4
  
• The Smithereens: Blow Up
• Anton Bruckner: The Symphonies, disk 5
  

CDs listened to today:

• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Concerto For Violin And Orchestra
• Howard Hanson: Symphony No. 1
• The Lemonheads: It's A Shame About Ray
• The Distillers: Coral Fang
• Gyorgy Ligeti: Drei Phantasien nach Friedrich Holderlin
• Anton Bruckner: The Symphonies, disk 3
• Bill Nelson: The Strangest Things
  

CDs listened to today:

• Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 20
• Luciano Berio: Notturno
• The Cure: Wild Mood Swings
• Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra: Consummation
• Frederic Chopin: Polonaises, disk 1
• Anton Bruckner: The Symphonies, disk 3
• Green Day: Dookie
  

CDs listened to today:

• Various Artists: Sounds Of The Seventies, 1972
• Edison Denisov: Choral Varié
• The Prodigy: Firestarter
• Soho: Hippychick
• The Zutons: Tired Of Hanging Around
• Ludwig van Beethoven: The Piano Trios, disk 2
• Anton Bruckner: The Symphonies, disk 3
• Arrested Development: 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days…
  

CDs listened to today:

• The Streets: Original Pirate Material
• Roger Reynolds: Dream Of The Infinite Rooms
• Smithereens: 11
• Henri Dutilleux: Tout Un Monde Lointain
• Roger Sessions: Symphony No. 4
• Anton Bruckner: The Symphonies, disk 2
• UB40: Labour Of Love II
• Anton Bruckner: The Symphonies, disk 3
• Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That
  

CDs listened to today:

• Gyorgy Ligeti: String Quartets And Duets
• Ned's Atomic Dustbin: God Fodder
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Triple Concerto (Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting)
• Claudio Monteverdi: Il Terzo Libro dei Madrigali
• Dafnis Prieto: Absolute Quintet
• Anton Bruckner: The Symphonies, disk 2
  

CDs listened to today:

• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Concerto For Violin And Orchestra
• Georg Friedrich Handel: Sound An Alarm
• The La's: (eponymous)
• The Distillers: Coral Fang
  

CDs listened to today:

• Louis Armstrong: Volume VII: You're Driving Me Crazy
• Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 20
• Luciano Berio: Différences
• The Cure: Staring At The Sea
• Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra: Consummation
• Frederic Chopin: Nocturnes, disk 2
• Anton Bruckner: The Symphonies, disk 2
• Green Day: American Idiot
  

I've been really sticking to my vow to read more recently.

It's been a fine thing to feel like I'm not only doing something that's good for me--just sticking to my resolution for longer than a few weeks has been a pleasant achievement. I'm not exactly reading exclusively top-notch, high-quality stuff, but it's not been all junk, either. Since I really started to read again in earnest (partly thanks to my flirtation with H and the realization that I couldn't keep up the front of erudition if I didn't actively practice it more), the volume of reading has accelerated. During my time off over the holidays, I blasted through a startling volume of books and the new year has kept that pace, even as I return to work.

So... since this is a journal to some extent, here's what I've read since August (while they're still sitting on one shelf and easy to recall--well, not recall, just type):

• The Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction; Gardner Dozois, ed.
• Freakonomics; Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
• Postmortem; Patricia Cornwell
• The Penguin History of the World; J. M. Roberts
• The Golden Age; John C. Wright
• The Phoenix Exultant; John C. Wright
• The Golden Transcendence; John C. Wright
• The 42nd Parallel; John Dos Passos
• 1919; John Dos Passos
• The Big Money; John Dos Passos
• Angels & Demons; Dan Brown
• The Da Vinci Code; Dan Brown
• Founding Brothers; Joseph J. Ellis

CDs listened to today:

• Luciano Berio: Rendering per Orchestra
• Nine Inch Nails: The Perfect Drug
• Porno For Pyros: Pets
• Edison Denisov: Choral Varié
• The Zutons: Tired Of Hanging Around
• Anton Bruckner: The Symphonies, disks 1-2

CDs listened to today:

• Roger Sessions: Symphony No. 3
• 24-7 Spyz: Gumbo Millenium
• Henri Dutilleux: Tout Un Monde Lointain
• Various Artists: Sounds of the Seventies: 1971
• Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That
• Anton Bruckner: The Symphonies, disk 1

CDs listened to today:

• The Presidents of the United States: (eponymous)
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Triple Concerto (Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting)
• Roger Reynolds: Coconino…A Shattered Landscape
• Elliott Smith: XO
• The Streets: Original Pirate Material
• Anton Bruckner: The Symphonies, disk 1

CDs listened to today:

• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
• Gyorgy Ligeti: Sonata for Solo Viola
• Fats Navarro: The Fats Navarro, disk 4
• The Distillers: Coral Fang
• Claudio Monteverdi: Il Secondo Libro dei Madrigali
• Anton Bruckner: The Symphonies, disk 1

CDs listened to today:

• Frédéric Chopin: The Nocturnes, disk 1
• Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band: XXL
• Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra: Consummation
• Jesus Guridi: Sinfonia Pirenaica
• L7: Bricks Are Heavy

CDs listened to today:

• Louis Armstrong: Volume VI: St. Louis Blues
• Sam Phillips: Don't Do Anything
• Luciano Berio: Continuo
• The Cure: Mixed Up
• Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 20
• The Zutons: Tired of Hanging Around

CDs listened to today:

• Henri Dutilleux: Tout Un Monde Lointain
• Janet Jackson: Miss You Much
• John Mayer: Heavier Things (EP)
• Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That
• Edison Denisov: Choral Varié
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Octet
• The Zutons: Tired of Hanging Around

CDs listened to today:

• Richard Wagner: Die Walkürie
• Various Artists: Sounds of the Seventies: 1970
• The Zutons: Tired of Hanging Around

CDs listened to today:

• Ottorino Respighi: Feste Romane
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Triple Concerto (Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting)
• Roger Sessions: Suite from the Black Maskers
• 24-7 Spyz: Harder Than You
• The Streets: Original Pirate Material
• The Zutons: Tired of Hanging Around

CDs listened to today:

• Gyorgy Ligeti: Requiem
• Fats Navarro: The Fats Navarro Story, disk 3
• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
• Darius Milhaud: Saudades do Brazil
• Possum Dixon: (eponymous)
• Edison Denisov: Choral Varié
• The Distillers: Coral Fang

CDs listened to today:

• Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band: Swingin' For The Fences
  
• Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 20
• Sofia Gubaidulina: Seven Words for Cello, Bayan, and Strings
• LL Cool J: Mama Said Knock You Out
• Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra: Consummation
• Edison Denisov: Choral Varié

CDs listened to today:

• Luciano Berio: Rendering per Orchestra
• The Cure: Disintegration
• Sam Phillips: Don't Do Anything
• Frédéric Chopin: Études

CDs listened to today:

• Henri Dutilleux: Tout Un Monde Lointain
• Garbage: Independent Access
• Girls Against Boys: Park Avenue
• Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Missa Solemnis
• Louis Armstrong: Volume V: Louis in New York
• Edison Denisov: Choral Varié

CDs listened to today:

• Smashing Pumpkins: Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, disk 2
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Triple Concerto (Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting)
• Roger Sessions: Sonata for Piano
• Truman's Water: Of Thick Tum
• The Streets: Original Pirate Material
• Edison Denisov: Choral Varié
• Various Artists: Something for Everybody

CDs listened to today:

• Edgar Meyer: Quintet
• The Posies: Frosting on the Beater
• The Distillers: Coral Fang
• Ottorino Respighi: La Boutique Fantasque
• Smashing Pumpkins: Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, disk 1

CDs listened to today:

• Sofia Gubaidulina: Offertorium
• Korn: Issues
• Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra: Consummation
• Gyorgy Ligeti: Nonsense Madrigals
• Fats Navarro: The Fats Navarro Story, disk 2
• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra

CDs listened to today:

• Alban Berg: Wozzeck
• The Cure: Bloodflowers
• Sam Phillips: Don't Do Anything
• William Childs: Concerto for Solo Percussionist
• Girls Against Boys: Freak*On*Ica
• Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No.  20

CDs listened to today:

• Henri Dutilleux: Tout Un Monde Lointain
• Deee-Lite: Groove Is In the Heart
• EMF: Unbelievable
• Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Mass in C
• Louis Armstrong: Volume IV: Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines
• Luciano Berio: Rendering per Orchestra

CDs listened to today:

• Smashing Pumpkins: Siamese Dream
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Triple Concerto (Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting)
• Kazimierz Serocki: Suite for Four Trombones
• Truman's Water: Godspeed the Punchline
• The Streets: Original Pirate Material
• Various Artists: Shades of Technology: A Drum and Bass Journey

CDs listened to today:

• Fats Navarro: The Fats Navarro Storm disk 1
  
• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
• Olivier Messiaen: Visions de l'Amen
• The Posies: Dear 23
• The Distillers: Coral Fang
• Steve Reich: Tehillim

CDs listened to today:

• The Gin Blossoms: New Miserable Experience
  
• Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 20
• Sofia Gubaidulina: 'Stimmen…Verstummen'
• Konono No. 1: Congotronics
• Mel Lewis/Thad Jones Orchestra: Consummation
• Gyorgy Ligeti: Musica Ricercata (adaptation for barrel organ)

CDs listened to today:

• Louis Armstrong: Volume III: The Hot Fives and Sevens
• Luciano Berio: Rendering per Orchestra
• Alban Berg: Neun kurze Stücke für Quartett, Sextett oder Violine und Klavier
• The Cult: The Singles 1984-1995
• Sam Phillips: Don't Do Anything
• Chen Lu: Chinese Folk Dance Suite

CDs listened to today:

• Tripping Daisy: I Am an Elastic Firecracker
• The Streets: Original Pirate Material
• Various Artists: Say What?
• Henri Dutilleux: Tout Un Monde Lointain
• Consolidated: Dysfunctional
• The Cure: Never Enough
• Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Incidental Music to Kotzebue's "König Stephan"
  

CDs listened to today

• Pop Will Eat Itself: Box Frenzy
• The Distillers: Coral Fang
• Steve Reich: Octet
• Slowdive: Just for a Day
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Triple Concerto (Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting)
• Humphrey Searle: Symphony No. 2
• Richard Wagner: Das Rheingold
  

CDs listened to today:

• Sofia Gubaidulina: Concerto for Bassoon and Low Strings
• KMFDM: Naïve
• Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra: Consummation
• Gyorgy Ligeti: Musica Ricercata
• Fats Navarro: The Fabulous Fats Navarro, Vol. 1
• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
  

CDs listened to today:

• Alban Berg: Lyric Suite for String Quartet
• Crowded House: Together Alone
• Sam Phillips: Don't Do Anything
• Jacques Castérède: Sonatine
• Debbie Gibson: Out of the Blue
• Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 20
  

Books that intimidate me.

OK, maybe you won't want to admit this, but I will. I have always been intimidated by a handful of well-known books. The reasons vary, of course, but hey, they're just books, it's not reasonable to be intimidated, right? So now that I've made it a crusade to read more (and to read more substantive works, too), it's probably time to take up those books and confront my fears!

So, what are these books? I don't claim this is a complete list, but here are the ones that come to mind:

• War And Peace, Leo Tolstoy. Sure, I enjoyed Anna Karenina and have plenty of experience with those pesky 19th-century Russian novels, having read Dostoevsky's The Brother's Karamazov, Crime and Punishment, and Notes from Underground. But the book is huge and it's been sitting on my shelf for some years now; somehow it doesn't ever look any smaller…
• USA Trilogy, John dos Passos. I'm proud to say I just finished this! I came to be interested in this book courtesy John Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar, which is a well-known science fiction novel that borrows from the structure of the dos Passos books. Still, a radical narrative structure, rather lengthy, I was intimidated. I can't say that I found these stories the best ever, but I'm so glad to not wonder any more!
• Ulysses, James Joyce. Hey, it's famous as a difficult read. A college friend once told me you should only read this as part of a class so you had help understanding it. I need to get over that. I'm smart enough and I have a decent liberal arts education. How hard can it be, right?
• Moby Dick, Herman Melville. I think I'm in the minority; I doubt most people are intimidated by this one. For me, I got a copy when I was twelve (from a beloved senior relative) and when you're twelve, that thing is kinda big. I'm sure you agree I need to get over it.
• Remembrance Of Things Past (aka, À la Recherche du Temps Passé), Marcel Proust. Admit it, you're intimidated, too. What is it? Six volumes? Three times as long as War and Peace? I once read an excerpt in college (in French, no less), and it wasn't so bad.

(edit: I've now finished USA and Moby Dick, too. Just the Proust and Joyce remain. Someday...)

CDs listened to today:

• Henri Dutilleux: Tout Un Monde Lointain
• Candy Flip: Strawberry Fields Forever
• Chemical Brothers: Setting Sun
• Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That
• Ludwig van Beethoven: The Diabelli Variations
• Louis Armstrong: Volume II: The Hot Fives and Hot Sevens
• Luciano Berio: Rendering per Orchestra

CDs listened to today:

• Sleater-Kinney: The Hot Rock
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Triple Concerto (Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting)
• Alexander Scriabin: The Symphonies, disk 3
• Tricky: Pre-Millenium Tension
• The Streets: Original Pirate Material
• Carl Vine: Symphony No. 3
• Various Artists: The Rough Guide to Bhangra
  

CDs listened to today:

• Gyorgy Ligeti: Lontano
• My Morning Jacket: Z
• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
• Olivier Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie (Simon Rattle conducting)
• Poor Rich Ones: Happy Happy Happy
• The Distillers: Coral Fang
• Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians

CDs listened to today:

• Crowded House: Woodface
• Sam Phillips: Don't Do Anything
• Dario Castello: Sonata No. 12 for Two Violins and Trombone
• Garbage: Bleed Like Me
• Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 20
• Edvard Grieg: From Holberg's Time
• KLF: The White Room
• Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra: Consummation
  

CDs listened to today:

• Various Artists: R&B Life No. 15
• Henri Dutilleux: Tout Un Monde Lointain
• The Breeders: Cannonball
• C + C Music Factory: Gonna Make You Sweat
• Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That
• Ludwig van Beethoven: The Creatures of Prometheus
• Louis Armstrong: Volume I: The Hot Fives
• Luciano Berio: Rendering per Orchestra
• Alban Berg: Lulu-Suite
  

CDs listened to today:

• The Distillers: Coral Fang
• Steve Reich: The Four Sections
• Sleater-Kinney: Dig Me Out
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Triple Concerto (Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting)
• Alexander Scriabin: The Symphonies, disk 2
• A Tribe Called Quest: People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
• The Streets: Original Pirate Material
• Heitor Villa-Lobos: String Quartet No. 6
  

I have these ancient, yet evolving habits.

Mostly, my music-listening habits… I keep something like a top 20 list on my iTunes, then mix the current hits with my favorite random tracks, then listen to them while noodling around the house, mostly. That means I don't listen to much in the way of my prized CD collection while at home–and that means I don't use my very nice home stereo much, listening to the CDs at work or on the iPod while on the go. On the weekends, it's not unusual for me to skip listening to the CDs altogether and it's just not working out. I wind up listening to each crummy pop single multiple times over the course of the week, and not enjoying my CDs as much as I'd like.

So, I'm making a change for the better, starting last weekend, and choosing more CDs and less iTunes hits. I feel enriched already!

CDs listened to today:

• Charlie Musselwhite: One Night in America
• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
• Olivier Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie (Myung-Whun Chung conducting)
• Poe: Haunted
  

CDs listened to today:

• Sam Phillips: Don't Do Anything
• Elliott Carter: Variations for Orchestra
• Garbage: Beautiful
• Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 20
• Percy Grainger: The Warriors
• Kinky: (eponymous)
• Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra: Consummation
  

CDs listened to today:

• Zwan: Mary Star of the Sea
• Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Concerto for Piano No. 5
• the apples in stereo: Fun Trick Noisemaker
• Luciano Berio: Rendering per Orchestra
• Alban Berg: Drei Orchesterstücke
• Marshall Crenshaw: Life's Too Short

CDs listened to today:

• Ludwig van Beethoven: Triple Concerto (Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting)
• Alexander Scriabin: The Symphonies, disk 1
• Travis: The Man Who
• The Streets: Original Pirate Material
• Sandor Veress: Hommage à Paul Klee
• Various Artists: ProjectHuman, disk 2
• Henri Dutilleux: Tout Un Monde Lointain

CDs listened to today:

• Olivier Messiaen: Trois Petites Liturgies de la Presence Divine
• The Pixies: Surfer Rosa
• The Distillers: Coral Fang
• Steve Reich: Four Organs
• Skinny Puppy: Too Dark Park

CDs listened to today:

• Percy Grainger: A Lincolnshire Posy
• The Kills: No Wow
• Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra: Consummation
• Gyorgy Ligeti: Le Grand Macabre
• Gerry Mulligan: Compact Jazz
• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra

CDs listened to today:

• Luciano Berio: Rendering per Orchestra
• Alban Berg: Concerto for Violin
• Marshall Crenshaw: Field Day
• Sam Phillips: Don't Do Anything
• Elliott Carter: Symphony No. 1
• Garbage: Version 2.0
• Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 20
  

CDs listened to today:

• Various Artists: ProjectHuman, disk 1
• Henri Dutilleux: Tout un Monde Lointain
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Fever to Tell
• Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Concerto for Piano No. 3
• Fiona Apple: When the Pawn Breaks…
  

CDs listened to today:

• Steve Reich: Drumming
• Frank Sinatra: The Capitol Years, disk 3
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Triple Concerto (Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting)
• Stephen Scott: Minerva's Web
• Trash Can Sinatras: Cake
• The Streets: Original Pirate Material
• Ralph Vaughan Williams: Sinfonia Antarctica
  

CDs listened to today:

• Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra: Consummation
• Gyorgy Ligeti: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
• The Muffs: Blonder and Blonder
• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
• The Pixies: Bossanova
• The Distillers: Coral Fang
  

I'm just too cheap!

So I spend a lot of time ironing shirts (OK I try to wear shirts that don't need ironing, not that much time ironing), trying to look professional at work now and then. I absolutely refuse to pay for the dry cleaners to launder and press the dress shirts, it's something like $7 a week! I mean, it'd be nice if I could save the time (not that much time, I still have to drag myself back and forth to the cleaners), but hey, that's $350 a year!

CDs listened to today:

• Elvis Costello: When I Was Cruel
• Sam Phillips: Don't Do Anything
• Elliott Carter: Symphonia: Sum Fluxae Pretium Spae
• Garbage: (eponymous)
• Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 20
• Morton Gould: StringMusic
• Kassav': Majestik Zouk
  

CDs listened to today:

• Various Artists: Pop Ambient 2007
• Henri Dutilleux: Tout Un Monde Lointain
• XTC: Oranges and Lemons
• Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Concerto for Piano No. 1
• Aphex Twin: Richard D. James Album
• Luciano Berio: Rendering per Orchestra
• Alban Berg: Chamber Concerto

CDs listened to today:

• The Distillers: Coral Fang
• Steve Reich: Different Trains
• Frank Sinatra: The Capitol Years, disk 2
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Triple Concerto (Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting)
• Salvatore Sciarrino: Infinito nero
• Train: Drops of Jupiter
• The Streets: Original Pirate Material
• Ralph Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5

CDs listened to today:

• Pink: Missundaztood

When did football take over our holidays?

This Thanksgiving, there will be three NFL games, then the rest of the weekend will be filled with college games, capped off by the rest of the NFL Sunday schedule. When I was a kid, the only NFL game on the holiday was the Detroit Lions game, and I don't really recall all those Friday college games, either. I know I sound like a sad case, complaining about the good old days, but really, can't we enjoy our time together without a TV blaring away?

You know, some bands just don't get enough credit.

Here's some video of The Hives, an amusingly obnoxious and fun-loving bunch from Sweden who just deserve to be heard:

CDs listened to today:

• Elliott Carter: The String Quartets, disk 2
• The Futureheads: (eponymous)
• Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 20
• Henryk Gorecki: Symphony No. 3
• Kaiser Chiefs: Employment
• Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra: Consummation
• Peter Lieberson: Piano Concerto
• Bob Mould: Workbook
• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra

CDs listened to today:

• X: Los Angeles/Wild Gift
• Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Concerto for Violin
• Peter Apfelbaum and the Hieroglyphics Ensemble: Signs of Life
• Luciano Berio: Rendering per Orchestra
• Robert Russell Bennett: Symphonic Songs for Band
• Elvis Costello: All This Useless Beauty
• Sam Phillips: Don't Do Anything

CDs listened to today:

• Frank Sinatra: The Capitol Years, disk 1
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Triple Concerto (Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting)
• Joseph Schwantner: In Aeternum (Consortium IV)
• Touch And Go: I Find You Very Attractive
• The Streets: Original Pirate Material
• Ralph Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5
• Various Artists: Pop Ambient 2007
• Henri Dutilleux: Tout Un Monde Lointain

CDs listened to today:

• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
• Edith Piaf: The Very Best of Edith Piaf
• The Distillers: Coral Fang
• Steve Reich: The Desert Music

I have an enormous collection of vinyl.

I'd really love to digitize everything and make it easier to listen to on the go, not to mention reduce the amount of music hardware (OK, stereo equipment) I have around the house. But it's so complicated to manage the whole thing, what with connecting the stereo and the turntable to the computer, recording the sounds on the computer, editing, cleaning up the transient noise, burning to CD, and converting to MP3s. Still, I miss more than a few of those recordings.

After all that ruminating I've been doing, I was surprised to learn that a colleague of mine actually digitizes records professionally as a second job. It's $15 per disk! So maybe I'll keep dreaming of doing it myself?

(edit: Done! As of April, 2013.)

I used to love this old video.

It's from the 80s and it's before budgets were big and so only the creative ones made you notice since they were all made on a shoestring. This homage to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is from Landscape, and they were never to be heard from again. And yes, the song is called "Norman Bates".

CDs listened to today:

• Sam Phillips: Don't Do Anything
• Elliott Carter: The String Quartets, disk 1
• Future Sounds Of London: Dead Cities
• Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 20
• Henryk Gorecki: Quartet For Strings No. 2
• Jungle Brothers: Done By The Forces Of Nature
• Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra: Consummation
• Peter Lieberson: King Gesar
• Bob Mould: Black Sheets Of Rain
  

CDs listened to today:

• Henri Dutilleux: Tout Un Monde Lointain
• World Party: Goodbye Jumbo
• Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That
• Irwin Bazelon: Brass Quintet
• Anthrax: State of Euphoria
• Luciano Berio: Rendering per Orchestra
• Robert Russell Bennett: Suite of Old American Dances
• Elvis Costello: Brutal Youth
  

CDs listened to today:

• Frank Sinatra: The Best of the Columbia Years, 1943-1952, disk 4
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Triple Concerto (Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting)
• Joseph Schwantner: Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra
• Charles Tolliver Big Band: With Love
• The Streets: Original Pirate Material
• Edgard Varèse: Amériques
• Various Artists: Only For The Headstrong
  

Now that the election is over, I want to remember something about it.

Just one thing in particular. As I watched the election returns on TV (in real time for a change, no time-shifting with the TiVo), it was pretty obvious how the results would turn out. So it was easy to prepare myself and pay close attention when Charles Gibson made the announcement: Barack Obama has won the election. It's worth remembering the day that America made a change this significant, electing a man with half African ancestry. It's worth committing it to memory!

CDs listened to today:

• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Concerto For Violin And Orchestra
• Olivier Messiaen: Saint François d'Assise
• The Philosopher Kings: (eponymous)
• The Distillers: Coral Fang
• H. Owen Reed: La Fiesta Mexicana (Frederick Fennell conducting)
  

My old iPod is no longer in decline.

My precious 20 GB, monochrome-screen iPod is, oh, five years old? The battery has been performing poorly for a long while, but now the click-wheel has rapidly gone to the point of utter and total malfunction, rendering the device useless. That puts me in a serious bind. I have an ancient iMac that sports an operating system that doesn't support the current generation of iPods (and it lacks the USB 2.0 hardware that's now required to run an iPod).

And then I found out that the one iPod that has enough capacity to hold my entire music library (over 120 GB as of now) was discontinued by Apple. So I went straight to Amazon and bought one that won't run on my computer! I compounded the problem by mistakenly buying a $76 upgrade package for my operating system that requires version 10.3--and I have version 10.2. So now I've decided to let my finances breathe easily and give up for the time being. The new iPod is secure, if unused, and I'll just live with my tiny little 512 MB iPod Shuffle (which takes forever to load using my ancient USB).

It's just the part of life that happens when you're house-poor...

Here's an interesting note!

I was hanging out with T the other day and I spotted a copy of Anna Karenina she was threatening to read. As I picked it up, my skinflint side noticed the price: $5.00 for an enormous book! It's a trade-size book, so I was expecting a much higher price, but it turns out, there's a discount publishing company, Dover Publications, that prints books that no longer have copyrights. Indeed, even the translation of the Tolstoy novel is an old one that's probably not an active copyright.

Take a look, they have a lot of 19th-century novels for cheap!

CDs listened to today:

• Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 20
• Alberto Ginastera: Quartet for Strings No. 2
• Jesus Jones: Doubt
• Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra: Consummation
• Peter Lieberson: Garland
• Paul Motian Trio: Trioism
  

CDs listened to today:

• Anthrax: Attack of the Killer B's
• Luciano Berio: Rendering per Orchestra
• Richard Rodney Bennett: Concerto For Alto Saxophone And Orchestra
• Elvis Costello: Spike
• Sam Phillips: Don't Do Anything
• Elliott Carter: Quartet for Strings No. 1
  

CDs listened to today:

• Vladimir Ussachevsky: Line Of Apogee
• Various Artists: One A.D.
• Henri Dutilleux: Tout Un Monde Lointain
• The Woodentops: Never Loved Elvis
• Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That
• Bela Bartok: The Wooden Prince
  

CDs listened to today:

• Frank Sinatra: The Best of the Columbia Years, 1943-1952, disk 3
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Triple Concerto (Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting)
• Heinrich Schütz: Es steh Gott auf
• The Time: Pandemonium
• The Streets: Original Pirate Material
  

CDs listened to today:

• J. J. Johnson & Al Cohn: The Birdlanders
• Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra: Consummation
• Peter Liebrson: Drala
• Morcheeba: Big Calm
• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Concerto For Violin And Orchestra
• Olivier Messiaen: Quatre Études de Rhythme
• Sam Phillips: Fan Dance
• The Distillers: Coral Fang
• H. Owen Reed: La Fiesta Mexicana (Howard Dunn conducting)
  

I've already voted.

I actually voted a couple of weeks ago. I hate mailed ballots (I'll do anything to avoid mailing stuff--it's pathological), so I arranged to meet T one evening and physically do the early voting thing. She and I have been seeing quite a bit of each other and it seemed like a nice kind of date where we could take a stroll with her dog after. Things didn't go perfectly. It turns out she had signed up for mail-in voting and wasn't eligible to join me in exercising my franchise. But I found that, while the touch-screen machine was slow (you vote, review your votes on the screen, then review the votes on a printout), it was a snap and I felt confident my vote was clearly recorded.

Here's the other thing about why I don't mail in my ballot: I really enjoy the whole deal of going to the polls, saying hello to the election workers, the whole ceremony. I hope they never do away with it.

This is one of my all-time favorite videos.

This classic Volkswagen ad was seen by some as bigoted since it has the nerve to show someone who appears to be part of an ethnic group, but I don't see it that way. Judge for yourself!

CDs listened to today:

• Sam Phillips: Don't Do Anything
• Elliott Carter: Sonata for Piano
• Funki Porcini: Hed Phone Sex
• Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 20
• Vittorio Giannini: Symphony No. 3
  

I kinda forgot one TV show.

On Sunday, I mentioned a few of the fall's new TV shows, but failed to mention "Life On Mars" from ABC. I tried watching the original BBC version of the program (oops, since it's the BBC, I should say "programme") and found that, despite an intriguing concept where a policeman in today's world suddenly finds himself in 1970s London, it didn't hold my attention. The American show moves to New York and adds a bigger budget, including a sensational cast led by Jason Mara.

And yet, despite the intriguing story and the remarkable ensemble of performers (including another fascinating performance from Harvey Keitel), the show just doesn't quite work. The pacing is nearly catatonic, the mysterious interludes where our hero struggles to learn why he's in the 70s are irritatingly opaque, and the police procedural stories tedious. The worst part is how condescending the show gets as Mr. Mara's Sam Tyler displays his "enlightened" views on civil rights, race relations, and womens' roles, among other things--in contrast to those benighted people of the previous generation. There's no thoughtfulness to this comparison of attitudes between the free-and-easy 1970s and the uptight times he came from.

It's really a shame this show doesn't work better.

CDs listened to today:

• Steven Mackey: Tuck And Roll
• Peter Wolf: Up To No Good
• Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That
• Bela Bartok: The String Quartets, disk 2
• The Annuals: Be He Me
• Luciano Berio: Rendering per Orchestra
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Twelve German Dances
• Cornershop: When I Was Born for the 7th Time
  

CDs listened to today:

• Ludwig van Beethoven: Triple Concerto (Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting)
• William Schuman: Symphony No. 10 (Leonard Slatkin conducting)
• Justin Timberlake: Justified
• The Streets: Original Pirate Material
• Joan Tower: Concerto for Orchestra
• Various Artists: Northern Exposure: Sasha & John Digweed, disk 2
• Henri Dutilleux: Tout Un Monde Lointain
  

CDs listened to today:

• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Concerto For Violin And Orchestra
• Olivier Messiaen: Poemes pour Mi
• Sam Phillips: A Boot And A Shoe
• The Distillers: Coral Fang
• H. Owen Reed: La Fiesta Mexicana (Eugene Corporon conducting)
• Frank Sinatra: The Best of the Columbia Years, 1943-1952, disk 2

This fall has been a disappointment, TV-wise.

I found only one new show that really caught my eye on a thin offering of new programs. On the debit side of the ledger, we had two new "enigma" programs where our heroes, in the fashion of "The X-Files", plum the depths of the unknown. The problem with both shows is that they're really kind of hokey, mixing characters intended to be brilliant, yet "charming" and "eccentric", but are mostly dim bulbs with bad exposition scenes.

"Fringe", on Fox, is truly awful, filled with bad pseudo-science that's not fun enough to pass the basic standards of science fiction, nor close enough to the truth to allow us to perceive the wacky plots as possible. "Eleventh Hour" is CBS' similar effort, showing a brilliant, yet eccentric scientist helping the FBI crack oddball science cases. Thanks to Rufus Sewell's sensational screen presence, this is almost worth watching. Sadly, even the presence of the gorgeous Marley Shelton wasn't enough for me to keep watching.

CW brought us both "Privileged" and "Valentine" and they're both disappointments. While "Privileged" is just a bunch of pretty, pretty people and a vacuous plot about a poor tutor and her wealthy charges (spoiled of course), "Valentine" featured a cast that wasn't even good-looking for the most part--and is positively amateurish in production.

The only bright spot this fall is "The Mentalist" from CBS. Simon Baker's performance as a former con-man (a TV psychic, he was) is oddly balanced and off-kilter, but enhances this sort-of Sherlock Holmes character. It doesn't always work, but the mix of caper humor and police procedural is novel.

Maybe the mid-season appointments will be better!

CDs listened to today:

• Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra: Consummation
• Frank Ezra Levy: Symphony No. 4, "Structures of the Mind"
• Moodswings: Moodfood by Moodswings
  

CDs listened to today:

• Sam Phillips: Don't Do Anything
• Elliott Carter: Of Challenge and Of Love
• Frontline Assembly: Gashed Senses & Crossfire
• Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 20
• George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
• The Joggers: Solid Guild
  

CDs listened to today:

• Bela Bartok: The String Quartets, disk 1
• Alice In Chains: (eponymous)
• Luciano Berio: Rendering per Orchestra
• Ludwig van Beethoven: The Symphonies, disk 6 (Sir Georg Solti conducting)
• John Coltrane: Giant Steps
  

CDs listened to today:

• Various Artists: Northern Exposure: Sasha & John Digweed, disk 1
• Henri Dutilleux: Tout Un Monde Lointain
• Duke Ellington: Suite from "The River"
• Kai Winding, J.J. Johnson & Bennie Green: Trombone By Three
• Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That
  

CDs listened to today:

• Maurice Ravel: String Quartet
• Frank Sinatra: The Best of the Columbia Years, 1943-1952, disk 1
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Triple Concerto (Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting)
• William Schuman: Symphony No. 10 (Gerard Schwarz conducting)
• The Thrills: So Much For The City
• The Streets: Original Pirate Material
• Peter Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4
  

It's ironic that I'm saying this on a day when I didn't listen to any CDs.

Between vacation time without electricity (and my old, old iPod is breaking down), and a bit of time-wasting, I haven't been keeping up with listening. And with my goofy rules about buying CDs, if I don't listen to enough disks, I don't buy new ones!

I really want some fresh, new CDs...

I've noticed a great thing at the local natural foods market.

They are now packaging cheese as if they were carpet remnants. If you've been to a carpet store, you know that they take the last few pieces of once-large rolls of carpet and sell them at reduced prices. While the market I visit didn't reduce the per-pound prices, I always feel a little silly asking for a single person's snack-size portion cut from the big chunks of cheese they put out for display. Now they have samples of things I wouldn't normally want to try because of the cost. For only a dollar or two, I can try all kinds of oddball cheeses!

My first effort to sample cheese was very successful--I enjoyed all four of the varieties I bought. In particular, I discovered something called Fromager d'Affinois, a French cheese. It turns out that the cheese, made in Affinois, France (duh), is made using the same methods used for making Brie. The difference is that they filter out a substantial amount of the water in the milk used for the cheese--why they don't call this condensed milk, I don't know.

It's a great cheese, but wow, is it rich. But I recommend that you avoid baking it like you would Brie. The much higher fat content is likely to make a greasy, nasty mess...

This is a fascinating video view of London street scenes from roughly 100 years ago.

Ya gotta love the hats!

CDs listened to today:

• Rami Levin: Anima/Breath Of Life
• Modest Mouse: The Moon & Antarctica
• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Concerto For Violin And Orchestra
• Olivier Messiaen: La Nativité du Seigneur
• Sam Phillips: Omnipop (It's Only A Flesh Would, Lambchop)
• The Distillers: Coral Fang
  

CDs listened to today:

• John Coltrane: Blue Train
• Sam Phillips: Don't Do Anything
• Elliott Carter: The Minotaur
• Bill Frisell with Dave Holland and Elvin Jones: (eponymous)
• Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 20
• Harald Genzmer: Sonata for Trombone and Organ
• Jet: Get Born
• Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra: Consummation
  

CDs listened to today:

• Phoenix: It's Never Been Like That
• Bela Bartok: String Quartet No. 4
• Alice In Chains: Dirt
• Luciano Berio: Rendering per Orchestra
• Ludwig van Beethoven: The Symphonies, disk 5 (Sir Georg Solti conducting)
  

CDs Listened to today:

• William Schuman: Symphony No. 9
• 3rd Bass: Derelicts of Dialect
• The Streets: Original Pirate Material
• Various Artists: Music From The Morning Of The World
• Henri Dutilleux: Tout Un Monde Lointain
• Steven Winteregg: Visions And Revelations
• Kai Winding & J.J. Johnson: The Great Kai & J.J.
  

CDs listened to today:

• Olivier Messiaen: Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum
• Sam Phillips: Martinis & Bikinis
• The Distillers: Coral Fang
• Einojuhani Rautavaara: Angel of Light
• Horace Silver: The Best Of Horace Silver
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Triple Concerto (Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting)

CDs listened to today:

• Jellyfish: Bellybutton
• Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra: Consummation
• Benjamin Lees: Concerto for French Horn and Orchestra
• Modest Mouse: Good News For People Who Love Bad News
• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Concerto For Violin And Orchestra

I'm going to cheat and offer another video today so I keep the posting streak alive!

Who doesn't' love The Onion? Here's a parody of paranoid conspiracy theorists...

CDs listened to today:

• Ludwig van Beethoven: The Symphonies, disk 4 (Sir Georg Solti conducting)
• Sam Phillips: Don't Do Anything
• Elliott Carter: In Sleep, In Thunder
• Bill Frisell Quartet: (eponymous)
• Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 20
• Celso Garrido-Lecca: Quartet for Strings No. 2