chris

I guess even if it were a symmetrical shape like a plus sign that still would potentially cause wobble? That makes sense. I tried to convince him it had to do with tolerance for even wear from the spindle (as in, if it started to wear, at least it would wear evenly so it wouldn't wobble), but I think he saw through my "dad has no idea, really" smokescreen. Too bad he's past the age of "because Dad said so"... However, I think I will spring the Zen koan on him first

Well, the CD certainly spins, but wouldn't it be a better "grip" if the hole had a shape other than circular? As my son said: you don't see screws with round slots for turning them

My son asked me last night why CDs had round holes instead of just about any other shape that would conceivably be used to hold the disc more firmly. I figured I'd ask the most musically knowledgeable bunch I know It does seems like it would make more sense of the hole in the center were shaped like, say, a + sign or something...

Just last night I was listening to Undercurrents, which I had not heard before, with Bill Evans and Jim Hall. I enjoyed this session quite a bit. But it also made me realize that although I am an ex-guitar player, guitar-listening fanatic, the guitar is just not one of my favorite jazz instruments. I thought these two really played well together and didn't step on each others toes chordally, but I prefer Evans with his trio or with horns...

The Album of the Week is cool, though less interesting because I often don't have the disc that is featured to listen to. Though I have to say that many of the choices have been items in my collection. Sometimes I think that the "what are you listening to now" thread is a secret contest to see if posters can name the most obscure disc they own This newbie is most often listening to "the usual suspects" ...

I have to agree-- Return of the King was awesome and captured the spirit of the book quite well. Missing at least one sequence that I really REALLY wish Jackson had filmed, but I knew it wasn't going to be there from the beginning. I guess I have some minor quibbles about a few other things I would have liked to see (I'm not into the movie having to be exactly the same as the book, but there were a few things I wanted to see MORE of in the movie), but definitely a fantastic movie experience in my opinion. Can't WAIT for the extended DVD version! Strange thing was-- I showed up an hour early. Theatre seemed almost deserted. I thought "hmm" and got a drink and headed for the theatre-- it was already full a full hour before the show. The theatre was spacing the showings out and staggering multiple screens so people wouldn't line up so much outside the theatre. Luckily I saw some friends there so I didn't end up in the neck-bending seats up front.

I have a firewire DVD-R recorder that I use all the time for archiving data (including lots of SHN live shows) and a few DVD movies. Very cool-- no idea how I went without it for so long

Hey, why don't we have a puking smiley?

No-- what I am saying is that if the answers are in a different thread, then it is completely immaterial when he or she posts them...

If you listen to jazz online-- be it streaming audio channels, radio, specific shows you can listen to online-- can you point me to some of the good stuff? Finding jazz that isn't smooth on our local stations is very rare indeed...

Maybe I'm missing something, but why not relegate all "answers" to a dedicated answers thread? Then those who are interested can post sure answers any time-- no one is forced to look at the answer thread until they are read, the person who compiled the disc can post the answers after a reasonable time, and stragglers are not left out in the cold if they can't "keep up"?

There's some discussion of the Appel book referred to going on in the Jazz in Print forum. Let's just say there isn't universal agreement, peace, and love regarding this volume ...

These look interesting-- I know nothing about this label, legal issues, etc... but are there any recommendations for "must haves" and "really oughtta haves"?

Look, I took issue with on particular quote, not the whole section. I'm not trying to defend the book, which I haven't read, or Appel, though his annotated Lolita is a classic and shows an amazing amount of acumen. But sometimes it is easy, once the train gets off the track, to continue in the same vein and miss the more subtle points. Appel states that the words lend themselves more easily to discourse-- this is very different from saying that he is ignoring the music or doesn't see the notes as important. The key word here is discourse-- because there is a connotative AND denotative meaning to words, it is much easier to hold a discussion about them with others (thus discourse). Musical notes have no denotative force, thus it is much harder to talk about them-- they are one step removed in the same way that some aspects of paintings are. Incidentally, this is why I find the enterprise of writing about music at all, much less comparing music and visual arts, so interesting and-- ultimately-- so fraught with peril. At any rate, I think there is a much more charitable reading of THAT quote than the one you gave. I'm not sure why you are all worked up about it. But then I tend to just let the bad books go-- at least the author tried to get at something that is obviously important to them. Personally, I think you make a bit too much of the use of "aleatory." I agree about the relatively formal definition. But in this respect, perhaps Appel is relying on a use that is perhaps more familiar to him-- aleatory is used in lit crit circles as (without getting into the connotation thing again) basically a synonym for unpredictable. Some dictionaries put it that way as well. So maybe it's not quite THAT egregious, though from the quotes it appears to just be one of Appel's favorite words

I have jazz music playing in the background all the time, but that is not my primary/preferred way to really listen to it. What drives me crazy is when there is something really great being played and no one else is willing to pay any attention. Nothing more frustrating than being moved nearly to tears by a great piece of music while everyone around you continues yapping and chewing on their scones... it makes me want to start shaking people and yelling "don't you GET IT??"

Thanks for the note-- I'll be sure to post my thoughts when I have read the book. In the meantime, I have a bit of a quibble with the quote I have sliced out. I don't see that the contradiction is as clear as you seem to think. The fact that words lend themselves more readily to discourse (which is true in a sense) than music doesn't preclude some particular music being more powerful than its words. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think the former has no bearing on the latter at all... or it is a great compliment to say that the music in a piece is so strong that it literally overrides the normally important (for discussion's sake) lyrics.

Can't believe no one has mentioned the Curtis Fuller set, which is-- I think-- underrated...

I certainly class myself as being both listener and collector. I love the former and have impulses to the latter, as my house full of stuff will attest to. On the other hand, I often wonder what I would be if money were no object. Would I still want to collect or would half the fun be taken out of it if I didn't have the parameter of "budget" to work with when purchasing? I'm too enthusiastic about too much to be a real collector-- yet

I agree that the main element seems to be the lack of vocals and the lack of extremely simple melodic devices. It's no different than someone who doesn't read closely complaining that "nothing happens" in literary fiction or that poetry is "all boring." Or, for that matter, trying to scarf down a subtle, complex dessert like a 59 cent donut and then wondering what all the fuss was about Perhaps this relates back to how we respond physiologically to music-- an area I really should find some time to do a little reading about...

William Matthews wrote some great poems about jazz and musicians. I will post some later when I have time. There is also a dedicated jazz poetry publication tht is interesting-- and some collections on the topic. I realize this thread is not just about jazz related poetry... but still Some of my favorite poets (writing poetry is my first love, and my taste is relatively diverse): Charles Simic, Sherman Alexie, Galway Kinnell, Ray Carver, Mark Strand, James Wright, Weldon Kees, David Kirby, Pablo Neruda-- I am pretty big into the Romantics (the poets, not the band). I really like prose poetry (or whatever one would want to call it) in all its forms. I can go on forever on this topic, but I will spare you... for now

Unless it is commercial VHS with macrovision, in which case you need a Sima CC box or similar to get rid of the Macrovision protection...

The labels break down for many authors-- speculative fiction is more encompassing I guess. Whatever he is, I like a lot of Ballard's work (that I have read, at least). I haven't even mentioned my other deviant reading (and writing) obsession-- poetry

Oh right-- so Alaska is excluded again. No sun at all, always below zero-- what's not to like?

Makes me wish I had my Starsky and Hutch or Bionic Man lunchbox again.

Canticle is a classic. One of the best of the titles when I went on a big post-apocalyptic fiction binge some years back.... along with On The Beach, the three J. G. Ballard books/novellas...