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Saw Mike Murley and Pat LaBarbera with Neil Swainson(!) at the Rex, playing the music of Joe Henderson. Neil of course played with Joe, and apparently Pat studied with Joe for a few years in the 70s. Joe even asked Pat to join his band, but on bass clarinet, and Pat declined. Anyway, it was a very good couple of sets, ending in a rousing version of In N' Out. Neil and Terry Clarke are playing with Kirk MacDonald at the end of the month at the Jazz Bistro and I'll try to make one of those sets as well.

Most likely I'll get this, even though I very rarely made it over to the Empty Bottle. One time I saw the Portico Quartet play there, which wasn't exactly typical... And indeed that appears to have been 2010, so not even in this timespan.

Same thing happened to me with Dusty Groove. I think I'm done buying CDs that cross international borders. Sad. 😟

I ordered this a while back but haven't really digested it...

According to a short piece in today's Guardian UK (reporting on something in the Washington Post): Kennedy Center ticket sales for orchestra, dance and theatre performances are at the worst they have been since the pandemic, analysis by the Washington Post has found. Back in September, the Guardian reported that ticket sales at the Kennedy Center had continued to plummet following Donald Trump’s takeover of Washington DC’s premier performing arts venue. Since then typical ticket sales are down from 93 per cent in late 2024 to about 57% this year, according to the Post.

Very sorry to hear this. 😟 I also had several positive interchanges with him.

I have a feeling Game 6 will go to the Dodgers due to pitching. Though one never knows. I feel the Dodger's will-to-win has been badly bruised. All in all, I would prefer to avoid a Game 7 as there's too much tension around the city already...

There has been a slow release of some of the tracks from Touch. I heard one of them on BBC 3's Round Midnight. The CD/LP should be out now and it is on Bandcamp. https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/touch It appears 3 or so tracks are currently available on other sites, with the rest of the album released on non-Bandcamp digital platforms on Nov. 11. I'm not super familiar with Tortoise. Apparently they are from Chicago, but I wasn't really aware of them and don't recall hearing about any of their gigs, though presumably they were around. (I wonder if they used to play the Empty Bottle; I didn't get out that way often enough...) They have an upcoming tour in support of Touch, but no Canadian dates so far. I'd go see them if they do come to Toronto. Less sure if I would travel to Montreal, as an example...

Not sure it really counts, as it was animated, but from all accounts Spaceballs: The Animated Series was pretty dire. Mel came back, as well as Joan Rivers and Daphne Zuniga. Dom DeLuise showed up in one episode, but I think the other actors from the movie avoided this.

From the ridiculous (saw Clue in the theatre today - haven't seen it since the original release in the 1980s) to a much more intriguing offering, Edward Yang's A Confucian Confusion. I'm planning on watching Mahjong tonight, as the set is due at the library tomorrow! I might have been willing to stump up for a DVD set, but Criterion only issued this on Blu-Ray, and it does not appear that this will be turning up used, though I suppose one never knows... I've heard that this is the first time the films have been made available in decent condition.

GoGo Penguin was in town. I enjoyed the show, though I definitely prefer groups with a horn involved somehow. I would say all three are very good musicians, but the drummer is at another level. Apparently, this was the very last gig on this leg of the tour, and they are flying back to the UK tomorrow.

I saw Allison Au and her quartet at Hirut, which is sort of a restaurant that turns into a jazz club at 8 pm. It's my first time, which is a bit ironic, given that it is the only club of its nature on the East Side of Toronto, but I only just found out about it.

It's Bandcamp Friday again. 👍 I picked up a few things: https://pmg-label.bandcamp.com/album/sahara-all-star-band-jos-sahara-all-star-band-jos-1976-2016 https://sunramusic.bandcamp.com/album/supersonic-jazz-expanded-edition (Very expanded Sun Ra album!) https://bbemusic.bandcamp.com/album/if-music-presents-you-need-this-world-jazz-grooves-compiled-by-jean-claude-victor-kiswell https://bbemusic.bandcamp.com/album/if-music-presents-you-need-this-world-jazz-grooves-volume-2-compiled-by-jean-claude-victor-kiswell I'm a bit on the fence on pre-ordering of what is essentially a remake/update of The Revolution Will Not Be Televised by Brian Jackson, who was heavily involved in the original, but I'll probably order it before the day is over. https://thebrianjackson.bandcamp.com/album/now-more-than-ever (The code bbetwenty is good for 20% off today for the last three items in my list, including the Brian Jackson pre-order)

I also saw an outfit called www.forcedexposure.com has it for pre-order, though I have a lot more experience with DG. 😜

It is a great set, though I didn't have any luck selling my copy either. I did, however, find a university music library that accepted it as a donation. (Not that easy these days, as we discussed on another thread...)

I finished Kundera's Ignorance, which I didn't really care for. I'm in the middle of a few books: Russo's Empire Falls (quite entertaining), Canetti's Auto-da-Fé (a bit pretentious but overall ok) and Buzzati's The Singularity (NYRB), which seems promising though I haven't gotten to the SF core of the novel yet.

A blast from the past - Devo and B-52s were playing in Toronto last night. It threatened to rain the whole evening, and I think the B-52s cut a couple of songs from their set list to make sure people didn't get caught in the rain, which finally started around 11. It could have been a lot messier! Fun night!

Not one of the all time great LPs. It had a few good moments. Mostly I am just surprised no one has put it out on CD.

Is it actually the case that Stan Kenton's Plays for Today has not made it to CD? I've been digging around and it seems like a few of the songs were on CD compilations, but not the whole album, which is quite surprising to me. I haven't listened to it yet (I just picked it up from a charity shop!), so I can't really say if it is a great LP, though it seems promising. Do let me know your thoughts.

I have to admit, based on what showed up from Nagel Heyer (on iTunes etc.) I assumed it was just another one of the PD labels muddying the waters, and that still seems to be the majority of its newest releases. I only just found out that it does put out legitimate releases of new music. The one that caught my attention first was Marc Copland & Greg Osby – Round & Round. Copland and Osby also have a CD called Night Call, but I haven't heard that. I do wish there was a simple way to sort through their various releases and figure out what is a new release and what is repacked PD material.

I enjoyed Kajillionaire, though the parents (Debra Winger & Richard Jenkins) were really hard to take. Gina Rodriguez was quite good in a supporting role. The movie didn't really have an opening in Toronto (due to COVID), though it did eventually open in the States, so it was nice to have the chance to see it in a theatre here. I hadn't connected the dots to realize that it was Miranda July (author of All Fours) who wrote and directed this. It was her third (and so far final) feature.

I'm probably going to see this. Not sure where it is playing though. I just saw a screwball comedy called Midnight with Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche. Quite fun. John Barrymore was particularly amusing. They were showing a quite gloriously restored print.

We shall see how long it takes to stabilize and if some exemptions for records and LP are carved out. At the moment, postal traffic into the United States has plunged by more than 80%. Article here: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/06/postal-traffic-us-plunges

It definitely looks promising. I also put in an order for a few things on Bandcamp, as it was Bandcamp Friday. Gary Smulyan Royalty at LeDuc Eddie Higgins Haunted Heart Tsapiky! Modern Music From Southwest Madagascar Mr. Bongo Record Club No 7 Soft Boys Underwater Moonlight (not the recent remastered version but an older version with a ton of bonus tracks)

I ended up putting in a fairly large order of random used CDs from Dusty Groove. The main CD that caught my attention was Charlie Rouse - Soul Mates (Uptown), largely curious about the interplay between Rouse and Sahib Shihab, but I also got Eddie Harris There Was a Time (Echo of Harlem) (Enja), Larry Young's Mothership (possibly have this in some form already, LP??, but it was cheap), a couple of George Wallington CDs, and Lou Donaldson's Play the Right Thing (Milestone). I suspect I'll end up paying some import fees, but I'll find that out in a week or so.