jazzbo

Better yet: unfiltered cigarettes from companies or countries don't add a lot of chemicals to their "blend". . . . Best to not smoke though, trust me.

Somewhere in my dwelling I have a few of Minnie's lps. She really was a fantastically gifted singer in all the ways that singers can have gifts. That was her standout tune, but she had paid her dues and she was a major talent. It's worth looking for that tune as an MP3 on the net somewhere and checking it out.

Yeah, I just checked and yes it's by Steven King as Richard Bachman.

A Scanner Darkly is a fascinating book, and a masterwork, definitely, it should be added. PLEASE don't shun me Moose! No, if I'm correct "The Running Man" was from a Steven King novel that was strongly PKD-like.

Bruce, you're right: those three novels certainly deserve to be mentioned as among his best and are favorites too; I just didn't want to provide an overwhelmingly long list! I would have added Dr. Bloodmoney and Clans of the Alphane Moon and We Can Build You as well. . .there are so many good ones! I guess no one has seen the movie!

The Roulette set is amazingly great. . . . I've had the lps and this set sounds better than the lps do to me. And there is an extra cd and a half of the live material at the Roundtable! A great working band preserved here in a wonderful box set; this is what Mosaic is so good at doing!

Wow, that's a harder question to answer than I thought it would be. I bought almost my entire PKD library thirtyfive to fifteen years ago, and added only those that have come out since then. There is a great old paperback collection of his stories on DelRey called "The Best of Philip K. Dick" but it is long out of print. There are five volumes of his Collected stories available, two of which have been reissued to feature "Minority Report" and "Paycheck" in their titles. They are great collections, chronologically presented. . . . That said it is Dick the novelist rather than the short story writer that I am fascinated with. Both his science fiction and mainstream novels I find immensely satisfying more often than not. I'll recommend a few that I think may serve as good introductions to his craft: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. This novel is deeper and more multifaceted in its ways than Blade Runner the movie . . . . The Mercer religion as a subplot just floors me. Confessions of a Crap Artist. The fifties California experience from the dark comedic side. . . . Mainstream novel, only it sure wasn't mainstream at the time of its writing. . .. The Man in the High Castle. A specualtive fiction work in which the Axis powers won WWII, and Germany and Japan split the rule of the USA. . . The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. This is a far out freak fest on one level, a really poignant story of lost love that can never be regained on another, a fascinating work! The Zap Gun. The first of his work that I read. . . . A great book about international politics and the military industrial complex. PKD's worlds and characters hit me hard in a way that hardly any other authors' have. I can't view his work without bias. I hope you check a book of his out and enjoy the read!

Bravo Dmitry, a noble intention and one I know you can accomplish. I did this thirteen and a half years ago and it was the best thing I have ever done for my health.

I use powder too! Oh no I don't. Forget I said that. Don't tell my parole officer. . . .

With Mosaics and most conventionally packaged box sets I put the boxes away somewhere out of the way, keep the booklets separately on a bookshelf, and keep the cds in with the general cd chaos in my "archive."

Glad you had a good one; many more happy ones!

Anyone seen Cold Mountain yet? I went Friday and enjoyed the movie. It suffered a bit from the Hollywood glamorizing syndrome, but I did enjoy the way that the Civil War was represented--no justification or glorification was really applied, you saw the horror of war and no one explained it away with one or another super justification. . . . Basically another reworking of the Odyssey epic by a good cast that turned in a solid job. I was especially glad to see Natalie Portman as I hadn't known she was going to be in the movie, and it was a pleasant surprise. Rene Zelwiger's character was a little over the top and so was she, but I think that was the way it was in the book and possibly the script. . . .The villains were ruthlessly villainous. . . . It's always unsettling to see how awful human beings can be. . . . I'm interested to hear other impressions. . .

Well, Saturday I went to see Paycheck, an update of the 1953 short story by Philip K. Dick for the 2003 movie scene. . . . Overall I think they did a very nice job revamping the story and bringing it to the screen. The police state aspect of the story was definitely dowplayed and rather than a private corporation being a force for good, the corporation was made over into a villain. . . . I predicted just this story change to a friend of mine on the way to the movie! Afleck did a decent job, as did Uma Thurman. Ben's training for Daredevil and Uma's for Kill Bill paid off for them; they did the action scenes quite well. Not a fantastic film, but for fans of PKD a nice cinematic interpretation along the lines of Minority Report.

My resolution is to do more writing this year. I've never made that one before so so far I've never broken it. . . .

Tom thanks for mentioning Vic, quite an innovator, and one of the best jazz tympanists ever!

No, that's not safe! You're a marked man!

Okay, if we're going to name names like Chad Wackerman, then I'll add Danny D'Imperio.

Yeah, I have two Pepper cds thanks to Ron Thorne, one of the nicest guys on the planet, and I found one to be as Jim describes, stoner and interesting but. . .s t o n e r. The other is quite interesting and intense. One of these days I need to find some more!

That's interesting. . .I see them both as similar players in a way, flashy and bashy, though I think Bu comped better for soloists and had a more compositional approach to ensemble playing. Blakey as a drummer used to be an inspiration but I don't enjoy his drumming as much as I used to. I probably would have made the same choice in your shoes! But in any case I'd have liked to see both.

I'd add Tony Sparbaro (Spargo) and George Whettling.

I can take or leave nearly the whole season except for the fellowship fo family and friends and. . . I really really dig the time off and need MORE~!

Very good book I'll be reading for a while:

You know, this may be the only session as a leader of his that I don't have and haven't heard. They edited a bit out for the cd release, and I've been wanting to find and hear a complete version!

I don't know Bert. The out of tune piano doesn't bother me. It might bother the hell out of you as I know we are two different people and listeners. Does the Dolphy at the Five Spot piano bother you endlessly (if you're familiar with those recordings)?

He's not the best choice. BUT I think he does throw sparks around and gives the floks what they need. Still, even though I've been a drummer, I don't pay much attention to his work here; there's Bird and Diz and MONK. That's what I listen to and marvel at.