Daily Log

Woke up a couple times, and stayed up after 9. Used the large mask. AHI down to 2.8. Overcast, barely 70F. Read more of the Veblen chapter, which expounds on the notion that "captains of industry" are essentially social and economic parasites, feeding off the work of others, and flaunting their rewards through a conspicuous show of their wealth. Plus ça change, . . . Of course, he was attacked by an economist who argued that the wealth accrued to capital was exactly commensurate to the value of the efforts of the rich. Plus c'est le même chose.

Email: 4 messages, nothing important, although I got a reminder from Corsair that my ticket is still open. I should finish assembling the computer today. Yesterday all I managed was to move the case back to the table and route (but not plug in) a couple box cables. I didn't plug them in because I couldn't see them clearly. Bad lighting and bad eyes have plagued this project. In the past, I build these things on the dining room table, which had much better light. There is actually very little left to do: plug the box wires in; install the radiator and CPU pump, and plug its wires in (still not sure where, but looks like there are many options that may be equivalent); install the power supply, and run the power cables to the motherboard. No graphics card, as the CPU has built-in graphics. No SATA drives, as I have a 1TB SSD on the motherboard. So nearly all of the modular power wires will go into storage. I still need to download Xubuntu to a thumb drive. I can use a KVM switch to share keyboard/video/mouse with the old machine, until the data is copied and the latter retired.

Daily Log

Another bad night sleeping. Woke up before 8. AHI was over 5, so I switched to the medium mask. Went back to sleep for a couple hours. Woke up when machine suddenly shut off. AHI had dropped back under 5 (4.6), but leak was high (3.0). I finished reading the Cassidy chapter on Henry George, moving on to Veblen.

Did snap updates. Both Thunderbird and Firefox are now offering me a new widget to "add an AI chatbot to the Firefox sidebar to quickly summarize pages." Email: 3 messages, nothing of note. Ordered a tube of black caulk for the carport. I went with the cheaper "siliconized acrylic" ($9) vs. "pure silocone" ($14).

I got the new LED bulbs for the upstairs ceiling fan, but will wait until I get the new J11 socket before I make another stab at repairing the thing. I still worry that the source of the problem is some conflict between external and internal dimming technology. Dimmable LEDs need new dimmers. (Old dimmers chop off the leading edge of the AC pulse, effectively reducing the voltage. This causes LEDs to flicker noticeably, so LED dimmers either chop off the trailing-edge or use pulse-width modulation: both cause flicker, but it's much less obvious.) The fan motor is on a simple switch, so we use the remote to control fan speed. The light, however, is on a dimmer switch (with a second remote control, at the bottom of the stairs, which replaced the old three-way switch). The remote is set to 100%, hoping that will simply pass the dimmed current through to the bulb, but if it goes through more complicated circuitry, who knows what might happen? We have the same ceiling fan downstairs, attached to a single simple switch, which is always on, so we use the remote to control both fan and lights. We've never had a problem with that unit. I don't even recall having to replace the halogen lamp.

If I can't do the repair, the next step will be to replace the fan, either with a new LED-lit fan or a simple light fixture. The key thing here is that I have to consider the whole circuit, and not just the fan unit. I saw some units I like, especially some more compact ones with the fan recessed into a round border which provides the lighting. We don't have a lot of ceiling space in the hall, and it is rather narrow. I also looked a bit at light fixtures with motion sensors, of which there are many. I think the ideal would be a motion-triggered night light that could be manually switched to bright. It might make sense to use one or more discrete night lights in combination with the central light/fan.

I ordered a bunch of books:

• Ross Barkan: Fascism or Genocide: How a Decade of Political Disorder Broke American Politics
• Benjamin Balthasar: Citizens of the Whole World: Anti-Zionism and the Cultures of the American Jewish Left
• John Ganz: When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s
• David A Graham: The Project: How Project 2025 Is Reshaping America

Daily Log

Woke up early, before 9, to sounds of heavy machinery outside. Looks like they're tearing up pavement from the intersection of Faulkner and Stackman. Our block is cut off, so to get out of here we'll have to drive north. I read about Henry George. Tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't. Too many thoughts, especially about the Sanders "more thoughts" piece. Both Sanders and Trump tapped into a growing desire for revolution, but their approaches were different. That's because Trump started with a readymade movement, while Sanders had to build one. Trump simply assumed leadership of the right-wing political juggernaut that had been built by the donor networks of the 1980s and sold (in sensationalized form) by Fox News. Trump's value added:

1. He dialed back, but didn't reject, the focus on libertarian oligarchy and militarism. That donors could accept this, because they knew that Trump was one of their own, and his personal greed would keep him in line. But it allowed him to blame and attack Democrats for war and avarice, which moved voters to his side.
2. He developed an uncanny knack for telling lies that were made credible by his opponents' sanctimonious hypocrisy. He intuitively understood how media had warped as America had broken bad, and how to exploit it.
3. He gave them a brand name, with all the merchandising bells and whistles. Every fascist movement needs its Duce.

Sanders understood the economic and cultural ferment that demanded change, and was uniquely able to tap into the emotional charge, he sought to harness it behind a rational program for popular change, in opposition to all institutional powers. If, say, the Democratic Party really was just a front for some nefarious globalist-leftist conspiracy, they would have moved to exploit Sanders' popularity, much as the closeted Republican powers did with Trump. But no such thing exists, or is even possible. So Sanders had to rally the base against the party elites, who fought him every step of the way -- to the point that they would almost certainly have sabotaged him even had he won the Party nomination against Trump.

Enough digression. Another thought I had was that I should have ordered the J11 socket to go with the bulb I ordered the other day. I did so this morning. Light remains totally unreliable, sometimes coming on, more often shutting down. I did manage to get a nice chunk of work done in the garage yesterday. That leaves me with one more piece to assemble and install to complete the top wood rack. Unless it rains, I should get that done today, which will let me put the rest of the wood away.

• Eric Levitz piece on "What far-left cranks get right about the housing crisis." Links here (different title). Unclear who the cranks are, what they are saying, or why they are right. Tab open now.

Daily Log

Slept reasonably well using the large mask. AHI back down to 2.5. Rained off and on yesterday. Cool and overcast today. I tried to fix the upstairs hall ceiling fan light yesterday. An electrician had replaced the original socket with one that is looking pretty dubious. Two wires from the fixture were connected to the socket leads with wire nuts, but the plastic had fallen off, leaving just the metal cones. Why that would cause the circuit to break isn't clear, but the obvious fix was to replace the wire nuts. The wires themselves were braided, with short exposed leads, so hard to properly twist together, but I seemed to get a firm connection. When I turned the power on, I got light for a moment, then it went out. I thought about replacing the bulb, but my replacement didn't fit. When I put the previous bulb back in, it came on, and seemed to be ok. But it went out again last night. Then came back on this morning. One theory is that the halogen bulbs are too hot. I had an LED bulb at one point, but it too went out, so I replaced it with the current halogen bulb. Whole thing is screwy. I may just have to hire another electrician to make sure the dimmer (with remote for the bottom of the stairs) and the light fixture are all compatible. Maybe even get rid of the ceiling fan and replace it with a simple light fixture, since that's the only bit that really matters.

After a lot of searching around, I ordered an E11 7W (75W equiv) LED bulb. I think that's the right base. Delivery tomorrow. Amazon also had an E11 socket, so if I still have trouble, I may replace the socket next. It looks right. Still, I wonder whether the dimmer circuitry in the ceiling fan light conflicts with the external dimmer, given that dimming works differently with LED bulbs. We keep the ceiling fan set to 100% light, and only use the wall dimmer, but the whole system seems unstable.

Didn't get to mail until mid-afternoon, at which point 32 messages:

• Finally got a good answer back from Corsair regarding AIO pump placement and connections. Will know once I start plugging things in.

Daily Log

Bad night sleeping. Got up 4:45. Tried going back to sleep, but couldn't. Got up and read. Turned the AC on. Switched CPAP mask from medium to large. Eventually slept until near-noon. While the large mask seemed to work better, I was surprised to see the AHI up to 4.8. I'm trying to figure out whether to order medium or large masks, so I should keep experimenting. 64F at noon. Overcast, but not raining. Hips are hurting. Morning music: Lefty Frizell. I should work on garage today, but have to wait until Laura gets up to see what we're doing today. Meanwhile, 20 email:

• Letter from Frank Balla asking about website updates. Evidently he reads the notebook.

Daily Log

Got up just before 10, but machine read 100%, having barely cleared 6 hours. Started reading in Cassidy about Engels, which is a big jump forward. I didn't finish Music Week last night. I had written about a possible NOEL second piece on Sanders, and added a bit to that section today. But I wanted to write something about FDJCP, and figured I need a fresh start for that, but also that it shouldn't wait until next week. Terry Gross proposed August to make a decision about a Francis Davis website, but that hasn't happened yet. I'm not inclined to push it, especially given how unproductive I've felt myself becoming, and how much other stuff I have in the works. But I am committed to doing the Poll again this year, so will have to muddle through the rest.

Real nice weather today, so I want to go outside and work on the garage. Also get the carport bumpers up. I may hold off on doing the computer and the upstairs electrical until tomorrow, when it's likely to rain. I can do Music Week this evening.

Email: 29 messages:

• Christgau website correction from Rob Tomshany: 1972 Dean's List omits mention of Bob Weir: Ace, an A- album from that year. He's right. Doubt we'll do anything about it.
• The Press Rundown: Small town experiences excitement after viral sighting of glowing UFO; DC arrests exceed 1,000 as Trump-backed crackdown reaches 12th day without homicides; [Health] Eating meat may reduce cancer risk; Musk's companies file lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI for antitrust issues; Dust storms impact Burning Man festival attendees. I finally hit "unsubscribe."
• I asked for a couple CDs: The Secret Trio; Art Blakey.

Music Week

Expanded blog post, August archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 44 albums, 8 A-list

Music: Current count 44745 [44701] rated (+44), 24 [30] unrated (-6).

Calendar has today as the last Monday in August, so I should be wrapping up the monthly archive and starting a new one for September. But I'm finding it hard to move ahead, maybe because I feel like I've accomplished so little this summer. Made very modest progress on some of my projects, but too little to mention. Did come up with a healthy set of reviews this week, most of which surprised me.

I did publish a third Notes on Everyday Life column on Saturday, Bernie Sanders Finds It's OK to Talk Like an Old Lefty. This was occasioned by reading his post-2020 campaign book. I'm thinking about follow it up this week with a "More Thoughts" piece, as I find myself with some:

1. I might start with the section on policies (pp. 265-275), which offer various combinations of impossible, unreliable, insufficient, and vague, not that they don't dance around real problems. I doubt I can (or should) posit an alternate list, at least until we sort through some other considerations.
2. I have a short point on the the "failure" of his 2020 campaign -- quotes because I'm not sure he wanted to win, although losing to Biden wasn't really optimal either.
3. Another short point on how he was first out of the gate with his anti-oligarchy tour against Trump, even though he has no real chance for a 2028 run.
4. Some thoughts about how to focus the "anger about capitalism" he recognizes into a way of talking and formulating policies. People are pretty heavily armored against his old left critique, and my new left critique hasn't fared much better, but misgivings about capitalism are much more broad-based than we credit, and that suggests approaches we haven't really explored.

The last point will have to be very schematic: I haven't really figured it out yet, and doubt I could explain it briefly if I had. One idea is to try to formulate each postulate as a end (telos) and a set of initial paths toward it. For example, if your end is a full right to quality health care, what are the practical steps that move you in that direction? Bernie's Medicare-for-All is a pretty big step, but one that's hard to sell whole (and does it still work if it's cut up into an ACA-style compromise?). I have some thoughts, but no time to go into them here.

There's also a section on media, another subject worth looking into, but while Sanders has valid complaints, but they're not all that useful. There's little that can be done with policies -- not that a number of past policy decisions haven't made the situation worse. Given that there's no practical way to make media trustworthy, the only real alternative is to get viewers and readers to be more wary, and more critical. Neil Postman argued that the highest goal of education is to equip us with finely-tuned bullshit detectors. That the media fails so often in this regard cannot be chalked up to a shortage of bullshit to detect.

One need hardly add that the point of Trump's assault on education is to dull critical senses, or to obliterate them altogether. Why not turn this around on them, pointing out not just what they're trying to get away with, but how them are doing it. It's not as if the public isn't already skeptical of the Fake News Lamestream Media. One thing I've found in life is that it's virtually impossible to restore shattered faiths (e.g., my own early and quite fervent belief in religion, patriotism, and free enterprise). You'd have a better chance of building on what they already find credible, which is that the whole system is rotten. Then show how Trump is part of that rot, and not a fix. His desire to turn American history into some sort of catechism isn't just dogmatic. It's some kind of lobotomy.

One reason I'm having trouble facing September is that I had this schedule in my mind about the 20th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll: we'd make some key website design decisions in August, then start qualifying voters in September, so when November came around the website and mailing lists would be ready, and the poll would deploy like clockwork. Thus far none of that's happened. I'll try to get some messages out in the next week or two, to get the ball rolling. I run an "admin" email list for people who would like to help out, or just act as a sounding board for my ruminations, so if you're interested in joining that, let me know. If you know of anyone who should be voting but isn't, let me know -- or better still, get them to contact me. I'll post more info when I have some.

PS: I posted this a day late, basically because I ran out of energy Monday night, and still wanted to mention the jazz poll. Spent most of the day working on the garage wood pile. I didn't make a lot of progress, but I did make a little. Should be done this week (although rain could spoil tomorrow). I thought about pulling Monday's records forward here, but I figure I won't have much next week -- I'm finally optimistic about my home projects, which will cut down on my listening/writing time. Besides, plenty already below. (Although I might as well sneak in cover pics for two surprise A- records next week.) I still haven't done the monthly cutoff, but will probably treat the rest of the week as the first of September.

New records reviewed this week:

• Eric Alexander & Vincent Herring: Split Decision (2025, Smoke Sessions): [sp]: B+(**)
• Barry Can't Swim: Loner (2025, Ninja Tune): [sp]: B+(***)
• Alain Bédard Auguste Quartet: Particules Sonores (2024, Effendi): [sp]: B+(**)
• Hayes Carll: We're Only Human (2025, Highway 87): [sp]: A-
• Sharel Cassity: Gratitude (2023 [2025], Sunnyside): [sp]: B+(***)
• Monique Chao Jazz Orchestra: Time Chamber (2023 [2024], Da Vinci Jazz): [sp]: B+(**)
• Bootsy Collins: Album of the Year #1 Funkateer (2025, Bootzilla/Roc Nation): [sp]: B+(***)
• Adegoke Steve Colson & Iqua Colson With Andrew Cyrille/Mark Helias: Glow: Music for Trio . . . and Voice (2025, Silver Sphinx): [cd]: B+(***)
• Deafheaven: Lonely People With Power (2025, Roadrunner): [sp]: B+(*)
• DJ Koze: Music Can Hear Us (2025, Pampa): [sp]: B+(**)
• Wayne Escoffery: Alone (2024, Smoke Sessions): [sp]: B+(**)
• Joe Farnsworth: The Big Room (2025, Smoke Sessions): [sp]: B+(*)
• Steven Feifke: The Role of the Rhythm Section Vol. II (2023 [2024], La Reserve): [sp]: B+(**)
• Béla Fleck/Edmar Castañeda/Antonio Sanchez: BEATrio (2025, Thirty Tigers): [sp]: B+(*)
• Garbage: Let All That We Imagine Be the Light (2025, Infectious Music/Stunvolume/BMG): [sp]: A-
• Jacob Garchik: Ye Olde 2: At the End of Time (2023 [2025], Yestereve): [cd]: B+(**) [08-29]
• Bruce Gertz Quintet: Octopus Dreams (2024 [2025], Open Mind Jazz): [cd]: B+(*)
• Roger Glenn: My Latin Heart (2025, Patois): [cd]: B+(**)
• S.G. Goodman: Planting by the Signs (2025, Slough Water/Thirty Tigers): [sp]: B+(**)
• Kelly Green: Corner of My Dreams (2024 [2025], La Reserve): [cd]: B+(*)
• Andy Haas/Brian g Skol: The Honeybee Twist (2024 [2025], Resonant Music): [cd]: B+(***)
• James Holden & Waclaw Zimpel: The Universe Will Take Care of You (2025, Border Community): [sp]: A-
• Aruán Ortiz: Créole Renaissance (2024 [2025], Intakt): [cd]: B+(***) [08-29]
• Greentea Peng: Tell Dem It's Sunny (2025, AWAL): [sp]: A-
• PlainsPeak: Someone to Someone (2024 [2025], Irabbagast): [cd]: A-
• Playboi Carti: [I Am] Music (2025, AWGE/Interscope): [sp]: B+(**)
• Mike Pope: The Parts You Keep (2022 [2025], Origin): [cd]: B+(**)
• PUP: Who Will Look After the Dogs? (2025, Rise): [sp]: B+(*)
• Julius Rodriguez: Evergreen (2024, Verve): [sp]: B+(***)
• Marc Seales With Ernie Watts: People & Places (2022-23 [2025], Origin): [cd]: B+(***)
• Kae Tempest: Self Titled (2025, Island): [sp]: A-
• Emma-Jean Thackray: Weirdo (2025, Brownswood/Parlophone): [sp]: B
• These New Puritans: Crooked Wing (2025, Domino): [sp]: B+(*)
• Ben Thomas Tango Project: The Hat With the Grin and the Chuckle (2025, Origin): [cd]: B+(**)
• Water From Your Eyes: It's a Beautiful Place (2025, Matador): [sp]: A-
• Carlos "Zingaro"/João Madeira: Arcada Pendular (2023 [2025], 4DaRecord): [cd]: A-
• Zurhub [Mattan Klein/Ezequiel Hezi Joit]: Countryside Motorways (2024 [2025], Origin): [cd]: B

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru: Church of Kidane Mehret (1963-72 [2025], Misissippi): [bc]: B
• Kinloch Nelson: Waiting: More Recordings, 1968-1976 (1968-76 [2025], Tompkins Square): [sp]: B+(**)
• Alick Nkhata: Radio Lusaka ([2025], Mississippi): [sp]: B+(***)

Old music:

• The Colson Unity Troupe: No Reservation (1980, Black Saint): [sp]: B+(**)
• Roger Glenn: Reachin' (1976, Fantasy): [sp]: B+(*)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Gino Amato: Latin Crossroads 2 (Ovation) [08-13]
• Earscratcher: Otoliths (Aerophonic) [10-10]
• Fieldwork: Thereupon (Pi) [09-05]
• Champian Fulton & Klas Lindquist: At Home (Turtle Bay) [05-02]
• Zack Lober: So We Could Live (Zennez) [10-03]
• Ravita Jazz: Alice Blue (Ravita Jazz) [08-15]
• Steve Rosenbloom Big Band: San Francisco 1948 (Glory) [09-01]
• Gonzalo Rubalcaba/Chris Potter/Eric Harland/Larry Grenadier: First Meeting: Live at Dizzy's Club (5Passion) [07-11]
• Jaleel Shaw: Painter of the Invisible (Changu) [07-11]

Daily Log

Monday, so need to write Music Week today. Five packages in the post this morning, so I should start with unpacking, before running make to calculate the rated count, and dividing the week. It cooled off, as predicted, with 0.07-inch rain on the meter this morning, and 64F when I got up, shortly before noon. Email: 22 messages:

• The Press Rundown: Trump appoints Airbnb co-founder [Joe Gebbia] as first government design head for web overhaul; FBI alerts seniors to billion-dollar scam affecting retirement funds, expert says AI involved; Jerry Adler, 'Sopranos' star and Broadway veteran, dies at 96.

I got a little bit of work done outside yesterday. I cut a board to hold the foam pads to keep the car doors from smashing into the brick wall under the carport. Treated it with linseed oil, so it's ready to mount. Looks like it needs to be slanted, as the back door opens almost 6 inches higher than the front. The pads are only six inches high. Also started on the latest wood shelving, but didn't get very far with that. I did manage to tidy the garage up a bit. How much more work I can do today will depend on rain. It wasn't raining when I got up, but seems to have started again.. Still have stuff to do inside.

Daily Log

Opened up a new CPAP mask (F20 memory foam, medium) last night. Also replaced the nozzle, which is usually stuck so firmly into the tube I have trouble pulling it out. I had trouble again, but managed in the end. Fit seems small after wearing a large for the last few nights: barely extends below my lip, and barely covers the corners of my mouth. Went to be about 4AM. Woke up shortly after 8, and read a few pages. Eventually tried sleeping again, and Laura woke me up around 12:30. Eldika asked me whether I felt refreshed after CPAP sleep. Not a word that often occurs to me, but a sensation that I do feel at the moment. Distinct from the weary eyes I wake up with every morning.

Moved the front porch monitor yesterday. The idea was to mount it higher, which would allow more vertical room for recycle kiosk. Unplug the monitor, detach it from the mount, remove 4 lag bolts that attached the mount to the wall, drill new holes higher up the wall (a piece of wood frame around the front door), reattach the mount using the lag bolts, remount the monitor, adjust the tilt (the higher monitor should tilt down a bit), and hook up the wires. Should have taken about 30 minutes, but by the time Murphy was done with me it had stretched over 3 hours. Still, one task done.

I went out back to work on garage. I want to add an extra rack aboove the sheet cage, for smaller (but still large) pieces of sheet material: pieces up to 2x2 feet could slide in from side; pieces up to 2x6 feet could slide in back from end. The idea is to build an L-shaped frame that extends 2-feet above the cage, leaving a smaller but still useful surface space. I cut a couple boards, but didn't install them. Thinking about it now, I might redesign the whole thing, to make use of the rafters above. I should work on that today, as it will give me all the sorting space I still need for the woodpile project.

Even after noon, temp was only 75F when I got up. Should be a nice day for working out back. I also want to put up the carport foam guards, but have a design decision there, as the pieces aren't high enough to cover both front and back doors in one level stripe (or are they? 6 inches, which is about how much higher the back door hits vs. the front door).

Email 9 messages:

• The Press Rundown: What We Learned from the Ghislaine Maxwell DOJ Interviews; EX-OpenAI researcher claims $10,000 monthly UBI is feasible with AI growth; Bill Maher says Democrats are "too afraid" to appear on his show.
• Nothing from Substack, but 2 new subscribers last night, plus daily stats for the Sanders post: 81 views, 4 likes, 0 subscriptions.

I'm thinking about doing a "More Thoughts on Bernie Sanders and Capitalism" next. I could start with the policy laundry list, check off what seems practical and what doesn't. The question I want to get at is: if capitalism is the problem, but is politically beyond any sort of systemic change, what is practical that can lessen the damage? I should probably start another Loose Tabs round.

Daily Log

Saturday. As my thoughts so largely revolve around the task list, I'm starting to recognize weekends as different for the first time in quite some while: they mean that I can put off tasks involving the business world until next week, so my options (and oppressions?) narrow. As does my mail: 9 messages:

• Five of those were responses to the Bernie Sanders piece I posted on NOEL last night: 2 new subscribers, 3 (+2 from last night, +1 later) likes.
• The Press Rundown: CBO estimates Trump's tariffs might lower US deficit by $4 trillion; Powell suggests potential September rate cut in key annual speech; Canada removes several retaliatory tariffs on the United States.
• Newegg: I noticed that the GPU cards featured are all expensive: $2249 (ZOTAC NVIDIA GeForce GTX 5090, 575W), $2399 (another ZOTAC 5090), $1199 (ZOTAC NVIDIA 5080, 360W), $1299 (Gigabyte NVIDIA 5080). I didn't buy a graphics card for Laura's new computer, relying on the graphics built into the AMD CPU. But I've noted that most complete "gaming" systems with comparable CPU/RAM/etc. use graphics boards in the $300 range. Along those lines, they do have an ASUS NVIDIA 5060 for $379.99. I'm also seeing a PCCOOLER DS360 AIO CPU Cooper (3 fans) for $57.59, which is much cheaper than the 2-fan Corsair unit I've been struggling with.

Worldle took 3 guesses to arrive at Cocos Islands, from Tuvalu (8854km W) and Maldives (3126km SE).

Daily Log

Saw Eldika yesterday. I continue to be irritated by the car, although objectively it performed satisfactorily. The panel has a disagreement with the phone that I don't understand. It displays maps ok. On the return trip, I finally tried running Spotify, and was able to stream the new Garbage album (which I had been playing on the computer before going out). Not what I would have picked, but changing/controlling it is beyond my competency. Still suggests something is possible.

Eldika noted that my average CPAP pressure was 10.5, barely above the minimum. I asked whether that suggested that the minimum should be lowered. (He had dropped it from 12 to 10 a year ago, after I lost weight.) He agreed, and ordered it dropped to 8. This was accomplished remotely -- the Luna machine is designed to spy on you, so the controls are more accessible remotely than locally. I was told to unplug the machine when I got home, and that the new setting would be installed when it powered up again. I did this, but the old setting remained in place. I figured I'd fight with them another day, but when I went to bed, the new setting had been installed. Average pressure last night was 8.5, with a 12.0 maximum, and 2.6 events/hour, so it seems to be working.

The doctor appointment once again disrupted my day. I thought I might go eyeglass shopping afterwards, but I backed off. I went to Natural Grocers for Laura. I thought about going to Dillons after, but I figured the two main things I needed to buy could be picked up at CVS, so stopped there instead. I didn't buy either, and wound up ordering them from Amazon when I got home. I did stop at the Gyro place, so had that for lunch/dinner. I meant to work on the Sanders piece later, but only got two paragraphs in. I tried working a bit on the new computer, but was stymied by all the fan wires. I need to regroup today and finish that.

Computer wanted software update this morning, which involves a "partial upgrade." I ran that, but will postpone rebooting until I look through mail: 45 messages:

• The Press Rundown: Appeals court overturns Trump's half-billion-dollar civil penalty; Cracker Barrel stock falls due to backlash from brand makeover.
• RiotRiot: A 2012 interview with the late Gregg Allman.
• NOEL: 1 new subscriber.

Notes on computer assembly:

• Nautilus 240 RS ARGB:
  1. Prepare: position fans so that the cables are towards the motherboard side once it is mounted inside the chasis for a cleaner look (the orientation will depend on whether you want the tubes entering from the front or back of the radiator); note direction of airflow through fans (we want flow to exit the case, so blow through the radiator); attach fans to radiator with long screws (G), then connect the fan PWM and RGB cables to the next fan until all fans are connected. Each fan has two cables, with both male and female connectors. Attach extension cables to one end (presumably the one with the tubes).

I finally wrote to Corsair about installing their CPU cooler. I got this back:

I've created a support ticket for you (#2008513522 ).

Please note that response times may be a bit slower due to holiday traffic.

You'll be able to find it in your email inbox or the Help Center in just a few minutes, and someone will reach out to you as soon as possible.

For updates, reply to the email, and we'll add your response to the ticket. If you have a new issue, feel free to use the chatbot again.

Thanks for your patience!

My message was:

I'm very confused about how to install this Nautilus 240 RS ARGB cooler (using a ASRock 650M Pro RS WiFi motherboard in a SAMA Neview 2851A case). I intend to top-mount the cooler. Should I mount it toward the front or back of the case? Should the CPU cooler be mounted with tubes to the right or left of the CPU (looking at it, so right is front of the case)? Or does it matter? I've also had trouble figuring out which wires are PWR and which are ARGB, how they daisy-chain and connect to the pump and/or motherboard. I've built computers before, but none with this kind of cooling. Will run Xubuntu, so I'm also curious whether any of the setup/monitor software will work.

Daily Log

Woke up early, 90 on the CPAP. Read a bit on Adam Smith. Showered. Weighed in at 201.0, so first time over 200 in a month or two. I've been lax on diet, and finished off a bin of yogurt-covered raisins yesterday, so that temptation is gone. I have an appointment to see Dr. Eldika today, so we can talk about CPAP. It's still helping, and I'm using it 100% of the time I'm sleeping, so shouldn't have any problem with getting it renewed. I doubt there's much else he can do.

Email: 27 messages:

• The Press Rundown: Russian Attack Nears NATO Ally, Warplanes Deployed in Response; ICE arrests 65 undocumented immigrants in operation targeting gangs and crime; Fed minutes reveal concerns over tariffs, inflation, and labor market division; Hinge uses AI to improve dating, not for chatting with bots. This is getting pretty useless.
• Tom Engelhardt on Trump ("We're in Trumple Deep")
• Plus one NOEL subscriber.

Daily Log

Pretty disgusted at how little I got done yesterday. It was very hot during the day. Then a cold front blew through, and it rained. Nothing done on computer. Barely started on the electrician tools: emptied three cases onto a shelf for sorting, but still missing a lot, and then there's the question of what to do with all the miscellaneous pieces: wire, boxes, outlets, switches, clips, wire nuts, etc. My idea is to wind up with two square tool cases: one for AC wiring, the other for low-power cabling. Some tools should appear in both (screwdrivers, pliers, wire cutters), which is not likely to be much of a problem. (If it is, I can always buy more tools to fill in the gaps.) For the supplies, I'm thinking I can dedicate one (of the three) 6-drawer plastic units in the basement, although that might be a tight fit. Cables and lightbulbs will undoubtedly have to go elsewhere, and a few things (wire-pulling rods, coax spool, romex) won't fit in either the tool cases or the bin. But the idea is to be able to grab one tool case and a few supplies and go do whatever needs to be done. What needs to be done now is to fix the upstairs ceiling fan light (AC) and the front porch camera (DC), so there is some immediate payoff to getting this sorted. (Assuming I have the skills to fix either project. If not, I should know. And if I fail, I have people in mind for both projects.)

Cooler today, but warming up from last night (84F when I got up). Mail: 24 messages:

• The Press Rundown: Senior living market struggles to meet demand as baby boomers age; Bessent states tariff revenue may reduce the nation's $37.2 trillion debt [translation: Trump administration lies].
• Xgau Sez: Note that the list of 21 Armstrong albums has 22 titles, but no Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
• Noted new albums, including a 2-CD 1959-62 Ike Quebec on Blue Note and John Fogerty's re-recorded Creedence Clearwater Revival ("John's Version").

In Xgau Sez, Christgau lists "21" Louis Armstrong CDs he owns, "in no particular order." To make sense of the list, I'm listing it below, only reordering it, with my grades in brackets:

• The Best of Louis Armstrong: Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings (Columbia/Legacy) [A]
• [Vol. IV:] Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines (Columbia) [A+]
• Louis in New York Volume V (Columbia) [A]
• Vol. 6: St. Louis Blues (Columbia) [A]
• Louis Armstrong Volume 7: You're Drivin' Me Crazy (Columbia/Legacy) [A]
• New Orleans Nights (1950-54, Verve) [A-]
• Plays W.C. Handy (1954, Columbia/Legacy) [A]
• Love Songs (MCA) []
• C'Est Ci Bon (Tomato) []
• Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington: The Master Takes (1961, Roulette Jazz) [A]
• 16 Most Requested Songs (1954-66, Columbia/Legacy) [A+]
• What a Wonderful Christmas (1958-66, Hip-O) [B+(***)]
• An American Icon (1946-68, Hip-O) [A]
• Pops Is Tops: The Verve Studio Albums (1957, Verve) [B]
• Satch Plays Fats (1955, Columbia/Legacy) [A-]
• The Complete Town Hall Concert 1947 (Fresh Sound) [A-]
• Satchmo: A Musical Autobiograph (1947-55, Verve) [A-]
• Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson (1957, Verve) [B+(**)]
• Louis Armstrong and His All-Stars [Ambassador Satch?] (1955, Columbia/Legacy) [A-]
• Satch Blows the Blues (Columbia/Legacy) []
• The Complete RCA Victor Recordings (BMG Classics) [A-]
• Ken Burns Jazz (1923-67, Columbia/Legacy) [A-]

Missing from list:

• [King Oliver]: Creole Jazz (1923 [1998], Tradition) [B+]
• Louis Armstrong/King Oliver (1923-24 [1992], Milestone) [A-]
• Vol. I: The Hot Fives (1926-27 [1988], Columbia) [A]
• Vol. II: The Hot Fives and Hot Sevens (1927-28 [1989], Columbia) [A]
• Vol. III: The Hot Fives and Hot Sevens (1927-28 [1989], Columbia) [A]
• The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings (1926-29 [2000], Columbia) [A]
• Jazz Moods: Hot (1926-29 [2005], Columbia/Legacy) [A]
• The Complete Recordings of Louis Armstrong and the Blues Singers (1924-30 [1991], Affinity) [B+]
• 1928-1931 (Hermes) [A-]
• Laughin' Louie (1932-33 [1989], RCA) [A-]
• Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1923-34 [1994], Columbia) [A+]
• Rhythm Saved the World [The Original Decca Recordings: Volume 1] (1935-36 [1991], Decca) [B+(***)]
• Heart Full of Rhythm [The Original Decca Recordings: Volume 2] (1936-38 [1993], MCA) [A-]
• Vol. III: Pocket Full of Dreams (1935-38 [1995], Decca Jazz) [A-]
• Louis Armstrong and Friends [Jazz in Paris] (1933-39 [2001], Gitanes Jazz/EmArch) [B+(***)]
• Pops: 1940's Small Band Sides (1946-1947 [1987], RCA) [A-]
• Satchmo at Symphony Hall (1947 [1996], Decca) [B+]
• Satchmo at Symphony Hall: 65th Anniversary: The Complete Performances (1947 [2012], Hip-O Select) [A-]
• Live in Zurich, Switzerland 18.10.1949 (1949 [2007], TCB) [B+(***)]
• The Standard Oil Sessions (1950 [2017], Dot Time) [B+(**)]
• Louis Armstrong of New Orleans (1926-1950 [1990], Decca) [B+]
• Satchmo at Pasadena (1951 [2009], Verve) [A-]
• Live in Europe (1948-1952 [2019], Dot Time) [B+(**)]
• Satchmo Serenades (1949-1953 [2000], Verve) [B+(**)]
• Satchmo Sings (1955, Decca) [A-]
• The California Concerts (1951-1955 [1992], Decca) [A+]
• Ambassador Satch (1955 [2000], Columbia) [A-]
• The Great Chicago Concert 1956 (1956 [1997], Columbia) [A-]
• From the Big Band to the All Stars (1946-1956) (1946-56 [1992], RCA) [A-]
• Highlights From His Decca Years (1924-1957 [1994], Decca) [A-]
• Satchmo the Great (1955-1957 [1994], Columbia) [B+]
• Louis and the Angels (1957 [2001], Verve) [B-]
• Louis Under the Stars (1957 [1958], Verve) [B+(*)]
• I've Got the World on a String (1957 [1960], Verve) [B]
• The Nightclubs (1950-1958 [2017], Dot Time) [B+(***)]
• Louis and the Good Book (1958 [2001], Verve) [B]
• The Complete Newport 1956 and 1958 Recordings (1956-1958 [2019], Legacy) [A-]
• Live at the 1958 Monterey Jazz Festival (1958 [2007], Monterey Jazz Festival) [B+(**)]
• Satchmo Plays King Oliver (1959 [1960], Audio Fidelity) [B+(***)]
• Satchmo Plays King Oliver (1959 [2002], Fuel 2000/Varèse Sarabande) [B+(**)]
• [Dukes of Dixieland]: Louie and the Dukes of Dixieland (1960, Audio Fidelity) [B]
• Hello, Dolly! (1964, MCA) [B+]
• Sparks, Nevada 1964! (1964 [2018], Dot Time) [A-]
• Let's Do It: Best of the Verve Years (1957-1965 [1995], Verve) [B+(*)]
• The Best Live Concert (1965 [1976], Disques Festival) [A-]
• Now You Has Jazz: Louis Armstrong at M-G-M (1942-1965 [1997], Rhino) [B+(***)]
• The Essential Louis Armstrong (1957-1966 [1992], Verve) [B-]
• What a Wonderful World (1967 [1988], MCA) [A-]
• The Essential Louis Armstrong (1925-1967 [2004], Columbia/Legacy) [A]
• The Best of Louis Armstrong [20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection] (1949-1967 [1999], MCA) [A]
• Disney Songs the Satchmo Way (1968 [1996], Walt Disney) [B+(***)]
• Louis in London (1968 [2024], Verve) [A-]
• Fleischmann's Yeast Show & Louis' Home-Recorded Tapes (1937-1970 [2009], Jazz Heritage Society) [B+(***)]
• Louis Armstrong and His Friends (1970, Flying Dutchman) [B+(*)]
• Country and Western (1970, Avco Embassy) [B-]

Daily Log

Finished Music Week late. Got up too early. I've been thumbing through Bernie Sanders' It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism, and marked a couple spots toward the end I might like to write about. But I also need to make some real progress on house tasks today: assemble Laura's new computer (mostly a matter of figuring out where all the box wires and fan wires hook together, adding the power supply and its wires, and firing it up); move the porch camera monitor to a higher spot; organize the electrical tools, and fix the upstairs fan light (would also be good to finish the plaster around that one unfinished outlet); mount the foam guards in the carport; get back to the wood pile project. It's already very hot today, so the order is meant to postpone the outdoor tasks. But sure, I'll probably spend much of the day writing. Playing PlainsPeak to start.

Email: 24 messages:

• The Press Rundown: Powerball jackpot reaches highest amount of 2025; Illegal immigrant who killed 3 in highway crash crossed into California in 2018; OpenAI's Sam Altman says US may underestimate China's advanced AI capabililties; MSNBC will change its name this year after separating from NBC.

Music Week

Expanded blog post, August archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 38 albums, 6 A-list

Music: Current count 44701 [44663] rated (+38), 30 [36] unrated (-6).

I ended last week's post with long list of projects I hoped to get done last week. The only ones I've accomplished are "another newsletter" -- the piece there is titled Sheila Jordan (1928-2025) -- and a Loose Tabs (which ran to 277 links, 20669 words). Which is to say that once again I spent pretty much the whole week at the computer, hacking out long strings of words. Meanwhile, the house projects languished, and the "dinner for some very old friends" fell through. I don't think we even used the new car except for one grocery store trip.

I should do better this week. I did the first tiny bit of "setting up the website framework for the broader Notes on Everyday Life project": the website archive of the newsletters is here. It's currently hand-collated, but I can maintain that until some further inspiration comes along. The second part, which I've referred to as "the pile," will still take some design work, but I have a rough idea what I want to do there: each file will have a set of embedded markup, which can be used both by the PHP code that presents the file and by external programs, which can build up indexes and feed search tools. This doesn't have to be very fancy, but I have to think about index terms and trade-offs between simplified markup and extra work in output. I'm expecting at this point that I'll wind up using this software for several piles. It might even make sense to treat it as an open source software project, but right now I'm thinking that's Version 2, as making software reusable is a much bigger job than just getting something to work. (You'd think that this sort of thing must already exist somewhere, and it probably does, albeit with more complexity and more trouble than I need: one such example is Mediawiki, which was actually my original idea for such a tool.)

It only now occurs to me that the easiest pile to prepare data for might be music reviews. I've long been stymied by the idea of adapting an album-review database, like I used for Christgau, to my data, which has a slightly different granularity. (Apologies for not trying to explain what I mean by that.) But for practical purposes, it might suffice to just offer artist pages, each with an intro and all the relevant albums. As I already have most of the reviews sorted by artist, it wouldn't be hard to move them into the pile. The notebooks, on the other hand, will be more work, as they'll need to be sorted topically. (Perhaps AI could help there?)

Still, I hope to spend more time on the house projects this week. Those will pull me away from the computer, and result in fewer new records rated, but this is a slow season anyway. I'm surprised to find August half gone already. I need to start thinking about some preliminary jazz poll organization. I had hoped to use this time to restructure the website, but haven't come close to working on it. While the quality of what I do still seems satisfactory, the quantity has sunk considerably.

One thing I did take the time to do today was to vote in the DownBeat Readers Poll. I typically have zero effect there, and they don't publish ballots, so unless I publish mine, no one will notice or care who I vote for. I do, however, keep notes, so you can look them over. Main value to me comes from the album lists, as they serve as a checklist for my own listening. In this case, I've noted that I haven't heard 24 new jazz albums (18.8% of 128), 11 historic jazz albums (28.3% of 32), 36 blues albums (75.0% of 48), and 12 "beyond" albums (21.7% of 58). I'll work on whittling that down, but should also note that they didn't nominate tons of really good albums, and they nominated even more not-so-great ones.

I'm generally pleased with the newsletter response so far. I'm just starting to figure it out, and I'm trying to ease into it. I wasn't expecting to do a post on music, at least this early, but it suddenly seemed like the thing to do. Not sure what the next one will be, but I need to go back and re-read Loose Tabs and this one and see what comes to mind.

New records reviewed this week:

• Gabriel Alegría Afro-Peruvian Sextet: El Muki (2025, Saponegro): [cd]: B+(***)
• David Bailis: Running Through My Mind (2025, Create or Destroy): [cd]: B+(**)
• Miki Berenyi Trio: Tripla (2025, Bella Union): [sp]: B+(***)
• Ron Blake: Scratch Band (2021 [2025], 7Ten33 Productions): [cd]: B+(***)
• Rory Block: Heavy on the Blues (2025, M.C.): [bc]: B+(***)
• Erika de Casier: Lifetime (2025, Independent Jeep Music): [sp]: B+(**)
• Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band: New Threats From the Soul (2025, Sophomore Lounge/Tough Love): [sp]: B+(*)
• Mike Freeman Zonavibe: Circles in a Yellow Room (2019 [2025], VOF): [cd]: B+(***)
• Dylan Hicks & Small Screens: Avian Field Recordings (2025, Soft Launch): [cd]: A-
• Bonnie J Jensen: Rise (2025, MGM Metropolitan Groove Merchants): [cd]: B+(*)
• Sheila Jordan With Roni Ben-Hur & Harvie S: Portrait Now (2023 [2025], Dot Time): [sp]: A-
• Maria Muldaur: One Hour Mama: The Blues of Victoria Spivey (2025, Nola Blue): [cd]: A
• Jesika von Rabbit: Bunnywood Babylon (2025, Dionysus): [sp]: B+(***)
• Jonathan Richman: Only Frozen Sky Anyway (2025, Blue Arrow): [sp]: B+(*)
• Ross Thorn: Ross Thorn Tries Fitting In (2025, Casa De Copas): [bc]: B+(***)
• Chris Wabich: 1978 (Steep) (2024 [2025], ADW): [cd]: B+(***)
• Morgan Wade: The Party Is Over (Recovered) (2025, Ladylike/Sony): [sp]: B+(***)

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Lonnie Johnson With Elmer Snowden: Blues & Ballads (1960 [2025], Craft): [sp]: B+(*)
• Edna Martinez Presents Picó: Sound System Culture From the Colombian Caribbean (1950s-70s [2025], Strut): [sp]: A-

Old music:

• Alberta Hunter/Lucille Hegamin/Victoria Spivey: Songs We Taught Your Mother (1961 [1962], Bluesville): [sp]: B+(***)
• Peter Ind: Looking Out (1958-61 [1962], Wave): [sp]: B+(**)
• Peter Ind: Jazz Bass Baroque (1987 [1988], Wave): [sp]:
• Peter Ind: Looking Out/Jazz Bass Baroque (1958-87 [1999], Wave): [sp]: B+(**)
• Lonnie Johnson With Victoria Spivey: Idle Hours (1961, Bluesville): [sp]: B+(**)
• Sheila Jordan/Mark Murphy: One for Junior (1991 [1993], Muse): [sp]: B+(**)
• Sheila Jordan/Jose Carra/Bori Albero: En La Fundación Valparaiso (2018 [2024], Clasijazz): [sp]: B+(***)
• Stephan Kramer: Thank You Sheila (2018, House Master): [sp]: B+(***)
• Steve Kuhn & Toshiko Akiyoshi: Country and Western Sound of Jazz Pianos (1963, Dauntless): [sp]: B+(*)
• Steve Kuhn/Gary McFarland: The October Suite (1966 [1967], Impulse): [sp]: B+(*)
• Steve Kuhn Quartet: Last Year's Waltz (1981 [1982], ECM): [sp]: A-
• Roswell Rudd/Steve Lacy/Sheila Jordan: Blown Bone (1967-76 [1979], Philips): [yt]: B+(***)
• Victoria Spivey: Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order: Volume 1 (11 May 1926 to 31 October 1927) (1926-27 [1995], Document): [sp]: B+(**)
• Victoria Spivey: Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order: Volume 1 (31 October 1927 to 24 September 1929) (1927-29 [1995], Document): [sp]: B+(***)
• Victoria Spivey: Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order: Volume 3 (1 October 1929 to 7 July 1936) (1929-36 [1995], Document): [sp]: A-
• Victoria Spivey: Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order: Volume 4 (30 August 1936 to 21 July 1937) (1936-37 [1995], Document): [sp]: B+(***)
• Victoria Spivey With Lonnie Johnson: Woman Blues! (1962, Bluesville): [sp]: B+(**)
• Christian Stock Trio & Sheila Jordan & Adrian Mears: Straight Ahead (2000, YVP): [sp]: B+(*)
• Aki Takase: ABC (1982, Union Jazz): [yt]: B+(**)

---

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Maria Muldaur: One Hour Mama: The Blues of Victoria Spivey (Nola Blue) [07-21]
• Aruán Ortiz: Créole Renaissance (Intakt) [08-29]
• Carlos "Zingaro"/João Madeira: Arcada Pendular (4DaRecord) [07-11]

Daily Log

Posted a very long Loose Tabs last night. Ready to work on Music Week today. Email: 18 messages:

• Daily stats for "Sheila Jordan (1928-2025)": 76 views, 5 likes, 1 comment, 1 free subscription. More notices today: 2 likes.
• Eric Levitz on "A dangerous new idea about what Democrats are doing wrong," which is a critique of a John Ganz piece called Against Polling. I could wind up writing something on this. Probably a "both are right up to a point" thing.
• The Press Rundown: Zelenskyy states Ukraine will not surrender unoccupied territories to Russia; Florida's once hot housing market has started to cool; Bill Maher says Democrats are "too afraid" to appear on his show.
• Riot Riot: Dan Weiss interview with Superchunk.

Sunday, August 17, 2025

Loose Tabs

See the blog file.

Daily Log

Sunday, 11 email messages, but half of those were from Substack. Last night I posted via Substack (Notes on Everyday Life) Sheila Jordan (1928-2025). It should also be available on my website here, or will be next update, but I haven't set up the indexing for the directory yet. I also need to set up the note-piles for Notes on Everyday Life (my scattered reflections on the world) and for the Memoir (what I remember of my life), and possibly for the Prison Notebooks (a loose collection of salvageable bits from 20+ years of blog). I'm thinking I'll do the political book in one LibreWriter file, as it is most explicitly a book idea. Not only will it look more like a book that way, I can make use of the tools for table of contents, index, footnotes, etc. Maybe I'll work on some (or all) of that next week. Today's priority is to publish Loose Tabs. It's a huge, sprawling mess, and there's nothing much else that one can do with it. I suspect that my next NOEL post will be some sort of exec summary of the most salient bits there.

In email:

• Substack: Shareable assets, which seem to be specifically oriented towards Instagram (I don't have an account there). Likes: Shannon Jackson-Barnes, Josh, Steve Manning, James Busby, Steve Smith. Comments: Steve Manning. New subscriber: Holger Stikpproweit. Pledge: Donald Malcolm.
• The Press Rundown: Trump pushes for full deal to end Ukraine War after meeting Putin; Senate Democrats urge Trump to reconsider AI chip sales to China [Nvidia is behind this]; TikTok is implementing new rules for creators and commenters;

Saturday, August 16, 2025

Daily Log

Saturday, so email way down: 6 messages:

• The Press Rundown: 1.6 million undocumented immigrants have self-deported; Intel stock rises 7% amid reports of potential government investment; Supreme Court allows age restrictions for social media in the US.
• Explain It Daily: Why do civilizations collapse?

My copy of Ellen Johnson's Jazz Child: A Portrait of Sheila Jordan arrived early enough to consult before I post my piece today.

Friday, August 15, 2025

Daily Log

Struggled with the CPAP mask. In the middle of the night, I got up, replaced the medium cushion with an old large one, which worked better, but far from perfect. Read some very good paragraphs from Sadowski on risk. I need to keep a pencil handy to mark sections I want to return to.

Email: 42(+1) messages:

• The Press Rundown (henceforth I'll be skipping some bullshit items, especially on "health"): 30-year m ortgage rate falls to lowest level since October; Bessent says fixing housing affordability will be "his big project" this fall; DOJ and SEC charge two men in $200 million Ponzi scheme.

Morning music: more Sheila Jordan, starting with Songs From Within. Woke up remembering some bits I wanted to work into the piece. I ordered a copy of Ellen Johnson's Jazz Child last night. Should get it tomorrow, so that may be reason to hold off on publishing.

Thursday, August 14, 2025

Daily Log

Another rough night sleeping, but I finally made it to 100%, then got up around 10:30, thinking that today is do-or-die on writing a Sheila Jordan piece. Read a bit of Sadowski, on companies can lock you out of using their products by withdrawing software licenses (medical instruments are notorious for this, but GMO seeds that farmers cannot cultivate and replant are another example). We need some major reforms in that whole sector.

Email: 24 messages:

• The Press Rundown: Perplexity proposes $34.5 billion acquisition of Google Chrome; Is a Vitamin B12 supplement necessary for you?; 30-minute workout may reduce cancer cell growth by 30%;
• Explain It Daily: Normally I delete immediately, but today's subject was "how does cloud computing work?" While I can easily imagine, I've wondered about what they mean by that.
• Substack recommendations from Chris Monsen: NR Mint (Dylan Hicks); Carl Wilson; Burning Ambulance (Phil Freeman).

Morning music: Sheila Jordan: Jazz Child; Lost & Found; Old Time Feeling. The latter has a really remarkable version of "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)."

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Daily Log

Spent most of yesterday thinking about writing about Sheila Jordan. Lots of thrashing, but usable lines come into mind, so I'm still toying with the idea. Finally figured out how to play Steve Elman's playlist. Looking at mail:

• The Press Rundown: Russia advances on battlefield in Ukraine before Trump-Putin summit; Lose double the weight without eating less on this diet; White House reviews legality of Nvidia and AMD chip deals with China; CELSIUS takes advantage of labeling error by manufacturer; FDA may revoke authorization for Pfizer's Covid vaccine in children under 5.
• Robert Christgau's Consumer Guide: picks include albums I liked by Tyler Childers and James McMurtry; also albums I dismissed by Aesop Rock, Wet Leg, and (especially hard) Lorde; lesser grades for my A-list albums by Brother Ali and Clipse; records I was unaware of by Rory Block, Jonathan Richman, and another Colombian sound system pick, plus some HMs I'll have to look up; one I do recognize is the Polyfillas EP, which they sent me, but I had already heard it on Bandcamp.

Tuesday, August 12, 2025

Daily Log

Woke up twice during night. First time was still dark, so I had little problem returning straight to bed. Second time was 8:15 or so. I read a fair amount, and seriously considered staying up. But I finally decided to go back to bed, expecting to just lie there for a while. Not sure I ever slept, but rested nearly up to noon. Yesterday, it warmed up during the day, but was still pleasant to walk the dog, earlier than usual. I spent all day on Music Week, ending with a list of projects for the week, so I'll have to start making good on them today.

Still mild: 78F when I finally got up. 36 pieces of mail waiting:

• From last nhight: stats on the NOEL post: 85 views, 3 likes,' 1 comment, 6 subscriptions. Further down: 1 more sub.
• Amazon: ordered Garage Planet M2 Garage Wall Protectors
• Press Rundown: Trump to send federal forces to DC amid crime dispute with mayor; Federal judge denies DOJ request to unseal Epstein grand jury materials; New health measure changes our understanding of ageing; Trump again delays China tariff deadline by 90 days; Paramount secures UFC streaming rights in the US for $7.7 billion; NFL's strategy for promoting mental health awareness.

Monday, August 11, 2025

Daily Log

Got up pretty early. Only 72°F, but very humid (89%), the rain gauge registering 0.97 inch. Read a bit, washed dishes, got to the computer at 10:47, finding 20 pieces of email, the first five feedback from yesterday's Substack post. New subscribers included Phil Overeem, Tom Lane, Chuck Bromley, and Elias Vlanton. Last night brought Brad Luen and Crocodile Chuck. Each shows up with a count of how many Substacks each subscribes to. CC is the leader by far (448).

• The Press Rundown: Democrats criticize GOP redistricting efforts as Tex Gov. Abbott threatens arrests; Trump advises homeless to leave Washington, D.C.; Doctors Utilize Large Neuro Model to Interpret Brain Activity; AI is producing new billionaires at a record rate; Horror film 'Weapons' achieves success at the box office; Researchers identify social factors thta increase long COVID risk threefold.

Morning music: Mississippi John Hurt, Rediscovered. After only having 17 rated albums through Friday, I spent my time working on the post listening to the top metacritic-rated non-genre albums, which by and large were albums I consciously ignored. Got down to Sparks this morning, but got the rated count up to 33.

Music Week

Expanded blog post, August archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 33 albums, 1 A-list

Music: Current count 44663 [44630] rated (+33), 36 [25] unrated (+11).

Some time after I bought my 1986 Audi, I replaced the radio with a CD player. Same with my 1994 Nissan, unless it came with one (I'm a bit unsure, but if it did, it was gone within a week). The 2006 Toyota had one by default, but we opted for the 6-CD changer. I don't think I ever loaded more than one CD at a time, but it came with extra speakers, and made a statement. When I started contemplating a new car just before 2020 happened, I was dismayed to find virtually nothing offering CD players, or even radios that could be ripped out and easily replaced. When we finally gave in and bought our new Toyota, all we could get was a 10.5-inch media/info console with bluetooth, wi-fi, one usb port, and a bunch of trial subscriptions. I spent our first week driving in silence, except when my wife insisted on NPR, which was painful. Exposing oneself to too much news and opinion isn't healthy.

I asked google "why did car companies stop offering cd players," and AI responded:

Car companies stopped offering CD players as standard features due to a shift in consumer preferences towards digital music and the convenience of streaming services. The rise of smartphones, Bluetooth, and USB connectivity has made it easier and more appealing to access music through these devices rather than through physical CDs. Additionally, CD players are more expensive to manufacture and install than other audio components, and their removal helps manufacturers cut costs.

This mostly sounds like bullshit to me. I don't doubt that this is what they say and want you to believe, but that's all it is. AI is only as good as its training data. It hasn't overcome the maxim of "garbage in, garbage out." The costs are trivial in a $30,000 car (nor do you find them appearing in more expensive models), and "consumer preferences" are largely dictated by marketing schemes, meant to steer people to corporate preferences. I doubt convenience too. I use streaming a lot at home, but the user interfaces are awful, and I only get by because I'm constantly on the keyboard. I'm trying not to go too crazy here. I'm often slow adopting new tech. (I certainly dragged my feet when CDs came out -- you know, back when they had superior sound and lasted forever.) So I'll try to give it a go. But this week has been pretty miserable for me and my music.

My big goal last week was to finally publish my first Substack post. I've written quite a bit of Loose Tabs draft material, and I figured one long comment on an especially inane Vox piece would kick things off nicely, as it does a fairly succinct job of summing up the current political situation, with relevant notes on the ineptness of the opposition and the cluelessness of a way-too-indulgent media, while introducing my general themes. All I needed to do was write a bit of header and footer, but I tore up three or four of the former by Friday before I got something I could stand. As expected, I did a fair amount of editing on the core piece, and sent it out to a couple people Saturday evening. Sunday I added a couple more paragraphs, then finally sent it out, under the title Four Stories. Please check it out, and subscribe to get it delivered regularly by email. There is no charge, no advertising, and no nagging (if I can help it). You do not have to have a Substack account to subscribe. If you have questions or problems, let me know.

I posted notices on X, Bluesky, and Facebook. Subscribers are up to 41, which looks like more than a third of the views on any of those mass social media platforms. (The X tweet has 93 views, almost double the 51 of last week's Music Week notice.) But I've been enjoying the stream of mail from Substack, especially sign-up notices from old friends, and I'm saving the marketing tips in case I ever get around to thinking about promotion. Right now this is mostly a pivot in how I'm approaching writing. More on that when I have something to show.

As noted in the letter, I only had 17 records rated through Friday. I didn't try to explain why. The distractions were major, but also every now and then I just have trouble figuring out what to play next. So I settled on the dumbest (but easiest) algorithm of all: I started playing the highest-rated non-genre (rock/pop, but not metal) albums on my metacritic list: Pulp, Turnstile, Caroline, Rich Dawson, Jasmine.4.T, Swans, Steven Wilson, Divorce, Doves, Lorde, etc. These are all albums I hadn't been in any hurry to play, and in many cases might never have bothered with. By the end of the week, I was down to Sparks (110), and up over 30 albums rated. Most vindicated my previous neglect, with the few pleasant surprises -- Bob Mould, Self Esteem, Horrors -- not quite rising past B+(***). That leaves us way short of A-list albums this week. Aside from those three, the best prospect is Antony Szmierek, followed by the other Vibrational Therapy albums.

After the cutoff, I decided to tweak the algorithm to allow me to pick one-in-three albums. I went with Miki Berenyi over Youth Lagoon and BC Camplight, and got another B+(***). The top unheard albums now are all metal (Deafheaven, Heartworms, Spiritbox). I sample a few metal albums every year, although only one so far this year (Mean Mistreater). Updates to the lists have been very sporadic of late, which is one reason I've struggled to find things to listen to. I've also let the jazz queue languish, but most of what's pending hasn't been released yet.

Goals for next week include: finally building Laura's new computer; shopping for eye glasses; building one more rack for the woodpile project; building my recycling kiosk; posting Loose Tabs; another newsletter; cooking dinner for some very old friends. The probably won't get to section also includes: sorting out my electrician tools and parts; setting up the website framework for the broader Notes on Everyday Life project; analyzing the DownBeat polls. Probably some more stuff I'm forgetting right now, given that I've done next to nothing on my planning documents, but most of what's left falls into definitely-won't-get-around-to territory. Loose Tabs could swallow everything else, so I'll focus on cutting that one short.

PS: A while back I was trying to track down a broken link to rockcritics.com. I finally found the answer, which is that the old domain name is defunct, but the website is still available here. This came up with reference to a 2002 interview with Robert Christgau, but it also concerns a 2014 interview with me, where I talk a little about my intellectual evolution, how I got into writing rock and jazz criticism, and how I built Robert Christgau's website (as well as a few things about my website). This interview turned out to be the basis for most of what is in my Wikipedia page, so it's rather important to me -- albeit something I hadn't looked at in years. It may be worth a revisit and some second thoughts.

---

New records reviewed this week:

• Addison Rae: Addison (2025, As Long as I'm Dancing/Columbia): [sp]: B+(*)
• Brandi Carlile & Elton John: Who Believes in Angels? (2025, Mercury): [sp]: B-
• Caroline: Caroline 2 (2025, Rough Trade): [sp]: B
• Circuit des Yeux: Halo on the Inside (2025, Matador): [sp]: B
• Edwyn Collins: Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation (2025, AED): [sp]: B+(**)
• Rich Dawson: End of the Middle (2025, Weird World/Domino): [sp]: B
• Divorce: Drive to Goldenhammer (2025, Gravity/Capitol): [sp]: B+(*)
• Djo: The Crux (2025, AWAL): [sp]: B+(*)
• Doves: Constellations for the Lonely (2025, EMI North): [sp]: B+(*)
• Franz Ferdinand: The Human Fear (2025, Domino): [sp]: B+(*)
• The Horrors: Night Life (2025, Fiction/Universal): [sp]: B_+(**)
• Jasmine.4.T: You Are the Morning (2025, Saddest Factory/Dead Oceans): [sp]: B
• Kronos Quartet and the Hard Rain Collective: Hard Rain (2025, Red Hot Org, EP): [bc]: B+(**)
• Jim Legxacy: Black British Music (2025, XL): [sp]: B+(*)
• Nicolas Leirtrø: Cherry Blossom (2024 [2025], Sonic Transmission): [bc]: B+(*)
• Lorde: Virgin (2025, Republic): [sp]: B
• M(h)aol: Something Soft (2025, Merge): [sp]: B+(***)
• Bob Mould: Here We Go Crazy (2025, Granary Music): [sp]: B+(***)
• Pulp: More (2025, Rough Trade): [sp]: B+(*)
• Self Esteem: A Complicated Woman (2025, Polydor): [sp]: B+(***)
• Big A Sherrod: Torchbearer of the Clarksdale Sound [Listener's Circle Vol. 72] (2025, Music Maker, EP): [bc]: B+(**)
• Slick Rick: Victory (2025, Mass Appeal): [sp]: B+(***)
• Sparks: MAD! (2025, Transgressive): [sp]: B-
• Swans: Birthing (2025, Young God/Mute): [sp]: B
• Antony Szmierek: Service Station at the End of the Universe (2025, Mushroom Music): [sp]: B+(***)
• Turnstile: Never Enough (2025, Roadrunner): [sp]: B+(*)
• William Tyler: Time Indefinite (2025, Psychic Hotline): [sp]: B+(*)
• Akira Umeda & Metal Preyers: Clube Da Mariposa Mórbida (2025, Nyege Nyege Tapes): [sp]: B+(*)
• Vibration Black Finger: Everybody Cryin' Mercy (Enid) **
• Steven Wilson: The Overview (2025, Fiction): [sp]: B+(*)
• Wretch 32: Home? (2025, AWAL): [sp]: B+(**)

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Roots Rocking Zimbabwe: The Modern Sound of Harare Townships 1975-1980 (1975-80 [2025], Analog Africa): [bc]: B+(***)

Old music:

• New Tutankhamen: I Wish You Were Mine (1979 [2019], Nyami Nyami): [bc]: B+(*)
• Vibration Black Finger: Blackism (2008 [2017], Enid): [sp]: A-
• Vibration Black Finger: Can You See What I'm Trying to Say (2020, Jazzman): [sp]: B+(***)

---

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Bruce Gertz Quintet: Octopus Dreams (Open Mind Jazz) [08-15]
• Larry Keel/Jon Stickley: Larry Keel & Jon Stickley (self-released, EP) [09-05]
• Roberto Magris: Lovely Day(s) (JMood) [09-01]
• Mike Pope: The Parts You Keep (Origin) [08-22]
• Bill Scorzari: Sidereal Days (Day 1) (self-released) [10-17]
• Marc Seales With Ernie Watts: People & Places (Origin) [08-22]
• Ben Thomas: Tango Project (Origin) [08-22]
• Chris Wabich: 1978 (Steep) (ADW) [08-01]
• Yoko Yates: Eternal Moments (Banka) [09-19]
• Zurhub [Mattan Klein/Ezequiel Hezi Joit]: Countryside Motorways (Origin) [08-22]

Sunday, August 10, 2025

Daily Log

Mail: nothing interesting yet (7 at first glance).

Morning music: Ian Dury.

Saturday, August 09, 2025

Daily Log

Mail is always light on weekends, so just 6 messages waiting, vs. 30-40 on typical weekdays.

• The Press Rundown: RFK Jr. reduces mRNA vaccine research funding for pandemic preparedness; French fries may increase diabetes risk but potatoes remain healthy options; How Tim Cook persuaded Trump to postpone made-in-USA iPhone plans; Disney settles lawsuit with former Star Wars actress Gina Carano.
• DownBeat: reminder to vote in 90th Annual Readers Poll.
• Explain It Daily: How do animals communicate?

Friday, August 08, 2025

Daily Log

Thinking about making this an actual daily log, rather than just a place to collect occasional notes. (Maybe it should be a separate file? Decide that later.) To do this, I started opening a second copy of emacs on the mail tab. I started running a second copy of emacs alongside a second mail window during FDJCP. While the files were different, I wound up referring to and editing m2025, so I got used to the interlock between multiple instances editing the same file. The alternative is to run multiple emacs frames in different tabs, but when you do that, a misstep in switching windows moves you to the wrong tab, which is pretty jarring.

Non-review albums played:

1. Art Tatum/Ben Webster: The Group Masterpieces, Vol. 8

Incoming mail:

• The Press Rundown: First I've seen of this (not something I consciously subscribed to). Top news stories: Trump directs new census to exclude undocumented immigrants; Daily weight loss pill may enable 12% body weight reduction in patients -- per Eli Lilly; GPT-5 launched by OpenAI offering PhD level assistance on demand; Duolingo's stock rises after reporting increased AI revenue in earnings; Paramount and Skydance finalize $8 billion merger amid CBS investigation by FCC
• Explain It Daily (something else someone else signed me up for: offers options of: Like I'm 5 years old; Like I'm in college; Like I'm an expert; With color blocks; From the start: explain it. I haven't bitten yet, but can see the appeal): How does data encryption keep data safe?
• Iron Chef AI (first day for this unsolicited feed also, offering today's recipe): Hyper-healilng chicken pho.

Starting work on first Substack post today. Substack posts will be archived on their website, but I want to keep my own archive. As the Substack is one piece of the broader Notes on Everyday Life project, I set up a top-level ocston directory noel, and a subdirectory for copies of the Substack posts noel/ss. I'll add other subdirectories later for other components, as they develop. Within the ss directory, I need to set up a file naming convention. One idea is tag the posts with dates, or to number the posts consecutively. The directory sort could then give me the order, which would be convenient for next/prev linking. Zero-padding would help there, but should I use 3 or 4 or 5 digits? Alternatively, I could use a make program to rebuild an index file as needed. Adding some text to the filename could help identify it, but again an index could be preferable.

I also need to decide whether I want to embed meta-data in the file, or in a separate file, and what should be provided, and how it should be encoded. Preliminary verdict: use ordinal numbers (starting with 0 for "Hello World," so 1 will be the first mailed post), with no zero-padding and no filename tags, just the suffix .php (so the files won't require any preprocessing, like the notebook's .nbk files do). Meta-data will be embedded in the file, but how is TBD. Later I'll write a make program to tabulate the meta-data and build index files (e.g., by keyword). For now I can put meta-data in PHP comments. Most likely I will wind up putting it into a PHP object so I can reference it from the file itself, but I may start with a string block that can be parsed easily by awk to build up the external index.

Monday, August 04, 2025

Music Week

Expanded blog post, August archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 38 albums, 5 A-list

Music: Current count 44630 [44592] rated (+38), 25 [18] unrated (+7).

Major personal news is that we bought a new car. I've been wanting to for several years, but we've traveled so rarely since 2020 that there's been little need. Still, over the last year the clutch has been so dicey I've been afraid of driving out of town, even for the day trips we like to offer our occasional visitors, or for checking in on the few friends and relatives within easy reasonable distance. By the time I got the car into the shop, it was barely drivable and deteriorating fast.

I like to do a thorough job of shopping for big purchases like cars, and had done a fair amount of research, but when the time came, we panicked and bought what I initially identified as the safe default choice. The good news is that it's done now, moving a fairly large project from pending to done. (Well, mostly done: we still have tags, taxes, insurance, not sure what else as there's a lot of new technology I don't fully understand; e.g., they're pushing some kind of AT&T "powerful Wi-Fi hotspot" subscription with a 2-day window for a 20% discount.) The bad news is that I'm still unhappy with the way it all unfolded.

Still, we drive so little we shouldn't let minor quibbles get the better of us. Laura is unhappy that the passenger seat is so low (and unadjustable for height, unlike the driver seat; why not offer that?). And I hate that I won't be able to play CDs in the car. I'm trying not to panic on that score. I have a lot to learn about the new media console system. For that matter, there is a lot I never learned about my fairly ancient cell phone, but may have to as the phone seems to be the nerve center of the car's media package. I've only now downloaded my streaming apps, but haven't tested them out yet.

While numerous trips to car dealers kept me away from other projects around the house, between closing on the car on Friday and picking it up today I managed to listen to a few albums (38 below), and write a fair chunk of the next Loose Tabs. In particular, I haven't done anything on the Substack-based Notes on Everyday Life I announced a couple weeks ago (other than my edit of their "Coming Soon" page, retitled Hello World, which offers an idea of what I had in mind. I'm pleased to note that despite no output, I have 29 free subscribers waiting. I expect to send them something in the coming week.

Whether that first message fits my plan or not isn't clear yet. My latest thinking is that while everything will land somewhere on the website, the timing will vary: some things will show up first in the newsletter, others on the website, with each referring to the other. Redundancy should encourage me to edit more, and possibly expand on items I rushed out. (I missed last night's deadline in posting this. Looking at it again this morning I've already made a dozen edits in the previous paragraphs.) While I have enough Loose Tabs to publish now -- and probably too much for most folk to digest -- I still have a lot of open tabs to get to. I'll probably hold that post back until I finish my rounds (in a week or so), then put it up on the website. I could then write a shorter digest for the newsletter, with links to featured pieces, with the whole post as context. On the other hand, a couple items are already big and/or important enough to extract, polish up a bit, and turn into newsletter items, so they may appear ahead of the Loose Tabs blog post.

I'm not sure where music might fit into this scheme of things. I'm conscious that most of my current subscribers come for the music tips, but my ability to write reviews is already stretched pretty thin. Still, I might come up with a framework to tack on some timely listening notes at the end, perhaps like Jeffrey St. Clair does in his "Sound Grammar" section. He also does one on books, which I could handle -- perhaps not just on what little I manage to read, but by advancing some items that would later appear in a Book Roundup?

---

My main source for records this week has been Phil Overeem's August 1 list, which I'm still working my way through, plus a few items from Chris Monsen's mid-year list. The main exception is probably the sampling of Holger Czukay. I found (and have since lost) a Chinese website that seemed to suggest a recent reissue of Der Osten Ist Rot, which got me started, although I didn't go very deep. But when I looked up what Christgau had to say about Czukay (very little), I was reminded that I never managed to find a copy of David Toop's Oceans of Sound 2-CD compilation (graded A). A quick check at Amazon shows the book still in print, but no evidence of the CDs.

I finished Chris Hayes' book, The Siren's Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource. I found it useful, generating a lot of interesting thoughts about technology, media culture, and capitalism. Like his previous two books -- Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy (2012) and A Colony in a Nation (2017) -- he took a novel approach to framing a big problem, although this one is a bit more tenuous, making me think that attention may not be the best way of framing the problem. I was especially impressed by the depth of research. While he is clearly smarter than your average TV talking head, what finally came clear in the acknowledgments section was that he has some genuinely brilliant research assistance. I certainly didn't expect to see mention, let alone a learned discussion, of Alexandre Kojève. His discussion of Marx's early writings on alienation is also so spot on that he felt the need to insert a parenthetical "I am not a Marxist" disclaimer.

I've moved on to a book called How AI Works, figuring it's about time I get some fairly unbiased insight into such a superhyped technology. I knew a fair amount about AI back in the 1980s, but haven't followed it, so it wasn't clear how useful my past understanding was. I'll write more about this in the future. One notable thing is that this has gotten me thinking about more mundane matters of technology, like website development. I just ordered a book from the same publisher called The Modern Web, because it seems to cover a lot of details that I've never been able to quite grasp (e.g., the chapters on device-responsive CSS and flexbox layouts). On the other hand, I'm surprised to be ordering a book on web technology originally published over a decade ago (2013). But looking around, I'm not seeing anything newer that looks genuinely useful. Given that most of my web development was learned in 2001-03, maybe the best I can hope for is to advance in decade-sized chunks.

Or maybe I'm just thrashing, as everything we seem to try, or at least hope to try, is failing. Or maybe failing isn't the right word: just slipping further and further away.

---

New records reviewed this week:

• Ilia Belorukov & Marina Džukljev: Everything Changes, Nothing Disappears (2022-23 [2024], Acheulian Handaxe): [sp]: B+(***)
• Gina Birch: Trouble (2025, Third Man): [sp]: B+(**)
• Tyler Childers: Snipe Hunter (2025, Hickman Holler/RCA): [sp]: A-
• Doseone & Height Keech: Wood Teeth (2025, Hands Made, EP): [sp]: B+(***)
• Eddy Current Suppression Ring: Shapes and Forms (2025, Cool Death, EP): bc]: B+(*)
• Ex_libris: Ex_libris 001 (2025, Ex_libris, EP): [sp]: B+(**)
• Ex_libris: Ex_libris 002 (2025, Ex_libris, EP): [sp]: B+(**)
• Fines Double: Espejismo (2025, self-released): [sp]: B+(***)
• Ben Lamar Gay: Yowzers (2023-24 [2025], International Anthem): [sp]: B+(*)
• Andreas Haddeland Trio: Estuar (2025, Tare): [bc]: B+(**)
• Heat On: Heat On (2024 [2025], Cuneiform): [dl]: A-
• Gilad Hekselman: Downhill From Here (2023 [2025], La Reserve/Diggers Factory): [sp]: B+(*)
• Kjetil Husebø: Piano Transformed - Interspace (2024 [2025], Optical Substance): [bc]: B+(*)
• Mikko Innanen & Ingebrigt Håker Flaten: Live in Espoo (2025, Fiasko/Sonic Transmissions): [bc]: A-
• Karol G: Tropicoqueta (2025, Bichota/Interscope): [sp]: A-
• Eric McPherson: Double Bass Quartet (2022 [2025], Giant Step Arts): [cd]: B+(**)
• Memphis Metaphysics: Memphis Metaphysics (2023 [2025], Sonic Transmissions): [sp]: B+(**)
• Pasquale Mirra/Hamid Drake: Lhasa (2022 [2025], Parco Della Musica): [sp]: B+(*)
• PAL: Under Your Radar (2025, self-released, EP): [bc]: B+(***)
• Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke: Tall Tales (2025, Warp): [sp]: B+(**)
• Alex Sipiagin: Daydream (2024 [2025], SkyDeck Music): [sp]: B
• Alex Sipiagin: Reverberations (2024 [2025], Criss Cross Jazz): [sp]: B+(*)
• Sultan Stevenson: El Roi (2025, Edition): [sp]: B+(*)
• Bill Stewart: Live at the Village Vanguard (2023 [2025], Criss Cross Jazz): [sp]: B+(**)
• Three-Layer Cake: Sounds the Color of Grounds (2025, Otherly Love): [sp]: B+(**)
• Premik Russell Tubbs/Margee Minier-Tubbs: Oneness-World (2025, Margetoile): [cd]: B+(*)
• Meryl Zimmerman: Easy to Love (2024, Tuxedo Cat): [bc]: B

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Master Wilburn Burchette: Master Wilburn Burchette's Psychic Meditation Music (1974 [2025], Numero Group): [bc]: B+(*)
• Electric Satie: Gymnopédie '99 (1998 [2025], In Sheep's Clothing): [sp]: B+(***)
• Brian Eno/Holger Czukay/J. Peter Schwalm: Sushi. Roti. Reibekuchen (1998 [2024], Grönland): [sp]: B+(**)
• Hüsker Dü: Jan. 30, First Ave Pt. 1 (1985 [2025], Numero Group, EP): [sp]: B+(**)
• Hüsker Dü: Nov. 3, Salt Lake City (1985 [2025], Numero Group, EP): [sp]: B+(*)

Old music:

• Holger Czukay: Der Osten Ist Rot (1984, Virgin): [sp]: B+(*)
• Holger Czukay: Rome Remains Rome (1987, Virgin): [sp]: A-
• Fines Double: Flotar (2021, Filthy Broke): [bc]: B+(**)
• Blaze Foley: Blaze Foley [The Lost Muscle Shoals Recordings] (1984 [2017], Lost Art): [bc]: B+(*)
• Hüsker Dü: Extra Circus (1983 [2017], Numero Group): [sp]: B
• PAL: PALS (2023, self-released, EP): [bc]: B+(**)

---

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Nicole Glover: Memories, Dreams, Reflections (Savant)
• Luigi Grasso: La Dimora Dell'atrove (LP345) [09-26]
• Andy Haas/Brian G Skol: The Honeybee Twist (Resonant Music) [08-01]
• Dylan Hicks & Small Screens: Avian Field Recordings (Soft Launch) [08-12]
• Lex Korten: Canopy (Sounderscore) [09-19]
• Linda May Han Oh: Strange Heavens (Biophilia) [08-22]: packaging only, no music (is this a joke?)
• Webber/Morris Big Band: Unseparate (Out of Your Head) [09-26]
• Simón Willson: Feel Love (Endectomorph Music) [09-25]

---

Jul 2025

Sep 2025