Daily Log

Came down about 10:45. I compiled for didn't post Music Week yesterday. I started working on a Substack post yesterday, and got probably half way through. It starts by discussing Wu's five-step process from monopoly to strongman dictatorship. I've covered that, but need to decide where to go from there. As I've noted, there is a lot of value in the policy proposals Wu and Cory Doctorow are pushing, but I'm skeptical that there is much political will to get them done. That's partly because they're too nerdy for most folks to understand (or care about), partly because they skirt the more fundamental issues that people can understand and get worked up over (like having companies, and for that matter governments, repeatedly screw them over). But the problem there is that political solutions to such problems are likely to be painful, not least to politicians who depend on rich donors to get elected.

Cooler today (56F now, high 60F, looks like patches of rain between noon and 3PM). Probably a decent attic work day, but I need to wrap up my writing. Laura has doctor appointment this afternoon. She lost Wordle last night, breaking a streak of over 365 days. Got caught on "*atch" words. She asked me for advice, but I didn't venture a guess. Turned out to be "latch," which I would have picked over a couple of her guesses (last one was "hatch," which tends to happen as we avoid doubling rare consonants). I have no streak, as working it would mess up her NYT account. She does have me doing Quordle, which she works up to finding the first word, leaving the other three for me. I cycle through 5 games there, losing one every 2-3 days, mostly Extreme when I can blame her using up most of the guesses. I use a calculator, which speeds things up considerably. She considers that cheating, but it saves me a lot of mental wheel-spinning, especially when there is only one possible word. It still leaves a fair amount of strategy, even if it is different.

Daily Log

Woke up early, but managed six hours of sleep. Read the intro chapter of Power and Progress, before entering the section on 19th century canal building. They have AI on the mind, but much of that is still speculation. I didn't get the website updated yesterday, so I still have my q&a to publish, as well as the archival version of "Lookback: Iraq 2023." I did write a fair amount on the eternally hapless Loose Tabs. Presumably I'll do a Music Week today. I've pretty much exhausted my demo queue, but have new mail to unpack.

One thing I am disturbed by is that I seem to have missed a whole day without pills (probably Saturday, as I took Saturday's pills yesterday). I've sometimes discovered missing the morning pills that night, so I usually just take them, then the evening pills before I go to bed. No obvious problems, but this time the mental lapse is chilling. While I clearly have a lot of work to do today, at this point (10:30) I feel like doing nothing.

Email (11 messages):

• Tom Carson: Our Nixon (from 1994)

Music Week

Expanded blog post, May archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 31 albums, 3 A-list

Music: Current count 45881 [45850] rated (+31), 14 [10] unrated (-4).

New records reviewed this week:

• Atmosphere: Jestures (2025, Rhymesayers Entertainment): [sp]: A-
• MC Paul Barman & Kenny Segal: Antinomian Pandemonium (2026, Fused Arrow): [bc]: B+(**)
• Black Nile: Indigo Garden (2026, Hen House Studios): [sp]: B+(**)
• Ryan Blotnick: The Woods (2024 [2026], Fishkill): [dl]: B+(**)
• Bobby Broom: Notes of Thanks (2025 [2026], Steele): [sp]: B+(*)
• Garret T. Capps: I Still Love San Antone (2026, Nudie): [bc]: B+(***)
• Jessye DeSilva: Glitter Up the Dark (2024 [2026], Nine Athens): [sp]: B+(**)
• Richard Gilman-Opalsky: A Fierce and Gentle Force (2025 [2026], Edgetone): [cd]: B+(***)
• Ize Trio: Global Prayer (2023-25 [2026], self-released): [cd]: B+(**) [06-12]
• Paul Kahn: Willingness (Carl Cat, EP): [cd]: B- [06-19]
• Kehlani: Kehlani (2026, Atlantic): [sp]: B+(**)
• Ella Langley: Dandelion (2026, Sawgod/Columbia): [sp]: B+(***)
• Los Thuthanaka: Wak'a (2026, self-released, EP): [bc]: B
• Myra Melford/Satoko Fujii: Katarahi (2024 [2026], RogueArt): [cd]: A-
• Hedvig Mollestad Weejuns: Bitches Blues (2026, Rune Grammofon): [sp]: B+(***)
• The Monochrome Set: Lotus Bridge (2026, Tapete): [sp]: B
• Maisy Owen: Dark on a Sunny Day (2026, Tompkins Square): [sp]: B+(*)
• Andreas Røysum Ensemble: With Marvin Tate (2025, Motvind): [bc]: B+(***)
• Maria Schneider Orchestra: American Crow (2025 [2026], ArtistShare, EP): [os]: B
• Serokolo 7: Maramfa Musick Pro (2026, Nyege Nyege Tapes): [bc]: B+(*)
• Bria Skonberg: Brass (2025 [2026], Cellar Music Group): [sp]: B+(**)
• Harry Styles: Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. (2026, Erskine/Columbia): [sp]: B+(*)
• Tokischa: Amor & Droga (2026, Warner Latina): [sp]: B+(***)
• Álvaro Torres Trio: Mairena (2025 [2026], Fresh Sound New Talent): [cd]: B+(**)
• The Twilight Sad: It's the Long Goodbye (2026, Rock Action): [sp]: B+(**)
• Steve Wilson: Enduring Sonance (2025 [2026], Smoke Sessions): [sp]: B+(*)

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Terry Callier: At the Earl of Old Town (1967 [2026], Time Traveler, 2CD): [cd]: B+(**)
• Antoine Dougbé: Antoine Dougbé Et L'Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou (1977-82 [2026], Analog Africa): [bc]: A-
• Roy Hargrove: Bern (2000 [2026], Time Traveler): [cd]: B+(**)

Old music:

• Ryan Blotnick: Kush (2016, Songlines): [sp]: A-
• Terry Callier: The New Folk Sound of Terry Callier (1964 [1968], Prestige): [sp]: B
• The Monochrome Set: Strange Boutique (1980, Dindisc): [sp]: B+(*)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Dawn Clement: Dear Ms. Dearie (Origin) [05-22]
• George Cotsirilos: In the Wee Hours (OA2) [05-22]
• Gabriel Espinosa: The Brazilian Project (Origin) [05-22]
• David Janeway Trio: Live at Blue LLama (SteepleChase) [05-04]
• Doug MacDonald: Tribute to South Central (Dmac Music) [06-01]
• Jennifer Madsen: Girl Talk (SingBaby Productions) [06-26]
• Andrew Moorhead: Mirage (OA2) [05-22]
• Sergio Pereira: Colors of Time (Sergio Pereira Music) [05-15]
• Leigh Pilzer: Keep Holding On (Strange Woman) [06-19]
• Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band: Arsenio and Beyond: Live at the Bronx Music Hall (Jazzheads) [04-10]
• Christopher Sánchez: Latin Jazz Meets Opera (Zoho) [05-08]
• Joe Syrian Motor City Jazz Octet: A Blue Time (Circle 9) [04-24]

Daily Log

Didn't get around to starting this entry until 12:37, so details on sleep have already faded from memory. Started reading Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity, by Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson. First few pages seem promising. One idea that occurs to me is that the paths of technological development and capitalism were largely parallel (congruent?) for a long time, such that capitalism was the most efficient way to produce technological development. But the goals have always been slightly different, and that divergence is widening, as capital focuses ever more sharply on extracting rather than creating value.

Warmed up today, 81F now, expected to reach 86F. Not too hot to work outside, but I seem to have missed my window for working in the attic. C'est domage. I'm still pretty sore as it is. I got the Substack post on Iraq 2003 up yesterday. I should update the website today, as I have three answers to reader questions, plus the noel/ss archive. Thinking about doing another fairly quick post based on something from Tim Wu's The Age of Extraction: he offers a five-stage progression beginning with economic concentration and ending in a strongman dictatorship. While the first three stages appear inexorable (concentration, extraction, resentment), do the last two (corruption, dictatorship) really follow? Perhaps in the US they have: corruption is off the charts, and Trump certainly wants to be a dictator. But the more classic consequence of such resentment is revolution, or some sort of counterrevolutionary reform. It seems that may be worth a bit of thought.

I'm also slowly inching toward some house sorting work. I did a tiny bit of looking around in the basement yesterday. At some point I'll get back to that. Meanwhile, I'm probably just going to write, and do some website work.

Email (39 messages, most left over from Friday):

• My Substack post: Lookback: Iran 2003. Likes: 2.
• Substack April 2026 stats: 99 subscribers (+3), 247 post reads (+132; i.e., 2 posts vs. 1).
• Got my invite to vote in the 79th Annual DownBeat Critics Poll. They're offering a promo hat this year instead of the usual T-shirt.
• Robert Wright: AI and the New McCarthyism. Bernie Sanders has proposed a moratorium on new AI data center construction utnil some safeguards are implemented. AI flacks (Nathan Leamer is first named, though behind him you find moguls like Marc Andreessen and Greg Brockman) are accusing him of treason, surrendering the AI race to China.
• Phil Overeem: My Ten -- Scratch That -- Twenty-Five Commandments of Teaching
• Christian Iszchak: An Acute Case: Unheard: Atmosphere: Jestures (*); Harry Styles: Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally (B+).
• Tom Carson: Frankenride 3 (novel in progress, paid only).
• Chuck Eddy: Toledo Mud Hens Forever.
• Brad Luen: The Bullpen 012.
• TomDispatch: Tom Engelhardt: A World in Trumple Deep
• Substack: Stats for Lookback: Iraq 2003: 113 views, 2 likes, 0 subscriptions.

Daily Log

Woke up from a dream where my car had been stopped by police, who were intent on searching everything. A lawyer friend was also mentioned: the two of us supposedly had "bookmarks" that the police were exploring, so I tried calling her. After getting someone else, I woke up. Read some more by Tim Wu, bringing me near the end. Came down around 10:30. Playing Roger Miller.

I reached a possible end to the "Lookback: Iraq" substack post, but I didn't post it. Today. I need to reconsider the end. Trump's great innovation in US foreign policy is that he doesn't even pretend to give a fuck. Bush still had enough sense of right and wrong that he felt compelled to lie when he wanted to do something bad. My classic example was how he called his timber company clear cut giveaway the "Healthy Forests Initiative." Another example was "No Child Left Behind." He sure snookered Ted Kennedy with that one. I hated Bush's Saudi-inspired "guest worker" program, but in some ways it would have been better than the combination of blind indifference/belligerence that de facto exists. Trump isn't much worse, but he's much more shameless about it. I think that shame among sinners is overrated, but shamelessness is still worse. Hypocrites erode standards, but at least they accept them as principles.

I also wrote answers to a couple of questions. Didn't post them either, but I did manage quite a bit of writing yesterday. New jigsaw started. It's going to be relatively difficult.

Email (74 messages, mostly left over from Friday):

• Tom Carson: Can We Please Impeach Trump's Casting Director? Favorite line here is "Or gaze worshipfully at Pete Hegseth, who believes that war is a continuation of date rape by other means." And that's about 10 good lines in, with more to follow, like: "A nod to Chuck Schumer, living proof that you don't send Bob Cratchit to do Ebenezer Scrooge's job."
• Shock Hosting support notice of cPanel security vulnerability. Seems to be fixed.

I posted to Substack my Lookback: Iraq 2003 piece (also here.

Daily Log

Opened this file up at 11:10, so events like waking up and coming down track back an hour or so. I put a disc from one of the Velvet Underground bootleg sets on, and perused Facebook. I saw an item about how Bob Christgau hasn't published his 2025 Dean's List yet, so I added this comment:

I should perhaps admit that the last ent_date in the cg database is 2025-03-12, so I am over 12 months behind. While he has dictated a 9-month quarantine for CG reviews, there are some that should be visible but aren't yet in the system. On the other hand, even with the quarantine, you should be able to see get_ydate.php, but due to my sloth you cannot. I've fallen behind like this in the past, and when he's complained I've snapped to, but that hasn't happened here (yet). I've fallen way behind on my own shit. I only got two substack posts out in April, leaving a third one in my drafts file. My streamnotes indexing is still stuck in 2025. I have an interesting question pending about my "motivation," so I'm giving that some thought. The relevant part here is that I'm mostly demand-driven, and he's been pretty quiet for some time now. I don't know what that means. That I'm feeling the same may point to age, but that's hardly the only excuse for malaise these days.

I opened an extra terminal window and tab in Workspace 6 in case I want to start working on the CG database. Many other things on my mind today. I made a small but high calorie dinner yesterday. It started when I picked up a rack of pork ribs the other day. One of the easiest ways to deal with them is to put them in a Korean marinade, then roast them (45 minutes at 350F). My soybean paste was old and crumbly, and I cut way back on the chili paste. I didn't have an apple, but opened a can of pineapple instead, along with an individual serving of pears, and I scraped the bottom of a jar of hoisin sauce into the mix, before letting them marinate overnight. I was going to make stir-fried lima beans, and maybe a bit of rice. Laura suggested inviting Janice & Tim over, so I figured I'd scale up a fried rice, and make a dessert.

For fried rice, I've been riffing on Tropp's ham & egg recipe, adding curry spices and extra vegetables. I had half an onion left from the marinade, so added garlic, ginger, and a shallot, and fried that as a base, with some curry powder and chopped ham and soppresata. On the side, I sauteed some shredded carrots, a red bell pepper, a zucchini, and the usual eggs. I folded them into the rice, along with scallions and pine nuts. I only used 1 cup of rice, but it made for a big bowl.

For dessert, I made gluten-free brownies, with almond flour and cocoa for structure, and black walnuts. I topped each with chocolate chip ice cream, my leftover Mexican ganache (made from chocolate with cinnamon and coconut cream), and whipped cream. I doubt the brownies are quite as good as my ATK recipe, but they came pretty close. Ate way too much yesterday, and got virtually nothing else done. Well, I did write a bit on the Iraq War trawl, but failed to get anything I could post in April, leaving me with just two Substack posts. I am coming to realize that my idea of simply numbering the NOEL posts is a bad one. I need to be able to knock out small bits while working on longer ones. I read a bit today in Tim Wu about five stages of economic concentration from monopoly to extraction to mass resentment to democratic failure to strongman rule (pp. 122-124, "The Road to Serfdom"). I could do some kind of riff on that. But I think the focus shouldn't be the stages, but the choices in moving from one to the next. None strike me as necessary, let alone proper.

Finished breakfast at 12:30. Hard to know what to try to do today. Playing Hedvig Mollestad.

Email (53 messages): Didn't get around to looking at these.

Apr 2026