Daily Log

Slept until after 10. Came down before 11. I started working on a piece for Substack, based on a Jordan Peterson title. Should be pretty straightforward, so that will be main job today. Still have to deal with email. I may start collecting Loose Tabs, but I have some time for that. More urgent would be extending the jazz poll website facelift. I'm stuck there with a CSS problem (getting the rows to align vertically). I also should add the CGs to the Christgau website, and update it. Then there's the matter of setting up a Francis Davis website. First step there will be to register a domain name.

Email (171 in inbox, who knows how many read/unread?):

Daily Log

Slept until 11:30. Started reading a book about Venezuela, which with its history of the early colony is a refreshing change from the AI books. I didn't get Music Week out last night. Will try again today. I'm using the Yahoo! Mail webmail tool, with no ability that I'm aware of to download messages. I hate it, but I don't know what else I can do at this point. Customer service at Yahoo seems to be hermetically sealed. I don't see any good options. Meanwhile, my computer is slowing down alarmingly. I've never move into the newer computer, but something is wrong with it too. I don't know what to do here.

Email (who the fuck knows? but it's likely that I still haven't looked at old mail; latest email in Thunderbird is April 4: Tom Engelhardt: A Fly on the Wall):

• Xgau Sez Questions: every time I click on one, I get a message "We couldn't load this message." It then offers "Retry," but reverts to the index. When I try deleting those emails, they reappear in the index. At least one older one is visible. I should file a TR, but there's no fucking way to do that.
• Tom Carson: A Tale of Two Kentuckians: Andy Veshear vs. Thomas Massie in 2028? What the heck, we've seen it before.
• Substack stuff: Loose Tabs (8): +1 like; +1 comment (chpowell: "Great! We're in heated agreement."); Music Week (8:1): +3 likes; +2 subscribers; daily stats: 4 likes, 2 restacks, 1 sub, 111 email views, 55 other views. The other views were higher than usual. Also note that Twitter still outperforms Bluesky 13-8.
• Normal G Finkelstein new book: Gaza's Gravediggers: An Inquiry Into Corruption in High Places.
• TomDispatch: When a President Promises a Massacre
• Jim Eigo: downloads for digital only releases, the sort of thing I would normally squirrel away in my Downloads folder.
• Toyota again: Do You Miss Remote and Drive Connect? I don't think so, but I do miss having a car that played CDs, and where the instruments worked reliably without dropping connections.
• Important Records: big, quite lovely email that's practically a catalogue of their products.
• 4DaRecord: I downloaded T(h)ree.

Per their mail, the Toyota app Remote and Drive Connect allowed me to do the following things (from my phone app) that I can no longer do:

• Start your vehicle
• Check status of doors/windows
• Check fuel level
• Lock/unlock your vehicle

I don't know why I would want to be able to do any of those things from my phone. Actually, I haven't been able to get into the Toyota app for many months now, due to some security thing that I've never understood. The bigger problem is that when the trial ended, I lost my GPS maps. Except that I still do have my maps from Android Auto, so maybe I'm using some kind of "expert" interface to them? As we've only been driving in town, I've only used the maps to set an route once in the last year. Seems like I could do that with the phone as well. They also have a "Music Lovers" option, but it only allows you to stream from Apple or Amazon, and only if you pay them separately for an account, so what is the value added here?

I posted this on X (remembering that once I had a problem with Cox customer service running me around, but Cox monitored mentions of them on Twitter, and sent me a helpful message after I complained there):

I've been a Cox customer for 25+ years. They sold my email account to Yahoo, and now I can't POP my mail. AFAICT, they have no customer service. I've spent 8 hrs with their chatbot, to no avail (including: no one available). Is this the future? Or is Yahoo just extra shitty?

Music Week

Expanded blog post, August archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 19 albums, 2 A-list

Music: Current count 46385 [46366] rated (+19), 18 [11] unrated +7).

New records reviewed this week:

• Badger Hunt: Full Moon in My Pocket (2026, self-released): [bc]: B+(**)
• Concrete Rock: New York DIY (2026, Desert Island): [bc]: B+(*)
• Graham Coxon: Castle Rock (2026, Transgressive): [sp]: B
• CS Cleaners: What's This? (2026, Wharf Cat): [sp]: B+(***)
• Doseone & Height Keech: Wood Teeth II (2026, Hands Made, EP): [sp]: B+(**)
• Kelela: New Avatar (2026, Warp): [sp]: B+(**)
• Mark Lomax, II & the Urban Art Ensemble: Black Odes: A Reclamation Suite (2026, CFG Multimedia): [os]: B+(***)
• Mon Rovîa: Bloodline (2026, Nettwerk): [sp]: B+(*)
• Navy Blue: Sir Render (2026, Freedom Sounds): [sp]: B+(***)
• Odd Okoddo & Ogoya Nengo: Palagoma (2026, From Cool Waters): [bc]: B+(***)
• Henrik Olsson: Antumbra Ensemble (2025 [2026], Cuneiform): [dl]: B
• Lido Pimienta: Caribenya (2026, Anti-): [sp]: B+(*)
• Speaker Music: Synoptic Audio (2026, Planet Mu): [sp]: B+(**)
• Vince Staples: Cry Baby (2026, Loma Vista): [sp]: A-
• Frank Trompeter/Richard Gilman-Opalsky: Antifascist Freedom Music (2026, Mahakala Music): [bc]: B+(**)
• Twisted Teens: Florida Water Blues (2026, Going Underground): [sp]: B+(***)

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Lekan Animashaun: Low Profile (1977-86 [2026], Strut): [bc]: B+(***)
• Los Orientales De Paramonga: 1972-1976 (1972-76 [2026], Analog Africa): [sp]: A-
• Gary Stewart: One Track Mind (1970-73 [2026], Delmore Recording Society): [sp]: B+(**)
• Gary Stewart: King of the Honky Tonks Live (1981, Gary Stewart): [sp]: B+(**)

Old music:

• Twisted Teens: Twisted Teens (2024 [2025], Chain Smoking): [sp]: B+(***)

Grade (or other) changes:

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• The Joshua Breakstone Quartet: Wonderful! (1983, Capri) [08-21]
• Rob Dixon: Naptown Soul (Strikezone) [08-21]
• John Hollenbeck & Hot Club Jazz Orchestra: Peace & Justice (Flexatonic) [08-14]
• Justin Pierce: Sway (Justin Pierce Music) [08-14]
• Alex Roitman Tango Ensemble: La Cocina De Tango (ARTE-FL) [08-25]
• Henry Threadgill Zooid: Cut You Where You Was (Pi) [08-28]
• Gaia Wilmer Large Ensemble Featuring Mônica Salmaso: Parabólico: Reflections on Gilberto Gil Volume I (Sunnyside) [08-14]

Daily Log

Published Music Week (8:1) yesterday (archived here. Didn't get to writing the introduction to Music Week proper, so that is today's project. The Substack version talked about my email ordeal, and also the car "platform" issues. I spent several more hours looking into email. At this point, I don't have any good ideas. And it's pretty clear that Yahoo is not going to provide any help. I'll get back to that later today, but in the meantime I probably need to work off the webmail interface, at least to delete the 90% crap I receive.

Slept until after 10. Into the appendix to The God Test, so I'll be done with it today. Basically, what he's saying is:

1. AI is awesome, or at least it will be (any day now, but soon).
2. This can be good or bad, depending on how it is used.
3. He offers some suggestions for making good more likely than bad, such as world government and/or fundamental changes in our psyches and culture (like promoting cognitive empathy).
4. He concludes with some bullshit about God (or gods), which he (as he's always done) grounds in natural selection.

He doesn't provide much convincing evidence for (1). On (2), he doesn't explain why AI could be put to bad purposes. It's not that he offers nothing, but it's not enough to get to (3), which is largely just a reiteration of his Nonzero games hypothesis. (4) is also long on reiteration. He has a background in theology, which he (following Pierre Teilhard de Chardin) has expanded into philosophy, psychology, evolutionary theory, and game theory. On a practical level, I agree with most of his critiques and proposals, but I see little value in his teleology. As an atheist-mathematician once said, "I have no need of that hypothesis."

Not sure what to read next. Latest purchase is another Israel book, but I still have a lot on the table I haven't gotten to.

Email (several days worth, working from web; 345 in inbox, but that includes older email I have seen):

• Substack Music Week (8:1): shareable assets; 4 likes; 2 new subscribers (Sidney Carpenter-Wilson, Ovidiu Pop).
• Rodrigo Amado on his records, with note that he's going to be shipping some copies to US soon.
• The Intercept: Tell the Senate to block Trump's USPS takeover
• Chuck Eddy: complaining about only having 600 subscribers (or 753 "followers", with 1.1K on Bluesky), panning for $50 subscriptions to read all the stuff he outlines for free.
• Cadence: several posts, including "Looking back to 2012," with some critics' EOY lists.
• Project Syndicate: Why Wealth Taxes Always Fail (Cristina Enache, really?); Zombie Monetarism (James K Galbraith); The AI Boom and the Future of Finance); Explaining China's Industrial Competitiveness (Miao Yanliang); Global Tax Reform Is the Key to a Fair AI Economy (Zorka Milin); Global governance is not fit for purpose (which also points to "Global Governance Remade," which supposedly is).
• Michael Steinman: Yahoo thinks this is spam, and flags it as such, but allowed it to appear in inbox; I clicked on "It's safe" (had to click on that two times); Yahoo is stupid.
• Tom Engelhardt: Donald Trump Gives Decline New Meaning. One note here is that Russia has lost 450,000 troops in the Ukraine War. That struck me as way too high, but that seems to be the estimate of "Western intelligence agencies"; Ukraine argues for a higher figure; BBC News says it has verified "identities of over 223,000 individual Russian soldiers killed in action." Ukraine says it has lost 50,000 soldiers; the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has verified 16,126 Ukrainian civilian deaths, but actual totals are "likely much higher." BBC has an estimate of Ukrainian deaths at 200,000. UALosses project puts Ukrainian deaths at 96,821.

Daily Log

Woke up around 8, but wasn't really asleep. I took an hour nap last night, 11-12, partly because I was tired, but mostly because I was upset at computer, and didn't know what else to do. I'm about 30 pages from the end of The God Test, and not enjoying the wrap up at all. I came down. Laura was watching a show called Lucky, some kind of heist thriller with Annette Benning and Timothy Olyphant. I often hate these bad-hings-happen-when-bad-people-steal-from-other-bad-people stories, so showed no enthusiasm for watching this one. When I came down, Laura switched to Beyond Paradise. We watched an episode, then Laura went to bed, and I cleaned up. I went up about 2:30, read some, woke up several times. Roofers started work on house next door south around 7, and it got very noisy. I kept trying to go back to sleep. CPAP gave me aggravation. Finally figured I might as well stay up.

Dinner yesterday was pretty great — only caveats were that the meat was still tough, and the potatoes were cooked but could have browned a bit more. Former was probably because I made the casserole earlier, instead of putting it into the oven when it was still hot. More time might have helped in both cases. But I felt depressed afterwards, for many reasons (beyond exhaustion). Rhonda and Jim left before dark. Brenda left later. She wanted to see Richard to go over auction stuff. I invited her to come back tonight before returning to Arkansas. Will depend on how auction goes. At any rate, I have no obligations today. I do have two big problems:

1. I'm not receiving email on my computer. Nothing there since Aug. 4 (only 2 messages still in inbox, but much more in trash). I can see mail in the Yahoo! website, and I'm seeing it on my phone. I'm a bit suspicious of the latter, given that I never use it for email. (Only for sending myself pictures.)
2. I'm still aggravated by the car. The Toyota Connect "free trial" expired on July 31. I had been having problems with audio cutting out, or sometimes just turning off. I finally figured out how to enable Android Auto, and I was able to play music through it, but when I was driving to the casino on Tuesday, it disconnected, and all I could get was an advertisement for Toyota Connect. It also displayed their GPS maps, but the icon that accessed the maps does nothing now. I was told that the car was using my phone for maps, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I may not even have Google Maps on my phone. While I despise such business tactics in any case, that it broke in mid-trip, on a high-speed highway, was extra annoying.

Thinking about writing a Substack post on "The Enshittification of Toyota" today. Don't know whether I will.

Email (none, broken):

Yahoo chat assistant:

Thunderbird and other third-party email apps may stop receiving Yahoo Mail if the app is using outdated security protocols or incorrect settings. Yahoo Mail now requires secure sign-in methods, and using POP with plain passwords is no longer supported. To restore access in Thunderbird, please ensure you are using the correct POP settings and an app password.

Here are the updated POP settings for Yahoo Mail:

• Incoming Mail (POP) Server: pop.mail.yahoo.com
• Port: 995
• Requires SSL: Yes
• Outgoing Mail (SMTP) Server: smtp.mail.yahoo.com
• Port: 465 or 587
• Requires SSL: Yes
• Requires authentication: Yes
• Email address: Your full Yahoo email address
• Password: You must use a generated app password, not your regular Yahoo password

You can generate an app password by signing in to your Yahoo Account Security page and following the steps to create one for Thunderbird.

Since Yahoo has discontinued support for basic authorization, could you confirm if you are currently using an app password in Thunderbird? If not, would you like step-by-step guidance on how to generate and use an app password for your email client?

In Thunderbird, security settings are:

• Connection security: SSL/TLS; test successful
• Authentication method: Normal password (other options: Encrypted password, Kerberos/GSSAPI, NTLM, OAuth2

After much haggling, I've thus far determined (with varying degrees of certainty):

• Yahoo does not provide any support (other than AI chat) unless I pay extra for some kind of premium account.
• While the POP message states that the problem is a server error (possibly temporary), they provide no way of reporting that problem, and keep looping back to the suggestion that I should change my configuration.
• In theory, I can add a new server configuration to Thunderbird, which will create a new set of Inbox, etc., directories. I can get a new app-generated password from their "security center."
• They suggest backing up Thunderbird before fiddling with it.

Somewhere along the way, I wound up writing this into a form soliciting ideas:

Make it humanly possible to contact someone about server failure

Sorry for the misleading category, but I figured this is the one you'd be most likely to read. I've spent 4+ hours with your chatbot today, to no avail. I had a Cox email account, which was part of our internet connection deal, until they pawned their mail support off you Yahoo. This was in 2024. I've been able to access my email using Thunderbird and POP3 since then, until 2 days ago, when I started getting hangs, followed by an "internal server error" message. I've very carefully documented that my server configuration is correct, and that the problem occurs on your server end. The chatbot offered to connect me to a human three times, and each time failed, because evidently you have perfect technology that no longer needs humans to function properly. You don't. I could write much more about this, but until I can speak with an actual tech support person, it's unlikely to help.

I'll note here that one promising idea was that I should generate a new app password (supposedly, Yahoo arbitrarily breaks passwords without telling anyone). I did that, and it didn't work. After that, I enabled Thunderbird's error console, and was able to track the entire exchange between Thunderbird and Yahoo's POP server. There is a connection, the password is accepted, and the server returns the digest. But the RETR command blows up.

Daily Log

Woke up at 9. Read some. Came down by 10. Lots of cooking to do today. I drove down to the Mulvane casino yesterday, meeting up with the Pyeatt sisters, and two significant others. We had dinner in one of the casino grills. I had an event with the car that has left me furious. I've been having problems with the screen thing dropping the phone connection, so I couldn't play Spotify. I finally got Android Auto working a couple days ago, and that seemed to fix it. But on the highway south, I got a message saying that the phone connection dropped. It then put up an advertisement for their Toyota Connect service, which evidently I've had a trial subscription for, that expired July 31. After that, the Android Auto icon disappeared, and the icon that put up the GPS maps failed to work. I was able to set audio resources to my phone, and I was able to play Spotify the rest of the night. At one point, I also had it switch to Apple Music, which complained that I didn't have a subscription. It's hard to tell how much of this is glitchy software and how much is sheer evil. I'm totally disgusted, but will have to postpone doing anything about it for a few days. I'm cooking today. Lots of work to do on that.

Email: I'm not receiving email on my regular computer. I sent myself a test message, and I didn't get it. Send was ok. Just tried restarting, which didn't help. Message:

The RETR command did not succeed. Error retrieving a message. Mail server pop.mail.yahoo.com responded: [SYS/TEMP] Server error - Please try again later.

Daily Log

Woke up after 10. Came down before 11. Did my dinner shopping last night. Didn't find any clams, but did get 4 lobster tails, 2 snow crab clusters, a pound of red Argentinian shrimp, and some other things I may or may not use. Beyond the menu, I got an eggplant and three sweet potatoes. Spent some time last night trying to figure out what to do with the sweet potatoes. I didn't come to any decision. I looked at Rhonda's cookbook, and found two recipes there I had planned: the onion-olive-orange salad, and the spice cake.

The Pyeatts will be at Max's 3-5 PM. I may go out there to rendez-vous, or meet them somewhere for dinner. Waiting to hear their plans.

Email (27 messages):

• Tom Engelhardt: A Fly on the Wall: If only we could fly away from Donald Trump
• I wrote replies to Substack comments by cpowell and Dr Ummm.

Voted today: No on amendment, Davis for Senate, Tyndell for House, Holscher for Governor, Day for Secretary of State, Doug and Maggie Ballard for Precinct Chairs. Moderate line, so pretty good turnout.

Daily Log

Came down at 10:45. Dog fed. I was uncertain of the day yesterday, but today is Monday. I need to wrap up and post my Loose Tabs piece to Substack. Figure out the Wednesday menu, and go shopping for it. Ok, here's the menu:

• Fried round steak with mushroom gravy: chicken-fried, then baked in the gravy, basically Campbell's soup mix
• Spanish roasted potatoes: just sliced thin and roasted, with olive oil and garlic
• Maque choux: creamed corn with some onion and bell pepper
• Fried cabbage with bacon
• Mariscada in almond sauce (green sauce minus parsley): shrimp, scallops, clams, lobster tails (maybe crawfish?)
• Peach and burrata salad: with prosciutto
• Olive, onion, and orange salad
• Spice cake: with ice cream
• Chocolate pecan pie (optional)

Brenda's request was for "good old Southern food." Brenda likes seafood. Rhonda doesn't, and doesn't like to eat anything green. The steak is a Mom dish, so I think that counts. I couldn't find a seafood dish that really worked. Most, like etouffee, go with rice. Blackened fish was a possibility (redfish is classic; I've done snapper, and found a salmon recipe). Gumbo gets into soup, as does European alternatives like cioppino or bouillabaisse, which could be single-dish meals (perhaps with paella, but we'd be moving far from the Southern theme). The Spanish dish is an open-ended collection of shellfish (my recipe is just for clams, as a tapas), with a thick sauce, which goes well with the Spanish potatoes. I had wanted potatoes with the meat, so my first idea was dauphinois. The cream works well with the meat, but not so well with the seafood. The Spanish recipe should work with both, and is easier.

I made the steak, dauphinois, corn, and green beans for Steve, and that turned out very well. But the beans are, well, green, so I thought the cabbage might work just as well. Both, after all, are vehicles for bacon. I'm thinking of adding some sausage as well. In the meal for Steve, I also made horiatiki salad and baked beans. Both seem unnecessary here. I have a new Southern cookbook, and the peaches-burrata salad came from there. Seems more Italian to me, but I can point to the book. I think I can cut a corner using canned peaches (and I'm likely to prefer them). Google tells me that burrata is available at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. I have a Spanish recipe for the olive-onion-orange salad, but I prefer a Turkish one, with dry-cured black olives (so no green). Two fruit salads is an unusual move for me, but these should taste distinctly, from each other and everything else.

Sticking with the spice cake for dessert. But if I have time Tuesday evening, I may throw in a pie. (Key lime also occurs to me, but that's getting excessive. I did strawberry shortcake for Steve, which is a favorite. Bread pudding with whiskey sauce is another idea. I also thought about doing a peach cobbler. And/or the oatmeal stout cake.) Also thinking about cornbread, including a recipe that calls for some sweet potato.

I'll go shopping late afternoon or early evening. I think I will hit the Central/Rock Dillons first, then Whole Foods, then Trader Joe's (if needed). Meanwhile, it's 1:18 and I haven't gotten back to the Substack piece.

Email (19 messages):

• Cuneiform: newsletter. I can't keep up with their releases.
• Substack: July 2026 stats: 142 subscribers (+24), 831 post reads (+202).
• Letter from Mike Hull, regarding my suggestion that he think about writing a biography of Liz Fink.
• My Substack: Loose Tabs (8); shareable assets; 3 likes, 2 comments (Dr Umm, cpowell); I replied, and cpowell rejoined. Daily stats: 3 likes, 5 comments, 0 subs; 119 email views, 16 other views (top 4 sources); I clicked on "View Site," but I'm not sure why I got what I got: just a bunch of Notes; click on "Home" and got the same thing; note that Charles S. Maier has a Substack called "Rearview Mirror" (one of my old column titles); I'm tempted to subscribe to Rick Perlstein, but hate to add anything to the current email mess; I don't seem to be able to get to my own articles.
• Shock Hosting customer invoice.
• Toyota: Your Corolla Hybrid Connection doesn't have to end. Evidently it expired on 7/31/2026. They want $15/month for "Go Anywhere" ("cloud-based navigation, live-agent navigation assistance and the seamless virtual Intelligent Assistant of Drive Connect"), $15/month for "Music Lover" (which only works with "your existing Apple Music and Amazon Music accounts integrated withyour vehicle"), or $25/month for Premium (i.e., both).

Daily Log

Posted Loose Tabs yesterday. Plan is to write a Substack post based on it today. Woke up from a dream around 7. Went back to bed, got up after 10, came down at 11. Talked to Brenda last night. She has other arrangements for Monday, but will come here Tuesday after their tour of Max's farm. I'll cook dinner on Wednesday. Brenda asked for "good old Southern cooking," so that I can do. Brenda likes seafood, but Rhonda doesn't. I think I'll do the steak with mushroom gravy, and the dauphinois, for the meat & potatoes side. Not sure what I'll do on the seafood side, but I should be able to find something. I'm thinking spice cake for dessert. I've been wanting to do that, and it's super easy. Not sure what the Tuesday schedule will be, so I'll keep that open. Probably shop on Monday.

Email (12 messages):

• Ken Brown tells me that his wife's sister, Carolyn, died on Friday, so he'll be going to funeral on Thursday, making it impossible to come visit.
• Semipop Life
• Letter from Kissa Kissa ("the jazz listening bar my wife and I run in Brooklyn"), asking permission to use my grades and reviews for a reference website on jazz lps. Of course, I'll say yes.
• Michael Steinman: Armchair critics, angry purists, and other garden pests, with music from 1958. Music in question is Chuck Berry playing "Sweet Little Sixteen" at Newport Jazz Festival, where Jo Jones is the drummer, and looks like Rudy Rutherford is the clarinetist (not a name I was familiar with, but he played with Basie and Jacquet in the 1950s, mostly on baritone sax).
• Substack: Music Week (7:5): +1 like; also +1 like for Famous Death Dwarves.
• Cadence is pushing a quarterly subscription. Sounds like the weekly newsletter discontinues for non-subscribers.

Started working on a new Substack post, based on yesterday's Loose Tabs.

Daily Log

I can't believe it's August already. I guess my calculation that the mid-year jazz critics poll would kill off the first half of the summer was an underestimate, now that we're two-thirds done. Grass is starting to turn yellow. I'm writing this before going to bed, as I updated software and rebooted. Now I have to reorganize my windows, get Firefox restarted, etc. All in all, a fairly productive day yesterday, posting Music Week both on Substack and on my blog.

Got up after 10, and came down before 11. Reached page 150 in The God Test. Next chapter is "AI Heaven and AI Hell." Main insight I've had from the last few pages is that the tendency of humans to anthropomorphize AI is strong. That's probably because they've never encountered such things except in human form. Wright talks about humans creating AI gods in their own image. Isn't that aspiration to become godlike itself a problem? Second point is that I've long thought that everyone needs their own social worker. The world is complicated, and navigating it is difficult. One needs help. AI could be that help. I doubt it's possible to eliminate the need for human backstop, much as I doubt it's possible for AI to automate all work away. I doubt that's even desirable. But perhaps it could eliminate the imagined need to keep a servent class to cater to the aristocracy.

Email (12 messages, some left over):

• Vox closed my support ticket. No additional 40% discount, but try again next year.
• Christian Iszchak: An Acute Case: 01 August 2026
• Substack daily stats: Music Week (7:5): 7 likes, 2 free subs, 109 email views, 36 other views. Since then: +2 subscribers.

Preliminary thinking on Wednesday menu. I'm basically looking at a "surf and turf" combination. For the turf side, I'm thinking (similar to a Nov. 2024 meal I fixed for Steve):

• Fried steak with mushroom gravy
• Potatoes dauphinois
• Maque choux (cajun creamed corn)
• Fried cabbage with bacon

The Steve meal also had baked beans, green beans, and horiatiki, but not the cabbage. Rhonda has a thing about green food.

Surf side is harder to figure. I have scallops in freezer, as well as a fair amount of fish. Shrimp is easy to pick up. I've mostly been looking at things like etouffee or scampi, or maybe gumbo, but it occurs to me that I could to a mariscada in almond sauce (possibly omitting the parsley that turns it into a green sauce). While the recipe calls for clams, I could include both shrimp and scallops, and lobster if I can find it (it's usually possible to find tails). That makes me wonder if I shouldn't switch the potatoes over to the Spanish slice/roast recipe, which would go well with both main dishes. I need to let this simmer in my brain a bit more.

Dessert is still likely to be spice cake.

Loose Tabs

Pick up text here.

Daily Log

Woke up at 7-something. Read a bit, then slept some more. Came down around 11:30. Did the cutover last night for Music Week. Started to write a bit of introduction, but didn't get far, nor did I pick out the albums. I was sufficiently impressed by the Laurie Anderson to order a copy. Waiting for a bunch of Amazon deliveries, on some kind of schedule that only makes sense to them, but should catch up on Saturday. I installed the new gas regulator on the grill yesterday. Despite how confused I was while looking at Amazon, it looks like they all have the same connectors, so any replacement part would have worked. I payed twice as much at Ace as I would have at Amazon. The grill itself was filthy after Matt's cookout. The grates were ok, but there was a lot of gunk underneath the burners. I scraped out the worst, but didn't attempt a serious cleaning. Nor did I test for gas leaks, although everything is pretty tight.

Looks like Brenda will stay with us when the Arkansas folks come up for Max Brown's auction, so Monday through Thursday nights, with Wednesday the big dinner date. They'll do a walkthrough on Tuesday, and the auction is Thursday, both of which we can skip. Rhonda and Jim are staying at the casino south of town. Richard is coming up Wednesday, and possibly leaving after Thursday. Don't know about Tammy. We'll talk more today and/or tomorrow and figure that out.

First thing today will be to send out the Substack version of Music Week. After that, update the blog. I have quite a bit of Loose Tabs ready, so that should go out this weekend. I'm thinking I'll write up an "executive summary" for Substack. Need to get back to the jazz poll website and fill in some more year links. Starting a new jigsaw puzzle: lots of sand, some pyramids, some sky. I'm sorting out the sky first. About 1/3 of the way through Robert Wright. One thing that's hard for me to imagine is the conversational aspect of the chatbots. I thought about publishing yesterday's notes, but in the end didn't (at least for now).

Email (40 messages):

• Cadence: feature interview with Justin Chart by Charles Mobley.
• Whitewashed History: live with Derek Beres.
• Substack: Music Week (7:5) is out now; 7 likes; +2 subscriber (Ken Tucker, RiotRiot); the latter liked 4 old Music Week posts; also +1 like for Famous Death Dwarves.

Music Week

Expanded blog post, July archive (finished).

Tweet: Music Week: 34 albums, 6 A-list

Music: Current count 46366 [46332] rated (+34), 11 [14] unrated (-3).

New records reviewed this week:

• A-F-R-O & Motion Plus: Frequencies (2026, Fro Thizzle Productions): [bc]: B+(***)
• Akhavelli: Moorthodox Psyence (2026, Below System): [bc]: B+(***)
• Ishmael Ali: Burn the Plastic, Sell the Copper (2023-25 [2026], Amalgam): [bc]: B+(***)
• Laurie Anderson With Sexmob: Let X = X (2023 [2026], Nonesuch): [sp]: A
• Nia Archives: Emotional Junglist (2026, Hijinxx/Island): [sp]: A-
• Charli XCX: Music, Fashion, Film (2026, Atlantic): [sp]: B+(***)
• Christopher Dammann: Dead Words (2025 [2026], Shifting Paradigm): [sp]: B+(***)
• Eliane Elias: Ao Vivo (2023 [2026], Candid): [sp]: B+(**)
• Andy Emler/Claude Tchamitchian/Eric Echampard: There Is Another Way (2025 [2026], La Buisonne): [bc]: B+(**)
• Jimmy Farace: Big Shoulders, Big Sounds (2026, Shifting Paradigm): [sp]: B+(**)
• Kelly Green: Eat Your Greens! (2026, Green Soul): [cd]: B+(**) [08-28]
• Elias Haslanger: Legacy (2025 [2026], Bandstand Presents): [sp]: B+(*)
• Illit: Mamihlapinatapai (2026, Belift Lab, EP): [sp]: B+(*)
• Owen Lake and the Tragic Loves: Bury Deep My Heart (2026, Carrier): [cd]: B+(***)
• David Maranha/Rodrigo Amado: Desolation Row (2025 [2026], Comets Coming): [bc]: A-
• Rico Nasty: RX (2026, Sugar Trap, EP): [sp]: B+(**)
• Jenny Reynolds: Willow & Stone (2026, self-released): [sp]: B+(**)
• Tom Ricci: Happening in Buenos Aires: Live at Borges 1975 (2023 [2026], self-released): [cd]: B+(**)
• David G Smith: Hero Street (2026, Hey Dave): [sp]: B+(***)
• Clark Sommers: WaBaSH (2025 [2026], Calligram): [cd]: B+(***) [08-07]
• Swamp Dogg: Swamp Dogg Contemplates the Afterlife (2026, S-Curve): [sp]: A
• The Westerlies: Have You Heard? The Music of Bill Frisell, Vol. 1 (2020-24 [2026], Westerlies): [sp]: B+(**)
• Earl "Guitar" Williams: The Soul King of Bessemer, AL (2025 [2026], Music Maker): [sp]: B+(**)
• Otomo Yoshihide/Kei Matsumaru: Shutsumin (2024 [2026], Trost): [bc]: B-
• Tucker Zimmerman: Dream Me a Dream (2026, Big Potato): [sp]: B+(***)

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Charles Lloyd: Sangam & Friends (2009 [2026], Blue Note): [sp]: B+(***)
• Shūdan Sokai: Live at Hachioji Alone (1976 [2026], Aguirre): [sp]: A-
• Sun Ra Arkestra: Somewhere Over the Rainbow: Live at the Bluebird Cafe, Bloomington, Indiana (1977 [2026], Strut): [sp]: B+(*)

Old music:

• Plas Johnson: This Must Be the Plas! (1959, Capitol): [sp]: B+(**)
• Plas Johnson: Bop Me Daddy (1956, Tampa, EP): [sp]: B+(*)
• Plas Johnson/Red Holloway: Keep That Groove Going (2001, Milestone): [sp]: B+(**)
• Mary Lee Kortes: Will Anybody Know That I Was Here? The Songs of Beulah Rowley (2016 [2023], Lakeside Lounge): [sp]: A-
• Owen Lake and the Tragic Loves: A Love on My Mind (2008, Carrier, EP): [bc]: B+(*)
• Owen Lake and the Tragic Loves: The Best of Your Lies (2018, Carrier): [bc]: B+(**)
• Dana Maragos: Unimaginable Things (2024, self-released): [sp]: B+(***)
• Dana Maragos: October (2020, self-released): [sp]: B+(***)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Mike Jones: Mike Jones With Strings (Capri) [08-21]

Daily Log

Came down at 11:45, after reading in The God Test, approaching page 100, some stuff about "doomer AI." My own view, at least so far, is that AI will accelerate trends that already exist, including flaws in how the world is organized. Granted that some of these flaws had already been accelerated due to previous technological waves, going back (at least) to steam power, but most obviously since electricity provided a route for miniaturization and acceleration of computing. I also understand that stress causes fissures to crack catastrophically, so I don't doubt that we're in for some of that. But doom is going way too far. Pain and suffering, for sure, and also for sure, needlessly.

But we should take care to distinguish between two functions of AI: one is the gathering and availability of intelligence (or information plus the logic to make use of it); the other is the temptation to surrender automatic control over operations to machines. The former is useful, because no one has ever known enough before making decisions. The latter is dangerous, because machines also don't know enough, and their directives may be aligned contrary to our interests. ("Our" is an especially weak link here, as long as we are divided by interests, which of course we are, often extremely.)

Automated controls aren't unprecedented. We've been using them for at least a century, most extensively in factories, but they are in every home and every car. And people who depend on them know full well that they could be improved, especially by adding more compute power: the ability to collect more information, and to better model how the control should behave in response to its inputs.

As far as I can tell, at this point that's all AI can do: provide more information, and model it in sometimes surprisingly sophisticated ways. Sure, AI engineers have dabbled in "goal-oriented" programming, where a program is given a set of if/else rules, including some that may create additional if/else rules, and asked to devise a solution to something that it was not specifically programmed to do. What's new with AI is the mind-boggling amount of data the programs can draw inferences from, which can only be handled by using rules that are essentially statistical. As such, we're moving from deterministic machines, which in principle can be fully understood, to stochastic machines, which can at best be approximated. Thus, for instance, we speak of "adding guardrails," an admission that no fix is possible.

That's probably enough for now. Actually, too much, as I started thinking about posting some of the above, which only baited me to write more, sidetracking my whole day.

Email (36 messages):

• Substack: daily stats for Famous Death Dwarves: 1 like, 1 restack, 114 email views, 27 other views. Not very good.
• Tom Engelhardt: How Donald Trump Helped My Life: A Thank You to the Ransacker-in-Chief.
• Tom Carson: Odyssey, Ody-Do.

Daily Log

Woke up after 11, with more than 7 hours of sleep. Read some, and came down at noon. Weighed myself at 230.0, a new high after my drop, but only 0.1 above 3-4 days ago. Seems like it shouldn't be impossible to turn this around. I posted a piece on Lindsey Graham last night, calling it Famous Death Dwarves. Shortened from a Lester Bangs title, Let Us Now Praise Famous Death Dwarves. That was my first thought, but Substack seems to prefer shorter titles. Most of the text was scraped from Loose Tabs work, to which I added three paragraphs of intro. I also included Trita Parsi on Zelensky's attempt to jump into the Iran war. Graham was in Ukraine just before this happened. Zelensky's been desperate to get Trump back on his side, so the chances are that Graham offered him a way are very high. Chances that Netanyahu was also in on the deal are also pretty high. I need to explore this further. I have little doubt that when I finally publish Loose Tabs, there will be more to the story.

I finally got the regulator hose detached from the gas grill manifold. I want to make sure that the replacement part will fit. Everything I see describes the fitting as a 3/8-inch female connector. But I had to use a 3/4-inch wrench to loosen the fitting. I'm pretty sure the fitting is standardized, and any replacement regulator will do, but I may wind up going to Ace to see for myself. Still having some confusion on the grill model, and compatibility lists are difficult. Laura has an appointment today for some testing, so I won't be able to go out until she gets back. Meanwhile, more Loose Tabs.

Email (30 messages):

• My "Famous Death Dwarves" piece; shareable assets; 1 like.
• RiotRiot: Takes by the Ocean: some fresh meat. I was surprised at how little I had not heard from his mid-year top-40, and how little interest I had in hearing the rest (mostly K-pop EPs).
• Thank you note from Ralph Miriello for the poll: "A wonderful poll that features the diversity and proficiency of the current state of jazz music."
• TomDispatch: Tom Engelhardt & Nick Turse: Donald Trump and Wars of Choice.
• Substack: Interview with Taylor Lorenz on using AI tools. First sobering point was his answer to "how much do you spend on AI tools every month?" "Probably about $300 a month." He's using at least five models (Claude, Gemini, Grok. DeepSeek, ChatGPT), plus other tools. I'm contemplating spending on some, but nothing like that. There's a pretty detailed outline here on how he works to prepare a podcast or a video, which involve a lot of steps I'm not much intrerested in. Still, one step I'm curious about is: "Paste what I've gathered into Claude and askit to organize the information." For the Graham piece, I had about 10 bullet items, each derived from a specific article. Can I feed that in and get a single coherent article back out? It wouldn't have to be ready to go. Just get me over the hump of reorganization.
• Tom Carson: Frankenride 9: "The return of Bob Dole, . . ." What is his thing with Dole? Paywalled, so I won't bother.
• Lydia Liebman: Peace Anthems is coming out. I requested a promo.

Notes on Democratic primary candidates (* ones I have heard of):

• US Senate (against Roger Marshall):
  • Damon Anderson, Christy Davis+, Adam Hamilton*, Jason Hart, Kevin Latz, Erik Murray*, Sandy Spidel Neumann, Anne Parelkar, Patrick Schmidt, Michael Soetaert, Noah Taylor+.
  • NYT polling has Hamilton 30%, Davis 13%. One general election poll shows Hamilton over Marshall 51-49%. Other favor Marshall by up to 10% (55-45% over Taylor).
• US House (against Ron Estes):
  • Chris Carmichael*, Ryan Gilbert (suspended), Katy Tyndell*.
• Governor (open seat):
  • Ethan Corson, Cindy Holscher*, Curt Skoog.

According to Ballotpedia, Sedgwick County is 54.4% R, 36.3% D. Harvey County is 58.1% R, Reno 63.2% R, Butler 69% R, Kingman 75.9 R, Sumner 71.8% R, Harper 77.4% R, Cowley 65.5% R, Chautauqua 83.5% R, Montgomery 72.3% R, Crawford 57.9% R. Note that Riley, Shawnee, and Johnson counties voted for Trump in 2016, but switch to Biden in 2020, and stayed with Harris in 2024.

Daily Log

Woke up at 9, 90 on the meter. Reading Robert Wright explaining how LLMs work. I've read better explanations. His framing argument is that we should all be in awe of what AI can do. I've found little so far to be awestruck by. Rather, what I'm finding is that the more I understand of how AI works, the more I find fault with human reason. I've known for some time that I basically think in terms of models. So here I am, adding neural nets to my repertoire of models. And sure, they help to explain lots of things, but they're mostly faults.

Only worked on Loose Tabs yesterday. Currently 149 links, 7640 words. No real pressure to do anything this week. I should get back to the jazz poll web site, as there is easy progress to be had there. Woke up thinking about memoir today; specifically, Varityper years. Don't know when/if I'll follow up on that. I did manage to put the garbage out last night, so last week's failure will be erased. Yesterday hit 104F, maybe more. Walked the dog briefly after sunset, when it was down to 94F.

Email (21 messages at 10 AM):

• Tom Engelhardt: The (Dis)United States (Or Do I Mean World?) of President Donald J. Trump: Global Warming, Global Warning.
• Craft Recordings announces its Moodsville Acoustic Sounds Series: "Debut releases spotlight classic titles from Coleman Hawkins, the Frank West Quartet, and the Red Garland Trio with Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis."
• Amazon: I ordered a book (Yakov Rabkin, What Is Modern Israel?), a CD (Swamp Dogg Contemplates the Afterlife), and replacement Winix air filters.
• Nick Loss-Eaton offered to send CDs of Gearbox albums: Ella Fitzgerald, Franklin Kiermyer. I said sure.

I finally pulled the Lindsey Graham section out of Loose Tabs, and put it into a NOEL file. Link for published article is here.

Finally took a look at Dan Weiss' mid-year report. Using it as a checklist:

1. Kehlani: Kehlani (Atlantic [**]
2. Feeble Little Horse: Bitknot (Saddle Creek) [**]
3. Jill Scott: To Whom It May Concern (Human Re Sources/Blues Babe) [***]
4. Twisted Teens: Blame the Clown (Jazz Life) [**]
5. Carsie Blanton & the Burning Hell: Everything Is Great! (self-released) [A]
6. Boards of Canada: Inferno (Music 70/Warp) [**]
7. Emperor X: Unified Field (Bar/None) [**]
8. Lord Jah-Monte Ogbon: As of Now (Lex) [A-]
9. Robyn: Sexistential (Konichiwa/Young) [A-]
10. Joyce Manor: I Used to Go to This Bar (Epitaph -EP) [*]
11. Tierra Whack: Whack's Museum (Interscope) [***]
12. Effie: Pullup to Busan 4 More Hyper Summer It's Gonna Be a Fuckin Movie (Sound Republica -EP '25) [B]
13. The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis: Deface the Currency (Impulse!) [**]
14. Roc Marciano: 656 (self-released) [**]
15. Illit: Mamihlapinatapai (Belift Lab -EP) []
16. The Cucumbers: As You Heard Me: Songs From "Hello George" (self-relesed) [A-]
17. The Paranoid Style: Known Associates (Bar/None) [A-]
18. Black Nile: Indigo Garden (Hen House Studios) [***]
19. Itzy: Motto (JYP Entertainment -EP) []
20. Girl Scout: Brink (Human Garbage) [*]
21. Aesop Rock & Homeboy Sandman: Miami Lice: Season Four (Rhymesayers Entertainment) [***]
22. Gogol Bordello: We Mean It, Man! (Casa Gogol) [A-]
23. Hemlocke Springs: The Apple Tree Under the Sea (AWAL) [***]
24. Pony: Clearly Cursed (Take This to Heart) [**]
25. Kim Gordon: Play Me (Matador) [***]
26. B0YG1RL & Novagang: Exit 2B (Surf Gang) []
27. Olivia Rodrigo: You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love (Geffen) [A-]
28. Butthole Surfers: After the Astronaut (Sunset Blvd) []
29. Megan Moroney: Cloud 9 (Columbia Nashville) [***]
30. Angine De Poitrine: Vol. II (Spectacles Bonzaï) [***]
31. Zach Bryan: With Heaven on Top (Belting Bronco/Warner) [A-]
32. Buck 65: Do Not Bend (Handsmade) [A-]
33. Al Green: To Love Somebody (Fat Possum -EP) [**]
34. Robber Robber: Two Wheels Move the Soul (Fire Talk) []
35. GENA: The Pleasure Is Yours (Lex) []
36. Dry Cleaning: Secret Love (4AD) [***]
37. Olof Dreijer: Loud Bloom (Dh2) [A-]
38. The New Pornographers: The Former Site Of (Merge) [**]
39. NMIXX: Heavy Serenade (JYP Entertainment -EP) []
40. Bill Orcutt: Music in Continuous Motion (Palilalia) [**]

Daily Log

Got up once, but went back to sleep, and slept until 11. Starting to read Robert Wright's The God Test. Came down at noon. 95F. Didn't get much done yesterday. I'm going to have to carve out some time for working on jazz poll website to get a sense of having gotten anything accomplished. Loose Tabs is going nowhere (although I did start my rant on Lindsey Graham).

Email (24 messages):

• Substack: +1 like; +2 subscribers.
• Responses to my letter on the Max Brown auction: Steve Hull, Ken Brown, Jane Burns ("I'm too old to buy anything").
• Robert Wright: Trump and the AI rational actor problem: A new theory about why foreign policy elites aren't worried enough.

Daily Log

Sleep meter: 95. Came down about 10AM. Was 89F at the time, which made me think today might be cooler. Next time I looked, it was 90F. Not sure if it hit 100F yesterday, but it came very close. When I walked the dog at 8:30, it was still 94F, and not a dry heat. I started work on Loose Tabs yesterday. Took a good look at Mondoweiss, but that was as far as I got. In the evening, I decided to try my hand at modifying the jazz poll website. Basic idea was to do a table with two columns: left is the calendar year in big print, latest first, which would link to the annual poll directory (or mid-year if no annual available yet); right is subheds for annual (and mid-year, where available), and under each direct links to the essays, totals, voter lists, etc. I got the framework working last night, and populated the right column with 2026 mid-year links. I edited the banner a bit, and inserted a news section between the banner and the annual poll table. The news section can use some more work. I moved all the old crap to the bottom. The section on Francis Davis should go into its own file. The other links/notices should be folded into the new table. I went ahead and updated the website, because even incomplete, this one sucks much less than the old one.

This went slowly last night, because I'm still at the stage where I have to look up every little detail. For instance, how do I define an array, pass it to a function, and iterate through it inside that function? I used to know things like that, but I don't remember it with the necessary precision. I've also learned a few things. I've long wanted to be able to specify CSS in the same file I'm using it from, but the limitation that it should be in the head section caused problems. I just figured out that I could put the CSS in a PHP heredoc to initialize a string, then pass that to my commonHeader function. I also discovered some things about CSS selectors I didn't know before. I'll fiddle with the website some more, but will probably work more on Loose Tabs today.

Email (? messages):

• Nice letter from Rob Hoff about trying to program jazz radio around the poll choices. Evidently our picks are not very popular.
• Project Syndicate: Why Iran Won't Change (Pegah Banihashemi); AI Will Supercharge Surveillance Capitalism (Courtney C Radsch).
• Substack: +1 like; +2 subscribers.
• Daily stats for Music Week (7:4): 5 likes, 3 restacks, 1 whatever that is, 1 sub, 116 email views, 36 other views.
• Nice letter from Phil Overeem on poll, etc.

I got a call yesterday from Rhonda Pyeatt. They're coming up around Aug. 4-6, when there will be an auction of Max Brown's estate (not the land or buildings, but all the stuff; I think he got rid of his cattle when he moved to the home in Derby, or possibly earlier). Further mail says she will arrive Monday, August 3, staying at "Hampton at the casino," checking out Friday, August 7.

I've found links to the auction:

• Auction Location: 7805 SW 200th St, Douglass [08-06]
• 351 acres near Douglass, selling in 4 tracts [09-01]
• Tract 1: 7805 SW 200th St, Douglass - stone house, shop & barn on 5+ acres [09-01]
• Tract 2: 66+ acres pasture & pond NE of Douglass [09-01]
• Tract 3: 120+ acres pasture & pond NE of Douglass [09-01]
• Track 4: 160+ acres pasture & pond E of Douglass [09-01]

From the description of the house:

Stone house, shop and barn on 5+- acres northeast of Douglass in Butler County, Kansas. This attractive rural property combines the use functionality you would expect out of a rural property with peaceful and scenic views. Just one-half mile off blacktop HWY 77, this property has good quick easy access to surrounding towns and amenities.

The solid stone home built in 1984 features a comfortable and functional layout with 1530 finished square feet on the main floor, plus a finished basement. Main floor features with a primary bedroom, living room w/ fireplace, kitchen, bathroom and laundry. The finished basement includes two non-conforming bedrooms, living area bathroom & bar!

A standout feature is the modern shop, complete with utilities and a concrete floor, making it ideal for projects, tools and equipment storage. Adding to the property's character is a vintage barn that reflects the area's agricultural heritage and offers additional storage or livestock potential.

The house was built by Max and Doris. I'm not sure how much, if anything, they subcontracted. Max's father, my Uncle Ted Brown, built a similar (but somewhat smaller) stone house in Arkansas. The first link has extensive photos of the personal property in the house/shed/barn.

Daily Log

Came down shortly before 11. Dog came with, perhaps hoping for a second breakfast. (Laura usually feeds him around 9. She's up and down, and that's about when he gets pushy.) Nearing the end of I Am Not a Robot, with sections on using AI as a personal companion (lover? therapist?) holding little interest for me. More unsettling is the bit on some machine that scans your iris to identify you as human, then converts that information into a crypto key that acts as a passport to some future human-exclusive view of the internet. And this information is going to be turned into power by some corporation with first-mover advantage?

Last night, I sent Music Week (7:4) to the Substack list, and I posted full Music Week on the blog. Ready to start another week. Main thing today will be to set up a Loose Tabs file, and start shoveling shit into it. I think I already have a Books file set up (maybe two, but I haven't been working on it/them).

My books came today:

• Hussein Agha/Robert Malley: Tomorrow Is Yesterday: Life, Death, and the Pursuit of Peace in Israel/Palestine
• Sheldon Simeon with Garrett Snyder: Cook Real Hawai'i: A Cookbook
• Al Sweigart: Automate the Boring Stsuff With Python (3rd edition)

I've had three books checked out from the library for the past six weeks. I had to take them back, but wasn't done, hence the order. I read the Agha/Malley book, and want to write up a couple more Substack posts based on quotes. I haven't had a chance to cook from Real Hawai'i, but want to. The other book was the "For Dummies" book on Python automation. I've long been a big fan of script languages, and still do a lot with awk (in shell scripts, from Makefiles, like I learned to do in the 1980s). I recently wrote one called mkeval.sh, which calculates a bunch of statistics from the jazz poll data files. Aside from PHP for websites, the big three are Perl, Python, and Ruby. (I've also worked in TCL/TK, but haven't heard anything about it in ages.) I wrote my own language, Ftwalk/Hawk, but I haven't worked on it since the 1990s, so consider it obsolete. Perhaps because of this, I've always disliked Perl, and never been very happy with the others. However, Python seems to be the most tolerable and generally useful. The utility of these languages depends not on the elegance of the language but on the libraries, especially those that give you access to more complex file formats (like something that can read your inbox, or collect and parse web files). Also, AI is reputedly very good at writing Python scripts, so it should be easy to get off the ground with something more useful than "hello world."

I didn't find anything at the library new and topical that I wanted to read, so I went up to the tech section, and picked out:

• Chris Minnick et al.: Artificial Intelligence All-in-One for Dummies: I have no intention of reading this, but I want to start testing some AI tools, so I figured I might use this as a reference and guide, both to what to test and what to try.
• Chris Barr et al.: The Yahoo! Style Guide: The Ultimate Sourcebook for Writing, Editing and Creating Content for the Digital World: Another reference book. This was (c) 2010, so predates AI, but covers blogging, newsletters, email, SEO, etc. Some of it is just a grammar guide (e.g., whole sections on how to use punctuation). I may never open it again, but it looked more useful than anything else I saw there (including Henry Kissinger's book on AI futures).

Email (23 messages):

• Music Week (7:4): shareable assets (this includes some images I forgot to include in the initial mailing); 5 likes.
• Warming Up a Riff: daily stats: 6 likes, 2 restacks, 1 sub, 109 email views, 40 other.
• Other Substack stuff: 4 new subscribers (SHEER Magazine, DJpeterDE [Jazz Radio! WFMU, WVUD, mixcloud], jjonrook, Tom Sperduto).
• TomDispatch: Nick Turse: Pete Hegseth's Crisis of Masculinity
• Tom Carson: Chuckles Bites the Dust: What will Europe do without Americans? Oh, they'll be just fine. Can't say more, as now he's back behind the paywall.

I emptied out the "tabs" scratch file, moving what I've accumulated so far to this blog temp file.

Daily Log

Woke up early. Pushed my Substack piece out late last night. I was disappointed to find a large chunk of my "Warming Up a Riff" article excised at Arts Fuse. Not sure whether I should complain. I probably need to compare all of the articles to figure out what exactly happened. I didn't really wind up the Substack post as neatly as I had hoped, but at least it does the job of alerting my subscribers to the poll's existence. Library books are due today, so returning them will be an errand. I ordered the Agha/Malley book from Amazon. I had wanted to post more quotes from the book, but was running out of time. Very good book. Worth owning.

I also ordered Cook Real Hawai'i, which isn't due yet, but looks like a pretty definitive guide to Hawaiian cuisine. I still hope to make a big dinner out of it, but no time soon. Among other things, note many grilled dishes. I need a new gas regulator on the grill. The old one is not only aggravating with its safety trips, it's actually developed a leak. Matt said he had cleaned it up well after cooking, but I have my doubts. I could very well decide I'm done with grilling.

I also ordered a Python automation book: not the For Dummies book I have checked out (due today), but a similar one from No Starch Press, which for some reason I find more trustworthy. I'm hoping that I can get AI to write some programs to scan through website data, which I can further tweak. At the end of the AI reading, I expect to sign up for one or more LLMs, and start using it for research and organization.

Weighed myself, at 229.0. Several mega-cooking projects have taken a toll. I need to get that done. I also need to set up an appointment with Boxberger. I have appointments with Eldika and Tibbe in August.

First thing today is Music Week, with the Substack version coming out first, and the blog version later. I also would like to lay out one of the Agha/Malley Substack posts, but that could wait.

Email (58 messages at 1:12 PM):

• My Substack piece: Warming Up a Riff: Shareable assets; 6 likes; 3 new subscribers (Martin Johnson).
• Pete Butchers: "An interesting (but not novel) observation is how the listing is dominated by US musicians and bands. Needless to say the same applies to many other US polls (eg Downbeat)." He's asking why. I could write something about that.
• William Marx mentioned me in 3 Substack notes.
• Matthieu Jouan wrote a notice about the poll in Citizen Jazz.
• How writers are reacting to Substack's AI transparency tools
• GoDaddy: Hullworks.net set to auto-renew on 8/23, 2 years, $49.98. Prices keep going up, even for nothing.

I'm not going to try to catch all the references to the poll I'm seeing. But I ran across Meta AI offering to answer a question, "What sparked this jazz poll?" Its answer:

Tom Hull was inspired to start the mid-year jazz poll after noticing how few jazz releases were mentioned in other mid-year best-of lists. He decided to create his own poll to highlight the wealth of great jazz music being produced. This initiative was also a tribute to Francis Davis, who had run the Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll for 19 years before his passing.

That's not wrong, but isn't really structured right, so it leaves several false impressions. This is, for instance, the 3rd Mid-Year poll. The initiative wasn't a tribute. This was Francis's poll. It is only continuing as a tribute to him.

Music Week

Expanded blog post, July archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 33 albums, 5 A-list

Music: Current count 46332 [46299] rated (+33), 14 [10] unrated (+4).

New records reviewed this week:

• Yazz Ahmed: Shinrin-Yoku (2026, Night Time Stories, EP): [sp]: B+(**)
• Bob Bert: Beach Bongo Bloodbath (2026, Bar/None): [sp]: A-
• Dave Burrell & David Liebman: Reservoir (2026, Bespoke Jazz): [sp]: B+(**)
• Jonas Cambien/Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard/Dag Erik Knedal Andersen: The Ear Behind the Airport (2025 [2026], Motvind): [bc]: B+(***)
• The Paul Carlon Trio: Between Us Three (2024-25 [2026], TRRcollective): [sp]: A-
• John Clayton: The Two-o Duo Project (2026, ArtistShare): [sp]: B+(**)
• Fathers: Fathers (2026, Blue Note): [sp]: B
• Flöjter: Brest Blow (2025 [2026], Utech/Gigantonium): [bc]: B+(**)
• Flöjter: Paris Blow (2025 [2026], Utech/Gigantonium): [bc]: B+(***)
• Carlos Henríquez: Monk Con Clave (2026, self-released): [sp]: B+(**)
• Marquis Hill: (Beautifulism) Sweet Surrender (2026, Black Unlimited): [sp]: B
• Julia Hülsmann Octet: While I Was Away (2023 [2026], ECM): [sp]: B+(**)
• Hannah Marks: Feed the Fire (2025 [2026], Endectomorph Music): [sp]: B+(***)
• Pedrito Martínez/Antonio Sánchez/Michael League: Elipsis (2026, GroundUP Music): [sp]: B+(**)
• Orchestre National De Jazz: With Carla (2025 [2026], ONJ): [bc]: B+(**)
• Ivo Perelman/Elliot Sharp/Cyro Baptista: Triacontagon (2024 [2026], Defkaz): [bc]: A-
• Susana Santos Silva/Vasco Trilla: Mushin (2024 [2026], Defkaz): [bc]: B+(*)
• Elias Stemeseder/Thomas Morgan: Io Pur Respiro (2024 [2026], Squama): [sp]: B+(***)
• Steve Swallow: Winter Songs (2024 [2026], ECM): [sp]: B+(***)
• Micah Thomas: Lucid (2026, Birdwatcher): [sp]: B+(**)
• Ben Wolfe: Any Time After Now (2025 [2026], Resident Arts): [sp]: B+(*)

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• John Butcher: Anyway, I Was (2008-25 [2026], Relative Pitch): [sp]: B+(**)
• Miles Davis: Miles '56: The Prestige Recordings (1956 [2026], Craft): [sp]: A-
• Miles Davis: Miles '55: The Prestige Recordings (1955 [2025], Craft): [sp]: B+(**)
• Ellery Eskelin: Setting the Standard (1988 [2026], Prime Source): [bc]: B+(***)
• Medeski Martin & Wood: Tonic (1999 [2026], Blue Note): [sp]: B+(**)
• Big John Patton: Got a Good Thing Goin' (1966 [2026], Blue Note): [sp]: B+(**)
• Hans Reichel: Dalbergia Retusa (1973-88 [2026], Black Truffle): [bc]: A-
• Mal Waldron/Steve Lacy: Play Monk, Ellington & Strayhorn: Live at Yoshi's 1994 (1994 [2026], Elemental Music): [sp]: B+(***)

Old music:

• Ellery Eskelin/Sylvie Courvoisier: Every So Often (2008 [2020], Prime Source): [bc]: B+(**)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Nicki Adams and Michael Eaton Featuring Francisco Mela: Arrival (J-man) [09-10]
• Barcelona Art Orchestra & Miguel Zenón: Expressions: Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra (Miel Music) [06-26]
• Satoko Fujii Orchestra Kobe: After the Storm (Libra) [08-07]
• Oliver-Smith Incomparables: Stomp Your Stuff (Turtle Bay) [08-28]
• Sarah Pillow: Wanderer (Buckyball) [10-05]
• Terry Waldo & the Gotham City Band: Treasury Volume 3 (Turtle Bay) [06-05]
• Miguel Zenón & Luis Perdomo: El Arte Del Bolero Vol. 3 (Miel Music) [08-28]

Daily Log

Slept OK. Came down at 10:45. I'm expecting mail with the links to the poll articles. I did get to the end of the charts for the jazz reviews pieces. I didn't add the uncharted records. I made most of the necessary changes to the 26my website pages, including turning the lock off and taking down the "temporary" messages. All that leaves is adding links to the Arts Fuse URLs.

I spoke too soon there. The articles were ready. Marx changed one title, which was fine. He also changed subtitles and replaced my opening cross-references notes with his "Editor's Notes." I adopted them. I further rearranged the index page. Then I updated the website. We're live now. I need to chill a bit, work on the jigsaw, eat breakfast, then get going again. I'll send out notices when I restart the day.

Email (39 messages at 12:43 PM):

• Substack matters: +1 like (old piece).
• Amazon accepted my review of a Keywing Phone Camera Lens Set. I gave it 1 star, noting: "I couldn't use this. The clip is too short to fit on a camera that has a case. I'm only able to see a partial, rounded image, with the corners blacked out. I'm not seeing as much lens effect as I had hoped for, but that may be because the fit is . . ."
• Earthquake: M4.4 Texas Panhandle region. I set up this alert some years ago, when Oklahoma was producing a lot of small earthquakes, some felt here in Wichita. It's been quite a while since I've seen any reports here, although my other alert, for 7.0+ earthquakes worldwide, produces mail almost daily. This one is for 197 miles west of Oklahoma City, so pretty far from here. Got a second one, M5.1, same area.
• Tom Engelhardt: SockHer for Donald Trump: Living in a Trumpublican World
• A new collection of John Prine "alternate versions, acoustic performances & five previously unreleased John Prine songs," coming out Oct. 9, on 30th anniversary of Lost Dogs & Mixed Blessings.
• Project Syndicate
• Cezary L Lerski tells me that Not Two Records will be revived by him, now based in California.

Poll matters (I shouldn't bury this under email, but it involves some email):

• I made some revisions to the website index page, to better feature the Arts Fuse links, and move my own crap (including the essay drafts) down near the notes section. I unlocked the website, and updated it. I notified Arts Fuse this was done, so let the publicity begin.
• I wrote to jpadmin, asking them to check the website for any errors, etc.
• I wrote to jazzpoll, letting the critics know that the poll has been published. I asked them to review their ballots. I can update the note lines without wrecking anything. I asked them to publicize the poll.
• I wrote to jpmedia, telling them that the poll is up, and asking for their help in promoting it.
• I posted to Bluesky, X, and Facebook, linking to the intro article on Arts Fuse.
• Matt Fripp asked about an interview for Jazzfuel. I said ok, but asked how it would work.
• Larry Hollis asked where his ballot was. I've asked him the same thing, several times.
• I replied to a 7/17 mail from Paul Medrano about the poll future, advising him that I'll get back to him in 1-2 weeks.
• I got complimentary poll email from: George Varga, Brooks Geiken, Russell Perry, Steve Erickson. Also a complaint from Larry Hollis (where's my ballot?, where, indeed?).

By the way, Matt Merewitz wrote this on Facebook:

I spent over an hour on the phone last weekend with Tom Hull, who selflessly continues to carry on the legacy of Francis Davis. Davis, who was a friend of mine from my Philly/Ars Nova Workshop days advocated for the place of the critic in society. I think the jazz critic is possibly the most maligned figure in the jazz ecosystem, aside from the musician themselves, who writes for the least amount of money or appreciation and is constantly subject to vicious attacks by everyone in the jazz firmament. And yet they overwhelmingly do it for the love of the art form. Yet, I feel like we need critics now more than ever to wade through all the slop and give us some context. Today The Arts Fuse (a Boston-based culture website) published the results of The Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics at Mid-Year; the ballots of a whopping 127 critics worldwide. There, Tom wrote three essays there: an introduction, one on New Jazz Albums chart, and one on archival discoveries, which Francis called "Rara Avis." I am proud of my clients but I am more proud of this community which sticks together and continues to do something to spread the good word on new jazz / BAM / improvised / creative music recordings.

When I saw that, 24m after posting, that had 10 likes and 6 comments (2 were links from Matt). One negative comment, by James Rozzi:

Critics should leave be that which they don't care for and emphasize only that which they deem worthy of ears. There's more than enough music out there. And polls are bullshit.

I replied:

Working backwards: I judge a poll by how much new music I discover by reading it, often way down in the fine print. For this poll, for me, that number is already close to 100. If you never note the music you hear and don't like, readers will have little basis to understand what you do like. You're asking reviewers to be publicists. Don't we already have more hype than we can handle? As for real criticism, which I only very rarely do, it shouldn't matter whether you like or dislike what you're writing about. It should only matter what insights you gain.

Richard Baker wrote:

I guess I've gotten old and crusty, but I just don't hear enough new stuff that excites me. I also feel like it gives the readers of false impression when they want you to vote for 10 new records but only three that are previously unissued older recordings or re-issues. There are years when there are five great releases of previously unissued material that are better than almost any new record. I'm supposed to ignore a really great Sonny Rollins record from the 1960s when there might not be any new records that are anything like as good?

Crusty, as I said. That being the case, I just decided not to vote in the polls anymore.

I replied:

We're asking for up to 5 reissue/archival votes, not 3 (as Francis Davis originally designed). I'm also not enforcing a strict division between the categories, so if you want to slip an extra Sonny Rollins album off as new, I'll probably allow it (and may even total the vote as old -- I explain this stuff in great detail on the site). Part of the reason I increased the limit from 3 to 5 was due to complaints like yours. But many voters don't use the extra slots, or indeed any slots for old music. The ratio of new to old albums is over 3-to-1, even though the ratio of vote slots is just 2-to-1. I'm pretty sure that nobody who voted for less than 10 new music albums used all 5 slots for old music. (The closest was 6-4.) The other fallacy here is that we're comparing old and new music. Both categories are comparing records, which include music, packaging, and for rara avis especially, other intangibles (like surprise, or nostalgia). Keeping them in separate categories tries to avoid old vs. new squabbles.

Started working on a Substack post, about the poll. Kind of a rush job, but I sent it out at 2:15 AM. I felt like it was just something I should try to do.

Daily Log

Woke up with less than 4 hours sleep. Read some, about robots. Tried again. Made the machine happy with 6+ hours. Came down at 11:15. I sent all three essays in last night, so Marx is working on them. I expect they will go up today, but no email as yet. I need to finish compiling my reviews, then fix up some website issues to unlock the results. Then I need to take a stab at redesigning the top level. After that I want to write up a Substack post based on the Agha/Malley book, which is due back at the library on Friday. Forecast is for a hot week. Will be nice to get a break from thinking about the poll.

Email (12 messages at 11:28):

• OR Books: Paul Prescod, Against Black Nationalism: Garvey, Randolph, and the Makings of a Black Movement.

Daily Log

Woke up around 8:30. Read some, but still tired, so I went back to sleep, and didn't make up until almost noon. I finally remembered that I didn't put the garbage dumpster out to the curb, so we probably missed a week. They usually pick it up shortly before noon, so just on the off chance, I put it out. Hot today. Should top 100F. I updated website with near-finished essays last night. I figured I should wait until I got up to start sending them in (although in theory Marx should be able to see them on the website). I expected to get an earlier start, but here we are, 12:17 PM. Still have breakfast before I start. Scanning ahead in email, I don't see anything, other than Van Wyck's latest proofreading. So (I guess) no rush. I woke up thinking I should have written more about the music, but too late for that. Look it up.

Email (30 messages):

• Laura and Nathan Van Wyck sent in edits to the critics piece. I've made corrections. It is the first one I will deliver this afternoon. Rob Shepherd also sent in a correction to New Notes.
• Wichita Public Library: Two books not renewed, due July 24. I still meant to do another post (maybe two) based on Hussein Agha & Robert Malley, so I need to get cracking on that. Python Automation for Dummies remains a future project. The Hawaiian cookbook is not due yet. I don't know when I'll get around to using it. I may just buy a copy for future reference.
• Substack: +2 new subscribers (Dylan Hicks); comment from Mike Poage.
• Tom Engelhardt: It's Getting Hot, Hot, Hot! Donald Trump Is the Human Equivalent of an Atomic Bomb

Mar 2001