And back to music... Just listened to "Un Poco Loco". Bud Powell & Max Roach were fuckin' monsters! Max still is, actually. Delightful stuff.

Which album? Teppy, take notes.

No need to apologize, Teppy. We stompies are like house elves when it comes to board cleanliness. Fixing posts makes us feel useful.

"I hate myself for not talking to the little redhaired girl. Well, that's not exactly true. I hate myself for a lot of other reasons, too." -- Charlie Brown

And that's why he has a lot of therapists' bills.

and I'd hate to be the type of person who annoys me.

Isn't that why you have a therapist's bill?

No -- I have a therapist's bill because OTHER people annoy me.

No -- I have a therapist's bill because OTHER people annoy me.

Okay, as long as it's outer directed.

Which album?

The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 1. Anyone who has ever yelled "MORE COWBELL!" needs to hear "Un Poco Loco". It is the poster child for cowbell.

The other standard is The Genius of Bud Powell, which has his Verve recordings, esp. a 1949 trio date: "The innovative pianist rarely sounded more creative and exciting than on the six titles that comprise his May 1949 Verve trio session: 'Tempus Fugit,' 'Celia,' 'Cherokee,' 'I'll Keep Loving You,' 'Strictly Confidential,' and 'All God's Chillun Got Rhythm.'" For some reason those tracks aren't listed, though. The Ultimate Bud Powell, selected & with liner notes by Chick Corea, has most of that session, is easy to find & cheap. "Tempus Fugue-it" is amazing. Gary Giddins:

As much if not more than Parker and Gillespie, Powell represents a line of demarcation for his instrument. The difference between pre-Bud piano and post-Bud piano is categorical. He played impossibly fast or slow, with obsessive fury or meditative detachment; he used the left hand for bracing, kindling chords that fed the right, which expressed a percussive rage equalled only by his gentle raptures. In its economy, hurtling power, and infallible precision, the minor key "Tempus Fugue-It" (originally released as "Tempus Fugit") is a head-banging wonder: the crashing Lisztian chords in which the relatively conventional melody is swaddled, the close harmonies of the release, the thrilling riff configurations of the solo, the smashed arpeggio just before the out-chorus. Yet each detail rings clear as a bell, with sensational logic. It's not that he plays so fast, but that he thinks so coherently, balanced on a moonbeam.

Must get some Bud Powell.

erinaceous I got this in my email yesterday:

Have you ever heard of a magazine called "Verbatim"? It's a quarterly on language and I just started getting it. I likes it!

Hayden, your best route to Jonathan is Eliot. I think he shares the Melville love (that didn't sound right...) so you three could bond over that. Give me a little warning next time you're coming to NY & I'll try to convince Eliot to come up & we can all get together. His mother lives here, I live here, Jonathan lives here, his wife's best friend lives around the corner from my girlfriend -- it's not a tough sell. Did I tell you I got the xword software? Dying to try it out

Eliot & I have bonded over the love of the Great Whale Book. I'll definitely let you know next time I'm headed to NYC, but got no idea when that might be.

Oh, yeah - USE that xword software, my man. Can you have something done by April 1?

I can try. Next few days are busy, but GF's going out of town after that so I'll have some time. Is there a theme for the next issue or should I use the default "hayden's obsessions"? Oh, and this is a longshot, but prospective FIL loves crosswords & me, & I'm working on a puzzle for his birthday, so maybe I can get a customized graphic for it.

Wow, that would be extraordinary.

The theme we're tossing about for the next issue is "labor issues, as related to various aspects of pop culture." Problem is that the number of related articles we have right now is 2. Writers! We need writers!