Jon Balke
I just purchased two albums of the group Batagraf, which Jon Balke is the leader. It is called a percussion group and fuses percussion, vocal and electronics. Nice stuff. Batagraf on Presto Music
Brain Eating Fungus?
Just finished reading I’m Running Out of Ways to Explain How Bad This Is What’s happening in America today is something darker than a misinformation crisis. (gift link) and realize now that there is a brain eating fungus out there that has manifested itself in key spore producers like MTG and Loomer et al. At … [Read more…]
Democracy awakening : notes on the state of America
Nov 15, 2023 I finished “reading” Democracy awakening : notes on the state of America by Heather Cox Richardson recently. I use quotes for read because she, as a historian, tells the story of our democracy from about 1960 onward, which spans my experience, so I was able to skim much of the text while … [Read more…]
Dead Man’s Mirror
Jun 11, 2023 Needed something classic so blew the dust off a 1971 Dell Edition of Christie’s Dead Man’s Mirror including Murder in the Mews and Triangle at Rhodes. Great fun, Poirot is dry and clever, two locked rooms and a love triangle with a twist.
Roadside Picnic
Jun 4, 2023 Read the ebook edition off Hoopla of Roadside Picnic, it is dated 2012 and contains the introduction by Le Guin. She points out that this book is a great example of non-heroic science fiction, no supermen, no geniuses, just a bunch of common people slogging through their reality. And slog they do, … [Read more…]
Against the Day
May 8, 2023 For the second time, I’ve finished “Against the Day” by Thomas Pynchon, (2006). This lengthy romp follows the lives of the two generations of the Traverse family, circa 1860 -> 1920 and their involvement in anarchist causes across the globe. There is a huge cast of characters touched by the family and … [Read more…]
Jules Verne
Mar 19, 2023 Speaking of dry, a few years ago I reread 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Verne and recall skipping large chunks of page due to fin de siècle taxonomy, must have been fascinating at the time, but for us 20th C. sophisticates, not so much. More recently, Around the World in 80 … [Read more…]
Ursula Le Guin
Feb 1, 2023 Let us not forget “The Lathe of Heaven.”
Your Bookshelf
Jan 10, 2023 One thing mentioned in all the tidying up advice columns around the new year, you are unlikely to reread book from your bookshelf. To disprove that, I’m reviewing my Pynchon collection. Including some interesting book markers and some dust, so far they are holding up well. I reread the last half of … [Read more…]
Civil rights leader Rev. James Lawson Jr. dies at 95
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/06/10/lawson-obit-civil-rights-martin-luther-king-00162585 Civil rights leader James Lawson Jr. dies at 95 The pastor was a close adviser to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and an advocate of nonviolent protest. By Associated Press 06/10/2024 05:44 PM EDT The Rev. James Lawson Jr., seen here in California in 2019, taught Gandhian principles to young civil rights activists … [Read more…]