I’m very excited about leaving town in less than 48 hours on my mini-vacation to Athens, GA, even though I’m still wishing the trip wasn’t quite so mini (I had to cut back on my plans because of work). I’m in a rush to get lots done - I’m always in a rush before leaving town - there’s always too much I’m trying to do - too much I don’t want to come back to - new things I want to get to.

A great comic I did just finish reading is Shrimpy and Paul and Friends by Marc Bell (and published by Highwater Books). I really got a kick out of it, not too familiar with his work, tho I know he has been doing stuff for a while (some of the strips in this collection seem to date back to at least the mid-90s). The stories are nice and short, blending into each other a little, and all have a really weird energy and humor - sometimes laugh out loud funny, sometimes scratching your head funny. Definitely glad I picked it up, and will keep my eyes open for more Bell.

I’ve just started watching Bergman’s six part Scenes From a Marriage and am really hoping I can finish it up before I’m out of here. Have also started reading The Moviegoer by Walker Percy. Finished reading Lies. Inc. by Philip K. Dick, which was kind of a mess (even more so than your average PKD) and the complete stories of Flannery O’ Conner, which I’ve been reading on-and-off all year, or longer. 8:30 PM >>> 0 comments

I really want to mention a couple of new albums that have come out in the last week that are fantastic. El-P’s High Water Blue Series collaboration with Matthew Shipp, William Parker and friends is much better than I expected, and rises well above the other Shipp meets DJ collaborations (which tended to be a bit lackluster for various reasons - although I’ve yet to hear the DJ Wally one). Madvilliany also mixes jazz and hip-hop and is even better. The long anticipated collaboration between Madlib and MF Doom lives up to my wildest expectations. The track Shadows of Tomorrow even samples a Sun Ra rant (from Space is the Place, I believe). Also includes lyric sheet! 11:56 PM >>> 0 comments

Got to see the seventy-four(!) year old Ornette Coleman last night at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco - a great show well with the extra miles traveled. It was my first time seeing Coleman and I feel really lucky that it was this time around, because he brought an amazing band with him - a double bass quartet with his son Denardo on drums (and on fire), and Greg Cohen and Tony Falanga on bass - they worked off his classic compositions perfectly, showing that his music really is alive and timeless. I felt a deep connection, and hearing Coleman in such a great setting, I feel like I was able to get further inside the music. Coleman mostly worked with his alto sax, sounded great and seemed to really enjoy the audience’s appreciation of everything he did (even the brief trumpet blurts and violin scraping). I was amazed how subtle his sound was, always exploring, looking, searching, always surprising and always great. I’m hoping to hear that the new band might have an album coming out - it would be great to hear (and it has been eight years since Coleman last released anything new). 6:37 PM >>> 0 comments

I’m just back from a really good evening’s worth of the music of Gavin Bryars at RedCat. I especially liked the percussion piece “One Last Bar, Then Joe Can Sing,” and the final cello concerto (beautiful stuff). It’s great to hear interesting, orchestral music like that performed in a small, decent hall. It reminded me how important it is to hear music live, as opposed to just listening to music at home (or at work) - live performance opens up whole new worlds - it’s a way into a completely different kind of listening. I wasn’t familiar with Bryars music, but I really enjoyed it all - the quiet waves of it, emotional without being bombastic or showy - must hear more. 12:40 AM >>> 0 comments

The schedule for this year’s Vision Festival (NYC) was posted on the Jazz Corner message board. Even though I promised to skip this year, as the calendar has moved closer and closer to May, I’ve been getting more and more tempted to make another trip out there. There’s a lot of those shows REALLY I’d like to see, spread out over just six days (affordable!). There's also supposed to be a Keith Rowe and Fennesz duo thing at the Tonic that week I’d love to catch. And I’m sure plenty else going on too. I guess I have to make up my mind pretty soon.

SCHEDULE VISION NINE

Wednesday May 26
D) Dance/ Music Group TBA
1) Mark Dresser, Ned Rothenberg, Michiyo Yagi
2) Equal Interest: Joseph Jarman, Leroy Jenkins, Myra Melford
3) Henry Grimes Trio w Marilyn Crispell & Andrew Cyrille
4) Fred Van Hove & Johannes Bauer

Thursday May 27
1) Burnt Sugar
2) David Budbill and William Parker
3) Collective: Rob Brown, Steve Swell, Joe Morris, Luther Gray
4) Kahil El’Zabar / Hamiet Bluiett / Billy Bang
5) Blood Ulmer, Jamaladeen Tacuma, Calvin Weston

Friday May 28
1) Marshall Allen and the Sun Ra Arkestra celebrates Marshall Allen's 80th Birthday
2) Roy Campbell's Tazz
3) Joe McPhee 4tet w/ Harold E. Smith drums Dominic Duval on bass, and Rosie Hertlein on violin
4) William Parker Quartet with Patricia Nicholson's PaNic
5) Kidd Jordan New Orleans Band

Saturday May 29
1) Reggie Workman's Ashanti
2) Sabir Mateen, Raphe Malik, Raymond A. King, Jane Wang Ravish Momin Drums & Percussion Sabir Mateen Reeds & Flute
3) Milford Graves, Guest TBA
4) Cooper-Moore w/ Triptych Myth + Moo
5) Double Duo Mixashawn with Rashid Ali, Pheron akLaf, Ravi Coltrane

Sunday May 30
P Steve Dalachinsky and Guest TBA
1) TRIO Whit Dickey Matthew Shipp William Parker
2) Khan Jamal Quintet - Jemeel Moondoc, Roy Campbell, Dylan Taylor, Dwight James, Pheralyn Dove
3) Dave Burrell Echo/Peace Continuum William Parker, Sabir Mateen, Steve Lehman, William Hooker
4) Revolutionary Ensemble with Leroy Jenkins, Jerome Cooper and Sirone

Monday Memorial May 31- Dedicated to Bassists Wilber Morris & Peter Kowald
In the afternoon a panel of artists discuss Waging Peace and Building Justice from inside the Vision Community
1) Butch Morris Skyscraper -conduction tribute
2) Gunda Gottchalk and Xu Feng Xia
3) Amiri Baraka / Amina Baraka, Rahman Herbie Morgan, Dwight West, Brian Smith, Vijay Iyer
4) Gunter Baby Sommer & Connie Bauer & Barre Philips
5) William Parker Bass Quartet with Henry Grimes 7:12 PM >>> 0 comments

This weekend has gone really fast. There was a lot going on, a lot I was planning on doing - none of which I managed to do (for instance missed all the Chantal Akerman films at RedCat and UCLA). Still it was a good weekend. I did manage to spend some good hours reading, finished Patricia Highsmith’s This Sweet Sickness a tale of stupid obsession that I really got into - it was also the first Highsmith book I‘ve ever read. Also burned through Gabriele D’Annunzio’s short The Book of Virgins which I didn’t dig much (but thankfully it was short). And have just started in on Jane Leavy’s book on Sandy Koufax. Also watched some of the Dodger game this morning, I know it’s only spring-training, but it was damn sweet to hear Vin Scully’s voice again. Mostly though it seems I spent the weekend drawing, and that was the best of all - but it makes it even more frustrating than normal that I gotta go back to the day job tomorrow - just when I was starting to get on a roll. Music-wise I’ve been listening to some György Ligeti. Movie-wise, I’m going to wrap up my weekend with Chaplin’s City Lights. 9:15 PM >>> 0 comments

The album I’ve listened to far more than any other this year is Marcus Schmickler’s latest Pluramon release, Dreams Top Rock (on Karaoke Kalk). They seem to have captured exactly how I’ve been feeling, exactly what I‘ve been wanting to hear. Jangly, shimmering My Bloody Valentine-esque waves of guitar and sound mix with synth washes, slippy beats and distorted electronics that fade into quietly strummed acoustic guitars and childlike keyboard plings . Julee Cruise adds perfect, barely there hums and whispers of lyrics, chants "I'm not going to stay," while Hayden Chisholm contributes some great (doubled up?) bass clarinet on the halfway point track Flageolea. There’s even guest appearances from improv heavyweights Kevin Drumm and Keith Rowe, though I'd be hard pressed to pick out their work from the wall of sound mix. The acoustic instruments and electronic effects are weaved together perfectly, creating great swoops of real emotion, new emotions. Dreams Top Rock is one of those rare records that is so good it always feels too short. Play it again. 10:26 PM >>> 0 comments

There 's some interesting news about upcoming Warner Bros. DVD releases from a Warner Chat. Full text here. I've quoted the news that excited me most below. I'm also looking forward to their May 2004 Marx Brothers boxset of A Night at the Opera (1935); A Day at the Races (1937); Room Service (1938); At the Circus (1939); Go West (1940); The Big Store (1941); and A Night in Casablanca (1946)... "Coming in new transfers this July are OUT OF THE PAST, THE SET-UP, ASPHALT JUNGLE, GUN CRAZY, and MURDER, MY SWEET. We're very excited about this new series! all of these have commentaries, and the SET-UP has Robert Wise and Martin Scorsese!"

"[To Be Or Not To Be? Lubitsch's version] We have remastered from nitrate. Coming next year"

"Look forward to a major Peckinpah promotion from us including CABLE HOGUE, RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY and PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID next year. [...] THE WILD BUNCH SE is in planning stages at the moment."

"We plan to release THE DEVILS at some point soon."

"CAT PEOPLE is coming with 8 other Val Lewton RKO films in a boxed set next year."

"THE SEARCHERS is getting a full photochemical film restoration followed by a new transfer. We will release it, along with other Wayne and Ford pictures in 2006 for THE SEARCHERS 50th ANNIVERSARY. Yes, there are more Hawks films coming"

"We plan to release O LUCKY MAN in the future."

Sweet! 1:24 PM >>> 0 comments

Lots of CDs to listen to of late. A few I’ve just picked up and especially enjoyed are Curling Pond Woods by Greg Davis, Ash in the Rainbow by Haco + Sakamoto Hiromichi and the 4CD Kabal Years collection from Wadada Leo Smith. I’m looking forward to hearing the latest batch of Blue Note RVG re-issues out tomorrow and a couple of the Impulse ones too - Yusef Lateef Golden Flute and Archie Shepp Cry of my People. Another busy month.

I’ve added a couple new/old mini-comic/zines to my online store. Plenty more still to add as time allows. 8:54 PM >>> 0 comments

Spark is a arts show aired on public TV in San Francisco, but they also have a large realvideo archive of their shows available online. A friend sent over a link to their piece on Pauline Oliveros which uses some footage from a small concert we caught last year in Oakland. I also found a funny piece on the cartoonist Keith Knight - who notes, there’s more cats featured in newspaper comics than blacks. The real highlight of the archive I’ve found so far though is the piece on the Rova Saxophone Quartet - not a lot of music, but interesting words and behind the scenes footage leading up to their 25th Anniversary shows - which featured contributions from the likes of Nels Cline and Otomo Yoshihide - I’m really kicking myself for not taking the bus up for those shows last year (or was it the year before?). Definitely worth checking it - lots more I plan to view soon. 10:07 PM >>> 0 comments

I’m pleased to announce the grand opening of my new online shop. Of course, there’s only one item available so far - a brand new forty page booklet of drawings, but I intend to add more in the coming months. In fact, today I’ve already started on issue two, bought some new notebooks and got a couple good pictures drawn. It was the nicest day of the year so far out there, I think - and they say it’s only going to get better over the weekend. I‘m definitely looking forward to it - maybe I‘ll take the metro rapid down to Long Beach. 9:53 PM >>> 0 comments

Tonight it was raining. Tonight I was listening to The Modern Jazz Quartet’s Lonely Woman. I was drinking coffee and folding a stapling my latest zine (my first in several years), actually a little forty page booklet of drawings. It always feels good to finish something new, but it feels even better to begin something new. Tomorrow I’m hoping to buy a new notebook and start on issue two. I’m planning/hoping to publish six of these things in 2004 (the idea is a circle). I may soon open a little store online to make it a easier to distribute ‘em, and maybe some of my older stuff. Will post more info on that when I know it.

I’ve just started reading Cigarettes by Harry Mathews. I’ve been watching the so far uneven Exile films by Amos Gitai. When the special feature documentary is more interesting than the movie, I’d say you’re in trouble. Later tonight, I’ll take a break and put on Antononioni’s Blow-Up. March seems to be a thankfully light month for DVD releases - all I’m interested in is the new Chaplin box set and Criterion’s two - Onibaba and Scenes from a Marriage - still, I guess that makes nine movies to watch. 7:08 PM >>> 0 comments