Archive for November, 2004

Larry Brown, Dead

Friday, November 26th, 2004

It’s been a pleasant Thanksgiving here in Mt. Pleasant. But Steve emailed to tell me that one of my favorite authors, Larry Brown, died yesterday. His publisher has put up a brief In Memoriam page. He was a truly gifted writer, and it’s sad to see his career cut short. He was 53. If you’ve [...]

“The only thing new in the world is the history you don’t know”

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2004

The quote is from Harry Truman, but I actually have Theodore Roosevelt on the brain today. I am reading his essay, History and Literature and am quite amazed by it. Even if you have to put aside TR’s occasional forays into Hegelianism, it is quite amazing, in the light of recent years, to remember that [...]

Way down in the hole…

Wednesday, November 17th, 2004

Recently discovered Tom Waits fan blog, which has lots of interesting details, especially abou the current tour to support Tom’s new album (which I need to buy), Real Gone.

The DNA of Literature @ The Paris Review

Monday, November 15th, 2004

A cool new project at The Paris Review. PDF Interviews with great authors from back-issues including Hemingway, Ellison, T. S. Eliot, Faulkner (down a the moment), and most everyone else I read as an undergraduate. This site is a good example of a nice National Endowment for the Arts grant can do. I’ll have to [...]

Cool, I’m a brand now…

Thursday, November 11th, 2004

No comment.

Jazz of the moment (two from Verve)

Wednesday, November 10th, 2004

I’ve been grooving to Rashaan Roland Kirk’s 1961 recording We Free Kings, which I nabbed from the local public library. I’d heard of Kirk for a long time, but I’d never heard any of his stuff. He’s a good player on every sort of sax and also on the flute. We Free Kings is a [...]

goodbye, knowspam; hello thunderbird 0.9

Tuesday, November 9th, 2004

I’ll admit it, I’m cheap. I’ve really enjoyed using knowspam to help thin the spam out of my inbox. But, when it came time to renew my subscription, I let it lapse. It’s only $20/year, which is very fair. But I’ve had so many “only $20/year” things come due lately, I just couldn’t do one [...]

Happy birthday, Jack

Sunday, November 7th, 2004

Today would have been my father’s 87th birthday. He died (it’s always tempting to say, “we lost him” or “he passed away” or some other such diversion) July 29, 2003.

Smooth ambient for your post-election Friday…

Thursday, November 4th, 2004

Here’s some nice chill-out ambient from a Magnatune artist named Stargarden. I haven’t checked out all three albums yet, but The Art of Analog Diversion is solid. Turn on. Turn up. Tune out.

What do we do now?

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2004

Garret writes eloquently–and correctly–about how Democrats should proceed in the wake of the presidential election.
Tasty, foreboding quote of the moment:
“So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number [...]

personal weblog of James “Wheatbread” Martin