Also note that the only reason I omitted Maria Muldaur, One Hour Mama: The Blues of Victoria Spivey (Nola Blue) is that no one recognizes her as a jazz singer, but she's the most consistently outstanding standards singer of this young century, and she's increasingly tapping real New Orleans jazz bands for backup. A close runner up in this regard is Colin Hancock's Jazz Hounds Featuring Catherine Russell, Cat & the Hounds (Turtle Bay), which just barely fell off my top ten (possibly for game theory reasons, as I could still vote for it under Debut [Hancock] and Vocal [Russell]).

My list of top-rated jazz albums extends much farther, as you can see in my The Best Jazz Albums of 2025, which also, in the interest of transparency, lists everything else I listened to during the year (which should add up to something in excess of 760 albums, most quite good and deserving of far more attention than I could muster).

Daily Log

Didn't wake up until after 10, with the machine reading 100 for the first time in a week. Came down at 11, and still feel dog tired. (Well, just a metaphor; the dog is still in bed, waiting for Laura's last shift.) Doug and I got the north platform all but screwed down yesterday. If memory serves, it covers 78 (N/S) x 76.5 (E/W). The biggest piece of plywood presented a challenge, but it turned out to be easy to unbolt one of the door springs, giving us clearance for the 4-foot edge. That should make it possible to move whole 4x5 sheets of foam and underlayment up, which is how I figured we could do the outlying areas. We have 1 full piece and 3 sizable scraps of plywood left, which we can use to fill in around the chimney. But we decided that was enough work for now. I have today open, and will see about Thursday.

The carpenter who was supposed to come and cut the soffit vents never showed up. I doubt they need this done to work on the roof, so that schedule may not be impacted, but it also isn't fixed yet. Woke up to distant hammering. The house on the NE corner of Murdock and Faulkner is getting a new roof today. I have a lot of work to catch up on today. I wrote more on Music Week yesterday, including a firm jazz ballot, but didn't publish. I'll get that done today. But for now I'm moving slow. Also typing slow. My expensive keyboard has been disconnecting with increasing frequency. I can fix it by unplugging and replugging the cable, but that's awkward and painful. My first thought was to buy another keyboard, but I started by ordering a new cable (USB-C on the keyboard end, USB-A on the computer). That may take as long as Friday to get here. (Amazon Prime's two-day shipping turns out to be flexible, with little things taking longer recently.) Last night I got so frustrated by this that I swapped keyboards, moving a Logitech I don't like to my work machine, and the broken one to the secondary machine. The substitute is much harder to type on, so I should conserve my effort.

Email (36 messages unread at the moment, plus things I peeked at but let slip yesterday, up to 48 by the time I got back to them):

• RiotRiot: Titled "best albums of 20," but just another of his quick yes-maybe-no review batches.
• New Substack subscriber: probably Damien Wilkins (Close Readers).
• Andrey Henkin wants to know when I need In Memoriam essay. He also informs me that Raul da Gama has died. I wrote him a long letter back.
• I also wrote Terry Gross a letter about her essay. I tried to push the deadline up to Dec. 24, which would give me time to frame it for comments by Dec. 26. Thinking about this, I ordered Francis's book on Pauline Kael. (Also two Fred Kaplan books, one on The Bomb as a possible follow up to the Graff oral history, and his earlier book on cyberwarfare, just because I find it perplexing and possibly even more insane.)
• Allen Lowe: Jazz You Never Heard From: Julius Hemphill, Roswell Rudd, Doc Cheatham, David Murray, Loren Schoenberg, Hamiet Bluiett. Opens with: "this is the last free-to-everyone post; starting in January only every-other column will be publicly available." Short post, mostly video samples of his own work with the named guests. So nothing ironic about his "Bait and Switch" moniker.
• New ballots: Mike Shanley. Changed ballots: Richard Gehr.

I tried filling out the El Intruso poll invite form. I'm just going to cut-and-paste here. Hopefully I'll return to clean it up a bit:

It is an honor for us to invite you to participate in:

El Intruso- 18h Annual International Critics Poll 2025

El Intruso is a website founded in 2005 for people who care about music. Our focuses are creative music, jazz and beyond, free improvisation, art-rock, and experimental music.

It will be a pleasure for us to know your opinion about your favorites in these categories (no more than three choices in each category)

This is purely off the top of my head. I appreciate you getting your own ballot in so promptly each year.

I don't much like answering category questions, so I'm just picking people I think could do with more recognition, not that there aren't dozens more/less as worthy. The first four questions are especially vexing, as my brain just doesn't work like that.

Musician of the year:

Steve Lehman has two top-ten albums, so I guess I have to pick him first.

Seems like a big year for Pat Thomas, consolidating his breakthrough on "Giant Beauty."

Even I should probably recognize Mary Halvorson and Patricia Brennan, not just for their poll-leading albums but for exceptional side credits, and not just for each other. I suppose Halvorson has more.

Newcomer Musician: Isaiah Collier?

Group of the year: Ahmed?

Newcomer group:

I'm (reluctantly) counting debut votes for Deepstaria Enigmatica and Heat On, so they certainly qualify here.

Cosmic Ear is a new group, but old hands.

Album of the year:

1. Steve Lehman: Plays the Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi)
2. Miguel Zenon: Vanguardia Subterranea (Miel Music)
3. Archer: Sudden Dusk (Aerophonic)

Composer:

I have no sense of this, but Anthony Braxton, Tim Berne, and John Zorn are getting their pieces played by more and more people, sometimes better than they do themselves.

Also, fyi, working hard to get his compositions covered is Gregg Hill, but he's relatively provincial (not just American but specific to Lansing [not even Detroit], Michigan).

Drums: Hamid Drake, Jim Black, Gerry Hemingway. Dozens more.

> Acoustic Bass William Parker, Thomas Morgan, Joao Madeira Again, dozens. > Electric Bass Probably someone, but I don't track the distinction. > Guitar Mary Halvorson, Joe Morris, Samo Salamon Probably more. Nels Cline has done good work this year. > Piano Pat Thomas, Matthew Shipp, Satoko Fujii Dozens more, and I'm not that much of a piano fan. I was tempted, but I'd be wasting a vote for Terry Waldo here. Claire Ritter comes to mind as someone near the bottom of my A-list, but still a remarkable pianist. > Keyboards/Synthesizer/Organ Craig Taborn? Gary Versace? > Tenor Saxophone Rodrigo Amado, Ivo Perelman, James Brandon Lewis + a dozen more > Alto Saxophone Dave Rempis, John O'Gallagher, Marty Ehrlich > Baritone Saxophone Rudi Mahall > Soprano Saxophone Evan Parker > Trumpet/Cornet Kirk Knuffke, Adam O'Farrill, Dave Douglas > Clarinet/bass clarinet Marty Ehrlich, Ken Peplowski > Trombone Steve Swell, Ray Anderson > Flute Nicole Mitchell > Violin/Viola Jason Kao Hwang, Carlos Zingaro > Cello Fred Lonberg-Holm > Vibraphone Patricia Brennan, Joel Ross > Electronics Val Jeanty? > Other instruments I can't seriously figure this out right now. I am fond of tuba, so maybe Theon Cross? Vince Giordano? Marcus Rojas? I noticed William Parker playing some tuba this year. > Female Vocals One last vote for Sheila Jordan Maria Muldaur, who doesn't get anywhere near the respect she deserves, even in blues let alone jazz; she's the best interpretive singer of the last 20-30 years Catherine Russell Dee Dee Bridgewater and Nnenna Freelon has surprisingly good records this year. > Male Vocals Anthony Joseph, Damon Locks > Record Label Any that still send me shit, but especially the European labels that have to pay through the nose to do so. NoBusiness Moserobie Pi > > > (All categories are optional except Musician of the year, Newcomer Musician, Group of the year, Newcomer group & Album of the year) > > > > Note: Individual ballots include a link to your website, photo & a short bio Nothing new this year, except there's a substack, so link there as well as to my website: Notes on Everyday Life. > > > Deadline for ballots: January 2, 2026 > > > > In the El Intruso 17th Annual Poll the following critics participated: > > Paul Acquaro, Esteban Arizpe Castañeda, Hrayr Attarian, Roberto Barahona, Franpi Barriaux, Ilia Belorukov, Enrico Bettinello, Henning Bolte, Mike Borella, Antonio Branco, Stuart Broomer, Bill Brownlee, Pete Butchers, Luca Canini, Nuno Catarino, Jeff Cebulski, Troy Collins, Nazim Comunale, James Cook, Mark Corroto, Raúl da Gama, Aldo del Noce, Francis Davis, Jos Demol, Zlatan Dimitrijevic, Laurence Donohue-Greene, Nicolas Dourlhès, Alain Drouot, Pierre Dulieu, Filipe Freitas, Matteo Gabutti, Stef Gijssels, Kurt Gottschalk, Alberto Gutiérrez, Eyal Hareuveni, Andrey Henkin, Tom Hull, Martin Johnson, Will Layman, Howard Mandel, Hiroyuki Masuko, Giuseppe Mavilla, Paul Medrano, Ralph A. Miriello, Chris Monsen, Marcelo Morales, Nicola Negri, Tim Niland, Ysi Ortega, Marco Paolucci, Sergio Piccirilli, Sofia Rajado, Paul Rauch, Natalia Rikker, Enrico Romero, John Sharpe, Rob Shepherd, Sergio Spampinato, Sammy Stein, Mark Sullivan, Fabricio Vieira, Begoña Villalobos, Luca Vitali, Ken Waxman, Jerome Wilson Today's my last call for sending out invites, so if there are any more of your voters I should hit up, please give me names and email addresses. Thanks. This has been a rush job, so if you have any questions, just ask. Thanks again.

Daily Log

Woke up around 7:45, and never really got back to sleep. Got up at 9, thinking about attic work, with Lily Allen's "Pussy Palace" stuck in my mind. I read a bit, then came down to face the day.

Email (20 messages):

• New ballots: Larry Blumenfeld (leftover from last night).

Music Week

Expanded blog post, December archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 23 albums, 4 A-list

Music: Current count 45282 [45259] rated (+23), 1 [4] unrated (-3).

New records reviewed this week:

• Allo Darlin': Bright Nights (2025, Slumberland): [sp]: B+(**)
• Bruno Angelini/Sakina Abdou/Angelika Niescier: Lotus Flowers (2024 [2025], Abalone): [sp]: B+(**)
• Gregg Belisle-Chi: Slow Crawl: Performing the Music of Tim Berne (2024 [2025], Intakt): [sp]: B+(**)
• Jim Black & the Schrimps: Better You Don't (2024 [2025], Intakt): [sp]: B+(***)
• The Close Readers: Trees of Lower Hutt (2025, Austin): [sp]: B+(***)
• Convergence: Reckless Meter (2019 [2025], Capri): [cd]: B+(*)
• De La Soul: Cabin in the Sky (2025, Mass Appeal): [sp]: B+(**)
• Hamid Drake & Pat Thomas: A Mountain Sees a Mountain (2019 [2025], Old Heaven Books): [bc]: A-
• Effie: Pullup to Busan 4 More Hyper Summer It's Gonna Be a Fuckin Movie (2025, Sound Republica, EP): [sp]: B
• Fred Frith/Mariá Portugal: Matter (2023 [2025], Intakt): [sp]: B+(***)
• Julius Gawlik: It's All in Your Head (2024 [2025], Unit): [sp]: B+(***)
• Dave Gisler Trio: The Flying Mega Doghouse (2025, Intakt): [sp]: B+(*)
• Jimmy Greene: As We Are Now (2024 [2025], Greene Music Works): [sp]: B+(**)
• Hamell on Trial: Dirty Xmas (2025, Saustex): [sp]: B+(**)
• Nakibembe Embaire Group and Naoyuki Uchida: Phantom Keys (2025, Nyege Nyege Tapes): [bc]: B+(**)
• Otherlands Trio [Stephan Crump/Darius Jones/Eric McPherson]: Star Mountain (2025, Intakt): [sp]: B+(**)
• Out Of/Into [Joel Ross/Gerald Clayton/Kendrick Scott/Matt Brewer/Immanuel Wilkins]: Motion II (2025, Blue Note): [sp]: B+(**)
• Keith Oxman: Home (2024 [2025], Capri): [cd]: B+(**)
• Wayne Wilkinson: Holly Tunes (2025, self-released): [cd]: B-

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Luke Bell: The King Is Back (2013-16 [2025], All Blue/Thirty Tigers): [sp]: A-
• Fred Frith: Fred Frith and the Gravity Band (2014 [2025], Klanggalerie): [bc]: B+(**)
• Fred Frith/Shelley Burgon: The Life and Behavior (2002-05 [2025], Relative Pitch): [sp]: B+(***)
• Charles Mingus: Mingus at Monterey (1964 [2025], Candid): [sp]: B+(**)
• Thelonious Monk: Bremen 1965 (1965 [2025], Sunnyside): [bc]: A-

Old music:

• Fred Frith: Gravity (1979-80 [1980], Ralph): [yt]: B+(***)

Grade (or other) changes:

• Lily Allen: West End Girl (2025, BMG): [sp]: [was: B+(***)]: A-

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week (not yet counted):

• Herb Robertson/Christopher Dell/Christian Ramond/Klaus Kugel: Blue Transient (Nemu) [09-16]
• Sophie Tassignon: A Slender Thread (Nemu) [06-27]

Daily Log

Got up at 9. Carpenter is supposed to come today to cut the soffit vents. While I suggested a later start, I expected an early one, and wanted to be up as necessary. Nothing yet by 11, which has given me some time to work on the poll. I've created a new notes file on essays and comments, and added a link to it from the index page. This also feeds into a new email alias, 25comments. I've set it up to forward to my alternate email account, which will be a bit easier to track. Once I've done the update, I'll send email out to jpadmin and jazzpoll. I should also send something to jpmedia today. When this happens depends on when everything else happens. Aside from the carpenter, who will be doing his thing independently, Doug is coming over to help work on the attic. The two tasks dovetail somewhat, as we'll need to clear airways from the soffit vents to the future ridge vent. I'm hoping to get the decking extended to the north wall, which will allow us to maneuver safely the entire length of the attic. There will still be lots of loose rock wool toward the eves, but little reason (other than clearing the soffit vents) to venture out there.

Around noon, I got the message that the soffit carpenter can't make it today, so we'll try again tomorrow. I did send out email to jpadmin and jazzpoll, and I updated the website with something on the essays plan, so I had a pretty productive period. Doug came over after lunch, and we started work on the attic. He got the area cleared quick enough, and we started laying out 2x4s, but ran into various problems. I also cut a piece of plywood one inch short, turning it into scrap. Eventually I decided that my initial layout didn't fit the wood, so needed to be revised. We wound up only getting one piece of plywood rough fit. It should go faster tomorrow, but first I need to recheck all of the measurements. Bottom line is that instead of moving on to the railing tomorrow, we'll be fortunate to finish this patch of attic.

Didn't seriously get to email until after 6 (37 messages):

• New ballots: Chris Barton, Rick Mitchell, Richard Gehr.
• Senator Marshall's Plan to Lower Healthcare Costs.

Daily Log

Another early-to-bed, early-rise, getting up shortly after 9. Cold today, but sunny. I need to start implementing my essay plan, starting with the subdomain and WordPress installation. No response to the mail I sent out yesterday, but it's not like I asked for any. This is just how I want to work things this year, knowing whether it works or fails is mostly up to me. One thing not in the mail is that I want to open up a page where I collect quotes from Francis Davis's poll introductions. This both reacquaints me with his focus and concerns, and provides some sort of guideline for others. Plus it could merit publication on its own.

Email (12 messages):

• I added James Hale to jpadmin, and sent him yesterday's essay plan.
• New ballots: Troy Dostert, Stuart Kremsky, Laurence Donohue-Greene (I wrote back and he sent me his albums file in .xslx format, which I filed under Documents).
• I sent Carl Wilson an invitation. [He accepted.]
• Mazin Qumsiyeh: "Fourteen children died in Gaza from cold in one day of rain and more cold fronts are coming as some 2 million live in ragged tents or in the open."
• Project Syndicate: Desmond Lachman: "Donald Trump Is Unaffordable." Also: Slavoj Zizek: "When Communism Is the Only Option," seeing "Iran's mishandling of a life-threatening water crisis as a focal point of humanity's current predicament."

I spent most of the day just treading water, but finally got around to setting up the website for the essay play:

1. I used the cPanel Domains tool to create a subdomain: jazzcp.hullworks.net. It created a new directory, same name as the subdomain, under the hullworks account root. I was told that it would take a while (about 30 minutes) to resolve the domain. I also noticed that the new subdomain didn't have SSL, so I wondered about that, but decided to wait. Before long, I could access the subdomain, and the SSL issue vanished.

2. I created a directory tree on my local machine for a master copy of the new subdomain. This included an index page, phpinfo, and a Makefile to create a tarball of the local website. I used the cPanel File Manager to upload the archive, then installed it. It worked. I made a couple cosmetic changes. The website itself will mostly be WordPress, but its own directory. This lets me build extra structure around it, should I want any.

3. I used Softaculous to install WordPress. It gave me a list of "hand-picked WordPress plugins: SoftWP, SpeechCache, Pagelayer, CookieAdmin, SiteSEO, GoSMTP, Backuply, Loginizer, FileOrganizer. I don't want any of them now. Options are confusing, so let's try X. That brings me back to the install page.

4. I click on "Install Now." I select Version 6.9. I change the domain to my subdomain, but keep https:// and wp. I fill in some things: I go ahead with the default plugins, figuring I can remove them later. I click on Install.

5. Softaculous responds:

   WordPress has been successfully installed at : https://jazzcp.hullworks.net/wp
   Administrative URL : https://jazzcp.hullworks.net/wp/wp-admin/

6. I click on the wp-admin. This takes me to the dashboard, which says "Howdy, Tom Hull"; options below to:

   • Backup Now
   • Learn more about the 6.9 version.
   • Add a new page (Author rich content with blocks and patterns).
   • Open site editor (Customize your entire site with block themes).
   • Edit styles (Switch up your site's look & feel with Styles).

   It then complains about "PHP Update Recommended" (we're running 7.4.33; no information on Site Health Status; at a glance: 1 post, 1 comment, 1 page. Left side bar has the usual stuff, plus lots of plugin menus. SiteSEO and SpeedyCache are also on the top bar.

7. I click on "Tom Hull edit profile": I don't see anything I want to change. Default theme is Twenty Twenty, which seems ok. I go through Settings, and tweak a few things, mostly based on the expectation that this will be a collaborative writing site with minimal outside visibility. I don't find any way to make the site private — a mismatch between the current software and online doc? I want to set this up with a static home page instead of a blogroll. I go to "Add a page" to create that home page, and it asks me to "Choose a pattern" (none of which I want). I uncheck "Always show starter patterns for new pages" and dismiss the pop up.

8. I created a page, "20th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll," and published it as Public. I set the home page display to show this page. As I create additional pages, I will add links from the home page.

I hate Christmas music, and have made no secret of that. One reason is jealousy, ever since I read that it outsells jazz annually, despite the latter having 10 times as many releases, and pretty much infinitely more interest. Another is, well, bah humbug! We haven't celebrated, at least in minimal sense of giving presents, since my mother died in 2000. It was very much her holiday — my sister used to accuse her of only liking the pagan aspects of Christmas, which was fairly accurate and not really a complaint. (I have continued her tradition of cooking up an Xmas Eve dinner, which I suppose could be viewed as some kind of gift.)

I usually get a half-dozen holiday music albums each year, but their number has dwindled down to one this year. I figured I'd put it off until just before the holiday, and dismiss it (and anything else that came in) quickly. After Christgau, who's no less atheistic but somewhat more sentimental than I am, reviewed Hamell on Trial's Dirty Xmas, I had to also review that. Which got me to thinking about doing a section on what else the year has to offer. But when I started looking around, I decided the best thing to do would be to compile a list before I dive into what is bound to be unpleasant work. Here's what I found:

1. Herb Alpert: Christmas Time Is Here
2. Jill Barber: A Holly Jolly Jill Barber Christmas
3. Eric Benet: It's Christmas
4. Adam Blackstone: A Legacy Christmas
5. Chris Blue: Every Day Is Christmas
6. Brandy: Christmas With Brandy
7. Sabrina Carpenter: Fruitcake (EP)
8. Celtic Woman: Nollaig: A Christmas Journey
9. Cher: Christmas
10. Dead Boys: (It's Gonna Be A) Punk Rock Christmas
11. Fall Out Boy: It Feels Like Christmas
12. The Futureheads: Christmas
13. Robert Glasper: In December
14. Natalie Grant: Christmas
15. Mickey Guyton: Feels Like Christmas
16. Darius de Haas: Let Me Carry You This Christmas
17. Hunter Hayes: Evergreen Christmas Sessions
18. Jonas Brothers: Coming Home This Christmas
19. Samara Joy: A Joyful Holiday
20. Lady A: On This Winter's Night: Volume 2
21. Willie Nelson: Christmas Love Song
22. Old Crow Medicine Show: OCMS XMAS
23. Brad Paisley: Snow Globe Town
24. Jon Pardi: Merry Christmas From Jon Pardi
25. Pentatonix: Christmas in the City
26. The Philly Specials: A Philly Special Christmas Special
27. Gregory Porter: Christmas Wish
28. The Pretty Reckless: Taylor Momsen's Pretty Reckless Christmas
29. LeAnn Rimes: Greatest Hits Christmas
30. The Salem Travelers: Merry Christmas to You
31. Allan Sherman: Silly Christmas Songs
32. Straight No Chaser: Holiday Road
33. Stryper: Greatest Gift of All
34. Bugge Wesseltoft: It's Snowing on My Piano
35. Matthew West: Come Home for Christmas
36. Wheatus: Just a Dirtbag Christmas (EP)
37. Sarah Willis: Cuban Christmas
38. Lainey Wilson: Peace, Love, & Cowboys (Holiday Edition)
39. Trisha Yearwood: Christmastime
40. The Chess Records Christmas Album

Daily Log

Didn't make it to 3 again last night. Woke up around 8:30, deciding I needed to get to work. Still, didn't start this until after 2, and can't recall getting much work done. I did get the Christgau Consumer Guide up. I played Mingus and Monk live albums. I found I had lost a review of an Ugandan album, so I stubbed it. I definitely wrote the review, so either I put it in the wrong file, or I accidentally deleted a bunch of stuff. (I lost a huge section of the m2025 file last week, which I largely recovered from the website version, but probably still lost things.) I swapped out the front storm door for winter. We finished a jigsaw puzzle. I haven't gotten back to the letter I started writing to jpadmin.

Email (13 messages): Nothing I noted at the time, but:

• Invite to Sergio Piccirilli's El Intruso poll.
• Robert Wright: The China Chip Rorschach Test.
• Mike Konczal: Does a Target Range Make Sense of the Fed's Actions?

I spent most of the day writing up my essay plan to send to jpadmin. We braved the cold and went out for dinner and a wee bit of shopping. (Laura wanted Hanukkah candles. They were hard to come by, so she bought some cheap birthday candles instead. I later ordered some from Amazon, but 'tis the season of delayed deliveries, so the best I could find was Wednesday. No plans yet on latke dinner, but it won't be earlier than the end of the week, as I have house work for Monday/Tuesday, then the roofers should be here later in the week, and the poll is going to be a constant struggle.) After I sent my letter out, we watched the new Knives Out movie, Wake Up Dead Man, then Saturday Night Live (open, "Weekend Update," Lily Allen).

Daily Log

Went to bed early last night, around 2, even before Laura. The power outage screwed up the stereo, which I got to play but the volume was too low to really hear. Got up a bit after 9, finding a dead opossum in the middle the street in front of our house. Read more from Graff's oral history, which is fascinating, as the point is not just to explain what they were doing, but why they thought they were doing it. I wrote up yesterday's dinner, and including a Facebook post. I just meant to use first names in the latter, but I was prompted with links, so I went with them.

Weather station monitor got fried during yesterday's power problems. It had been making strange noises for some time. Now it clicks regularly, flashing lights on occasion. I finally unplugged it. I need to write their customer service. It's probably possible to buy a replacement unit, as opposed to replacing the whole thing. I've already replaced most of the remote unit, so I don't have much nice to say about their quality control, but their customer support usually gets back to me.

Tom James came over with the roofing contract. I signed it. He has arranged for a carpenter to come over on Monday to cut the soffit vents. I asked about repairing the dropped piece of soffit, and he thought that may be possible. Probably too early on Monday, but we'll cope. He's going to arrange with the HVAC guy to disconnect the mini-split. I agreed to store it in our bedroom. They may get to the roof late next week. He says they have one small house ahead of us. This will depend on weather. It's cold today (44 high), and colder on Sunday (29 high), but should rebound to 46 on Monday, and in the low 50s through Friday (but Tuesday is the only sunny day). I should see if Doug is available Monday-Tuesday. Monday main thing would be to make sure the soffit airflows are clear, and extend the platform to the north wall. Tuesday we should build the railing frame. I figure we can build it in three pieces in the backyard, so a warm, sunny day is just what we need. The attic warms up a bit, so we can work in there when it's a bit cooler, but have to go outside to cut wood, so not much cooler.

Rachel left for the airport. We had some interesting talks, where I was repeatedly surprised by what she doesn't know and what she does. I should do some kind of debrief of those conversations, including our dinner guests, who gave me a view into generational gaps I had little inkling of. But I still haven't gotten around to debriefing our previous dinner discussion, especially about what changed from the 1960s to 1970s. But right now I'm way behind. I'll be hard pressed to catch up with my email today (especially given that I barely glanced at it yesterday).

Speaking of which, email (93 messages):

• More Nathan Van Wyck corrections.
• Bill Marx: Reponse to my essay plan generally positive. I wrote back and said "I'll take that for a yes."
New ballots: Fred Kaplan, Paul Acquaro, David Kunian, Philip Booth, Larry Birnbaum (to list).
• TomDispatch: Liz Theoharis, The Bible Condemns Rich Predators, Not Poor Trans Lovers; or Is Trump the New Nero?
• DownBeat's Best Albums of 2025.
• Invites sent to new voters: Steve Smith. Also sent a feeler letter to: Dylan Hicks. That got me wondering about: Carl Wilson.
• Tom Lane sent his EOY list in. Mostly country/Americana.
• Library books: all four renewed until Dec. 28
• RiotRiot: More records.
• Christian Iszchak: More records.

Daily Log

First day in a long time I didn't start off by writing this entry. I got up shortly after 10, but the plan today was to cook the 7-hour lamb. Working back from dinner at 6, that meant I should put the lamb in the oven by 11. I doubt I would have made it, but we had a power outage shortly after I got up, before I could get the oven lit. As soon as the power came on, about 12:10, I turned the oven on, figuring the gas would continue to burn even if the electricity went off again. I finished prep on the lamb, and got it into a 300F oven at 12:22, so dinner would be postponed to 7:30. That gave me a lot of ttime to work through the rest of the menu.

Writing this the next day. I got to this point and decided I should post a plate pic on Facebook. I wrote there (pic from Facebook link):

Rachel Hull came for a visit this week. When asked what I could fix for dinner, she answered potatoes dauphinois. I had made that last week, when Susan Moir and Sara Driscoll were here, and had made it when Rachel's parents visited last year. When we turned to meat, she liked lamb, so we settled on another Bourdain recipe: gigot a sept heurs, where you take a big chunk of leg, stuff it with garlic, put it in a pot with onions, carrots, more garlic, herbs, and wine, and seal the lid tight with some dough. Put it into a 300F oven, and let it cook 7 hours. During that time, I made green beans with pancetta, a panzanella salad, and sea scallops in an orange caramel sauce. I also slow roasted some "sugar bomb" tomatoes, which I served with sopresata and smoked gruyere. Dessert was date pudding.

I made the date pudding the previous night. The recipe calls for baking it at 275F for 55 minutes. This results in a cake-like texture around the edges, but the middle is significantly undercooked. So while it comes out of the oven looking even and slightly browned, the middle falls when it cools, and the texture is pudding-like (still delicious, and in some respects even better tasting). Cooking it longer doesn't have much effect. So this time I tried something different: I turned the broiler on, at its lowest setting, with the pan in the second lowest rack position. I got distracted, and by the time I checked it, the top middle was burnt. When the pan cooled, the cake fell a bit, but less than 1/4 inch, as opposed to over 1/2 inch normally. I took an offset spatula and scraped off the burnt part, and leveled off the edges. I then made the caramel sauce, and poured it on top of the now-crustless cake. I put it into the refrigerator.

On Thursday, I whipped up some cream, and spread that on top of the date pudding, producing an even top, where the sunk middle just gave you more whipped cream. I refrigerated this. I boiled the green beans. I sliced the potatoes and parboiled them in cream with herbs and a bit of nutmeg. I then poured them into a casserole dish, and topped it with an 8 oz. bag of shredded gruyere, then for good measure I grated another block of more expensive gruyere, so we wound up with about 3 times the amount of cheese the recipe called for.

I asembled the salad without carefully reading the recipe. I had leftover bread I wanted to use, so I toasted it, then cubed it. I had previously cut up three tomatoes, before I realized I was supposed to skin them, run one through a food mill, and combine the pulp with the bread. I wound up taking two more tomatoes, peeling them, and using the food mill. I didn't combine them with the bread until the last minute, but it still had the effect of turning the bread into mush. That gave the salad an odd texture. I think it would have been better just keeping the bread toasted, like croutons. Otherwise, my Italian salad morphed into Greek, as I added olives, feta, oregano, and sumac. It's a great salad, so my only regret was the bread.

I had bought a package of "sugar bomb" tomatoes, so I slow roasted them: 3 hours at 225F. They were indeed very sweet. I served them as an antipasto, with bits of sopresatta and smoked gruyere. Hardly anyone noticed. I chopped an onion, which I added to some bacon and pancetta. I eventually added the boiled green beans, heated them through, put them into a serving bowl, and sprinkled parmesan on top. All of that was very straightforward.

The scallops would be trickier. I had bought up frozen sea scallops when I found them on sale, figuring I'd save them for some special occasion. I figured this one rose to the mark, especially given that we need to use up frozen food sooner or later. I thawed out 2 lbs, which was double the recipe — from Dorie Greenspan, scallops in caramel-orange sauce. It was conceptually easy enough, but the timing was tricky, and doubling the recipe caused some problems: mostly in sauteeing the scallops, which I should have done in two batches. Doing them in one crowded the pan, and made it harder to get them all just right. (Some came out ok, but some were overdone.) I used too much oil, and the scallops released too much liquid, so there was no searing.

Doubling the sauce was probably a plus, but figuring out just how much to reduce it was tricky. The technique was new for me: start with 4 tbs sugar and simply melt it in the skillet. It turns brown, so you get the caramel color. The exact desired shade was unclear. I then added a mix of wine and orange juice. I was told it would splatter, which it did a bit, but more significantly the liquids cooled the sugar into hardened candy. More heat remelted the sugar, and eventually I got it back to boiling. I was supposed to reduce by half, but that was hard to properly see. I'm pretty sure now that I should have reduced it more, but I didn't want to turn it into a mere sticky syrup either. I then had to keep the sauce warm while I was sauteeing the scallops. The sauce was finished by adding some butter. I had wanted to combine the sauce and scallops in the pan, but wound up following instructions: plate the scallops, then spoon the sauce over them. The dish looked a little anemic, but I had made some candied orange peel the night before, so I used that as a garnish. I was disappointed, but the guests were generally pleased. I ate a couple leftovers later, which were much better than the ones on my plate. The unevenness of the cooking is the most likely difference.

We had six people. The only dish more than half-eaten was the dauphinois.

Daily Log

Slept past 10, with one nocturnal interruption. Read a bit, in Graff's oral history of the Manhattan Project — the third of my library books, due in just a couple days so I'm unlikely to get through it, but the early bits are fascinating. I posted Music Week last night, with a "provisional" jazz poll ballot, plus lists of hip-hop and country picked from my EOY list. The three genres largely define my musical consciousness, with jazz amounting to about 40% of this year's A-list to date, and the other two adding up to about 40% of the remainder (depending on where you draw lines between country-influenced singers/bands and hip-hop-influenced soul/dance/world music).

I also wrote a letter to the roofer, trying to prod him along, at the risk of breaking our deal. If he drops out, I figure I can go back to Hometown and clear up a few things on their bid. DHI is also a fallback, but may be less flexible. I could try a few more signs in the neighborhood. I'm tempted to just do the top roof, and leave the skirts and aprons be. And just fix the railing but leave the carport patio as is. No telling how much of what I have left will be insured, given how much stuff they wrote down that I'm not repairing. I could look at the rest when it warms up a bit. Anyhow, this should make or break this week. I keep reflecting back on "the princple of indifference," which initially struck me as immoral and insane, but has since popped up so often I'm becoming used to it, perhaps even indifferent. I suppose it's a bit like pilots learning to fly through turbulence. It's very unsettling at first, but eventually you realize as long as you're not too close to the ground, you just have to steady your nerves and fly on, hopefully to a safe landing. Worst case scenario on the roof is still affordable. I don't want they them to know that, because I don't like being taken advantage of, but what is beyond my patience is dragging this out. Old age is shaping up as a disappointment, but worse things can still happen.

I expressed misgivings about my list yesterday, but I'm playing Lehman now, and his record really is freaking brilliant. Today's schedule is pretty packed. I have cardiologist at 2pm, so not much until then. After, I go to grocery store(s) to buy for dinner tomorrow. We decided to do a "7-hour leg of lamb," so I'll try Zaccoub's, then Yoder. I called the latter yesterday, and they have a frozen leg, about 12 lb. I'll need it cut down to fit in my Dutch oven. Beyond that, we'll do the potatoes dauphinois, green beans with pancetta, and panzanella. I still have most of a loaf of stale bread leftover, so that seems like good use of it. I also have frozen sea scallops, and want to try a recipe with an orange caramel sauce. I also have a leftover package of mejdol dates, so we'll do date pudding for dessert. After I pick up the lamb, I may stop at an adjacent Indian grocer to get some chutney, then I'm thinking Whole Foods, and Dillons if I have anything left. Shouldn't take much. We could go out for dinner tonight, but I'm thinking I'll bring some barbecue home instead. Tonight I'll make the dessert. I'll need to get up early tomorrow to get the lamb started, but once it's going, you don't touch it for 7 hours. Everything else seems easy enough, except the technique for the caramel is a new one for me. Ram and his posse will join us for dinner.

Email (24 messages):

• Christgau got a message from a guy who Wikipedia pages for celebrities. He wants to do one on Book Reports, for a fee, of course. I've thought about doing something like that, but more from the interest of contributing to the commons. At one point I did have a Wikipedia account, and made a couple of minor contributions, but I've since forgotten the protocols. Wouldn't be hard to pick up. And I find gaps in their coverage all the time. It does make me wonder how much of, say, album coverage is paid for by promoters. I suppose it wouldn't be hard to find out.
• New ballot(s): Paul Acquaro. Changed ballot(s): .
• New substack subscriber(s): Ethan Iverson (also subscribes to 120 other substacks; I rarely do this, but I subscribed back, or thought I did — hard to tell).
• William Marx, "trying to wrap my head about your plan," but "fine with more articles/essays," expressed need for photos, willingness to pay from my budget (misunderstanding cleared up), "whatever is left goes to you . . . no problem with leaks." So basically, ok.
• Robert Christgau Consumer Guide: looks like I underrated Lily Allen and Danny Brown, maybe Smerz (all of which I liked, but not that much). More African stuff I hadn't heard of, a Hamell on Trial Xmas album, an "A+" Monk compilation I long ago filed as a B, some kind of Moby Grape reunion?

Daily Log

No news on the roofing front. I am, of course, paranoid, wondering whether last week's attempt to wriggle out of their contract might be something other than an attempt to shake more money out of us (which succeeded). Perhaps they simply don't want to work on the house? Then I recalled that I hadn't sent them the insurance documents I promised. I should do that today. Meanwhile, I've been preoccupied with the poll. I wrote a letter to Bill Marx about my idea of hanging comments after introductions and tables, so we get more views into the essay section. Waiting for a response, but I think the basic idea is good, and should be better for them, giving them more clickable articles. Meanwhile, I held up Music Week trying to finalize my own ballot.

Rachel arrived around 10, staying here until Friday. Not sure what the deal is for today. I have doctor appointment on Wednesday, so the only day I can really cook anything is Thursday. I can go shopping after my appointment. No menu yet, other than that Rachel asked for potatoes dauphinois. We'll talk about that today. I woke up at 8:30, went back to bed, but couldn't fall back asleep, so I got up at 9:30. I came down, and looking at the piles of CDs on my desk, found a basket to put them in. I need to play a few to firm up my ballot. Started with Cat & the Hounds.

Email (24 messages):

• Nathan Van Wyck sent in a bunch of album credit errors, some pretty gross. I corrected them. He also noted that some album links produced empty pages. Turns out this is partly because I never implemented the album/critic lookups for the V-L-D lists. Still, that doesn't excuse not printing the title. I should fix the whole thing, but need to screw up my courage first.
• Mike Konczal: The Baby Euler Equation: How rational expectations model the fertility gap and clarify the debate over pronatalism.
• New ballot(s): Ballot changes: Ken Waxman, Dave Barber (didn't get the original)

Music Week

Expanded blog post, December archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 36 albums, 4 A-list

Music: Current count 45259 [45223] rated (+36), 4 [3] unrated (+1).

New records reviewed this week:

• Tarun Balani: ڪڏهن ملنداسين Kadahin Milandaasin (2024 [2025], Berthold): [bc]: B+(***)
• Kenny Barron: Songbook (2025, Artwork): [sp]: B+(***)
• George Cartwright & Bruce Golden: South From a Narrow Arc (2025, self-released): [bc]: B+(*)
• Che: Rest in Bass (2025, 10K): [sp]: B+(**)
• Silvana Estrada: Vendrán Suaves Lluvias (2025, Glassnote): [sp]: B+(*)
• Al Foster: Live at Smoke (2025, Smoke Sessions): [sp]: B+(***)
• Billy Hart: Multidirectional (2023 [2025], Smoke Sessions): [sp]: B+(***)
• James K: Friend (2025, AD93): [sp]: B+(**)
• Led Bib: Hotel Pupik (2025, Cuneiform): [dl]: B+(*)
• Nick León: A Tropical Entropy (2025, TraTraTrax): [sp]: B+(*)
• Los Thuthanaka: Los Thuthanaka (2025, self-released): [bc]: B+(**)
• Paul Marinaro: Mood Ellington (2022 [2025], Origin): [sp]: B+(**)
• Fred Moten & Brandon López: Revision (2025, TAO Forms): [sp]: B+(***)
• Charles Owens Trio: The Music Tells Us (2024, La Reserve): [sp]: B+(***)
• Aaron Parks: "By All Means!!" (2025, Blue Note): [sp]: B+(**)
• Revolutionary Snake Ensemble: Serpentine (2025, Cuneiform): [dl]: B+(***)
• Joanne Robertson: Blurrr (2025, AD 93): [sp]: B+(*)
• John Scofield/Dave Holland: Memories of Home (2024 [2025], ECM): [sp]: A-
• Smerz: Big City Life (2025, Escho): [sp]: B+(**)
• Omar Sosa: Sendas (2025, Otá): [sp]: B+(*)
• Adrian Younge: Jazz Is Dead 23: Hyldon (2025, Jazz Is Dead, EP): [sp]: B+(**)
• Adrian Younge: Something About April III (2025, Jazz Is Dead): [sp]: B+(*)

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Anthony Braxton: Quartet (England) 1985 (1985 [2025], Burning Ambulance): [dl]: A-
• Don Cherry/Latif Khan: Music/Sangam (1978 [2025], Heavenly Sweetness): [sp]: B+(**)
• Griot Galaxy: Live on WUOM 1979 (1979 [2025], Two Rooms): [bc]: A-

Old music:

• Tarun Balani: The Shape of Things to Come (2020, Berthold): [bc]: B+(**)
• Daniel Carter/Gary Hassay/William Parker: Emanate (2013 [2015], self-released): [bc]: B+(**)
• Gary Hassay + Paul Rogers: To Be Free (2004 [2005], Konnex): [bc]: A-
• Gary Hassay/Dan DeChellis/Tatsuya Nakatani: Beauty (2007, Konnex): [bc]: B+(**)
• Gary Hassay/Dan DeChellis/Tatsuya Nakatani: Ritual Joy (2009 [2010], Konnex): [bc]: B+(**)
• Gary Hassay/Michael Bisio: My Brother (2011, Konnex): [bc]: B+(**)
• Gary Hassay/Dan DeChellis/Tatsuya Nakatani: Seven Pieces (2015, self-released): [bc]: B+(*)
• Gary Joseph Hassay/Janet Young: What Remains (2016, Dbops Music): [sp]: B-
• Charles Owens Quartet: Eternal Balance (1999, Fresh Sound New Talent): [sp]: B+(***)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Negative Press Project: Friction Quartet (Envelopmental Music) [01-30]

Daily Log

Woke up after 10, after a fairly normal amount of sleep which ended with the usual bizarre but unnoteworthy dreaming. Laura has a doctor appointment, so felt she had to get up early, so for once she beat me. I finished the Dave Barry book last night. "The End" was a sensible discourse on retiring. The second reason for ending his column, which was syndicated in over 500 newspapers, was to free himself from deadlines. He kept working, just not on the clock or calendar. I can relate to that, although my retirement wasn't planned or deliberate. I just lost my job, and with it my desire to do something even more desperate. I've often thought about jobs I could do since then, but with diminishing enthusiasm, partly because my skills have atrophied, partly because the downsides — like having to get up in the morning — have grown more distasteful, and partly because the business world appears to suck even worse than it did back in my day.

That left me with an appendix on "good names for rock bands," a page of "thanks" which started in proper form with his agent and editor; mentioned a few mentors, colleagues, and friends; and ended by showing that he actually could recall the names of his family (although not his more famous dogs). Then I still had time to read the blurbs, which were all written by old and famous friends, most already in the book, and were glowing, or at least insistent that he's still funny in the book he just wrote (or edited).

Now I have to decide what to read next. From the library stack, I have Garett Graff's oral history of the atom bomb, The Devil Reached Toward the Sky, and Google Workspace for Dummies. The latter wouild be practical, as I'm trying to figure out whether it would make any sense to pay Google to run my life (as opposed to just letting them run my life for free). The former would be more fun, but is pretty long, and about something I already know a lot about. I have, after all, read all of Richard Rhodes' books on the subject, and probably as much again from other sources, even if you don't count the memoirs and biographies of scientists involved. From the 1980s well into the 1990s, I mostly read books about science and its history, including a fair number of biographies — not least to compare how they became scientists and I did not. (For one thing, none of them ever had Willard Brooks for a "teacher." But more generally, they all came from educated parents who not only encouraged learning but tolerated idiosyncrasy and didn't allow minor setbacks to derail their children. To be fair, mine did appreciate and encourage learning, but they had no idea what such a career might entail, and would have been quite satisfied had I found a job as a grease monkey or truck driver or factory hand (any job, really), those being about the limits of their imagination after farming turned out no longer to be an option.)

New jigsaw puzzle, so I took a pre-breakfast break to get it started (after my wife put the border together, and pulled out a lot of yellow pieces that she had trouble making more than a few random clumps out of). I need to play a CD when working in the other room. I have very little in the demo queue, but need to formalize my ballot, so thought I'd pick a likely pick. Problem is they're all in deep piles, waiting to be sorted into a small shelf unit that still contains 2024's top picks, which I can't put elsewhere because I have no empty elsewhere. The smart thing to have done back in early November would have been to move these CDs, thus clearing my desk. Having failed that, I'll cast my ballot mostly on memory, but I did pull Armageddon Flower from one of the piles, and it sounded pretty good.

Email (21 messages):

• Semipop Life: some records I know (CMAT, Sudan Archives, Margo Price, Big Thief, Rochelle Jordan, Margaret Glaspy, Beths, agreeing with my B+ for the latter two, A- for the rest), and a couple I don't (Hüsker Dü, Lella Fadda, Beachside Talks).
• TomDispatch: Eric Ross, Venezuela and the Long Shadow of the US Empire in Latin America
• January ECM releases. I'm becoming increasingly aggressive about deleting 2026 hype.
• 7.6 earthquake near east coast of Honshu, Japan.
• Red Bull Tetris World Finale, "top players from 60 countries are set to descend on Dubai" for "the world's first official live-playable Tetris game in the sky, formed by more than 4,000 drones and staged within the Dubai Frame."
• Nothing on the poll yet. We're at 50 ballots. I need to write Bill Marx about my essay plans today.

Daily Log

Didn't get to sleep until after 4, and woke up around 10. Consensus seems to be that yesterday's Dave Barry note would work for a substack post. I decided to keep reading the book: finished politics, wherein he reveals that his presidential campaigns were never more than a joke, and one that he put very little stock in personally, and that he loathes Donald Trump with every fiber of his being. Next up was a chapter on "Books, Music, and Movies," which is to say about his. This includes mention of virtually everything in his Wikipedia page not previously mentioned, suggesting that one could have started with the page and simply added a few comments and a lot of excerpts to get to the book. He does finally include mention of third-wife Michelle and daughter Sophie, as they interrupted his book tours. He also confirms that he stopped writing his weekly column in 2005, for "two reasons," only one of which he gives. Wikipedia points out that the other one was "to spend more time with his family," which makes more than the usual cliché sense because he had just gotten a new one as retirement age loomed. But he doesn't dwell on them, perhaps out of respect for their privacy, or maybe because he's a self-centered clod? Or maybe he's just saving that up for the chapter I haven't gotten to yet, "The End"? Stay tuned.

I managed to get my jazz (76 new A-list + 6 2024 + 26 old A-list + 2 2024) and non-jazz (90 new A-list + 2 2024 + 8 old A-list + 2 2024) EOY lists cobbled together yesterday, except for the "recommended but unheard" lists (which I tend to refer to as the 2% lists, as I'm calculating that every record on those lists has at least a 2% chance of getting an A- if/when I ever get around to listening to it). This is useful because it prioritizes which records I should be on the lookout for, or maybe even chase down, but it involves scouring other sources for hints of what might possibly be good. The jazz file, left over from mid-year poll days, actually has a long list of possible records — literally everything that got votes that I hadn't heard, even things that fall short of my 2% criteria. In theory, I fill that list out when I'm tabulating the poll, then move my 2% picks from that list to a more exalted one. That's the bit I haven't done yet. It's a pain, so it's quite possible I won't do it, or more likely just do it badly. Meanwhile, it got cold again today, and grayish outside, so I imagine I'll spend the day at my computer, with the space heater cranked up.

Email (14 messages):

• New ballot(s): Jerome Wilson, Ivana Ng; Changed ballot(): Rob Hoff
• Download of Perelman/Butcher Duologues.
• Doctor appointment Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2:00 PM.
• Larry Blumenfeld checking in, still interested in "essay of any sort". Email has phone number.

Daily Log

Woke up way too early, maybe 7:38? Hard to see at that point. I read some more of the Dave Barry memoir, getting into the chapter on politics, which isn't that interesting, or all that funny. Not sure that I need to read the rest, as I think I've gotten the main points:

1. His parents were really good people, kind and funny, although in the end his father was an alcoholic leading to an early death and his mother was depressive and committed suicide.
2. He had a deliriously happy and carefree childhood, which despite a few bumps related to puberty extended all the way through college (at a place I'd never heard of).
3. His response to the trials of puberty was to become a "wiseass," a social stance and function he went on to build a career out of, and continues to this very day. (Hence the book cover line about never growing up.)
4. He was an English major, and got a taste for journalism working for a small paper in Chester County, Pennsylvania, which let him write about pretty much anything that caught his fancy.
5. He left journalism to take a job teaching the "Burger system" of writing to companies that thought their managers needed improved literacy skills. During those eight years, he studied every grammar book he could find, mastering all the intricacies of proper writing, which he could then violate at will whenever his wiseassery kicked in.
6. On the side, he started writing humor columns, because the world was full of stuff to ridicule, and by then he had the skills as well as the temperament to do just that.
7. In a bidding war for his soon-to-be-syndicated humor columns, he chose the Miami Herald over the Washington Post, because Florida was funnier, and he didn't want to write about politics.
8. His editors in Miami left to take jobs at the Washington Post, but not before they started assigning him to write about politics, which also turned out to be funny (not that the Ruben Askew and Paul Tsongas jokes have retained their punch, and his lack of interest in politics — at one point he claims to be a "libertarian," but shows no evidence of understanding what that means, beyond feeling free to trash everyone and everything[2] — so he has no insights into why politicians fail).
9. After two short chapters turned him into an adult (of some sort), much of the rest of the book is assembled from clips from his columns.
10. From college to the present, he's had a sideline playing in rock and roll bands, including a long-running one with even-more-famous author Stephen King, with essentially zero commercial impact, or more importantly, ambition.[1]
11. Checking Wikipedia, I might add that he says virtually nothing about his three wives or his two children — Robert got two mentions: one when Barry wrote a pivotal article about his birth, and again when Barry won his Pulitzer and Robert got into the picture; but Sophie came after the chronology so far.

At least, that's what this looks like a chapter or two short of the end. If I were his editor (or his ghostwriter), I'd take a really dark turn there, and reflect on how the careless good fortune he grew up with and lived through and profited from has all turned to shit, and how little good it actually did to just make light of it all.

[1] Wikipedia has more details on the Rock Bottom Remainders, showing that what I just wrote wasn't totally true, and that King was far from the only famous person to join, let alone jam with, the band.

[2] Wikipedia also notes that "Barry has run several mock campaigns for president of the United States, running on a libertarian platform. He has also written for the Libertarian Party's national newsletter." So it's possible that I'm underrating his political commitment, although probably not his political depth.

Before I got distracted writing about Barry, I should have noted that I did go back to sleep, and didn't get up until just after noon. Came straight down, and screwed up my breakfast routine. Bright, sunny, warmer outside: 50F. Would be a good day to work on house things, but I'm way behind on computer things, so that's what I'll focus on. Had several ideas about possible Substack posts. One might be to just dump out the Dave Barry writeup above. I need more frequent posts. And I'm actually writing quite a bit here, so why not scoop some of this up and put it over there?

Still bothered about the roof deal, especially after not hearing anything for two days after we wrote the check. Makes me wonder whether they really want out of the deal, or just wanted more money. I may raise that question by Monday, as I'd like to know for sure. I'm not sure what my recourse might be I'm not totally convinced I even need a new roof. Part of what's driving me forward is fear that insurance will be worthless in the future if we don't make the repairs they've specified. I'm not looking forward to shopping for new insurance, but will probably have to. But I figure I don't have to think about such things over the weekend. I can get back to my jazz poll, and lists. I started to do the EOY lists yesterday. I still have a chunk of B+(**) and below to sort, then I need to go back and find the A-list reviews, and add whatever I want for the 2% section. I should get that done today. I sent letters out yesterday to jpadmin and jazzpoll, and got some email back, to go through today.

Email (22 messages):

• New ballots: Steve Erickson, Phil Freeman, Ammar Kalia, John Pietaro. Changes: Yoshi Kato.

EOY file links: Jazz, Non-Jazz. Henceforth I need to add items here when I add them to the 2025 file. I still need to flesh out the A-list reviews, and add whatever to the 2% list.

Daily Log

Woke up at 8:30, but resisted getting up until after 10. When it's cold, it's tempting not to get up at all. I did finally push Music Week out last night. I spent much of yesterday listening to old records by the late Gary Hassay, to diminishing returns (they were becoming less avant, or at least less aggressively so, and the throat singing was getting out of hand — it's a variant on the voice-as-horn thing, but like all others is inferior, especially in tone). Besides, I had processed enough ballots to come up with a substantial (but unorganized) backlog of new things to listen to. Starting with Charles Owens today.

I also did an update to the poll website last night, but didn't send any letters out, either to jpadmin or jazzpoll. Music Week has a laundry list of possible articles, so I'm looking for reaction there, but not expecting much if anything. Actually, I woke up thinking that I need to start writing soon, instead of waiting for the results to trickle in, so I can sooner rather than later get a picture of what the whole thing will look like. Still, I'm unlikely to do much in this direction today (beyond writing the letters, which will no doubt be couched with my doubts). It's cold and uncomfortable, and I'll be content to sit in front of the computer, with my heater by my side, collating lists. So today's main project will be getting my EOY lists in order. I'll try to keep up with my email. I'll try not to think about the roof (no follow up yesterday, which is eating away at me), or much of anything else (although I've already been distracted by news, to the extent of adding a couple things for Loose Tabs — including one on AI that I could write much more on).

Email (it's [Bandcamp] Friday, so 51 messages):

• New John Butcher records on Bandcamp, but only partials.
• New substack subscriber.
• Some Bandcamp codes from Dave Rempis.
• Mazin Qumsiyeh: many links, none mine.
• Poll ballots: Pat Frisco

Daily Log

I woke up at 8:30, read some (starting to lose interest in the Dave Barry memoir, which is turning into a clip show), thought about coming downstairs but went back to bed, and slept until 12:30. Cold (32F) and sunny today. I'm still tired, but mostly filled with disgust and loathing for the world, and especially for capitalism. We had finally settled on Arambula Construction for the roof, largely due to their sales guy being an old political ally. When he came over yesterday afternoon, I expected to sign some papers and write them a check. Instead, he asked to withdraw their bid. He showed me a sheet of figures which supposedly added up to $2500 more than their bid. He apologized for miscalculating, but said he couldn't do the job for the bid price, so offered to let us go back to our other (now lower) bids. In the end, the latter idea was so horrible we agreed to the price hike, and wrote him a check for $8500. So we're back on track, but with another bitter taste. I tell myself we can afford to make them happy, and this is less expensive and less likely to haunt us than the rash decision to buy the Toyota was in August. But the main thing is that I can't stand dragging this out any further. But we're not done yet. The work is still a couple weeks out, plus I still have lots of work in the attic and for the railing.

Then there is the lingering question of all the stuff the insurance company wrote up and we're not fixing. Most of it, like dinged gutters, is pointless. The garage is still someting of an open question, and will take another $5000. I suspect that if someone really wanted to buy the house, they'd just knock it down, and spend $25000 on a new one, possibly with alley access. Or there's a good case for enlarging it. I've thought of building a carport in front of it, so you could shelter more cars without giving up the workspace. So I figure it's a future question we don't need to face right now. But where does that leave our insurance coverage? I've been told we've been paying too much for a long time, so we should shop for a better priced package. I don't know, and I wish I didn't have to figure this out. As I've said, I would have been happy just to repair the existing roof, but I don't even know how to go about finding a contractor to do just that. As with health care, there is some kind of toxic symbiosis between insurance companies and contractors that perverts everything.

Meanwhile, the infrared space heater in the back room crapped out. It had done so once before. When it did, I ordered a replacement, and put it into the basement. That replacement crapped out a couple weeks ago, so went into the basement, replaced by the old one which had started working again. Until now. I should take them apart and figure out what's wrong: maybe just a hidden reset switch? or a loose wire? Something else for our growing junk pile. But meanwhile, we stopped by Home Depot and picked up another replacement. This one is a more conventional Vornado, which has the advantage of a low-power (750w) mode. But, surprisingly, no remote control. And no obvious controls, until you plug it in and discover a touch panel.

Laura and her guests are very happy with the visit. They got back to Boston without incident.

Email (32 messages):

• Mike Konczal: "The eldest millennials had the same fertility as the youngest baby boomers: "How US fertility is happening later, not less."
• All About Jazz: The first three EOY lists have appeared, all from JCP non-voters (Jack Kenney, Mike Jurkovic, Dan McClenaghan).
• New ballot(s): Gary Chapin (Google Docs?)

Music Week

Expanded blog post, December archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 23 albums, 1 A-list

Music: Current count 45223 [45202] rated (+21), 3 [1] unrated (+2).

New records reviewed this week:

• أحمد [Ahmed]: سماع [Sama\'a] (Audition) (2025, Otoroku): [bc]: A-
• Lina Allemano Four: The Diptychs (2024 [2025], Lumo): [bc]: B+(***)
• Mia Dyberg/Axel Filip: Hobby House (2025, Relative Pitch): [sp]: B+(**)
• Ryan Ebaugh/Matt Crane/Cameron Presley: Detergent (2024 [2025], Scatter Archive): [bc]: B+(***)
• Anna Högberg Attack: Ensamseglaren (2024 [2025], Fönstret): [bc]: B+(**)
• Hamilton de Holanda Trio: Live in NYC (2024 [2025], Sony): [sp]: B+(**)
• Kelsey Mines/Erin Rogers: Scratching at the Surface (2022 [2025], Relative Pitch): [sp]: B
• Kelsey Mines/Vinny Golia: Collusion and Collaboration (2025, Relative Pitch): [sp]: B
• Oneohtrix Point Never: Tranquilizer (2025, Warp): [sp]: B+(**)
• PainKiller: The Great God Pan (2024 [2025], Tzadik): [sp]: B+(**)
• Sarter Kit: What I Am and What I Am Not (2025, Squama): [sp]: B+(**)
• Rin Seo Collective: City Suite (2024 [2025], Cellar Music): [sp]: B+(***)
• Shifa: Ecliptic (2023 [2025], Discus Music): [bc]: B+(***)
• Slash Need: Sit & Grin (2025, self-released): [sp]: B+(***)
• Jason Stein/Marilyn Crispell/Damon Smith/Adam Shead: 'Live at the Hungry Brain (2023 [2025], Trost): [bc]: B+(***)

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Khan Jamal: Give the Vibes Some (1974 [2025], Souffle Continu): [bc]: B+(***)
• Roland Kirk Quartet: Domino: Live at Radio Bremen TV-Studios 1963 (1963 [2025], MIG): [yt]: B+(**)
• Stephen McCraven: Wooley the Newt (1979 [2025], Moved-by-Sound): [sp]: B+(***)
• Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia: Live at Leverkusen 1994 (1994 [2025], Repertoire): [sp]: B+(**)

Old music:

• Khan Jamal Quartet: Dark Warrior (1984 [1995], SteepleChase): [sp]: B+(***)

Grade (or other) changes:

• Patricia Brennan: Of the Near and Far (2024 [2025], Pyroclastic): [cd]: [was: B+(***)] A-

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Convergence: Reckless Meter (Capri) [12-05]
• Keith Oxman: Home (Capri) [12-05]

Daily Log

Our big touristy event yesterday was driving out to Chisholm Creek Park, where we got a guided tour of the nature museum from Ram's house mate, Oleander, who works there. We took the short walk, which was nicely varied — small spruces and tall grasses bordering barely frozen gray ponds — and insulated from the enclosing highways. They we killed some time driving the perimeter of the Wichita State campus, which had a lot of newish buildings on the east side that bore tha names of local companies, as did all of the sports stadia. The old buildings I had attented 50+ years ago were tucked out of sight, obscured by a ring of slightly newer but still nondescript buildings from the 1970s and 1980s.

Then we went to George's Bistro, and spent a fortune on rich and mostly delicious food. We had oysters, calamari, poutine, and baked brie for appetizers. I had the steak frites, and Laura the pork chop special. Susan and Sara held back and went with side salads (frisée and beets). We ordered three desserts: a berry pavlova, the lemon tart, and I insisted on the profiteroles. I asked about how they got the pate a choux so crisp: some sort of egg wash. We came home, and they watched Notorious. I finally got to my email, then caught the end of the film. Later, Laura wanted to start a miniseries with Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys, The Beast in Me. It was pretty horrible, at least until they finished setting the story up. We've seen a few like that recently.

Guests fly off today at 4, so we'll have them until 2:30 or so. After that, back to work. No plans that I know of.

Email (27 messages):

• Substack November stats: 81 subscribers (+4), 102 post reads (-143), most subscribers direct (50%), followed by twitter (17%), tomhull.com (17%), and Substack app (17%). Only one post in Nov.
• DL Media 2025 releases.
• Poll ballot(s): Tim Larsen, Ali Alizadeh, Richard Scheinin.

Daily Log

I fixed my dinner yesterday. Only four of us, so we had a lot left over, including exactly half of the tiramisu, somewhat more of everything else but the potatoes (which were a big hit, in a meal full of them). I posted a plate pic on Facebook, along with this description:

We had guests from Boston arrive during yesterday's mini-blizzard. Cold and tired, all they could do was hang out while I attempted to make what I have come to think of as a simple but hearty dinner. Plate picture below, cw from 12: chicken cacciatore, caponata, green beans (w/pancetta & parmesan), horiatiki salad, and potatoes dauphinois. For dessert we had tiramisu, from a recipe that uses a jelly roll cake instead of ladyfingers. I've made these dishes often enough that I tried getting by without a shopping list, so I wound up short a few things, like basil and zucchini, and making some substitutions (couldn't find porcini, so I used dried crimini and chanterelles with fresh shiitakes and baby bellas; I came up short of pancetta, so added some speck). Only complaint was that I didn't provide matching wine. Sorry, but I never do, or even give it any thought.

No idea what plans are for today. I got up just before nine. Sara and Susan were already up. Laura and the dog are still asleep. She usually doesn't come down until after noon: she doesn't sleep that much, but takes whatever stretches she can. I figured I should write a bit early, and look through my mail. Playing Tatum-Webster, which is always a completely calming delight. No point in trying to rush Music Week this week. Probably Wednesday evening, after the guests have left.

Email (26+ messages):

• More voter suggestions, this time from Terri Hinte.
• TomDispatch: William Astgore: A Thermonuclear Hair Trigger.
• Toyota wants to sell me car insurance (via Progressive). The pitch is "You've been identified by Toyota Insurance as a safe driver." This makes me wonder how much spyware is built into the car. In the fine print, it says: "You were sent this email because you have opted in to receive offers from Toyota Insurance Management Solutions based on your vehicle driving data. Collection of your vehicle driving data is based on the election you made to share such data at the Toyota Owner's website at www.toyota.com/owners or through the Toyota mobile app." I have no such recollection.
• I replied to Don Foster, who has asked about "building apps for the phone?" I initially read this as apps about building (he's in the roofing business), but I now see he's looking for programming tips (he's working on a book about his experiences as a private investigator in Texas, which like most budding authors he'll wind up having to promote himself). I have no answers, but googled enough to get the lay of the land. I should look into AI tools for building Python and JavaScript code: two languages I've never bothered to learn (despite having multiple books on both), but which could come in handy for my purposes.
• Senator Marshall is conducting a poll on "was your Thanksgiving meal more affordable this year?"
• New Substack subscriber: Old Dykes Against Tech Bros. I subscribed back.

My websites appear to be up and running again. I didn't receive any complaints from readers about them being out of service. Substack is still screwed up, at least when viewed from Firefox. Chromium seems to work better. I have no idea how to get customer support from them.

Daily Log

Woke up just after 9. Having finished Beinart, I loved on to Dave Babby's memoir, Class Clown, which starts: "Like so many Americans of the baby boom generation, I started out as a baby." He is a couple years ahead of me, so his subtitle is How I Went 77 Years Without Growing Up. I figure that's close enough for us to have had some analogous experiences and memories, like watching Davy Crockett, corporal punishment, and torturous puberty. I read until 10, then came down to find it overcast and 28°F. Meanwhile, Laura's tracking arrival of our guests. When I woke up, they were safe in St. Louis. When I came down, they were boarding for Wichita. I just discovered my phone is linked into their conversation. It's supposed to snow today, but hasn't started.

We spent a good chunk of yesterday straightening out and cleaning upstairs. I moved the attic boxes into the still unfinished closet, and moved an old metal cabinet and some plastic drawer units into there as well. I moved tools around, finding inconspicuous nooks I'll have to rediscover some day. I vacuumed and scrubbed the bathroom floor. I went up into the attic, moved some wood and rock wool around, and brought the trash down. The bins are full, but should be empty tomorrow. I made my tiramisu. It barely fit in my 11 cup container, which was odd because last time it didn't fit. The lid will probably smush the top, which was pretty ugly anyway. I'll garnish it with chocolate later, which will improve the looks.

I didn't do anything else on dinner. Probably won't start until we get back from the airport, with our guests. I did turn on the dishwasher. It occurs to me I need to figure out whether we have any gruyere. I'm still torn between apulian potatoes and dauphinois, both of which call for cheese (gruyere if memory serves, but online recipes favor romano for the former, and one suggests brie for the latter). Caponata looks like the easiest use of the eggplant. One online recipe roasts the cubes before adding them. I need to check my usual recipe. I think you just cook it in the pot. First step when we get back will be to stem and boil the green beans. This should all be pretty easy. [PS: Laura voted for dauphinois.]

Email (24 messages + leftovers):

• Mike Konczal: "Mass deportation will save renters less than $5 a month: President Trump wants to deport his way to affordability. But immigration can't explain the housing crisis, and deportation won't fix it."
• What's in AI: nothing there without external images; I allow them, and am buried in gross advertising; I unsubscribe (not like I ever subscribed in the first place).
• Elias Vlanton gave me a 1-month subscriptiojn to a Substack "America's Undoing," by Corbin Trent, "in the Substack app." I don't use the latter, and don't particularly care to try it. Trent identifies as "A GED-educated hillbilly intellectual who worked with Bernie and AOC brings you the economic truth they don't want you to see." The blog claims 120,000 readers.
• Cuneiform recap of 2025 releases. Probably some stuff I should download.
• Poll ballots: Bill Brownlee, Milo Miles, Lance Liddle.

Nov 2025

Jan 2026