11/9/02
I suspect I got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning--transit-related hassles all day long, and several hours of work attempting to deal with computer issues around the Free Expression in the Arts conference that appear to have done no good at all. (And if anybody happens to have a spare copy of Venom's "Possessed" around, email me, would you?)
At least it's been a good catching-up-on-listening day. Sasha Frere-Jones burned me a CD-R that he'd put together of "NYC Body Music"--odd electro & hip-hop from ca. 1982 that got played on the radio in those days and hasn't been heard since. Of the 12 tracks on it, I'd only heard the ones by Was (Not Was) and Konk. The find of the batch for me, though, was "Mr. X & Mr. Z Drink Old Gold," by (of course) Mr. X & Mr. Z, an almost-too-direct answer record to Eric B. & Rakim's "I Know You Got Soul"--weird! Also listened to the new Fatboy Slim and Chemical Brothers EPs (you get what you pay for, except less) and the new best-ofs by Nirvana (I realized I'd already internalized all those songs--couldn't make it all the way through) and U2 (covering the decade after they stopped being good). Plus, in the "new and good" category, Atomic 7's Gowns by Edith Head--haven't checked to see who's in the band, but I bet I wouldn't be far off if I assumed it was some ex-Shadowy Men On a Shadowy Planet/Phono-Comb people.
More (and more coherent, I hope) tomorrow.