Month: August 2024

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"May the Flesh of Kings Feed the Earth"

King Claudius: Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?

Hamlet: At supper.

Claudius: At supper! where?

Hamlet: Not where he eats, but where he is eaten: a certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots: your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable service, two dishes, but to one table: that's the end.

Claudius: Alas, alas!

Hamlet: A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.

Claudius: What dost you mean by this?

Hamlet: Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar.

– William Shakespeare, Hamlet

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And While We're On The Subject of Music

I saw this advertised in Stereo Review back in '87. I wasn't familiar with Mr. Erskine, nor was I particularly into jazz at the time, so when I sought it out and bought it, it was for obvious reasons. What? You've never bought an album for the cover art?

Well, I got it home and popped it in the CD player and—as I said before, not yet being into jazz—I was aghast that I spent $17 on this disk. Even my boyfriend at the time hated it, so I couldn't trade it in at Streetlight Records* fast enough.

I don't remember what prompted this memory, but now that I'm fully into jazz—and especially Japanese jazz—I thought I'd look him up on Spotify and give it a second chance. And you know what? With the exception of only one track that's still a little too out there for my taste, I absolutely adored it and decided to add it back to my collection.

Have any of you revisited an album you absolutely loathed in your youth and discovered that with age and wisdom you love it now? And along those same lines, any albums you loved when you were younger and absolutely can't stand now?

 

*Sadly, another San Francisco institution from my time there that no longer exists in The City.

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THIS.

Ben is looking for a new job, so we're both intimately familiar with this bullshit.

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And Your Point Is, Mitch?

Let's assume our worst nightmare—the Democrats get the White House, the House, the Senate. The first thing they'll do is get rid of the filibuster, and you'll have two new states: D.C., Puerto Rico. That's four new Democratic senators in perpetuity." – Mitch McConnell

Let's do this, kids! Let's make his worst nightmare a reality!

VOTE BLUE!