While I'm in the process of preparing another proper post, there have just been a couple of things brought to my attention:
1. The 4-cd box set Four Compositions (Wesleyan) 2013, credited jointly to Anthony Braxton / Roland Dahinden / Hildegard Kleeb and released on Prague Music Platform last year - maybe? supposedly - has never yet shown up in any of the usual online retailers outside of eastern Europe (or even in any unusual ones, as far as I can tell, although sundry Czech websites have continued to list it as if it were readily available). I have been keeping an eye out for its wider distribution ever since last October, if not somewhat before; but it's beginning to look as if it may have a different release date in this part of the world: several sites now list it as available for pre-order, coming out on 5th April. (For example, there is this one; I can't vouch for the seller, and indeed their quoted price seems ruinously expensive, especially for something which (ostensibly) has already been on sale for around half that price, or less, allowing for the currency conversion.) I will believe it when I see it, at this point; but I'm very likely to buy it if it does eventually show up at a reasonable price. PMP, meanwhile, have more pressing concerns, pun not intended: as previously reported, they have been trying to raise money for a more ambitious box set (although the campaign is now said to have ended almost a month ago, and they only achieved 20% of their target; how much money did they think they would raise in a fairly short time?). Nothing else to report on any of this, just yet...
2. McC tells me that two more dates with Wolf Eyes have been arranged - one of which has been rescheduled from January - so I suppose it's official, and this is a long-lasting partnership... it struck me as rather overdoing it to say (as the Ars Nova Workshop page does) that "the collaboration ... has lasted now for nearly two decades", since the association has been far more off than on, but still: allowing for the fact that I have probably missed some repeat encounters along the way, this is indeed the twentieth year since that famous first (onstage) meeting. Evidently, all concerned find something of value in these groupings, which is very encouraging to know; even better, we can infer from these announcements that there have been no long-lasting concerns over the maestro's health and fitness. The first of these shows is due to take place in Greenwich Village, NYC on April 18th, and the following night they will play in Philadelphia. Indeed that second show is already sold out, despite tickets being rather pricey ($40 for a standing show?!) - that in itself is heartening to know. The Ars Nova page doesn't exaggerate at all in describing B. as "one of the most important musicians, educators, and creative thinkers of the past 50 years" and notes in conclusion that he "has created a unique musical system that celebrates the concept of global creativity and our shared humanity". Damn straight!
STOP PRESS... "this just in", and neither significant enough to put it elsewhere, nor so utterly trivial that I didn't want to mention it at all: Discogs is still listing the spurious Elegy For a Goose album, credited supposedly to "Charlie Mariano Meets Anthony Braxton". I discussed this in some detail last year, so I'm not going into all that again now, but suffice it to say: at time of writing, its collector stats read Have = 0, Want = 53, Ratings = 0, Never sold. No, of course it's never been sold, because it doesn't exist, any more than the Mariano Studios record label exists. The 53 very optimistic would-be buyers out there are probably the kind of people who used to send on those emails back in the day that read "If you forward this to everyone in your address book, Microsoft will pay you for testing their software" (... designed to overload corporate email servers). As for Discogs, they presumably can't take the listing down until they get some sort of concrete proof that it's not real, although how one goes about proving that something is completely fictitious... anyway. "It's cool to be fooled"... what I (still) don't get is why someone bothered doing this in the first place, unless maybe it was for a bet..?
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