hi gang pleasure to be reading all of you again phil o- thanks for yr apt comparisons of davey bowie and the other music hall stars. as for the who's tommy; ridiculous story, fab music. i remember 'being taught' tommy in my college intro to music class when i thought what a silly piece of crap with great guitars. i still feel that way but there is so much to be said for great guitars. discs i hated at first: 1. ayler in greenwich village Lp. i had cut my first jazz teeth on live in seattle long before i backtracked to 'easier' music. i got a copy of this guy ayler id heard so much about for 99c at the sam goodys cut-outs, back when that was the place to get Lp cutouts- my education. i took it to the house of this guy i was dating- he wanted to show off his megastereo system; i to show off the difficult music i could easily manage while he was stuck on peer gynt and <ugh> barbara cook. i _hated_ it and was upset with myself for trying to show off how cool i was. after all, i loved seattle, trout mask, xenakis computer then a nonesuch Lp, its after the end of the world dont you know that yet, on first hearing. why didn't i get this ayler guy right away? things have changed, of course, tho new grass still is crap with intersting stuff in it nonetheless. to make amendas- here's one of my poems for ayler: http://www.jazzhouse.org/files/koenig1.php3?read 2. verdi's requiem. operatic birdsong crap. until one day joe maneri looks at me in disbelief that i don't like it and plays me (solti's?) version. pointing out miraculous things in it, comparing different phrases to ones by jazz heroes: monk, et al. i still don't love the piece but am fascinated that without my tour guide i still don't catch the things so clearly there as when he pointed em out. 3. dr buzzard's original savannah band meets king pennett. the followup Lp to the first with the hit 'cherchez la femme.' the rhythms are askew, cory daye's voice is cracked, there is all of the melange but none of the surety and suaveness of the first miracle disc; in my desert island top 5. i reviewed it for my college paper with the headline "look out for buzzard crap." i didnt know til many, many plays later, for i did know something weird was going on, how freaking avant garde and brilliant it is, text and music. it's now reissued not under its own name but complete with the complete first disc as 'the best of' on rca, probably o/p by now anyway. 4. the mercury Lps of capt beefheart. i love beefheart, first learning the screwy psychedlic blues of kandy korn and mirror man, then trout mark replica. collected them all, then the mercs. i kept them just to be a completist. then i cleaned house. then i got them again, then i dumped them again. love to all steve koenig n.p. glories of the british music hall vol 3, pearl records n.r. instruction manual of my new big air conditioner. comes with remote control. what the hell for? i dont even use remote for my teevee. i like pushing buttons on bodies. touching stuff. just a perv, i guess.