Playlist Weeks of 2015-10-17 & 24

* Buxtehude: Sonatas, Op.2 (Halloway/ter Linden/Mortensen) (Da Capo/NAXOS CD)

* Charles Mingus: Mingus Plays Piano (Impulse! CD)

* John Coltrane: First Meditations (Impulse!/GRP CD)

* John Coltrane: Meditations (Impulse! CD)

* McCoy Tyner: Enlightenment (Milestone 2LP)

* Tony Williams: Wilderness (Ark21 CD)

* Jack DeJohnette’s Directions: Untitled (ECM LP)

* Billy Hart: Rah (Gramavision LP)

* Michael Gregory Jackson: Gifts (Arista/Novus LP)

* Buddy Emmons w/Lenny Breau: Minors Aloud (Flying Fish LP)

* Julia Hülsmann Quartet: In Full View (ECM CD)

* Stephen Micus: The Music of Stones (ECM CD)

* Stephen Micus: Darkness And Light (ECM CD)

* V/A: Jazzactuel (selections) (BYG-Actuel/Charly 3CD)

* Bill Laswell: Dub Chamber 3 (ROIR CD)

* Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp A Butterfly (Interscope 2LP)

* Lula Côrtes: Rosa de Sangue (Time Lag LP)

* Milton Nascimento: Caçador de mim (Barclay LP)

* Van Morrison: Veedon Fleece (Warner Bros. LP)

* Van Morrison: A Period of Transition (Warner Bros. LP)

* Van Morrison: Inarticulate Speech of the Heart (Warner Bros. LP)

* Van Morrison: Sense of Wonder (Mercury LP)

* The Monkees: Greatest Hits (Colgems LP)

* Love: Forever Changes (Elektra/Rhino CD) †/‡

* Deep Purple: Fireball (Harvest LP)

* Blue Cheer: Outsideinside (Philips LP)

* Spirit: The Family That Plays Together (Ode LP)

* Spirit: Clear (Ode LP)

* Man: Slow Motion (United Artists LP)

* Magna Carta: Seasons (Dunhill LP)

* String Driven Thing: String Driven Thing (Charisma LP)

* Horslips: Dancehall Sweethearts (RCA LP)

* Dick Hyman: Moog: The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman (Command LP)

* New Horizons: Futuristic And Space Backgrounds (Omnimusic LP)

* PFM: The World Became The World (Manticore LP)

* Le Orme: Felona e Sorona (Philips LP)

* Cos: Viva Boma (IBC LP)

* Daevid Allen & Euterpe: Good Morning! (Virgin LP)

* Tangerine Dream: Alpha Centauri/Atem (Brain 2LP)

* Klaus Schulze: Black Dance (Virgin/Caroline LP)

* Cybotron: Sunday Night At The Total Theatre (Dual Planet LP)

* Galaxy: Nature’s Clear Well (Breeze/Import LP)

* Automatic Man: Automatic Man (Island LP)

* Scritti Politti: Peel Session (Rough Trade 7”)

* Boredoms: Soul Discharge/Early Boredoms (Shimmy Disc CD)

* Circus Devils: Stomping Grounds (Happy Jack Rock Records LP)

* Celtic Frost: Into The Pandemonium (Combat/Noise LP)

* Imagene Peise (Flaming Lips): Atlas Meets Christmas (Warner Bros. LP)

* Porcupine Tree: In Absentia (Tonefloat 2LP)

* Steven Wilson: Grace For Drowning (KScope 2LP)

* Steven Wilson: Hand. Cannot. Erase. (KScope 2LP) †/‡

* Opeth: Deliverance (Music for Nations CD) †/‡

* Opeth: Damnation (Music for Nations CD) †/‡

* Opeth: Pale Communion (Music for Nations CD) †/‡

* El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez: Cryptonesia (Rodriguez Lopez LP)

* Wilco: Star Wars (dBpm/Anti- LP)

* Electric Wizard: Electric Wizard (Rise Above LP)

* BORIS: New Album (Sargent House CD)

* Kylesa: Exhausting Fire (Season of Mist LP)

* Zombi: Cosmos (Relapse 2-45RPM LP) †

* Zombi: Surface to Air (Relapse LP) †

* Zombi: Spirit Animal (Relapse 2LP) †

* Zombi: Shape Shift (Relapse 2-45RPM LP)

* Windhand: Grief’s Infernal Flower (Relapse 2LP)

* Kadavar: Berlin (Nuclear Blast 2LP)

†=iPod/iTunes

‡=car

Commentary:

Last weekend, Liz and I traveled to Bryce Canyon, Utah (via Las Vegas, Nevada) to formally say farewell to her dad, who passed away in July.

It was lovely to be with her family and celebrate the life of Dr. Stephen Atherton, one of the finest human beings I've ever had the privilege to know. He struggled with a rare form of blood cancer long before suffering a traumatic brain injury in 1995 (shortly after I after I married Liz). His recovery was nothing short of miraculous given the near-total destruction of his frontal lobe, a testimony to his strength of character and sheer intelligence. But the cancer finally invaded his brain in 2010, leading to severe dementia and a long physical decline.

His last words were: "Oh, not this again!"

The weather was cold and rainy on the day of the ceremony. The photograph above shows what would otherwise be a stunning vista -- the massive red-rock hoodoos of Bryce Canyon -- shrouded in dense, impenetrable fog. As my brother-in-law David remarked, it was like "contemplating the void," a fitting backdrop for the somber occasion. It was disappointing to not get to go sightseeing, but as Liz pointed out, it's not as if we were on vacation.

However, we made the best of it. 

Neither of us had ever been to Las Vegas, and it was even weirder than we expected it to be. We stayed at The Luxor, just because it seemed the most absurd choice, with its cheesy plaster Sphinx crouched before the enormous glass pyramid. While we have no interest in gambling we did get a perverse pleasure watching people lose at Blackjack and roulette. Ultimately, it was kind of sad.

But Lizzy knows what I like. On our way back from Bryce she suggested I do a little record shopping in Vegas.

Well, OK!

Google led us to 11th Street Records, on the north end of town, an exquisite boutique of a store with tons of eye-poppingly expensive vinyl lining the walls. I was in heaven. Liz hung out at Chow and The Writer's Block Bookshop, giving me plenty of time to dig through the bins. Needless to say, I found some gems. The folks at the book store told Liz I had to check out Zia Record Exchange, which happened to be on the way back to the hotel. Of course, we went. Of course, I found more cool records to lug home with me on the airplane.

"Dad would approve," Liz said. "He was a man who enjoyed shopping."

I made a little video showing my haul if you're interested: