Post-Holidays Holiday

Since the Psychedelic Eskimo and I moved to a new apartment a month ago, my records have been out of order. Also, working the Christmas retail detail. Difficult to be alphabetical-like in such circumstances. Now that the holidays are over and the PE is allowing me to use her nice new record shelving, the alphabet has been restored. So, onward!

I believe we last left off with Billie Holiday. Over the past couple of days I've spun Volumes 3 and 4 of The Quintessential Billie Holiday series on Columbia. The Quintessential B H series covers Lady Day's "classic" thirties to forties period (my dictionary defines "quintessential"--the adjective form of quintessence--as "The Pure and concentrated essence of a substance"). Is this the pure and concentrated essence of Lady Day? Pretty much, I guess. Billie Holiday transforms some pretty innocuous songs into something personal with her lonely ache of a voice. Obviously one brings a lot of Billie Holiday knowledge-baggage to her records from sixty five years ago. Maybe she wasn't sad and strung out when she cut these sides. Maybe she was in a perfectly lovely mood. Why wouldn't she be when Lester Young and Johnny Hodges were both backing her on a couple of tunes.

Currently, I'm reading Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy, which has gotten me to pick up "Paradise Lost" (the trilogy is based on Milton's epic poem). Hail Satan!