masochists, all of ya

In a meeting with Dorward the other night, he sobbed to me that he's pretty offended that the Jazz Journalists Association has again, for the second year straight, failed to nominate Bagatellen as one of the many music publications striving for web-based excellence. I agree with him, and it only goes to prove the mainstream's conspiracy to further marginalize the already divided members of the improvisational music community, but feh.

Is it me, or is there still a dearth of entries on the main page of a fairly popular music blog? I know this subject comes up every now and again, usually in the form of a shameless Derek Taylor plea, but hey, it's worth mentioning. Again. Granted, I've found in the past that it's difficult even for the guy who started the site -- and thus has had the most stock in its being afloat -- to post off the cuff here more than enough, mostly due to the fact that the audience is fairly difficult to read, no pun. [Audiences deemed challenging are deserving of a pat on the back, so be proud.] In terms of readership by way of comments and site stats, the most oft read items are the music reviews, the record of the week, exchanges that involve a scuffle with Jon Abbey, and my selfless feature contributions. No other statistics available, sorry.

Oh, before I forget, if you're the guy who has something about free jazz and "Chemistry" in your blogspot blog, and you link to Bagatellen, let me know, and share the URL. It's since dropped from the bottom of my statcounter page and I'd like to link back to your site.

Lastly, it's on the brink of confirmation that Death Cab For Cutie's next album may indeed suck, now that they've signed with Atlantic Records. Ben Gibbard says he's been given full artistic rights and that fans have nothing to worry about, even though I was worried the minute I'd heard they left Barsuk.