Hey, too bad about Syd B. Though, wasn't he dead already? Who knew? Perhaps we can have a listen to Arnold Layne and See Emily Play in memorium on Thursday.

Re Sufjan, as a big fan of his, and specifically, of the Illinoise record, I can still see many of the points that AllMusicGuy is making, and I don't entirely disagree. One does fight annoyance about the completeness and coyness of it all, and the "songs" (the eight or ten complete verse/chorus numbers on the record) do all share similar arrangements and styles, but hey, to deny the ambition, and comparative success, of the overall project, not to mention the individual genius of many of the songs and extra-songic musical moments, is simply to be cantankerous and difficult. And that's part of a music critic's job description, so I get that too. Now he just needs to convince me of the brilliance of some other endeavor...like who, Arctic Monkeys?

I've looked him up, and he has opened the door to personal attacks by publishing on the AllMusic site a bio and desert island list. Which is pretty great actually.

Re Thursday - My address is 66 Arundel Avenue, one block east of Chester (subway station)