Very much appreciated input, bri. I put "Odessey and Oracle" on my christmas list so I'm hoping that Santa comes through. Any of the Anita O'Day offerings at emusic seem interesting? None stood out for me, but I'm again away from home and my Penguin and Rough Jazz Guides don't travel well so perhaps I'm missing the opportunity to snatch up a few gems with my remaining dowloads for the month. I may just have to go to one of those places where you can buy music on these shiny discs in plastic wrapping.

Two links, to get you through your day:

The first, is a Slate.com article about Pitchfork, which attempts to explain why music lovers hate but read the site (short version: we like confrontation).

The second, is a clip from the Ricky Gervais show "Extras", which features David Bowie hilariously demonstrating his song-writing process, at the expense of poor Ricky. First embedding attempt...