First posted on Mark Is Cranky:

Sometimes, my easily-amused self gets tossed into a state of awe at the sheer power and capacity for weird associates possessed by my brain chemistry. Get this: I got from the novel Moby Dick to the imminent closing of a local bookstore in seven steps.

The weird part was that I had to go through our own Duke DeMondo to get there.

Moby Dick

I had a discussion yesterday with a coworker about this epic novel. He's in the middle of reading it and lamented that he doesn't know anybody else who's read it (shamefully, I haven't read it either). He's begun to suspect that this is one of those books that's widely spoken about but not actually read. "Ah, I said, you mean like..."

Ulysses

Another book with a grand reputation that people seem to either love or hate. I've read the first five or so pages about 20 times. For whatever reason, Joyce's style just doesn't resonate. I offered up my copy and made a mental note to search through our home stacks for it.

Jazz for The Duke

The Duke has recently admitted to owning (but not necessarily enjoying) a copy of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue. There's no shame in that. It's a very subtle record and if you're in the mode for some high-adrenaline-type fun (say, something by the Pogues, or maybe Give 'Em Enough Rope by the Clash) then I can see how Kind of Blue might seem kinda lifeless. So, being the jazz evangelizer that I am, I thought it'd be fun to come up with a list of jazz/improvised music albums that might be more to the liking of the Duke's ear passages.

Oh, what happened to Ulysses? Well, I had found my home copy and was rereading pages 1-5 for the twenty-first time and thought "Can't stand this...screw Joyce." So on to recommendations for the Duke.

So of course there's a giant pile of jazz out there that's got either enough rock elements (or enough weird bits) to attract the adrenaline junky. My first thought was Ornette Coleman, who is all about weird sounds mixed with a kind of off-kilter, sideways blues. Nah...too big a leap. But, hey, what about James Blood Ulmer? Yea, that's it. Twisting and snarly guitar employing Ornette's 'harmolodic' philosophy. Perfect. I mean, it ain't Kirsten Dunst, but it'll haveta do. Tales of Captain Black should do the trick. Hey, Ornette himself plays on that one. This just might work out.