Here's saxophonist John Handy in a blind listening test, from Down Beat:

'Now's the Time (No Time Like Now),' Deke Damascus and Red Hawk remix, 'Bird Up'

"Sounds like some white guys whose fathers gave them too much money. I can't say this is creative. It's something that's done with a formula with all the taping, loops and overdubs. I wouldn't call it an insult, but I wouldn't be interested in doing this myself. It's like a collage of scraps. I don't hear anything moving. "Now's the Time" keeps coming in, and it sounds like the original, with a young Miles Davis who flubbed a lot of notes in those years. I'm not against electronics, but I'm against poor talent. If Charlie Parker hadn't died of a heart attack back then, he would have now if he heard this. It's a remix? It's mixed up. This CD is unnecessary."

And here's a letter to the editor that Kirstie Alley wrote to Rolling Stone after they published an article that was mildly critical of Scientology:

"Shame on you, Rolling Stone, for your slam piece on Scientology. Rolling Stone has been my favorite magazine since college, but come on--religion-bashing for the sake of sales? Yikes, dudes--your cool factor just dropped to Reader's Digest. And to the writer who interviewed me for two hours as I watched her eyes darting around in her head like a trapped lab rat: Janet, dear, people like you will always bastardize good things like religion. That's a given. That's why you exist, honey. My problem with your article was its degree of boredom."

And here's where I mention a few books that I've enjoyed lately. First, Jessica Abel's La Perdida. It's a graphic novel about a young woman's expat experience in Mexico. It's got Marxists, cocaine dealers, Frida Kahlo, kidnapping--the whole megillah, and I think it's very good. Also, I've quickly read all of Kris Nelscott's Smokey Dalton series. A close comparison could be made to Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins books, but these are much more infused with '60s radicalism and racial politics. These are some of the most thoughtful and literary mysteries I've read in a long time.  ¶ 2:12 PM