The Philter

It’s nice to have an axe that cuts good wood well. But it’s equally important to have an axe that cuts bad wood good.

Reading Report, April 2026

by | May 8, 2026 | Read it in books | 0 comments

Books Acquired:
Background to Danger, Eric Ambler
The Schirmer Inheritance, Eric Ambler
Pagan, W.F. Morris

Books Offloaded:

Progress Made:
The Woman Who Married a Bear, John Straley

Books Finished:
Background to Danger, Eric Ambler
Pagan, W.F. Morris
Vera, or Faith, Gary Shteyngart

[Ed. Note: This was supposed to be published three days ago, but I neglected to click the button. Oops!]

“A legend is the highest scientific statement when it is the only statement available,” the Cameroi said. “We are the people who live according to reason. It makes a good life, but it lack salt. You people have a literature of Utopias. You value their ideals highly, and they do have some effect on you. Yet you must feel that they all have this quality of the insipid. And according to Earth standards, we are a Utopia. We are a world of the third case.

“We miss a lot. The enjoyment of poverty is generally denied to us. We have a certain hunger for incompetence, which is why some Earth things find a welcome here — bad Earth music, bad Earth painting and sculpture and drama, for instance. The good we can produce ourselves. The bad we are incapable of, and must import. Some of us believe that we need it in our diet.”

—R.A. Lafferty, “Polity and Custom of the Camiroi”

That bit comes from a story in the June 1967 issue of the sci-fi pulp Galaxy, which has been among my non-book reading lately along with The New Republic, The Onion, and the Sunday New York Times when I can get it.

April was a good month for book reading, though none of it happened in the last week and a half, when we were in New Orleans. Between Jazz Fest and evening trips to restaurants and clubs, the consumption of music, food, and drink became a full-time job. In fact I am still a bit worn out, so I’m going to keep this short.

(more…)

Bands I’ve Seen (updated, 5/7/2026)

by | May 7, 2026 | Dancing about architecture | 5 comments

We’re fresh off a week in New Orleans, including four days of Jazz Fest, so it seems like a good time to update this thing.

The rara avis here is the Meters, who have been on my target list for decades. It does come with an asterisk, as with the passing of Art Neville, I still haven’t seen and never will see the four original Meters. In this configuration he was replaced by his son Ivan and brother Cyril, and it was billed as the Meters, so I’m going to count it.

Looking over this I realize that many of these shows are very foggy in my mind, and some are complete blanks. But I’m not going to start paring the list; it’s all in there somewhere.

(more…)