Yesterday I received a five disc set of the best of Django Reinhardt from Amazon.com, who is inexplicably selling this crucial musical history lesson for just $26. I now believe that Reinhardt is the true inventor of rock and roll: a cute Romany guitarist with scars and secrets, the very prototype for success. Many people know that two of the fingers of his left hand were ruined in a fire when he was 18, causing him to develop a unique guitar style that no one else could replicate; what is perhaps less well known is that he was a big star in Europe from the time he was 12, and that he worked his butt off to become as famous and successful as he ever got. (Great liner notes, but not overdone.) Stephane Grappelli's violin is pretty amazing too; the Quintet of the Hot Club of Paris was Reinhardt and Grappelli, two other guitarists, and bass. That Is All You Need For Rock. This is truly love for someone like me, and probably you too. Find some Django and some wine and have a good Thursday, wherever you are.

Also just received the new Banda el Recodo de Cruz Ligazarra album, Hay Amor. Banda is probably the most intricate music being made today outside of IDM, eighteen different musicians all playing the most complicated charts going, clarinets and trumpets and trombones and tubas and drums and singing, all of which seems like it's happening at once but it isn't, really. Stunning.

Hey, I didn't know Alf Soto had a blog! But he does, and he is very kind to me after I totally used his name in this little thing I did for Stylus. Alf and I do not agree a lot of the time, but he is cool and courtly and I dig him.