"It profits me but little that a vigilant authority always protects the tranquillity of my pleasures and constantly averts all dangers from my path, without my care or concern, if this same authority is the absolute master of my liberty and my life."

--Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Elvis Touts Satchmo

Elvis Costello is one of our favorites and this week he did something both very odd and very cool.  He has a new boxed set coming out for Christmas, but apparently his record label didn't price it the way he wanted them to -- the price they set was $225, which he thought was too high.   So he went on his website and told the world not to buy his record, but instead to buy a boxed set of Louis Armstrong recordings:

We at www.elviscostello.com find ourselves unable to recommend “The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook” as the price appears to be either a misprint or a satire.
All our attempts to have this number revised have been fruitless so we are taking the following unusual step.
If you want to buy something special for your loved one at this time of seasonal giving, we suggest, “Ambassador Of Jazz” - a cute little imitation suitcase containing ten re-mastered albums by one of the most beautiful and loving revolutionaries who ever lived – Louis Armstrong.
The box should be available for under one hundred and fifty American dollars and includes a number of other tricks and treats.
Frankly the music is vastly superior.
Pretty cool.   So we'll send out some props to Elvis C. by playing one of his all-time great songs:



But, of course, he is right.   Louis Armstrong is far superior:


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