Novice writers often ask me, "Art, how do you pull in so many readers? How do you explain the magic that brings in readers from around the globe who are known to skip work and even their own weddings to read your latest writings?" Well, I would say a large part of it owes to these brilliant posts where I tell you about the latest CD's I've bought.

Actually I've bought loads of CD's since I last wrote, but here are the three from today. I'll try to summarize some others after I tell you about these three.

Neil Young - Live at Massey Hall, 1971 I had seen this one on Amazon.com and was really intrigued by the audio clips. However, the price was kinda up there, so I crossed my fingers and hoped it would show up at the used CD store. Today was the day!

Not only did the CD show up, but the DVD, too. I got the combo pack for just $10. Even the CD alone is selling more for that used on Amazon, so this was a bargain to remember. I haven't listened to it yet. Do I even have to? The bargain is the story in itself!

Live at Fillmore East (Deluxe) - The Allman Brothers I already have Live at Fillmore East (Deluxe), but...now I have it again. I caused a small crack in the CD tray of my other copy when I was trying to dig the CD off the super-tight spindle for the first time, and frankly, that little crack bugs me (please don't call a psychiatrist on me). So now I've bought it again, and maybe I'll put the other on E-Bay.

Devo - Greatest Hits Way back when I was but a wee lad of eight or so I remember watching The Midnight Special with my parents. Devo had made a video for the song "Jocko Homo" several years before MTV existed. My parents commented how rock n' rollers just kept getting weirder and weirder, but I found myself enthralled. What the hell was this all about? "Are we not men?" "We are Devo!" It was scary, otherwordly, and intriguing at the same time. As I got older and learned that Devo had a concept behind them, that man was in fact de-evolving (thus Devo) into potatoes, I decided this must be a band for me.

So today there was their greatest hits for just $5.99, waiting for me to discover its delights. Well...eh. So far their well-known weirdo re-working of The Rolling Stones "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" is great, and I'm sure "Jocko Homo" will be good when I get that far into the CD..."Whip It!," of course...but overall...I guess I'm not a `80's new wave guy.

However this still makes me think I need to check out The Go-Go's Beauty and the Beat, another band I've always been curious about. Belinda Carlisle...mmmm. My penis still bears scars from the time I spent thinking about Belinda Carlisle as a teen.

Oops, too much info.

Other purchases of late:

• Rush - Caress of Steel: Not nearly as bad as it's made out to be.


• Guns n' Roses - Use Your Illusion I & II: Suck just as bad as I remembered.


• The Cure - Show/Paris/Concert: Haven't listened to Show and Paris yet, but Concert is a nice document of their underground days. Saw them on the Tonight Show a few weeks ago and the new songs sounds as good as the late `80's stuff.


• Winger - Winger: Sounds very dated, but surprisingly pleasant.


• Blind Faith - Blind Faith: Haven't put it in yet, but it was good when I heard it about 20 years ago.