 After giving me a hearing back in the winter of what was then very much a work in progress, my netwiz buddy François tells me that, with luck, a first album he's making with friends should be released in a month from today.
I enjoyed much of it at the time, but the final version has seen enough changes to wait until it comes out to say more.
In the meantime, I've been taking a look at dozens of oil on canvas works by the artist who's doing the cover. Francois himself offers a "best of Legac" at his place, but the two examples I've scaled down for this entry -- Dancing and Stain of Desire -- have been "borrowed" from the extensive gallery Jehan L.'s own site.
"From Dali, I have the same fluid obsession, like if the body skin could liquefy and melt. From Lautrec I got the same need to draw and paint women. This passion never stops, whether complete bodies or body parts, I am addicted to lace, suspenders and corset," Legac told the Widemag e-zine in an interview.
If you're into this sometimes stylishly original work -- that's my view, anyway (I like some of his paintings a lot, others not at all) -- and others, Widemag offers a most varied selection of "artistes d'mon" (English despite appearances).
 There'll be more about the forthcoming album of electronica at 'ambio'.
Via TaxyNet, meanwhile (another site related to the various undertakings of the Three Musketeers I sometimes have lunch with at the Canteen), I've stumbled on, at last, 'CTQui?', a free reverse phonebook for France, and, much more frequently useful, Inside Paris. I'll add a permalink to that on my home page, since it reaches some of the parts 'Think Paris' doesn't.
When it comes to all my pages, I recently discovered that the indexing of entries here for the "search" box came to an end last month. This free service, provided by 'Atomz', could take no more once this log hit the 500-page mark and around three-quarters of a million words.
Anyone would think I have been writing novels after all...
I did 'phone Atomz in the States to ask how much it might cost me to continue to benefit from their excellent search engine on a fee-paying basis, but the blunt answer came in the shape not of a fistful of dollars but three digits and more. They deal mainly with corporate clients, the friendly fellow I spoke to told me, and have no offers for individuals.
Since a weekly report by e-mail informs me that people use that search box a surprising amount, if anybody knows of a viable but not astronomically priced alternative, do please drop me a line.
 Returning to music, once my post-murder blues were over and I was able to start listening again to people other than J.S. Bach -- including the wonderful 'Lambarena - Bach to Africa', I've notably been rediscovering the fabulous Barbara "Lady Saxophone" Thompson.
I've been a virtually lifelong fan of both Barbara and her band Paraphernalia, as well as the many doings of her virtuoso percussionist husband Jon Hiseman, mainly of 'Colosseum' fame. Several times I went well out of my way to enjoy some unforgettable live gigs by one or the other outfit while I was still in England.
It's only today that I learn, sadly, from their Temple Music site that Barbara has been battling Parkinson's disease since 1996 ('Lady Fights the Blues' on the press page).
In the May 2002 interview for 'You' magazine whence the press picture is pinched, Barbara not only optimistically says Paraphernalia could be touring again one day, but adds that she gets up "at 5:00 am and compose. What has saved my life is the computer."
 Barbara and Jon have a daughter who's inherited her parent's gifts and is off to a pretty darned good start with 'The Unplugged Album'. Ana Gracey (check out her site) is very generous with mp3 files, now transformed into a fine hour-long 14-track album on my iPod.
Ana's a very promising addition to this year's "voices of women" I'm exploring; I'll be buying her first album, 'Innocence'.
Otherwise, I've been listening to Avril's 'That Horse Must be Starving' (quite unjustly labelled as "mere" electro-dance; there's far more to that on a CD which I like more each time round) and Beth Orton's 'Trailer Park'.
As to today's flower for Lady E....
...you could call it a question of patience.
(I can't credit the artist, because it came without attribution.)
11:36:48 PM link 
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