My recovery from knee surgery last week continues apace.  I'm down to using Ibuprofen for pain relief--which is to say, no more of the narcotic Vicodin, if I can help it.  I have my one-week check up with the surgeon tomorrow afternoon.

   In the meanwhile, the one and only Pete Quaife, original bassist for The Kinks, has put the kabosh on rumors of a reunion by the band's original line up.  In a posting at www.kindakinks.net, he writes:

I know that this might sound self centered but I have had enough of the transparent, overblown nonsense of what they call 'showbusiness'. This is where I want to be. Surrounded by my own friends and family and able to put the past behind me. As it is, I am more content and happy, painting the Danish countryside and seashore, talking with peers and relaxing as a pensionist should!

All along we thought it was up to Ray and Dave to kiss and make up to get the reunion underway.  Here's a nice blog post that sums up Pete's career and what he means for Kinks' fans.  I'm sad I'll never see Mr. Quaife play live with the band, but he's already given me and all Kinks' fans more than enough.  Here's wishing him the bluest skies. 

   Speaking of "overblown, transparent nonsense," here's an unusually moralistic review of This is the One, the latest CD from Utada Hikaru, courtesty of Japan Times. 

   Finally, RIP, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick.   Her inspired work will live on for decades, of course.  She's one of those scholars who literally altered our perception of literature:  we see different things in poems and stories now because of her.  Come to think of it, there's a fine paper waiting to be written on homosociality and The Kinks.  How about, "Out of the Wardrobe and the Epistemology of the Closet:  Ray Davies' and the Kinky Joke"?  Hmmmm.....