[A] I've written about plenty of gospel music over the years, but—call it the lapsed Christian in me—nowhere near as comprehensively as I have blues, where I'm not a completist either. I no longer recall how my Tharpe review came to pass, though it was only five years ago, but for sure there's plenty of guitar on that album. Were I to make a project of it I'm sure I'd find more of her music I liked but not therefore music that demanded coverage or was right down my alley. Plus serious gospel delving would probably unbalance my music coverage in general. As for throwing herself a Griffith Stadium wedding, a story I don't recall ever running across, I say good for her. For one thing, there's no doubting the strength of her religious commitment as there is with Sly and Tiny.

[A] That one never came in the mail, although I do have some social connections to Lurie that to the best of my faltering recollection do not touch on Carola. If somebody were to send me a copy I promise I'd take a look at Chapter 1 after checking out Chapter 23. But not therefore to finish the thing. That would have to be on narrative merit alone, though for sure Lurie is a very smart guy.

[A] For quite a while I counteracted the Voice's annual Thanksgiving things-to-be-thankful-for guff, which I found ickily liberal, by writing an annual all-pans November CG I dubbed the Turkey Shoot, plus for a while there every CG included one highly unrecommended album I dubbed the Must to Avoid, a label inspired by the Herman's Hermits hit "(She's) A Must to Avoid." I once did an EMP lecture about these devices in which I explained that the basic reason I did this over and above broadening my coverage was that it's easier to be funny when you're putting something down. The lecture also reported to the assembled academics that while this ploy may have looked easy in fact I found it intellectually and spiritually exhausting.

[A] For reasons of physical convenience I don't play much vinyl or I'd add Attempted Mustache to the sole album you named that made me think it might be a good idea to put on right now: the Coup's Party Music. Without checking back I'm also pretty sure that one's the only full A. OTOH, were any of those albums to be requested by a guest (or maybe in the highly unlikely event that Nina, who turns 40 in June and has her own pantheon that enabled me to warm to Queen, belatedly became interested in alt-rock) of course I'd pull them out. And I bet they'd sound more than OK. But there are obviously countless alt-rock acts and other artists of some quality too that I'll never hear again.

[A] There are plenty of A and A minus records—all of them, to be precise—that achieve a measure of "excellence." If they didn't I would't give them A's of any sort. Those A plus albums (and quite a few full A's as well), however, are at a different level of excellence. In general they prove to be not just really good but actively thrilling, enthralling, uplifting, renewing. They make you feel better about being a human being, which these days the entire anti-Trump cohort needs (and if you don't belong to that cohort get out of here.)

[A] That film came to pass when a young NYU student named Paul Lovelace proposed it. Films and especially student films being the somewhat crude and iffy and time-consuming propositions they tend to be, I had my doubts, but I liked the kid a lot and figured what the hell. I thought the results were fine—think often of the final shot of my riding up Fourth Avenue on my bike from the Voice offices—and became full-fledged friends with Paul. Carola and I attended his marriage to Jessica Wolfson and as unremitting baby fans went to visit them uptown more than once after they became parents. Then they moved to Austin, where they became successful filmmakers; recently Paul was brought on board to help make a much larger-budget feature-length documentary directed by bizwise tech entrepreneur Matty Wishnow and focused on none other than uxorious rock critic Robert Christgau. Working with Paul on that film has been somewhere between a pleasure and a joy. In case you hadn't guessed, I can't wait to see it. Let me add that Paul was an producer, writer, and editor on the now-in-theaters documentary Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted, which I've recommended here before and recommend again.