Right after Christmas, I dropped some cash on a box set I did not think would ever exist: The complete Detroit Jazz Centre Residency (Dec. 26, 1980-Jan. 1, 1981) of Sun Ra and the Omniverse Jet Set Arkestra. It's 28 CD-Rs featuring more than 26 hours of music.
It sits atop a pile of advances and CDs from last year that maybe someday I'll get to, all music that, to my way of thinking, is inferior to the work of the late Sun Ra. Since I have a framed poster announcing the Detroit residency in my music room, this is a bit of a holy grail.
Now, though, I'm reminded of quote Warren Zevon relates in the fine documentary "Keep Me In Your Heart": We give people books as presents because we think we are also giving them the time to read them. Would that not be wonderful if it were reality?
I'll get to the Ra disc. And maybe at some point I'll even be able to draw a distinction between music performed in an afternoon set vs. a 3 a.m. show. But before I discover 26 free hours in a week to relive a piece of history, a lot more time will be spent listening just to keep up with the immediate future.
The goal this year is to attend 100 shows and see at least 300 bands. This week we added three (Idina Menzel, Kate Nash and DeVotchKa) making 95 concerts and 282 acts to go. 
Music being played in the house: Kate Nash "Made of Bricks," Corey Harris "Zion Crossroads," American Music Club "Everclear."
In the car: Black Mountain “In the Future”; the gorgeous sound of Led Zeppelin  “Mothership” (Ann Powers' essay on the band was brilliant); Patty Larkin "Watch the Sky"; Fleshtones "Take a Good Look"