So, for over a year I have had my special library record card that allows me to take out up to 5 CDs/records at a time. I go once every few weeks and it is one of the great joys in my life. The little library down the street has about 2 500 recordings and my last trip yielded a bounty of fantabulous goodies:

- Disc I of The Ligeti Project featuring his Chamber Concerto, Piano Concerto, "Mysteries of the Macabre," and "Melodien."

- XL: Choral works for 40 voices with the Rundfunkchor Berlin, featuring Tallis' masterpiece, "Spem in alium" and a selection of other works--old and new--inspired by it.

- The Yardbirds, Roger the Engineer from 1966 complete with the monumental "Psycho Daisies."

- TV on the Radio, desperate youth, blood thirsty babes from Brooklyn circa 2004

- And the original recording of Stop Making Sense (Talking Heads, 1983)

But I have discovered that there are lands much richer in their musical resources within the public library system. The mythical Musical Mediatheque which has over 40,000 CDs and just as many records of all sizes and RPMs. It is located not far from my current place of employment, so I am hoping to take a lunch trip to this fantastical land at some point this week. Oh thank you public libraries! Thank you French people for paying so much in taxes so that I, a lowly mooching foreigner, can bask in your thousands of free recordings.