• The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution this week commemorating the 50th anniversary of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue album. The resolution was passed with unanimous support. Sure beats the heck out of the health-care debate, eh?

• Jazz Lives' Michael Steinman has come across some very interesting online collections of Billie Holiday photographs.

• WBEZ-Chicago, home of This American Life, will be broadcasting an excerpt from last week's Vince Guaraldi Night Lights program as part of a two-hour holiday special.

• There are some great ECM reissues on the way.

• Pianist and composer Carla Bley's new Christmas carols CD is well worth checking out. With subtle and lively arrangements throughout, it's a nice antidote to some of the standard holiday jazz fare. (And if you dig Carla in general, take a listen to the Night Lights show The Carla Bley Songbook, which explores early interpretations of her music by artists such as George Russell and Jimmy Giuffre).