I am MAD at Amazon.Com. Big time mad. Sunday is not only Christmas Day, but Sunday Night is the first night of Chanukah. Perfect time to get the family together for latkes, conversation, candle-lighting and the classic Good family gift exchange. I had a bright idea for our gifts for the family gift exchange: the CD "Our New Orleans" which features new performances by several of the region's best musicians, from Buckwheat Zydeco to The Preservation Hall Jazz Band to Dr. John to even Randy Newman, not necessarily a New Orleans cat but an admirer and student of the region and the music. Newman's album "Good Old Boys" was a semi-concept album about the rise and fall of Louisiana Governor Huey Long, and included "Louisiana 1927," a song that became irrevocably associated with Hurricane Dubya...whoops...Hurricane Katrina...and its aftermath.

Yes, it meant breaking my RIAA boycott. Hopefully the damn thing doesn't have DRM up the ying-yang...Fat Chuck is no longer publishing his list of DRM encumbered CDs, and in fact his URL is now held by a squatter, so I have no way of finding out. But all the profits for the album are being directed towards Habitat For Humanity's rebuilding efforts in the Mississippi Delta. The usually avaricious Warner Music Group, one of the four remaining Families of the Recording Industry, has actually matched the cost of recording the album in donations to this very good cause, so that all profits actually *will* go to the rebuilding effort.

Anyway, I bought THREE copies on Amazon.Com. Two for Richie and I to add them to the gift exchange, one for our own library. Or so I thought I did, anyway. I bought them on the 19th, one day before the "receive in time for Xmas" deadline. The website showed that there was sufficient stock of the CD. I played completely by the rules. Long story short, we got screwed. The CDs were supposed to be delivered today. They weren't. And I got a lengthy tapdance instead of a pledge to make good on the offer. At least they haven't charged our debit card yet. So we went to Borders and got two copies there. Someone was giftwrapping that day so we had that taken care of there as well.

As a result of this adventure, Amazon gets my business again exactly when Hell freezes over. I have spent lots and lots of money there since 1999, or perhaps even earlier. I have lots of books to get for school, and traditionally I go there for my book buying. No more. If I get the CDs late, I will probably take them. We didn't get a copy for ourselves at Borders, and we want one. Maybe we'll share the other copies with other people, maybe I'll just sell them on Half.Com. Which, incidentally, is the place I will be looking for my textbooks from now on. Bite me, Bezos.