serendipity The other night, as I listened to the radio,* this (“Patient Observation”) floated out of the speakers. Falling From Trees, Neon Productions, music by Peter Broderick Premiered at The Place, London, 1/09 Excerpt, Part 2, “Patient Observation” *** Full Length *** Falling From Trees is a 30-minute production set in a psychiatric hospital that [...]
Archive for September 2011
Saturday, 10/1/11
09/30/2011Friday, 9/30/11
09/29/2011Mardi Gras Indians, New Orleans Young Wild Magnolias, St. Joseph’s Night, 3/19/09 ***** United Indian Practice, Handa Wanda, 1/2/11 ***** Indian Practice, 7th Ward, 11/22/10 ***** Spy Boy Demond, Seminoles, c. 2010 ***** With some forms of musical expression, value is tied to scarcity: the smaller the number of people who can do something, the [...]
Thursday, 9/29/11
09/29/2011Today, in celebration of my son Alex’s 24th birthday, we revisit a few of the many posts he’s inspired. ********** I’ve got a song for you to listen to . . . —my (23-year-old) son Alex tUnE-yArDs, “Bizness,” live, Austin (SXSW), 3/18/11 (Originally posted 4/30/11.) ********** I’ve got a song for you to listen to . [...]
Wednesday, 9/28/11
09/27/2011Charisma needs no translation. Mahmoud Ahmed & Badume’s Band, live, France (Festival de Sete), 2008 “Belomi Benna” *** “Atawurulegn Lela”
Tuesday, 9/27/11
09/27/2011Listening to the Cubs—baseball’s always been a radio game for me—just hasn’t been the same without Ronnie. Ron Santo Cubs’ radio color commentator (and player) February 25, 1940-December 3, 2010 Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, “My Oh My” (2010) Dave Niehaus Seattle Mariners’ radio play-by-play announcer February 19, 1935-November 10, 2010 More? Here. And here. ********** lagniappe [...]
Monday, 9/26/11
09/26/2011three takes Blues guitarists—great ones, anyway—aren’t instrumentalists; they’re singers with two voices. “Born Under A Bad Sign” (W. Bell, B.T. Jones) Albert King, live, Sweden, 1980 *** Albert King, recording, 1967 (Stax) *** Jimi Hendrix, recorded in 1969 (Blues, 1994) What makes this last take effective? Part of it is the phrasing: Jimi, like Albert, doesn’t [...]
Sunday, 9/25/11
09/25/2011Don Byron New Gospel Quintet (DB, tenor saxophone & clarinet; DK Dyson, vocals; Xavier Davis, piano; Brad Jones, bass; Pheeroan akLaff, drums), “Precious Lord” (T. A. Dorsey), live, Brazil (São Paulo), 2010 Last night I heard these folks live at the University of Chicago. Whenever I go out and hear someone, I’m reminded, again, that [...]
Saturday, 9/24/11
09/24/2011Morton Feldman, For Christian Wolff (flute, piano, celesta; 1986) Listening to this, you can find it hard to remember, after an hour or so, what the world sounded like before it began playing. More? Here. And here. And here. And here. And here. And here. ********** lagniappe Imagine a long, narrow hallway with paintings—subtle, shimmering abstracts by Mark Rothko—hung along both walls. Imagine [...]
Friday, 9/23/11
09/23/2011Happy (85th) Birthday, Trane! John Coltrane, September 23, 1926-July 17, 1967 John Coltrane Quartet (JC, tenor saxophone; McCoy Tyner, piano; Jimmy Garrison, bass; Elvin Jones, drums), “I Want To Talk About You,” live, Sweden (Stockholm), 1962 More? Here. And here. And here. And here. ********** lagniappe radio All Trane, all day: WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University).
Thursday, 9/22/11
09/22/2011You’re probably in the same boat—no MacArthur “genius” grant this year. Oh, well. These folks, unlike you and me, are half a million dollars richer than they were Monday. Dafnis Prieto (b. 1974), drummer, composer Proverb Trio: DP, drums; Kokayi, vocals; Jason Lindner, keyboards Live, Puerto Rico (San Juan), 8/1/11 ***** Alisa Weilerstein (b. 1982), cellist [...]
