Wednesday, May 21st
two takes
Grace Jones with Sly & Robbie, “My Jamaican Guy”
Live, Jamaica (Kingston), late ’80s
***
Recording, 1982
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Month: May, 2014
2014
Tuesday, May 20th
what’s new
M.I.A. & The Partysquad, “Double Bubble Trouble” (directed by M.I.A.)
2014
Monday, May 19th
Some people behave strangely in their own living rooms. Others do it on national TV.
Van Morrison, Sinead O’Connor, The Chieftains, “Have I Told You Lately,” live (Late Show with David Letterman), 1997
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lagniappe
art beat
Garry Winogrand (1928-1984), New York, 1969
2014
Sunday, May 18th
testify!
Lee Williams & the Spirtual QC’s, “I Can’t Give Up,” live, Brownsville, Tenn.
**********
lagniappe
reading table
Please Give This Seat to an Elderly or Disabled Person
by Nina Cassian (1924-2014; translated from Romanian by Naomi Lazard)
I stood during the entire journey:
nobody offered me a seat
although I was at least a hundred years older than anyone else on board,
although the signs of at least three major afflictions
were visible on me:
Pride, Loneliness, and Art.
2014
Saturday, May 17th
beyond category
John Zorn, Book of Angels (excerpts); Uri Caine, piano; Masada String Trio (Mark Feldman, violin; Erik Friedlander, cello;* Greg Cohen, bass); live, France (Marciac), 2008
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lagniappe
reading table
There’s a line in Tarkovsky’s Solaris: we never know when we’re going to die and because of that we are, at any given moment, immortal.
—Geoff Dyer, “Diary,” London Review of Books, 4/3/14
***
*It’s all related: Erik’s the son of photographer Lee Friedlander, whose work is often featured here.
2014
Friday, May 16th
two takes
“You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” (B. Dylan)
Mary Chapin Carpenter, Rosanne Cash, Shawn Colvin (with G. E. Smith, guitar), live, New York, 1992
***
Bob Dylan, live, England (Bournemouth), 1997
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lagniappe
art beat
Lee Friedlander (1934-), Cherokee Park, Louisville, Kentucky, 1994
2014
Thursday, May 15th
sounds of Surry County, North Carolina
Tommy Jarrell (fiddle, vocals), Chester McMillan (guitar), Frank Bodie (guitar), Ray Chatfield (banjo), “Let Me Fall,” live, Mt. Airy, North Carolina, 1983
2014
Wednesday, May 14th
basement jukebox
J. B. Lenoir (1929-1967), “Mama Talk To Your Daughter,” 1954
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lagniappe
reading table
In the hospital yard stands a small annex surrounded by a whole forest of burdock, nettles, and wild hemp. The roof is rusty, the chimney is half fallen down, the porch steps are rotten and overgrown with grass, and only a few traces of stucco remain. The front facade faces the hospital, the back looks onto a field, from which it is separated by the gray hospital fence topped with nails. These nails, turned point up, and the fence, and the annex itself have that special despondent and accursed look that only our hospitals and prisons have.
—Anton Chekhov (1860-1904), “Ward No. 6” (opening paragraph; translated from Russian by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky)
2014
Tuesday, May 13th
voices I miss
Lester Bowie (1941-1999), trumpet (MCOTD Hall of Famer), with Brazz Brothers, “Summertime” (G. Gershwin), live, Germany (Jazz Baltica), 1993
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lagniappe
art beat: more from last week at the Art Institute of Chicago
Christopher Wool (1955-), Maggie’s Brain (1995)
2014
Monday, May 12th
sounds of joy
This I could listen to all day.
Hariprasad Chaurasia (1938-; bansuri [bamboo flute]) & Vijay Ghate (1964-; tabla), Raag Jog, live, Italy (Cabella), 2007
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Music offers an escape from the swamp of the self.
music clip of the day 