sounds of Kingston
Buju Banton (1973-), live (studio), Kingston (Jamaica), 3/20/20
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness.
—Buddhist monk Thích Nhất Hạnh (1926-)
How about something quiet, and delicate, and beautiful?
Ballaké Sissoko (1968-, kora), live, Paris, 2017
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
Quick the world rushed out like waters.
—Eimear McBride (1976-), A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing
two takes
“Spring Can Really Hang You up the Most” (F. Landesman, T. Wolf)
Betty Carter (1929-1998), 1965
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Bob Dorough (1923-2018, piano, vocals), 1997
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, outside Chicago (Glen Ellyn)
sounds of Ukraine
Alyona Alyona, “Дикі танці,” 1/30/20
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
passings
Charles Wuorinen, composer, June 9, 1938-March 11, 2020
Flying to Kahani (2005); Orchestra of the League of Composers (C. Wuorinen, cond.), live, New York, 2016
In 2011, jazz composer Carla Bley called Mr. Wuorinen ‘the greatest composer working.’ And the proudly poly-stylistic composer John Zorn, who has worked in forms ranging from klezmer to punk rock, recently called Mr. Wuorinen ‘a true artist whose intense and uncompromising vision produced work of remarkable beauty and drama.’ ‘He never wrote an insincere note in his life,’ Zorn continued. ‘He was a powerful role model and I loved him dearly.’
—Tim Page, obituary, Washington Post, 3/14/20
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lagniappe
random sights
early yesterday morning, Oak Park, Ill.
Want to be swept away?
Alexander Scriabin (1871-1915), Etude in D-sharp minor, Op. 8, No. 12 (1894); Daniil Trifonov (1991-, piano), live, Berlin, 2019
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
And I Was Alive
by Osip Mandelstam (1891-1938),
translated from Russian by Christian Wiman
And I was alive in the blizzard of the blossoming pear,
Myself I stood in the storm of the bird-cherry tree,
It was all leaflike and star shower, unerring, self-shattering power,
And it was all aimed at me.
What is this dire delight flowering fleeing always earth?
What is being? What is truth?
Blossoms rupture and rapture the air,
All hover and hammer,
Time intensified and time intolerable, sweetness raveling rot.
It is now. It is not.
timeless
Famous Blue Jay Singers of Birmingham, Alabama, “I’m Bound for Canaan Land,” recorded in Chicago, 1947
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
Where did my life come from?
Where will it go?—Ryōkan (1758-1831), from an untitled poem (translated from classical Chinese by Ryūichi Abé and Peter Haskel)
never enough
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Violin Sonata No. 1 in G minor, Violin Partita No. 1 in B minor; Rachel Podger (1968-, violin), live (performance begins at 2:00), London, 11/24/19
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Claude Monet (1840-1926), Water Lilies (1914-1926), detail
*****
reading table
Playing ball
With the children in this village
Spring day, never let the shadows fall!—Ryōkan (1758-1831), translated from Japanese by Ryūichi Abé and Peter Haskel
sounds of Havana
Omara Portuondo (1930-), “Sábanas Blancas,” 2019
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
Books are manuals for being in the world.
—writer Aleksandar Hemon (1964-)
tonight in Chicago
They’re playing at Elastic Arts.
Ken Vandermark (reeds), Nate Wooley (trumpet), Paul Lytton (drums), live, Chicago, 2011
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Kuzu (Dave Rempis, reeds; Tashi Dorji, guitar; Tyler Damon, drums), live, Columbia, S.C., 2018
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
music clip of the day 