Saturday, February 6th
This I could listen to all day.
John Cage (1912-1992), In a Landscape (1948)
Michael Compitello (marimba), live, c. 2013
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago (Columbus Park)
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: Chicago
2016
2016
Sunday, January 31st
sounds of Chicago
Thompson Community Singers, “Christ Is the Answer,” TV show (Jubilee Showcase), 1960s
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lagniappe
reading table
I stepped from Plank to Plank
A slow and cautious way
The Stars about my Head I felt
About my Feet the Sea –I knew not but the next
Would be my final inch –
This gave me that precarious Gait
Some call Experience –—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), #926 (Franklin)
*****
I’m taking a break—back in a while.
2016
Saturday, January 30th
serendipity
What a joy to bump into this.
Charles Curtis (cello), live, West Hollywood, Calif., 2015
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago
2016
Sunday, January 24th
testify!
Inez Andrews (1929-2012), James Cleveland (1931-1991), “I Appreciate,” live
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lagniappe
reading table
Don’t you love the Oxford dictionary? When I first read it I thought it was a really really long poem about everything.
—David Bowie (1947-2016)
*****
random thoughts
Note to self: Incline, always, toward the light.
2016
Saturday, January 23rd
today in Chicago
He’ll be performing, solo, at Corbett vs. Dempsey.
Ken Vandermark, baritone saxophone
Live, Portugal (Marvão Castle Cistern), 2010
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
2016
Wednesday, January 20th
More of the late Otis Clay.
“That’s How It Is (When You’re In Love),” 1967
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“Trying to Live My Life Without You,” 1972
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“Precious, Precious,” 1972
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“The Woman Don’t Live Here No More,” 1974
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“I Can’t Take It,” 1977
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lagniappe
reading table
. . . life, that storm before the calm.
—Wislawa Szymborska (1923-2012, MCOTD Hall of Fame), “Negative” (translated from Polish by Clare Cavanagh)
2016
Sunday, January 17th
More of Otis Clay, who died the other day.
The Gospel Songbirds (Otis Clay [right]; Maurice Dollison, aka Cash McCall [left], 1941-), “I Believe,” live (Jubilee Showcase), 1964, Chicago
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lagniappe
reading table
There was very little time for small talk, so I said, ‘Does God exist?’
—James Tate (1943-2015), “The Wrong Wedding” (Dome of the Hidden Pavilion, 2015)
2016
Thursday, January 14th
sounds of Chicago
Still fresh after seventy years.
John Cage (1912-1992), Credo in Us (1942)
Third Coast Percussion, live, Chicago, 2011
2016
Sunday, January 10th
passings
Otis Clay, singer, February 11, 1942-January 8, 2016
“When the Gates Swing Open,” live, Chicago (Christian Tabernacle Church)
*****
My life always has been a combination of things musically. . . . Every Saturday night I listened to the Grand Ole Opry. . . . During the day, later on, you listened to (radio) coming out of Memphis. During the noonday, at 12 o’clock, we listened to (blues pioneer) Sonny Boy Williamson, coming out of Helena, Ark. (And) I’m listening to Vaughn Monroe and Rosemary Clooney and listening to Hank Williams and Roy Acuff.
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Chicago is just a suburb of Mississippi.
—Otis Clay (Chicago Tribune obituary, January 9, 2016)
2016
Saturday, January 2nd
sounds of Chicago and Switzerland
Need a jolt?
Easel (Christoph Erb, tenor saxophone [Switzerland]; Fred Lonberg-Holm, cello, electronics [Chicago]; Michael Zerang, drums [Chicago]), live, Moscow, 2015
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Note to self: Listen, always, as if it was the first time—and the last.
*****
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
music clip of the day 