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Category: Detroit

Saturday, April 26th

only rock ’n’ roll

MC5: A True Testimonial (2002)

 

Thanks to my brother Don for the tip. We first encountered these guys in Chicago’s Lincoln Park during the 1968 Democratic Convention. The park is still there. But that moment, when, as a teenager, nothing mattered more than intensity and attitude, is long gone.

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lagniappe

found words

Sometimes it’s hard to tell the advertising from the conceptual art. Last night, while driving to Hyde Park to hear pianist Rafal Blechacz, I came upon a billboard:

BE AMBITIOUS.
NOT THIRSTY.

Who knew Diet Coke could be so deep?

Saturday, March 22nd

passings

Scott Asheton, drummer (Stooges), August 16, 1949-March 15, 2014

Live (rehearsal), Tribute to the Stooges (SA, drums; Ron Asheton, guitar; J Mascis, guitar; Mike Watt, vocals, bass), “1970,” Belgium (Hasselt), 2002


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Live, Iggy and the Stooges, “Now I Wanna Be Your Dog,” France (Clisson), 2011


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Live, Stooges, “1970,” Michigan (Goose Lake Festival), 1970


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lagniappe

reading table

What do the sky and gardens know
of such disappointments?

—August Kleinzahler, “September” (fragment)

Sunday, January 19th

Aretha’s daddy

Rev. C. L. Franklin (1915-1984), “I’m Going Through,” recorded live at New Bethel Baptist Church (8430 Linwood St., Detroit, Mich.)


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Rev. C. L. Franklin (right) with Joe Von Battle, owner of Detroit’s JVB Records and Joe’s Records Shop, c. 1950s

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lagniappe

random thoughts

Life is a chronic problem.

Sunday, November 24th

two takes

“The Storm Is Passing Over” (C. Tindley, D. Vails)

Detroit Mass Choir (Jimmy Dowell, Director), live, Detroit, 2001

*****

DeLois Barrett Campbell and The Barrett Sisters, live, 1982 (Say Amen, Somebody)

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lagniappe

reading table

“Hope” is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops—at all—

And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—
And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm—

I’ve heard it in the chillest land—
And on the strangest Sea—
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of Me.

—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Saturday, November 2nd

only rock ’n’ roll

MC5, “Kick Out The Jams,” “Ramblin’ Rose,” “Motor City’s Burning,” “Tonight,” “Black To Comm #2,” live (TV studio), Germany (Bremen), 1972

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lagniappe

art beat

Danny Lyon (1942-), Chicago, 1960s

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Friday, October 12th

only rock ’n’ roll

Mitch Ryder (with Jimmy McCarty, guitar; Don Was, bass, et al.), “Little Latin Lupe Lu,” live, Detroit, 2011


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lagniappe

reading table

Alice Munro, yesterday, on winning the Nobel Prize in Literature:

Saturday, September 21st

two takes

More from the Motor City.

“What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” (W. Weatherspoon, P. Riser, J. Dean)

Jimmy Ruffin (1939-; David’s brother), 1965


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Mitch Ryder (with Don Was, bass, et al.), live, Detroit, 2008

Monday, September 16th

From Musical Scripture (3:7):

And when they heard the angels singing,
A hush came over them and they understood:
Heaven can be found anywhere—even Detroit.

The Temptations (David Ruffin [1941-1991], lead vocals), “My Girl” (S. Robinson & R. White), vocal track, 1965

Friday, June 21st

old school

The Miracles (AKA, beginning in 1965, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles), live (TV shows), 1960s

“You Really Got A Hold On Me”


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“Ooo Baby Baby” (AKA “Ooh Baby Baby”)


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lagniappe

reading table

As life proceeds, and the long journey is recognised for what it is, the look that is cast back unconsciously falsifies. That there were winters is a fact which is discarded, seemingly forgotten. And the longing for more summer, more life, intensifies as the dark days wear on, as if light and life have become interchangeable, as perhaps they are.

—Anita Brookner, Dolly

Sunday, May 5th

back to church

Rev. C. L. Franklin (1915-1984), “I’ll Go”