Something cheery to start the weekend.
Lucinda Williams, “It’s Gonna Rain” (L. Williams), live (studio performance), Seattle, 2/11/15
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lagniappe
reading table
How can you give orders when nobody is listening?
—John Ashbery, “Be Careful What You Wish For” (New York Review of Books, 3/5/15)
Why start the week with the same old stuff?
Derek Bailey (1930-2005, guitar), Min Tanaka (1945-, dance), Japan, 1993
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lagniappe
reading table
For you fleas too,
The night must be long,
It must be lonely.—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828; translated from Japanese by R. H. Blyth)
*****
the beat goes on
Nineteen hundred posts—and counting.
basement jukebox
Hank Snow (1914-1999), “Honeymoon on a Rocket Ship”(C. E. “Hank” Snow, J. Masters), 1953
sounds of Mali (day four)
Tinariwen, live, Paris, 2011
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lagniappe
reading table
It was what it might have been to be alive, but tenderly.
—Lucie Brock-Broido, “A Meadow” (Stay, Illusion)
sounds of Mali (day one)
Africa Express, “Terry Riley’s in C Mali,” 2013-15
I am overwhelmed and delighted by this CD. I was not quite prepared for such an incredible journey, hearing the soul of Africa in joyous flight over those 53 patterns of ‘In C’. This ensemble feeds the piece with ancient threads of musical wisdom and humanity indicating to me that this work is a vessel ready to receive and be shaped by the spontaneous feelings and colours of the magician/musician. I could not ask for a greater gift for this daughter’s 50th birthday.
—Terry Riley (1935-)
what’s new
D’Angelo and the Vanguard (Pino Palladino, bass; John Blackwell, drums; Jesse Johnson & Isaiah Sharkey, guitars, et al.), Saturday Night Live, 1/31/15
“Really Love”
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“The Charade”
old school
Soul Stirrers, “He’s Been a Shelter to Me” (Paul Foster, lead vocal), “I’m a Soldier” (Jimmy Outler, lead vocal), live (TV show), early 1960s
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lagniappe
reading table
When you’re playing baseball, on that field, it’s like your whole life, it’s your world and you don’t want to leave it. It was such a joy to be there, to be able to make decisions on your own: when to swing, when not to swing; when to run, when not to run. I felt this is the only place in the world where I could make my own decisions.
—Ernie Banks (1931-2015)
only rock ‘n’ roll
The Avantist, “Ramses,” live (studio performance), Hickory Hills, Ill., 2014
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lagniappe
reading table
I am obliged to perform in complete darkness
operations of great delicacy
on my self.—John Berryman (1914-1972, MCOTD Hall of Fame), Dream Song 67
old school
The Consolers (Iola & Sullivan Pugh), live (TV show), early 1960s
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lagniappe
art beat
Bruce Davidson (1933-), New York (Subway), 1980s
Open Minds: Chris Potter Underground (with CP, tenor saxophone, bass clarinet; Craig Taborn, keyboards; Adam Rogers, guitar; Nate Smith, drums), 2012
Music documentaries can go wrong in so many ways. Too much talk. Talk that reminds you, repeatedly, why musicians aren’t paid to speak. Mediocre sound. This one, which I bumped into yesterday, seems to avoid them all.
music clip of the day 