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Category: guitar

Friday, June 20th

only rock ’n’ roll

This guy reminds me a little, at times, of some of the blues musicians I worked with years ago (when I was with Alligator Records in the ’70s), often relying, it seems, more on feel than plan.

Roky Erickson, live, Denmark (Christiana), 2013*

*****

*Set list (courtesy of YouTube):

1. Cold Night for Alligators
2. Bermuda
3. The Interpreter
4. Roller Coaster
5. Fire Engine
6. Tried to Hide
7. Levitation
8. Splash 1
9. Reverberation
10. Two Headed Dog
11. You’re Gonna Miss Me

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Monday, June 16th

Ornette, at 84, still plays some of the most haunting blues I’ve ever heard.

Ornette Coleman (alto saxophone), with Henry Threadgill (alto saxophone), David Murray (tenor saxophone), Savion Glover (tap dance), et al., live, New York (Prospect Park), 6/12/14

*****

With Don Cherry (trumpet), Charlie Haden (bass), Billy Higgins (drums), The Shape Of Jazz To Come, 1959

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lagniappe

art beat

Bruce Davidson (1933-), East 100th St., New York, 1966

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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

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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

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Sunday, May 11th

alone

Charley Patton (1891-1934), “Prayer of Death,” 1929

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Friday, May 9th

only rock ’n’ roll

The Ex & Brass Unbound,* “Cold Weather Is Back,” live, London, 2010

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lagniappe

art beat: yesterday at the Art Institute of Chicago

Christopher Wool (1955-)

*****

*Roy Paci (trumpet), Wolkter Wierbos (trombone), Ken Vandermark (tenor saxophone), Mats Gustaffson (baritone saxophone).

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Wednesday, May 7th

basement jukebox

Howlin’ Wolf, “Moanin’ at Midnight,” 1951*

Who needs chord changes?

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lagniappe

musical thoughts

Wolf’s harmonica playing was always the right amount. He would never do anything on the harmonica that would detract from you waiting to get back to Wolf’s voice. . . . There is a certain lonesomeness about the harmonica that just fit the Wolf’s character in voice, in song, in lyric; and he just played that just enough to titillate things he was going to do next with his voice.

—Sam Phillips

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*HW (AKA Chester Burnett [1910-1976], vocals, harmonica), Willie Johnson (guitar), Willie Steel, drums.

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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?

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2014

Friday, April 25th

only rock ’n’ roll

Black Dub (Daniel Lanois, guitar, vocals; Trixie Whitley, keyboards, vocals; Jim Wilson, bass, vocals; Brian Blade, drums), “Ring the Alarm,” live, Vancouver, 2011

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