only rock ’n’ roll
The War On Drugs, “Under the Pressure”
Live, Philadelphia, 3/14/14
***
Recording (Lost in the Dream), 3/14
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lagniappe
reading table
Now, unlike then—sixty years ago—we know so much more about others . . . . [t]hough, of course, we know not much more of the important things—what’s in others’ hearts; and if their hearts are broken or damaged or full.
—Richard Ford, “A Symposium on Magic,” The Threepenny Review, Spring 2014
two takes
Blind Willie Johnson (1897-1945), “I’m Gonna Run to the City of Refuge,” 1928
*****
Dr. C. J. Johnson (1913-1991), “You Better Run to the City of Refuge”
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lagniappe
art beat
Danny Lyon (1942-), New York, 1967
*****
the beat goes on
Sixteen hundred posts—and counting.
only rock ’n’ roll
Benjamin Booker, “Violent Shiver”
Live, 2013
***
Live (album teaser; fall release), 2014
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lagniappe
art beat
Danny Lyon (1942-), 1960s
like nobody else
Nina Simone (“Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair” [Trad.], “To Love Somebody” [B. Gibb, R. Gibb], “Suzanne” [L. Cohen], “Save Me” [A. Franklin], “Porgy, I Is Your Woman Now”/”Today Is A Killer”/”I Loves You Porgy” [G. Gershwin, D. Heyward]), live, Rome, 1969
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lagniappe
art beat
Helen Levitt (1913-2009), New York, 1940s
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
***
Live, Iggy and the Stooges, “Now I Wanna Be Your Dog,” France (Clisson), 2011
***
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)
Gospel?
Blues?
Rock ‘n’ roll?
Trying to keep them separate is like trying to draw lines in water.
Leo Welch, “Praise His Name,” live, Mississippi (Gravel Springs), 2013
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lagniappe
art beat
Lee Friedlander (1934-), Mississippi, 2008
only rock ’n’ roll
Cloud Nothings, “Psychic Trauma”
Live, Houston, 2013
***
Recording, 2014
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lagniappe
reading table
August Kleinzahler (1949-), reading “Portrait of My Mother in January”:
*****
The older I get the more grateful I am not to be told how everything comes out.
—William Maxwell (1908-2000), novelist, New Yorker fiction editor, etc.
old stuff
Kansas City Six (Buck Clayton, trumpet; Lester Young, clarinet; Eddie Durham, electric guitar; Freddie Green, rhythm guitar; Walter Page, bass; Jo Jones, drums), “Pagin’ the Devil,” 1938
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lagniappe
reading table
in blossoming trees
suddenly he’s hidden . . .
my son—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827; translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
only rock ’n’ roll
The Ex, “Double Order,” France (Orleans), 2013
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lagniappe
found words
From the Chicago Reader music section (2/20/14):
. . . hails from the same quasi-grimestep/post-IDM interzone that’s home to artists as disparate as . . .
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This Liverpool trio plays what it calls ‘caveman doom’ . . .
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. . . retrofuturist murder ballad . . .
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. . . works the same territory that grindcore and sludge bands cleared in the 90s.
sounds of Chicago
Mike Reed’s People, Places & Things (MR, drums; Jason Roebke, bass; Greg Ward, alto saxophone; Tim Haldeman, tenor saxophone), “Wilbur’s Tune,” live, Paris, 2010
***
Mike Reed’s Myth/Science Assembly (MR, drums; Tomas Fujiwara, drums; Josh Abrams, bass; Greg Ward, alto saxophone; Ingrid Laubrock, tenor saxophone; Taylor Ho Bynum, trumpet; Mary Halvorson, guitar; Tomeka Reid, cello; Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone; Nick Butcher, electronics), live (rearranging a found Sun Ra fragment [excerpt]), Chicago (Chicago Jazz Festival), 2011
***
Mike Reed’s Loose Assembly (MR, drums; Josh Abrams, bass; Greg Ward, alto saxophone; Tomeka Reid, cello; Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone), live (studio performance), Chicago, c. 2009
*****
If other Chicago musicians are “busy,” what’s Mike Reed? In addition to leading various groups, he owns and operates Constellation, a performing arts center. Then there’s the Pitchfork Music Festival, which this summer will feature, over the course of three days, Beck, Giorgio Moroder, Kendrick Lamar, Grimes, et al. He books and produces it.
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