sui generis
DJ/rupture (turntables) & Andy Moor (guitar), “Hot Pink Version”; recorded in France (Orleans), 2007; photos by Andy Moor
My heart’s on fire . . .
Nona Hendryx (with Ronny Drayton, guitar), Philadelphia, 2012
“Temple of Heaven”
*****
“Rock This House”
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lagniappe
reading table
Her life, she said, was an out-of-tune piano played with passion.
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This evening I sat listening to five presidential candidates offering their imaginary solutions for a country that doesn’t exist.
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“Imaginary maladies are much worse than the real ones, because they’re incurable,” an old friend who walks with difficulty was telling me.
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Much of what our eyes see and our ears hear is lost in translation.
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“An alarm clock with no hands, ticking on the town dump,” is how he described himself.
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They gave the nice old gentleman I met at the bake sale several medals for the misery he caused in some country that no one could find any longer on the map.
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I bet all our elected representatives in Washington spend a great deal of time in front of mirrors admiring themselves. They lift their noses and chins, stare straight ahead without moving an eyebrow or a muscle, then nod their heads gravely and smile to themselves as they go out to meet the people.
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He sat on a bench in Washington Square Park whispering something extremely confidential to his dog, who sat before him with ears perked, wagging his tail cautiously from time to time.
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The crosses all men and women must carry through life are even more visible on this dark and rainy November evening.
—Charles Simic, “A Year in Fragments” (excerpts), New York Review Blog, 12/31/12
Happy New Year!
Albert King & Stevie Ray Vaughan, TV show (In Session, Canada), 1983
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Once upon a time there was a common musical culture. Certain dialects, like blues, were known to nearly everyone. No more.
only rock ’n’ roll
There are only a few bands I come back to often.
One of them is The National.
—my (25-year-old) son Alex, talking music the other day
The National, “Fake Empire,” live, New York, 2011
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More?
Live, Netherlands, 2011*
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Here’s Bryan Ferry talking about his new album (featured yesterday):
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*Here’s the set list (courtesy of a YouTube comment):
00:00 runaway. 06:30 anyone’s ghost. 09:45 bloodbuzz ohio. 14:40 afraid of everyone. 19:00 conversation 16. 23:20 lemonworld. 27:04 apartment story. 30:50 sorrow. 35:50 england. 42:10 fake empire. 45:45 encore break. 48:05 mr november. 53:13 terrible love.
A reader writes:
Dear Richard:
I think you should check out the YouTube link below. From Dore Stein who is the host of a great radio show on Sat. nights on the SF United School District’s radio station, KALW.
Melos: Mediterranean Songs (filmed in Tunisia and Germany, 2011)*
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taking a break
I’m taking some time off—back in a while.
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*With Dorsaf Hamdani & Ensemble (Tunisia), En Chordais (Greece), Juan Carmona & Ensemble (Spain), Keyvan Chemirani (France/Iran), et al.
basement jukebox
The Falcons (feat. Wilson Pickett, lead vocals; Robert Ward, guitar)
“I Found A Love” (1962)
***
Albert Washington (feat. Lonnie Mack, guitar)
“Hold Me Baby” (1969)
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lagniappe
reading table
[T]he greatest reading pleasure has an element of self-annihilation. To be so engrossed that you barely know you exist. I last felt that in relation to a poem while in the sitting room of Elizabeth Bishop’s old home in rural Brazil. I stood in a corner, apart from the general conversation, and read “Under the Window: Ouro Preto.” The street outside was once an obscure thoroughfare for donkeys and peasants. Bishop reports overheard lines as people pass by her window, including the beautifully noted “When my mother combs my hair it hurts.” That same street now is filled with thunderous traffic — it fairly shakes the house. When I finished the poem I found that my friends and our hosts had left the room. What is it precisely, that feeling of “returning” from a poem? Something is lighter, softer, larger — then it fades, but never completely.
—Ian McEwan, New York Times Sunday Book Review, 12/9/12
only rock ’n’ roll
I’ve got another band for you . . .
—my (25-year-old) son Alex, earlier this week, before playing me a couple tracks off their new album (Lonerism)
Tame Impala, live (“Be Above It,” “Solitude Is Bliss,” “Endors Toi”), New York (Webster Hall), 11/10/12
Will the ’60s ever end?
Sometimes you can’t help but shout (3:05-).
Rev. James Cleveland and the Southern California Community Choir (with guest Albertina Walker), live, Chicago, 1972*
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lagniappe
random thoughts
Life isn’t short. It isn’t long, either. It’s nothing more, or less, than a series of moments, each beyond measure.
*****
*That same year Rev. Cleveland and his choir backed Aretha Franklin on Amazing Grace.
Happy 100th Birthday, Teddy!
Teddy Wilson, pianist, November 24, 1912-July 31, 1986
“Rosetta,” 1934
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“Body and Soul,” with the Benny Goodman Trio (BG, clarinet; TW, piano; Gene Krupa, drums), 1935
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“Foolin’ Myself,” Teddy Wilson Orchestra (TW, piano; Billie Holiday, vocals; Lester Young, tenor saxophone; Freddie Green, guitar; Jo Jones, drums, et al.), 1937
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lagniappe
radio
WKCR-FM’s celebration of his centennial, which I mentioned the other day, runs through midnight Sunday.
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musical thoughts
John Cage (whose centennial we recently celebrated), Conlon Nancarrow (ditto), Teddy Wilson—they’d make a helluva band.
Chicago: 1974
“Muddy Waters Blues Summit in Chicago,”* Soundstage, 1974
*Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, Pinetop Perkins, Koko Taylor, Mike Bloomfield, Johnny Winter, Dr. John, et al.
music clip of the day 