Monday, February 27th
basement jukebox
J.B. Lenoir (vocals, guitar; 1929-1967), “Mama Talk to Your Daughter,” 1954
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: hard-to-peg
2017
Saturday, February 25th
A handful of pieces I never tire of, no matter how many times I hear them. This is one.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987; MCOTD Hall of Fame), For Bunita Marcus (1985); Stephen Drury (piano), live, Boston, 2016
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
Jasper Johns (1930-), In Memory of My Feelings—Frank O’Hara, 1961
2017
Friday, February 24th
sounds of New York
Jim Campilongo Trio (JC, guitar; Chris Morrisey, bass; Josh Dion, drums, vocals) with Nels Cline (guitar), live, New York, 12/5/16*
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
Merce Cunningham: Common Time (through April 30th)
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*Set list (courtesy of YouTube):
Hot ‘Lanta 00:00
Heaven Is Creepy 08:20
Politician 18:06
Cock and Bull Story 26:12
2017
Wednesday, February 22nd
more
Miranda Cuckson, violin; Michael Hersch (1971-), Fourteen Pieces for unaccompanied violin, excerpt; live, 2009
2017
Monday, February 20th
Yesterday, in Chicago, at the Art Institute, I heard this woman play the violin. She played for well over an hour, by herself, without intermission. She performed seven pieces: the earliest, by Pierre Boulez (Anthèmes 1), was composed in 1992; the latest, by Steve Lehman (En Soi), this year. When a performer surrenders to the music wholeheartedly, she invites you, the listener, to do the same. And I did, gratefully.
Miranda Cuckson, violin
Ralph Shapey (1921-2002), Etchings (1945; excerpt), 2009
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Playing and talking, 2015
2017
Monday, February 13th
passings
Al Jarreau (aka Alwin Lopez Jarreau), March 12, 1940-February 12, 2017, singer
“Take Five” (P. Desmond), live (TV performance), Germany, 1976
(Taking a break—back in a while.)
2017
Friday, February 10th
Quiet, beauty—sometimes they seem to have all but disappeared.
Valentin Silvestrov (piano), live, Ukraine (Kiev), 2012
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lagniappe
random thoughts
I’ve been a criminal defense lawyer for over 30 years. Week in and week out, I’m in federal and state courts. I have deeply mixed feelings about our legal system. But last night, as I read the Ninth Circuit’s 29-page ruling, I felt enormous gratitude for the one branch of government that currently seems capable of—or even interested in—thoughtful analysis.
2017
Thursday, February 9th
what’s new
Craig Taborn, Daylight Ghosts, 2017
The other day I bumped into this guy in New York, at The Guggenheim, where we were both seeing the Agnes Martin exhibit. We talked for a moment—I told him how much I like his music. Then our eyes went back to the paintings.
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, The Guggenheim (New York)
Agnes Martin (1912-2004), Happy Holiday, 1999
2017
Wednesday, February 8th
not the same old stuff
Maja S. K. Ratkje, live (performance begins at 1:30), Norway (Kristiansand), 2013
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lagniappe
reading table
Happy (106th) Birthday, Elizabeth
From the few states I have seen I should now immediately select Florida as my favorite. I don’t know whether you have been here or not—it is so wild, and what there is of cultivation seems rather dilapidated and about to become wild again. On the way down we took a very slow train from Jacksonville here. All day long it went through swamps and turpentine camps and palm forests and in a beautiful pink evening it began stopping at several little stations. The stations were all off at a tangent from the main track and it necessitated first going by, then stopping, backing up, stopping, starting again—with many puffs of white smoke, blowing of the whistle, advice from the loiterers around the station—all to throw off one limp bag of mail.
—Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979), letter to Marianne Moore, January 5, 1937
2017
Tuesday, February 7th
not the same old stuff
Éliane Radigue (1932-), L’Île re-sonante (2000)
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lagniappe
random sights
last night, Oak Park, Ill.
music clip of the day 