Why not begin the week with something beautiful?
Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996), Rain Tree Sketch (1982); Peter Serkin (piano), live, Tokyo, 2003
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Glencoe, Ill. (Chicago Botanic Garden)
*****
random thoughts
Time change—all the pleasures of jet lag without ever leaving home.
This I could listen to all day.
Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996), Rain Tree (1981); Bard Percussion (Amy Garapic, vibraphone; Petra Elek, marimba; Zihan Yi, marimba), live, Annandale-on-Hudson (Bard College), New York, 2012
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago (Columbus Park)
*****
reading table
We see with memory. My memory is different from yours, so if we’re both standing in the same place we’re not quite seeing the same thing. Different individuals have different memories, therefore other elements are playing a part. Whether you have been in a place before will affect you, and how well you know it. There’s no objective vision ever—ever.
—David Hockney (1937-), A Bigger Message: Conversations with David Hockney (Martin Grayford)
never enough
Miles Davis (with Wayne Shorter, saxophones; Chick Corea, keyboards; Dave Holland, bass; Jack DeJohnette, drums), live, Paris, 1969*
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lagniappe
baseball: Chicago Cubs
It’s going to take a while, maybe a year or two, for this to sink in.
*****
*Setlist (courtesy of YouTube):
1. Introduction 0:00
2. Directions 0:34
3. Bitches Brew 8:33
4. Paraphernalia 22:50
5. Riot 35:21
6. I Fall In Love Too Easily 38:42
7. Sanctuary 40:53
8. Miles Runs The Voodoo Down 45:13
9. The Theme 1:02:45
more
Wadada Leo Smith (trumpet), Louis Moholo-Moholo (drums), live
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
sui generis
Sculpture, “Untitled,” 2016
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill. (Trumpenstein)
*****
baseball: Chicago Cubs
. . . Cleveland leads this World Series 3-2, but it feels very close—like, as close to tied as it can be without being, you know, actually tied.
—Thomas Boswell, Washington Post, 10/31/16
Repetitive?
Yes.
Boring?
Not to these ears.
William Basinski, Watermusic II, 2003
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago (Columbus Park)
*****
baseball: Chicago Cubs
Now, it’s onto Cleveland, with a confident team, a DH in [Kyle] Schwarber, [Aroldis] Chapman knowing he’s capable of going longer than two innings, and a “Rocky’’ tape stuffed in their equipment bag.
“The boys are feeling real good right now,’’ said [Anthony] Rizzo, who was impersonating Rocky Balboa with shadow-boxing before the game, even playing the “Rocky’’ theme as his walk-up music before his first at-bat. “We had a good time in here before the game. We’re going the bout. We’re going the distance.
“We’re bought in.
“And we believe in it.’’
—Bob Nightengale, USA Today, 10/31/16
tonight in Chicago
He’ll be playing at Constellation.
Wadada Leo Smith (trumpet) with John Edwards (bass), Mark Sanders (drums), live, Latvia (Riga), 2014
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday at the Art Institute of Chicago
Henri Matisse (1869-1954), The Geranium, 1906
like nobody else
How about a trip to Paris?
Blossom Dearie (1924-2009), “C’est le Printemps” (“It Might as Well Be Spring”)
(R. Rodgers, O. Hammerstein II; adaptation, J. Sablon), “Plus je t’embrasse” (“Heart of My Heart”) (B. Ryan; adaptation, Max François), live, Paris, 1961
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lagniappe
reading table
Autumn again
getting old is like
a bird flying into a cloud—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), translated from Japanese by David Young
This I could listen to all day.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987, MCOTD Hall of Fame), Three Voices (1982); Sonya Holowell (live and recorded voices), Australia (Sydney), 2016
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lagniappe
reading table
Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.
—Simone Weil (1909-1943)
*****
baseball: Chicago Cubs
Greg Maddux on tonight’s starting pitcher, Kyle Hendricks:
If it was a radar contest, then why play the game, right? Velocity is nice, but command and movement are better.
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He has the ability to throw a two-seam fastball to both sides of the plate. Most pitchers are four-seam to one side and two-seam to the other. If you can throw your two-seamer to both sides of the plate, that’s an advantage to the pitcher.
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He has the ability to recognize when a hitter is sitting on a certain pitch and throw something else.
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He relies on the low fastball that sinks pretty good. Very good at trying to keep the ball in front of the outfield with that pitch. That’s what it’s about—locating your fastball, changing speeds and keeping the ball in the ballpark.
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He’s fun to watch.
sounds of Chicago
Common (with Robert Glasper [keyboards], Bilal [vocals], et al.), “I Used To Love H.E.R.,” “Letter To The Free,” “The Day The Women Took Over,” “Little Chicago Boy,” live, Washington, D.C. (White House Library), 10/3/16
music clip of the day 