Friday, March 28th
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
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: hard-to-peg
2014
2014
Wednesday, March 26th
alone
Günter “Baby” Sommer, live, Germany (Dresden), c. 2007
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musical thoughts
Who has more fun than drummers?
*****
lagniappe
reading table
Back to Mandrake the Magician,
The man of mystery often seen
In the company of swells and
Denizens of the underworld,
While mother kneads pie dough
And sways her hips to the radio,
And the fat, bow-legged dog
Drools over a red rubber ball,
When there is a flash of lightning
Followed by a roll of thunder
And sudden darkness upon us all.—Charles Simic, “Memory Train” (New Republic, 3/24/14)
2014
Monday, March 24th
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
2014
Friday, March 21st
sounds of Los Angeles
Living Off the Wall: East Los, 2014
Trailer
***
#1 (Backyard Intro)
***
#2 (Anthony)
***
#3 (Lauren)
***
#4 (Nekro)
***
#5 (The Show)
2014
Thursday, March 20th
spring!
Bob Dorough (1923-; vocals, piano), “Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most” (T. Wolf, F. Landesman), 1997
*****
Blossom Dearie (1924-2009; vocals, piano), “They Say It’s Spring” (M. Clark, B. Haymes), 1958
*****
Sun Ra Arkestra (SR [1914-1993], piano; June Tyson, vocals; John Gilmore, tenor saxophone, et al.), “Springtime Again” (S. Ra), live, Rome, 1980
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lagniappe
reading table
A little Madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King,
But God be with the Clown—
Who ponders this tremendous scene—
This whole Experiment of Green—
As if it were his own!—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886; Franklin #1356)
***
spring rain—
the uneaten ducks
are quacking—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828; translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
2014
Tuesday, March 18th
sleepless in Chicago
Some folks sleep all night, or so I’ve heard. Maybe you’re one of them. If not, here’s a mix you might try—a sonic tonic.
1. Play this on repeat.
John Luther Adams (1953-), “The Farthest Place” (2001); piano (Clint Davis), vibraphone (Brian Archinal & Andy Bliss), bass (Satoru Tagawa), violin (Lydia Kabalen); University of Kentucky (Lexington), 2008
2. Ditto.
Waterfall Sounds, Cow Creek
3. Adjust volume levels to taste.
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lagniappe
reading table
For you fleas too
the nights must be long,
they must be lonely.—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827; translated from Japanese by Robert Hass)
2014
Monday, March 17th
Nick Hennies (music, film editing), “Lineal” (Part 1), 2009
[vimeo 7567186 w=560&h=315]
Someday our world, and its shiny technology, will seem no less remote.
2014
Saturday, March 15th
serendipity*
Christopher DeLaurenti (sampling Marvin Gaye, “What’s Going On” [1971]), live, Seattle, 2009
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lagniappe
reading table: passings
Bill Knott, February 17, 1940-March 12, 2014
Night Thought
Compared to one’s normal clothes, pajamas
are just as caricature as the dreams
they bare: farce-skins, facades, unserious
soft versions of the mode diem, they seem
to have come from a posthumousness;
floppy statues of ourselves, slack seams
of death. Their form mimics the decay
that will fit us so comfortably someday.
*****
*This I bumped into yesterday, listening to the radio (WFMU: Miniature Minotaurs [Kurt Gottschalk]).
2014
Friday, March 14th
sounds from all over
Russia
Anton Maskeliade, “Crown,” Moscow, 2014
*****
Japan
Perfume, “Sweet Refrain,” 2013
*****
Egypt
Cellar Door, “Blind,” 2013
music clip of the day 