Saturday, August 17th
mesmerizing
Philip Glass (1937-), “Metamorphosis Two”; Lavinia Meijer, harp, 2013
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago (Columbus Park)
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: harp
2019
Tuesday, April 22nd
like nobody else
Anthony Braxton ZIM Sextet (AB, 1945-, reeds, composition; Taylor Ho Bynum, cornet, flugelhorn, trombone; Ingrid Laubrock, reeds; Tomeka Reid, cello; Shelley Burgon, harp; Jacqueline Kerrod, harp; Dan Peck, tuba), live, Germany (Moers), 2017
2017
Monday, May 15th
Why not begin the week with something beautiful?
John Luther Adams (1953-), Dream in White on White (1992); Virtuoso String Orchestra (Joaquin Valdepeñas, cond.) with Sanya Eng (harp), live, Toronto, 2014
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), Bush warbler on plum branch, 1840s
2017
Friday, April 7th
This, I just found, has more than 21 million views. (Where have I been?)
Florence and the Machine, “Cosmic Love”
Live (studio performance), Seattle, 2010
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lagniappe
reading table
I had been happy, happy enough, but now I often found myself uttering a spontaneous prayer that went, simply: She is here, still here.
—George Saunders, Lincoln in the Bardo
2015
Tuesday, December 22nd
The only thing hard about listening to this is letting go of everything else.
John Luther Adams (1953-), Dream in White on White (1992); Virtuoso String Orchestra (Joaquin Valdepenas, cond.), Sanya Eng (harp), live, Toronto, 2014
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lagniappe
reading table
Barn’s burnt down—
now
I can see the moon.—Mizuta Masahide, 1657-1723 (translated from Japanese by Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto)
2015
Friday, December 11th
what’s new
Joanna Newsom, “Leaving the City,” live (TV show), 12/8/15
2015
Friday, November 27th
sounds of Chicago
Some things last. Nearly forty years ago, I co-produced this track, while working at Alligator Records. It remains one of my favorites. The hour was late. The lights had been turned down. But the tape kept rolling.
Carey Bell’s Blues Harp Band, “Woman In Trouble”
Living Chicago Blues, Vol. 1, 1978
*****
Here’s more of Carey, years later (2000, Switzerland [Bern]).
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago (Columbus Park)
2015
Wednesday, September 9th
serendipity
When this came on the radio the other day (WKCR, Columbia University), background became foreground.
Luciano Berio (1925-2003), Differences (1959)
2015
Saturday, June 20th
sounds of Chicago
Here, set to music, is a poem by Dorothy Parker (1893-1967).
Katie Ernst, “Bric-a-Brac” (music by K. Ernst), live (studio performance), Chicago, 2015
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Little things that no one needs—
Little things to joke about—
Little landscapes, done in beads.
Little morals, woven out,
Little wreaths of gilded grass,
Little brigs of whittled oak
Bottled painfully in glass;
These are made by lonely folk.Lonely folk have lines of days
Long and faltering and thin;
Therefore—little wax bouquets,
Prayers cut upon a pin,
Little maps of pinkish lands,
Little charts of curly seas,
Little plats of linen strands,
Little verses, such as these.
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langiappe
random sights and sounds
Last night, while riding my bike in Chicago’s Columbus Park, I bumped into this—a performance by Isabelle Olivier (harp), Larry Gray (bass), and Paul Wertico (drums).
And, too, this great blue heron.
2013
Friday, April 19th
Chicago: 1970s
Junior Wells (vocals, harmonica), Buddy Guy (guitar), et al., live, Theresa’s, 48th & Indiana, Chicago, 1970s
