Thursday, August 6th
wake up!
Peter Brötzmann (alto saxophone), Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello), Paal Nilssen-Love (drums), live, Japan (Chiba), 2011
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: Japan
2019
Monday, September 9th
Why not begin the week with something slow, and quiet, and beautiful?
Jürg Frey (1953-), Petit fragment de paysage (Ko Ishikawa, shō; Mari Adachi, viola), Wen 16 (Seiko Takemoto, cello), Petit fragment de paysage (Mari Adachi, viola; Seiko Takemoto, cello); Wen 29 (Mari Adachi, viola); Petit fragment de paysage (Ko Ishikawa, u; Seiko Takemoto, cello), live, Tokyo, 2016
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lagniappe
reading table
even poorly planted
rice plants
slowly, slowly . . . green!—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue
2019
Tuesday, September 3rd
string quartet festival
day two
Elliott Carter (1908-2012), String Quartet No. 5 (1995); Pacifica Quartet, live, Tokyo, 2004
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lagniappe
reading table
The book itself is sort of a perfect metaphor for a human being. It’s got a front and a back, it’s got a spine, and it’s bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.
—Chris Ware
2019
Saturday, July 13th
How about a trip to Tokyo?
Japan’s Hidden Listening Bars: SHeLTeR, 7/9/19
2018
Thursday, May 3rd
string quartet festival
day three
György Ligeti (1923-2006), String Quartet No. 2 (1968); Arditti Quartet, live (studio), Tokyo, 2018
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lagniappe
random sights
last night, Oak Park, Ill.
2017
Monday, September 25th
Ever heard this instrument before? (Me neither.)
Kazue Sawai (1941-), bass koto, live, Tokyo, 2009
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lagniappe
reading table
All of old. Nothing else ever. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
—Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), “Worstword Ho” (1983)
2016
Saturday, August 20th
Close your eyes.
Listen—just listen.
If you don’t have time for this, what do you have time for?
Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996), From me flows what you call Time (1990); La Jolla Symphony (Steven Schick, cond.), live, San Diego, 2008
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lagniappe
reading table
Come, see
real flowers
of this painful world.—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), translated from Japanese by Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto
2016
Friday, January 29th
sounds of Japan
Frothiness is next to godliness.
Perfume, “Pick Me Up,” 2015
2015
Saturday, March 28th
sounds of Japan
Perfume, “STORY (SXSW MIX),” SXSW (Austin, Tx.), 3/17/15
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday at the Art Institute of Chicago
Joseph Cornell (1903-1972), Untitled (Hotel de la Duchesse-Anne), 1957
2015
Monday, February 9th
Why start the week with the same old stuff?
Derek Bailey (1930-2005, guitar), Min Tanaka (1945-, dance), Japan, 1993
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lagniappe
reading table
For you fleas too,
The night must be long,
It must be lonely.—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828; translated from Japanese by R. H. Blyth)
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the beat goes on
Nineteen hundred posts—and counting.
