sounds of India
This I could listen to all day.
Sashank Subramanyam and Rakesh Chaurasia (flutes), Anubrata Chatterjee (tabla), Patri Satish Kumar (mridangam), live (Rag Hamsadwani), India (Velliangiri Hills), 2014
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
Not yet disappeared
like a dewdrop
on a blade of grass,
I am still in this floating world,
moon in the morning.—Ryokan (1758-1831), translated from Japanese by Kazuaki Tanahashi
sounds of Chicago
Gospel Songbirds (featuring Otis Clay [1942-2016], 1:55-), “Help Me Run This Race,” live (TV show [Jubilee Showcase]), Chicago, 1964
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Grapes, Lemons, Pears, and Apples, 1887 (detail)
*****
reading table
He walks on, northwards, toward the snow
and things unseen, unknown.
Slowly the imperfect cities’ sounds grow still,
only streams hold forth chaotically
while white clouds play at nothingness.
He hears an oriole’s song, delicate,
uncertain, like a prayer, like weeping.—Adam Zagajewski (1945-), from “The Great Poet Basho Begins His Journey,” translated from Polish by Clare Cavanagh (The Threepenny Review, Spring, 2021)
like nobody else
Lou Harrison (1917-2003), Concerto for Violin with Percussion Orchestra (1959); Todd Reynolds (violin), Third Coast Percussion, John Corkill (percussion), 2018
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
I’d have to be really quick
to describe clouds—
a split second’s enough
for them to start being something else.— Wislawa Szymborska (1923-2012, MCOTD Hall of Fame), from “Clouds” (translated from Polish by Clare Cavanagh and Stanislaw Baranczak)
basement jukebox
Irma Thomas (1941-), “Time Is on My Side” (J. Ragovoy, J. Norman), 1964
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lagniappe
reading table
Wild night – Wild nights!
Were I with thee
Wild nights should be
Our luxury!—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), from 269 (Johnson)
another take
Rev. Paul Jones, “I Won’t Complain” (P. Jones), live, Texas (Texas City), 1989
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
passings
Lawrence Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919–February 22, 2021), poet, publisher, bookstore owner
“The World Is a Beautiful Place,” City Lights Bookstore, San Francisco
These tiny pieces I tire of never.
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), 24 Preludes (1835-1839); Vladimir Ashkenazy (1937-, piano), live, England (Essex), 1980
(Note: After posting this clip, I found that it cannot be viewed here; however, it can be at YouTube.)
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
Not much more than being,
Thoughts of isolate, beautiful—Louis Zukofsky (1904-1978), from “2”
sounds of New York
Ingrid Laubrock (tenor saxophone), Tom Rainey (drums), Brandon Lopez (bass), with artwork by Yuko Otomo, live (performance begins at 4:00), New York, 2/23/21
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
I can wade Grief –
Whole pools of it –
I’m used to that –
But the least push of Joy
Breaks up my feet –
And I tip – drunken –
Let no Pebble – smile –
‘Twas the New Liquor –
That was All!—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), from 312 (Franklin)
sounds of Paris
Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996), And then I knew ’twas Wind (1992); Ensemble Intercontemporain, live, Paris, 2017
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
Like Rain it sounded till it curved
And then we knew “twas Wind –
It walked as wet as any Wave
But swept as dry as Sand –—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), from 276 (Franklin)
more
Blind Willie Johnson (1897-1945), “Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed” (trad.), 1928
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago
*****
reading table
Mingling with the wind
the snow comes falling;
mingling with the snow
the wind comes blowing;
by banked coals
I stretch my legs,
idle, idle,
in this grass hut
a shut-in,
and counting, find
that the second month too
like a dream
has come and gone—Ryokan (1758-1831), translated from Japanese by Burton Watson
two takes
“Manhattan” (R. Rodgers, L. Hart)
Blossom Dearie (1924-2009, vocals, piano), 1959
*****
Sonny Rollins Trio (SR, tenor saxophone; Henry Grimes, bass; Charles Wright, drums), 1958
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
How did you wriggle
your way
into my dream path
through such deep snow
on the night mountain?—Ryokan (1758-1831), translated from Japanese by Kazuaki Tanahashi
