sounds of Chicago
Dave Rempis (saxophones), Jason Adasiewicz (vibraphone), Joshua Abrams (bass), Taylor Damon (drums), live, Chicago (Elastic Arts), 8/31/23
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lagniappe
reading table
this body
still alive
scratching it—Taneda Santoka (1882-1940), translated from the Japanese by Burton Watson
timeless
Returning to a record after years away, both you and it are new.
Miles Davis (1926-1991, trumpet), In a Silent Way (with Wayne Shorter [1933-2023], soprano saxophone; John McLaughlin [1942- ], electric guitar; Chick Corea [1941-2021], electric piano; Herbie Hancock [1940-], electric piano; Joe Zawinul [1932-2007], electric piano, organ; Dave Holland [1946-], bass; Tony Williams [1945-1997], drums), 1969
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lagniappe
reading table
nothing left of the house
I was born in
fireflies—Taneda Santoka (1882-1940), translated from the Japanese by Burton Watson
It was, I recall, a cloudless morning in Chicago, as it was in New York. I had a hearing scheduled in federal court, but then, after the second plane hit, court was cancelled. I sat, with my office mates, in front of the TV, unable to turn away.
William Basinski (1958-), “Disintegration Loop 1.1,” 2001
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lagniappe
reading table
Photograph from September 11
by Wislawa Szymborska (1923-2012, MCOTD Hall of Fame), translated from the Polish by Clare Cavanagh and Stanislaw Baranczak
They jumped from the burning floors—
one, two, a few more,
higher, lower.
The photograph halted them in life,
and now keeps them
above the earth toward the earth.
Each is still complete,
with a particular face
and blood well hidden.
There’s enough time
for hair to come loose,
for keys and coins
to fall from pockets.
They’re still within the air’s reach,
within the compass of places
that have just opened.
I can do only two things for them—
describe this flight
and not add a last line.
basement jukebox
Jay Robinson with Penny & The Quarters, “Will I Ever,” c. 1970
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lagniappe
reading table
I’m making sense all the time of all the senseless things.
—Mary Jo Bang (1946-), from “A Film in Which I Play Everyone” (New Yorker, 8/21/23)
sounds of Jamaica
Mista Savona (DJ), King Tubby’s Heaviest Dubs (King Tubby aka Osbourne Ruddick, 1941-1989), published 2021
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lagniappe
reading table
Why is everything now geared to longevity? If everything’s directed at maximizing the number of years you live, you’re denying life itself.
—artist David Hockney (1937-), quoted in A Bigger Message: Conversations with David Hockney (Martin Gayford, expanded edition, 2016)
sounds of Chicago
Caravans (feat. Shirley Caesar, 1938-), “My All to the Lord,” 1960
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
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reading table
There are things
We live among ‘and to see them
Is to know ourselves’.
—George Oppen (1908-1984), from “Of Being Numerous”
Happy (101st) Birthday, Charles!
Charles Mingus Sextet (CM, 4/22/1922–1/5/1979, bass, compositions; Eric Dolphy, 1928-1964, alto saxophone; Clifford Jordan, 1931-1993, tenor saxophone; Johnny Coles, 1925-1987, trumpet; Jaki Byard, 1922-1999, piano; Dannie Richmond, 1931-1988, drums), live, Belgium,* Norway,** Sweden,*** 1964
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lagniappe
radio
All Mingus, all day: WKCR-FM (Columbia University).
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reading table
This poem is not addressed to you.
You may come into it briefly,
But no one will find you here, no one.
You will have changed before the poem will.—Donald Justice (1925-2004), from “Poem”
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* “So Long Eric,” “Peggy’s Blue Skylight,” “Meditations on Integration”
** “So Long Eric,” “Orange Was the Color of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk,” “Parkeriana,” “Take The ‘A’ Train”
*** “So Long Eric” (performance and rehearsal), “Meditations on Integration” (performance and rehearsal)
sound . . . by . . . sound . . . by . . .
AMM (Eddie Prévost, percussion; Keith Rowe, electric guitar, electronics; John Tilbury, piano), live, Berlin, 2019
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lagniappe
reading table
The old pond—
a frog jumps in,
sound of water.—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694; translated from the Japanese by Robert Hass)
tonight in Chicago
They’re playing at Constellation.
Dave Douglas (trumpet) and Elan Mehler (piano) with Dominique Eade (vocals), John Gunther (reeds), et al: “If There Are Mountains” (D. Douglas with words by Santoka Taneda [1882-1950], translated from the Japanese by John Stevens: “If there are mountains, I look at the mountains; / On rainy days I listen to the rain. / Spring, summer, autumn, winter. / Tomorrow too will be good. / Tonight too will be good.”), studio, 2020
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
sounds of South Korea
파란노을 (Parannoul), 우리는 밤이 되면 빛난다 (We Shine at Night), 1/10/23
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
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reading table
[T]here’s a lot of fun to be had in the gaps between ideas.
—John Ashbery (1927-2017), from “My Philosophy of Life”
music clip of the day 