Friday, October 28th
what’s new—and old
Andrew Bird (feat. Phoebe Bridgers), “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” (Emily Dickinson, 1830-1886), published yesterday
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lagniappe
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: reading table
2022
Monday, October 24th
what’s new
The Crossing, live, Washington, D.C., published today: Shara Nova (1974-), from “Titration” (“Turn Ya Head,” “Safety in Peril or Calm,” “I’m So Mad I Could Spit Nails,” “Pulses”), 2022
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lagniappe
reading table
In the small beauty of the forest
The wild deer bedding down—
That they are there!—George Oppen (1908-1984), from “Psalm”
*****
(Taking a break—back in a while.)
2022
Thursday, October 20th
sounds of Leeds
NikNak (DJ/Turntablist), live (We Out Here Festival), Leeds (England), 2021
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lagniappe
reading table
the rain falls
that had not been falling
and it is the same world—George Oppen (1908-1984), from “Of Being Numerous”
2022
Monday, October 17th
timeless
Les McCann (1935-, piano, vocals) and Eddie Harris (1934-1996, tenor saxophone), “Compared to What” (G. McDaniels), live, Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland), 1969
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
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reading table
If you want to rob a bank, it really is best to start with a small one because then you might remember what you wanted to say once you’re inside.
—Nachoem M. Wijnberg (1961-), from “Can You Ask Your Banker, or Another Banker Who’s Still Awake, to Quickly Get Some Cheap Money, but a Great Deal, Not a Little?” (translated from the Dutch by David Colmer)
2022
Monday, October 10th
like nothing else
“Old Man Dancing” (Carla Bley, 1936-): Chet Doxas (clarinet, tenor saxophone), Carla Bley (piano), Karen Mantler (keyboard), Steve Swallow (bass), 2020
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
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reading table
This is the point in prefaces where I customarily say something nice about my wife. This time, however, I can’t think of anything that even comes anywhere near doing her justice. Her name is Susan Patek Booth.
Berkeley, California
May 3, 1997—Stephen Booth (1933-2020), from Precious Nonsense: The Gettysburg Address, Ben Jonson’s Epitaphs on His Children, and Twelfth Night (1998)
*****
radio
Today, Thelonious Monk’s birthday, it’s all Monk, all day at WKCR (Columbia University).
2022
Wednesday, October 5th
never enough
Sometimes, as happened yesterday when I stumbled upon this, music increases the amount of available oxygen.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, excerpt (Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in C-sharp major); Christine Schornsheim (harpsichord), published 10/4/22
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lagniappe
reading table
We are here to listen.
—W. S. Graham (1918-1986), from “The Greenock Dialogues”
2022
Sunday, September 11th
timeless
“Quartet of unidentified incarcerated men at Cummins State Farm (now Cummins Unit), Gould, Arkansas, recorded by John A. Lomax on May 21, 1939, under the auspices of the Archive of Folk Song, Library of Congress. Photo of baptism at Cummins, 1953, from the University of Arkansas-Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture.”—Alan Lomax Archive, YouTube
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lagniappe
reading table
Bats have no bankers and they do not drink
and cannot be arrested and pay no tax
and, in general, bats have it made.—John Berryman (1914-1972, MCOTD Hall of Fame), from Dream Song #63
2022
Thursday, September 8th
more
Camila Nebbia (tenor saxophone), Michael Formanek (bass), Vinny Sperrazza (drums), live, New York (Downtown Music Gallery), 8/28/22
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
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reading table
Life is not made for meetings;
like stars at opposite ends of the sky we move.—Tu Fu (aka Du Fu, 712-770), from “Presented to Wei Pa, Gentleman in Retirement,” translated from the Chinese by Burton Watson (The Columbia Book of Chinese Poetry, 1984)
2022
Friday, September 2nd
what’s new
Fantastic Negrito (aka Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz), “Virginia Soil” (X. Dphrepaulezz), live (studio), published 8/26/22
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago
*****
reading table
My Teacher once said to me,
—become one with the knot itself
til it dissolves away.—Gary Snyder (1930-), from “Four Changes” (Collected Poems, 2022)
2022
Monday, August 22nd
string festival
day one
Daniel Levin (1974-, cello) and Mat Maneri (1969-, viola), live, Columbia, South Carolina, 1/16/22
#1
#2
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
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reading table
Daybreak—
—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), translated from the Japanese by Lucien Stryk with the assistance of Noboru Fujiwara (The Dumpling Field: Haiku of Issa, 1991)
working as one,
two butterflies.
music clip of the day 