like nobody else
Lonnie Holley (1950-, vocals, keyboard, electronics, composition), with Dave Nelson (trombone, electronics), Marlon Patton (drums, electronics), “I Slipped in Under the Radar,” live, Arizona (Arcosanti), 2019
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago (Columbus Park)
sounds of Dublin
Xenia Pestova Bennett (toy piano, desk bells, music boxes) and Ed Bennett (electronics, music boxes), live, Dublin, 9/1/21
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill. (Frank Lloyd Wright, Laura Gale House, 1909)
*****
reading table
Midsummer
by William Bronk (1918-1999; MCOTD Hall of Fame; Poetry, May, 1955)
A green world, a scene of green, deep
with light blues, the greens made deep
by those blues. One thinks how
in certain pictures, envied landscapes are seen
(through a window, maybe) far behind the serene
sitter’s face, the serene pose, as though
in some impossible mirror, face to back,
human serenity gazed at a green world
which gazed at this face.
And see now,
here is that place, those greens
are here, deep with those blues. The air
we breathe is freshly sweet, and warm, as though
with berries. We are here. We are here.
Set this down too, as much
as if an atrocity had happened and been seen.
The earth is beautiful beyond all change.
what’s new
Scary Pockets featuring Solomon Dorsey, “Shake It Off” (Taylor Swift cover), live, Los Angeles, published 3/22/21
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
who is the owner of unremembered moments
would they open their great book
if I stood
at the door
and begged?–Xiao Yue Shan, from “details escape” (Poetry, 4/21)
what’s new
Mogwai, live, Scotland (Glasgow), published 3/18/21
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
Spring and All
by William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)
By the road to the contagious hospital
under the surge of the blue
mottled clouds driven from the
northeast—a cold wind. Beyond, the
waste of broad, muddy fields
brown with dried weeds, standing and fallen
patches of standing water
the scattering of tall trees
All along the road the reddish
purplish, forked, upstanding, twiggy
stuff of bushes and small trees
with dead, brown leaves under them
leafless vines—
Lifeless in appearance,
sluggish dazed spring approaches—
They enter the new world naked,
cold, uncertain of all
save that they enter. All about them
the cold, familiar wind—
Now the grass, tomorrow
the stiff curl of wildcarrot leaf
One by one objects are defined—
It quickens: clarity, outline of leaf
But now the stark dignity of
entrance—Still, the profound change
has come upon them: rooted, they
grip down and begin to awaken
what’s new
Rae Khalil, live (“Way Down,” “FATHER,” “UP LATE,” “MARIA”), Los Angeles, published 2/18/21
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), Interchanged, 1955 (detail)
what’s new
Sevdaliza (with Anthony Amirkhan, drums; Leon den Engelsen, keyboards; Jonas Pap, cello; Mihai Puscoiu, violin), live (“Human,” “Dormant,” “All Rivers at Once,” “Gole Bi Goldoon”), Amsterdam, published 1/5/21
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago (Columbus Park)
sounds of Chicago
Saturday I posted the first of these two (wonderful) performances; here’s the second.
Mars Williams presents: An Ayler Xmas Vol. 4 (Night 2) (Mars Williams, tenor saxophone, toy instruments; Josh Berman, cornet; Jim Baker, piano, viola, ARP synthesizer; Krzysztof Pabian, bass; Brian Sandstrom, bass, guitar, trumpet; Steve Hunt, drums; Peter Maunu, violin), live (performance begins at 5:15), Chicago (Constellation), 12/19/20
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
An empty day without events.
And that is why
it grew immense
as space. And suddenly
happiness of being
entered me.I heard
in my heartbeat
the birth of time
and each instant of life
one after the other
came rushing in
like priceless gifts.—Anna Swir (1909-1984), “Priceless Gifts” (translated from Polish by Czesław Miłosz and Leonard Nathan)
sounds of New Orleans
The Meters (with Lowell George, slide guitar), “Just Kissed My Baby” (Z. Modeliste, A. Neville, L. Nocentelli, G. Porter Jr.), 1974
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago (Columbus Park)
sounds of Chicago
The Bridge: Separatist Party (Ben LaMar Gay, cornet; Fred Jackson, alto saxophone, flute; Marvin Tate, vocals; Mike Reed, drums, keyboard; Jakob Heineman, bass; Nolan Chin, piano, keyboard), live (performance starts at 13:00), Chicago (Constellation), last night
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
Even this mountain
moss grows flowers all its own—
thus nature bestows—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), translated from Japanese by Sam Hamill
sounds of Chicago
Brokeback trio (Douglas McCombs [Fender Bass VI], James Elkington [pedal steel guitar, keyboard], Areif Sless-Kitain [drums, percussion]), with video by Kim Alpert, live (performance begins at 13:00), Chicago (Constellation), yesterday
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
music clip of the day 