Happy (Strangest Ever) 4th of July!
Blasters, “American Music,” live, Champaign, Ill., 1985
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Professor Longhair (1918-1980), “Big Chief,” live, Switzerland (Montreux Jazz Festival), 1973
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Sleepy LaBeef (1935-2019), “Strange Things Happening Every Day” (plus interview), live (TV show), 1994
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago (Columbus Park)
only rock ‘n’ roll
PJ Harvey, live, London, 2004
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago (Columbus Park)
*****
reading table
Falling blossoms.
Blossoms in bloom are also
falling blossoms.—Ryokan (1758-1831), translated from Japanese by Kazuaki Tanahashi
only rock ‘n’ roll
Little Richard, 1932-2020
“Tutti Frutti,” 1956 (screen test, The Girl Can’t Help It)
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“Long Tall Sally,” 1956 (Don’t Knock the Rock)
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“Good Golly, Miss Molly,” 1958
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“Rip It Up,” early 1960s
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“Lucille,” 1973
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When you look at today’s Grammy winners – God bless them – half of them were discovered when they were 10 years old, were groomed, and had managers and publicists. Little Richard just clawed his way to the top at a very early age with nothing except a tremendous amount of talent and gumption.
—David Kirby, author of Little Richard: The Birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll (2009)
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
sounds of Buenos Aires
Juana Molina (vocals, guitar, compositions), live (“Un Día Punk,” “Eras,” “Estalacticas”), Mexico City, 3/7/20
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
what’s new
Rolling Stones, “Living in a Ghost Town,” 4/23/20
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
*****
reading table
Ghost I house
In this flat—
Your outpost—
My aftermath—Samuel Menashe (1925-2011), “Here”
only rock ‘n’ roll
Bo Diddley (AKA Ellas McDaniel, Ellas Otha Bates, 1928-2008), “Hey! Bo Diddley,” “Bo Diddley,” live, Los Angeles, 1965
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
There is still something I’d like to explain,
yet can’t be sure I’m ready yet.
Beside, we’ve done pretty well with the non-sequiturs,
and they by us, don’t you think?—John Ashbery (1927-2017), from “Hierarchy of the Unexpected”
what’s new
Agnes Obel, “Broken Sleep” (A. Obel), 1/7/20
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lagniappe
random sights
last night, Oak Park, Ill.
tonight just outside Chicago
They’re playing at a small club (Fitzgerald’s).
Los Lobos
With Robert Randolph (pedal steel guitar), “Don’t Worry Baby” (C. Rosas, L. Perez, T. Burnett), live, Austin, Tx., 2018
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“La Bamba” (trad. adapted by R. Valens), live, Watsonville, Calif., 1989
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago
only rock ‘n’ roll
Superchunk, “Break the Glass,” “Lost My Brain,” “What a Time to Be Alive,” “Throwing Things,” live (studio), Seattle, 2018
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago
only rock ‘n’ roll
Big Thief, “Shoulders,” “Not,” “Masterpiece,” “The Toy,” live (studio), Seattle, 10/26/19
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
