three takes
I’ve got a band you should listen to . . .
—my (23-year-old) son Alex
Smith Westerns, “Tonight”
Live, Swarthmore College (Pennsylvania), 2010
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
Live, Chicago, 2010
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
Recording (Smith Westerns), 2009
Vodpod videos no longer available.Here. And here. And here. And here.
And here.
fringe dress festival (cont’d)
Wanda Jackson, live (TV broadcast [Town Hall Party]), 1958
Vodpod videos no longer available.two takes
. . . the most beautiful song in the English language.
“Waterloo Sunset” (Ray Davies)
The Kinks, live, 1973 (TV broadcast), England
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
Ray Davies, live, 2010, England (Glastonbury)
Vodpod videos no longer available.two takes
The other night, as my older son Alex packed up his stuff for the next day’s trip back to school, this played on his computer—over and over and over.
The Mountain Goats, “This Year”
#1: recording (The Sunset Tree), 2005
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
#2: live, Iowa (Ames), 2006
Vodpod videos no longer available.**********
lagniappe
art beat
Lee Friedlander, New York City (Self-Portrait), c. 1960(?)
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More Son Seals
Last night I discovered that two of the sets Son played at the Bottom Line in January of 1978 can be heard here and here. The second features a guest
artist—Johnny Winter.
what’s new
(an occasional series)
Here’s some stuff my older (23-year-old) son Alex, who heads back to school Sunday, shared with me the other night.
Zoo Kid (AKA Archy Marshall [16 years old, lives in London]), “Out Getting Ribs,” 2010
Vodpod videos no longer available.*****
Destroyer, “Kaputt,” 2011
Vodpod videos no longer available.*****
M.I.A., “Bad Girls,” 2010
Vodpod videos no longer available.**********
lagniappe
reading table
If humor loosens the grip of logic, and poetry does too, how come there isn’t more humor in poetry?
David Kirby, “The Search for Baby Combover,” Atlanta, 2007
Vodpod videos no longer available.Don’t try this at home.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, live, Detroit, 1971
Vodpod videos no longer available.More? Here.
Captain Beefheart (AKA Don Van Vliet), January 5, 1941–December 17, 2010
replay: a clip too good for just one day
For some people, going their own way seems to be the only way they could possibly go.
Captain Beefheart (AKA Don Van Vliet)
The Artist Formerly Known As Captain Beefheart (BBC Documentary, 1997)
Part 1
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Part 2
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Part 3
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Part 4
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Part 5
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Part 6
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lagniappe
Don’t you think that somebody like Stravinsky . . . it would annoy him if somebody bent a note the wrong way?
—Captain Beefheart
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About the seventh or eighth time [I listened to Trout Mask Replica], I thought it was the greatest album ever made—and I still do.
—Matt Groening
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art beat
Paintings by Don Van Vliet
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(Originally posted 3/6/10.)
Having posted this, I’m going to return to the break I mentioned the other day—back soon.
Here, following Big Mama Thornton’s, are two more takes.
Elvis Presley, “Hound Dog,” live (TV broadcast, Milton Berle Show), 1956
Vodpod videos no longer available.*****
The Rock and Roll Trio (with Johnny Burnette), “Hound Dog,” live (TV broadcast, Ted Mack and the Original Amateur Hour), 1956
Vodpod videos no longer available.In 1952, the Burnette brothers and Burlison formed a group called The Rhythm Rangers at the time. Johnny Burnette sang the vocals and played acoustic guitar, Dorsey played bass and Paul Burlison played lead guitar. For economic reasons, in 1956, the three young men moved to New York, where they managed to get an audition with the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour. They won the competition three times in a row, which gained them a place in the finals, a recording contract with Coral Records and they officially became The Rock and Roll Trio.
two voices
Some voices are so distinctive and indelible that, once heard, they occupy rooms all their own in your mind.
Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, “Hound Dog,” live (TV broadcast; Buddy Guy, guitar; Fred Below, drums), Europe, 1965 (originally recorded 1952)
Vodpod videos no longer available.*****
Happy (180th) Birthday, Emily!
I’d subscribe to her Twitter feed in a heartbeat.
I’m Nobody! Who are you?
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Escape is such a thankful Word
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Our lives are Swiss –
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I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
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My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun –
—Emily Dickinson (first lines)
music clip of the day 