two takes
Buddy Miller, “Chalk” (J. Miller), live
With Don Was (bass), et al., 2007
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With Patty Griffin (vocals), et al., San Francisco, 2010
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lagniappe
art beat: more from Friday at the Art Institute of Chicago
Joseph Cornell (1903-1972), Ann—In Memory, 1954
otherworldly
Turgut Ercetin (1983-), String Quartet No. 1 (“December”); The Jack Quartet, live, Stanford University, 2011
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lagniappe
reading table
Lacan said that there was surely something ironic about Christ’s injunction to love thy neighbour as thyself—because actually, of course, people hate themselves.
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We know almost nothing about ourselves because we judge ourselves before we have a chance to see ourselves.
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Self-criticism is an unforbidden pleasure: we seem to relish the way it makes us suffer.
—Adam Phillips, “Against Self-Criticism,” London Review of Books, 3/5/15
sounds of Chicago
Goofiness is a much underrated virtue.
Mucca Pazza, live, Washington, D.C., 2015
Twenty-four hours ago I’d never heard of this piece, nor this composer. Now I’ve listened to it, hungrily, twice. What a world.
Sulkhan Tsintsadze (1925-1991), String Quartet No. 6 (1968)
sounds of Mali (day two)
Trio Da Kali and Kronos Quartet, “Diaraby,” live, University of Maryland, 2014
sounds of Mali (day one)
Africa Express, “Terry Riley’s in C Mali,” 2013-15
I am overwhelmed and delighted by this CD. I was not quite prepared for such an incredible journey, hearing the soul of Africa in joyous flight over those 53 patterns of ‘In C’. This ensemble feeds the piece with ancient threads of musical wisdom and humanity indicating to me that this work is a vessel ready to receive and be shaped by the spontaneous feelings and colours of the magician/musician. I could not ask for a greater gift for this daughter’s 50th birthday.
—Terry Riley (1935-)
string quartet festival (day five)
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), String Quartet in F major (1903); Hagen Quartet, live, Austria (Salzburg), 2000
1st movt.
2nd movt.
3rd movt.
4th movt.
string quartet festival (day four)
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975), String Quartet No. 8 in C minor (1960); Borodin Quartet, live
music clip of the day 