Monday, January 4th
more sounds of Kinshasa*
Mbongwana Star, “Malukayi” (feat. Konono No. 1), 2015
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*Democratic Republic of Congo.
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
2016
2016
Sunday, January 3rd
Aretha’s daddy
One of these days, the cloud will be lifted . . .
—Rev. C. L. Franklin
Rev. C. L. Franklin, live, Detroit
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lagniappe
reading table
The sea is not less beautiful in our eyes because we know that ships are sometimes wrecked.
—Simone Weil (1909-1943), “The Love of God and Affliction” (translated from French by Richard Rees)
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random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
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the beat goes on
2,200 posts—and counting.
2016
Saturday, January 2nd
sounds of Chicago and Switzerland
Need a jolt?
Easel (Christoph Erb, tenor saxophone [Switzerland]; Fred Lonberg-Holm, cello, electronics [Chicago]; Michael Zerang, drums [Chicago]), live, Moscow, 2015
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Note to self: Listen, always, as if it was the first time—and the last.
*****
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
2016
Friday, January 1st
What better way to start the new year?
Aretha Franklin, “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” (G. Goffin, C. King, J. Wexler), live, Washington, D.C., 2015
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lagniappe
reading table
New Year’s Day—
everything is in blossom!
I feel about average.—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), translated from Japanese by Robert Hass
2015
Thursday, December 31st
more
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Goldberg Variations
Andras Schiff (piano), live
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lagniappe
radio
WKCR‘s Bach Festival concludes at midnight.
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reading table
Nobody does letters to the editor like the Brits. Here, for instance, is how one begins in the December 17th issue of the London Review of Books:
I hesitate to disagree with my brother, David Matthews, about the order of the middle movements of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony, but we have long held opposing views, mine being that the scherzo should come third (Letters, 3 December). . . .
Colin Matthews
London SW 11
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random sights
yesterday, Chicago (Columbus Park)
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To all who’ve dropped by this year (from, I’m told, 120 countries): May you have a happy and peaceful new year.
2015
Tuesday, December 29th
This guy takes me places no one else does.
Tim Berne’s Snakeoil (TB, alto saxophone; Oscar Noriega, clarinet; Matt Mitchell, piano; Ches Smith, drums, vibraphone), “Small World in a Small Town” (T. Berne), live, Brazil (Sao Paulo), 2015
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Joan Mitchell (1925-1992), City Landscape, 1955
2015
Monday, December 28th
Close your eyes . . .
John Luther Adams (1953-), . . . and bells remembered . . . (2005)
Callithumpian Consort, 2011
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lagniappe
reading table
aware of the sun
setting, the butterfly
flits away—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue
2015
Sunday, December 27th
more
Mighty Clouds of Joy (feat. Joe Ligon, lead vocals), “I Know I’ve Been Changed,” live, South Carolina (Charleston), mid-1990s
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lagniappe
reading table
most end up
stuck in mud . . .
cherry blossoms—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue
2015
Saturday, December 26th
sounds of Kinshasa*
Mbongwana Star, “Kala,” 2015
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Birds, plants, music—one of the most astonishing things about this most astonishing world is its variousness.
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*Democratic Republic of Congo.
