Saturday, November 15th
Need a jolt?
Arto Lindsay (guitar, vocals) & Paal Nilssen-Love (drums), live, Germany (Moers Festival), 2014
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lagniappe
art beat
William Klein (1928-), Gun 1, New York, 1955
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
2014
2014
Friday, November 14th
sounds of Chicago
Steve Dawson’s Funeral Bonsai Wedding (SD, vocals and guitar; Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone; Jason Roebke, bass; Frank Rosaly, drums), “As Soon As I Walk In” (S. Dawson), 2014
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Music and family have provided two of my life’s through lines. As little boys, my brother Don and I would play in the basement, listening, on the brightly lit juke box, to the Everly Brothers (“Wake Up, Little Susie”), and Johnny Horton (“The Battle of New Orleans”), and Gene Pitney (“The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”). Soon we were out the door, hearing the Beatles at Comiskey Park, the Velvet Underground at the Kinetic Playground, and the MC5 in Lincoln Park. Still the beat goes on, undiminished by the passing years. Last week, for my sixty-second birthday, Don gave me (what else?) a record—the new album by this guy, Steve Dawson.
2014
Thursday, November 13th
After spending a week and a half in federal court, trying a drug-conspiracy case involving the unfortunately named Imperial Insane Vice Lords, I’m ready for a world without words.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987), For Stefan Wolpe (1986)
Helsinki Chamber Choir, live, Helsinki, 2014
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lagniappe
art beat: more from the other day at the Art Institute of Chicago
Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), Improvisation No. 30 (Cannons), 1913
2014
Wednesday, November 12th
two takes
“A Little Lost” (A. Russell)
Sufjan Stevens (1975-), 2014
***
Arthur Russell (1951-1992)
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lagniappe
art beat
Helen Levitt (1913-2009), New York, 1940s
2014
Tuesday, November 11th
I need another world
This one’s nearly gone—Antony
Antony and the Johnsons, “Another World,” 2008
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lagniappe
art beat
William Klein (1928-), Atom Bomb Sky, New York, 1955
2014
Monday, November 10th
Why not begin the week with something beautiful?
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), Ballade No. 1 in G minor (1831); Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920-1995), piano, live
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
[N]ow Miles [Davis] was relaxed and pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli was sending him into several shades of ecstasy.
“Listen to those trills!” Miles ordered.
—1961 interview (Marc Crawford, The Miles Davis Reader)
*****
art beat: more from Friday at the Art Institute of Chicago
Henri Matisse (1869-1954), Interior at Nice, c. 1919
2014
Sunday, November 9th
That gospel feeling is in all of this music.
—Solomon Burke
Soul Deep: The Story of Black Popular Music, Episode 2: Sam Cooke, with Mavis Staples, Bobby Womack, Solomon Burke, Ben E. King, et al., BBC, 2005
#1
#2
#3
#4
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lagniappe
art beat: more from Friday at the Art Institute of Chicago
Arshile Gorky (1904-1948), The Plough and the Song, 1946
2014
Saturday, November 8th
Need a jolt?
Bela Bartok (1881-1945), String Quartet No. 5, excerpt (first mvt.)
FLUX quartet, live, 2013
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday at the Art Institute of Chicago
Susan Charlesworth (1947-2013), Unidentified Man, Ontani Hotel, Los Angeles, 1980 (printed 2012), Stills (through January 4th)
2014
Friday, November 7th
blues festival (day five)
Junior Wells (vocals, harmonica), Buddy Guy (guitar), Phil Guy (guitar), et al., “Ships on the Ocean,” live, Chicago (Theresa’s Lounge, 4801 S. Indiana), c. 1975
2014
Thursday, November 6th
blues festival (day four)
Sonny Boy Williamson II (AKA Alex “Rice” Miller, c. 1912-1965), live, Denmark (Copenhagen), 1964
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lagniappe
art beat
Marc PoKempner (1948-), Xmas Eve, Theresa’s, Chicago (Theresa’s Lounge, 4801 S. Indiana), 1981
