No piano or organ. No guitar. No bass, no drums. So many things aren’t here. But nothing’s missing.
Heavenly Gospel Singers, “Sit Down Servant and Rest Awhile,” live, St. James Missionary Baptist Church, Canton, Mississippi, 1978
achieving world peace: a how-to guide
Last night, at FitzGerald’s (see the last two posts), everybody was intoxicated by music. Violent behavior? None. Here, at this club 7,500 miles away, the story’s the same, as you’ll see. The way to world peace seems plain: put a club on every corner.
Fendika, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
tonight
These guys will be at FitzGerald’s (see yesterday’s post)—me, too.
St. Paul and the Broken Bones, “Broken Bones and Pocket Change,” live, Nashville, 2012
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Went to Mercury Lounge tonite. I have seen the future of music & the name of the band is St. Paul & the Broken Bones.
—Rosanne Cash, Twitter, 6/5/13
Happy 4th of July!
It’s easy, sometimes, to take even great blessings for granted, like, for instance, living within walking distance—yes, walking distance—of a wonderful club (FitzGerald’s), where, last night, at their annual American Music Festival (three stages, four days), now in its thirty-third year, I saw these folks.
Joe Hall & The Louisiana Cane Cutters, live, Louisiana (Breaux Bridge), 2009
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Sleepy LaBeef, “Strange Things Happening Every Day” (plus interview), TV show (Late Night with Conan O’Brien), 1994
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The Paladins, “Kiddeo,” live, Netherlands, 2007
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lagniappe
radio
Today, celebrating one of his birthdays (a long story), WKCR-FM (Columbia University) will be playing Louis Armstrong—and nothing but—all day.
what’s new
I don’t understand a word of German. No matter. Commitment and passion don’t require translation.
Carolin Widmann (violin), playing and talking; Morton Feldman (1926-1987), Violin and Orchestra (1979); CM, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (Emilio Pomarico, cond.), ECM Records, 5/13
This is, to these ears, just perfect.
Sonny Rollins Trio (SR, tenor saxophone; Henry Grimes, bass; Pete La Roca, drums), “Weaver of Dreams,” live, Netherlands (Laren), 1959
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lagniappe
random thoughts
What will the world be like without you?
what’s new
M.I.A., “Bring the Noize,” 6/13
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lagniappe
this just in
It is a slightly intellectually undemanding thing to do, being a rock singer, but, you know, you make the best of it.
The moment this ends I want to hear it again.
Rev. E. M. Martin and Pearline Johns, “I’m Going Home On The Morning Train,” Clarksdale, Miss. (Nelson Funeral Home), 1942
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lagniappe
reading table
Mortality is fatal
Gentility is fine
Rascality, heroic
Insolvency, sublime—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), #2 (excerpt), 1852
White folks are cool, too.
Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale, live, Washington, D.C., 2013
what’s new
Mavis Staples, “I Like The Things About Me” (R. Staples & M. Stubbs), One True Vine, 6/13
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lagniappe
random thoughts
Language, no matter how much it’s used, never seems to get used up. Take this sentence, for instance, which opens Donald Ray Pollock’s story collection Knockemstiff: “My father showed me how to hurt a man one August night at the Torch Drive-in when I was seven years old.” Not one of these words is unusual, nor is the syntax. But this particular set of words, in this particular order, never existed before. How improbable is that?
music clip of the day 