old school
Dynamic Revelators (Wichita, Ks.), “Holding On,” live, Gurdon, Ark., c. 2011
**********
lagniappe
reading table
We have to live out our precise experimentation.
—John Ashbery (1927-), “Breezeway” (Breezeway, 2015)
sounds of Morocco
Mahmoud Guinia (1951-2015), gimbri (aka guembri, sintir), live, Morocco (Marrakesh), 2015
**********
lagniappe
reading table
Four negatives make a positive.
—John Ashbery (1927-), “The Pie District” (excerpt), Breezeway (2015)
sounds of Ireland
“The Bucks of Oranmore,” “Come West Along the Road,” live, Dublin (The Ferryman Pub), St. Patrick’s Day, 2011
**********
lagniappe
reading table
The narrative got punctured.
***
. . . picking up crumbs like there was no tomorrow, which
there isn’t.—John Ashbery (1927-), “Tall Order” (excerpts), Breezeway (2015)
another take
Africa Express, “Terry Riley’s In C Mali,” live, London (Tate Modern), 2014
**********
lagniappe
reading table
I wouldn’t try to capture it
on the page, or in a blog, the inauspicious
leavings of a day. Closer to dream
than the hum of streets, and people
who once walked along them.—John Ashbery (1927-), “Gravy for the Prisoners,” excerpt (Breezeway, 2015)
Something cheery to start the weekend.
Lucinda Williams, “It’s Gonna Rain” (L. Williams), live (studio performance), Seattle, 2/11/15
**********
lagniappe
reading table
How can you give orders when nobody is listening?
—John Ashbery, “Be Careful What You Wish For” (New York Review of Books, 3/5/15)
Some sounds once they enter your brain they never leave.
Perfume, “Baby Cruising Love” (2008)
**********
lagniappe
reading table
How little we know,
and when we know it!*****
We close in on ourselves,
then yelp that the world is awry.*****
We had macaroni for lunch every day
except Sunday, when a small quail was induced
to be served to us. Why do I tell you these things?
You are not even here.—John Ashbery, miscellaneous fragments (“Like A Sentence,” “Tahiti Trot,” “This Room”)
three takes
“Fool For You” (C.L. Green)
Alice Smith, recording and video, 2011
*****
Cee Lo Green, feat. Melanie Fiona, recording, 2011
*****
Alice Smith, live, Washington, D.C. (Howard Theatre), 2012
**********
lagniappe
reading table
What will it all be like in five years’ time
when you try to remember?—John Ashbery, “For John Clare” (excerpt)
two takes
“Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most” (T. Wolf & F. Landesman)
Bob Dorough, vocals & piano (Right On My Way Home, 1997)
*****
Betty Carter, vocals (Inside Betty Carter, 1964)
**********
lagniappe
reading table
Alcove
by John Ashbery
(Planisphere, 2009)
Is it possible that spring could be
once more approaching? We forget each time
what a mindless business it is, porous like sleep,
adrift on the horizon, refusing to take sides, “mugwump
of the final hour,” lest an agenda—horrors!—be imputed to it,
and the whole point of its being spring collapse
like a hole dug in sand. It’s breathy, though,
you have to say that for it.
And should further seasons coagulate
into years, like spilled, dried paint, why,
who’s to say we weren’t provident? We indeed
looked out for others as though they mattered, and they,
catching the spirit, came home with us, spent the night
in an alcove from which their breathing could be heard clearly.
But it’s not over yet. Terrible incidents happen
daily. That’s how we get around obstacles.
what’s new
an occasional series
I’ve got a song for you to listen to . . .
—my (23-year-old) son Alex
tUnE-yArDs, “Bizness”
take 1: live, Austin (SXSW), 3/18/11
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
take 2: recording & video, 2011
Vodpod videos no longer available.
**********
lagniappe
reading table
John Ashbery, “Interesting People of Newfoundland”
(Skip the gaseous intro; the good stuff starts at 1:02.)
what’s new
an occasional series
The future of hip-hop?
Odd Future (with The Roots), “Sandwitches,” live (TV broadcast), 2/16/11
Vodpod videos no longer available.**********
lagniappe
reading table
The bad news is the ship hasn’t arrived;
the good news is it hasn’t left yet.—John Ashbery, “He Who Loves And Runs Away” (excerpt; Planisphere [2009])
*****
radio
WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University) will be playing the music of jazz violinist Billy Bang, who died Monday night, all day.
music clip of the day 