what’s new
Cory Henry and the Funk Apostles, “In the Water,” live, Los Angeles, published 4/15/20
MVPs? No contest—bassist, drummer.
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
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reading table
Pity us
By the sea
On the sands
So briefly—Samuel Menashe (1925-2011)
sounds of Kingston
Desmond Dekker & The Aces, “007 (Shanty Town)” (D. Dekker), official music video (shot in Kingston, Jamaica), 1967
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
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reading table
We are survivors of immeasurable events,
Flung upon some reach of land,
Small, wet miracles without instructions,
Only the imperative of change.—Rebecca Elson (1960-1999), “Evolution”
what’s new
Otherworldly sounds for an all too worldly world.
Lea Bertucci (flute, alto saxophone, electronics) with Bradley Eros (visuals), live (Quarantine Concert presented by Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago), 4/7/20
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
what’s new
Andrea Bocelli (1958-, voice), Music for Hope (“Panis Angelicus” (from “Messe Solennelle” Op. 12, FWV 61), César Franck; “Ave Maria,” CG 89a (arr. from Johann Sebastian Bach, “Prelude” no. 1, BWV 846), Charles-François Gounod; “Sancta Maria” (arr. from “Cavalleria Rusticana”, Intermezzo), Pietro Mascagni; “Domine Deus” (from “Petite Messe Solennelle”), Gioachino Antonio Rossini; “Amazing Grace,” John Newton), live, Italy (Milan), 4/12/20
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
“Hope” is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops—at all—And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—
And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm—I’ve heard it in the chillest land—
And on the strangest Sea—
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of Me.—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), 314 (Franklin)
back to church
Center Baptist Church Hymn Choir, “What a Time,” live, Gastonia, N.C., 2009
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
Windowed I observe
The waning snow
As rain unearths
That raw clay—
Adam’s afterbirth—
No one escapes
I lie down, immerse
Myself in sleep
The windows weep—Samuel Menashe (1925-2011), “Downpour”
How about a little vacation from your little self?
Tatiana Nikolayeva (1924-1993, piano), live, Moscow, 1990 (program: 00:40: Ravel, Miroirs, Oiseaux tristes//04:15: Ravel, Miroirs, Une barque sur l’océan//11:52: Scriabin, Prelude and Nocturne for the left hand, op. 9//19:41: Scriabin, Poeme Tragique, Op. 34//24:51: Borodin, Petite Suite, In the Monastery, Au couvent//30:25: Mussorgsky, Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks//33:03: Prokofiev, Prelude op. 12 no. 7, Harp)
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
more
Bonnie Raitt (1949-), John Prine (1946-2020), “Angel From Montgomery” (J. Prine), live, Nashville, 2019
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
what’s new
Four Tet (aka Kieran Hebden, 1977-, DJ), live “from the middle of nowhere,” streamed 4/3/20
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
[E]very reading of every poem, regardless of language, is an act of translation: translation into the reader’s intellectual and emotional life. As no individual reader remains the same, each reading becomes a different—not merely another—reading. The same poem cannot be read twice.
—Eliot Weinberger (1949-), 19 Ways of Looking at Wang Wei
passings
John Prine, singer, songwriter, October 10, 1946–April 7, 2020
Prine’s stuff is pure Proustian existentialism. Midwestern mindtrips to the nth degree. And he writes beautiful songs. I remember when Kris Kristofferson first brought him on the scene. All that stuff about “Sam Stone” the soldier junky daddy and “Donald and Lydia,” where people make love from ten miles away. Nobody but Prine could write like that. If I had to pick one song of his, it might be “Lake Marie.” I don’t remember what album that’s on.
—Bob Dylan, 2009 interview
“Lake Marie” (J. Prine), live (TV show), New York, 2000
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
what’s new
Fantastic Negrito, “Chocolate Samurai,” 3/28/20
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago (Columbus Park)
music clip of the day 