sounds of Thailand
Kung Narin Phin Sing, live, Thailand
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lagniappe
reading table
Like a tropical storm,
I, too, may one day become “better organized.”—Lydia Davis, “Tropical Storm” (The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis, 2009)
basement jukebox
The Falcons (feat. Wilson Pickett, lead vocals; Robert Ward, guitar)
“I Found A Love” (1962)
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Albert Washington (feat. Lonnie Mack, guitar)
“Hold Me Baby” (1969)
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lagniappe
reading table
[T]he greatest reading pleasure has an element of self-annihilation. To be so engrossed that you barely know you exist. I last felt that in relation to a poem while in the sitting room of Elizabeth Bishop’s old home in rural Brazil. I stood in a corner, apart from the general conversation, and read “Under the Window: Ouro Preto.” The street outside was once an obscure thoroughfare for donkeys and peasants. Bishop reports overheard lines as people pass by her window, including the beautifully noted “When my mother combs my hair it hurts.” That same street now is filled with thunderous traffic — it fairly shakes the house. When I finished the poem I found that my friends and our hosts had left the room. What is it precisely, that feeling of “returning” from a poem? Something is lighter, softer, larger — then it fades, but never completely.
—Ian McEwan, New York Times Sunday Book Review, 12/9/12
back to church
“I Want Jesus To Rock Me To Sleep”
Mt. Calvary Baptist Church, Gastonia, N.C., 2008
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lagniappe
reading table
Falling blossoms.
Blossoms in bloom are also
falling blossoms.—Ryokan (1758-1831), translated from Japanese by Kazuaki Tanahashi (Sky Above, Great Wind: The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan, 2012)
passings
Dave Brubeck, pianist, composer, bandleader
December 6, 1920-December 5, 2012
Dave Brubeck Quartet (DB, piano; Paul Desmond, alto saxophone; Gene Wright, bass; Joe Morello, drums), TV show (Jazz Casual with Ralph J. Gleason*), 1961 (followed by other clips)
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lagniappe
found words
japanese punk band with sousaphone
—Web search that brought someone here
*****
*Gleason, who died in 1975, had a hand in a lot of different things, including the Monterey Jazz Festival (cofounder, 1958) and Rolling Stone (cofounder, 1967).
two takes
Stephanie McDee, “Call the Police”
Recording (Living The Blues), 2002
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Live, Baton Rouge, 2012
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lagniappe
reading table
We know we are very special. Yet we keep trying to find out in what way: not this way, not that way, then what way?
—Lydia Davis, “Special” (The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis, 2009)
My favorite drummer?
There are days I’d say this is the guy.
Among the many things I love about his playing, which dances, always, is the balance of simplicity and complexity—it’s never more complex than it is simple, never simpler than it is complex.
Old and New Dreams (Don Cherry [1936-1995], pocket trumpet; Dewey Redman [1931-2006], tenor saxophone; Charlie Haden [1937-], bass; Ed Blackwell [1929-1992], drums), live
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lagniappe
reading table
Art is not in some far-off place.
—Lydia Davis, “Extracts from a Life” (The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis, 2009)
Few musicians get under my skin like he does.
Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000), piano
Frederic Chopin, Preludes, Op. 28, Nos. 7, 13, 21, 24
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Play every note as if your life depended on it.
—Friedrich Gulda
old stuff
Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Jeni LeGon, Fats Waller, “Living in a Great Big Way” (Hooray for Love, 1935)
Marion Williams (1927-1994) and the Stars of Faith, “Packin’ Up,” live
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
I had gotten the inspiration for that ‘Wooo’ from gospel singer Marion Williams.
Little Richard, “Tutti Frutti” (single, 1955; album, 1957)
Some sounds once they enter your brain they never leave.
Perfume, “Baby Cruising Love” (2008)
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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”)
music clip of the day 