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Archive for September, 2018

Allegra Goodman–“F.A.Q.s” (New Yorker, September 11, 2017)

Posted in Allegra Goodman, College, Field Recordings, Food, Music, New Yorker, NPR/PRI/PBS, Parenting, Short Story on September 11, 2018| Leave a Comment »

 SOUNDTRACK: DANIEL BACHMAN-“Song for the Setting Sun II” (Field Recordings, May 21, 2015).

Daniel Bachman plays a gorgeous six string acoustic guitar.  He plays wonderful instrumentals full of melody and feeling which tell a story in their own way.

Bachman grew up around the Rappahannock River in Fredericksburg. It’s a quiet town in Northern Virginia that still has a pharmacy with cheap sandwiches and milkshakes.

The 25-year-old has been at the solo-guitar game since he was a teenager.  That’s why it felt right to bring Bachman back to the area that inspired River, a record surrounded by history, but guided by hands and a heart that know its bends and bumps.

In early March, we met Bachman in Fredericksburg to drive an hour east to Stratford Hall, home to four generations of the Lee family, which includes two signers of the Declaration of Independence; it’s also the birthplace of Robert E. Lee. Bachman knows it well, not only because his dad works there, but also because he can’t help but bury himself in history books about the region.   Bachman plays a version of “Song For The Setting Sun II” in what was the performance space at Stratford Hall. The song leaps boldly around the sunlit, symmetrical room, bouncing off walls decorated with paintings of buxom women and men in powdered wigs.

It’s a gorgeous piece with ringing strings that sounds massive in this Great Hall.  In the second half, he strikes a low E and it sounds like a cannon.  And when you hear that melody amid all of the ringing notes, it’s just sublime.

[READ: January 29, 2015] “F.A.Q.s”

Phoebe is in her mid 20s.  She returns from college withdrawn and single. Her parents are delighted that she is single, but not happy that she is so withdrawn.

Phoebe is also pretty unhappy with the changes that have occurred since she was at school.

A new coffeemaker was where the compost bucket had been.  The chicken coop lay empty (they had reverted so quickly to supermarket eggs).  An exercise machine was in her old room–however after several minutes of exercise Melanie usually ended up lying on Phoebe’s bed.  Her mom tells her that she bought rice milk and oat cakes   Later on she even tries to make her parents granola (her father was supposed to watch his cholesterol but didn’t and her mother nibbled Icelandic chocolate),

One of the few things that remained was Grandma Jeanne’s violin on the top shelf of her closet.  It was unmentioned. (more…)

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Saïd Sayrafiezadeh–“Auditions” (New Yorker, September 10, 2018)

Posted in Acting, Drugs, Duke Ellington, Exquisite Corpse, Field Recordings, Miles Davis, New Yorker, NPR/PRI/PBS, Ornette Coleman, Parenting, Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, Short Story, W.C. Handy on September 10, 2018| Leave a Comment »

july 28SOUNDTRACK: Jazz Lives At Duke Ellington’s Resting Place (Field Recordings July 2, 2015).

Playing jazz at a cemetery during the day seems like an odd decision.  But it’s all part of the one-day Make Music New York festival (MMNY) which celebrates music and community.  It happens every June 21 with more than 1200 outdoor concerts across the five boroughs running from morning till night.

For the 2015 edition, the festival’s organizers invited musicians to six different burial grounds across the city to riff on the idea of “exquisite corpse,” a surrealist parlor game popularized by artists and poets in the 1920s. In the game, someone writes a phrase (or draws part of a figure or scene), folds that part of the page over, and then passes it to the next player, who then does the same. The game ends when everyone has had a turn. That game is a natural bridge to the art of improvisation, and to jazz.

Woodlawn Cemetery is a mecca for the jazz world — it’s the final resting ground of royalty like Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and many others, including Ornette Coleman now as well. So as a tribute to their musical forerunners, the group — singers Michael Mwenso and Vuyo Sotashe, trumpeters Alphonso Horne and Bruce Harris, saxophonist Tivon Pennicott, pianist Chris Pattishall, bassist Russell Hall, drummer Evan Sherman and tap dancer Michela Marino Lerman — took as their point of departure W.C. Handy’s 1914 tune “St. Louis Blues,” a tune essential to jazz’s DNA. But they made it their own via surprising and turns that saunter through many textures, colors and rhythms.

The song begins with vocals from “St. Louise Blues” from Vuyo Sotashe and accordion from Chris Pattishall.  After a verse, Michael Mwenso (whose voice sounds very different) takes over.  The accordion drops out and it’s just voice and bass.

They pass the baton along to the horns, two trumpets, one with a mute in, the other using the mute  and a saxophone play a lively instrumental break.  This is followed by the percussion.  Evan Sherman and Michaela Marino have a percussive call and response.  I could have watched that part for a lot longer.

When that’s over the whole group joins together to end the song.

[READ: September 10, 2018] “Audition”

The first line of this story reads, “The first time I smoked crack cocaine was the spring I worked construction for my father on his new subdivision in Moonlight Heights.”

A first implies a second (especially with crack).

The story is about a 19-year-old college dropout. He went to school to study theater but “unmatriculated” and has been working for his father’s construction firm.  His father came from nothing and build up this firm which is presently creating a development.  His father is not too happy about him wanting to be an actor and as such is paying him the same as everyone else (which isn’t much).

He still acts–in community theater, but usually to 15 people at a time.

No one knew that he was the owners son and he liked it that way–he was using this time to study the laborers to learns their mannerisms–he was acting in his job, too,   New workers came through all the time (the pay was lousy after all).

The crack came from a coworker Duncan Dioguardi who was not acting.  He was a laborer living in his mother’s basement and longing to party.

The narrator knew “party” meant get high. When Duncan’s car died and the narrator drove Duncan home (an hour out of his way), Duncan invited him to party. The narrator was intimidated, then intrigued so he did.  And that was the first time he smoked crack.

He marveled how the lump of crack looked like some drywall that could easily be swept away.  Duncan showed him how to smoke it.  It tasted like nothing.  It smelled like nothing.  It was ant climatic except for his new-found fondness for Duncan whom he now considers a good friend.

That following spring he received a call from his old acting teacher to audition for a role  It was a stage show. The character would be on stage for all three acts but would not speak a word.  The narrator didn’t know if this was a step forward or backward.  The audition went well and he was sure he would get the gig.

Duncan’s car broke down again and the narrator told him all about the potential role.  But the narrator was more excited about the option of partying some more.

The story ends soon after this, which is a little disappointing as it is told from many years later and we never learn how he turned out.  But i did like the details of the past like “wiring th ehouse for internet, whatever that was.”

For ease of searching, I include: Said Sayrafiezadeh

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Félix Fénéon–“Little Deaths” (Harper’s, July 2007)

Posted in Death, Django Reinhardt, Félix Fénéon, Field Recordings, Flash Fiction, Le Matin, Luc Sante, NPR/PRI/PBS, The Django Festival All-Stars, Translation on September 9, 2018| Leave a Comment »

 

SOUNDTRACK: THE DJANGO FESTIVAL ALL-STARS-“Them There Eyes” (Field Recordings, October 23, 2014).

This Field Recording was done under what looks like an old bridge outside of the Newport Jazz Festival.

Every year for the last decade and a half, select groups of hot swing musicians have come from Europe to tour the U.S. The exact lineups change, but they all feature masters of the “gypsy jazz” — or jazz manouche — style pioneered by guitarist Django Reinhardt. In fact, they’re billed under the banner of New York’s Django Reinhardt Festival.

After the last set of the Festival, done by the All-Stars, they asked the band, who had little time to spare, to play one last song.  Soon fingers were flying [The Fastest Fingers At The Festival, For Django Reinhardt]  The video there doesn’t work, but you can watch it on YouTube.

They chose the standard “Them There Eyes,” and to paraphrase its lyrics: They sparkled, they bubbled, and they got up to a whole lot of trouble.

Samson Schmitt, plays an amazing lead guitar–his soloing is blinding. The rhythm guitar from DouDou Cuillerier keeps up a great shuffle and Brian Torff on bass keeps the pace as everyone else gets a chance to solo wildly.

First up is Ludovic Beier, accordion and as a bystander observed: “He has the fastest fingers I’ve ever seen.”  And he does, it’s amazing.  His solo is followed by Pierre Blanchard, violin.  And Peter hits notes that seem like they might not actually exist on the violin.

There’s no vocals in the version which is just as well. No one would be able to keep up.

[READ: January 28, 2018] “Little Deaths”

Félix Fénéon was born in 1861.  In 1906 he wrote 1,220 brief items under the rubric “News in Three Lives” for the Paris newspaper Le Matin.  They were collected in a book and translated by Luc Sante

Seeing that these were written over time makes a lot more sense than having them all printed in a book–I mean, 1,220 deaths would be a lot to do all at once.  It’s still hard to believe that these would be printed in a newspaper at all.

Some examples in their entirety: (more…)

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First Aid Kit (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, September 8, 2018)

Posted in First Aid Kit, Heart, Kate Bush, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Union Transfer on September 8, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 8, 2018] First Aid Kit

Seven month ago Sarah and I saw First Aid Kit (sold out) at Union Transfer.  Now here they were back in Philly seven months later playing at the larger Fillmore.

We both enjoyed that earlier show a lot (obviously).  I wasn’t sure if it was smart seeing the band again on the same tour (as with Sloan, there was a lot of duplication).  But there was something quite different about this show compared to the first one.

The (very beautiful) poster was different and this leg of the tour was called the Rebel Hearts Tour (whereas the first one was called the Ruins tour).  So what this meant was that they were still playing mostly songs from their new album Ruins, although not all of them, and, indeed, not the title song.  But they’d added a new song (woohoo!) and one from Ruins that they didn’t play last time.

In a nutshell, it felt like a very different show even though it was more or less the same show. (more…)

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Julia Jacklin (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, September 8, 2018) [FIRST AID KIT]

Posted in First Aid Kit, Julia Jacklin, Phantastic Ferniture, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Union Transfer on September 8, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 8, 2018] Julia Jacklin

I had heard about Julia Jacklin from NPR, so I was intrigued to see her live.  Jacklin is Australian, but you can’t really tell from her singing voice (or her speaking voice, really).  Although the way she enunciates “buh sket ball” makes her sound conspicuously non-American.  I had heard a song called “Don’t Let the Kids Win” which contains that basketball.  The title is amusing and I knew she was lyrically dense, so Iassumed there’d be amusing lines throughout the show.  But indeed, no.

Jacklin is not a partier, but nor is she a downer either.  She is thoughtful and inquisitive.  Her music, even live, is fairly spare–except when it’s not–and she sings pretty quietly–except when she doesn’t.

She was charming and funny–delightful in an opening act.  She played a quick six songs and that was that.

“Lead Light” has a kind of old school swing to it, almost 50s rock and roll.  I enjoyed the way the song built and stopped several times.

Her band, three Canadian guys, Harry (lead guitar) Eddie (bass) and Ian (drums) kept perfect accompaniment and backing vocals. (more…)

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Mike Maihack–Cleopatra in Space: Book Four: The Golden Lion (2017)

Posted in Adventure, C., Canadian Music, Cats, Children's Books, Egyptology, Field Recordings, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Mike Maihack, Time Travel, Unfinished series on September 8, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MAC DEMARCO-“No Other Heart” (Field Recordings, August 10, 2015).

Mac Demarco is pretty famous now and seems to be pretty much everywhere.  And yet I actually don;t think I’d ever heard him before this recording.

I’m not even sure if it is in any way representative of his music.  But I love that you can hear the waves lapping.

For this song, Demarco says he bought a boat for his birthday.  It’s a small rowboat, which he rowed out into a bay in Queens “Take A Sunset Cruise With Mac DeMarco”) and began playing his song on a little keyboard. The music has an intentional weird vibrato on it but the recording sound is quite magnificent.

For the charismatic 26-year-old songwriter who grew up in the landlocked plains of Canada, the water still holds an exotic appeal. Plus, the area’s laid-back feel is a perfect match for his laconic delivery and perpetually chill personality.

He sounds a little goofy singing it–presumably intentionally–given the other clips of him goofing off on his boat.

DeMarco moved to this house [by the bay in Far Rockaway, Queens] last fall, after touring behind last year’s excellent Salad Days — just in time for the long, bleak East Coast winter — with the intention of playing his instruments loud and writing new music in isolation [the wistful, melodic mini-album Another One].  A shaggy and surfy collection of love songs, it’s suited for a lazy summer backyard barbecue or taking your second-hand rowboat out for a dusk cruise.

As the show ends, he goofs around singing “Don’t Rock the Boat” as the camerawoman walks up to him in waist deep water.

Behind him, sun-dappled waves are chopped up by freighter boats and the occasional jet ski passing by. Across the water sits JFK airport, with its distant engine hum of planes taking off and landing at a steady, rhythmic clip. The crisp, salty sea breeze mingles with wafts of stagnant water, decaying debris and dead horseshoe crabs that wash ashore.

[READ: June 2, 2018] Cleopatra in Space Book Four

T. brought this book home and I couldn’t believe that book four was out already (had it really been a year?).

This book opens with a reflection on the previous book and Octavian yelling at his soldier cat for not killing the girl.  He is provided with a bounty hunter–a dog-headed man who will stop at nothing to make sure that the Golden Lion is destroyed.

Octavian is shocked.   If they possessed the Golden Lion, they could firmly defeat P.Y.R.A.M.I.D.

Back at P.Y.R.A.M.I.D. at Yasiro Academy, we see Cleo doing battle against a whole bunch of robots in a simulator  Akira comes to take her to class but before they can go they are summoned before he Council.  When they arrive in front of the cat Council, Akira’s parents are there (they call her KiKi much to her annoyance).  They are happy to see her and very happy to meet Cleopatra for they have been studying her life and the prophecy for years. (more…)

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Sloan (White Eagle Hall, Jersey City, NJ, September 7, 2018)

Posted in Boot & Saddle, Canadian Music, Jersey City, NJ, Sloan, White Eagle Hall on September 7, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 7, 2018] Sloan

Sarah and I went to see Sloan at Boot and Saddle back in May.  It was a fantastic show.  When they announced that they were swinging back around and playing White Eagle Hall, a favorite new venue in Jersey City, I knew I had to see them again.

There were a few strikes against this show for me.  It was the middle of three shows in a row (Judas Priest last night, First Aid Kit tomorrow night).  It started at 9 and I’d be missing out on some stuff at home.  I considered not going, but thought I’d be mad if I blew it off.

Well, I arrived on time and there was hardly anyone there (Boot and Saddle was packed).  Then they didn’t start for some 20 minutes.  People started to fill in at last and I was able to get a nice spot right front and center.

I probably should have realized that, since this was the same tour that they were on (promoting their latest fantastic album 12), that the setlist would be largely the same.  But the setlist was so different on the previous tour, and they made it seem like the Boot & Saddle show has some unique elements, that I was surprised that the first set was identical to the Boot & Saddle show.

I guess the surprise was that this was the second leg of the tour.  They had taken a little break and were resuming.  Our night was the first night of the new leg, so I thought maybe it would be extra special.  Maybe having a poor turnout doesn’t make you want to do anything special–although the band played great and seemed in very good form.

Not terrible, since the songs are great.  But a little disappointing to be sure. (more…)

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Danielle McLaughlin–“In the Act of Falling” (New Yorker, September 7, 2015)

Posted in Africa, Danielle McLaughlin, Depressing, Dogs, Jupiter & Okwess, New Yorker, Parenting, Religion, Short Story, The Dog Dies, Tiny Desk Concert, Violence, Yuck! on September 7, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: JUPITER & OKWESS-Tiny Desk Concert #784 (September 7, 2018).

Jupiter Bokondji comes from the troubled capital of Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He and his band Okwess dress in wonderfully colorful garb.  Jupiter’s jacket is practically a zoot suit with blue and white stripes on one side, a red field on the other and giant white stars  He has a big hat as well.  But he can’t hold a candle on the shirtless drummer who is wearing a red white and blue wrestling mask the whole show.

The guitarist has a beautiful patterned gold shirt with blue lapels and the percussionist in addition to wearing another cool hat has on a terrific sweater.

The band plays “the vibe of Kinshasa street musicians, that feels both African and American” and indeed, “their fierce energy here is an astonishing performance.”

Then of course there’s Congolese rumba, the popular dance music from as early as the 1940s, not too dissimilar from some Cuban music of the day. And the message of the music has been steeped in the complicated politics of the region, stumbling between chaos, anarchy and oppression.

This is urgent music … that stems from the gut but has thought and theatrics to flesh out the feelings. It’s music to be experienced. This is your entry point.

They play 3 songs each with a similar feel but with a very different sound.

“Ofakombolo” is so wonderfully catchy with the percussionist and drummer chanting the chorus on the first time around.  On the second the rest of the band sings too, for a nice harmony.  The bassist gets what sounds like a rap guest verse before playing a kind of funky bass solo.  The percussionist is great for shouts and trills animals noises, too.  The music is nonstop, propulsive and fun, with a distinctive guitar solo sound.

“Pondjo Pondjo” starts with a quiet guitar intro.  But it is joined by the drummer whistling and the percussionist pulling a string through a plastic container, making a crazy squeaky sound that works wonders as a percussive sound.  The bassist seems to be singing lead on this song (a very different voice).

 Jupiter introduces “Ekombe” by saying “Let’s go to dancing!” It opens with a funky bass line and the drummer playing a fast hi-hat beat and chanting.  It’s a very dancey with a slinky guitar line running throughout the song.  There’s a nifty breakdown in the middle which features some fun on the bass and a wild solo to end the song.

This is a wonderful introduction to Congolese music.  Stay for the end, as they end the show with a post-credits kung fu pose.

[READ: January 5, 2017] “In the Act of Falling”

Boy this was a dark, dark story.  After the last line I actually said aloud, “Jesus, Danielle, what the hell.”

This is the story of a family: a woman, her husband and their nine-year-old son, Finn.  Finn was recently suspended from school for punching a fellow student in the mouth.

They live in a an old house that they imagined fixing up but two years later even the dining room is unfinished.

Finn is in the yard setting up a volleyball net–but he is doing it sideways like a hammock.  It turns out he is setting it up to catch ducks as they fall from the sky.  Birds were the next heralders of the apocalypse.  And, she had seen that all of the ducks in St Stephen’s green were dead–all of them.  She probably shouldn’t have told Finn this, but she did. (more…)

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Deep Purple (PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ, September 6, 2018)

Posted in Deep Purple, Holmdel, NJ, Judas Priest, PNC Bank Center, Set in New Jersey!, The Temperance Movement on September 6, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 6, 2018] Deep Purple

My friend Al told me he was going to this double bill of Deep Purple and Judas Priest.  He and I went to my first ever concert back in 1985–Deep Purple at the Meadowlands.  It seemed like a fun idea to see Deep Purple again 33 years later.

Turned out he had a work thing and couldn’t go.  So that sucked.  But I scored great seats for $28 so that’s cool.

I was surprised that Deep Purple was going on after Judas Priest–I was sure that Judas Priest would be a bigger draw.  I wasn’t all that excited to see Deep Purple, but I was certainly curious.

And that’s when I realized that Ian Paice is the only person who has been with Deep Purple in all of their hundreds of lineups.  But, Ian Gillan and Roger Glover were from the first major lineup (the Mk II version of the band).  (more…)

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Judas Priest (PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ, September 6, 2018) [DEEP PURPLE]

Posted in Deep Purple, Happy Birthday, Holmdel, NJ, Judas Priest, PNC Bank Center, Rob Halford, Set in New Jersey!, That Metal Show, The Temperance Movement on September 6, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 6, 2018] Judas Priest

My friend Al told me he was going to this double bill of Deep Purple and Judas Priest.  I had just seen Judas Priest back in March and didn’t really feel like I needed to see them again (there was one song I ‘d wanted to hear which they didn’t play, but otherwise the set was great).

Then my friend Armando clarified something I’d often wondered about PNC.  He said that if you bought lawn tickets to a PNC show, you could get an upgrade to a really good seat for $20.  It didn’t happen for all shows, but any show that hadn’t sold out was fair game.  This seemed like a great opportunity to test this theory.   Then I received an email from Live Nation the next day that gave me $20 off my next concert.  Well, the lawn seats to this show were $20.  So I had to pay the stupid fees.  But that meant I bought my lawn ticket for $8.  A couple days before the show I was able to upgrade my ticket to row K (as in 11 rows from the stage) for $20.  So great seats for $28!

I realized that since both K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton were no longer in the band and since the drummer was a revolving door for most of the band’s history, the only two “original” members were Halford and bassist Ian Hill (and technically Halford isn’t original, but he is the real thing).

Like last time, there was a large red curtain at the front of the stage. This time, I was able to catch footage of it as it was pulled away. (more…)

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