Playlist, Week of 2015-12-28

Playlist 2015-12-28:

*Charles Mingus: Tijuana Moods (Bluebird First Editions) (disc 1)
*Charles Mingus: East Coasting
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2015-10-19 “Plot Counter” (wav)
*Beach Boys: Ultimate Christmas
*Circulatory System: Mosaics Within Mosaics
*Deerhoof: La Isla Bonita
*Andy Partridge (CDR compilation)
*Phil Spector: A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector
*Various artists: The Spirit of Christmas Past

Reading List, Week of 2015-12-28

Reading List 2015-12-28:

*Vickers, Brian. Shakespeare, Co-Author: A Historical Study of the Five Collaborative Plays (started)
*Jones, William B., Jr. Classics Illustrated: A Cultural History (2nd ed.) (reread/in progress)
*Wallace, David Foster. Infinite Jest (reread/in progress)

Playlist, Week of 2015-12-20

What better way to get happy for the season than with one of the greatest live albums of all time, from the hardest working man in show business? Combine this with his incendiary set from the T.A.M.I. Show and you've got more than enough reasons to be jolly. Keep groovin', everyone, and have a great holiday!

Playlist 2015-12-21:

*Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker: Favorite Excerpts (London Symphony Orchestra)
*Anthony Braxton: 20 Standards (Quartet) 2003 (disc 4)
*Anthony Braxton: Piano Music (1968-2000)/Performed by Genevieve Foccroulle (disc 7)
*John Coltrane: On Stage 1962 Featuring Eric Dolphy
*John Coltrane: Live Trane: The European Tours (discs 1, 2)
*Vince Guaraldi Trio: A Charlie Brown Christmas
*Dave Holland: Prism
*Roscoe Mitchell Quartet: Live at “A Space” 1975
*Paradoxical Frog: Paradoxical Frog
*Tom Rainey Trio: 2012-12-30 Brooklyn NY (CDR)
*Sun Ra & His Astro-Infinity Arkestra: Sign of the Myth
*David Torn & Prezens: 2007-08-24 Saalfelden (CDR)
*David Torn Prezens: 2008-01-10 Cologne (CDR)
*David Torn Prezens: 2008-01-14 London (CDR)
*David Torn & Prezens: 2008-01-19 Budapest (CDR)
*David Torn Prezens: 2008-03-14 New Haven, CT (CDR)
*Arctic Monkeys: Favourite Worst Nightmare
*Arctic Monkeys: AM
*Beatles: With the Beatles (2009 mono remaster)
*Beatles: Hard Day's Night (2009 mono remaster)
*Beatles: Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band (side 1)
*James Brown & the Famous Flames: Live at the Apollo
*Elvis Costello & the Attractions: Get Happy (2003 reissue, disc 1) (selections)
*Elvis Costello & the Attractions: Trust
*Disturbed: The Sickness
*Fall of Troy: Doppelgänger
*Matching Mole: On the Radio
*Matching Mole: March
*Freda Payne: Unhooked Generation: The Complete Invictus Recordings (disc 2)
*XTC: Nonsuch (selections)

Reading List, Week of 2015-12-20

Reading List 2015-12-21:

*Domini, John. “Later John Barth: The Wrong Peak, the Reach for Magic, the Feminist Argument” in The Quarterly Conversation (2015-12-13) (started/finished)
*Green, Daniel. “The Story of a Storyteller: On John Barth’s Collected Stories” in The Quarterly Conversation (2015-12-13) (started/finished)
*Johnson, Michael. “Music’s Restless Avant Garde: Still a ‘Wonderful Adventure’” in Open Letters Monthly (2013-09-01) (started/finished)
*Barthelme, Donald. Not-Knowing: The Essays and Interviews of Donald Barthelme (finished)
*Ditko, Steve. The Art of Ditko (finished)
*Jones, William B., Jr. Classics Illustrated: A Cultural History (2nd ed.) (reread/in progress)
*Wallace, David Foster. Infinite Jest (reread/in progress)

Playlist, Week of 2015-12-13

Playlist 2015-12-14:

*Anthony Braxton: 3 Compositions of New Jazz “Composition 6E”
*Anthony Braxton: Piano Music (1968-2000)/Performed by Genevieve Foccroulle (disc 6)
*Anthony Braxton: 20 Standards (Quartet) 2003 (disc 3)
*Rodger Coleman & Sam Byrd: Aphelion
*John Coltrane Quintet: 1961-11-18 Paris (2nd concert) (CDR)
*John Coltrane Quintet: 1961-11-20 Copenhagen (CDR)
*John Coltrane Quintet: 1961-11-22 Helsinki, Finland (CDR)
*John Coltrane Quintet: 1961-11-24 Baden-Baden, West Germany (CDR)
*John Coltrane Quintet: 1961-11-27 Frankfurt (CDR)
*John Coltrane Quintet: 1961-11-29 Stuttgart (CDR)
*Globe Unity Orchestra: 1979-01-26 Bad Godesberg, Germany (CDR) (disc 2)
*LARK: 2013-06-16 Brooklyn, NY (CDR)
*Made in Chicago: 2015-07-11 Rotterdam (CDR)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2015-11-23 “Doll Arm in Limbo Threshold” (wav)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2015-12-07 “Accept This Cooler” (wav)
*Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble: The Moment's Energy
*Plymouth: 2015-03-06 Amsterdam (CDR)
*Cecil Taylor: Conquistador! “With (Exit”)
*Can: Tago Mago
*Can: Ege Bamyasi
*Can: Future Days
*Deerhoof: Apple-O
*Mike Elder/Harry Forrest/Greg Jordan/Sam Byrd: 2015-12-04 (wav)
*Fall of Troy: Fall of Troy
*Grateful Dead: Fillmore West 1969 (disc 2)
*Grateful Dead: 1969-06-14 Monterey (CDR) (disc 1)
*Jimi Hendrix Experience: BBC Sessions (disc 1)
*Jimi Hendrix: Strate Ahead (Outtakes 1968-1970) (boot CDR) (disc 2)
*Matching Mole: Smoke Signals
*Soft Machine: BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert
*UYA: 1989-10-26 This (wav)
*Various artists: Summer of Love: The Hits of 1967 (selections)
*Various artists: WSAM: Jackie Wilson/Misc. Stuff-ola (cassette compilation) (side B)

Reading List, Week of 2015-12-13

Reading List 2015-12-14:

*Ditko, Steve. The Art of Ditko (started)
*Jones, William B., Jr. Classics Illustrated: A Cultural History (2nd ed.) (reread/started)
*Smith, Jeff. Bone (reread/finished)
*Barthelme, Donald. Not Knowing: The Essays and Interviews (in progress)
*Wallace, David Foster. Infinite Jest (reread/in progress)

That Other, Better World

 

You’re sitting with some guys, and you’re playing and you go, ‘Ooh, yeah!’  That feeling is worth more than anything.  There’s a certain moment when you realize that you’ve actually left the planet for a bit and that nobody can touch you.  You’re elevated because you’re with a bunch of guys that want to do the same thing as you. And when it works, baby, you’ve got wings.  You know you’ve been somewhere most people will never get; you’ve been to a special place.  And then you want to keep going back and keep landing again, and when you land you get busted.  But you always want to go back there.  It’s flying without a license. (Keith Richards, Life, p. 97)

Playlist, Week of 2015-12-06

Playlist 2015-12-07:

*Rodger Coleman and Sam Byrd: 2015-05-15 Centennial Park Black Box Theater, Nashville (mp3)
*John Coltrane: The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings (discs 1, 2, 3, 4)
*John Coltrane Quintet: 1961-11-18 Paris (1st concert) (CDR)
*Jimmy Ghaphery/Tatsuya Nakatani: 2014-02-20 Richmond VA (wav)
*Globe Unity Orchestra: 1979-01-26 Bad Godesberg, Germany (CDR) (disc 1)
*Ingrid Laubrock’s Ubatuba Quintet: 2015-10-11 Barcelona (CDR)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2015-11-09 “Order That Number” (wav)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2015-11-16 “This Day Alone” (wav)
*Evan Parker and Eddie Prévost: Most Materiall (disc 2)
*Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble: Memory/Vision
*Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble: The Eleventh Hour
*Plymouth: Plymouth
*Sun Ra: Monorails and Satellites, Vol. 1 (2014 remaster)
*Various artists: Turtle Humperdink Tender Load (cassette compilation) (side B)
*Area: Crac! (side 1)
*Beatles: Please Please Me (2009 mono remaster)
*Grateful Dead: Europe '72 Vol. 2 (disc 2)
*Jimi Hendrix: Strate Ahead (Outtakes 1968-1970) (boot CDR) (disc 1)
*Henry Cow: Live 1978 (boot CDR)
*Freda Payne: Unhooked Generation: The Complete Invictus Recordings (disc 1)
*Soft Machine: 1969-06-25 Paris (CDR)
*UYA: Live at the Willow, Vol. 1
*UYA: Live at the Willow, Vol. 2
*Various artists: The Sun Records Collection 2 (disc 1: Sun Country)
*Various artists: The Sun Records Collection 2 (disc 2: Sun Blues)
*Various artists: WSAM: Jackie Wilson/Misc. Stuff-ola (cassette compilation) (side A)
*Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life (disc 1)
*Yes: Time and a Word (selections)

Reading List, Week of 2015-12-06

Reading List 2015-12-07:

*Barthelme, Donald. Not Knowing: The Essays and Interviews of Donald Barthelme (started)
*Avery, Ben, et al. George R.R. Martin’s The Hedge Knight (started/finished)
*Gass, William. “In Defense of the Book,” in Harper’s Magazine (1999-11) (started/finished)
*Fletcher, John, and William Shakespeare. The Two Noble Kinsmen (Original-spelling ed.) (reread/finished)
*Gilbert, Elizabeth. Big Magic (finished)
*Smith, Jeff. Bone (reread/in progress)
*Wallace, David Foster. Infinite Jest (reread/in progress)

William Gass on Commonplace Books

http://learni.st/users/maggiemessitt/boards/68777-the-history-of-commonplace-books-and-john-locke

When Ben Jonson was a small boy, his tutor, William Camden, persuaded him of the virtue of keeping a commonplace book: pages where an ardent reader might copy down passages that especially pleased him, preserving sentences that seemed particularly apt or wise or rightly formed and that would, because they were written afresh in a new place, and in a context of favor, be better remembered, as if they were being set down at the same time in the memory of the mind. (William Gass, "In Defense of the Book," Harper's Magazine, 1999-11, p. 45)

Playlist, Week of 2015-11-29

The music of Evan Parker's Electro-Acoustic Ensemble just keep getting better and better to me every time I hear it.

Playlist 2015-11-30:

*Various artists: Music for Merce (1952- 2009) (disc 5)
*Anthony Braxton: 20 Standards (Quartet) 2003 (disc 2)
*Anthony Braxton: 9 Compositions (Iridium) 2006 (disc 4)
*Rodger Coleman & Sam Byrd: 2014-12-30 Nashville (wav) (selections)
*John Coltrane Quartet: 1961-03 Sutherland Hotel, Chicago (CDR) (discs 2, 3)
*John Coltrane Quartet: Africa/Brass Volumes 1 & 2
*Duke Ellington: ...And His Mother Called Him Bill
*Ingrid Laubrock: Sleepthief
*Ingrid Laubrock’s Ubatuba Quintet: 2015-10-11 Barcelona (CDR)
*New Loft: 2013-07-27 Snake Oil Recording, Richmond VA
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2013-08-05 “Increasing Chance of Weather” (wav)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2015-11-09 “Order That Number” (wav)
*Evan Parker and Eddie Prévost: Most Materiall (disc 1)
*Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble: Drawn Inward
*Subtle Body Transmission Orchestra: 2013-10-05 Atlas, Washington, DC (video>mp3)
*Cecil Taylor Quartet featuring Anthony Braxton: 2007-10-13 Reggio Emilia, Italy (CDR)
*Various artists: Best of the British Dance Bands
*Various artists: Hot British Dance Bands
*Amarionette: Dangerous Times and My Dangerous Ways (selections)
*Beatles: Magical Mystery Tour (2009 mono remaster)
*Scott Brookman (unreleased selections 2014)
*Clash: Story of the Clash, Volume 1 (selections)
*Elvis Costello: Armed Forces (2002 reissue, disc 2)
*Dark Carpet: 2015-11-13 Brooklyn NY (CDR)
*Deerhoof: La Isla Bonita
*Duck and Cover: “"Berlin Programme" Rē Records Quarterly, Vol. 1 No. 2 (side 1)
*Bob Dylan: Theme Time Radio Hour “Weather”
*Tex Goldstein: Horse In The Teepee
*Grateful Dead: Europe '72 Vol. 2 (disc 1)
*Kinks: The Anthology 1964-1971 (discs 3, 4)
*Pere Ubu: The Tenement Year
*Pere Ubu: Cloudland (selections)
*UYA: 1989-10-22 Wipe (wav)
*Various artists: 1960-1970 (CDR compilation)
*Frank Zappa: Wazoo (disc 2)

Reading List, Week of 2015-11-29

Reading List 2015-11-30:

*Fletcher, John, and William Shakespeare. The Two Noble Kinsmen (Original-spelling ed.) (reread/started)
*Gilbert, Elizabeth. Big Magic (started)
*Wallace, David Foster. Infinite Jest (reread/started)
*Bloom, Harold. “The Two Noble Kinsmen,” in Shakespeare: Invention of the Human (reread/started/finished)
*Garber, Marjorie. “The Two Noble Kinsmen,” in Shakespeare After All (reread/started/finished)
*King, Stephen. Finders Keepers (started/finished)
*Rothfuss, Patrick. The Slow Regard of Silent Things (finished) (started/finished)
*Smith, M.W.A. “Statistical Inference in A Textual Companion to the Oxford Shakespeare,” in Notes and Queries, 1991-03 (started/finished)
*Smith, Jeff. Bone (reread/in progress)

Jimi Hendrix: Top 25 Live Guitar Solos

It’s too bad the ticket stub pictured here doesn’t include the name of the performer, but that’s my ticket from when I saw the Jimi Hendrix Experience in Richmond, back at the ripe old age of 13 (just). Needless to say, that concert changed my life (it didn’t hurt that Soft Machine--Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, and Mike Ratledge--opened up for them!).

Here’s my list of my top 25 all-time favorite Jimi Hendrix live guitar solos. In the studio, Hendrix was a perfectionist, and he used studio time to craft and hone his playing until he got exactly what he wanted. Playing live, he was playing in and for the moment. What do I look for in a Hendrix solo? What makes these particular ones excel? All of these solos share a sense of inevitability. Even though you know he’s creating it on the spot, there are usually certain contours predefined by the song, and he’s almost always playing songs he’s done many times before. But each of these solos veers off into unknown territory while sounding completely right.  Hendrix is always in control, and there’s always the transcendent fluidity and tight juggling of tonal shifts that are hallmarks of his sound, but in many of these solos he sounds like they’re almost getting away from him, as he explores alternate sound universes with a sense of abandon and spontaneity.

So, here we go (in chronological order):

1. Wild Thing (7:49) (1967-06-18) Live at Monterey  

Total out, free-form noise. Conceptual, uncompromising.  I’m not sure at what point does he puts the guitar down and feedback takes over before he lights it, but the whole performance is noise art at the highest level. Hendrix lays down the gauntlet: from now on, rock guitar was going to be much more than just a vehicle for melodic 30-second solos.

2. Red House (1967-10-09) (7:50) Paris 1967/San Francisco 1968 

3. I Don’t Live Today (1968-05-18) (4:49) Miami Pop Festival

4. Red House (1968-10-12 2nd show) (9:13) Winterland  (disc 3)

5. Are You Experienced (1968-10-10 1st show) (7:47) Winterland  (disc 4)  
This amazing version starts off with the whole band playing totally free for a little over a minute before breaking into the song proper. The main solo manages to achieve the same kind of backwards-guitar intensity of the studio version without the use of any studio effects.

6. Come On (1969-01-13) (5:37) Live in Cologne  

Here Hendrix doesn't stray too far from the contours of the original studio version, and that’s why this live version is so great. It highlights Hendrix as a virtuoso rock and roll guitarist. Not only did he master (and/or invent/extend/etc.) the blues, r&b, soul, funk, hard rock, metal, and psychedelia, but he also proved himself a master rock and roll player. (See also “Johnny B. Goode” below.)

7. Red House (1969-01-13) (12:30) Live in Cologne

8. Spanish Castle Magic (1969-01-13) (5:00) Live in Cologne

9. Hear My Train a Comin’ (1969-02-24 Albert Hall, London) (10:02) An Evening with the Jimi Hendrix Experience

10. Red House (1969-04-26 L.A. Forum) (11:07) Lifelines: The Jimi Hendrix Story

11. Spanish Castle Magic (1969-04-26 L.A. Forum) (11:43) Lifelines: The Jimi Hendrix Story

12. Foxy Lady (1969-04-27 Oakland)  (10:37) Live at the Oakland Coliseum 

Like “Fire,” “Foxy Lady” was one of those songs Hendrix didn’t stretch out too much on; he pretty much stuck to the main outline of the song, with a short, concise solo that didn’t stray too much from the studio version. So when he does stretch it out, as he does here, it makes it that much more special. This is a feedback-drenched solo that flirts with pure noise as note after long note is held and distorted, all the while dramatically building and rocking hard before taking it down.

13. Red House (1969-05-24 San Diego) (13:42) Stages (disc 4); Hendrix In the West (2011 reissue only); The Jimi Hendrix Experience (box set)

14. The Dance (1969-08-10? Tinker Street Cinema, Woodstock, NY) (8:45) (no official release) 

Jamming with local musicians, including jazz drummer Randy Kaye,  two percussionists who would join him at the Woodstock festival: Juma Sultan and Jerry Velez, and unidentified sax and trumpet players, Hendrix stretches out.  He really seems comfortable in this setting, and lets loose with inventive and far-reaching jazz-inflected solos.

15. Beginnings (a.k.a "Jam Back at the House") (1969-08-18 Woodstock) (7:58) Woodstock  

At Woodstock, Hendrix shares guitar duties with Larry Lee (most successfully on this and "Izabella"), but even so, his playing is searing, especially the solo after the drum solo. Here he proves that he didn’t need lighter fluid to set his guitar on fire! The original vinyl version (on Woodstock Two) edits out the drum solo, making it even tighter.

16. Hear My Train a Comin’ (1969-08-18 Woodstock ) (9:16) Woodstock

17. Stone Free (1970-01-01 2nd show) (12:56) Live at the Fillmore East  

Transcendent. Something must have been in the water (or the kool-aid!) for the Band of Gypsys run at the Fillmore. In spite of Buddy Miles’s often leaden drumming, Hendrix soars. (Except for this track, they picked the best stuff for the Capitol album, best both in terms of Buddy Miles’s playing and of Hendrix's solos, as evidenced by the next four selections!)

18. Who Knows (1970-01-01 1st show) (9:32) Band of Gypsys

19. Machine Gun (1970-01-01 1st show) (12:33) Band of Gypsys

20. Power of Soul (1970-01-01 2nd show) (6:53) Band of Gypsys

21. Message of Love (1970-01-01 2nd show)  (5:22) Band of Gypsys

22. Johnny B. Goode (1970-05-30 Berkeley 1st show) (4:26) In the West; Jimi Hendrix Experience (box set)

Hot damn!

23. Hear My Train a Comin’ (1970-05-30 Berkeley 1st show) (11:56) In the West; Blues  

If I could play only one Hendrix solo for aliens, this would be it. Sublime.

24. Villanova Junction (1970-07-30 Maui, late show) (5:28) The Rainbow Bridge Concert  
This one’s a sentimental favorite, since it appeared on the very first bootleg I ever bought, at a Virginia Beach head shop in 1971 or ‘72 (pictured above). This beautiful solo has a mystical quality about it, getting unusually quiet before it incorporates “the Spanish tinge” with a decidedly flamenco-derived flair. Watch it here.  

25. Red House (1970-07-30 Maui, late show) (6:47) The Rainbow Bridge Concert

So, there you have it. Some of you die-hard Hendrix fans may be wondering why there's no version of Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) on this list. Well, it's because his solos on that song, as incendiary and brilliant as they almost always were, stayed really really close in contour, texture, and development to the studio version from Electric Ladyland. And because none of them, to my ears, really top that one. The versions on Live at Winterland +3 (1968-10-11, 1st show) and the original LP Hendrix In the West (1969-02-24, Albert Hall) come close.

Other contenders bubbling under the top ten

Drivin’ South (9:00) (1968-01-29) Paris Stages (disc 1)

Hear My Train a Comin’ (11:33) (1968-10-10 2nd show) Winterland  (disc 1)

Foxy Lady (1968-10-12 2nd show) Winterland  (disc 4) (6:05)

I Don’t Live Today (6:44) (1969-05-24 San Diego) Kiss the Sky, Hendrix In the West (2011 reissue only)

Foxy Lady  (6:30) (1969-12-31  Fillmore East ) West Coast Seattle Boy (disc 3)

Bonus list: Best overall shows:

Cologne 1969-01-13 Live at Cologne

L.A. Forum 1969-04-26 Lifelines: The Jimi Hendrix Story

San Diego 1969-05-24 Stages

Woodstock 1969-08-18 Woodstock

Fillmore East 1969-12-31/1970-01-01 Band of Gypsys, Live at the Fillmore East

Berkeley 1970-05-30 (both shows) 2nd show on Live at Berkeley

"The Illusion of Being Addressed by a Human Being"

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20096685

More than with any other form of art, the relationships we have with novels are apt to approach the kind we have with people. For a long time, novels were typically named after people (Tom Jones, Emma, Jane Eyre), but that is not the crux of it. What makes our experience of novels so personal is not that they have protagonists, but that they have narrators. Paintings and photographs don’t, and neither, with rare (and usually unfortunate) exception, do movies or plays. Novels bring another subjectivity before us; they give us the illusion of being addressed by a human being. (William Deresiewicz, "How the Novel Made the Modern World," Atlantic 2014-06)

Playlist, Week of 2015-11-22

Playlist 2015-11-23:

*AMM: Combine + Laminates + Treatise ‘84
*Daniel Barbiero/Gary Rouzer/Chris Videll: Indigo over Red on Grey (web release)
*Anthony Braxton: 20 Standards (Quartet) 2003 (disc 1)
*Anthony Braxton: Piano Music (1968-2000)/Performed by Genevieve Foccroulle (disc 4)
*Rodger Coleman & Sam Byrd: 2014-12-30 Nashville (wav) (selections)
*John Coltrane Quartet: 1960-06-10 Jazz Gallery, NYC (CDR) (disc 2)
*John Coltrane Quartet: 1961-03 Sutherland Hotel, Chicago (CDR) (disc 1)
*John Coltrane Quintet: 1961-07-01 Newport Jazz Festival (CDR)
*Jack DeJohnette New Directions: In Europe (side 1)
*Ingrid Laubrock Sleepthief: The Madness of Crowds
*Ingrid Laubrock Quintet: 2014-01-22 Brooklyn NY (CDR)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2015-10-24 “Swift Creation” Cheap Fest VI, Richmond VA (wav)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2015-11-09 “Order That Number” (wav)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2015-11-16 “This Day Alone” (wav)
*Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble: Toward the Margins
*Soft Heap: Soft Heap
*Sun Ra Arkestra Under The Direction Of Marshall Allen: Babylon
*Cecil Taylor: Unit Structures (selections)
*Cecil Taylor/Anthony Braxton/William Parker: 2007-10-12 Bologna (CDR)
*Weather Report: Solarization’s (boot LP) (side 1)
*Woody Allen: The Stand-Up Years 1964-1968 (disc 1)
*Dark Carpet: 4 Sammy (selections)
*Dark Carpet: 2015-11-13 Brooklyn NY (CDR)
*Mike Elder/Harry Forrest/Greg Jordan/Sam Byrd: 2015 (wav) (selections)
*Jimi Hendrix Experience: Live in Cologne
*Hotel X: X Years
*Matching Mole: Matching Mole’s Little Red Record
*News from Babel: Letters Home (side 2)
*NRBQ: Interstellar (10-in. LP)
*Stock, Hausen, & Walkman: Oh My Bag!
*Twin Freaks: Twin Freaks
*UYA: 1989-10-17 Funk Corners (wav)
*Zombies: 2015-10-08 Washington DC (CDR)

Reading List, Week of 2015-11-22

Reading List 2015-11-23:

*Rothfuss, Patrick. The Slow Regard of Silent Things (started)
*Smith, Jeff. Bone (reread/started)
*Hergé.  Tintin in the Congo (started/finished)
*Nabokov, Vladimir. The Enchanter (transl. Dmitri Nabokov) (reread/started/finished)
*Fletcher, John, and William Shakespeare. The Two Noble Kinsmen (Arden 3rd series, rev. ed., ed. Lois Potter) (reread/finished)

Playlist, Week of 2015-11-15

Playlist 2015-11-16:

*Anthony Braxton: Piano Music (1968-2000)/Performed by Genevieve Foccroulle (discs 3, 5)
*Anthony Braxton 12+1tet: 2012-10-13 Venice (CDR)
*Rodger Coleman & Sam Byrd: 2014-12-29 Nashville (wav) (selections)
*John Coltrane: The Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings (discs 6, 7)
*John Coltrane Quartet: 1960-06-10 Jazz Gallery, NYC (CDR) (disc 1)
*Ingrid Laubrock’s Ubatuba Quintet: 2015-10-11 Barcelona (CDR)
*Music Revelation Ensemble: 1980-05-26 Moers (CDR)
*Other Dimensions in Music: 2006-10-12 London (CDR)
*Secret Keeper: 2013-05-10 Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville
*Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra: Atlantis (side 2)
*Sun Ra: Purple Night “Of Invisible Them”
*Sun Ra: Sun Ra Solo Works (online compilation)
*Dawn of Midi: 2013-09-02 NYC (CDR)
*Bob Dylan: 1965-07-25 Newport Folk Festival (CDR)
*Bob Dylan and The Band: The Basement Tapes- Complete (disc 2)
*Bob Dylan: Shadows in the Night
*Henry Cow: Live 1977 (boot CDR)
*Hotel X: X Years
*Kinks: Something Else by the Kinks (Deluxe Edition) (disc 1)
*Lassie: Lassie
*Darlene Love: The Sound of Love: The Very Best of Darlene Love
*News from Babel: Letters Home (side 1)
*NRBQ: Interstellar (10-in. LP)
*Residents: The Third Reich 'n’ Roll
*Rolling Stones: Live at Leeds (1982-07-25) (disc 2)
*Raphael Saadiq: Stone Rollin'
*Sportsman’s Paradise: Welcome to Paradise
*Unknown Mortal Orchestra: Multi-Love
*UYA:  1989-10-08 Scott Free (wav)
*Various artists: Summer of Love: The Hits of 1967 (selections)
*Various artists: Turtle Humperdink Tender Load (cassette compilation) (side A)
*Wig Drop: Wig Drop

Reading List, Week of 2015-11-15

Reading List 2015-11-16:

*Hergé.  Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (started/finished)
*Fletcher, John, and William Shakespeare. The Two Noble Kinsmen (Arden 3rd series, rev. ed., ed. Lois Potter) (reread/in progress)
*Turow, Scott. Personal Injuries (reread/finished)

Books and Reading

Those who set up oppositions between the electronic technology and that of the printing press ... want us to believe that the book—an instrument as perfect as the wheel or the knife, capable of holding memory and experience, an instrument that is truly interactive, allowing us to begin and end a text wherever we choose, to annotate in the margins, to give its reading a rhythm at will—should be discarded in favor of a newer tool. Such intransigent choices result in technocratic extremism. In an intelligent world, electronic devices and printed books share the space of our work desks and offer each of us different qualities and reading possibilities. Context, whether intellectual or material, matters, as most readers know. (Alberto Manguel, "Conversations with the Dead," NYR Daily, 2015-08-14)

Playlist, Week of 2015-11-08

Jenni Bachman, https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153685591707769&set=gm.1661961717383823&type=3&theater

The listening highlight of this week was seeing Secret Keeper (Stephan Crump and Mary Halvorson) here in Richmond Friday night. It was an amazing show, full of depth and beauty.

Playlist 2015-11-09:

*Rodger Coleman & Sam Byrd: 2014-12-29 Nashville (wav) (selections)
*John Coltrane: The Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings (discs 2, 3, 4, 5)
*Marilyn Crispell: Live in San Francisco
*Globe Unity Orchestra: 1970-11-07 Berlin (CDR)
*Mary Halvorson Quintet: Bending Bridges
*Misha Mengelberg/John Tchicai/Han Bennink/Derek Bailey: Fragments
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2015-10-19 “Plot Counter” (wav)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2015-10-24 “Swift Creation” Cheap Fest VI, Richmond VA (wav)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2015-10-26 “Some Enchanted Ceiling” (wav)
*Tony Oxley/Derek Bailey Quartet: Tony Oxley/Derek Bailey Quartet
*Tom Rainey: Obbligato
*Manfred Schoof: European Echoes
*Secret Keeper: Super 8
*Sun Ra & His Astro-Infinity Arkestra: Other Strange Worlds
*Sun Ra Arkestra: 2915-08-14 Geneva, Switzerland (CDR)
*Synthesis: Sentiments
*Cecil Taylor Quartet featuring Anthony Braxton: 2007-06-08 London (CDR)
*Beatles: Magical Mystery Tour (2009 stereo remaster)
*Grateful Dead: 1972-05-03 Paris (CDR) (disc 3)
*Massacre: Love Me Tender
*Paul McCartney: iMac (CDR compilation) (disc 1)
*Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello: The McCartney and MacManus Collaboration (boot CDR)
*Various artists: Not the Beach Boys (CDR compilation)
*Wig Drop: 2015 selections (CDR)
*Neil Young: On the Beach

Reading List, Week of 2015-11-08

Reading List 2015-11-09:

*Turow, Scott. Personal Injuries (started)
*Le Carré, John. A Perfect Spy (started/finished)
*Fletcher, John, and William Shakespeare. The Two Noble Kinsmen (Arden 3rd series, rev. ed., ed. Lois Potter) (reread/in progress)

Events

Karl Ove thinks on childhood classmates:

"...they have done so much to one another in their lives since then, so much has happened and with such impact that the small incidents that took place in their childhoods have no more gravity than the dust stirred up by a passing car, or the seeds if a withering dandelion dispersed by the breath from a small mouth. And, oh, wasn't the latter a fine image, of how event after event is dispersed in the air above a little meadow of one's own history, only to fall between the blades of grass and vanish? (Knausgaard, My Struggle, Book Three: Boyhood, transl. Don Bartlett, Archipelago 2014, p. 427)

Playlist, Week of 2015-11-01

Playlist 2015-11-02:

*AMM III: It Had Been an Ordinary Enough Day in Pueblo, Colorado
*Anthony Braxton: Composition 96
*John Coltrane: The Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings (disc 1)
*Decoy: Vol 1: Spirit
*Jack DeJohnette: Made in Chicago
*Duke Ellington: Take the “A” Train: The Legendary Blanton-Webster Transcriptions, 1941
*Keith Jarrett: Expectations
*Made in Chicago: 2015-07-11 Rotterdam (CDR)
*Roscoe Mitchell: L-R-G/The Maze/S II Examples
*Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane: The Complete 1957 Riverside Recordings
*Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane: At Carnegie Hall
*Thelonious Monk: The Complete Blue Note Recordings (disc 4)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2015-10-24 Cheap Fest VI, Richmond VA (wav)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2015-10-26 “Some Enchanted Ceiling” (wav)
*Tony Oxley: February Papers
*Sonny Rollins: Sonny Meets Hawk!
*Secret Keeper: 2013-05-10 Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville
*Sun Ra: Continuation (Saturn/Corbett vs. Dempsey 2CD) (disc 2)
*Sun Ra: Spaceways (1968 film soundtrack, dir. E. English) (CDR)
*Sun Ra & His Astro-Infinity Arkestra: Sign of the Myth
*Vector Trio: 2015-08-15 Auxiliary, Richmond VA
*Mike Elder/Harry Forrest/Greg Jordan/Sam Byrd: 2015-10-23 (wav)
*Flying Lotus: Los Angeles
*Flying Lotus: You’re Dead!
*Paul McCartney/Elvis Costello: demos (CDR)
*Muffins: 1977 Washington DC (CDR) (disc 1)
*NRBQ: Interstellar (10-in. LP)
*Panda Bear: Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper
*Pere Ubu: Apocalypse Now
*Replacements: Pleased to Meet Me
*Stooges: Fun House
*Various artists: Dexter’s Laboratory: The Hip-Hop Experiment (selections)
*Wig Drop: 2015 selections (CDR)

Reading List, week of 2015-11-01

Reading List 2015-11-02:

*Knausgaard, Karl Ove. My Struggle, Book Four (transl. Don Bartlett) (finished)
*Fletcher, John, and William Shakespeare. The Two Noble Kinsmen (Arden 3rd series, rev. ed., ed. Lois Potter) (reread/in progress)
*Vollmann, William. Rising Up and Rising Down, Volume 1 (stopped)

I've already got a major change to my current reading plan--I'm dropping Vollmann's Rising Up and Rising Down. I very rarely do this; I am one of those types who force myself to finish whatever book I start, love it or hate it. This is a bit different. It's not the length alone, although over 3,000 pages is enough to give any reader pause, avid or no. In this case, there exists a one-volume distillation, but I'm not going to read that either. I appreciate what Vollmann is doing (examining whether there is ever an ethical and moral justification for violence), but I just found it unrelentingly grim. I gave it 240 pages, and I just had to stop. Life, my life, right now, is just too short for this. It's really a pretty bleak world out there, and probably every thinking person should be aware of the many issues he brings up. Go for it, and tell me what I'm missing.

Another Bonus Playlist from the Magic Jukebox

It's time once again for another bonus playlist from the Magic Jukebox, from the week of October 24-31:

1. XTC: Harvest Festival
2. Lee Dorsey: Operation Heartache
3. Jackie Wilson: Who Am I
4. Elvis Presley: Like a Baby
5. Marvelettes: When You're Young and In Love
6. John Lee Hooker: Big Legs Tight Skirt
7. Prince: Just as Long as We're Together
8. Roscoe Mitchell: Ornette
9. Sun Ra: The Satellites Are Spinning
10. Beach Boys: I Know There's an Answer
11. Donald Fagen: Walk Between the Raindrops
12. Beatles: Let It Be
13. Rolling Stones: Dear Doctor
14. Beatles: Memphis, Tennessee
15. Rolling Stones: I'm Free
16. Beatles: And Your Bird Can Sing
17. Yardbirds: Someone to Love (pt. 1)
18. Barbara Lewis: Pushin' a Good Thing Too far
19. Rolling Stones: Sing This All Together
20. Ruby Johnson: If I Ever Needed Love (I Sure Do Need It Now)
21. Bob Dylan: I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Have Never Met) (live)
22. Tower of Power: You Got to Funkifize (live)
23. Sun Ra: State Street
24. Paul McCartney: Take It Away
25. Jeff Byrd: Hammy
26. Beatles: Helter Skelter (Max remix)
27. Kinks: Tin Soldier Man
28. Funkadelic: No Head No Backstage Pass
29. James Brown: Ain't It Funky Now
30. Billie Holiday: I Can't Get Started
31. Deerhoof: Punch Buggy Valves
32. Screaming Jay Hawkins: Little Demons
33. Cosmic Rays: Somebody's in Love
34. Charles Mingus: East Coasting
35. Sun Ra: Medicine for a Nightmare
36. Etta James: All I Can Do Is Cry
37. James Brown: Give It Up or Turnit a Loose (live)
38. Big Star: What's Going Ahn
39. John Coltrane: Impressions (live Stockholm 1961)
40. John Lee Hooker: Mean Mean Woman
41. LaVern Baker: Voodoo Voodoo
42. Outkast: The Whole World
43. Miles Davis: Petits Machins
44. Funkadelic: Let's Make It Last
45. Tad Taddock: Nerf Nubbies
46. Dionne Warwick: Are You There (With Another Girl)
47. High Llamas: Switch Pavilion
48. Beatles: Mean Mr. Mustard
49. Prince: Daddy Pop
50. Beatles: Strawberry Fields Forever (rehearsal)
51. Rolling Stones: Driving Too Fast
52. Tad Thaddock: F___in J
53. Beach Boys: Good to My Baby
54. Beatles: A Hard Day's Night (Anthology snippets)
55. Sun Ra: Opus in Springtime (live 1981)
56. Otis Redding: Down in the Valley
57. Beatles: Long Tall Sally (live 1965)
58. Sam the Sham and the Pharaoahs: Wooly Bully
59. Pere Ubu: A Small Dark Cloud
60. Paul McCartney & Elvis Costello: The Lovers That Never Were
61. Bruce Ruffin: Bitterness of Life
62. P-Funk All Stars: Generator Pop
63. Four J's: Will You Be My Love
64. Temptations: Dream Come True
65. Elvis Costello: Different Finger
66. Duke Ellington: Sweet & Pungent
67. Stock, Hausen, & Walkman: On Load
68. Duke Ellington: Tiger Rag, pt. 2
69. Ike & Tina Turner: Save the Last Dance for Me
70. Beatles: Baby It's You (BBC)
71. Dozier Boys with Red Saunders: The Music Goes Round and Round
72. Charlie Parker: Cheers (take C)
73. Steely Dan: The Boston Rag (live London)
74. Duke Ellington: Raising the Rent
75. Sun Ra: Soft Talk
76. Jackie Wilson: Singing a Song
77. Duke Ellington: Pussy Willow
78. Billie Holiday: My Old Flame
79. Ruby Johnson: Left Over Love
80. Lorraine Ellison: Stay With Me
81. Dr. Dog: My Friend
82. Jamo Thomas: I Spy (For the FBI)
83. Beach Boys: Wind Chimes
84. Beatles: Yer Blues (demo)
85. Deehoof: Bone-dry
86. Grateful Dead: Playing in the Band (live 1977 Palladium)
87. Tad Thaddock: Baby BM
88. High Llamas: Anna Lee the Healer
89. Beatles: Penny Lane (overdub session)
90. Circulation System: Your Parades
91. Dyke and the Blazers: Uhh
92. Hatfield and the North: Aigrette
93. Doris Troy: But I Love Him
94. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles: Going to a Go-Go
95. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles: You Really Got a Hold on Me
96. James & Bobby Purify: Let Love Come Between Us
97. Beatles: A Hard Day's Night
98. Willie Nelson: Crazy
99. Booker T & the MGs: Time Is Tight
100. Jimi Hendrix: Bleeding Heart