The Tones Between: Photographs by Greg Seman

In 2008, I made a point to present some of my favorite images by photographer Gregory Seman. Since then, my old friend's profile has grown higher while his work continues to delve deeper into the subtle quietude of landscapes we foolishly careen past so much of the time.

Marquette Rooftops, 2008 : Greg Seman

The places are beautiful, but more than place, Seman is capturing time and light in a way that the old masters would revere. He's represented by the Halsted Gallery in Bloomington Hills, Michigan, as well as in the cloud at Greg Seman Photography. At Halsted, his name appears alongside the greats: Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier Bresson, Wynn Bullock, Imogen Cunnigham, Yosuf Karsh, Michael Kenna, Andre Kertesz, Edward Steichen, Jerry Uelsmann, all those Westons, Minor White -- among well-renowned others and some whose work I still should seek out.

a favorite by Minor White (1908 - 1976)

Today, I'm so proud to have, by chance, found a Greg Seman image in the February 2011 Special Issue of B + W. I picked it up as I do on most book store stops, and as I flipped through the images within I thought, "Maybe I'll just glance at the table of contents just in case..." and, in fact, there it was on page 139:

Ice Flows, Frankfort Pier, 2009 : Greg Seman

The 'Merit Award' shot, taken along the Lake Michigan shore, is emblematic of his compositions -- dynamic nature, refined vision, impeccably smooth tonalities, juxtaposed textures, pristine printing technique -- and the result is a sense of that spot at that moment, something that couldn't be recreated if a person gazed out from there, even an hour later. The skill and diligence it takes to craft such a vision is laudable and worthy of the respect that's begun flowing just like the ice pictured above.

Moonlit River, 2007 : Greg Seman

Basquiat & Os Gemeos | Banksy & Guetta

Street art is not what it used to be.

portrait of Jean Michel Basquiat by Warhol

Grafitti: unappreciated by the masses, produced by so-called "street urchins", miscreants and punks, disdained by the authorities, loathed by real estate agents. It still exists in this form. Just look around on the train, the warehouse, the stop sign; what's in that kid's backpack anyway, and why is he running? Maybe you should get a phone number, then give the kid some time to get famous.

A Basquiat sold by Phillips de Pury & Company:

a song at $4, 562, 500 US

Today, Os Gemeos of Sao Paulo, Brasil, lead the new guard of street artists turned gallery darlings. Count the late Jean Michel Basquiat (a.k.a Samo) as one of the first to make the lucrative transition, however deadly that shift may have been for him.

 Os Gemeos work on the street in Sao Paulo: Dailyserving.com

Now Banksy, the subversive street artist, lampoons the entire affair in a new film called Exit Through The Gift Shop. The film details the travails and artwork of one Thierry Guetta, a Frenchman of substantial eccentricity and at least some talent.

a more literal work by London-based Banksy

In the vein of many 'mockumentaries', it's hard to tell the real from the invented in Guetta's story (essentially the story of Guetta filming Banksy at work on the street). Is the film a document of Guetta's rise in the fine art circles or is it an intricate fabrication meant as hype, at once skewering the highbrow collectors and bandwagon trend-surfers? It's hardly a risky game for Guetta whose work is somewhat derivative anyway -- he rips off Warhol without shame and splashes paint around like Pollock. At the hands of Banksy, established cynic of the pavements, he's in for a catapult ride into the stratosphere of high-art superstardom, earned or not.

Guetta's "Le Bistro" signed by Mr. Brainwash, an alias: ukstreetart.co.uk

In any case, Exit Through The Gift Shop is supposed to be a visual treat. So we'll see: who's famous, who gets famous, or who's a famous fake.

The trailer - banksyfilm.com
Guetta's purposely confusing site - mrbrainwash.com
Here's Banksy! - banksy.co.uk
outlines the film's conjured "controversy" - markphilipvenema.worpress.com
a review - slugmag.com
another Basquiat painting (just because) - markphilipvenema.wordpress.com

One more review & one more typo

I done done it, again!

After listening to a solid solo set at a local coffee shop / bar / music venue, I was inspired to write a little something about the performance by Athens' troubadour Don Chambers. So, I did. Here it is on AthensMusicJunkie. Head over and enjoy.

Name Time ~ Name Place

It's that time again. The name here has grown old, and its meaning was somewhat convoluted to start. Res ipsa loquitur was supposed to drum up some discourse, and as a "lucky charm" of sorts, it failed, but I'm not giving up -- on to the next name!

In the running were these little Latin gems:

* absit invidia or "let ill will be absent" - just so warm and affable a sentiment

* audi, vide, tace or "hear, see, be silent" - the Czech secret service's motto, sort of ominous

* aut viam inveniam aut faciam or "I shall either find a way or make a way" - so positive!

* carpe vinum or "cease the wine" - why? why not (I resisted an easy pun with that one!)

* esto quod es or "be what you are" - sort all inclusive and touchy feely

* quantum libet or "as much as you wish" - read now, read on, read later, whatever

* quis leget haec? or "Who will read this?" - yep, I know at least one guy

In the end, after a pleasant perusal of useful, artful, and otherwise entertaining phrases, I'll land on ad rem for its rather succinct meaning, something I aspire to be: "to the point"!

Georgia Guitar Quartet & Robert Sims

Featuring Brian Smith, one of the musical neighbors from across the street:

Georgia Guitar Quartet & Robert Sims from Paul Hamilton on Vimeo :

I [created this] brief demo with the Georgia Guitar Quartet & Robert Sims.

As a pianist I have collaborated with Robert since 1997 - we are long time friends/colleagues. His talent is immeasurable. In 1999 he won the Gold Medal in the American Traditions Competition, in Savannah, Georgia. He also made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2005, and returned to Carnegie Hall in 2009 as a guest of Jessye Norman, as part of her HONOR! festival. I was fortunate to play the piano for him on his second appearance, and this was my Carnegie Hall debut. We're performing together in Gibraltar this month (Dec. 20)!

His new partnership with the GGQ is nothing less than extraordinary.
Their arrangements are completely original: with Southern twang and classical
arch! Their artistry is of the highest calibre.

Caleb Vinson (Vimeo user) and I filmed this with two Canon 7D's, in Dekalb, Illinois. The audio was recorded live.

Caleb's exceptional camera moves are his trademark. I have not seen anyone use a DSLR the way he does: it proves that with practice and discipline it is possibe to achieve extremely fluid and unique moves. Well done Caleb!

We're both proud to have captured this short rehearsal with the GGQ and Robert!

Please support these exceptional musicians, you can purchase the music here:

Georgia Guitar Quartet & Robert Sims

Find out more:

The Georgia Guitar Quartet - classical guitarists and more

Robert Sims - the superb lyric baritone

The Musicsmiths - flute and guitar duo

The Odd Trio - jazz, funk, original compositions, varied freakouts

Maps and Transit - ethereal folk and electronic music

In the Land of the Maya...

...activists at the Belizean "Reef Summit" ask if this is...

image provided by:  New Scientist

...at least for their beloved coral wonder. Even as world leaders meet in Cancun for climate talks this week, this sandy but hearty group, and indeed all the world's environmentalists, consider what the future holds if climate change is not addressed earnestly and pro-actively. The ancient Maya predicted that 2012 -- or Decemeber 21st to be exact -- would represent a moment of "great change" for the world and all her children. We'll see...

Hunt around for yourself; it's practically impossible to read anything online that isn't coming from the New Age sects, Christian fundamentalists, or good ol' doomsday fanatics -- some of whom are one in the same!

 

image from lamanai.net

However, I can proudly say that the first I learned of the Mayan astrological predictions was on a visit to Lamanai, a grand Mayan ruin within the Belizean rainforest, then accessible only by boat. The Mayan curator of the site's tiny but fascinating museum explained the ancient warning signs of an impending disaster in 2012.

He spoke of:

* drinking water relagated to "egg-shell containers" -- bottled water perhaps?

* "noisy, giant dragonflies carrying men" -- helicopters he surmised.

* and finally the acceptance of "one world currency" -- could that be the dollar?

Emily Pilloton: On a Brand New (Design) Tack

It's exhilarating to discover someone whose work is making a real difference. This could be a giant like Muhammad Yunus, your fourth grade teacher, or someone like Emily Pilloton. Her work with Project H Design, the charitable organization she founded, "supports, inspires, and delivers product design initiatives for Humanity, Habitats, Health, and Happiness."

The initiatives and the sustainable ideals behind all aspects of this grassroots work are so admirable and will undoubtedly become a precedent for educational design -- fingers crossed that someone is watching and paying attention.

As the project gains steam, Pilloton and cohorts reap the rewards of higher-exposure which amplifies the project's core tenets:

1) There is no design without (critical) action.We are not a social club, nor do we host green drinks events. We do projects that exist in the real world, that have partners, impact, and results. We work as a team, rather than for individual glory.

2) We design WITH, not FOR.We work with partners, not for clients. We bring end users to the table from day one, making them fellow designers. We co-create with unexpected partners, and listen/learn first about social issues we may not fully understand.

3) We document, share, and measure.We record all work as a means to measure qualitatively and quantitatively, and ask for feedback as a means to constantly improve. Our designs are never "done." We share practices between project teams so that we never have to start from zero.

4) We start locally, and scale globally.Our projects are local responses to global problems, and are designed to serve as models for broader application. We look first to our own back yards, with the ultimate goal of scaling and improving products as systems that can work anywhere.

5) We design systems, not stuff.We create solutions and systems that are not driven by material or consumption. We "take the product out of product design" to question the traditional models, and design solutions that enable something greater than the object itself: enterprises, impact, etc.

6) We build.We get dirty. We tweak and prototype and test and bend. We know how to work in a woodshop, and how to weld, mill, and machine. We believe that knowing how things are built makes you a better designer, and that understanding the design process makes you a better builder. We make sure our ideas come to life.

This approach shouldn't be limited to design. Sensitivity to place and culture is something that's conspicuously lacking throughout our society, from the strip mall sprawl beyond the Beltway to the one-size-fits-all standardized tests we force upon anyone and everyone. Change is incremental, and Pilloton, with her team of innovators, is assuredly a leader to watch--and hopefully emulate--in the future.

Project H Design - the main thing on her plate
Inhabitat - a vast design site / Pilloton is managing editor
Dwell - an insightful interview by Alissa Walker
TED - read her profile / find other inspiring talks!

"Shake it to the Left; shake it to the Right!"

The System comic from notquitewrong.com

Now from a 2004 interview with Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air :

"The only thing I like about the Left versus the Right is that the Left seems to care more about people, and the Right seems to care more about property, as a generalization." -- George Carlin

Kenosha Kid ~ 'Land of Obey'

For a series of evenings in the winter & spring of 2010, Kenosha Kid took up residency at the Flicker Theatre in downtown Athens, GA and the result is a wildly varied, deeply grooved and finely blitzed collection of live cuts called Land of Obey out on Nowt Records.

There, property taxes are fair, rents are reasonable if you choose to play by the rules which Kenosha Kid rarely do. Instead, guitarist Dan Nettles, bassist Neal Fountain, and drummer Marlon Patton take liberties and own each theme, each variation, each breakdown because they've built it brick by brick, phrase by phrase to deliciously seamless effect.

To open, 'Fanfare' flings listeners into a gorgeous landscape with an arpeggio in the vein of Zappa's 'Adventures of Gregory Peccary' and from then on the vistas are serene and spacious. You feel you're in for something vast, something beyond definition, beyond the limitations of genre or label. The listener is fully primed to slide comfortably into a bluesy, ash-tinged groove.

The next track, 'Muddy Waters', is like a couple sitting over a plate of catfish with a bayou steam rising all around. At first, diners pick out the bones, isolating morsels to share, but soon enough their real intentions begin to pile up. The lovers glance at one another less and less and devour the flesh more and more until what's left is a heap of a memorable carcass and a slow burning, blues-induced fog around the gut and the head. It's not straight blues -- maybe Lightnin' Hopkins tripped over Duke Ellington's cane -- but it is one of the album's best examples of Kenosha Kid's refined handling of myriad influences.

'Out the Window' is an atmospheric journey over sand and space. The 'window' might be the door of a saharan Tuareg dwelling, tanned goatskins flapping in an arid but welcome breeze. Like a contented nomad, bassist Fountain pulls but not too forcefully, instead preferring to tug the ropes from the middle of the pack like a tuneful Jaco Pastorius without the fatal chip on the shoulder. There's no hurry. From Patton, a shimmering oasis of cymbals ripples on the horizon, receding ever, arriving never. The whole shifting thing swirls shadow and smoke with glinting stars above.

'Take What You Want' features the warmest of Nettles' guitar themes, with its subtle country lilt as a tambourine keeps time in an Aquarian throwback. It's all nostalgia and echo and occasional goosebumps at the memory flood, like golden light through a pinhole camera.

'Pleasure II' blends easy psychedelia over a sycopated shuffle that keeps limbs akimbo. All along Patton's drums and Fountain's bass interplay with childlike verve, and Nettles' guitar lines swoop, bend, and creep, pushing an imaginary edge.

Other tunes find guitarist Dan Nettles clawing his way up a ragged mountain range even as the scree underneath starts an undeniable avalanche. The trio tumble end over end in slow motion and somehow, out of thin air, find extemporaneous footholds. Soon it's the mountain itself that stretches under the centrifugal force with Nettles, Fountain, and Patton standing firmly at the center of an unearthly orbit. This is not easy music to make live. It's organic chemistry and the students have become the professors: swirling guitar peels, profound bass hues, with alternatingly austere yet firm beats punctuating a disitnctly cinematic set of compositions.

The multi-faceted Nettles, Fountain, and Patton. Photo ~ Nowt Records

Neal Fountain consistently offers deep, chorded bass foundations massaging the fretboard with tenderness to see what stresses sublimate into the atmosphere, that is, when he's not subtly funking things up. He and Nettles seem joined by a lobe as they share the residence of melody and craftily structured harmonies, always spontaneous yet fitting. Patton's drumming is at once immpecably tight and full of quiet personality. Cymbal flourishes, striding hi-hat and snare, and speed metal toms and bass drum combos make a sturdy framework for the others' lyrical musings.

The album's cover paints little circular windows into the heads of these innovative musicians, sonic construction workers who rely upon very few fandangled materials; except for Dan Nettles' effortlessly layered loops, the building blocks are the same that Wes Montgomery used, the same as Max Roach or Bill Frisell or Mingus. Ample stage time, too, has done Kenosha Kid and their listeners an epic service: superb communication, generosity, skill and joy blend together then emerge as the transcendental Land of Obey. Find your own path there -- they've flung the gate wide open!

KenoshaKid.com - Preview . Purchase.

Nowtrecords.org - Listen . Explore . Expand your scope.

10,000 Thanks !

Back in 2008, I started out with a few posts with no idea where this was going. Today, I thank you -- all those who've come by, clicked through, read, listened, watched, pondered, or smiled along the way. It's been a joy to keep adding to this space, like building a Tibetan mandala, one grain of sand at a time.

photo by Samm Bennett

Share the joy with me. Make a comment. I cherish them, and you, for visiting!

"Mil gracias!" or "Grazie mille!" or "tausend Dank!" or "Mil obrigados!" x 10!

Next stop, 20,000 hits!

Kenosha Kid @ Caledonia Lounge | 'Land of Obey' Release Show

In case you ever doubted they would, Kenosha Kid strikes again with a blazing-hot brand to last you all the way through pigskin season and beyond!

Melodies that sooth like Icy-Hot (or Vapo-Rub, whichever Mama gave ya!), searing instrumental improvisations, rhythmic sizzling behind ethereal bass foundations -- it's all in store for the hearty, the brave, the future residents of Kenosha Kid's newest release: Land of Obey.

So, if you're in Athens this weekend, "put your face on" and then prepare to have the layers peeled off at the hands of Kenosha Kid this Friday night at the Caledonia Lounge!

Listen up: you don't have to swagger into the Caledonia blind. Use your x-ray ears and get into Land of Obey before it hits the streets like a magical frog fallen from the heavens. You'd be a fool not to get a little preview, Dawg!

chimp listener image from athensmusicjunkie

Tres Selecções Brasileiras

Sometimes I find myself in a mood, and there is a sound that accompanies it. Other times, it's the sound itself that dictates the mood or deepens it. Enjoy these three selections, old classics captured for the masses, to put you in a state or bring you out of one.

The vintage styles here are pretty bold -- some might say gaudy -- but these must be two of the most relaxed singers in this genre, regardless of wardrobe issues!

The dog barking in the background is so sweet, and the last line gets a little cheeky smile out of Caetano Veloso, when Chico sings, "And I'm just a woman."

Here Almeida's right hand is superiorly fast and smooth; it all blurs together as he introduces Antonio Carlos Jobim's famous "Samba de Uma Nota Só".

And the crowd shows some appreciation after some nice solos and a fine fade away.

Finally, a legendary take from the willow-voiced João Gilberto proves why the world became so infatuated with bossa nova in the 1960's.

A scat to rival even Ella Fitzgerald! Another Brasilian band, Novos Baianos, does another rendition with a solid scat and an even bouncier tempo. Bem bom!

David Byrne: Housing Sound & Music

Here's a lecture from David Byrne, the greatest college professor you never had! Recording for TED, below is his lecture about the relationship between sound and its contextual space.

He travels sonically from grimy New York nightclubs to West African al fresco drumming to organ-filled European cathedrals to the booming trunks of what folk-singer Greg Brown calls "thump-thump" cars and finally into the forest canopies.

Byrne is knowledgeable and relaxed, oddly handsome and totally enthralling. He's wise and experienced, yet he remains energetic and humorous, and based on his practiced delivery, he's done this talk a few times. Enjoy.

* TED is "a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design."

You'll find so many more intriguing and informative segments. Go. Learn. Enjoy.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan ~ Shahen-shah-e-Qawwāli

On the 13th anniversary of his death, it is with great reverence that I memorialize one of the most significant traditional musicians on modern record. He was the shining star of a six centuries old line of mystic Sufi devotees who, to this day, comunally worship Allah through ecstatic musical flights during marathon sessions. He was Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1948 -1997), a Qawwāli master, among the most gifted vocalists ever to sing the sacred poetry of Islam.

Cover of his 1st international release on the Real World label: Shahen-shah

photo courtesy of Bluesmen's World (Music)

According to his biography, the young Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (نصرت فتح على خاں) aimed to become a "doctor or an engineer" but soon after showed a fledgling interest in the family business of Qawwāli and began his subsequent tutelage under first his father, studying tabla, and then his uncles Mubarak Ali Khan and Ustad Salamat Ali Khan.

The young Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's rise to greatness was rapid and steady, starting with his first performance, called chehlum in Urdu, forty days after his father's death. Decades of performance followed starting with a broadcast on Radio Pakistan in 1971 known as Jashn-e-Baharan, his first as the leader of his family's Qawwāli "party", featuring devotional singing "mainly in Urdu and Punjabi and occasionally in Persian, Brajbhasha and Hindi."

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's first performance outside Pakistan

Beyond traditional Qawwāli performances in the company of his "party", Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan gave his ancestral form of devotional music a brand new face through various successful collaborations with Western artists and other musical masters of the sub-continent.

One of the most recognizable contributions for Western audiences is his duet with Eddie Vedder for the Dead Man Walking film soundtrack. Vedder's unmistakable, grimaced croon is paired with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's soaring, airy tones, the ethereal tambre of which carry the compostion to a spiritual plane. The two voices, the anthemic power of Pearl Jam's frontman and the veteran Qawwali's controlled rising and falling, together create a texture that seems chiseled of the same ancient stone. As it fades into the landscape of the film's narrative, the track titled "The Face of Love" transcends any moral implication and becomes itself an effortless message of multicultural harmony. It is but one example of Nursat Fateh Ali Khan's absolute commitment to promulgating Qawwali music as classically-honed forms joined modern media.

photo credit: Tim Hall of Redferns Music Picture Library via bbc.co.uk

 

Today, the Qawwāli tradition continues in Pakistan and around the world, thanks to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's great genius and pioneering perserverance. His nephews Rizwan and Muazzam Ali Khan have their own party as does the reknowned Ustad Rahat Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. These practicing Qawwāli also do not shy from collaboration with Western artists.

Fortunately for us, a grand legacy of Qawwāli expertise has been left to enjoy. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's body of work is vast and much of it is still available for purchase. However, one need not search far for examples of this modern master's unequalled talent, and his unadulterated devotion to Allah as well as to his people's singular musical traditional. This is Qawwāli!

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan introduces a "qual" called "Man Kunto Maula"

"The Spirit of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan" - interview by Andy Carvin
Nusrat.org - comprehensive tribute site
Live Performance - a "qual" titled "Ah Jaa Tenu Akhiyan Udeek Diyan" with Englsih subtitles
Nusrat.info - many, many music samples, translated lyrics and more
"NFAK: How the World Discovered Qawwali" - nice article with many links
Sufi Kalam - article about NFAK's biography by Dr. Pierre-alain Baud

Relief for Drowning Pakistan

When disaster struck in Haiti, in the form of a hurricane, the US government and citizenry rallied to support the devastated population there. After all, Haitians live all over this country, and they are our neighbors.

photo credit: read-news.info

As disaster strikes again, this time in Pakistan in the form of massive floods, we should realize how important it is to support the suffering population there in whatever way possible. Here's one way:

Donate to UNICEF

Due to the very real threat of water-borne diseases, there is no better time to give to aid groups in the region, no matter what you hear in the news about how charitable monies are spent. This flooding will affect at least 20 million lives; if there's even a remote chance that your dollars could help Pakistan's people, then the time to give is now. Below are some other avenues:

USAID Pakistan

Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

UNHCR - The UN Refugee Agency

World Food Programme

Mercy Corps

Listen: It's Unwinese

Ever hear of Stanley Unwin (1911-2002) and his invented, modified English gibberish called Unwinese? Well, neither had I until a friend (a Brit and a Burger -- from Luxembourg, that is) shared with me this golden folly of yesteryear. Remarkabold!

The fact is this Unwin, a workingman and a family man prior to achieving comedic fame in the 1950's , was a natural voice actor awaiting discovery. Just have a listen to any of these tracks from StanleyUnwin.com. His sound effects, too, are perfectly timed and you'll wish his stories would never end.

photo courtesy of LiberalEngland

It all started at the request of his children around bed time. Just like any good dad, he obliged nightly, but in doing so he began to entertain even himself by telling his stories in a fanciful, rollicking, mixed-up language. The mystery is that Unwinese is completely 'understandabold' because the changes in each word seem to preserve the original just enough. Imagine falling asleep to this!

To see this Unwinese in print is another way to appreciate its complexity. The word combinations, although sometimes befuddling, seem to make sense after some cursory consideration. Open your ears to the sound of your own voice with this 'politito' analysis, again from LiberalEngland:

Fundamold to this new Europe is the swap and trade it. At first we have it all back and forward across the borders with “please have your passy portit open for inspection”.

And this is of a great waste of time, with estimate have it and 20 billion Euro a year – and that’s without the countit and the declimly point in the wrong place!

Unfortumost – all shame and sobit – the Britly people are not keen and soldy. What they ask of the Britly passport? What of the pound and perch and of the Queen and reignit herself?

Hear their cryimost: give me bendy bananas or death and end it!

Find out plenty more about Stanley Unwin, his rocky beginnings, and his unconventional path to English comedy legend in this obituary from the Guardian. Or, as a final throwback, enjoy this clip of dear, dear Prof. Unwin advertising a fancy little piece of technology in its day:

"Talkin' nomenclature, man!"

Again comes the time to rename / rebrand the blog. No, it's not for marketing purposes; it's simply to infuse some vigor into the little spot I've carved out of the crowded cloud. So, I'm moving on from 'mutatis mutandis' and I'm adopting this new name: 'res ipsa loquitur'. The phrase typically refers to legal negligence of some sort, some glaring oversight on the part of a defendant which is evident to all actors in the court.

The translation from the Latin is "the thing speaks for itself" and could be followed by (and I like this bit!) another phrase: 'sed quid in infernos dicit' which roughly means "but what the hell does it say?" So, maybe the negligence isn't quite so obvious after all!

My wise friend would be so pleased that I'm nabbing such a legal term. Of course, I always twist the meaning somewhat for my own purposes, and I'm going to deem that "just fine!" What you find here is self-evident. Whether you read just one post or search back through the years, maybe you'll be able to discern the 'quid in infernos dicit'.

Chucho Valdés: 'El Maestro' del Jazz Cubano

From my bootleg vault, here's a live selection recorded at an inspiring concert in Marquette, MI in the Winter of 2003. The legendary Cuban pianist Jesus "Chucho" Valdés leads a group of young jazz players whose ages perhaps just add up to that of Sr. Valdes at the time.

Chucho Valdes --2-- Live by afctank

El Maestro's work can be found in so many manifestations from his recent recordings with his father Bebo Valdés all the way back to the groundbreaking Afro-Cuban jazz project with the supergroup he helped form in 1972, Irakere.

From the abridged Irakere discography by Wilson & Alroy's Record Reviews:

In 1979, members included Jesús "Chucho" Valdés, piano; Enrique Plá, drums; Carlos Emilio Morales, guitar; Paquito D'Rivera, clarinet and sax; Arturo Sandoval, trumpet; Carlos Del Puerto, bass; Oscar Valdés, vocals and percussion; Carlos Averhoff, flute and sax; Jorge Varona, trumpet; Jorge Alfonso and Armando Cuervo, percussion. D'Rivera and Sandoval left 1980; José Luis Cortés joined.

Various laudatory comments for Irakere on FlyGlobalMusic:

“One of the finest jazz ensembles in the world” LA Times

“One of the best big bands in the world” Itunes

“Among Cuba’s most influential bands” Discogs

“Chucho Valdes is the greatest jazz pianist in Cuba, perhaps one of the greatest pianists in the world” Time Magazine

“Arturo Sandoval is arguably the most prodigious trumpeter of his generation” The Guardian

The Art of...?

This existential street art is located in the Mission District of San Francisco. The alleyway is famous for its graffiti, admittedly of a wide-ranging quality. The view of the alley itself is pictured within the figure at center.

Do you know this piece? Do you know its maker? I do not. Please help me to solve the mystery.

Burma VJ ~ Another Secret Worth Exposing

DVD Review
BurmaVJ: Reporting From a Closed Country
Another Secret Worth Exposing by Alexander Tank
July, 28 2010

Generally, the Academy Awards ‘Documentary Feature’ category comprises an intriguing and often highly entertaining cross-section of the world’s most fascinating narratives. This year’s winner, The Cove, let viewers into a secretive world of animal abuses and the vying parties who respectively seek to conceal or expose the heinous, brutal crimes, in this case against wild bottlenose dolphins. Despite The Cove’s ultra-high production values and engaging, spy thriller plot lines, another film in this category deserved the international attention that only an Oscar can provide: the risk-taking political reportage and the breathtaking bravery of protesters in BurmaVJ by Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller.

Whether it’s called Burma or Myanmar, the oppressive military regime ironically named the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has quietly cultivated an environment of political repression since seizing power after violently crushing a student uprising in 1988. The gripping film is narrated by the founder of a street journalism collective, the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), appearing in the film under the alias “Joshua”. For most of the film, Joshua communicates with a team of street journalists armed with only video cameras and their remarkable courage. Cleverly concealing their cameras, their ultimate weapons to expose the military junta, the video journalists covertly document what has become known as the “Saffron Uprising” beginning in August of 2007 as a response to rapidly rising fuel costs brought on, after decades of oppression, by the government’s removal of protective subsidies.

The protests continue into the fall, and as students and demonstrators for the opposition are arrested and detained, throngs of Buddhist monks, voicing messages of peace and kindness in their billowing traditional saffron robes, join the non-violent effort to loosen the SPDC’s suffocating grasp on the lives of the Burmese people. With Nobel Prize winning democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi sequestered in a heavily guarded compound, the monks gradually escalate their protest and are quickly joined by students and the Burmese citizenry, all under the watchful eye of the junta’s generals via soldiers and plainclothes police in the streets. Over the course of days, a Buddhist monastery is raided by government agents and tens of monks are arrested in the bloody, repressive sweep. The mass of the uprising only increases as the daily protests gain momentum.

All the while, the DVB’s video journalists bravely capture the tumultuous and disturbing events on film. The internet, too, is a major player in the story as journalist leader Joshua works to disseminate the shocking images from a temporary outpost in neighboring Thailand. When a Japanese journalist is killed while filming the people’s peaceful revolt, that video is also leaked to the global media and the government’s taut cover of silence is temporarily broken, but the fight to spread the truth about the SPDC continues even under mortal threat to the video journalists and the protesters they capture on camera.

Despite its ramifications, with its documented human rights abuses and egregious military repression, BurmaVJ was passed over for an Academy Award in favor of a story about animal rights. This is perhaps the most telling aspect of 2009’s Oscar cycle: While important in its own right, a film about dolphins prevailed over a film about people whose lives and livelihoods are daily threatened by a violent and secretive military regime that actively engages in fervent censorship, keeping this unbelievably important secret from the rest of the world. Joshua and the DVB’s VJ’s, the Buddhist monks, and the Burmese people deserve for their story to be known and BurmaVJ is the ultimate conveyance for their ongoing struggle.

photo courtesy of lib.hku.hk

Burma VJ: Reporting From a Closed Country - the official site

Free The VJ's - take action

NY Times take on Burma VJ - review with interviews, by John Anderson

Why, I say "Howdy"

I've never been a Texan. Of course, I've been there, driven across its endless width, bored silly until reaching Big Bend National Park and the darkest, star-filled sky I've ever gazed upon, but that's beside the point I'm making. Even though ranchers and barbecue and football aren't all that important to me, the greeting I seem to default to is one used by some folks with those interests (yes, I'm fine with a bit o' the ol' stereotyping here!). Dangit, I like to say howdy! In fact, it's my preferred salutation, and I had to consider it before I could figure out why.

If you say, "How are you?" there's bound to be some sort of potential answer there. In passing, this could lead to a Larry David-coined "stop'n'chat" of an often undetermined length. I'm just so busy that I can't take that chance.

If you say a simple "hi" or "hello" you'd better accompany that with a genuine, friendly smile or at least a little eye twinkle or you may come across as rather terse. In the end, a more succinct head nod with a slight curl under of the lower lip and chin might serve just as well. Think of Jerry Seinfeld in the bakery waiting for Elaine's number to be called. She waits anxiously as Jerry bides his time with a black-and-white frosted cookie, snacking in silent solidarity with the stoic but friendly-faced black man across the store who's engaged in the very same. The knowing glance -- the head nod, lower lip purse -- is all they need.

Why not try a "What's up?" or a slightly hipper sounding "wussup?" Still, there's an imbedded question there, even though it's a fairly typically dismissed piece of punctuation. I don't need to hear "nothin'" or "not much" because I can gather that much without asking.

How about a simple and to the point "Yo." If it's not too intensely delivered, this can work well, but there is the ring of the poseur in it. No, I didn't grow up on Flatbush Ave. and yes, I do have some favorite hip hop tracks, but alas it's not what my parents taught me as an appropriate greeting -- sort of prompts the same reaction as the classic "Hey is for horses" if delivered too abruptly.

This brings me back to good ol' trusty "howdy". As a shortened version of the far more cowboy "How do?", I feel it does the job of acknowledging others without implying "pardner" for the most part. Also, it invites not in the least, any length of stop'n'chat because, without any inflection at the end, a solid "howdy" successfully loses its original inquisitive ring.

So, if you can't pause and have a real conversation, and if you just want to be friendly to strangers, try a "Howdy" once in a while. Better yet, some good, old-fashioned eye contact might do the trick; "pardner" that with a toothy smile (or even a toothless smile) and you've got yourself a polite enough greeting for almost any scenario, not that you needed my help with that!

Remember Harvey Pekar

photo credit: RhymesWithChoice

The Original (Goodbye Splendor) by Anthony Bourdain ~

Still stubbornly latched on the fringe himself, Bourdain eulogizes Cleveland's underground comic book legend, jazz writer, & blue-collar cultural icon, Harvey Pekar.

image courtesy of Ben Temple Smith

Fresh Air from WHYY ~ Terry Gross and the crew pay tribute to the late Pekar in various interviews, one with wife Joyce Brabner, from 2003 and 2005.

Unmistakable authenticity and an unpretentious demeanor contradict his own self-criticism. While before him Kerouac and Warhol pranced, showered in compliments, this fella trudged the daily path of an artful life, like living the best runs of an inspired improvisation in between all the pops and scratches in the cut.

"Everybody's like everybody else, and everybody's different from everybody else." ~ Harvey Pekar

Tenzin Gyatso turns 75

"The purpose of our lives is to be happy."

photo courtesy of bbc.co.uk

Images to commemorate the 75th birthday of the
14th Dalai Lama
Tenzin Gyatso

"There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness."

"We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves."

 

"Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a stroke of luck."

photo courtesy of allydirectory.com

 

Lhasa De Sela

This clip features a very appealing animation style, and the song by Montreal-based artist Lhasa de Sela is subtly beautiful yet melancholic, managing to avoid the suicidal tendencies of so much contemporary art/folk pop -- sleepy and gorgeous! The old world, harp-fed sparkles add to the ambiance, as though the streets of the French-Canadian landscape were translated to the shores of the Baltic Sea.



Other tracks from her self-titled album Lhasa carry the same drifting style, making you feel as if you're in a row boat with her, lolling in the tide of life's irrational regularity. Even in the mundane, there is mystery, and Lhasa's soulful timbre helps take you there.

Link to Lhasa De Sela's official website & MySpace to listen to other tracks. Her biography reveals the roots of her ethereal, spiritual sound. Explore!

Well said, Kid!

After all the heavy subject matter here, I've decided some levity is in order. This track, a mash-up of sorts, was recorded in Michigan in 2005 or so (can't say for sure). The utter cuteness was too much for me to keep to myself. Enjoy Lea's extemporaneous interpretation of Dr. Seuss!


LeaPhraseMash by afctank

Crude | Blunders | Continued

The fact that I'm even following up on the earlier post about the Gulf oil spill is worst of all. The hope was that the gushing, collosal engineering mistakes 5,000 ft below the shimmering Gulf's surface would have been capped by now. It is simply flabbergasting that BP and its host of collaborators have yet to stop or even slow the flow of oil and natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico. There is hardly an upside to this epic environmental disaster, but one is there nonetheless.

There was "top hat", then little "top hat", then the "junk shot" and the "mud shot" and of course, the "muddy junk shot"; however, the most important word I've heard bandied about is this: moratorium. Halting deepwater drilling projects and taking time to investigate the Murphy's law circumstances that led to the deadly Deepwater Horizon explosion are prudent (gladly taking that word back from a previous administration) steps at this critical juncture (reclaiming that one, too!). In the meantime, President B.H.O. should gather up his favorite back-pocket legislators, grab Dr. Steven Chu and get crackin' on renewable energy options and green-jobs creation--these were some decent sized planks in the platform, remember?

If the deaths of those Transocean employees could do any good, it will be in forcing the Obama administration, the Interior Department, and fossil fuel interests to go about their business in a safer more considerate way. No longer will the surgeon slice and dice without thinking about sewing Mother Earth back up again. If these companies can't prove their effective contingency planning, then they plain aren't invited into the operating theater! No swim daiper? Then, sorry, baby can't come into the pool; uh, BP, now we know you're not wearing your swim daiper.

photo courtesy of The Guardian

Jon Stewart (a.k.a. Stewbeef) runs down the clean-up debacle in a hilarious segment from The Daily Show, May 13, 2010, especially enjoyable due to its clever jabs at the always piss-poor Detroit Lions and astute recognition of Mayan endtimes indicators. Enjoy!