"If today was Christmas Eve..."

I'd been posting these family photos to Facebook where they seem to land like a snowflake on an outstretched tongue.  Something about social media has gotten to me, in a bad way: The fleeting, scrolling, trending nature of everything, a post like a glare off a mirror to elicit a smile or provoke a thought then fades into the feed never to be revisited.  Here I can come back and remember.

The Huron River outside Hamburg, MI

From the vaults of Frederick H. Tank, Sr. via my father, F.H.Tank, Jr. and his preservation of these negatives:  Christmas & Days Past.

Little Freddy seems fairly pleased with the globe Santa left for him.

Grandma didn't much enjoy having her picture made by the time she and Grandpa Tank moved up to Traverse City in the '80s, so this is a rare, placid shot of her.  She loved to hang the tinsel though!

Helen (Jordan) Tank

Uncle Larry

Freddy & Larry circa 1948

My dad and his dad circa 1938.

My grandpa had a fine eye for composition and could nail an exposure. Back in the day, this took practice, persistence & patience, all of which he had.  This shot of my dad and my uncle is one of my favorites--Rockwellian and classically American--taken just after World War II when no doubt the future looked very exciting, indeed!

R.L. Burnside & Alan Lomax

Alan Lomax is well known as the pre-eminent field recordist and folklorist who helped bring the musical traditions of Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta to the public interest (setting aside his trove of recordings from around the world).  Together with his pioneer folklorist father, John Avery Lomax, their impact on American culture reverberates still. 

For a narrow slice of the Lomax legacy--and a subject close to my heart--collected here are films he made of R.L. Burnside of Holly Springs, Mississippi. I came to know Burnside's music after a series of late 90's remixes on Fat Possum Records and listened back from there.  On a trip to New Orleans, I spotted him in these historic photos, probably taken before he was ever recorded.

These clips offer a look into a verdant, peaceful place where, after long sweltering workdays, Burnside cultivated his sound, picking at home into dusk and playing juke joints into night.

The first tune below is from Sound Machine Groove, an album released in 1997 but recorded in1979 & '80. The film was shot two months before I was born.  In college, I listened to this song over and over--couldn't get enough of that shuffling feel!

Here Burnside's sons get into it.  You can imagine these kids playing along with their dad before they could manage instruments.

Those 90's remixed blues tunes, oddly enough, put R.L. Burnside on folks' radar.  It's where I first heard him, and in one of the tunes he calls out, "On drums, my grandson, Cedric Burnside...".

I've since seen Cedric Burnside playing live to a sparsely occupied venue in Athens, GA.  Most people there didn't understand the tradition that this young guy was carrying forward.  Despite the meager crowd, he was as solid singing behind the drum set as his grandfather was behind a guitar.

One of the comments under this video says it all:  Cedric Burnside is "the best example of a self-actualized person I have ever seen. Pure joy!" Here he is doing a mean hambone with longtime collaborator Trent Ayers.  See if you don't agree.

R.L. Burnside - bio and discography at Fat Possum

R. L. Burnside - Delta Boogie interview

Alan Lomax - at CultureEquity.org, field recordings & plenty more

Hot Club of Athens with K. Ishibashi

Escher & Hundertwasser Prints

I've drifted back over to Seattle's superb Davidson Galleries and continued collecting images (at least virtually).  Escher caught my eye on the main page--iconic, legendary--but so too did Hundertwasser for his richly colored and textured works--and what a name!

ESCHER
We always gravitate towards M.C. Escher's masterworks of perspective, the tessellations, intricate patterning and bold graphics.  Along with the trademark images, this time a few lesser known pieces stood out (buy them here); the first helps to see into his process, the precision and density of his line work.  The second is a classic Eastern natural scene, a catfish (or koi) submerged in monochromatic autumn.  The last two are more commercial work, doubtless Escher's bread & butter in his early career before reaching mythical status.  His command of the medium is still unmatched and as striking as ever.

Regular Division of the Plane I, 1957

Woodcut in red on wove paper.

9-1/2 x 7-1/8 inches.

Three Worlds,   1955

Lithograph

14-1/4 x 9-3/4 inches

Lute (III),  1931

From XXIV EMBLEMATA. Woodcut on buff wove paper

7-1/8 x 5-1/2 inches

Peacock (Second Titled Page),   1931

From XXIV EMBLEMATA. Woodcut on buff wove paper

7 x 5-3/8 inches

HUNDERTWASSER:

The following is from Davidson's literature on Freidensreich Hundertwasser (prints here):

[Hundertwasser] was largely self-taught apart from a few months at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. While he admired members of Die Wiener Schule des Phantastischen Realismus (Viennese Fantastic Realists), it was with the richly colored and patterned surfaces of work by Gustav Klimt, Walter Kampmann and Egon Schiele that he found greatest resonance.

Hundertwasser's extensive graphic output began in 1967 and was characterized by hybrid forms that enmesh human and natural elements while using highly saturated colors, metallic imprints and carefully  ,calculated color variations within the printing of an edition.

The parallels to Klimt are evident, especially his framed, "cubbyhole" surfaces and use of metallic pigments.  The fact that he was self-taught brought to mind Earl Cunningham and maritime paintings I'd seen once in Orlando's Menello Museum of American Art; Cunningham's buildings in particular have that same tweaky, rickety feel with distorted perspective, the kind Escher would have scoffed off the paper.

These two below were made for the 1972 Munich Olympics, not necessarily remembered for sporting achievements but instead for an infamous terrorist act.  Beautiful colors printed ahead of dark days.

Olympische Speile München, 1972 (2 variations shown)

Silk screen in 21 colors with metal imprints in 5 colors 

and an electrostatic application of felt fibrils. 

40-1/2 x 25 inches.

One of Five Seaman, 1975

Silk screen in 18 colors with metal imprints in 2 colors   

33-5/8 x 22-7/8 inches.

Maybe it's the mustard color or the head shape in this last one, but I think of Os Gemeos, the twin Brazilian street artists who've been befriended by graffiti darling Banksy and lauded by international art critics.  Here's a write-up of their 2013 "Anglo-Paulista" collaboration for Banksy's residency in NYC.

El Apogeo de Fania

Israel "Cachao" Lopez

Who is Cachao?

Israel "Cachao" Lopez is often lauded as the creator of Mambo, which then led to the advent of Salsa music. More broadly, he is respected as the greatest bassist in modern Cuban musical history.  Over six decades his innovations on the instrument and his participation in countless groups have made him a giant who has spread the Cuban sound out of the Caribbean and into the mainstream.

I came upon Cachao and his musical legacy via the actor (and avid percussionist) Andy Garcia in a documentary entitled Cachao: Uno Más, currently on PBS's American Masters. Discussed in the film, the recording above is a version of Lopez's seminal cut called "Chanchullo", originally titled "Rareza de Melitón" in 1937,  and clearly the source for Tito Puente's "Oye Como Va" later popularized by Carlos Santana. Below is the film's synapsis from PBS:

The Grammy-winning bassist Israel “Cachao” Lopez died in Coral Gables, Florida in March 2008, almost 90-years old. A maestro of legendary status on the world stage and ultimately considered one of the greatest Afro-Cuban musicians of all time, he had made his home in the United States for the past four decades. Coming from a family of classical musicians, he had formal conservatory training and held a seat in the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra for 30 years, performing under the direction of all of the legendary international conductors of the time – beginning at age 10! American Masters pays tribute to the Father of Mambo in the series’ bilingual film, Cachao: Uno Más premiering Monday, September 20, 2010... The film is produced, narrated and illuminated by the actor Andy Garcia, a close friend and ardent fan, who helped re-establish Cachao’s career in the ‘90s. Among the film’s many treats is Garcia playing the bongos with Cachao.

Here's one of Cachao's first American releases--can't wait to hear it!

Lonnie Johnson

"When I mean soul, I mean soul."

Billy Strings & Don Julin

Paco de Lucía

 1947-2014

Academy Awards Contest ~ Take 5

Okeh, let's go people.  It's Oscar contest time again.  Copy the entire ballot into a comment and erase all but your pick for each category.  I'll count 'em up and we'll see who reigns supreme!

Best Picture
12 Years a Slave
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Actor
Christian Bale (American Hustle)
Bruce Dern (Nebraska)
Leonardo DiCaprio (Wolf of Wall Street)
Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)
Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Actress
Amy Adams (American Hustle)
Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
Judi Dench (Philomena)
Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)

Best Supporting Actor
Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)
Bradley Cooper (American Hustle)
Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)
Jonah Hill (Wolf of Wall Street)
Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)
Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
Julia Roberts (August: Osage County)
June Squibb (Nebraska)
Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)

Best Director
Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street)
David O. Russell (American Hustle)
Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity)
Alexander Payne (Nebraska)
Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave)

Best Adapted Screenplay
John Ridley (12 Years a Slave)

Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater (Before Midnight
)
Terence Winter (The Wolf of Wall Street
)
Billy Ray (Captain Phillips)

Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope (Philomena)

Best Original Screenplay
David O. Russell and Eric Singer (American Hustle)
Bob Nelson (Nebraska)
Spike Jonze (Her)
Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack (Dallas Buyers Club)
Woody Allen (Blue Jasmine)

Best Foreign Film
Denmark, The Hunt
Belgium, The Broken Circle Breakdown
Italy, The Great Beauty
Palestine, Omar
Cambodia, The Missing Picture

Best Documentary Feature
20 Feet from Stardom
The Act of Killing
Dirty Wars
The Square
Cutie and the Boxer

Best Animated Feature
The Wind Rises
Frozen
Despicable Me 2
The Croods
Ernest & Celestine

Film Editing
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
12 Years a Slave

Best Song
"Alone Yet Not Alone" (Alone Yet Not Alone)
"Happy" (Despicable Me 2)
"Let It Go" (Frozen)
"The Moon Song" (Her)
"Ordinary Love" (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom)

Best Original Score
John Williams (The Book Thief)
Steven Price (Gravity)
Alexandre Desplat (Philomena)
Thomas Newman (Saving Mr. Banks)
William Butler and Owen Pallett (Her)

Best Cinematography
Philippe Le Sourd (The Grandmaster)
Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity)
Bruno Delbonnel (Inside Llewyn Davis)
Roger Deakins (Prisoners)
Phedon Papamichael (Nebraska)

Costume Design
American Hustle
The Grandmaster
The Great Gatsby
The Invisible Woman
12 Years A Slave

Visual Effects
Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Iron Man 3
The Lone Ranger
Star Trek Into Darkness

Short Film, Live Action
Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me)
Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just Before Losing Everything)
Helium
Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)
The Voorman Problem

Short Film, Animated
Feral
Get a Horse!
Mr. Hublot
Possessions
Room on the Broom

Documentary Short Subject
CaveDigger
Facing Fear
Karama Has No Walls
The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall

Best Perm and/or Comb-over

Best Dental Implants

Yasiin Gaye by Amerigo Gazaway

Mashup master Gazaway melds classic R&B and hip hop in this new iteration.  His previous best was the afrobeat and old school blend of Fela Soul.  Taste test below.

Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def) and Marvin Gaye

Even More Selected Podcasts

Some time ago I put together a short list of worthwhile podcasts. Here are a few more to keep that list going.   Try these out on a walk or a commute or wherever you want to engage your imagination and/or be inspired.

UnFictional - KCRW puts together compelling stories from the Independent Producer Project, a great way to hear perspectives from storytellers who might not cut through the greater internet din. Here's a start for you: the tale of Nature Boy, a.k.a. eden ahbez, a California ascetic whose spiritual journey was a precursor to West Coast "hippie" culture.

RTÉ Radio 1 - This is not where I originally heard the story of a German paraglider who was hopelessly ensnared by an Australian thunderhead during competition, but if that gripping survival story is any indication, the Irish radio giant has plenty more quality pieces to discover.

Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On - An interest in field recordings and American roots music led me to this set of programs, chock full of rare Folkways Records treasures presented by the son of Moses Asch, the label's founder.

The whole collection is illuminated by the historical insights provided by Michael Asch & folklorists making these a pleasure to delve into. The episode titled Talking About the Blues exemplifies the depth of the music and cultural context found throughout the series (above, Big Bill Broonzy, one of my favorites).

Judge John Hodgman - The comedian/writer host is a middle-aged eccentric with a lush mustache and a distinctive worldview.  If you can handle a fair dose of hipster geekery, try out one of these entertaining mock trials based on:

"real life disputes on issues such as: 

-is chili a soup or a stew? 

-is this room in my house called an “office” or a “den” or “a room full of junk.” 

-when is it may someone else’s Chinese food be legally considered abandoned property?  

-is it OK to rifle through the trash for prize coupons in a Canadian pizza parlor? 

-is a machine gun a robot?  

Then I tell the disputants who is right and who is wrong." 

It's good fun (if not Maximum Fun) but be prepared to suffer through some adolescent cackling.  You do it for Click and Clack, don't you?

A little more about J. Hodgman from the multi-talented Steven Weinberg via Brooklyn Based

Enjoy...and tell me: What podcasts are you enjoying lately?

Dave Rawlings Machine Plus

Two from Live and Breathing & two from me.  Enjoy.

Like, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Like most folks, I like Wes Anderson--at least enough to post this trailer. I've even posted about him in the past. Like, surely, his next film will be something I'll also like.

 

The Grand Budapest Hotel