Music

I hate that Spotify took money from ICE.  I watched Heart of Dog 2015, a movie about grief by Laurie Anderson, and while there's only a brief picture of Lou Reed, I'm sure the loss of him in 2013 is present, and the movie ends with a song off Ecstasy, and I realize I'd not listened to any albums since New York 1989, which I love.  1/1/2026 Ecstasy 2000 Lou Reed spotify 1/2 Set The Twilight Reeling 1996 Lou Reed spotify 1/3 Magic and Loss 1993 Lou Reed spotify 1/4 Songs for Drella 1990 Lou Reed spotify The movie Songs for Drella is on Criterion at the moment, and I quite liked that.  1/5  Mister Heartbreak 1984 Laurie Anderson spotify , YouTube "Gravity's Angel" borrows imagery from Thomas Pynchon's novel Gravity's Rainbow (1973). Anderson had "wanted to make an opera of that book ... and asked him if that would be OK... He said, 'You can do it, but you can only use banjo.' And so I thought, 'Well, thanks. I don't know if I could d...

I don't like Chet Baker singing more than one song. I tend to like authenticity over precision and from just the neck up, but his flat tones are just too off for me after a while. I think listening to a lot of music has changed my appreciation some, my taste profile away from authenticity, to more precision and complexity.  I hate how drugs killed the life out of so many musicians. He took it up in 1957. He's singing these songs before he's the addict I'm wary of. Maybe I don't like the fame and money that came his way that made him think he could be a drug addict. I certainly don't like him being voted over Clifford Brown and Miles Davis in 1954, that's just pure racism. I mean he's not bad, he's allowed to be in the top 3, maybe top 10 at the time.  I watched Let's Get Lost  (1988), interviews shortly before he died, some footage when he was younger, lots of talking heads. He seemed quite haunted, a husk of a human. That's what addiction do...

I don't know how AI music is a problem if I'm going and looking for specific albums when I go to Spotify.  12/1/2025 A Flat, G Flat and C 1966 Yusef Lateef YouTube I was looking for a jazz album where the  theremin is played, and this one does, not in the first songs though, so listen further in. 12/2 Kuni Mikami 2018 Keep On Swinging spotify I looked him up because he's playing at Mezzrow the night I looked it up, not in December. I do these in advance. 12/3 Kuni Mikami 2023 Happy Birthday YouTube 12/4 Barry Harris 1957 If I Live Again spotify He was Kuni Mikami's teacher for 10 years. 12/5 Barry Harris 1960 At The Jazz Workshop (Live) spotify 12/6  Cynthia Erivo 2025 I forgive you spotify 12/7 Ariana Grande 2025 Brighter Days Ahead spotify 12/8 Wicked spotify 12/9 Wicked: For Good spotify 12/10 Wicked Original Broadway Cast spotify 12/11 The Stare (2024) by Consider the Source spotify 12/12 Thundercat: It Is What It Is (2020) spotify 12/13 The Y...

I'm watching a man on the inside , and they ask what's the best concert you've been to. I've seen the Violent Femmes a few times, Neil Young, Rush, Van Halen. Seeing Neil Peart drum was awesome.  I've seen so many jazz concerts, operas. Since my memory has faded, I'd say seeing Eddie Van Halen doing Eruption was amazing, Rush, was amazing, Prince in Manchester was amazing. The last jazz set I saw was Ari Hoenig, and that was amazing.  I remember really enjoying Cosi Fan Tutte, a Mozart Opera at a small place. I saw John Lithgow at the intermission, I could have gone over and talked to him if I had a good question for him. I saw Satyagraha at the Met, Philip Glass came up on stage and took a bow. I saw Philip Glass do Wichita Vortex Sutra: Pt 2, and that was amazing. I shook Sam River's hand, when he was playing with Andrew Hill. I saw Phil Collin, Brandi Carlile. I saw REM at Madison Square Garden, and my wife said she'd never heard me yell so much. I we...

Phil Schapp's parents were introduced to each other by Red Rodney , jazz trumpeter. They were real jazz lovers, and got a son who a was a jazz lover.  Phil Schaap has 10 years of Birdflight on his website , his radio show on WKCR, the Columbia radio station. He died in 2021. He started broadcasting in 1970! The website has 2008-2018 of his morning show Birdflight.  I remember a friend yelling, "shut up" because he talked a lot, because he knew so much. He was a real institution for those who loved jazz. You quickly realize after listening to him that you don't know anything, and that can be discomforting, and because he knows so much, he talks and talks and talks. He received six Grammy Awards over the course of his career. He was talking to jazz musicians when he was 5, and weaves his life through the lives of jazz musicians. Count Base and big band jazz weaves into his bird show because the show had huge ratings, and he never gave it up. Many jazz musicians moved to...

There's a fascinating article about modernism in the NY Times . My goal has been to share all 10 gift articles every month, and I'm out, so I can't share this article today. Pierre Boulez ’s “ Le Marteau Sans Maître ” (wikipedia) came out 70 years ago, and sounds as modern as anything out today.  The Times didn't create an album on Spotify, but I found an able that has that ditty.  The next piece is " Dark With Excessive Bright " by Missy Mazzoli is the next one.