Soul Power, Redux

I admit it. It's not work or life that's been keeping me from keeping y'all updated. It's these masterworks from the Daptone Records catalog. Soul music in the Stax tradition. Most of the catalogue was recorded in analog and within the past 10-12 years. The albums below (which you can purchase on vinyl!) were all recorded in the past 5 or 6!

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Check out some samples...


SeeqPod - Playable Search

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Old School

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Weather Report: Cloudy and Gray

A Look at the Life and Work of Joe Zawinul
by David Was

Day to Day, September 12, 2007 · We look back at the work of keyboardist Joe Zawinul, one of the founders of the fusion jazz movement. Zawinul died Tuesday at age 75.

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Soul Power

I know I've passed this video around to some, but I can't help it. I've been watching it at least every other day for the past month. It's the Tower of Power at the 2006 Montreaux Jazz Festival playing their signature tune "What Is Hip," featuring Carlos Santana on guitar. Now, Carlos isn't a funk guitarist. You'll notice he goes 8 bars trying to play in the style of the tune; it was a'ight. But then, he gives us 16 bars of pure Carlos.



Damn, this still gives me goosebumps!

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"Hipness is what it is"

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Some of you are looking as some of those latest acquisitions and saying, "Oh, he's finally moved into the 21st century...but wait...is that CHICAGO XI? Jeeze, that album is almost as old as he is. And, doesn't he have that one, 'cause he damn sure has all the others?" Actually, a CD copy of XI is the only one that's managed to elude me. And please, watch and listen first before you give me any of that "pussy music" stuff.

I highly recommend PROG by The Bad Plus. Any jazzers who can reinvent "Tom Sawyer" by Rush deserve respect.

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Righteous Anger

Listening to these albums, I really think Lewis Black knows my pain.

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These just take me back to a time in high school where all us freaks and geeks hip cats would pass comedy tapes around in study hall and such.

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Amen (Break), Brother!

My plan for the day was set back a bit. I got caught up in BookTV, random Saturday morning lingering, and this video I got via 3:AM Magazine.

Have a seat and educate yourself for about twenty minutes...



I've been keeping a list of various good reads, but am I now going to have to start a new one for documentary videos on YouTube?

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Retro

I've been on a real retro 70s kick lately. Real 70s music, not the SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER soundtrack (not that there's anything wrong with that).

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It's tastes like these that cause others to wonder if I was really born in the early 70s, which I was.

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Playlist

As far as the stuff from last time, it took awhile for The New Pornographers stuff to sink in, but I think it did. At least the ELECTRIC VERSION album did. The Yo La Tengo album didn't grab me as much, but I'll give it more of a listen. I'm surprised that I'm listening to Bill Champlin's RUNAWAY as much as I have, despite what a Champlin junkie I am. But we all know I'm a sucker for 80s AOR music, too.

Anyway, I thought I'd start out 2007 with something out of the comfort zone. Though I'll be honest, The Blue Nile isn't. I've heard them before performing with other folks. Anyway, we've got that and, while I'm on the New Pornographers kick, we've got some Neko Case as well.

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Playlist

I take a break from my day at the Diamond Mines to bring you what's running through that new mp3 player of mine. We've got the 80s AOR, two of the best modern jazz musicians around, and some indie stuff.

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Movin' On Up

ITEM ONE
It's taken a couple of years, but The Wife and I seem to have achieved a semblance of financial stability. Of course, it has to happen right before the holidays. We're simultaneously overjoyed and dismayed to find ourselves in a new consumer bracket, one that includes small pieces of antique (but functional) furniture, home appliances, and consumer electronics. Namely, a MacBook Pro for her and a 250GB external drive for me.

We're still close enough to our previous austere life to feel apprehensive shelling out considerable sums of money for things other than utilities. But when you've been working with old and busted second hand computers for as long as she has, or when you've already suffered near-catastrophic data failure like I have, all of a sudden these things really do start looking like investments, especially when our dreams and goals basically revolve around producing things as efficiently as possible. In the 21st century, you just can't do that with crap.

It's just a wierd feeling, is all.

ITEM TWO
Because, I'm just not used to being able to buy enough storage to backup my laptop six times over and be able to pick up a couple of cool CDs at the same time.

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So To You, This Is Just a Good Time

...but for me, this is what I call life, as the song goes.

Apologies in advance to those whose RSS readers I'm about to break.

1
I submitted a story to an online magazine that I usually get an average response time (read: rejected) of a month. This time around, they've held it for almost three. So I email the mag, thinking that they've rejected it and their message got caught in my spam filter, seeing as they've published the issue that I submitted the story for during their last reading period. Turns out, the tell me that they're "still considering it." I think I'll chalk this one up as the first non-rejection letter I've received, eh?

2
Currently reading:
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THE YEAR'S BEST FANTASY & HORROR has Chuck Palahniuk's "Guts," but that's not the reason I got it. I noticed in the table of contents a very short story by Joyce Carol Oates called "Stripping" which was included as an example of her darker fiction. I'm ashamed to say that I really didn't know she did "darker fiction."

Kelly Link's MAGIC FOR BEGINNERS was just released on paperback, so I just had to have it. I don't know why I continue to torture myself by reading her stuff. Talk about total discouragement. I read her stuff and ask myself, "Why do I even bother?"

I've been neglecting my own advice and been leafing through RUN WITH THE HUNTED: A CHARLES BUKOWSKI READER. From the parts that I've read, the editor John Martin seems to have carefully selected certain material in a way similar to the way zoos are designed to keep the patrons at a safe distance from the more vicious animals. Maybe I'll actually pick this one up soon to innoculate myself because I'm finding myself wanting to read more and more of his prose.

3
Currently Listening:
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Relative newcomer Christian Scott and his band blend their artistry into something accessible in REWIND THAT. In other words, it's not always about "swing" but rather "the groove," whether they're dealing with swing, R&B, or even rock grooves (see also most stuff by Lonnie Plaxico or Jacky Terrasson).

BROWNIE: THE COMPLETE EMARCY RECORDINGS OF CLIFFORD BROWN is literally a jazz master-class in a box, complete with false starts and alternate versions of songs and solos. This may sound pretentious, but that statement alone should separate those who would truly appreciate it from those who might have a casual interest but not want to invest in a 10-CD box.

There's no way I could turn my nose up at Toto's FALLING IN BETWEEN if I actually shelled out cash for CHICAGO XXX. And, not just because of the James Pankow horn arrangements, either. It's great music. Trouble is, you could level the same criticism (though some would call it praise) on Toto. One could say that someone cryogenically froze Toto back in 1989 and revived them in the studio to record this album.

4
I'm still getting adjusted to my new fall schedule at The Big Red School on the Hill. I come in later, but then I'm the last one to leave to close the Joint. There's potential in this schedule except for two things: (a) My bad nocturnal habits are creeping back in. Since last Thursday, I've gotten less than 8 hours of sleep a night, which is a long string since I've started this new sleep hygeine thing. (b) There's no longer any real time for dinner between the end of my day and any evening physical activity (in this case, yoga).

5
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I've managed to introduce The Wife to two more BBC gems that she'll enjoys, CHEF! and MONARCH OF THE GLEN. I haven't seen CHEF! in quite a few years. It's main character has all the traits I admire: arrogance, bile, the ability to hurl carefully-chosen insults, and a heart (even if he won't admit it).

MONARCH OF THE GLEN, I swear, is almost the BBC Scotland version of NORTHERN EXPOSURE, not necessarily being wacky and zany, but because of its cast of eccentric characters. Not to mention the big stag featured at the end of the opening credits, in lieu of a moose.

6
There is no...number six.

7
Now...to the grind.

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Blog Neglect

If blogs had social workers, this one would've been forcibly removed from me. Here's my attempt at making amends.

1
Let's see, the sleep thing is going well. I should be in bed now but the heat wave makes that difficult. They say the ideal sleeping temperature is around 65° F. Unfortunately, icicles start forming on The Wife's nose at that temperature. But hot is hot and it's just been plain ridiculous.

2
The playlist on my mp3 player has songs from the following albums. Hey, screw you--I can't help it if they get me and keep me in the mood to write.

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It might have to do with the fact that these albums share a lot of the same musicians. People tend to forget that the members of Toto were and still are the best studio musicians around.

3
The Big Red School on the Hill finally fixed their errors on my health insurance coverage. I--that is, The Wife and I--finally have the correct health, dental, and eye coverage that I signed up for. Everything's credited, paid, and backdated. Still, after all that, I hope we don't have to really use any of it...except for a dentist. It's been too long since I've been to one.

4
Sorry, but this has just been on my mind, lately.

When you get caught
Between the moon and New York City
I know it's crazy but it's true
If you get caught
Between the moon and New York City
Best that you can do
Best that you can do
Is fall in love
-Christopher Cross, "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)"

5
Somewhere, I think I've raved about Charles Bukowski's BURNING IN WATER, DROWNING IN FLAME. I also think I've mentioned the fact that a friend, when he heard I was reading that, said to me, "I read some Bukowski once. I decided I just wasn't mentally healthy enough to handle it." Well, sure, the poetry isn't exactly uplifting Maya Angelou stuff and he makes Raymond Carver seem like he's on anti-depressants by comparison.

But then I leafed through a short story collection of Buk's called TALES OF ORDINARY MADNESS (which is actually half of a collection, no longer published in its entirety, titled ERECTIONS, EJACULATIONS, EXHIBITIONS AND TALES OF ORDINARY MADNESS--Hm, I wonder why?). My impulse was to buy it, but something told me "No, sit down and read some of it first."

Yes, it's every bit as gruesome as one would expect. Crude, too, but honestly so. You could call some of it "prurient," "twisted," and "sick" but it's not there (I don't think, based on my cursory reading) to shock--and that's actually part of the problem. It's the presentation of "Yes, this is the sick and twisted everyday life of some sick and twisted characters" that makes it hard to swallow. Maybe one day I'll grow up enough to handle it, but not before I've gone through a few more volumes of Buk's poetry (and god, there're a lot of them).

6
There is noooo...number six.

7
Coming soon (when I feel like pulling the camera back out): Productivity pr0n!

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