Les Claypool & Co: The Power of Music (Revisited)
Sean MurphyI will go ahead and answer my own question (posed the other month, HERE). Based on the footage I've seen (never caught him in real time, in person, alas) Les…
Peter Gabriel & Me: The Power of Music (Revisited)
The face this guy makes when he listens to "Here Comes the Flood" by Peter Gabriel. Maybe not every time, and certainly not every time he is driving. But it's…
Led Zeppelin on Led Zeppelin (Revisited)
We tend to not think of Led Zeppelin as actual human beings. The reason, of course, is that they are not. At least not in the ways that can be…
Victory and Sorrow: Bright Moments from Three Masters (Revisited)
HOW TO TALK ABOUT JAZZ MUSIC? Well, perhaps it’s better to determine how not to talk about jazz music. Hearing is believing. That’s all there is to it. And if…
O’Connor and Coltrane: Saints of American Art
i. I never, until this year, made the explicit connection between John Coltrane and Flannery O’Connor. Why should I have? One was an introverted white woman, a southern writer who…
Emotional feedback on a timeless wavelength: Rush’s ‘Permanent Waves’ (Revisited)
How unbelievably appropriate that Permanent Waves was released on January 1, 1980? In virtually every regard, this album ended the '70s (literally) and foreshadowed the fertile grounds (reggae, pop elements,…
Yusef Lateef: R.I.P., Gentle Giant (Revisited)
We have lost one of the great, indeed one of the greatest, ones. Yusef Lateef, aged 93 years young, was finally stopped by cancer on December 23. I say "finally"…
My Kind of Christmas Music (Revisited)
Tchaikovsky Corelli Bach A couple from John Fahey The Who Chuck Berry a three-fer from Jethro Tull! Sonny Boy The Godfather Donny Satchmo Ella! (An embarrassment of riches here, here,…
O Captain! My Captain!: The Unique Magic of Don Van Vliet (Revisited)
As Ian Anderson said, “We’re getting a bit short on heroes lately.” And Ian, while he wasn’t speaking of Don Van Vliet, nevertheless would --and has— endorsed the man better…
Life in the Key of Song: Strawberry Fields Forever (Revisited)
Living is easy with eyes closed/Misunderstanding all you see, It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out/It doesn't matter much to me. Those aren't just defining lines…