The other day I wrote a piece called “Hum.” My friend Patrick said it needed some noir saxophone behind it. He’s a saxophonist, so I recorded myself reading the piece and sent it to him to add sax to. He did, and this is the result:
3 CommentsCategory: Music
I ran an indie rock radio station for a couple years, and one of the real joys of that gig was combing through Bandcamp and Spotify and other places looking for new bands that weren’t yet making waves on the radio but deserved a shot. Lilly Jacques’s “Eviction Notice” is exactly the kind of song I would have chosen. Hard-charging, angst-filled relationship rock that pulls no punches. Made by a teenager based in Albany, NY, “Eviction Notice” is exactly what I’d expect to hear blasting out of a garage on a summer night, the kind of music that characters in John Hughes movies bang their rebellious heads to. I’m long past Breakfast Club age, but I refuse to give up my right to the adrenaline-drenched music of youth, and this single hits all my spots. I shared it with a singer-songwriter friend who texted back, “The kids are all right.” I agree. Turn it up.
Leave a Commentup for an old revolution
walking the mall
with the Clancy Brothers
/ / /
12 February 2022
Colonie NY
Eggnog dresses
like Martin Gore:
New Life!
/ / /
28 January 2022
Colonie NY
The Best Thing
Late at night,
listening to songs
that make me cry.
They’re not sad songs.
They’re just so beautiful
I can’t hold the feeling in
so it comes out as tears.
Moments of transcendent joy:
Aurora dancing on Fallon;
Toad singing about Nanci;
jamming with Ringo’s photos;
belting out harmonies with Dawes.
Music is the best thing
in the whole goddamn universe.
You can quote me.
/ / /
12 January 2022
Colonie NY
Listening To Claude Thornhill’s “Snowfall”
The band announces itself with a flourish
before fading into the soft white of the piano.
It sounds better because it’s old,
a half-remembered audio phantasm
floating just out of reach.
Sure it would be nice to hear
every nuance, every breath, every
subtle shift in tone or timbre.
But given the choice, I’ll take
the crackles and static,
the muted highs and lows,
the mid-range heard as if
underwater, perhaps from
the bottom of a pool
while the band
plays on the
patio
above.
/ / /
6 January 2021
Albany NY
black-eyed peas
for good luck
(not the band)
/ / /
1 January 2022
Albany NY
the guitarist in my dream
the guitarist in my dream
was wearing an old army jacket
they looked up from under
their beanie cap
told me they loved me
introduced me to a friend
said the friend had been in
something famous
but they wouldn’t say what
so we all fixed bikes together
/ / /
17 December 2021
Farmington NY
This was the song going through my head when I awoke after this dream:
I’ve been reading Ross MacDonald’s The Drowning Pool today and listening to music as I read. Here’s the playlist:
Dizzy Gillespie — Night In Tunisia
George Shearing — Lullaby Of Birdland
Cecil Taylor — Looking Ahead
Gerry Mulligan — The Gerry Mulligan Quartet
Zoot Sims — Zoot Sims Avec Henri Renaud
Glenn Gould — Bach: The Two And Three Part Inventions
Emerson String Quartet — Beethoven: The String Quartets
Elvin Jones & Richard Davis — Heavy Sounds
I also made this into a Spotify playlist.
Leave a CommentArt Tatum & a book
(rain killed
the internet)
/ / /
11 December 2021
Greensboro Bend VT
Music for a rainy Monday:
Memphis Slim — The King Of Jump Blues
Magic Sam — West Side Soul
Robert Lockwood Jr. — Ramblin’ On My Mind
Homesick James — Blues On The South Side
T-Model Ford — Pee-Wee Get My Gun
Big John Patton — Accent On The Blues
James Blood Ulmer — Odyssey
Jessie Mae Hemphill — She-Wolf
saxophone over
strings
first snowfall
/ / /
28 November 2021
State College PA
Good afternoon, Stan Getz.
Good afternoon, Stan Getz.
I used to know what most of these
Portuguese words mean but now I don’t.
As I was typing the lines above I remembered
that you (not you, Stan, the other you)
also liked this album a lot.
In fact when I made us a nice dinner,
timed for the moment you got home from work,
it’s what I’d put on in the background.
My son is down the hall now,
listening to hip hop that’s fighting
with the soft drums of Milton Banana.
What a great name: Milton Banana.
I don’t know if his last name is said
like we’d say the fruit but I sure hope so.
Anyway back to my son:
Last night we had a long conversation
about the nature of happiness & security
& it turns out he has his own ideas
on those subjects & many others.
I love being surprised by what & how he thinks.
(Now Astrud is singing & I’m missing you.)
(Not you, Stan. Again, sorry.)
There’s a dog tucked up behind me on the sofa.
I chose “sofa” there because it sounds more
sophisticated than “couch” & this
is sophisticated music, you know?
Anyway, Stan, what was I saying?
I think the point is there’s a little snow on the leaves
on the ground on this little patch of planet &
that always means it’s time to dig into the vaults
for the good stuff from back in the day.
You’re one of the good things, buddy, so out you come.
Ha! Good one, Stan. Now you’re playing “Summertime.”
/ / /
27 November 2021
State College PA