- Weather Report: Forecast : Tomorrow
It had been a long time since I had listened to any WR, but I got asked to pick a favorite track for a piece that another publication was running, and so I bought this box set and spent the better part of a couple of days listening. It all came flooding back, all of those hours back in the day I spent listening to I Sing the Body Electric, Mysterious Traveler and Black Market, etc, and I re-lived what a major influence the band had had on my musical development. The early music especially still sounds so fresh, with Miroslav Vitous playing ferociously, and the un-sung Eric Gravatt is definitely one of my favorite drummers of all time, AND a Minnesota homeboy. Check out Surucucu & the live version of Nubian Sundance_damn.
- Dave Holland Quintet: Critical Mass
Dave has one of the great BANDS working today, and his playing & writing never cease to make me smile and shout "yeah!" until the person next to me punches me in the shoulder. I had the good fortune of spending a month at the Banff Center many years ago when he was head of the Jazz program, and I will never forget how he would play for 7 of us in a room as hard and emotionally and COMMITTED as he would for a festival audience. The music is always ON with this man, and he's also one the nicest human beings you could hope to meet.
- Huvibrational: Universal Mother
This is a trio of Adam Rudolph, Brahim Fribgane & Hamid Drake (3 of my favorite musicians), and is mostly percussion, with occasional sintir & oud & flute popping up. Adam writes most of the music, and his compositional style is very hip. I like this CD especially because there's no bass on it and it's great to play along to!
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| Favorite Live Performance of 2006 |
- Konono No.1 at the Museum Of Fine Arts Courtyard, Boston, MA, July 19, 2006. They play pretty much one groove, but you find yourself not wanting for more because it is a fucking GREAT groove, and sweaty dancing bodies in the moonlight with the sound of that bass mbira blasting through an SVT stack -nice
- Adam Rudolph's Moving Pictures at Brookline Tai Chi, Brookline, MA, Nov 18, 2006. Adam makes it into another category, and no coincidence that it is the Huvibrational trio that anchors this 7 piece band (and makes Adam, Brahim & Hamid tied for MVPs this year), which also featured great playing from Steve Gorn, Ned Rothenberg & Kenny Wessel. A great alternative venue in which to experience the show as well, with folks on couches, futons, pillows_under the grand and expansive roof of BTC, it the former site of a swank club back in the 20's.
- Tilahun Gessesse w/ Neway Debebe & Tamagne Bey and Debo Band at The Hellenic Cutural Center, Watertown, MA, Dec 9, 2006. Wow, it seems that all 3 of my top shows happened in non-club atmospheres. This was the most recent, and was a show I was turned onto by pal Russ Gershon, as I never would have heard about it otherwise, it being far under the radar. About 700 folks showed up (about 95% of whom were Ethiopian) for this event which made up for the messy production with high energy and ecstatic communal dancing. There's just nothing like the sight of a room full of Ethiopians rushing the stage, cell phones and digital cameras blinking and flashing, when Tilahun (the first great singer of Ethiopian pop music back in the 50's, who had his throat slit by a jealous husband in the 80's, and is now relegated to a wheel chair) first appeared. Locals Debo Band had just the right amount of out-of-tuneness and insisitent groove for that authentic Ethiopiques sound, not to mention a tuba player.
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| Personal Favorite On-stage Moment/Show of 2006 |
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I had my '61 Fender Jazz Bass stolen from the stage after a show my band Club d'Elf played at our home base, Cambridge's Lizard Lounge on Nov 9, 2006. It was a real mind-numbing bummer, and I had a rough few days of non-stop emailing, calling pawn shops, filing reports, hitting the pavement, etc. An overwhelming outpouring of support from the local - and beyond - musical community provided much encouragement, and humbled me to no end. There's a happy ending to the story : 3 days later an anonymous phone call lead to the bass being returned by the sister of the (repentant) dude who stole it. We next played the Lizard on Nov 30, 2006, right after Thanksgiving, and I played the bass again on that stage, something I thought I would never be able to do again. It was one of the most grateful experiences I have ever had, and I tried to be conscious all through the show of the gift that I was given.
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| Classic Album You Discovered This Year |
- "J", musician/shaman from Peru. Not an "artist" in the typical sense, but nevertheless he possesses an extraordinary musical talent which I experienced during several ayahuasca (www.ayahuasca.com if you're unfamiliar with it) ceremonies which he presided over. The songs, or Icaros, he played and sang are indeed "classic", in that they are ancient and timeless, and indeed defy our notions of "time". They are anything but "new age". This is the REAL deal, the REAL shit. It is the music of before we were born, and after we die. Powerful and sacred in the truest sense of the word, and I am grateful for them, and him.
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| Best Film You Saw This Year |
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The Piano Tuner Of Earthquakes (The Bros Quay). If you like dreams, and don't mind the lack of logical plot movement, you must see this movie. For one thing it is one of the most beautiful, and sexy, too. I always thought David Lynch was the king of dreams (and I still have to see Inland Empire, so this may change), but I now have to hand the scepter to the Quay Bros.
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The Departed ( Martin Scorsese). I'm not a native Bostonian, but I've lived here longer than I have anywhere else, and am uneasily coming to the realization that I am a Bostonian. Shudder. This movie, besides having incredible performances by Nicholson & Dicaprio (and who knew Alec Baldwin could be so funny?), really got the right vibe of this town. And no surprise that Marky Mark gets the accent perfect (even if Jack doesn't even try).
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(Tie) A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater) & For Your Consideration (Christopher Guest). Always been a big Philip K. Dick fan, and this one, though not perfect, is the truest representation of his vision. Still waiting for someone to attempt Ubik or Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. Maybe Christopher Nolan, perhaps? Darren Aronofsky? As for FYC, I laughed harder than I did for Borat (which I would put in the Top 10, but not the top 3), and it features some amazingly funny performances, the highlight of which is Catherine O'Hara's role as an aging actress under "consideration" for an Oscar which deserves to be considered for an Oscar. How's that for meta?
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| What Song From The Past Year Do You Wish You Wrote |
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| Artist You Are Most Excited About In 2007 |
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Tie : Richard Kelly. Again. I think I listed him when last I did this a couple of years ago, and I'm STILL waiting for his next movie. I have watched Donnie Darko so many times now I've worn out the DVD (if you haven't seen it, and of course you have, but if not, make sure it's the original and NOT the directors cut - trust me), and it was just SO audacious a debut. I am very excited to see what he comes up with next.
Jon Brion. One of the few folks I know who the term "genius" applies to. Played with him when he was living in Boston, and have sat in a few times at Largo when I've been in LA, and I am never amazed at the bottomless fountain of creativity from which Jon sups. I just discovered his solo CD Meaningless, which came out several years ago to little fanfare, and damn, this guy can WRITE. And play. And produce. Maybe he should write the score for Kelly's next film, and it can be an adaptation of Ubik???
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| Your Latest Guilty Pleasure |
- YouTube. If I'm not careful I can spend WAY too much time poking around. It's nice too that I can get rid of my old crappy underground vids of comedy stuff, like Darrell Bluett and stuff. Much easier to send someone a URL than making a dub of a tape that is already barely watchable.
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- Gnawa Stories. www.ibiblio.org/gnawastories. A really good overview of the Gnawa, who are sub-Saharan Africans brought to Morocco as slaves 500 years ago, and whom play the most incredible music and serve as healers for their community. Lots of good video and audio clips.
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| A Memorable/ Humorous/Classic Moment on road in 2006 |
- Just watching drummer Erik Kerr have his mind blown by Tokyo during our tour there - much to enjoy, especially his getting down with a group of local hip-hop kids dancing in a playground. Also for that matter, Jeff Misner (aka Mister Rourke) negotiating the purchase of a bottle of absinthe from a Japanese liquor store, with the typical language difficulties
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| Best YouTube Video You Saw This Year |
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