A New New Possibility
“Love is a great beautifier.”― Louisa May Alcott
Ah, the mystical time of Chanukah is upon us. It is so damn early this year (thank you lunar/solar calendar confusion) beginning on Thanksgiving weekend…it was just hard to think of latkes after all that stuffing. But with kids around, latkes are happening. It really doesn’t matter what went down mere days before. But I could not muster doing my zucchini/sweet potato latkes yet, that will come later. Instead, I spent the post-candle-lighting part of the evening at the Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley where guitarist Jeremiah Lockwood dazzled with his performance of the songs from his brand new record, A Great Miracle.
A Great Miracle is his response to John Fahey’s classic Christmas record New Possibility. Fahey was arguably the kingpin of the American Primitive guitar movement that came into prominence in the 1960s. His playing was his own evolution of traditional blues fingerpicking traditions. There were many wonderful guitarists that came out of that movement (Fahey created his own label, Takoma, to host many of them): Robbie Basho, Leo Kottke, Harry Taussig, Michael Ochs (yes mostly men). All you really need to do is go to Tompkins Square Records’ website and dive in: label honcho Josh Rosenthal has put out dozens of beauties over the years that feature incredible guitarists, old and new, who have some tie, some connection to what Fahey and gang started.
Fahey, at the height of his musical power and popularity, released an instrumental Christmas record that in my mind is up there with the very few Christmas records that stand the test of time and are a true joy (to the world) to listen to (obviously Phil Spector’s Christmas record being the other). The record takes the traditional melodies of the holiday and translates them through Fahey’s fingers, transforming them into a slice of American beauty, from Dickens to John Hurt. Fahey’s playing is super sophisticated, but his ability to dance around the guitar makes every song seem effortless and uplifting.
Lockwood studied Jewish liturgy with his grandfather Jacob Konigsberg, who was a prominent cantor, and studied the Piedmont-style blues tradition from Carolina Slim. Add to that his passion for musical history and mysticism, he concocted an idea to take on all of the melodies of Chanukah that were a part of his family holidays and apply a Fahey-esque treatment to them. Pulling something like this off is a difficult task: in order to take on a giant you need to come with not only talent but vision and your own stamp, so the project doesn’t come off as a study of guitar-karaoke.
The resultant recording, A Great Miracle, shows Lockwood on top of his craft, creating a record that is sure to be a holiday standard for the slow times when the menorah candles are strolling down to their nubs. From taking on “the hits” like Chanukah O Chanukah, Rock of Ages, and Dreidel (sic Dreydel), to more esoteric songs that were traditions for Lockwood’s family like Mi Yamalel and Al Hanisim Izhar Cohen, Lockwood blends blues picking, middle eastern melodies and classical romance to create an audio treat that is as near perfection as a piece of art can strive for. Like Fahey, he has created a piece of art that sings beyond the holiday.
Happy Monday…and Happy Chanukah! (Jeremiah is playing TONIGHT in Los Angeles).
Mad Science And Makeup: FRANKENSTEIN At 90
A fun read, saluting the make-up artist Jack Pierce who took Boris Karlof and transformed him into an iconic creature with a look that is universally known.
New Library of Congress Magazine
Yes, I love the Library of Congress. And their magazine is pretty top notch as well. You can get it easily by giving a small donation…and they also offer it as a pdf download (the link is above). The magazine features incredible gems from their collection…as well as pretty interesting articles that tell the stories behind the artifacts. This one includes a photo of Lincoln’s life mask as well as a photo of the bizarre, braided sample of President Madison’s hair.
MEMORIAL PLAQUES TO DICTATORS KIM JONG-IL AND COLONEL GADDAFI MYSTERIOUSLY APPEAR IN EAST DULWICH
What a strange venture to undertake…
C’mon…you know you want to keep up with the dealings of Tito ESPECIALLY when the article that dives into them starts with the line: “Tito Jackson can thank Steven Seagal for one of his most cherished autographs.” It looks like the oldest Jackson of the original 5 is finally releasing a debut solo record…a blues record.
Forbes calls Hartford’s Mark Twain House the best house museum in the country
The legendary author, whose real name was Sam Clemens, called the house “the loveliest home that ever was” and once said the house “had a heart, and a soul, and eyes to see us with; and approvals and solicitudes and deep sympathies; it was of us, and we were in its confidence and lived in its grace and in the peace of its benediction.”
The Struggle Staggers Us
By: Margaret Walker
Our birth and death are easy hours, like sleep
and food and drink. The struggle staggers us
for bread, for pride, for simple dignity.
And this is more than fighting to exist;
more than revolt and war and human odds.
There is a journey from the me to you.
There is a journey from the you to me.
A union of the two strange worlds must be.
Ours is a struggle from a too-warm bed;
too cluttered with a patience full of sleep.
Out of this blackness we must struggle forth;
from want of bread, of pride, of dignity.
Struggle between the morning and the night.
This marks our years; this settles, too, our plight.
