Notes from Glastonbury

“Much that is terrible we do not know. Much that is beautiful we shall still discover. Let's sail till we come to the edge.”― Thomas Disch

I just came back from Glastonbury and I wanna dig into the fantastic music I saw there. But first, I must address the chant that Bob Vylan led about killing people in the IDF, which happened on the Saturday at the West Holts stage. That kind of hate speech is dangerous and in no way belongs in a festival that has its roots in the 60s, striving for peace and love. Artists have the right…and need to…speak their minds about issues that they feel need to be discussed, protest the horrors that they see in the world, stand up for what they believe in, and create movements around their art and artistic voice. That too we learned in the 60s. And there is a lot of bad bad stuff going on right now. But killing people? And it being allowed to be televised on the BBC? That is just wrong.

I had no idea that the Bob Vylan moment happened until I read the news late late night after getting texts from friends (I barely check my phone or e-mail during a Glastonbury journey)—there are 210,000 people at the festival and dozens of live experiences happening at any given time. Around the time Bob Vylan was playing the West Holts stage, I was far away at The Park stage watching an incredible surprise set by Haim. My personal experience of the weekend was a great one without any incident. Yes, it seems the festival has gotten more corporate, it seems much larger with some of the colorful details faded, but it still seemed the wondrous adventure I have had in the past. And I saw some amazing music, many highlights worth talking about so let’s get into it (and I apologize for the amateur photographs and videos I took along the way. Let’s just say my lens was blurry…).

FRIDAY

The Glass Beams (West Holts): I had a run of incredible music to begin my Glastonbury. It started with The Glass Beams, an Indian-Australian trio who wear beaded masks (reminiscent of Quaithe from Game of Thrones), playing a set of groovy, mysterious music that combines middle-eastern flavors with spacey rock psychedelia, ambient dancy pulsations and beautiful non-lyrical vocals reminiscent of Dead Can Dance-era 4AD (sung by the bass player who also has a Kraftwerk-style effects table that heightens the intergalactivity of their unique sound). The guitar player plays one of the most beautiful instruments I have ever seen including a carved, bended headstock and a body that features a village of handmade controls that I have never seen before…and he (I think a “he”) plays it with an incredible feel, picking complicated patterns with grace and groove while bending his sounds as the band evolves from song to song, each coming from a similar world of mysticism, but showcasing new forms and grooves.

Burning Spear (The Pyramid): Next, I went to Glastonbury’s main stage to see reggae legend Burning Spear. It is great to see reggae in England, a place that has loved and support the sound since the beginning, often where the musicians have the ability to tour with bigger bands than they do in the states. Burning Spear’s band was huge, and included a robust horn section. The set was 5 decade+ career spanning, covering pretty much one song from most of his classic records. At 80 years old, Burning Spear high-step jogged back and forth across the stage when he was not singing or playing his congas, taking moments to dance along with his band as if he was half the age. The sounds played were heavy, classic reggae riddims with just as much depth and power as he had when I last saw him ten or so years ago…maybe even more. You can see part of the performance here.

Vieux Farka Toure (West Holts): Son of one of the most beloved and famous Malian musicians Ali Farka Toure, Vieux has taken what is known as “the desert blues” sound, guitar-and-groove driven music with definite bluesy undertones—made famous by his dad, as well as Tinariwen—and adds a Jimi Hendrix flare, coming up with a signature sound featuring heavy, addictive riffs and virtuosic picking. Alongside him, a musician (who I believe is named Ousmane Dagno) played a ngoni, an African stringed instrument that seems a cross between a diddly-bow and a banjo. The two together created a brilliant Alien sound and groove.

En Vogue (West Holts): Yes, THAT En Vogue, who in the 90s dominated the charts with their pop hits. The foursome delivered a Stax style soul review showcasing their incredible four-part harmonies, starting the set with their biggest hit, never going to get it and eventually leading the audience through a sung history of diva epic hits, from the 60s through the 80s. Each of the members swapped out lead singing roles, as they dominated their time on stage with their powerful voices, high-production dance moves, and a killer band.

The Searchers (Acoustic Stage): The Searchers are considered to be the longest-lived pop band in the world, celebrating their 68th year of existence (starting as a Skiffle band, going on to help define the Merseybeat sound), and they chose Glastonbury as the place to give their final performance. They played to a packed audience at the Acoustic Stage, an audience who dearly loved them and understood the drama that was unfolding as they played their beloved songs for the last time. With two original members, John McNally and Frank Allen (ok, Frank joined a few years after the band started), flanked by Spencer James who has only been with them…since 1984…the band blasted through all of their hits, like Love Potion No. 9 and Needles and Pins (which made them known in America) as well as songs like the PF Sloan penned Take Me For What I'm Worth (my favorite of the set, click on image above), playing them all with the tightness and enthusiasm of a band that has thousands of concerts under their belt yet still love what they do. They told stories of how, to them, The Everly Brothers were everything, how The Byrds heard their twelve-string guitar sound and made it their own, how they loved playing alongside The Beatles, as the band skyrocketed into fame. “Tonight is not only a night that we say goodbye to you and goodbye to the band,” they told the audience, “but after tonight’s show, we also say goodbye to each other. There are a lot of emotions going around.” Most of the crowd clapped and sang along to every song, owning the band’s legacy along with them, saying goodbye to a part of themselves too.

Billy Bragg (Leftfield Stage): My friend Steve got separated from the group and texted saying he was at The Leftfield stage. We got there in time for the end of the Billy Bragg set, which featured songs from the era when I worked his records, when he was on CD Presents in America in the mid-eighties, the first records I ever worked on. Between The Wars, his encore, rings so prescient given our current political reality.

SATURDAY

John Fogerty (Pyramid): A few months ago, I was lucky enough to see this same John Fogerty set in a room of 200 people, which was incredibly special. Seeing him completely blow away a crowd of 50,000+ people in another country was incredible in a whole other way. Fogerty has more hits than almost any other artist, and he spent his hour telling stories…about how he got his songs back from Saul Zaentz and how he got his beloved guitar back that he played at Woodstock. He would tell a story and then launch into a classic, playing beloved guitar riffs with the power of someone half his age, always to eruptions of joy from the crowd, often dueling guitars with his mop-top son. When he played Have You Ever Seen The Rain, the whole festival sang along, making a noise that I think even moved him. It was a hot, sunshiny day and Fogerty added the perfect soundtrack. He is 80, as is burning Spear as is (almost) Neil Young. This Glastonbury showed that 80 has the ability of completely rocking.

Haim (The Park Stage): I caught the second half of Haim’s surprise set at Glastonbury. I have seen the trio before, the last time in front of 60,000 people at Levis Stadium opening for Taylor Swift. The three Haim sisters know how to put on a show, with an anchor in rock and roll, with choreographed joyous sisterly dance moves intermeshed with great riffs and power-pop songs. They had the crowd in the palm of their hands throughout the set, yelling about how they loved Glastonbury as they took turns on vocals and solos, giving each other room to show flair before coming together with the power to uplift their music and the already ecstatic crowd. They ended with Down To Be Wrong, a song from their new album, I Quit, that is so catchy and so memorable, familiar upon the first listen…ending with each of them holding an axe, harmonizing with each other as their backing band gave them the musical magic carpet to ride.

Beth Gibbon (The Park Stage): After Haim, I re-hit the Park backstage bar (best in the fest) with my friends, and we went on a walk to the highest point of the festival, the King Arthur Hills where the Leyline energy is supposedly the sharpest, laying on the grass as the sun went down. While the sky changed colors and darkened, a beautiful sound started coming again from the Park Stage, the closest stage to where we were, a sound of lush strings and droney keyboards, and finally came the voice of an angel, flowering on top of it all. It was the beginning of Beth Gibbon’s set. Most well known as the voice of Portishead, the singer has recently released a solo record and toured, sporting a huge band (I was told the tour requires 2 busses). We climbed down from the mountain to witness the smoke-filled stage, ghostly forms of violinists and guitarists journeying through dreamy aural landscapes framing Gibbons absolutely beautiful, soulful voice, a spirt resting on her microphone. There were moments of tribal energy that moved through the set but in general, it was pure ethereal beauty, pulling mostly from her Lives Outgrown album, with the crowd going nuts when she went into Portishead’s biggest hit Glory Box.

Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts (Pyramid)/Unknown Band (small circular stage in the middle of everything), The New York Jazz Band (a bar with a stage): After Beth Gibbon’s set we took the long walk back to the Pyramid, crossing over the sea of over a hundred thousand people going to see Charlie XCX, to catch the Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts set. There was a small crowd for Neil, enabling us to get really close. As we approached, he was just getting into a beautiful version of Harvest Moon. Neil is backed by a relatively new band, who just released their first record a few weeks ago and feature Willie Nelson’s son Micah on guitar as well as organist (and famous songwriter) Spooner Oldham. The band was Neil-Young-loose, playing a set of long jams like Sun Green mixed with beloved hits like Like A Hurricane and Old Man. I had seen Neil with my then-girlfriend Barbara 16 years ago at Glastonbury (they day before I proposed to her) and this set was a lot sleepier, especially given he was headlining again on the biggest stage of them all. That did not stop him from having some high moments like Needle and the Damage Done and Like a Hurricane (although, again, they were sleepy versions), but it would have been nice to have some true electricity, like when he powered through a 29-minute torrential version of Keep On Rocking in a Free World in 2009. That being said, he encored with it again, this time keeping it to four minutes. The crowd still loved it as well as his second encore Throw Your Hatred Down…need words to be sure. Neil is never bad, but with this set he did not come across as majestically epic as he capable.

As already discussed, part of what I love about Glastonbury are the smaller stages that can be discovered when going for a walk about. Near the Pyramid stage is a round stage in the middle of a field of food stands. After the Neil Young set, there was a band playing—whose name I never got—that had a total funky-side-of-Captain-Beefheart vibe with an incredible guitar player, saxophonist and drummer. The whole band played these tight, hip-shakin’ jams, sometimes teasing modes of free jazz—as Glastonbury travelers danced around.

I continued roaming and came upon a bar that featured one of my favorite Glastonbury pop-up groups who have been regulars at the festival for years: the New York Jazz Band. They are from York (get it?) and show up all around the festival during the weekend. They are made up of a crowd of wind instruments who play the hits of today and days past and are always electrifying. I had passed them on Friday near the Cabaret tent as I was journeying to another stage, and was so happy to be able to join the sardine packed crowd in this particular bar/tent to catch a few songs (you can watch their version of Stevie Wonder’s Isn’t She Lovely above). It was a great way to end the evening.

SUNDAY

Melin Melyn (Park Stage and Strummerville Stage): Sunday morning was ROUGH after a long long Satruday night, but that did not stop my friend Steve Backman and myself to wake up at 10am (seriously) and walk 45 minutes (seriously) in the already blazing heat to see the newish band he is the agent for, Melin Melyn, play their Park Stage set. And even though I was feeling my mortality upon arriving, I am glad I went. Melin Melyn are a tight, fun band with influences that range from Pink Floyd to Syd Barret with a little Devo thrown in. Their set is currently a story (fictional), a story of their Mill where they make music, from which they are being threatened by eviction from their landlord. The story is told in between sing-along, fun songs that often take unexpected emotional and epic twists and turns…think The Who’s A Quick One or Rael I & II. They were so good, that we went to see them again later in the day at the Joe Strummer memorial Strummerville stage, where they played a completely different but equally compelling set.

Cymande (West Holts): It was pretty damn hot every day this Glastonbury, with an unusually small amount of rain. No mud, more human created smells. It burned down on the Sunday, so taking in some swaying 70s soulful sounds was a perfect aloe for the eardrums. Cymande came out of the UK in the early 70s, but have an international group of members, many of whom are still in the band, who all contribute to a unique funky sound. Think Black Moses love-vibes, think WAR, but with pinches of Mighty Sparrow and a dash of Manu Dibango: Cymande’s music is worldly complex but delivered through sweet, simple grooves. A few numbers sounded familiar to me, and later my confused mind remembered that my friend Robin Cohn had coincidently given me a copy of the classic Cymande debut record just weeks ago. There are several original members still in the band, but I must call out sax players Denys Babtiste and Toni Kofi who played so sweetly, almost like rain on the hot dry field.

Sergiy Ivanchuk & Svitlana Shamina (Toad Hall): My friend Steve and I were pretty worse for wear from the night before and the intense walking we had to do (20,000+ steps) in the heat before noon, so we decided to escape the crowds and crawl around the Green Future Field and the Healing Field to see what we could find. Green Futures used to be the home of ex-Hawkwind sax player Nik Turner’s tent, powered by bicycle, where he would bring together the elder UK progressive players for long jams (he is gone now, and so is the tent). We came upon Toad Hall in Green Futures, a tent with a small stage that served coffee and featured a padded, rugged floor fit for a shaded lay-down. We entered to a top-hatted bearded gent sang a sorrowful operatic version of Strangers in the Night. As I sipped a delicious iced coffee, the best I had that weekend, he continued through standards backed by a keyboard player. After a few songs, he stopped and told our small crowd that he was from the Ukraine, about how it was a blessing for his life to play Glastonbury, especially since at the start of the Ukraine war, his car had been shot 15 times by the Russian army, 5 bullets hitting him, including piercing his lung. He spoke these words with a sweet, kind smile which brought a tear to my eye as he continued his set of somber operatic covers from the great American songbook, each one now carrying a heavier meaning. After a few more songs, he introduced his pianist Svitlana who in turn introduced two classical pieces she was going to play, both by Ukrainian composers who wrote them as personal reflections soon after the war started (one of them was in attendance, sitting right near me). Both compositions were beautiful, heartbreaking, played extraordinarily by this musician I had never heard before (it was only later when looking her up did I find out she had recently played for Prince Charles). Steve and I looked at each other: how did we wander into such an epic moment, in such a small stage in the outer rim of the festival? Sergiy returned to stage, having taken the time for a costume change, inviting a 13-year-old Ukrainian girl to join them (his daughter?) to sing Yesterday. Her angelic voice mixed heartbreakingly beautiful with his. He ended the set by singing the Italian classic O Sole Mio, bringing everyone to tears, including many from the outside who had heard the song and came in to see the performance. We got to meet them when the set was finished, when they asked us to take a picture of their Ukrainian group. Glastonbury highlights can be quite unexpected coming from unexpected places. This was one. Click here for more info about Sergiy and Svitlana).

The Orb (The Glade): In our wanderings we came upon The Orb starting their set at The Glade tent. It was a perfect lie-down-and veg-out set, finding Orb founding member Alex Paterson creating some sweet sweet dubby rhythms mixed with his psychedelic garnishes. There seems to be a newer member to the duo, and I am not exactly sure how he adds to the sound, but his body language, with crazed hand gestures, bobbing and goofing the entire set, led to some unexpectedly interesting viewing.

Olivio Rodrigo and Robert Smith (Pyramid Stage): After the Orb I wandered up to the Stone Circle beyond the Green Fields in order to visit the spot where I asked Barb to marry me. What was a four-story tall wooden dragon, which I knelt in front of posing the question, had been replaced by three hearts, 8 feet tall, where people can attach love notes to each other (which I found quite beautiful given what the site means to my wife and I). After writing a note to her I decided to make the long trek back to the bar behind the Pyramid stage to meet up with my friends, getting a burrito along the way. Olivia Rodrigo was playing to a packed crowd for her Glastonbury headlining slot near where the burrito stand was. I was not intending to see her, but as my burrito was being rolled, I heard her begin the Cure song Friday I’m In Love. Who was singing with her? Could it be Robert Smith from the Cure? I strolled over to the Pyramid stage as I took a few bites only to see them finish the song….yes, Robert Smith and Rodrigo, both on guitar. Rodrigo turned to her audience saying that Robert Smith was the greatest songwriter in England and hoped he would stay for one more song leading into the opening acoustic strumming of a Cure masterpiece Just Like Heaven. Rodrigo swapped verses with Smith, and harmonized with him on the choruses. A great way to end my Glastonbury.

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Randall Reeves and Harmon Shragge Continue Around the Americas

As seen here a half a year ago, my friend Harmon continues to “sail around the Americas.” He blogs about it often…but here is an actual article recently published about his journeys….

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A New Mierle Laderman Ukeles Documentary Offers a Portrait of the Art of Unseen Labor

For decades, Ukeles has been going to sanitation districts around New York City, thanking the workers for not only their help, but for being artists….performance artists of a sort. Her new documentary is the result of these actions. You can see a small sample of the film here and it plays in the Bay Area at the Jewish Film Fest twice in July.

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Want to Own a Piece of David Lynch? It Will Cost You

“After their deaths, the possessions of famous artists become valuable, coveted. Lynch’s auction—properly, Julien’s Auctions and Turner Classic Movies Presents “The David Lynch Collection”—brought in $4.25 million; a lot of 11 scripts for Lynch’s unfinished project Ronnie Rocket sold for $195,000, as did a script for Lost Highway.”

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Recently discovered horror film made in Seattle is being shown for the first time in nearly 90 years

In the 1930’s amateur filmmaker Richard Lyford wrote, produced and directed The Scalpel, a “medical mayhem in a medical institute (film). It’s a Jekyll and Hyde type of a story where the scientist, he wants to experiment with kind of weird drugs and stuff like that. Basically they turn him into a monster.” This was his 10th film, Lyford being compared in the article to Ed Wood…but in the early days of film!

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Mercy

By Bruce Bond

after Viktor Frankl

The word in the book
————————–—on the bottom of a well
—————–—rises just so close
—————–—before it crumbles into whispers,
————————–—ash, rain
—————–—that touches the eyes
———————————–—of the starved
—————–—whose childhood did not survive
—————–—the journey.

————————–—Believe me, I have tried.
—————–—I have listened.
—————–—I cannot tell you what suffering
—————–—means, why it litters
—————————————the scriptures
—————–—that are the first to burn.

———————–—I have looked into a well
—————–—full of stares
————————–—the way a god looks
—————–—from a page in flames
————————–—and says,
————————–—so what did you expect.

—————–—Did you think your faith
—————————————would spare you,
—————–—that Job would hold out
—————————————the boils in his hands
—————–—and feel them harden into coins
—————————————that fall.

—————–—When smoke melts
————————–—the surface of your eye,
—————–—and on your lips
————————–—a faint unconscious music,
————————–—remember.

————————–—Music too is lost
—————–—among the open graves and questions,
—————–—searching for the path
—————————————it fashions with its feet.

—————–—In quiet measures
—————–—when the time that pulses is your own
————————–—contribution to the emptiness,
—————–—are you any less
————————–—a part of something larger.

—————–—Does the song to come
—————–—pull your eyesight from the well
—————–—and say,
————————–—look at what I brought you.
—————–—There, across the steeples,
—————–—a factory ash
—————–—singes the missing persons
———————————-—chalked
———————————-—in outlines on the yard.
—————–—Dear child,
—————–—with your life before you,
———————————–—look at what I made.

—————–—I who take your breathing
——————————————-—as my own.

Victor Hugo watercolors…

Late night at the Pilton Cemetery