THE SIGNAL from David Katznelson
“The pure present is an ungraspable advance of the past devouring the future. In truth, all sensation is already memory.”― Henri Bergson
Any parent will tell you that there are weekends that get usurped by kids plans….no way around it. And it doesn’t help that Kaya’s soccer league for some unknown reason has started hosting two games a weekend atop of everything else. This weekend featured pretty solid carpooling, snacking, birthday partying, multiples all around. It makes sense (unfortunately) that when the four of us arrived at the part of the hustle I was looking forward to, a concert in San Anselmo’s public space…the kids were dead tired and not having it.
THAT BEING SAID, as it seems (maybe?) that public gatherings are more of a thing these days, it was heartwarming to see what was happening at the show.
West Marin has a pretty robust music scene, with many musicians bleeding out of the mountainous regions. And yes, while many are improperly overboarded with Grateful Dead-isms, there are definitely great sounds to experience. Terrapin Crossroads, Phil Lesh’s establishment that is sadly closing at the end of the month, was an embodiment of this reality: you marched through A LOT of Jerry (note: I am not a huge Grateful Dead person to say the least), but would also get a fair share of jazz…blues…folk…worldly sounds…good old fashioned rock n roll (and even surprises like Lee “Scratch” Perry or Los Lobos).
At the heart of the West Marin scene is John Korty, formerly of Vinyl…now with his huge combo Soul Ska…Korty has done a valiant job bringing musicians together and helping revitalize the scene post-Covid (including curating weekly free public shows in Fairfax) and this past weekend he brought together a literal village of local greats as a fundraiser for musician and friend Evan Marquit as he battles pancreatic cancer. A frail Evan was on keyboards with his son on drums beside him and an army of friends in musical lock-step all around, playing for a huge, warm crowd.
When we got to the event, the kids were already wanting to leave…so we were not there long. But in just a few minutes, the power of music…and of a strong music community…swept over me, staying with me from when I danced out of the park to some New Orleans grooves long after getting back to the house. The art of music truly supports us all and we need to support it.
The next day, in between soccer games, we went to the farmer’s market for a snack. There was an incredible guitarist in the middle of the chaos, playing his style of American Primitive pickings. I had Asher run over and throw some shekels into his guitar case explaining that you always have to give to the musicians you come across. He agreed and replied that there was already a good amount of money in his case. It is never enough, I said, for what musicians give to us, they always deserve more.
I had a little (very little) bit of time this weekend to dig into the newest Alta Journal that came in the mail recently. I love this oversized quarterly, lovingly put together by Will Hurst (grandson of William Randolph, without the crappiness) with sensational deep investigative journalism. This rags to riches to…hmmm….story of Charlie Steen and the start of the Uranium Rush of the 1950s is stuff that epic movies are made of. Wonderfully told by Julian Smith. I was so excited by the article, I did some post-reading internet surfing and found out that…Steen, after the uranium rush, knew how to throw a party!
That Time Johnny Depp and Keith Richards Went Nuts on Me
Ben Fong-Torres once told me that when you interview someone, make sure you are fully knowledgable of your subject. He did incredible amounts of research before interviews. And as everyone knows: when conducting an interview, show respect to the people you are interviewing. You do not have to agree with them, just show respect. Erik Hedegaard, as he displays in this incredulous article, does neither. It is a great read, no doubt. But the only person looking bad here is the guy Depp and Richards went “nuts on.”
Keith Richards Admitted That He Probably Deserved to Get Punched in the Face by Chuck Berry
Let’s stay with Keith for a minute, shall we? Especially since this is Chuck Berry’s birthday and even though there are other articles talkin’ about how he shaped the sound of the Rock n Roll guitar, for my money I wanna hear how and why he tagged Keith Richards, especially when Keith went on to comment: “Chuck Berry once gave me a black eye, which I later called his greatest hit.”
In the Studio with the Artist Flora Yukhnovich
Yukhnovich is making waves in the collectors circuit right now, with her oversized paintings carrying a style of the Rococo on acid. “Luminous colours and a stark contrast between light and dark create the impression of otherworldliness and yet, emerging from the ether are true-to-life trees and sprigs of flowers. Smudgy impressions of half-submerged nudes lounge lazily or prop themselves up on an elbow, faces obscured and limbs dissolving into an overcast backdrop these women are both in plain view and hidden, refusing to be seen.”
Hazel Scott: The Gorgeous Face of Jazz at the Mid-Century
File this under: how did I miss knowing about Hazel Scott? One of the most successful singers of her time…even doing a record with Charles Mingus and Max Roach. Her style, like Don Shirley’s style, is on the pops side of blues and jazz therefore has aged differently than the hard bop music of her generation but her story is a fascinating one and The Library Of Congress has laid it out so well using their archives.
TS Eliot prize unveils shortlist for 2021 poetry award
“The TS Eliot prize for emerging contemporary poetry has unveiled this year’s shortlist looking at ten competitors who represent the voice of the moment. With more people than ever turning to more introspective forms of expression over the course of the pandemic, the swathe of great poetry is more profuse and vitalised than ever.”
Vows
By: Jim Harrison
I feel my failure intensely
as if it were a vital organ
the gods grew from the side of my head.
You can't cover it with a hat and I no longer
can sleep on that side it's so tender.
I wasn't quite faithful enough
to carry this sort of weight up the mountain.
When I took my vows at nineteen
I had no idea that gods were so merciless.
Fear makes for good servants
and bravery is fraudulent. When I awoke
I wasn't awake enough.
~~
Jim Harrison died this past March. He was found hunched over on his desk, with his notebook opened to this unfinished poem….
In unease the earth turned itself inside
out when its gravity fled. All of us
fell off the earth. I was in Africa
at the time and fell near an elephant.
I made my way to her and stretched
out on her stomach for protection
from the polar cold of the high atmosphere.
I caught a couple of passing
tomatoes to eat and a bottle of whiskey.
The earth used to be God’s body
but he took too many wounds and abandoned it.
He left us with the husk we made
of his body like a wasp’s nest.
Man shits his pants and trashed God’s body
