THE SIGNAL from David Katznelson
“Mockery ends where understanding begins.”― Erich von Däniken
The next Sutro Park release arrived today, the vinyl version of Dickon Hinchliffe’s beautiful drone of a score to the 2018 film Leave No Trace. As usual, Barbara did an incredible design job on the package….it is just gorgeous with its abstract close-ups of giant redwood groves…and the forrest green vinyl slipping out of an equally green forrest laden slip case: it is beyond words. As soon as I picked up my copy from my distributor, I ran home to throw it on. Gary Hobish did an incredible mastering job and the pressing is so quiet that the lush, dark fragile score comes off crystal clear and strong. The digital version is on spotify if you care to listen, but I must say the vinyl…the vinyl sounds warmer, cleaner, better.
Wanna hear it? It’s first day of release will be on Bandcamp Friday on May 7th. Get ready for it….
Arthur Tress: The Dream Collector
If you like Diane-Arbus-creepy photography (there should be an adjective especially for that….Joel-Peter Witkin could use it, too) Arthur Tress is definitely taking the passed baton. The photos for your viewing pleasure in this Juxtapoz article are supremely haunting and horrific. BOO!
Sonny Simmons, Fiercely Independent Alto Saxophonist, Dies At 87
I was at Warner Bros. when Sonny Simmons’ record Ancient Ritual came out through Quincy Jones’s WB joint venture Quest. What a talent he was…and what a journey he had been on to get to that point. He led a full life…and has left behind dozens of recordings where he masterly blows his sax. RIP.
New York City’s KGB Espionage Museum Collection Goes to Auction
I missed this when it was reported a few months ago but for spy/James Bond fans….this is fascinating.
TED REED PRODUCTIONS ANNOUNCES “THE BLUES TRAIL REVISITED”
As luck would have it, my son Asher spent his earliest school days with a teacher who had ventured through the south in an earlier life finding and filming many of the blues greats. For the two years Asher was taught by Tim Treadway and his equally amazing wife Lisa, I tried to get Tim to get the tapes digitized so we could all see them. His partner on the trip, Tim Reed, did the task and he and Tim went back down South to finish what they had started so many years ago…and now it is available for all of us.
How to Disappear
BY RAE ARMANTROUT
1
You had been swinging restlessly
between the appearance of spontaneity
and the appearance of serious thought.
You had been changing lanes
after a glance
in a mirror honest about
its tendency to distort.
What choice did you have?
It was soothing to watch
wisps of smoke
from a nearby chimney
disappearing
one by one.
2
Do you like pulses,
ridges, ripples
stretching into obscurity?
Would you prefer a flicker
to a steady light source?
This one stutters
slightly,
hesitant,
as if it could hold something
in reserve
