THE SIGNAL from David Katznelson
“If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” ― Maya Angelou
Today is the birthday of Maya Angelou, a poet, an artist, whose legacy seems to grow bigger and bigger with every passing year. When my father passed, her poem When Great Trees Fall related how I felt better than anything, and I think I read that poem daily….twice a day or more…for weeks. Maybe that period of time was my awakening to her brilliance, even though I very much knew her work before, and caused me to better understand how her art thoroughly permeates our culture.
The story of how she became San Francisco’s first black street car conductor…how she went to the main office looking for a job and was denied an application for two weeks (while sitting patiently reading Kafka)…facing racial slurs and cold shoulders…until finally someone in charge broke down and gave the job to her and made history: that story alone is the making of a legend. But Maya’s talent with the pen and with words was beyond just a single story of resilience and bravery. She spent a lifetime building up her body of work and her reputation as a powerful activist that by the time she read On The Pulse Of Morning at Bill Clinton’s inauguration…the first poet invited to perform such a role since Robert Frost read The Gift Outright at JFK’s big day…by the time she read for Clinton she had reached legendary status few poets ever reach.
Happy Birthday Maya Angelou. We need your voice so dearly today…thank you for leaving your poetry to help fill the void of your absence.
Celebrating 15 Years of Musical Eclecticism with Aquarium Drunkard’s Justin Gage
If you read this newsletter regularly you will read articles that appear in Aquarium Drunkard. Hell, my Jonathan Richman interview published a few weeks back appeared in no other than this online rag. Where else would there be room for a long form interview or in depth article about incredible music that might easily be overlooked but is soooo damn good. Justin Gage engages in the great work of writing about great music. Never since Arthur Magazine has there been such a dependable place for music discovery. Thanks Justin and congrats on 15 years!
“We’ll see you all at Oki-Dogs”: The story of L.A.’s legendary punk hangout (with hot dogs)
When I lived in Los Angeles I loved me some Oki Dogs. I am proud to say that Larry Hardy—quoted in this epic weekend read of an article—would go with me every Sunday to buy one of these beauties, at the now-defunct Pico Blvd spot, frequented by no other than Fred Allen Berry—Rerun from What’s Happening. We performed this ritual until our faces got kinda pasty and my Doctor commented: “Do you have any idea how bad that is for you??” I loved Oki Dogs so much—2 hot dogs, chili, pastrami, cheese, wrapped in a burrito—that I wanted my first e-mail address to be named after it. And when the correct spelling was already taken, I improvised. When this damn pandemic is over I am going to eat my first one in over 20 years…and hope things work out better for me than they did for Darby Crash…
SUTRO PARK opens its Bandcamp store today, on Bandcamp Friday
Today is Bandcamp Friday, the first Friday of the month that, since Covid times, the incredible website Bandcamp forgoes taking its cut of sales of all records and gives the proceeds straight to the people selling the music…the artists, the labels. Like Record Store day before it, Bandcamp Fridays have become a time artists and labels have released limited edition records…offer big deals from back catalogs…post new releases for the discerning fan to snap up. It has been great for the artists during this crazy time of no touring and less avenues of revenue making.
And while I have a few independent labels of my own, my ineptitude at new technology, even something as simple as Bandcamp, has kept me from participating. But I finally—painstakingly and with wayyyyy too much effort—figured out how to open my store and as of midnight last night the Sutro Park Bandcamp store is open for business. It wasn’t easy…my luddite-leaning self truly messed up a seemingly simple process. But I did it…showcasing two records that I have released (more are coming!)! Phew. Happy Bandcamp Friday to you all!
And since you can listen to the releases for free, right in my store…the Weekend Listen will be nothing less than then latest Sutro Park release: THE TENNORS: Do The Reggay Dance…and incredible compilation of rocksteady brilliance from late 60s/early 70s Jamaica put together by reggae nut Mark Gorney and myself, lovingly mastered by the great Gary Hobish with artwork by the one and only Barbara Bersche (my wife!). Enjoy!
Life Doesn't Frighten Me
By Maya Angelou
Shadows on the wall
Noises down the hall
Life doesn't frighten me at all
Bad dogs barking loud
Big ghosts in a cloud
Life doesn't frighten me at all
Mean old Mother Goose
Lions on the loose
They don't frighten me at all
Dragons breathing flame
On my counterpane
That doesn't frighten me at all.
I go boo
Make them shoo
I make fun
Way they run
I won't cry
So they fly
I just smile
They go wild
Life doesn't frighten me at all.
Tough guys fight
All alone at night
Life doesn't frighten me at all.
Panthers in the park
Strangers in the dark
No, they don't frighten me at all.
That new classroom where
Boys all pull my hair
(Kissy little girls
With their hair in curls)
They don't frighten me at all.
Don't show me frogs and snakes
And listen for my scream,
If I'm afraid at all
It's only in my dreams.
I've got a magic charm
That I keep up my sleeve
I can walk the ocean floor
And never have to breathe.
Life doesn't frighten me at all
Not at all
Not at all.
Life doesn't frighten me at all.
