THE SIGNAL from David Katznelson
"The world changes in direct proportion to the number of people willing to be honest about their lives."-Armistad Maupin
This Sunday is Shavuot…the Jewish holiday which revolves around staying awake all night….awake to ready for the Dawn to remember cosmic moment that while wandering the dessert the Jews received the Ten Commandments. For the second time in two years, Reboot (the organization of which I am the CEO of) will be hosting an all-night on-line festival called DAWN to celebrate the act of staying up by being nourished with art…music…science…stories. There are some incredible artists/friends/thinkers who will be participating: Luther Dickinson, Ethan Daniel Davidson, AJ Jacobs, Rebecca Garza-Bortman, Zackary Drucker (I loved her recent docuseries The Lady and the Del), Rebecca S'manga Frank, Daniel Sokatch, Found’s Davy Rothbart, Laurie Seagal…..the list goes on and on (for more about it and how to watch it, go here).
But the most amazing part of the evening for me will be the heroic eight hour performance from grammy-nominated guitarist John Schott. I met John Schott when I signed his band TJ Kirk to Warner Bros. Records many many years ago. We have been friends ever since and when another friend Amy Tobin and I decided to take over a club at Florida St and 16th in San Francisco and throw an all night Shavuot celebration, the first thing we did was commission John to do perform a piece he had been putting together. As John tells it: the piece is called “Eight Hours 'Round Midnight,” a marathon solo guitar meditation on Thelonious Monk's iconic ballad 'Round Midnight and referencing Exodus 11:4 - Moses said, "Thus said the Lord: 'Round Midnight I will go forth among the Egyptians..." In the spirit of stay-up-all-night Shavuot, Schott blows up the two minute song to eight hours, throwing mystic conversations through his picking against pre-recorded piano taps, slowly slowly unfolding note by note, serving as a "text" for Schott to rabbinically interpret and musically comment upon.
It is magical to witness John perform the piece.
Happy weekend to y’all.
MILES COPELAND Interview: HIS LIFE IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS
A great weekend read…a long long interview with the enigmatic Miles Copeland, who could have been a legend simply by releasing the first Cramps EP…but he did so so much more.
Bob Koester, who ran Chicago’s Jazz Record Mart, Delmark Records for decades, has died at 88
A very sad break in the force, but what an amazing legacy of music Koester left behind.
Hidden Worlds: Merlin Sheldrake On The Unseen Life Around Us
The Sun’s interview with Merlin is a must for any Paul Stamets fan and solidifies the mushroom as earth’s most intriguing alien like being.
The Winners of the PA2F Environmental Photography Awards 2021
WEEKEND LISTEN: The Who’s SELL OUT: Every birthday…since I don’t know when…I throw on one of my favorite records of all, The Who’s Sell Out. It is my favorite record by one of my favorite bands (sure, Live At Leads is pretty fucking great too) finding the band experimenting with psychedelia, showcasing Townsend’s first rock operetta, all under the guise of being just a part of an English radio show. The songs are great, Keith Moon’s drums are (as usual) blistering, and from the beginning feedback of Armenia City In The Sky to the final Daltrey vocal breath of Rael Pt. 2, the record is an amazement. And now. NOW. Now, this year it has been released in a deluxe edition with the fabulous mono mix (I have an original UK pressing) and outtakes galore that show the band at their mighty best.
Final Notions
by Adrienne Rich
It will not be simple, it will not take long
It will take little time, it will take all your thought
It will take all your heart, it will take all your breath
It will be short, it will not be simple
It will touch through your ribs, it will take all your heart
It will not take long, it will occupy all your thought
As a city is occupied, as a bed is occupied
It will take your flesh, it will not be simple
You are coming into us who cannot withstand you
You are coming into us who never wanted to withstand you
You are taking parts of us into places never planned
You are going far away with pieces of our lives
It will be short, it will take all your breath
It will not be simple, it will become your will
This newsletter is dedicated to Josh Hurand, who I got to know over the Pandemic, over Zoom, while he fought a horrible cancer, while he used poetry as a way of making sense of his hard journey. We became friends, and we were never in the same room together. His energy was powerful enough to touch anyone he came in contact with, and his loss…so early, leaving so much…is so tragic even though hey left such beautiful sparks in his wake.