THE SIGNAL from David Katznelson
“No place worth knowing yields itself at sight, and those the least inviting on first view may leave the most haunting pictures upon the walls of memory.”― Algernon Blackwood
After a long week of clouds and rain, the sunrise this morning showcased a beautiful pasteled sky with just a few slivered clouds on the horizon peacefully drifting atop Mount Diablo turning electric pink as the sun prepared to show itself. And with that expected, ultimate satisfying blast of blinding orange, the sky opened up and the day began.
And with every new day, a new feeling of hope. A good weekend to you all.
Perseverance Rover’s SuperCam Science Instrument Delivers First Results
And here you have it: the first sounds recorded on Mars. The Perseverance Rover is continuing to shock and awe with the experiments and projects it is undergoing on the red planet. These few forty-ish second sound clips are sublime and would make the likes of William Basinski and Aphex Twin envious. Just close your eyes and press play…and you too are on Mars. Just extraordinary.
Tony Iommi on Black Sabbath: ‘I would like to play with the guys again’
C’mon. C’mon and play then. I would think that even with all the illness surrounding the band, there is one incredible tour left in them…
Penn State Altoona professor Jerry Zolten receives Lion’s Paw Medal
I recently connected with Jerry over the Specialty boxset…Specialty being one of the many things he knows ALOT about. A really good guy and a friend of R. Crumb, with whom he shares a zest for 78s and old tyme music, Zolten also put together one of the greatest gospel documentary of all time, How They Got Over, and has so many other credits to his name it would take an article about him to list them all. See above. Oh...and he just found the final lost Specialty single that will be included in the project I am working on.
ALGERNON BLACKWOOD’S “The Willows”
This Sunday is Algernon Blackwood’s birthday and it seems a good time to dive into his most famous short story…one of my favorite sci fi/horror stories of all time, “The Willows.” This story is beautifully written and tremendously creepy….enjoy!
Weekend Listen: Barry McGuire and the Doctor
Ask the entire probably-annoyed family…I have been listening to this record over and over and over again these past few weeks. Barry McGuire: former New Christy Minstrel and singer of Eve Of Destruction. Eric “The Doctor” Hord: guitarist for the Mamas and the Papas…the slinger who pushed the band into their rock ‘n roll flavor. Together with an all-star cast featuring The Byrds’ Chris Hillman, Flying Burrito Brother “Sneaky” Pete and The Eagles’ Bernie Leadon…and even Herb Alpert guest appearing on the first song, South Of The Boarder…together supposedly with a mound of blow and a drugged out producer (Nick Woods, who od’ed and died during the session), the duo put together one of the most unheralded country/country blues/folk rock records of the era. Six songs…none of them under five minutes…incredible playing and so damn groovy. It’s right up there with that era-Doug Sahm, early Mike Nesmith solo stuff and the first Don Everly record. Critically acclaimed, a commercial disaster…it led to Barry finding Jesus (and a Christian rock career that is still going) and Eric giving up music and wondering off into obscurity. But what they left behind is just sensational, an unheralded classic. This album is NOT on Spotify so click each song title below to listen (not the best way to hear it….but it is too good to miss):
South Of The Boarder (LISTEN FOR HERB!)
Train (only recording on-line…complete with vinyl surface noise)
Meet Me At The Bottom (OH SO GOOD)
ODE
By Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy
We are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.
With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world's great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire's glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song's measure
Can trample an empire down.
We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
And o'erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world's worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.
This newsletter is dedicated to Jewlia Eisenberg who past away yesterday morning after a long, fierce brutal illness. I had seen and heard Jewlia’s artistry for many years but got to know her when she participated in the pop-up record store, Tikva, that the Idelsohn Society created in San Francisco in December, 2011. It was then that I got to know the stunning force of nature that she was, someone who found inspiration in every moment she lived. She will be missed.