Thinking about Patti Smith
When friend and fellow Mountain Music Club member Dan from coastal Massachusetts recently sent a link to The Guardian newspaper’s Patti Smith profile, the powerful poet-singer came into sharper focus than that background awareness her 1970s work earned. It’s a good overview, in the U.K. paper’s ongoing series recommending entry points into recording artists’ work. I came … Continue reading Thinking about Patti Smith →
Let’s Get Personal, Personal
I hope all dads in this circle enjoyed as fine a Father’s Day as my family gave me. It went like this 1. A sweat-hog Nordic Trak session. Heat reduced my time aboard but increased perspiration and heightened a sense of righteous virtue. Even with a full-cold shower, I think I continued sweating throughout and … Continue reading Let’s Get Personal, Personal →
Where… was he?
When I first picked up this new megaphone to yell about music, I promised – teased, really – some particular episodes and anecdotes. I teased, “What veteran soul singer answered my impulse-driven phone call having just signed his first record deal in years?“ It was one of those “where are they now” musings, of the … Continue reading Where… was he? →
Swing Sweet; Jimmy Cobb, and Miles Davis
During the February meet up of the Mountain Music Club (reported in the March 5 Gazette, if you’re scoring at home), we talked some about Miles Davis but never got around to watching the PBS “American Masters” profile, whose release had prompted the conversation in the first place. The death of Jimmy Cobb, last surviving … Continue reading Swing Sweet; Jimmy Cobb, and Miles Davis →
Caffe Lena Lives, Breathes
How fun to see Caffe Lena celebrate both its heritage and future. This story first appeared in Nippertown and I want everyone to see it. Caffe Lena will mark its 60 anniversary Thursday with “concerts” in the streets and online. The Caffe at 47 Phila St. in Saratoga Springs deserves this two-part soiree for sheer … Continue reading Caffe Lena Lives, Breathes →
Bonnaroo and Bonnie
In a previous post, we talked about Delaney and Bonnie & Friends’ Accept No Substitutes. Fast forward 44 years to a surprise encounter with Bonnie on a visit to my brother Jim in Nashville— one of those trips when music started happening as soon as I got there. A cab carried me from the airport to … Continue reading Bonnaroo and Bonnie →
Rock in Peace, Little Richard
Late in Sean Rowe’s 80s-themed live-show-from-home Sunday afternoon, a lyric grabbed me by the throat. In his now-familiar dining room festooned with tiny hanging lights, he stepped to the mic right in front of the camera, strummed quiet chords on his Takamine acoustic six-string, decorated with bold bars of colorful duct tape and sang this: … Continue reading Rock in Peace, Little Richard →
Live (Sorta): Mark Emanation Duo @ Caffe Lena 5/6/2020
This story first appeared in Nippertown, my first story there in months, and I’m pleased to be back, again. Let me explain. The late, great Greg Haymes (“Sergeant Blotto” in Albany rock-comedy band Blotto) and his partner in life and creativity Sara Ayers published Nippertown for a decade until Greg passed last year. I wrote … Continue reading Live (Sorta): Mark Emanation Duo @ Caffe Lena 5/6/2020 →
From the Record Shelf: Accept No Substitutes
Son Zak suggested I grab and gab: pick out, listen to and talk about an album. So I picked a buried treasure, Accept No Substitutes, a half-forgotten masterpiece by Delaney & Bonnie and Friends. It’s a 1969 classic from the mid-south by way of LA, a record Jimi Hendrix described as “Call it spiritual, and leave … Continue reading From the Record Shelf: Accept No Substitutes →
From Dennis’s Jazz Fest Journal
In Jazz Fest pilgrimages with Dennis Bidwell and Mike Gondek, nicknames developed: Dennis is Boogaloo, I’m Muffuletta Slim and Gondek is, well, Gondek. Dennis keeps a Jazz Fest journal and sent his own reaction to the mysterious appearance of the converted psychedelic school bus in my First Jazz Fest account. We both regret not boarding … Continue reading From Dennis’s Jazz Fest Journal →
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