In exactly a couple of weeks, I’m gonna be turning 45. As such, 45s are definitely on my mind right now. I’m highly likely to put together a mix of 45 45s for my 45th, and I can all but guarantee that this devastingly sweet soul boulder will be in the mix. I feel like I first heard this at a Rappcats pop-up, but I also feel like I heard it from Oliver Wang at Soul-Sides.com, or maybe from David Ma at Nerdtorius…it’s a bit odd for me, because I normally have very distinct memories of when/where I hear music for the first time, but not here. It’s almost as if I feel like I’ve always known this song, even though I know that’s not true. It just has this tremendous beauty and sweetness to it that is so utterly amazing that I think my mind convinces itself that every moment I hear it, it’s the first time I’m hearing it, all over again.
While I don’t know anything about “Doris,” I was surprised to find out that “Kelley,” refers to Herman Kelley of Herman Kelly & Life’s “Dance To The Drummer’s Beat,” fame. Despite having such a influential song to Hip-Hop generation folks ((if you do want a deep dive into that classic and its legacy in Hip-Hop, click here), there still isn’t a whole lot of information about Herman Kelley. Given the relatively large gap between this single’s release in 1967 and that b-boy/b-girl classic’s release in 1978, what I now wonder is what other music Doris & Kelley might have been up to in the years in between. Hopefully one day there will be a collection that fills in all the gaps and gives us more of this pairing, but for now, I just have so much gratitude, no matter how it actually happened, that this song came into my life at a time where I definitely and desperately needed more sweetness.
Seeing as how I’ve spent large swaths of the past couple of years not posting much, there are a whole lot of records that I’m realizing I still haven’t shared. This one came my way via Joel of Tropicalia In Furs, at one of his legendary Rappcats Pop-Ups. You can’t judge a record by its cover, but with a cover like this, I had to hear what the music sounded like. My memory now is a little iffy on all the particulars, but after either Joel dropped the needle on the first cut or I checked it out from youtube, I was sold.
I do remember asking Joel what the deal was with this band and record, and he said it was some American dudes that cut a record in Brasil. As all the songs were in English, and the band members had names like “Brian Anderson,” and “Billy Rogers,” that made good sense. Getting ready to post this thought, I discovered that apparently all the members of the band were actually from Brasil. The exact same dudes, with the exact same names, had perhaps a bit more local success a year later as Light Reflections. Perhaps they just adopted the Anglo-names to pass themselves off as being from “overseas?” I got no idea. The bigger mystery to me is what happened between the recording of this record and all the others, cause they barely sound like the same group from year to the next.
The sound of Tobruk on this first album is a bit wild and wooly, big fuzzy guitars, heavy drums, weird echo-ey sound effects, secondary vocals that sound like they’re recorded in the hallway. Tobruk doesn’t show a whole lot of range on this album, but they know how to rock a acid freak Hippie groove. The groove is so heavy that I couldn’t resist dropping “Heart Of A Sound Spirit” during a guest set at Funky Sole. I thought for sure it would clear the dancefloor, but coming in near the end of the set, at close to 2am, I was surprised at how packed the floor remained. Especially in the present moment, where going to a club or bar or dancing with folks seems like a distant dream, I’m thankful for that memory.
At a later pop-up, Joel had a second record from Tobruk, which sounded more like Light Reflections than this album, where all of the rough edges had been removed from the group. Such a shame. I really would have loved to have heard them produce another freak-out LP like this. But, that’s the way of world often…Let’s just be thankful for what we got.
Putting together a show based on emotions, moods and feelings is an interesting experience, one that I don’t know if I fully knew what I was getting into when I choose the name and theme of this show, “Moods In Free Time.” Perhaps the most interesting thing is where/how/when the inspiration for a show will come. I settled on “Duende” as this month’s focus because of an observation about Federico García Lorca, brought up during a wide-ranging conversation with Poet, Actress & Director (and wearer of likely a dozen other hats I’ve failed to mention here) Elisa Noemí. The mere mention of Lorca was the necessary spark that made me think of this concept of “Duende,” one that he discussed quite often, and just like that, the die was cast for this month’s show.
“Duende,” as I mention in the show, is actually a tough feeling to nail down. It’s one of those, “I know it when I feel it,” kind of things, and in some ways the depth of feeling that you feel is exactly what is so hard to easily describe. In Lorca’s essay (an English translation of which you can find here), he talks at length about “Duende,” but it’s this passage about Flamenco singer Manuel Torre, that I’ve always found most illuminating:
“…Manuel Torre, a man who had more culture in his veins than anyone I’ve known, on hearing Falla play his own Nocturno del Generalife spoke this splendid sentence: ‘All that has dark sounds has duende.’ And there’s no deeper truth than that. Those dark sounds are the mystery, the roots that cling to the mire that we all know, that we all ignore, but from which comes the very substance of art. ‘Dark sounds’ said the man of the Spanish people, agreeing with Goethe, who in speaking of Paganini hit on a definition of the duende: ‘A mysterious force that everyone feels and no philosopher has explained.’ So, then, the duende is a force not a labour, a struggle not a thought. I heard an old maestro of the guitar say: ‘The duende is not in the throat: the duende surges up, inside, from the soles of the feet.’ Meaning, it’s not a question of skill, but of a style that’s truly alive: meaning, it’s in the veins: meaning, it’s of the most ancient culture of immediate creation.”
That description of “Duende,” that “mysterious force that everyone feels,” but no one can really explain is the one that guides this show.
So after Elisa’s initial inspiration, and the choice of “Duende,” the challenge then was to choose the songs. I knew a while ago that this month would be the first with 2 hours to play with, but that extra 60 minutes didn’t help me out too much. There were easily another 3 hours of music from artists that I personally felt fit “Duende,” that didn’t make it into the show, but at least now that they’re at the front of my mind, I’ll likely find a place for them in future shows. But, it’s important to note that, in terms of what IS here, it’s all music that I deeply feel, and that if you’re a fan of mixes or shows that I’ve done in the past, you’ll likely also deeply feel…I certainly truly hope that you do.
In terms of what’s coming next, I can already tell you that August’s edition will focus on “Gratitude,” as it’s my Birthday month (as well as the gang of Leos and Virgos that I know personally), but, as I’ve only picked one song for the show thus far, you’ll just have to wait to see what makes it in…Until then, enjoy these sounds. Peace and Bright Moments.
Playlist – Moods In Free Time Vol. 007: Duende {opening theme} The Visitors – The Juggler – In My Youth (Muse)
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Buika – Volver, Volver – Niña De Fuego (Casa Limon/DRO Atlantic) Mable John – Your Good Thing – 7” (Stax) Gal Costa – Hotel Das Estrellas – LeGal (Philips) Otis Redding – Free Me – Otis! The Definitive Otis Redding (Rhino)
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Maria Callas – Ecco: Respiro Appena … Lo Son L’umile Ancella (Atto I) from Adriana Lecouver – Opera Arias (EMI Classics) Nina Simone – Wild Is The Wind – Wild Is The Wind (Philips) David Axelrod – Song Of Innocence – Song Of Innocence (Capitol/Now-Again) Miguel Aceves Mejía – La Malagueña – El Gallo Colorado (RCA Victor)
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Anna Melato – Amare Me – Love & Anarchy: Original Soundtrack (Cinevox) Nearly God – Poems – 12” (Island) Saba – Life – Care For Me (Saba Pivot/Vinyl Me Please) Googoosh – Shekayat – Googoosh (Finders Keepers/B-Music)
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El Chocolate y La Familia Farruco – Soleá De Farruco – Flamenco: Original Soundtrack (New York Video) Charles Mingus – Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting – Blues & Roots (Atlantic) The 24-Carat Black – Best Of Good Love Gone – Gone: The Promises Of Yesterday (Numero)
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Chavela Vargas – Luz De Luna – Kika: Original Soundtrack (Polydor) Billie Holiday Orchestra feat. Lester Young – All Of Me – Billie Holiday Sings (Columbia) La Santa Cecilia – Amar y Vivir – Amar y Vivir (Universal Music Latin) Magic Sam – My Love Will Never Die – West Side Soul (Delmark)
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Duke Ellington feat. Mahalia Jackson – Come Sunday – Black, Brown & Biege (CBS) Charlie Haden & the Liberation Music Orchestra – Song for Che – Liberation Music Orchestra (Impulse!)
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{closing theme} Tony Williams – Wild Life – Believe It (Columbia)
Last year, for our 10th anniversary, the annual “Deepest Digs,” focused on a couple of songs from each year of Melting Pot. As such, aside from the two in the mix, I didn’t highlight other tracks posted during that year. In truth, there were only a handful of tracks that I could have brought together because the pace of posting had slowed so dramatically. This year wasn’t much better on that front, but thanks to that closing collection of posts just before 7/7, I could combine tracks from both years to create the usual mix. And so, this mix brings together 20 of my fave tracks shared here over the past 24 months of Melting Pot…Dig On It!!!
Playlist:
1. Donald Jenkins & the Delighters – Music Revolution – 7” (Black Beauty)
2. Flow – Here We Are Again – Flow (CTI)
3. Tin Tin – Family Tree – Tin Tin (Atco)
4. Alan Hawkshaw – Next Stop LA – Black Pearl (De Wolfe)
5. Dennis Olivieri – I Cry In The Morning – Come To The Party (VMC)
6. Ennio Morricone – La Lucertola – Una Lucertola Con La Pelle Di Donna (Dago Red)
7. Kain – The Blue Guerilla – The Blue Guerilla (Juggernaut)
8. Rahsaan Roland Kirk – Sweet Fire – Rahsaan, Rahsaan (Atlantic)
9. Mike Ricciardella and Dick Dowling – Rock Group Featuring Solo Drummer – The Fabulous Sounds Of Rock Drumming (Music Minus One)
10. Nikki Giovanni & the New York Community Choir – Ego Tripping – The Truth Is On Its Way (Right On)
11. The Rail Band – Mouodilo – 7” (HMV)
12. Caffe – Falcon – 7” (Godo)
13. The Jazz Minstrels – Poopin’ The Sloop – Party (PVY Productions)
14. Leo Lowman – Friends – Syntheseas (Syntheseas/Part I of II)
15. David Astri – Safe & Sound – Do it Right (Award)
16. The Utopian Concept – Days May Come, Days May Go – 7” (Ru-jac)
17. The Ponderosa Twins Plus One – Bound – 2 + 2 + 1 = (Horoscope)
18. Murari Band – Dreaming – Dreaming (Desire Tree)
19. Gilberto Gil – Era Nova – Refavela (Philips)
20. Gary Foster – Elegy – Subconsciously (Revelation)
Today marks the 11th anniversary of Melting Pot. This year has been a challenging one for us all, and like previous years, the amount and pace of posts has been a reflection of that on a personal level. But, with the flurry of activity over the last couple of days as a hopeful sign for the future, my desire to share music with y’all remains unabated. Now that I’m back to doing a regular radio show once a month, and now that I’m finally free from teaching (and I already know I’ll be teaching remotely for the next year plus) I’m hoping to get into a routine so that I’m posting on the regular AND finally getting together mixes that I’ve been promising for years, as well as some new ones too. Onwards and upwards minha gente, peace and bright moments to you all!
With my frequent absence from this blog and sharing music online, there have been a massive amount of musical legends who have passed in 2020 that I haven’t paid proper tribute to. When word came today that the legendary Ennio Morricone had passed at 91, I knew I had to post something now that I’m actually (or perhaps I should say seemingly) back to posting on the regular.
Morricone’s discography is so vast, that I don’t relish how my betters will pay tribute to him in mixes and on the radio. Despite my deep love and appreciation of the man and his music, particularly his soundtrack work, I was surprised that I actually didn’t have much of his material in my vinyl collection. I don’t normally like to highlight reissues, but since (at least as far as I can tell) this one never was formally released when it was recorded, I thought it could work as a tribute.
I first heard the song “Lucertola,” online in a user created video on Youtube that featured scenes from the film it was used in, Lucio Fulci’s mind-bending classic giallo “Una Lucertola Con La Pelle Di Donna/Woman In A Lizard’s Skin.” If you’ve never seen the film, I won’t even bother trying to explain it, you just need to see it. Interestingly enough, the very last thing I did before the pandemic lockdown was go to see a screening of this film put on by Secret Movie Club. It’s an experience for sure, and like all of the countless films that Morricone created a score for, it’s hard to think of the film without the dreamy and slightly menacing score, which is absolutely perfect for the film, from the maestro…RIP
As I somewhat feverishly attempt to shoehorn a few posts in before the end of this 10th year of Melting Pot, I thought this would be an interesting one to highlight even though I know next to nothing about it. This record first came up on my radar four years ago, when multimedia artist/DJ Laura Sofía Pérez included “Friends” in a mix. Though her time in LA was short, I’m always thankful for a music connection and the unique sound stuck in my mind, until finally I decided to track down a copy. I was both surprised and not surprised that all of the sounds on “Syntheseas” were performed by the artist, Leon Lowman.
From the notes on the back cover, Lowman was based in Narragansett, Rhode Island and aside from this album, he released three other cassette only albums in the 1980s. That’s basically all I know, other than he dedicated each of the songs on this album to different individuals and the album as a whole to “all those who love to ride the surf.” I’d never thought of synthy Jazz funk as surf music, but if there ever was a time for that to be the case, 1980 was definitely the time.
This one came my way due to a couple of my Sociology Soul Brothers, Dr. Steven Osuna and Dr. Oliver Wang (who all y’all should know from Soul-Sides.com), both of whom teach in the Department of Sociology with me at Long Beach. Me and Oliver frequently chat about music, sharing things we’ve recently tracked down or heard. Shortly after he tracked down a copy of the Caffe 45 I’ve posted here, he asked if I had heard this song, which Steven had turned him on to. Looking at the label, it rang no bells, so I clicked on the link and promptly had my mind blown away.
I don’t know a single thing about Donald Jenkins & the Delighters, but “Music Revolution,” is one of the tightest, sweetest, most soulful tunes I’ve heard in a mighty long time. Even before the song had ended (honestly, I don’t think I even made it a whole minute) I was looking online to see if there were any copies available, and the record Gods were kind to me that day. Since this one is definitely a “soul boulder,” I like to think that Matthew Africa put in a good word, though, knowing him, likely with a smirk while saying, “you know, I used to have doubles of this…”
The vocals, the flighty flute, those heavy drums that sound like they could have been imported from the Darling Dears, and the lyrics, which might be about literal revolution or just about a musical group finding their voice…all of it, it’s all so perfect. Especially in the midst of this pandemic, I am very thankful for Soul Brother solidarity and thankful to share music such as this as well.
Along with Nikki Giovanni, another poet’s work that had been on my mind during the July 4th weekend was that of “original” Last Poets member, Gylan Kain.
While the group that most people associate with the name “The Last Poets,” featured an original collaborator, Abiodune Oyewole, Kain, along with David Nelson and Felipe Luciano comprised the first incarnation of the group (if you’ve never seen their performance film “Right On,” I highly recommend you track it down). Felipe Luciano (who left the Last Poets to form the Young Lords) contributes some liner notes/poetry that like the Nikki Giovanni shared earlier, remains far too relevant for the current moment.
Out of all the poets associated with the group, I’ve been most drawn to the enigma of Kain, particularly after first tracking down this album as reissued CD on the Collectibles record label in the 1990s. Aside from the spoken word, this album sounds nothing like any of the other releases associated with the various “Poets.” “I Ain’t Black/Harlem Preacher,” starts the album off in madcap fashion, as assorted denizens of a neighborhood bar, supposedly in 1925, take turns vilifying an outsider who is not easily classified as Black or White with shouts of “You Black Bastard,” and then “You White Motherfucker,” to which the “Preacher” replies that he ain’t Black or White, as the music shifts effortlessly from Soul to Blues to Avant-Garde Jazz.
Aside from Kain’s manic, guttural, poetry and performance style, it’s the musical accompaniment that really sets this album apart from others released by The Last Poets. I hoped that tracking down an original copy of the record might solve the mystery of who plays on the album, but there’s no breakdown of the musicians. The fact that there are multiple credits from Nile Rodgers makes me think that he might have been involved in the session, even though he would have been only a teenager at the time. With nods to Sly Stone and Duke Pearson (whose “Christo Redentor” serves as the basis for the music for “Clouds”), the band draws on many different threads of contemporary Black music, while always sounding original. They are the perfect compliment to Kain.
Of all the tracks on this unique album, “The Blue Guerilla,” is the one I love the most and have played the most. I even personally edited a censored version so that I could add it to the rotation at Album 88 back when I was a music director there in the mid-1990s. It’s a fascinating song, full of biblical allusions, mixed with revolutionary/apocalyptic themes, where Kain seems to imagine the second coming of Jesus Christ as the titular character, a figure that he repeatedly warns to listener to look out for, with this dark rumbling music that builds and builds and builds through it’s nearly 7 minutes.
“…As God is my witness, Out from behind one of these rocks, Came something looking very much like a Blue Guerilla, (You better look out Motherfuckers!) He had a big apple cap, He had a M-14 axe at his side, And he was…hitching a ride.
I said ‘Hey baby, who are you?’ He said ‘Jesus Christ,’ Just like that, he said it, I said, ‘You know one thing,’ He said, ‘What’s that baby?’ I said, ‘They didn’t accept you two thousand years ago, they’re not gonna accept you now.’ But the Blue Guerilla he just looked at me, Smiled his heavenly smile, Grinned his all-knowing grin, (all knowing grin!) And then he said ‘Kain!’ (Kain!) When he said my name Kain I knew he had to be God, (who else?) He said ‘Kain, I don’t want you to worry about a thing, ‘cause you see,’ and then he said these words to me.
He said, ‘life ain’t nothing but a river, Moving through an empty hand,’ He said, ‘life ain’t nothing but a river, Just moving through an empty hand, Well, you can hold on if you want to, But Lord when the shit hits the fan, You better look out for the Blue Guerilla.’ You better look out for the Blue Guerilla, You better look out, Look out! Look out! Look out! Look out! Look out! Look out! Look out for the Blue Guerilla, Look out… (on your ass motherfucker!) Good lookin’ out, Good lookin’ out…”
It’s hard not to think of our own current moment, with machine guns seemingly on every block as Kain mentions early in the song, and everything we’ve already gone through in 2020, with a whole ‘nuther half of this insane year to follow, and not feel like this might be a good time to be vigilant for Kain’s Blue Guerilla…
This is a record that I have owned maybe more times than any other. In fact, I’ve owned three different versions of this album, each with a different cover, though this most recent copy, featuring Nikki Giovanni’s face, likely reading her own poems, is my favorite. I don’t have any reason for why I’ve ultimately parted ways with this recorded multiple times, it’s just been related to the ebb and flow of my collection, where I’ve sold significant portions of it for a number of reasons.
I do however, have some very good reasons for always getting a copy of this album, and that is because it features some of the most soul stirring performances I’ve ever heard. In this case, I bought this album, once again, here in this surreal Summer of 2020. As the US has been embroiled in conflict with multiple pandemics, the renewed emphasis on issues of Race and our Racial and often Racist history has put Nikki Giovanni into my mind more than a few times.
The particular catalyst for getting this one (in addition to a couple other Giovanni albums that I hadn’t owned before) was her conversation with James Baldwin originally broadcast on SOUL! In 1971. Baldwin is rightly recognized as one of the best minds to tackle issues surrounding Race in the US, remaining relevant through much of our current difficulties, but Giovanni’s critical eye was no less prescient, as is clearly evident on her poem “Great Pax Whitey,” originally published in her collection, “Black Feeling, Black Talk, Black Judgement, and here is combined with a rendition of “Peace Be Still” by the New York Community Choir.
Nikki Giovanni – “Great Pax Whitey”
“In the beginning was the word, And the word was, Death, And the word was nigger, And the word was death to all niggers, And the word was death to all life, And the word was death to all, Peace be still.
The genesis was life, The genesis was death, In the genesis of death, Was the genesis of war, Be still peace, be still.
In the name of peace, They waged the wars, Ain’t they got no shame?
In the name of peace, Lot’s wife is now a product of the Morton company, Nah, they ain’t got no shame.
Noah packing his wife and kiddies up for a holiday, Row row row your boat, But why’d you leave the unicorns Noah, huh? Why’d you leave them? While our Black Madonna stood there, Eighteen feet high holding Him in her arms, Listening to the rumblings of peace be still, Be still.
Can I get a witness? Witness? Witness? He wanted to know, And Peter only asked, who is that dude? Who is that Black dude? Looks like a troublemaker to me, And the foundations of the mighty mighty Roman Catholic Church were laid, Hallelujah Jesus, Nah, they ain’t got no shame.
Cause they killed the Carthaginians, in the great Appian Way, And they killed the Moors just to civilize a nation, And they just killed the earth, And blew out the sun, In the name of a god, Whose genesis was white, And war wooed god, And America was born, Where war became peace, And genocide patriotism, And honor is a happy slave, Cause all god’s chillun need rhythm, And glory hallelujah, why can’t peace be still?
The great emancipator was a bigot, Ain’t they got no shame? And making the world safe for democracy, Were twenty millon slaves, Nah, they ain’t got no shame.
And they barbecued six million, To raise the price of beef, And crossed the 16th parallel, To control the price of rice, Ain’t we never gonna see the light?
And champagne was shipped out of the East, While kosher pork was introduced to Africa, Only the torch can show the way.
In the beginning was the deed, And the deed was death, And the honkies are getting confused, Peace be still.
So the great white prince, Was shot like a nigger in Texas, And our Black shining prince was murdered, like that thug in his cathedral, While our nigger in Memphis, was shot like their prince in Dallas, And my lord, Ain’t we never gonna see the light? The rumblings of this peace must be stilled, Be stilled, be still.
Oh, Black people, Ain’t we got no pride?”
Even though the poem references the song, “Peace” is still an interesting choice for this poem. The song was made famous by James Cleveland & the Angelic Choir in 1963, recorded soon after the Birmingham church bombing that also inspired John Coltrane’s “Alabama.” The song is one that references scripture where Jesus calms turbulent waters by saying “Peace, be still,” and as such it’s a song for troubled times where faith in a better tomorrow is tested. We get almost 3 full minutes of the choir before Giovanni steps in with the fiery indictment of “western” civilization,” and especially American racism that unfortunately remains all too familiar and far too relevant. The way she says, “Nah, they ain’t got no shame,” is just so perfect. In these waning days of the “Pax Americana,” where just when you think things can’t get worse, or horrific actions couldn’t be topped, but they are, I often hear Giovanni’s voice, “nah, they ain’t got no shame…” No matter how many times I’ve heard it, it never fails to give me chills.
Thought they bookend the first side of the record, the one-two punch of “Peace” and “Ego Trippin” is truly something. While the former is an indictment of Racism and all it produces, the latter is a beautiful, joyful, raucous, celebration of Mother Africa and Black history, ending with some of the most beautiful lines of Giovanni’s whole oeuvre.
“I am so perfect so divine, so ethereal, so surreal, I cannot be comprehended, Except by my permission.”
Giovanni’s manifold talents at this stage in her career are marvelous to behold. And the deep, deep feeling she inspires is not only focused on issues of Race, but also around Gender (and class, a kind of proto-intersectionality roughly 15 years before the term started to be theorized by Black feminists like Deborah King and Patricia Hill Collins) as evidenced on “All I Gotta Do,” and “Woman Poem,” the latter beautifully and unironically paired with “Amazing Grace.”
Nikki Giovanni – Woman Poem
“You see, My whole life is tied up to unhappiness, It’s Father cooking breakfast, And me getting fat as a hog, Or having no food at all, And Father proving his incompetence again, I wish I knew how it would feel to be free.
It’s having a job they won’t let you work, Or no work at all castrating me, Yeah, it happens to women too.
It’s a sex object if you’re pretty and no love, Or love and no sex if you’re fat, Get back, fat, black woman, Be a mother, grandmother, strong thing,
But not a woman, Games woman, romantic woman, love needer, Man seeker, sweat getter, love seeking woman.
It’s a hole in your shoe, And buying Lil’ Sis a dress, And her saying you shouldn’t, When you know all too well that you shouldn’t.
But smiles are only something we give to properly dressed social workers, Not each other, Only smiles of ‘I know your game Sister,’ Which isn’t really a smile.
Joy is finding a pregnant roach and squashing it Not finding someone to hold, Let go, get off, get back, don’t turn me on you dog, How dare you care about me, Cause I ain’t nothin’, And you must be lower than that to care.
It’s a filthy house, With yesterday’s watermelon, And Monday’s tears, Cause true ladies don’t know how to clean it.
It’s intellectual devastation of everyone, To avoid emotional commitment, ‘Yeah honey, I would’ve married him, But he didn’t have no degree.’
It’s knock-kneed, mini-skirted, Wig wearing, dyed blond, mamma’s scar, Born dead, my scorn, Rough heeled, broken nailed, Powdered face, Me, Whose whole life is tied up to unhappiness, Cause it’s the only for real thing I know.”
Amazing Grace indeed…Here on this album, Giovanni presents all the sides of Black life, the good, the bad & the ugly, as well as the resilience, fire and joy of her experience, with such fierce honesty that there is no way you cannot listen…Peace, be still.
{So, here we are a couple days from our 11th anniversary, and I’m realizing I’m almost in the same spot I was last year in terms of posts and music. Much of this quarantine life has been spent teaching, but it’s now finally Summer for me and I’ll have much more free time and a more free mind. Thus, expect a flurry of posts here before the 7th, beginning now!}
Over the past couple of months, much of my desire to share music has been directed towards Moods In Free Time. The regularity of that show makes it a bit easier to focus on than regular posts. But now that Spring has fully given way to Summer, which in my case means a much needed break from teaching to fully to account of how this moment has changed things for me personally, I’m finding that I’m starting to get that fire to share more music and words about music.
This album first showed up on my radar at one of Cool Chris’ Groove Merchant X Rappcats pop-ups here in LA. With so many records, many of which none of those who were there had ever seen, there were more than a few records that I was interested in that I just had to put back. For whatever reason, this album stuck with me and so at a much later date I got a sealed copy off the internets.
I was surprised to find that Murari Band was based out of my home town of Atlanta. They were associated with the Hare Krishna movement (Swami Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta is one of many faces featured on the trippy cover above), but aside from “Dreaming,” I don’t feel like a lot of the Krishna consciousness comes directly (and successfully) through in the music.
Despite being recorded a bit “late” in 1980, “Dreaming” has a nice “soft-psych” early/mid-1970s feel, and the vibe is pure. In this moment of our lives, where it feels like we are living during a very bad sci-fi pandemic dystopian film (or maybe series, since this is gonna go on for a long time), the possibility of retreating to the land of dreams is definitely seductive. But I prefer to think of the way that our dreams may allow us to manifest and conjure up a better version of the reality we are living. With all we are dealing with in the moment, it’s definitely something much needed here in the US and worldwide…
As soon as I finish a show, my thoughts turn to the next one and the next mood, feeling or emotion to focus on. Less than a week after “Sublimity” aired, I was chatting with a dear friend, Esme Germaine Snow Chôquet-Torres, and just casually mentioned that I hadn’t even begun to think about what I’d focus on for June. Esme suggested “Queer Joy” and that was all the spark I needed to focus on “Pride,” given that June is not only Pride Month, but 2020 also marks 50 years since the first Pride marches, which occurred on June 28, 1970, the first anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising of 1969.
While deciding to focus on LGBTQ pride was a no-brainer, figuring out what music I was gonna play was a bit more difficult to sort out (as is always the case for me as a DJ). The first song that came to mind for the show was also the most well known, “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” recorded in 1967 by Frankie Valli and written by Bob Crewe. As legend has it, the inspiration for “Eyes,” regarded as one of the greatest love songs of any era, was Crewe admiring the naked body of his lover. Normally, I don’t highlight such big hits, but “Eyes” has a backstory that not a lot of people seem to know, and something that was obscured entirely in the film version of “Jersey Boys,” where Clint Eastwood makes what had to be a conscious decision (particularly since it strays from the original musical) to portray the crafting of the song not as an expression of gay love, but instead as a tribute to Valli’s daughter, even though her actual death occurred 13 years after the song was recorded.
After “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” emerged as one of the songs I 100% knew I was going to play, I started to think about focusing on artists who performed in the years before Pride became such a visible celebration of LGBTQ folks. As someone who is especially drawn to music recorded prior to my birth in 1975, one of many things I’ve always been fascinated by is the gendered performance (or more specifically what Judith Butler calls “performativity”) of artists whose sexual orientation was either not well known at the time or hidden because they lived a closeted life. In contrast to the present era where there is more tolerance/acceptance for LGBTQ identity and expression, prior to the 1980s it was exceedingly rare for performers to be fully “out,” and to be able to publicly embrace that aspect of their lives. I toyed around with the idea of playing music that would have been played at the Stonewall Inn jukebox (which we know about in detail because of the archival work of the Stonewall Rebellion Veterans Association, which you can find here), but ultimately decided to broaden the scope, though still with an emphasis on artists/recordings prior to 1970.
In addition to allowing me to engage in a bit of musical archeology, and discovering a few artists or performances I hadn’t heard before (I still trip out that despite being a major Jazz head for most of my life, I’d never heard Billy Strayhorn’s voice until I tracked down the version of “Lush Life” featured here in the second set), having that time frame to draw on also made it possible for me to pay short tributes to a couple of icons who had passed recently, Little Richard and Phil May of the Pretty Things.
While I have no idea how long I’ll be doing “Moods In Free Time,” or how many times I’ll repeat a specific mood/feeling, I can 100% guarantee that every June we’ll focus on “Pride.” For now, enjoy these sounds…
After a couple of months of some heavy moods, I knew I definitely wanted to focus on something brighter for May’s edition of Moods In Free Time. On one of my daily walks on my block with my pup, the sunlight in LA just looked especially lovely. At one point I just stopped to bask in it, and as I did, I instantly heard The Sons and Daughters Of Lite’s “Let The Sun Shine In,” playing in my ears. That moment was the catalyst for this show, one that focuses on “Sublimity,” or being in the state of the sublime. Sublimity is also a place, an actual town in Oregon, and the site where I witnessed the total eclipse on my birthday in 2017 with some dear friends. So, suffice to say, “Sublimity,” means a great deal to me, and with all the insanity in the world right now, I was more than happy to focus on music that evokes a kind of trascendent beauty. There was immediately one major problem…There were many many many many songs that brought up this feeling for me, but, this show is only 60 minutes.
When I took account of the first collection of songs under this concept, it was over 5 hours long! And that was while I had the mindset of this only being for 1 hour…there’s so much to mine around the concept of “Sublimity,” that there’s no doubt I’ll return to this mood at a later date. As a way of sorting through and choosing the tunes that eventually ended up in the show, I focused on songs that almost immediately, from the moment it begins, I feel compelled to close my eyes, let the music wash over me, and be transported away from wherever I am by the music. And so here you go, 15 songs that signify the deepest levels of “Sublimity” that I’ve felt. Hope you enjoy it…
