Category: Music

Walking. God is not Dead!

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57° F. yesterday, Spring is in the air. I contemplate dragging out the outdoor furniture from the basement.

Then, this morning arrived. 20° F, feels like 3° F, winds up to 20 mph from the North. Brutal.

I walk, thinking about sitting on the outdoor furniture in the basement, reading a chapter or two — with a floor heater at my feet. Maybe the furniture goes out next month.

I walk. It’s been 1,762 consecutive (almost) days on this daybreak walk at Cove Island Park. Like in a Row.

The park, with its handful of regulars, has had a new entrant. Let’s call her Janet. Janet rolls into the park taking the same route each morning, skipping along the breakwall to the cliff, pausing for 5-10 minutes to belt out a tune at the top of her lungs, arms and hands clutching for the heavens. Unclear what she’s singing and why she needs to belt it out at earsplitting levels that can be heard at the far reaches of the Park.

So this morning, just another morning, here comes Janet. And there goes the Wildlife, DK and other park patrons quickly moving in the other direction.

Charlotte Wood: “The beauty of being here is largely the silence, after all.“

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Even fanatics cannot change that.

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Why? Because people need songs like they need bread and water. People need poetry, beauty, love! So long as the sun rises and rivers flow, there will always be weddings and celebrations and music. Even fanatics cannot change that.

— Elif Shafak, “There Are Rivers in the Sky: A Novel” (Knopf, August 20, 2024)

Notes:

I cannot even believe the place that I’m in

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Nashville shut down it’s legendary Broadway for Post Malone last month…One of the biggest pop stars in the world, singing with one of the biggest names in country.  Stars like Luke Combs signed up quick for Post’s Country Album… Post Malone wasn’t met with that kind of acceptance in the beginning. In 2015, when his hip hop track White Iverson dropped on the internet and went viral, he was called a culture vulture, a one-hit wonder. 

Q: “How did that feel to you?”
PM: “It sucked yeah. I was a kid.”

Q: “How did you deal with it?”
PM: “Drink a lot.”

Q: “Did you take it personally?”
PM: “Absolutely it’s hard not to. It’s not for the people who hate you. It’s for the people who love you and for yourself.

A decade later he has more than 40 billion streams on Spotify and six number one hits including a pop song, a hip-hop track, and most recent a country tune.

PM: “It changes your life in the best way ever, and the most beautiful thing is she has a beautiful Mom.” Q: “She saved your life (new born daughter).”
PM: “That True. Her and her Mom. Four years ago I was on a rough path.”
Q: “What were you wrestling with then?”
PM: “Everything, it was terrible.”
Q: “You were already really successful.”
PM: “Yes, Sir.
Q: “So what was what was troubling you.”
PM: “Loneliness.”

Post said he was spiraling. Downward.

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A quiet song that I love…

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A quiet song that I love, and a loud song that I love: In college, I developed a steady rotation of quiet songs that didn’t distract me while I was studying. Artists such as Tycho and Washed Out were some of my favorites.Recently, I’ve been into Floating Points, the moniker for Samuel Shepherd, a British electronic-music producer. I could recommend his Late Night Tales album or Elaenia, but the one that stands out most to me is his collaborative album, Promises, featuring the saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra. It’s a gorgeous, layered work that’s best listened to all the way through—but if you’re pressed for time, “Movement 6” is an exceptional track.

— Kevin Townsend, The Culture Survey (The Atlantic, May 4, 2024)

(Music starts at 0:40 seconds)

(Like this track, listen to Movement 6 here.)

Rhapsody in Blue

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“All this sniping and yapping at music! ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ could be the soundtrack to one of the most romantic moments in your life, too, if you let it sweep you away.

It was a freezing cold night in January. Big fat snowflakes whipped through the air while the skyline surrounding Central Park stood in silent vigil as Gershwin’s music pierced that inky darkness, emanating from the speakers that ringed Wollman Rink.

My new boyfriend and I rented skates and joined the throng, at first tentatively circling, then with more vigor as the music propelled us. It felt as if we were flying — beneath the snowflakes and the stars — and look!

Over there’s Venus.

And over there, Mars.

Whenever I hear that glorious music, I’m instantly transported to that moment in time when his gloved hand held my gloved hand and the world was full of possibilities.

What I wouldn’t give for the chance to circle just once more, in the cold and the dark … enveloped by ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ …”

— Christine Lavin, in “Letters to the Editor” in response to Ethan Iverson’s “The Worst Masterpiece: ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ at 100“. A jazz musician considers the legacy and unfulfilled promise of George Gershwin’s catchy — or you could say corny — repertory staple.