[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Scx4VCooDHhyWVBgymxHy3X9hGhGh8Y4"] LATER this week, one of our spring rituals arrives: The Ojai Music Festival kicks off on Thursday. It’s always a good time up there, and this year we’re doubly excited because of the artistic directorship by pianist Jeremy Denk, one of my generation’s most imaginative players, a gifted writer of prose on his blog and elsewhere, and … [Read more...]
Archives for June 9, 2014
Lonnie Johnson’s “St. Louis Blues”
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="OQ7hhJaMXdBfZrz7JBJRrdOxXWzxib1D"] WHAT's the most influential song in history? The Atlantic Monthly recently asked Ted Gioia for his answer, and he suggested this W.C. Handy classic, for all the blues songs it engendered, its enduring melody, and partly for its "Spanish tinge." I don't think Ted, a longtime friend of CultureCrash, was thinking of this version; … [Read more...]