[contextly_auto_sidebar] WHEN I was in high school, I had a slightly older friend who was eccentric, brilliant, and obscure. He had a minor speech impediment, so I couldn't always tell what he was saying, but whenever I could make it out, it was fascinating and perceptive. I met some very cool and smart people through him A few years after I left for college, I heard he got heavily into … [Read more...]
Archives for November 2016
Reasons to Be Thankful: Rock n roll
[contextly_auto_sidebar] HERE are my 25 favorite rock records. Trying to focus on proper studio albums, so live concerts and anthologies strongly discouraged. No jazz, classical music, pure country, electronica, downtempo, acoustic blues, Jamaican, or hip hop. (I'll make an exception for R&B that relates closely to the rock tradition.) These are albums that have some personal meaning and … [Read more...]
“Akhnaten” at Los Angeles Opera
[contextly_auto_sidebar] THE Philip Glass opera Akhnaten, the very abstracted story of the Egyptian pharaoh who lived 35 centuries ago, is now at Los Angeles Opera. Glass considers it a trilogy, alongside his epochal Einstein on the Beach and his Gandhi opera, Satyagraha. Akhnaten the man was a curious guy. Imagine being a fairly important figure -- he is credited with basically inventing … [Read more...]
The Powerful Influence of Leonard Cohen
[contextly_auto_sidebar] IT'S been a very tough year for music lovers, and the last week or so has been especially rough for other reasons. But the legacy left by the late poet/ songwriter is something to be grateful for. In my latest Salon story, I document the influence of Cohen from the earliest covers of his songs (Judy Collins' "Suzanne," Fairport Convention's "Bird on a Wire"), … [Read more...]
“Tears of St. Peter” and the Master Chorale
[contextly_auto_sidebar] HERE is a piece I had not even heard of: "Lagrime di San Pietro," a chorale work by the ambiguously Italian composer Orlando di Lasso (who is usually described as Flemish). The Los Angeles Master Chorale put on this Renaissance work, directed by classical wildman Peter Sellars, about a week ago at Disney Hall. Despite my lack of knowledge of most chorale music, I took … [Read more...]
Otis Redding at the Whisky — Revisited
[contextly_auto_sidebar] YOU can never really have too much Otis Redding. The great R&B singer and songwriter died in a plane crash in 1967, at just 26 years old, and just about everything he recorded (included his radio spot for "Stay in School") is worth hearing. So it's good news that a legendary set of concerts -- his April 1966 shows at the Whisky a Go Go, which have been available in … [Read more...]
Lit Crawl L.A./ North Hollywood
[contextly_auto_sidebar] THE other night I ventured out to Los Angeles's North Hollywood neighborhood for the latest installment of Lit Crawl L.A. This annual night out has been going since 2013, but for various reasons I've missed it every time, even though NoHo is one of my favorite L.A. 'hoods. The idea of Lit Crawl is to arrange readings, conversations, rants, and various kinds of … [Read more...]