The final post of the year, and it’s a sublime cut. Aleksandar Pejovski is a pianist from Skopje, Macedonia who records for local label PMG Recordings. I thank my friend Biljana Vasileva for this treasure. A good way to wind down the year.
Have a Happy 2015!
When I was collecting CDs from the legendary Touch Records label out of England, I came across the work of turntablist (for lack of a more appropriate term, as old vinyl records are his weapons of choice) Philip Jeck. The man was an alchemist as far as I was concerned, but I lost track of his releases about 6 years ago or so.
Thanks to my good friend Qualo Infinity, who posts scores of great music onto his Facebook page (both his own and others’) for enlightening me to this release.
Václav Havel was, perhaps, the first hip (as opposed to ‘hipster’) president. A playwright, poet, and political dissident, he ended up as the first president of a free Czechoslovakia, and helped steer the ‘Velvet Divorce‘ which saw the country’s peaceful dissolution into the current states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
He was an ardent anti-Communist, humanitarian, and friend and fan of men as disparate as Frank Zappa and Ronald Reagan. Perhaps now is a great time for an American audience to see what a friend we had in Václav.
Marci Shore reviews the biography here, courtesy of the New York Times.
Brain Pickings puts out a decent list of books for years end, but spoil it by including rubbish peddled by Sam Harris.
For a critique on the tantrum posing as a movement, read Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies by David Bentley Hart. A good debate is always appreciated, but it helps if the opponent doesn’t rely on building straw men and little else.
Tiny rant over.
That being said, to see Werner Herzog heading this list with A Guide For The Perplexed pleases me to no end.
Nice save, Ms. Popova.
A pleasant surprise from the Czech Republic. Asonance are a folk band which was formed in 1976. Perfect music for your next troubadour party.
Frank Zappa loved to annoy. I grew up watching him battle the Parent Music Resource Center (PMRC), among whose more famous founding members was Tipper Gore, ex-wife of then Senator (and complete douchebag to this day) Al Gore. Though he was, and is, a sleazy huckster, his wife ended up making friends with Frank’s widow, Gail.
As lyrically inane as it was, Frank was one of the best musicians of his day. I miss him, as I’m sure millions still do.
A Miscellany of Tasteful Music – December 29, 2014 by Rudy Carrera on Mixcloud
It’s been awhile, but here’s the final podcast of the year! The track listing is as follows:
1. Peter Fox – Alles Neu
2. Hilarion Nguema – Gabon Pays De Joie
3. The Chambers Brothers – Time Has Come Today
4. Carlos Gardel – La Muchacha
5. Ennio Morricone – Dal Mare
6. Al Bowlly – Fancy Our Meeting
7. Genesis – The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
8. Peter Thomas – Raumpatrouille Orion
9. Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians – Auld Lang Syne (Film Version)
10. The Durutti Column – Tomorrow (Live, from the album ‘Domo Arigato’)
A killer work from Ray Stephen Oche, thanks to my online friend PBK, whose own music is rather tasteful. For more on this trumpeter, check out this entry at OKAfrica.com.
I love scouring the Internet precisely because I run into treasures like these.
Uzbekistan is not the first name one would think of when discussing progressive rock. The Central Asian republic is far away from any of the traditional power centers like the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy or the United States. It is several time zones away from Moscow and St Petersburg, where Russia’s small prog-rock scene is at its strongest.
Yet chaps from Uzbekistan (and a chap from Norway, apparently!), working out of London, do yeoman’s work in covering progressive rock releases for the website ProgressoR. These folks are passionate about the genre, indeed. Consider this a go-to site for those who love prog and its sub-genres.
Italy is full of awesome genres of movies, from the arty (think Federico Fellini) to the trashy (think Tinto Brass). None have captured the American psyche, however, the way Spaghetti Westerns have.
Many thanks to Best Movies By Farr for posting this synopsis of Italy’s finest American export.
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