marc pietrzykowski

Pepper

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:22:27 +0000

Just finished Straight Life: The Story of Art Pepper, sobbing at the end, sitting at the kitchen table with a can of beer at 2 am. An amazingly compelling book, and one I found out about by reading The Professor, which was good, though a few of the essays collapsed under the weight of their stylistic conceits, and all of them bogged down at points because of Castle’s obssessive name dropping–imagine a more biting David Sedaris mixed with Dennis Miller at his most obscure. It seems a condition common to many academics, particularly in the humanites: the needs to constantly prove how smart you are, and what form your intelligence takes; it makes sense, I guess, given the jobs folks like Castle hold, in gladitorial pits stainedwith the guts of the less erudite… except that they’re not really gladitorial at all, just like CEOs who fancy themselves hard hearted warriors of the bottom line–they aren’t warriors, and nor are academics. Which is not to discount the idea of intellectual or spiritual or emotional battle-as-performance, of course. Art Pepper was a warrior whenever he played his horn. But the overwhelming majority of academics (and other public intellectuals) and CEOs who fancy themselves gladiatorial are more like fat children whacking each other with whiffle bats. Not that Castle succumbs to this (much), but rather the particular habit of constant, obscure name-dropping seems the sort of defensive habit someon might develop after spending much of their life around such people. Her book is still worth reading, but Straight Life should come first.

CDs: I am tired if writing about each CD (Reminder: my wife challenged me to listen to all my CDs, one at a time. So I am.), so for a while I will just list them at the bottom of a given post:

307) Bloque: De Busqueda; 308) Richard Thompson: Guitar, Vocal; 309) Faith No More: Introduce Yourself; 310) Billie Holiday: The Gold Collection; 311) Eric Clapton: Rush: The Soundtrack (yuck!); 312) Sarah McLachlan: fumbling towards ecstasy: 313) Willie Nelson: Teatro
Please order my new book! It’s cheap! And if enough people pre-order, it might get released sooner than Januaray 2011…

And more-azzolla…

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 20:53:54 +0000

Finished listening to the Astor Piazzolla 10 CD box set, then went back, put the CDs out of order, and listened to the whole thing again. The lyricism he gets out of a bandoneon is simply incredible, of course, but the second time through, I listened more to the other players, some of whom are listed on the back of the CDs, some not. Lots of swooping, sharp violins, strangely reverbed guitars, very sparse percussion that veers, like all the pieces here, from primal to ultra-sophisticated in the space of a few bars. If I didn’t have to get on with the rest of these CDs, I might listen again!

Please order my new book! It’s cheap! And if enough people pre-order, it might get released sooner than late December…

Also, I have started a net label: fubar bundy presents. Please go have some free music, though we’ve only one release up yet.

Piazzolla…

admin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 19:13:27 +0000

I get spambots posting to this site fairly regularly, many in Cyrillic, so I’m not always sure how they are trying to sound conversational… until yesterday, when one was kind of enough to leave a message in english, too: “Deeply good post. Blame you.” Nice.

I’m halfway through the 10 CD Astor Piazzolla box set, which is more lovely than I can describe. There’s some swinging 70’s synthy, rocking kind of stuff, which I didn’t expect, and several fine vocal guests. I can definitely understand why some surrealists thought tango was the perfect music, it manages to stir both intellectual and emotional passions, is prickly and dreamy all at once–what if tango occupied the place a 4/4 rock and roll beat does now? This is pretty cool: 200 Versions of “Adios Nonino”.

Please order my new book! It’s cheap! And if enough people pre-order, it might get released sooner than late December…

Also, I have started a net label: fubar bundy presents. Please go have some free music, though we’ve only one release up yet.

(quick CD dump, I’m going on vacation in a few days. I have also listened to these CDs, as I try to listen to all the ones I own, one at a time: 301) Cowboy Junkies: Rarities, B-Sides, and Slow, Sad Waltzes ; 302) The Polyphonic Spree: Have a Day ; 303) Public Enemy: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (think they just played in Buffalo…) ; 304) Cowboy Junkies: Open ; 305) Radiohead: The Bends (thanks Troy, good choice) ; 306) Psychedelic Furs: Forever Now)

Commerce!

admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 18:12:04 +0000

I have a new book of poetry set for publication in December, from the Main Street Rag Publishing Co. If the release date is in December, why am I writing this now, in August? Because if 100 people pre-order the book, at a discount, it will be released earlier. I will keep a running tally of how many are ordered, so please go to one of the above links and order one! With the discount, the book is only $9, which is less than a pack of cigarettes here in NY….

and now, more CDs, as I continue listening to all the ones I own:

297) The Pixies: Surfer Rosa

There was a period of 9 months or so, in the late 1980’s, when you couldn’t step into a bar, party, or friend’s car without hearing this CD. Classic rock in a blender, noise rock with the rough edges sanded off… and poppy as hell. Still great fun.

298) The Breeders: Last Splash

Odd that this one was right next to Surfer Rosa, bit of synchronicity there… it also seems odd that this came out in 1993, and Surfer Rosa in 1988, were the Pixies really only around for 5 years? Guess so. 2 or 3 great songs here, 1 big hit (“Cannonball”) that was good but not great, and a bunch of goofing around. I liked their first ep a bit more, if only because it was more economical (and had “Safari,” my favorite Breeders song).

299) The Birthday Party: Junkyard

What a great, scary album. Roaring, discordant punk noise, rockabilly riffing, a little Nino Rota here and there, and Nick Cave bellowing about big-jesus-trash-can. I cheated and listened to this one 3 times, twice because I wanted to and once to wash out of my ears this thing:

300) Glass Hammer: The Middle Earth Album

I have no idea who gave me this, but they made a copy of both CD and CD cover, so they must have been pretty impressed. I can’t figure out what they are trying to do, but it scares me; it’s music for the Renaissance Faire, but not as fun as all that, there’s no Faire or turkey legs or muddy wenches or jousting… and just when I thought it couldn’t get more scary, the musicians lapse into really limp prog rock noodling, which made me long for the fake medieval crap. Nice trick. According to Wikipedia,

Glass Hammer is a progressive rock band from Chattanooga, Tennessee. They formed in 1992 when multi-instrumentalists Steve Babb (then known as “Stephen DeArqe”) and Fred Schendel began to write and record Journey of the Dunadan, a concept album based on the story of Aragorn from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. To their surprise, the album sold several thousand units via the Internet, TV home shopping, and phone orders, and Babb and Schendel were convinced that the band was a project worth continuing.

Or not. Now I get to listen to a box set, Astor Piazzola, I think…
Please buy my book! Thanks!

short-timing it

admin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:13:13 +0000

The magazine Poetry has been timid and robotic for a while now, but the archives are certainly worth looking at:

A Day on the Big Branch

Signifying Nothing

admin — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 18:24:37 +0000

Years ago I had a job working for a fat little man who drove a huge, very shiny cadillac. One day I pulled into the lot in my dirty, beat up nissan sentra just as the boss was getting out of his car. He looked at the car, looked me up and down, and said, “you know, the kind of car you drive says a lot about the kind of person you are,” to which I replied, “yes, I know, and my car says I think that’s a stupid way to live.” I’m not sure why he didn’t fire me. Maybe my existence validated his view of the world? You’re welcome, wherever you are, little fat man with a big car.

291) Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band: Cornology

Ha. Ha ha. Ha ha ha. This validates my world view, that’s for sure. They even make funny instrumentals, which is not as easy as it sounds… and often, the jokes here verge, as most of the best humor does, on something creepy:

292) Artful Dodger: It’s All About the Stragglers

2-step skitty pop, twitchy without being glitchy, modestly fun and danceable, a snapshot of a time and place. Also, largely responsible for Craig David.

293) Los Amigos Invisibles: Zinga Son

More of the best invisible friends a music aficionado could ask for. Somewhat more burnished than their earlier releases, but not to the point of being over-produced. Viva!

294) Bonnie Prince Billy: Master and Everyone

Whoa, there’s a sudden shift in mood, from Invisibles to Will Oldham. Oldham has written some good songs, but also has written some really forgettable things that are mood pieces and nothing more. Pleasant enough CD from an overrated artist, good for playing in the background while you paint the ceiling.

295) Talking Heads: Naked

Half a dozen excellent songs (“Mr. Jones,” “Blind,” “Cool Water,” “Nothing But Flowers,” a few others), and the rest are sketches that don’t come together as songs, but are still moderately interesting. This is the sound of a group of musicians going their separate ways…

296) Graham Parker: Imaginary Television

I listened to this one out of order, since I just bought it. Ye gods forgive me! Parker is one of my favorite songwriters, and the conceit here is that each song accompanies a treatment for an imaginary TV show. Well, all except “More Questions Than Answers,” which is a cover. I only wish there were more songs, as the interplay between the written “treatments” and the listening experience really works. Inspiring.

No, never did.

admin — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:42:34 +0000

Somehow, I never read Grapes of Wrath before now:

The Western land, nervous under the beginning change. The Western states, nervous as horses before a thunderstorm. The great owners, nervous, sensing a change, knowing nothing of the nature of the change. The great owners, striking at the immediate thing, the widening government, the growing labor unity; striking at new taxes, at plans; not knowing these things are results, not causes. Results, not causes; results, not causes. The causes lie deep and simply — the causes are hunger in the stomach, multiplied one million times; a hunger in a single soul, hunger for joy and some security, multiplied one million times; muscles and mind aching to grow, to work, to create, multiplied one million times. The last clear definite function of men — muscles aching to work, minds aching to create beyond the single need — this is man. To build the wall, to build a house, the dam, and in the wall and house and dam to put something of Manself, and to Manself take back something of the wall, the house, the dam; to take heart muscles from the lifting, to take the clear lines and form from conceiving. For man, unlike anything organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments. This you say is man — when theories change and crash, when schools, philosophies, when narrow dark alleys of thought, national, religious, economic, grow and disintegrate, man reaches, stumbles forward, painfully, mistakenly sometimes. Having stepped forward, he may slip back, but only half a step, never the full step back. This you may say and know it and know it. This you may know when the bombs plummet out of the black planes on the marketplace, when prisoners are stuck like pigs, and the crushed bodies drain filthily in the dust. You may know it in this way. If the step were not being taken, if the stumbling forward ache were not alive, the bombs would not fall, the throats would not be cut. Fear the time when the bombs stop falling while the bombers live — for every bomb is proof that the spirit has not died. And fear the time when the strikes stop while the great owners live — for every little beaten strike is proof that the step is being taken. In this you can know — fear the time when manself will not suffer and die for a concept, for this one quality is the foundation of man self, in this one quality is man, distinctive in the universe.

Cannery Row is certainly more fun, but reading Grapes while watching our would-be corporate masters struggle to maintain control is quite resonant….

285) Status Quo: The Complete Pye Collection

Like many people in the USA, I only knew Status Quo from “Pictures of Matchstick Men,” but I picked up this 3CD set for 10 bucks and found out they’re quite an institution in the UK. I also found out that a lot of there songs, at least from this period, aren’t very memorable; it seems like every time they wrote a good song, they then tried to copy that song 3 or 4 times. There are, for example, 3 other songs that sound A LOT like “Matchstick Men.” Donovan did much the same thing, I think. But, worth checking out if you have something else to do while listening….

286) Pere Ubu: The Story of My Life

Pere Ubu gets back together to record a CD? Could they have mortgages to pay, nostalgia to indulge in? Crap product to crank out? Nooooo! And, well, no, this isn’t just crap laurel-resting, though it’s not as prickly and experimental as their best stuff, and though they “disbanded” in 1982, they rebanded in 1993 for this recording and have produced stuff ever since. Now, if I could just find the version of Ubu Roi David Thomas did with the Quay Bros… oh, here is some of it.

287) Sparklehorse: Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot

A while back I listened to It’s A Wonderful Life, my favorite Sparklehorse CD, and wondered why M. Linkous hadn’t made a recording that good since. A few days later, he committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest with a rifle. If you live long enough, these coincidences start to pile up. Anyway, this is also a good CD, not quite as good as It’s A Wonderful Life,
but nearly so; this was Sphorse’s debut, so the seeds of It’s A Wonderful Life are everywhere, some very good dissonant noise alongside the hushed baby voice songs.
Sorry the shit got too rough, Mark, rest in peace.

288) Gong: You

I never heard Gong, heard lots about them: hippy space rock stuff, like Hawkwind for people who though Hawkwind were too punk. And yep, that’s what this is:

Now I know.

289) Cowboy Junkies: The Nomad Series Vol 1.

An interesting direction for the Junkies to head in: grafting some Chinese sounds (literally–samples of people working, etc) onto the bluesy spooky groove, keeping the arrangments sparse; the title makes me think this will be the first of a few releases with the same theme, but with different countries and cultures visited. Good stuff.

290) Townes Van Zandt: Live at the Old Quarter

Such an underrated voice. Townes in known for his songwriting, but the way he sang them was incredible too, like a man so used to being ridden that the rider becomems part of him… CDs like this are exactly why I hate the band America.

Is a map an argument?

admin — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 23:18:11 +0000

I read something the other day that has occupied my head ever since: the author was talking about the lukasa, a sacred object that the Luba people use in various rituals and which has a wealth of information encoded in its designs, cognitive cues meant to help the skilled reader tell stories, give advice, render judgment, and so forth. Many ritual objects serve this purpose, of course, but then the author went on to say that it was “more of a map than an argument.” The author is quite fastidious about acknowledging western bias elsewhere, so it’s not just that he is denigrating the lukasa, he is in fact delighted and amazed by it. He just thinks that maps are not arguments. I certainly understand his distinction; maps do not make overt attempts at persuasion… but they do, really, they persuade the person reading the map that the map is an accurate representation of whatever it is mapping, that it will help the reader get from here to there, and the act of successfully reading and using a map argues that maps are good for this kind of thing. And yet, maps leave out so much, they reduce 4 dimensional space (yes, I’m including time) to 2 dimensions, even the measurement of time is reduced to a 2-d coordinate plane. Maps have to reduce and impoverish the reality they describe, or they would be ineffective, since the map that takes everything in is not a map. Then there are maps to celebrity homes, and to fancy restaurants, and there are argument maps, and the musical artist maps, and–well, maps are a language, they are part of our grammatical brain structure, the means by which we constantly reduce and inflate the real and try to make it manageable. So, is language an argument? Perhaps defining terms would help, and no, that’s not meant as a joke. So, I’ll check the dictionary, which is a map, and also makes an argument:

map

/mæp/ verb, mapped, map·ping.

–noun

a representation, usually on a flat surface, as of the features of an area of the earth or a portion of the heavens, showing them in their respective forms, sizes, and relationships according to some convention of representation: a map of Canada.

a maplike delineation, representation, or reflection of anything: The old man’s face is a map of time.

Mathematics . function ( def. 4a ) .

Slang . the face: Wipe that smile off that ugly map of yours.

Genetics . genetic map.

–verb (used with object)

to represent or delineate on or as if on a map.

to sketch or plan (often fol. by out ): to map out a new career.

—Idioms

off the map, out of existence; into oblivion: Whole cities were wiped off the map.

put on the map, to bring into the public eye; make known, famous, or prominent: The discovery of gold put our town on the map.

Origin:
1350–1400; ME mappe- ( mounde ) < ML mappa mundī map of the world; special use of L mappa napkin, said to be < Punic

Wow, napkin? That makes weird sense. A map is a representation of something, often put on flexible material (like napkin?)

ar·gu·ment

–noun

an oral disagreement; verbal opposition; contention; altercation: a violent argument.

a discussion involving differing points of view; debate: They were deeply involved in an argument about inflation.

a process of reasoning; series of reasons: I couldn’t follow his argument.

a statement, reason, or fact for or against a point: This is a strong argument in favor of her theory.

an address or composition intended to convince or persuade; persuasive discourse.

subject matter; theme: The central argument of his paper was presented clearly.

an abstract or summary of the major points in a work of prose or poetry, or of sections of such a work.

Mathematics .

an independent variable of a function.

Also called amplitude. the angle made by a given vector with the reference axis.

the angle corresponding to a point representing a given complex number in polar coordinates. Compare principal argument.

Computers . a variable in a program, to which a value will be assigned when the program is run: often given in parentheses following a function name and used to calculate the function.

10.

Obsolete .

evidence or proof.

a matter of contention.

Origin:
1325–75; ME (< OF) < L argūmentum. See argue, -ment

Well, the definition of “argue” worked better, actually, but this definition helps, I think: an address or composition intended to convince or persuade; persuasive discourse.” A map is an address or composition, yes? And every time we use language, we are trying to persuade… what language use would be non-persuasive? I know I’m dithering here, that the usual, accepted connotations of “argue,” “map,” and “language” are intended to keep them distinct, lest our concepts become a soup–but even the way we conceptualize and distinguish between concepts, linguistically, is a kind of mapping, and a kind of argument. Boy, I’m hungry.

282) Gnarls Barkley: The Odd Couple

The bend of Cee-Lo’s voice and Dmouse’s hyper-perfect production is cool, a fine veneer, but they also make some good songs, when they don’t get lost in the veneer. “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul” sounds like Billie Holiday wandered into Blake Edward’s The Party and made everyone feel self-conscious, in a good way.

283) Captain Beyond: Sufficiently Breathless

If classic rock stations played classic rock everyone hadn’t heard a bazillion times, and if they didn’t pick the worst goddamn songs to play in the first place (“Feel Like Making Love”? “Whole Lotta Love”? “Could This Be Love”? Sheesh), then maybe they’d play Captain Beyond. Of course, they’d also play Uriah Heep, which would be not a good thing at all….

284) The Be Good Tanyas: Blue House

Didn’t I just listen to a Be Good Tanyas CD? Yep, I sure did. This one is equally fine, quiet and a little scary, as any group covering “Coo-Coo Bird” should be.

Ambition…

admin — Tue, 25 May 2010 14:00:49 +0000

Here’s a good one: “tradition is based on pride in collective habit, on the conscience that approves the pride, and on the fear that if habit and conscience fail, the result will be social chaos, the fear of which is in turn based on a particularly low assessment of human nature” (Ami-Scharfstein). I am trying to write a novel, which is a fairly traditional thing to do, and I suppose I do have pride in the collective cultural habit of producing novels. My conscience, the moral judge seated in every person (well, almost every person) by the same collective habit, approves this pride, believes novels are “good to think” (as Levi-Strauss put it). I do not think that we would descend into social chaos if people stopped reading and writing novels, however, though I do find the idea very sad. I am fairly certain, actually, that we will grow beyond reading and writing at some point in the near future, though i think we will retain a grammar for things, however we do manage to communicate them. Ah well, time is long.

I managed to write 6,000 words yesterday, then was overcome by the need to go get ice cream. Maybe I can get to 10k today; then again, maybe I need to get some qat.

278) Gogol Bordello: Multi-Kontra-Culti vs. Irony

I have heard that the Rick Rubin produced the latest GB CD, and that it flies out of the speakers in close approximation to their live shows. I can’t believe that, since their live shows are something to behold, but o what a fun band, even if Hutz is faking the whole accent thing…

279) Eugene Chadbourne and Evan Johns: Terror Has Some Strange Kinfolk

Boy, Eugene loves to make scritchy noises with his guitars. Any recording by him will feature: scritchy, noisy guitars; goofy covers (“Achy Breaky Heart”); clumps of free jazz that last 30 sec-2 min; political rants in a comical southern accent. For people who find this approach appealing (like me), it’s loads of fun. Everyone else will leave the room.

280) Huun-Huur-Tu: The Orhpan’s Lament

There’s a lot more to Tuvan music than throat-singing, though the throat-singing is pretty cool. Tone, timbre, mood, all are carefully orchestrated to evoke the mood of the open plain, the relationship of human art to the natural world, and the essential loneliness of human beings. And they play a rattle made from a bull scrotum.

281) Gang of 4: A Brief History of the 20th Century

I like this band more than just about any band that made music between 1978-1985. Why? I’m not sure exactly, maybe just the fact that the idea we could dance our way to revolution seems real when I listen to them…

Ok, Time To Work

admin — Mon, 24 May 2010 14:40:40 +0000

I’ve started a novel, and need to spend the next several days in a marathon writing session. I’m shooting for 10,000 words a day, no idea if that’s feasible, but what the hell, it’s a nice round number. The added benefit is that I will get to listen to plenty of CDs, and perhaps get to #300 soon; so, 10k and 300, here we go.

273) Carl Perkins: Go Cat Go!

A collection of Perkins tunes, most of them duets: Perkins and Willie Nelson, Perkins and Tom Petty, Perkins and Bono and Willie Nelson and Tom Petty; a few songs featuring Carl by himself; and then, not sure why, 2 covers of “Blue Suede Shoes,” one by Jimi Hendrix and one by John Lennon. A strange project, but very listenable, since the songs are uniformly great.

274) Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose: Classic Masters

Yes, they had more songs than “Treat Her Like a Lady” and “Too Late to Turn Back Now,” and some of them are excellent, like “Since I Found My Baby” and “Let Me Down Easy.” Their version of “Ain’t No Sunshine” is good too… but some of the others are buried under schmaltzy K-Tel strings. Oh well, it was the 70’s, after all.

275) Etta James: Her Best

And her best is awful good, throaty and powerful, reaches down into the belly and lifts the listener out of the chair by the bowels. “I’d Rather Go Blind” makes me weep:

276) Los Amigos Invisibles: Arepa 300

Highly contagious dance/rock/samba/funk/acid jazz and etc. From Venezuala, where they eat lots of Arepas, which are a bit like pupusas but fatter, and boy are they yummy. Eating while listening to the Amigos is not recommended, as you are likely to drop the Arepa because you are dancing uncontrollably.

277) Tom Waits: Real Gone

I wasn’t so crazy about this CD the first time I listened to it, and then forgot about it. Now I think it’s pretty fantastic, it’s very subdued but also kind of noisy, and features Waits doing beatbox on more than 1/2 the songs (!). Lots of looping, some scratching, and apparently a lot of instrumentation by various Waits children. Some of the lyrics seem phoned in, but some are the equal of the best Waits stuff, and the whole thing is a reminder of how willing Waits is to experiment with his formula–a valuable thing in the era of art-as-market share.