"can't please everyone, so ya got to please yourself"

Rick Nelson: Garden Party

For the curious, story behind the song here.

Joni Mitchell: Twisted

With Cheech and Chong. Yes, Cheech and Chong.

Flip city.

Lloyd Cole and the Commotions: Forest Fire

it's just a simple metaphor...

Al Hirt: Music to Watch Girls By

Recorded on December 12, 1966, New York City. Yes, that's Jumbo, Sugar Lips, call him what you will.

Archie Shepp: In a Sentimental Mood

Shepp's take on Ellington. Recorded August 12, 1965.

"In this performance he reveals another dimension of sensuality, of intimately lyrical sensitivity that is also part of the continually expanding expressivity of Archie Shepp. In much of his work, the beauty is harsh; on this track, it as full of wonder and unfolding concern as a first embrace between two lovers."
- Nat Hentoff, 1966

The players:
Archie Shepp, tenor sax
Bobby Hutcherson, vibes
Henry Grimes, bass
Joe Chambers, drums

Angelo Badalamenti: The Nightingale

Music from Twin Peaks. Vocals by Julee Cruise, lyrics by David Lynch.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

The Mike Curb Congregation - Sweet Gingerbread Man

Original air date 12/2/07. Reposted by request from I Spy. Taken from the album Sweet Gingerbread Man [CoBurt Records Inc., Manufactured by MGM Records Inc.]. Written by M. Legrand-A. Bergman-M. Bergman. From the MGM Film "The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart". Arranged by Don Peake. Produced by Perry Botkin, Jr. Art direction: Norbert Jobst, Maurer Productions West.

Morton Feldman, excerpt from Rothko Chapel

"The example of the painters was crucial. Feldman’s scores were close in spirit to Rauschenberg’s all-white and all-black canvases, Barnett Newman’s gleaming lines, and, especially, Rothko’s glowing fog banks of color. His habit of presenting the same figure many times in succession invites you to hear music as a gallery visitor sees paintings; you can study the sound from various angles, stand back or move up close, go away and come back for a second look." - Alex Ross

Here's the final - and most melodic - bit from Feldman's 1971 Rothko Chapel.

The Carpenters: I Kept on Loving You

A sunny Sunday morning...take it Richard!

Charles Mingus: Remember Rockefeller at Attica

From Changes One. The song was not originally written with this title. Mingus changed it, explaining to Nat Hentoff that "he ought to give titles to my music that makes people think." And specifically about this song -- "We ought to remember that here was a man who could have cut off the water supply and the food supply and ended the prisoners' rebellion that way. Instead he sent the army in and shot his own men as well as the prisoners. That's the part to remember--that Rockefeller is a very dangerous man."

It's interesting - the song title changes the impact of the song a good deal, and I'd like to know what it was originally titled. As it stands, it is so heavy with irony.

Read about the Attica prison riots here. And because it's the dog days, here's the 'Attica' scene from Dog Day Afternoon:

Charlie Smalls: Never Felt Like This Before

More Faces related music. I need to thank Festus von Gunsmoke for this rip of the Faces soundtrack. This is nice.

Charlie Smalls, by the way, is the man behind the music of The Wiz.

Oscar Brown, Jr: Brother Where Are You?

Recorded live at The Cellar Door, Washington DC, late 1964.

Pop quiz: Which writer said that 'cellar door' was one of the most beautiful sounding phrases in the English language?

How's everybody doing tonight? The latest musical odyssey I've crafted for Viva Radio, entitled Trustafarian Vibration, departs the station today at 2 PM. If you miss it today you can always catch it from the ark hive. If you like what you hear, send me an email: artdecade1977 at gmail dot com

Thought of the day: If you worked in Liverpool in 1961, you could see the Beatles on your lunch break. Frequently.

Hagiograph of the day: "John (Lennon) has taken poetics pretty far in popular music. A lot of his work is overlooked, but if you examine it, you'll find key expressions that have never been said before to push across his point of view. Things that are symbolic of some inner reality and probably will never be said again."

-Bob Dylan, March 1978

lastly: don't sleep on the twittr feed

Tom Waits: Jersey Girl

Down the shore everything's alright, you and your baby on a Saturday night.

John Lennon/Yoko Ono: Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him

That 1:19 moment has just been getting me recently.

Marvin Gaye: Is That Enough?

So I've been getting into Here, My Dear, Marvin Gaye's album that documents the unraveling of his marriage to Anna Gordy. I love the narrative arc - narcissistic, sentimental, honest, darkly humorous, self critical - it's compulsive listening. The album art is pretty great too. Here I quote from the liner notes describing the sleeve: "On the back cover the holy temple of matrimony collapses around a mock Rodin sculpture of a couple in a passionate embrace. The man's crotch is on fire." This is going on my shortlist for wedding presents if I'm invited to any more weddings.

Also, "Somebody tell me please/why do I have to pay attorney fees?" has to go down as one of the all time great couplets. Ok, here's a bonus track, but get the album if you don't have it.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

John Cazale as Sal by Greg Condon

Elton John: Amoreena

Original air date 1/23/07. Prompted by a recent screening of Dog Day Afternoon and a new documentary on John Cazale. A great movie, especially gratifying to see with an audience on a July night in Brooklyn.

And here is the brilliant opening montage.