dev

6
Feb

Political bits, bytes cont’d.

~ A friend noted that I’d yet to offer my take on Ron Paul, so for the record: he’s an irrelevant kook with ties to the xenophobic paleo-right, and he’s stated that he doesn’t accept the theory of evolution. (Like others similarly ignorant of science, Paul seems to think that the word “theory” is synonymous with “wild guess.”) And yet

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6
Feb

On Tim Berne’s Bloodcount

My piece on the reunion of Tim Berne’s Bloodcount, in the current Philadelphia Weekly.

6
Feb

The day after

You look at the Democratic electoral map and you see something incredible: a resounding “yes” vote for Obama’s message, stretching from Connecticut to Georgia to New Mexico to Idaho. Andrew Sullivan says it best: “…the race goes on and [Obama] may not ultimately win the nomination. But he will have won this campaign. And he will have won the argument.”

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3
Feb

Yes We Can

Yes We Can. (Herbie says so.) Obama on Super Tuesday.

1
Feb

Six Picks: February 2008

My monthly list of recommended CDs, as published in All About Jazz-New York, February 2008: Ron Blake, Shayari (Mack Avenue) Bill Dixon with Exploding Star Orchestra (Thrill Jockey) Hans Glawischnig, Panorama (Sunnyside) Tony Malaby/William Parker/Nasheet Waits, Tamarindo (Clean Feed) Matana Roberts, The Chicago Project (Central Control) Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Avatar (Blue Note)

29
Jan

Charting the Unknown

My piece on improvisation, for the annual Philadelphia Music Project magazine, is now online. (The print mag came out sometime close to Christmas ’07.) Here for the full table of contents.

29
Jan

State of the Union: Obama responds

Here for video. From the final graf: Each year, as we watch the State of the Union, we see half the chamber rise to applaud the President and half the chamber stay in their seats. We see half the country tune in to watch, but know that much of the country has stopped even listening. Imagine if next year was

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28
Jan

Boulez & Deren in a day

It’s not everywhere you can go hear the Pierre Boulez masterpiece Le Marteau sans Maître for free, so I seized the chance and headed to the Swarthmore campus last night for an on-the-edge performance by Orchestra 2001 under the direction of James Freeman. The reading was poised and elegant, but there were moments in the faster passages when the ensemble

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