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The week on disc (8)
In case you missed the last one… Bob DeVos, Playing for Keeps (Savant) Marlon Simon and the Nagual Spirits, In Case You Missed It (Jazzheads) Supersilent 8 (Rune Grammofon) David Hazeltine, The Inspiration Suite (Sharp Nine) Carla Kihlstedt & Satoko Fujii, Minamo (Henceforth) Harry Whitaker, Thoughts (Past and Present) (Smalls)
Iranology
Since I’ve noted the falsehood of claims that Ahmadinejad’s “Israel-off-the-map” remarks were mistranslated, I should also note that Norman Podhoretz, advisor to Rudy Giuliani and unhinged proponent of bombing Iran, has been circulating a bogus quote from Khomeini. And this is part of a pattern with Podhoretz. Opposing aggression against Iran is one thing; peddling the Iranian government line on
More from Atzmon
I’m behind in noting the latest from UK jazz saxophonist Gilad Atzmon, who now declares, in essence, that Jews brought the Holocaust on themselves. It’s a challenge to decipher Atzmon’s miserable writing, but here it is: Seemingly, it is the personification of WW2 and the Holocaust that blinded the Israelis and their supporters from internalising the real meaning of the
Obama’s patriotism
What Ron Rosenbaum said: The pledge is a kind of forced confession of orthodoxy. No, not water-boarding, but coercion nonetheless. Especially for peer-group-pressured school kids. Even if they have the right to opt out. In past school-prayer cases, the court has resisted the idea that the state should be implicated in even the social coercion or propagation of religion. Busybody
On Edmar Castaneda
My feature on Edmar Castaneda, virtuoso of the jazz Colombian harp, in the current Philadephia Weekly. Edmar plays the Museum of Art on Friday.
On Fred Hersch
My review of Fred Hersch’s Saturday show at the Painted Bride, in today’s Inquirer. P.S. – Dig the linked ads for Amex wedding rewards on the word “Bride,” and for Intel Centrino processors on the word “music.” Welcome to sponsored arts criticism, 2007. I don’t know who’s responsible, this odd middleman entity philly.com or the Inquirer itself. At least they
“But that’s okay”
Amira Hass has an interview in Haaretz with writer/activist Arundhati Roy, whose hard-left politics I’ve critiqued a number of times on this blog. What can I say … For someone so famously tough-minded, given to speaking out on the need for critical, hard-hitting journalism, Hass sure can throw softballs when she wants to. Reporting on Roy’s recent appearance in Italy,
Lady Suu’s moves
That Aung San Suu Kyi has expressed a desire to “cooperate” with the Burmese generals should not be viewed as surprising. Amitav Ghosh’s 1996 New Yorker piece “At Large in Burma” (collected in a book I reviewed here) remains one of the best, and rarest, in-depth glimpses of Suu Kyi’s mind at work. Ghosh interviewed her shortly after Burma had