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Kate McGarry
My review of Kate McGarry’s Friday show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in today’s Inquirer.
Democracy Now! is a joke
Sorry, my lefty friends, but it’s true. I said it in June of last year, here and here, when I remarked on Amy Goodman’s failure to challenge Arundhati Roy on her professed support for India’s Maoist (Naxalite) insurgents. The Naxalites have a documented policy of harassing community radio activists — i.e., Goodman’s Indian counterparts, the very people you’d expect her
Six Picks: June 2007
My monthly list of recommended CDs, as published in All About Jazz-New York, June 2007: Michael Brecker, Pilgrimage (Heads Up) Buffalo Age (ILK Music) Joe Lovano & Hank Jones, Kids: Live at Dizzy’s (Blue Note) Mark Masters Ensemble, Wish Me Well: Reflections on Gary McFarland (Capri) Mike Moreno, Between the Lines (World Culture)Joshua Redman, Back East (Nonesuch)
Rod Poole
How terrible to learn of the stabbing death of Rod Poole, the great experimental guitarist. The culprits are in custody. A tribute from Nels Cline is here. A long clip from the Acoustic Guitar Trio record (Poole/Cline/McCauley) is here. More info on the crime here.
Electro-Music ’07
My preview of this year’s Electro-Music Festival (Cheltenham, PA), in today’s Inquirer.
Torture, continued
A commenter going by “napoleon15” took me to task the other day for this post, one of many in which I’ve denounced the Bush administration’s pro-torture policy. “What the US does to al-Qaida war criminals doesn’t even begin to compare to what the Nazis and others have done,” wrote my respondent. Andrew Sullivan has unearthed a document describing Verschärfte Vernehmung,
Music highlights
Leni Stern, Alu Maye (Have You Heard) — An interesting five-track EP recorded in Mali in 2006. Features remarkable playing by the late Michael Brecker, in an eclectic, African-influenced pop context. Given Brecker’s death some months later, the tribute to Don Alias is almost eerie.Randy Napoleon, Between Friends (Anzic) — About a month ago I heard the impressive vocalist Sachal
Moore’s Cuba, continued
A follow-up to my post of May 13, on Michael Moore’s new film “Sicko” and his take on health care in Fidel Castro’s Cuba. Anthony DePalma has an interesting piece about life expectancy rates in Cuba and the U.S. He quotes a Dr. Robert N. Butler: “I know Americans tend to be skeptical,” [Butler] said, “but health and education are