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Remembering Brecker
Last night’s Town Hall tribute to the great Michael Brecker was as moving as expected, but the musical portions were simply out of this world. Widow Susan Brecker requested that there be no saxophones. So trumpeter/brother Randy Brecker played quartet with Joey Calderazzo, James Genus and Tain Watts; Dave Liebman played a mournful solo on wood flute; Pat Metheny played
Atrocity of the day II
A follow-up to my Feb. 12 post. This is from Marc Santora’s latest NY Times roundup on the carnage in Iraq. I honestly thought I was having a bad day until I read it: A family of 13 was killed on the road leading to Falluja, about 12 miles northwest of Baghdad, because its members were from a tribe known
Turkey update
It’s been nearly a year since I traveled to Istanbul, Turkish Kurdistan and Iraqi Kurdistan. I try to keep up with Turkish politics as much as I can. The biggest recent story, of course, is the disgraceful murder of the Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, shot in broad daylight by a teenage ultranationalist thug. Dink was under constant threat of death,
Obama a jazz hound?
Timothy Noah has the goods on “Barry” Obama as a jazz-loving teen…
Atrocity of the day
I have not been able to comment on the mind-numbing slaughter taking place regularly in Iraq, but I thought this bit was worth preserving: In Diyala Province, where American and Iraqi troops have been fighting Sunni insurgents for control, gunmen publicly beheaded seven people, the police said. One group of suspected insurgents shot six people in the head in a
The Dixie Chicks
Just taking a moment to congratulate the Dixie Chicks for their “Song of the Year” Grammy win with “Not Ready to Make Nice.” I second the judges’ decision. Readers of Lerterland know that I will not hesitate to air harsh criticism of leftwingers when I find it necessary. But the Dixie Chicks aren’t remotely the kind of ideologues I hold
Miffed by Joni
I hate to be critical of one of my all-time idols, Joni Mitchell, but there’s a quote in this NY Times profile by my friend David Yaffe that stuck in my craw. The news hook is Joni’s collaborative piece with the Alberta Ballet called “The Fiddle and the Drum.” She’s talking about the visual backdrop to the song “If I
Deep Purple
I can’t even begin to describe the impact this 1971 clip of Deep Purple, playing their protest song “No, No, No,” had on me as a teenager. This was the early glory of cable TV — I think it was the USA Network that used to broadcast these “Beat Club” clips in the early to mid ’80s. I taped this