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Israel-Palestine via Toronto
Sanctimonious lefties, including such performers as David Byrne, have lent their signatures to an odious campaign to protest a series of Israeli films being shown at the Toronto International Film Festival. (Hat tip Ben Cohen.) One of the committee members is Naomi Klein, who debased herself as an apologist for the Mahdi Army in 2004. One of the signatories is
Exonerating Todd Willingham
David Grann’s New Yorker piece on Todd Willingham, who was all but certainly innocent of the crime for which he was executed in 2004, is essential reading, and the full text is online. Willingham couldn’t afford decent legal representation and so was done in by two crackpot arson investigators; a quack psychologist who testified that Willingham’s Iron Maiden and Led
#jazzlives update
The campaign continues. Howard Mandel speaks about it here.
Robeson’s legacy
From Peter Applebome’s NYT account of politics and historical memory in Peekskill, New York, specifically as relates to Paul Robeson: [Robeson] became a pioneering and uncompromising human rights advocate. He spoke out against segregation decades before the civil rights movement began, and was a fierce opponent of colonialism when that was barely an issue. He also became an enthusiastic, unflagging
On Marlon Simon
In the current Philadelphia Weekly: Marlon Simon and the Nagual SpiritsSat., Sep. 5, 8-11:30pm. $20. Chris’ Jazz Café, 1421 Sansom St. 215.568.3131 www.chrisjazzcafe.com In Marlon Simon’s Nagual Spirits one hears plenty of Afro-Latin jazz heritage, but also a knife-edged post-bebop vocabulary that has long permeated New York and Philly, two of the drummer’s home bases since he came from Venezuela
Six Picks: September 2009
My monthly list of recommended CDs, as published in All About Jazz-New York, September 2009: Laurent Coq, Eight Fragments of Summer (88 Trees) Crimetime Orchestra, Atomic Symphony (Jazzaway) Herculaneum, Herculaneum III (Clean Feed) Fred Hersch Plays Jobim (Sunnyside) Louis Sclavis, Lost on the Way (ECM) Anthony Wilson Trio, Jack of Hearts (Groove Note)
Angus, June 1997-September 1, 2009
Yesterday we said goodbye to our greyhound, Angus, lost to bone cancer at age 12. In his prime he was nearly 90 pounds of muscle, with tattoos in his ears revealing his birth month/year and order in the litter. A mass-produced, throwaway animal became one of the centers of our universe and a joy for nine of the 10 years
The week on disc (51)
In case you missed the last one… Stefon Harris and Blackout, Urbanus (Concord) Brad Dutz Quartet, Whimsical Excursion Boats (ind.) Fat Cat Big Band, Face (Smalls Records) Joshua Breakstone Trio, No One New (Capri) James Carney Group, Ways & Means (Songlines) Andy Sheppard, Movements in Colour (ECM)