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On Freddie Redd
My preview of 80-year-old pianist Freddie Redd — making a rare East Coast appearance this weekend at Smalls — in the current Time Out New York.
“What’s great about Gaza”
Yesterday I got into a comments war with Eamonn McDonagh over this post, in which Eamonn addresses the harrowing accounts of IDF misconduct during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. It was an unsatisfying exchange, and I take my share of responsibility for letting the tone get out of hand. But I stand by my charge that Eamonn’s post is cavalier, his
The week on disc (39)
In case you missed the last one… Eddie Daniels & Roger Kellaway, A Duet of One: Live at the Bakery (IPO) Theo Bleckmann/John Hollenbeck/Gary Versace, Refuge Trio (Winter & Winter) Sound Assembly, Edge of the Mind (Beauport Jazz) Fat Cat Big Band, Angels Praying for Freedom (Smalls) Julian Argüelles, Inner Voices (Tone of a Pitch) Satoko Fujii Orchestra New York,
Savage on Bristol
Man, is Dan Savage good: Teen mom Bristol Palin and her fiancé, Levi Johnston, called it quits last week. So we’ve been cheated out of the Royal Rube Wedding we were promised during last summer’s Republican National Convention—and another child will grow up without a father in the home, which is a tragedy for the child, according to America’s Talibangelists. Or
JFREJ on Churchill
[Cross-posted at Z Word.] This Sunday, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ), the New York-based activist group, will dedicate part of its weekly WBAI radio program Beyond the Pale to a live reading of Caryl Churchill’s play Seven Jewish Children, to be followed by a discussion with the actors. Novelist Howard Jacobson has denounced the play as antisemitic. Churchill
On David Sanchez
My preview of tenor saxophonist David (“dah-VEED”) Sanchez — at the Village Vanguard through Sunday — in the current Time Out New York. [Update: Go here for audio of Sanchez’s first set, opening night — completely out of this world.]
Three dangerous ideas
1. Torture is justified, or can be called something other than torture. Read Mark Danner’s essential NYT op-ed. 2. Antisemitism is “understandable.” So says British moviemaker Ken Loach. Does he believe that going out and harassing Muslims after a terror attack is “understandable”? I very much doubt it. 3. One-party dictatorships have rights; civilians who raise grievances against them do
Speaking nonsense to power
[Credit where it’s due: the above phrase is Bill Maher’s.] Because writeups of the band Propagandhi appear in this week’s Time Out and Philadelphia Weekly, right alongside my own work, I feel obliged to comment. I don’t know Propagandhi’s music. I do know their politics, however. The links to ZNet and to the likes of John Pilger tell you all