ghost of miles

Via Sweet Adeline:

The drag of it is that his recent performances had supposedly been quite good. He underwent some kind of innovative new treatment for drug addiction and alcoholism earlier this summer (something called Neurotransmitter Replacement, or some such), and those who saw him in performance said that he seemed very happy, chatted amiably quite a bit between songs, didn't forget lyrics, etc. It really seemed as if he'd emerged from the darkness he'd been in for the past couple of years. Obviously he'd dealt with darkness his whole life, but after a relatively stable period between XO and FIGURE 8, he seemed to plunge back into it. Apparently the abyss opened back up, and this time he fell into it. I honestly thought he'd make it; on FIGURE 8's "Color Bars" he sings, Everybody wants me to ride into the sun/but I ain't gonna go down/Laying low again/high on the sound. Music always seemed to be his salvation.

Uh-oh. I've been wanting to pick up Carmen McRae's BIRDS OF A FEATHER and the Margaret Whiting Kern songbook, but haven't found them at a cheap enough price (they're still listed at the old $17.99 price). And our local Borders doesn't carry 'em... hmm...

Happy birthday, Juju!

Up. And farewell.

Two of Smith's greatest records (some think THE greatest), ELLIOTT SMITH and EITHER/OR, came out on Kill Rock Stars. Here's what you see today when you go to their website: It just about made me fucking cry.

Some of you may have already seen this, posted by Charlie, who ran the Sweet Adeline website, and who got to know Smith in the last year of his life:

I know that he tried to commit suicide in 1997 (by jumping off a cliff, supposedly). And there were all kinds of shadows in his life & in his music that pointed to suicide as a possible outcome. I have been haunted, ever since FIGURE 8's release in 2000, by its last song, an instrumental called "Bye." At the end of it Smith hits a crashing, glassbreaking flurry of notes on the piano. It always sounded like an audio suicide note. It's going to be a long time getting over this.

I am so fucking torn up by this. I found out half an hour ago when I went online. Just two days ago I was listening to FIGURE 8, and I was going to change my Organissimo signature to a line from one of the last songs on that record--Why should you want any other/when you're a world within a world? This, for me, is even worse than Kurt Cobain's suicide. I listened to Smith's music almost every day for about two years, and he's still somebody I've turned to frequently when I wanted to feel an intimate, lyrical connection with an artist. He made the most beautiful music since Nick Drake. Music that could break and re-make your heart. Thank you, Elliott. Your songs came to me like spiritual and artistic gifts. I know there are many, many others who felt & feel the same way. I'm going to go listen to your music now and hope that you've found peace. You deserve it, because your records brought love into people's lives.

I saw the Thorns open for the Jayhawks last summer at Indianapolis' Vogue Theater. Their songs sounded much better live (not unusual, huh?). Something got lost in the studio translation, methinks.

How can you not share my zest for 1940 Popular Front agitprop? Yeah, they were pressed by the Theater Arts Committee, a leftwing NYC group. (Denning's footnote lists them as "TAC 3"--I don't imagine too many of these puppies are floating around!) Frankly, it's the kind of thing more likely to pop up on a Bear Family collection, but a quick check of the SONGS FOR POLITICAL ACTION box yielded them not.

Well, Classics, they put out a lot of stuff that nobody else will touch, God bless 'em, but their omissions sometimes drive me nuts. I was really happy to pick up the recent Hazel Scott 1939-45 release--heretofore I've heard only a couple of cuts from this period on a Bluebird "Women in Jazz" anthology. So yesterday I'm sitting around reading Michael Denning's THE CULTURAL FRONT (great book on 30's political/art movements), in which Scott receives some discussion. Denning mentions two tracks that Scott recorded in 1940 on a 78 for the Theater Arts Committee (don't ask unless you're a serious 30's radical buff like me): "The Yanks Aren't Coming" (non-interventionist tune, obviously) and "Mene, Mene, Tekel" (a song from the leftwing musical PINS AND NEEDLES, written by Harold Rome). They ain't on the new Classics. I'm sure they were either too obscure to be known, or else Classics couldn't find a copy (wouldn't surprise me). In any case, AMG doesn't list any recordings of either tune w/Hazel Scott as a performer; does anybody out there in Internet land have this music, or even know of it?

Well, Pettite made up last night for blowing Game 6 against the Sox, and the Yanks finally began to hit a bit. Now to Florida, where Mussina--who pitched well as a reliever in Game 7 and as a starter in Game 4 of the ALCS--will try for his first postseason win this year. The Yanks will have a hard time beating Beckett, though. I'd still say slight odds in favor of the Marlins, esp. given their taking of Game 1 (NY hadn't lost a World Series game at home since dropping the first two games of the '96 WS to the Braves). As a secondary Bosox fan, I hope that Grady Little comes back, too. I understand the anger & frustration, but until his bad decision Thursday night, everybody in the baseball world was talking him up as one of the primary reasons that the Sox were there. And I'm more than a little put off by Boston's new owners--are they competing w/Steinbrenner in the obnoxiousness category as well? Call me a sentimentalist, but I miss Tom Yawkey...

Johnny, Definitely hit me re: WFHB 91.3/98.1 FM Bloomington, IN (the community radio station where I work, as opposed to the NPR affiliate). There's at least one other show besides mine at WFHB that plays out jazz, and I will hip them to your release... if you need the direct address info again, drop me a PM.

On my mind simply because today I cleaned the gutters. Lots of clambering about on a ladder and the roof, yanking out plugs of mucky leaves, getting blackish crap all over my gloves & clothes--gotta be one of the things I like least when it comes to doing work around the house. I always give myself some kind of incentive, such as, "When I finish this f#*#ing job, I'll sit down with a cup of coffee and enjoy the new Lee Morgan and Andrew Hill Connoisseurs." What's your least favorite job at home?

BTW, speaking of 2-CD blues sets, BMG currently has THE ESSENTIAL SONNY BOY WILLAMSON on its clearance list for $3.99. With shipping and handling it comes to about $9--not bad for a double-disc overview of SBW's Chess & Checker career. Only catch is that you have to already be a BMG member to get access to the clearance list.

The real reason why the Yanks won Thursday night: the pizza sent that very afternoon to the gravesite of Babe Ruth.

That Ayler box will be something to see (and hear!). Better start savin' my pennies....

DaveJames, please feel free to join the Organissimo Yankee Fan Support Group along with yours truly, Paul Secor, and PhillyQ. I've been a Yanks fan since '74 (Bill Virdon era); picked 'em because I was an eight-year-old Civil War buff at the time and a HUGE fan of the North (aka Yankees). Weird reasoning, huh? After the vast desert that was the 80's and the early 90's, the Torre era has been quite a ride! I think the only team I can 'fess to absolutely hating is the Dallas Cowboys. Their smug, "God-is-on-our-side-cuz-we're-Texans" attitude has always put my nerves in a tizzy. I used to give 'em a pass as a kid because Tom Landry was the coach, but when they replaced him with Jimmy Johnson, they went from class to ass. I never fail to crack a smile whenever they lose.

Just mentioned this in a PM to Dan, but here's my own "curse" theory regarding the Yanks and why they will lose to the Marlins. Ever since being purchased by George Steinbrenner (who faced criminal charges for financial skulduggery related to Nixon contributions), they have been unable to win a World Series whenever a Republican president is in office: Year President World Series 1976 Ford ® Cin 4, NY 0 1977 Carter (D) NY 4, LA 2 1978 Carter (D) NY 4, LA 2 1981 Reagan ® LA 4, NY 2 1996 Clinton (D) NY 4, Atl 2 1998 Clinton (D) NY 4, SD 0 1999 Clinton (D) NY 4, Atl 0 2000 Clinton (D) NY 4, NYM 1 2001 Bush ® Ari 4, NY 3 2003 Bush ® ????? Doesn't look good for the Yanks!

Dan summed things up very nicely, especially to the Yankee Nation. I think I'll pass on Dan's, ah, "invitation." As a Yankee fan I was astonished (and grateful) when Little didn't pull Martinez in the 8th. I was listening on the radio, so I hadn't seen the contact that was being made, but from Joe Morgan & co.'s description it surely sounded as if Pedro had run out of gas. He was at 115 pitches! That said, going into extra innnings I still felt that the Red Sox had the advantage. Going into the bottom of the 10th, Rivera had now pitched two innings (yeah, I know Jeter said Rivera used to be a starter and could've gone longer than 3, but Torre didn't think so--wasn't Contreras warming up when Boone hit his homer?) and Boston had yet to use Wakefield or Williamsen. By the time the bottom of the 11th rolled around, Rivera was now either gone or pitching longer than he had since 1996--and, as I said yesterday, I don't think Torre trusted anybody else in the bullpen against Boston (hence his use of Mussina and Wells last night). This is going to be a big problem for NY against the Marlins; if their starters don't go 7, they get into trouble. And who are they going to start tomorrow night? Contreras? Ya got me... If I had to bet on the Series, I'd give slight odds to the Marlins. I know it won't have the romance of Boston-Chicago (or New York-Chicago, the Series that I--and no doubt Fox--was dreaming of), but game-wise I think it's going to be a great one. Much, much respect to the Red Sox. I'll spare you the rest of the sports-announcer cliches, but what other two teams could play 26 times in one year and go down to the wire like that? Talk about adding another incredible chapter to the lore of these two clubs... Memo to Grady Little and Dusty Baker: Gentlemen, regarding the overextended use of your aces in the late innings... get a f#%@ing clue! Recommended offseason reading: THE YEAR THE YANKEES LOST THE PENNANT, by Douglass Wallop. Published in 1954 and the basis for DAMN YANKEES, but more enjoyable than the musical, IMO. Great baseball novel.

You beat me to it, Eric. I've long wanted to start a Television thread, and now's a great time for one, as Rhino recently re-issued both MARQUEE MOON and ADVENTURE, as well as releasing a concert CD, LIVE AT THE OLD WALDORF, as part of their Handmade series. Lots of good talk about Television in Clifton Heylin's FROM THE VELVETS TO THE VOIDOIDS; they were strongly influenced by Ayler and late Coltrane, among others. Certainly I hear much free jazz influence in Lloyd & Verlaine's guitar lines. I'm disappointed by how little the Rhino re-issues add--there is some prime Television sitting in the vaults, much of it with Richard Hell on bass. If you can find the bootleg DOUBLE EXPOSURE, it makes for a worthy addition to the public canon of the band.

Rumor is he's planning to sell his house and move out of the Midwest. That's really sad--people need to let it go. I agree with Dan; Chicago will get another shot at it, sooner rather than later.

It's part of baseball lore now. I do really feel for that guy--yet another reason I wanted so badly to see Chicago win tonight. That's a mistake he's going to be a long time living down.