clifford_thornton

Watching his speech at the NEA Jazz Masters ceremony right now, I don't want to live in a world without artists and people like Anthony Braxton. We've lost so many, but we have so many. BTW: does "live stream" even mean anything in the Tri-centric thought unit?

Rest in Peace, Amiri Baraka.

Thanks to all of my wonderful friends, heroes, collaborators, fellow writers and enthusiasts for the beautiful birthday sentiments yesterday! It was a busy work day followed by a very chilled evening at home. I feel loved, liked and sometimes even tolerated!

Typing the address "poolparty.biz" is not what I ever expected to do in my professional life. Austrian semantic web solutions to the rescue.

Looking forward to Heather Graham in the Lifetime movie of Flowers in the Attic.

Having been spoon-fed Inside Llewyn Davis, I have to say it was reasonably tasty.

This holiday to me is finishing my coffee at noon in my parents' kitchen on a Wednesday. Hope you and yours are surrounded by yr loved ones because that's all that is important anyway, regardless of faith or skepticism. Enjoy!

Hadn't recalled that the first word in "Buffalo Stance" is Harmolodic. Serious business.

I don't understand the Hype Williams/Dean Blunt/Inga Copeland obsession that exists within music critics' circles. Someone please explain to me why all their separate releases are all over TMT and other year end lists. It just sounds like hipster wallpaper to me, barely registering as music.

Man, I wish I could have taken primary school music appreciation with Bilal Abdurahman...

On this ten books thing in no hierarchical order: Bill Dixon, L'Opera Ben Young & Bill Dixon, Dixonia Valerie Wilmer, As Serious As Your Life Art Taylor, Notes and Tones Cyrus Console, Brief Under Water Inger Christensen, it Kenneth Patchen, Selected Poems Frank Stanford, The Battlefield Where The Moon Says I Love You John Dewey, Art as Experience Donald Judd, The Complete Writings 1959-1975

I promise next year I'll get back into show-attending mode. Other obligations and projects have me buried up to my ears. It has been a fascinating but exhausting year. Visual art is great but I miss creative music and beer.

The Bunnicula Wiki is epic. It is Friday. These two statements are related.

Damn, Stan Tracey is gone. What a wonderful player.

FB asked me what my favorite teams were. Wheatland Cycling is not on there, nor is the Sunflower Outdoor & Bike Shop cycling team (or the ol' Wednesday night rides!). At least Steve Tilford I could "like" on FB.

Was just introduced to the 1969 cartoon The Ant & The Aardvark. Fun, but the music by Pete Candoli, Jimmy Rowles, Ray Brown, Shelly Manne and company is sublime.

Sad to read the news of Angola's banning of Islam and the destruction of mosques. We are all in the world together.

Parmegiani is gone but his work will live on. RIP, and thanks.

Because it was Don Cherry's birthday, I changed my voicemail password at work to 529301. Mu First Part forever.

It was interesting to play Daydream Nation at full blast for someone who had never heard the LP before. It was the third Sonic Youth album I bought, probably in '93, and the first to really unhinge my mind. It's not my favorite of their records but it's very important and very good. In 1993 I had no awareness of free music or anything "experimental" - that would take another three or so years - but it was clear to me as a teenager that the more challenging, "noisy," improvised "ugly beauty" o...

Brent Fariss gave me George Lewis (trombonist, not clarinetist). Do I like him? Sure, although my reactions to his work within the breadth of AACM and post-AACM music haven't been wholly, deeply engaged. I need to spend more time with certain works of his. Have I seen him? Actually, never in performance, though we have met and spoken a few times. Favorite song? Music for Trombone and Bb Soprano (from the Roscoe Mitchell Quartet LP on Sackville) is mind-melting and fantastic! Like this and...

Anyone want to loan me a black tie for an evening?

Hoping to spot Wynton and get him to do a BFT

To be honest, after seeing Lady Gaga in concert last night I can see why people like her - she is really fun, has a great vibe and seems down to earth. I'm a convert.

Hadn't spun Kalaparusha's "Forces and Feelings" in a while. What a unique LP of collective music. Rest in piece, Kalaparusha Ahra Difda.