Gioachino Rossini - Stabat Mater (2006)

01. Introduzione: Andantino Moderato: Stabat Mater Dolorosa
02. Aria Allegretto Maestoso: Cujus Animam Gementem
03. Duetto Largo: Quis est Homo
04. Aria Allegretto Maestoso: Pro Peccatis Suae Gentis
05. Coro e Recitativo: Andante Mosso: Eja, Mater, Fons Amoris
06. Quartetto Allegretto Moderato: Sancta Mater, Istud Agas
07. Cavatina Andante Grazioso: Fac, ut Portem Christi Mortem
08. Aria e Coro Andante Maestoso: Inflammatus et Accencus
09. Quartetto Andante: Quando Corpus Morietur
10. Finale Allegro: Andantino Moderato: Amen. In Sempiterna Saecula



Katia Ricciarelli - Soprano
Lucia Valentini Terrani - Mezzo-Soprano
Dalmacio Gonzalez - Tenor
Ruggero Raimondi - Bass-Baritone
Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus
Conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini

Released in 2006 by Deutsche Grammophon

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The Bush Junta: A Field Guide to Corruption in Government (2008)

"Some of the medium's best practitioners take on the Bush Administration just in time for the election in this outraged work of comics journalism.

The Bush Junta: A Field Guide to Corruption in Government is an historical account of the high crimes and misdemeanors of the presidential administration of George W. Bush, as told by an international assemblage of world-class cartoonists. This fact-based, impeccably researched work of comics journalism chronicles the Bush administration in the context of the Bush family dynasty that spawned it. Topics include:

• The Nazi connections of the president's grandfather, Prescott Bush;
• The Bush family's membership in Yale's Skull and Bones Society;
• Former President George Bush's connections to the CIA, the Mafia, and Big Oil;
• His involvement in the October Surprise and Iran Contra scandals;
• The Bush family's strange relationship with the family of John Hinckley (the would-be assassin of President Ronald Reagan);
• The Panama Deception;
• The Persian Gulf War;
• The suspicious business practices of his Bush sons, particularly with regard to the Savings and Loan scandal of the 1980s;
• Young George W. Bush, his troubles with the law, his AWOL military record; George W.'s governorship of Texas;
• The electoral fraud of 2000 that resulted in his presidency;
• Unanswered questions about the terror attacks of September 11;
• The administration's "War on Terror" and its erosion of civil liberties under the Patriot Act and proposed Victory Act;
• The oil-based motives behind the Iraq War and how the public was deceived into supporting the war;
• The administration's shameful record on energy and the environment; and much more.

Also included are profiles of the key players in the current administration, a rogues gallery including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, John Ashcroft, Condoleezza Rice, and Karl Rove".

"An international array of twenty-five cartoonists have researched, written, drawn, and laid bare the truth on George W. Bush, his family's American dynasty, their sordid business connections and various wars, and the Bush regime itself — in 24 humorous, witty, acerbic, and factual chapters. Ted Rall, Steve Brodner, Seth Tobocman, Lloyd Dangle, Peter Kuper, Carol Swain, Spain Rodriguez, Ted Jouflas, Ethan Persoff and many other freedom-loving cartoonists. A primer to Bushian corruption and malfeasance, The Bush Junta includes chapters on Gulf wars I and II, the S&L scandal, the 2000 Presidential coup, the Bush record on the environment and civil liberties, September 11, the Guantanamo camp, and profiles of such sinister figures as Donald Rumsfeld, Condeleezza Rice, John Ashcroft, and Karl Rove. Plus a series of bumper sticker-sized flyers that you can reproduce and surreptitiously attach to the backs of stalwarts attending GOP rallies".

The Bush Junta:
25 Cartoonists on the Mayberry Machiavelli and the Abuse of Power

Edited by Mack White & Barry Groth

Alex Jones - Introduction
Uri Dowbenco - Foreword
********
Marcel Ruijters - The Bush-Nazi Connection
Jaime Crespo - Bad to the Bone
Albo Heim - Super Spook
Larry Rodman - Iran-Contra
David Paleo & Mack White - The Bush-Hinckley Connection
Aleksandar Zograf & Mack White - Operation Just Cause
Jem Eaton - Poppy the President
Kenneth R. Smith - Bush Family Values
*******
Scott Gilbert - The Skies of Texas
Penny Van Horn & Mack White - The Compassionate Conservative
Carol Swain - Florida 11/7/00
Seth Tobocman - The Carlyle Group
Ted Rail - Checklist for the Neo-Fascists
Mack White - September 11th
Steve Brodner - Environmental Plunder Administration
Alejandro Alvarez - Camp X-Ray Guantanamo
Spain Rodriguez - The War
Ethan Persoff & Jasun Huerta - Your Very Own Information Campaign
*******
Scott Marshall - Snowflake
Lloyd Dangle - Turd Blossom
Ted Jouflas - With Sweetness
Ethan Persoff - Blacks, Babies, and Battered Women
Mark Landman - The Man in the Shadows
Peter Kuper - Ceci n'est pas une Comic
*******
Adam Gorightly - Afterword

236 pages of cartoon research featuring some of the Ewings' Closest Friends like: Bush Father, Bush Son, Bush Grandfather, JFK, Castro, Osama, Noriega, Kissinger, Reagan, Sandinistas, Jimmy Carter, Contras, Rumsfeld, Clinton, Saddam, Carlucci, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Adolf Hitler and many other distinguished oil barons, gentlemen and well-wishers.

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180 D'Gs to the Future: The Music of Negativland (2007)

This is an absolutely jaw-dropping collection of Negativland songs covered by a 5-or-6 piece a cappella group. Every sample is sung, every um and er is included. And it's mindblowing, even if you're not familiar with Negativland.

Formerly the Singing Minnicks, David and his brothers Chris, Don, Mark, Peter and Dick Minnick started out singing in their church and at neighborhood concerts. In 2001, however, their direction changed when David found a copy of Negativland's LP Points in their pastor, Rev. Al "Sugar" Sweet's trailer. Rev. Sweet helped the group to become what we now know as the 180 Gs. After selling out concerts all over their hometown of Detroit, they went to The Closet studios run by Sophocles Jones and recorded their first singles.

Negativland heard these recordings and contacted the Gs to put out their first full-length record on their own Seeland label.

And remember, every number is 180; every letter is G.

Have the 180 Gs ever attempted a Negativland song that you just couldn't get to work?
David Minnick: Yeah, we had a few of those. We could have gotten them to work (in my opinion) but everyone just got impatient. For example: I had written out a transcription of "Potty Air" from Points, but while recording it, a few of the guys felt too silly reading through 5 minutes of fart noises to continue. I had to scrap it to keep a few of the guys from walking off the project (even though it took me over 100 hours of tedious work to transcribe it accurately)... I HOPE YOU'RE READING THIS DON AND PETER!! IT WOULD HAVE BEEN COOL!!!
There were a few other songs ("Oven Noises", "The Playboy Channel") that we nearly gave up on. Whenever we were close to giving up, we'd remember Dad's last words to us, as he walked out the front door for the last time: "Don't give up." We'd collect ourselves, and get back to work. Dad also told me: "If ya get lost, you might have taken a wrong turn a few miles back. Just walk backwards a few miles and then walk forwards down another path and you might not be lost anymore." I had no idea what he meant by all of that, until we had to scrap our first recording of "Oven Noises" and start over. The final result was much better, but it was painful to just throw away 2 months of work. It took a long time, but we eventually got arrangements that we were satisfied with for the songs we wanted.

Do you find that Negativland songs from a particular era (the earlier, more experimental based stuff versus the more song-based stuff of the later records) work better in an 180 Gs arrangement?
David Minnick: That's really impossible to say because the entire concept of turning Negativland pieces into a cappella vocal arrangements doesn't (or shouldn't) work. Each song on 180 d'Gs to the Future was as difficult as the next. The more experimental, or speech-based pieces demanded that we make up our own melodies/harmonies while still being faithful to the original. In addition, the absence of regular rhythmic patterns in the original pieces meant that we had sing a lot of complicated, irrational rhythms AND not get lost. Our job, however, was to give these pieces a natural, funky "flow". The more song-like pieces demanded that we come up with arrangements that went BEYOND the original so that we weren't just doing straight cover versions. There was really no easy way to do this record and make it hold together.

While doing a bit of research for this interview, I discovered that you can buy Mp3s of the 180 Gs album from Amazon using Pepsi Points -- what do you think about that?
David Minnick: Personally, I think that's just fine. I happen to like Pepsi a lot better than Coke anyway. However, I haven't gotten any Pepsi points yet. I guess it's a good thing I've got the master tapes of the 180 Gs album.

Why is Dick Minnick not pictured on the album sleeve? David Minnick: If we're talking about Dick, I'll have to back into history a little bit: Dick (aside from his incessant theremin playing and his occasional violent temper) was just like the rest of us. We'd sing, we'd play music, we'd joke around, we'd argue from time to time... he was just one of us. Other people had told us that there was something wrong with him (being the 4th Minnick triplet) but we didn't see it.

Read the full interview here.



1. Intro (Everything's Going Fine) (from "Negativland")
2. Christianity Is Stupid (from "Escape From Noise")
3. Helter Stupid (excerpt from "Helter Stupid")
4. Greatest Taste Around (from "Dispepsi")
5. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (from "U2")
6. Car Bomb (from "Escape From Noise")
7. A Nice Place to Live (from "Points")
8. Seat Bee Sate (from "Negativland")
9. The Playboy Channel (from "Escape From Noise")
10. I Am God (from "Free")
11. Roy Storey Sports Line (from OTE Vol. 4: "Dick Vaughn's Moribund Music of the 70's")
12. Oven Noises (from OTE Vol. 6 - "The Willsaphone Stupid Show")
13. Theme From a Big 10-8 Place (Live) (from "A Big 10-8 Place")

The 180 G's are:
Chris Minnick, Don Minnick, Mark Minnick, Peter Minnick, Dick Minnick, David Minnick
Produced by Leonardo De Vinci Knight & D'Andre Xavier Jones
Engineered by Sophocles Jones
Released by Seeland in 2007.

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Antonio Vivaldi - Stabat Mater

01-03 - Concerto Ripeno
04-07 - Cantate "Cessate, Omai Cessate"
08-09 - Sonata a Quatro "Al Santo Sepolcro"
10-12 - Intoduzione al Miserere
13-21 - Stabat Mater

Andreas Scholl, c-ten.
Ensemble 415, directed by Chiara Banchini.
Released by Harmonia Mundi in 1995.

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Mississippi John Hurt - Avalon Blues: The Complete 1928 Okeh Recordings

"Mississippi John Hurt's latter-day recordings after his rediscovery have somewhat obscured the importance of these debut sides -- the ones that made his rediscovery an idea initially worth pursuing. Archival recordings such as Avalon Blues: The Complete 1928 Okeh Recordings are the collector's items that made his rep in the first place, and stand as some of the most poetic and beautiful of all country blues recordings. Hurt's playing is sheer musical perfection, with a keen sense of chord melody structure to make his bouncy, rhythmic execution of it sound both elegant and driving. Mississippi John's voice -- he was 36 at the time of these recordings -- was already a warm and friendly one, imbued with the laid-back wistfulness that would earmark his rediscovery recordings half-a-lifetime later. His best-known songs -- his adaptions of "Frankie (& Johnny)" and "Stack O' Lee," "Avalon Blues," "Nobody's Dirty Business," "Candy Man Blues" -- are all accounted for in their original incarnations here, and the NoNoiser remastering on this collection is superb. Mississippi John Hurt would go on to re-record this material for other labels in the '60s with fine results, but these are the originals -- the ones that much of his justifiable reputation rests on". Cub Koda, All Music Guide

"New York is a good town, but it's not for mine" - Avalon Blues

1. Frankie
2. Nobody's Dirty Business
3. Ain't No Tellin'
4. Louis Collins
5. Avalon Blues
6. Big Leg Blues
7. Stack O'Lee
8. Candy Man Blues
9. Got the Blues (Can't be Satisfied)
10. Blessed be the Name
11. Playing on the Old Camp Ground
12. Blue Harvest Blues
13. Spike Driver Blues

All tracks recorded Dec. 21-28, 1928 in NY.
All tracks written by Mississippi John Hurt, except 10 & 11 (traditional).
Re-released in 1996 using NoNoiser processing.

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Woody Guthrie - The Very Best of

1. This Land Is Your Land
2. Pastures Of Plenty
3. Pretty Boy Floyd
4. Take A Whiff On Me
5. Do Re Mi
6. Put My Little Shoes Away
7. Washington Talkin' Blues
8. Hard Travelin'
9. Jesus Christ
10. Whoopee Ti Yi Yo, Get Along Little Doggies
11. Grand Coulee Dam
12. A Picture From Lifes's Other Side
13. Talkin' Hard Luck Blues
14. Philadelphia Lawyer
15. I Ain't Got No Home
16. The Wreck Of The Old '97
17. Keep Your Skillet Good And Greasy
18. Dust Pneumonia Blues
19. Going Down That Road Feeling Bad
20. Goodnight Little Arlo (Goodnight Little Darlin')
21. So Long It's Been Good To Know You

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Ornette Coleman - Sound Museum: Hidden Man (1994)

When Ornette Coleman debuted his electric Prime Time band, 20 years ago, its amplified guitars, electric bass, and funky beat alienated many of his oldest fans. His two splendid new releases, Sound Museum: Three Women and Sound Museum: Hidden Man (Harmolodic/Verve), feature a new acoustic quartet with pianist Geri Allen, bassist Charnett Moffett, and drummer Denardo Coleman -- and will undoubtedly win some old fans back. But don't be misled by the title or the instrumentation. This museum is not about preserving the past. The music sounds closer in spirit to Prime Time than to Coleman's original piano-less quartets of the late '50s and early '60s.

Without question, the primary reason these two albums sound so modern and so little like Coleman's earlier quartets is the presence of his son, Denardo, on drums. In the denser, more tangled ensemble of Prime Time, it's harder to hear exactly what Denardo contributes. On these albums, it's evident how essential he is to Ornette's music. Denardo is often criticized for not swinging, and he doesn't in any usual sense. He isn't a funk or rock drummer. His sense of time entirely his own. Although he is unique -- even eccentric -- he is also a sensitive musician. He reacts to the music around him instantly, but his responses are hardly ever the expected ones.Without question, the primary reason these two albums (which include different takes of the same pieces and are sold separately) sound so modern and so little like Coleman's earlier His fills, which can sound as random as tumbling rocks or falling boxes, are in reality exactly positioned and never interrupt the flow of the music.

If Denardo provides a rhythmic link to Prime Time, the quartet's ensemble approach also recalls the orchestral sound of the electric group. With Allen playing both chords and single-note lines, and Moffett alternating between plucking and bowing, the density of sound is always in flux, and a variety of textures are woven through the fabric of the music -- just as guitars, keyboards, and percussion vary the density and textures in Prime Time. As is the case with the electric band, each member of the quartet can move at his or her own tempo, and the rhythmic center of the music disperses and converges as the players move in and out of synch. On the version of "Women of the Veil" on Hidden Man, Moffett shadows Ornette while Allen creates soft clouds of sounds by playing chords with the damper pedal down. When Moffett switches to dark, sinuous bowing, Allen responds with single-note lines that penetrate the thick mass of sound. Denardo rushes to double the time, then backs off. Ornette has said that Prime Time is an outfit composed all of leaders; so are the members of this quartet. They are a group making a music with four centers, yet they remain committed to collective unity.

Ornette himself reveals a freshness that belies his years (he's 66). When he plays, there are seemingly no barriers between feeling and sound, or thought and sound. And he never repeats himself. The two versions of the Mexican-flavored "P.P. (Piccolo Pesos)" are a good example. On Three Women, his improvisation is a nimble folk dance that flows around Denardo's colorful array of cowbells, wood blocks, and rumbling toms. Hidden Man's version finds Ornette pecking at the notes of the solo in a series of nervous hops and jumps while Denardo clumps and cantors beneath. In contrast, Hidden Man's "Monsieur Allard" is elliptical and purposely disjointed. Ornette plays variations on the theme, discards them for a seemingly unrelated set of themes and variations, shifts into long rapid sequences of squiggles and squeals, and ends with sotto voce mutterings that fade into the ensemble. Whether his solo is simple or complex, Ornette's every note is drenched in the blues, evoking the power of the human voice.
The tunes played on the Sound Museum CDs are the same, except for one track on each: Hidden Man features a variation on "What a Friend We Have in Jesus"; Three Women includes "What Reason," with vocalists Chris Walker and Lauren Kinhan. There are several new compositions, but Coleman has recorded much of the material before. "European Echoes" dates back to his 1965 trio recordings, Live at the Golden Circle (Blue Note). He recorded "Home Grown" and "Macho Woman" with Prime Time on Body Meta in 1975. (Body Meta and another Artists House release, Soapsuds, Soapsuds, a duet with bassist Charlie Haden, are both slated for reissue by Harmolodic/Verve in September.) But in turning to older material, Coleman is not reviving the past so much as celebrating the present and welcoming the future.

1. Sound Museum
2. Monsieur Allard
3. City Living
4. What Reason
5. Home Grown
6. Stopwatch
7. Women Of The Veil
8. P.P. (Picolo Pesos)
9. Biosphere
10. Yesterday, Today, And Tomorrow
11. European Echoes
12. What A Friend We Have In Jesus (Variation)
13. Mob Job
14. Macho Woman

Ornette Coleman: saxophone, trumpet, violin
Denardo Coleman: drums
Charnett Moffett: bass
Geri Allen: piano

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Bravo Clippings #7

Daniel Clowes, "Why I Hate Christians" (Eightball #11, June 1993)

Mississippi John Hurt - Last Sessions (1966)

If you can find a bluesman more heartbreaking than this one, please put him in jail.







1. Poor Boy, Long Ways from Home
2. Boys You're Welcome
3. Joe Turner's Blues
4. First Shot Missed Him
5. Farther Along
6. Funky Butt
7. Spider Spider
8. Waiting For You
9. Shortnin' Bread
10. Trouble I've Had It All My Days
11. Let The Mermaids Flirt With Me
12. Good Morning Carrie
13. Nobody Cares For Me
14. All Night Long
15. Hey Honey Right Away
16. You've Got To Die
17. Goodnight Irene

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