curmudgeon

In a recent piece from the Voice of America ...

I'm no philatelist, but this -- featuring two of my favorite artists -- caught my attention at a trip to the post office last week. Probably won't be using these for bill payments. Guess I might have to explore the Postal Service's Music Icon series to see what else they have.

In keeping with family (who else would care?) tradition, I am working up a list of my favorite artists/albums of 2012. Of course, I haven't heard it all and could never claim any of this to be the "best". Here is the list so far, in order of when they came to mind (for whatever that implies):


Me'Shell N'Degeocello: Pour Une Ame Souveraine - A Dedication to Nina Simone
Leonard Cohen: Old Ideas
Chrysta Bell: This Train (see ...

Like many of us, my introduction to Indian music in the 1960s was via Ravi Shankar, and I have loved this stuff ever since. He died yesterday, but left us two wonderful daughters whose work are also staples in my collection: Anoushka Shankar and Norah Jones.



Just one sample story here.

Jazz legend Dave Brubeck has died at age 91. More details abound, like here.

I started accumulating a jazz collection when I was in high school, and one of the first albums I rushed out to buy when it was first released in 1959 was Brubeck's Time Out, featuring the immortal Take Five. Already this fine tribute vid has appeared today on YouTube:

When singer-songwriter Teisha Helgerson died of leukemia last year, her friends discovered unfinished work in her journals and cell phone recordings. Thus began a collaborative effort to finish and record the songs. Some are performed in part by Teisha, others by her artist friends.

Teisha was the frontwoman for the Portland-based indie folk-pop-whatever ("latin-tinged country jazz") group, Amelia, and other bands that became increasingly ...

From time to time, I binge on harpsichord music (particularly Couperin, Scarlatti, Bach). Today, through the Good Graces of Google, I chanced upon a remarkable online resource. At La Sala del Cembalo del caro Sassone I found a massive repository, featuring free listening (appears to use Flash streaming) as a Creative Commons non-profit effort. (For some reason I suspect that this amazing resource is well known to almost all baroque music lovers except me.)
...

Bob Dylan fans -- I can't be the only one around here -- will be interested to learn that a new album is due for release in September. For more details, go to Tempest Press Release | The Official Bob Dylan Site and Bob Dylan Tempest Tracklist, Release Date.

Appreciating music often entails, especially with vinyl, appreciating album cover art. Many covers adorn my listening room walls. As a photographer myself and former art gallery manager (as well as having an old girlfriend who made most of her living creating album covers), I perhaps have a special fondness for such art. Surely there are many of you who love this stuff, too. I just stumbled upon a site that shows us the backstory and location information on some well-known ...

I'm guessing I'm not the only person here whose music collection includes "Getz/Gilberto":

The Elusive Girl From Ipanema - WSJ.com

When listening to music, I usually prefer to let my mind conjure up its own images, but sometimes a pre-determined mix of imagery and sonics work nicely. Here 18-year-old Croatian video editor Tomislav Safundzic has paired NASA images with music from The xx, one of my favorite UK ndie groups of their particular genre. Watch in either Flash (smoother) or HTML5 (more Apple-friendly).

Not everyone's gonna agree that these would be the top 100 riffs, but it's a great show.

Mick Jagger on SNL ...

http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.p...the-last-time/

Video: Mick Jagger, Arcade Fire, and Foo Fighters on Saturday Night Live « Consequence of Sound