Imagine is one of the most beautiful tunes -- lyrics, music and philosophy. We can all hope ...
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Muddy Waters and the Rolling Stones, 1981
http://video.pbs.org/video/2310115288/
All you lovers of blues and rock 'n' roll, be sure to see this video made at the Checkerboard Lounge in November 1981. Buddy Guy, Lefty Diz and Junior Wells also joined in. It's a great concert of the music we know and love. I have seen most of these performers live through the years and treasure the memories of those and many other great nights of musical treats.
I think of this as sixties music because that's around when I got introduced to it. I was about 12 or 13 when I started listening to rock--a bit later I got to the blues and folk. I think our generation was so lucky. We had decades of amazing music to become familiar with. Although I wasn't around for the early 1900s, recordings introduced us to everything and everyone.
Someone once said that there are only two kinds of music, good music and bad music. That certainly seems true to me. I'm no expert. Good music is what I like. Bad music is what I don't like.
In my twenties I mostly listened to Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Pete Seeger, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, the Doors, the Band, all the Motown groups, Otis Redding, The Velvet Underground and Nico ... the list is way too long to list here. Many careers were cut short and we'll never know where their music would have gone if they had lived or survived the many band breakups.
When the seventies brought punk rock, I felt lonely. But I think I got into Willie Nelson then and some country. The eighties brought the Clash and Eurythmics (Annie Lennox!), Robert Palmer and quite a few others who continued the rock tradition in a direction I understood. Over the last couple of decades jazz (mostly the music recorded before about 1965), classical and opera were added in to the mix.
It seems to me that music is a universal language that crosses all kinds of barriers with ease. People enjoy it without worrying about who else does or doesn't like it. It's worldwide now--the internet and YouTube have connected the world in a way that we couldn't imagine when I was in my twenties and we all hoped for a united world. We roam freely through the world of music using electronic devices that were equally unimaginable back then. We may never have the world peace we also hoped for, but the world has come together in many ways that are good and healthy and who knows, maybe it will be peaceful someday. Until then, we have music--and that's a huge comfort.
All you lovers of blues and rock 'n' roll, be sure to see this video made at the Checkerboard Lounge in November 1981. Buddy Guy, Lefty Diz and Junior Wells also joined in. It's a great concert of the music we know and love. I have seen most of these performers live through the years and treasure the memories of those and many other great nights of musical treats.
I think of this as sixties music because that's around when I got introduced to it. I was about 12 or 13 when I started listening to rock--a bit later I got to the blues and folk. I think our generation was so lucky. We had decades of amazing music to become familiar with. Although I wasn't around for the early 1900s, recordings introduced us to everything and everyone.
Someone once said that there are only two kinds of music, good music and bad music. That certainly seems true to me. I'm no expert. Good music is what I like. Bad music is what I don't like.
In my twenties I mostly listened to Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Pete Seeger, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, the Doors, the Band, all the Motown groups, Otis Redding, The Velvet Underground and Nico ... the list is way too long to list here. Many careers were cut short and we'll never know where their music would have gone if they had lived or survived the many band breakups.
When the seventies brought punk rock, I felt lonely. But I think I got into Willie Nelson then and some country. The eighties brought the Clash and Eurythmics (Annie Lennox!), Robert Palmer and quite a few others who continued the rock tradition in a direction I understood. Over the last couple of decades jazz (mostly the music recorded before about 1965), classical and opera were added in to the mix.
It seems to me that music is a universal language that crosses all kinds of barriers with ease. People enjoy it without worrying about who else does or doesn't like it. It's worldwide now--the internet and YouTube have connected the world in a way that we couldn't imagine when I was in my twenties and we all hoped for a united world. We roam freely through the world of music using electronic devices that were equally unimaginable back then. We may never have the world peace we also hoped for, but the world has come together in many ways that are good and healthy and who knows, maybe it will be peaceful someday. Until then, we have music--and that's a huge comfort.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
http://underthehollywoodsign.wordpress.com/tag/georges-meliese/
Saw two hours of Meliese films today at the Music Box theater. They were incredible. What an imagination this man had! He also acts in them with great energy and everyone looks like they are having a great time. The sets and costumes and special effects ... all outstanding. It's hard to believe he was doing all of this circa 1898-2005. Several were hand colored! See them!
Saw two hours of Meliese films today at the Music Box theater. They were incredible. What an imagination this man had! He also acts in them with great energy and everyone looks like they are having a great time. The sets and costumes and special effects ... all outstanding. It's hard to believe he was doing all of this circa 1898-2005. Several were hand colored! See them!
Sorry this is so long. We have had an amazing couple of weeks--and it's not over yet. Everything seems to be happening at once. From now on, I'll try to do this blog as things happen instead of waiting until there are so many things to talk about. (I was hoping photos would come with the links to break up the narrative.)
For the first time this year, we got tickets to some of the annual Humanities Festival programs. BTW, it's still going on, so check it out at: http://www.chicagohumanities.org/Blog/Matti-Bunzl/Fall-2012-America.aspx.
Our first program was John Hodgman, the week before last. It was rainy and cold. As JH said, it was the kind of day you want to curl up with a quilt and watch old movies. But we braved it and went to see him and were so glad we did. He and Peter Sagal from NPR had a wide ranging, totally unorganized conversation that was fun and insightful.
My takeaway was his saying how great it is that now everyone can get their creative stuff out there. It's not like the old days when you had to wait for a publisher or publication to discover you, you can just do it. That resonated with me because that's exactly why I self-published A Sixties Story. I wanted it out there. I didn't want to spend 30 years getting rejected and then die with the unpublished manuscript in the basement gathering dust.
Then during the following week we saw Jeannie Lambert filling in with the Recession Seven (really five that night)--and how lucky was that? They were great. They all know each other and the tunes so well and play with such originality and style. We closed Katerina's that night. Katerina always has great people there, so we know we'll be back. I want to see Bob Dogan for sure. katerinas.com
Last Sunday we went to the Northlight Theater in Skokie and saw Woody Sez on it's last day of the run. We got there via public transportation in about an hour, so now we know we can go to the theater again. It was a wonderful play that told Woody Guthrie's story and the story of America in the dust bowl and depression years with 25 or so of his songs. There were three other performers with the man who played Woody and they were all talented. It was so nice to hear the old folk songs that we learned about and loved back in the sixties. No one does them any more, at least not that we know of. If anyone knows a place we can go to hear them, please let us know. http://www.northlight.org/pages/woody_sez/274.php
Wednesday we saw Crossing Paris or Four Bags Full (it has several English titles), which is part of a flim series at the Alliance Francaise. First, can I say that the Alliance Francaise is a beautiful place and the theater is very comfortable and modern. We got there a half hour early and had our free glass of wine sitting on the lovely navy blue velvet couch in the lobby.
The movie was incredibly good (how can you go wrong with Jean Gabin in 1957?). It was set in Nazi occupied Paris and although it was funny in many places, for me there was always an undercurrent of fear because the Nazis could appear at any time. It was thought provoking and there was an interesting discussion afterward. The film series is still going on. The listing is at http://www.afchicago.org/app/Calendar.php
We talked about the film all the way home and tried to find out more about the writer, Marcel Ayme, which wasn't easy. We finally found a good write up on The Neglected Books Page, http://neglectedbooks.com/?p=218, which I didn't even know it existed, so that website got bookmarked.
Somewhere during the week we saw the HBO special on Ethel Kennedy done by her daughter, Rory. Although it's painful to go back to the sixties, watching her story made it worth it. What a remarkable woman. She went through all the sturm and dram of the sixties and the horror of her husband and brother-in-law and others being assassinated and managed to be a wonderful mother to the 11 children she was left to raise. Incredible strength and a positive outlook got her through. But how amazing is it that she didn't fall apart? It's HBO so I assume it will be repeated. See it if you can. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPAzvDnEyYs
Yesterday we saw Elektra at the Lyric Opera--and it was electric, just like the TV ad says. We were riveted for the whole hour and 45 minutes. I don't have the words to do it justice. The set, costumes, orchestra, music, and the voices--all were perfect. What a piece this is. I'm no expert, but I've never seen anything like it. We want to see it again. We're looking forward to all four of the operas we're going to see this season at the Lyric. This was a spectacular beginning. For more information http://www.lyricopera.org/tickets/production.aspx?pid=10689
And then there was Chicago Open House 10/13-16, which I am sorry to say, we missed entirely. It was rainy and we had other things going on, but next year we want to go. We also didn't have time to catch the Chicago film Festival 10/13-25. Next year ...
This is why we retired in Chicago. We love to travel, but when we're home, there's so much going on all around us--boredom is never an issue. Fortunately most of our friends feel the same way, so we have all of them around us too. To quote the overquoted song, "It's our kind of town."
For the first time this year, we got tickets to some of the annual Humanities Festival programs. BTW, it's still going on, so check it out at: http://www.chicagohumanities.org/Blog/Matti-Bunzl/Fall-2012-America.aspx.
Our first program was John Hodgman, the week before last. It was rainy and cold. As JH said, it was the kind of day you want to curl up with a quilt and watch old movies. But we braved it and went to see him and were so glad we did. He and Peter Sagal from NPR had a wide ranging, totally unorganized conversation that was fun and insightful.
My takeaway was his saying how great it is that now everyone can get their creative stuff out there. It's not like the old days when you had to wait for a publisher or publication to discover you, you can just do it. That resonated with me because that's exactly why I self-published A Sixties Story. I wanted it out there. I didn't want to spend 30 years getting rejected and then die with the unpublished manuscript in the basement gathering dust.
Then during the following week we saw Jeannie Lambert filling in with the Recession Seven (really five that night)--and how lucky was that? They were great. They all know each other and the tunes so well and play with such originality and style. We closed Katerina's that night. Katerina always has great people there, so we know we'll be back. I want to see Bob Dogan for sure. katerinas.com
Last Sunday we went to the Northlight Theater in Skokie and saw Woody Sez on it's last day of the run. We got there via public transportation in about an hour, so now we know we can go to the theater again. It was a wonderful play that told Woody Guthrie's story and the story of America in the dust bowl and depression years with 25 or so of his songs. There were three other performers with the man who played Woody and they were all talented. It was so nice to hear the old folk songs that we learned about and loved back in the sixties. No one does them any more, at least not that we know of. If anyone knows a place we can go to hear them, please let us know. http://www.northlight.org/pages/woody_sez/274.php
Wednesday we saw Crossing Paris or Four Bags Full (it has several English titles), which is part of a flim series at the Alliance Francaise. First, can I say that the Alliance Francaise is a beautiful place and the theater is very comfortable and modern. We got there a half hour early and had our free glass of wine sitting on the lovely navy blue velvet couch in the lobby.
The movie was incredibly good (how can you go wrong with Jean Gabin in 1957?). It was set in Nazi occupied Paris and although it was funny in many places, for me there was always an undercurrent of fear because the Nazis could appear at any time. It was thought provoking and there was an interesting discussion afterward. The film series is still going on. The listing is at http://www.afchicago.org/app/Calendar.php
We talked about the film all the way home and tried to find out more about the writer, Marcel Ayme, which wasn't easy. We finally found a good write up on The Neglected Books Page, http://neglectedbooks.com/?p=218, which I didn't even know it existed, so that website got bookmarked.
Somewhere during the week we saw the HBO special on Ethel Kennedy done by her daughter, Rory. Although it's painful to go back to the sixties, watching her story made it worth it. What a remarkable woman. She went through all the sturm and dram of the sixties and the horror of her husband and brother-in-law and others being assassinated and managed to be a wonderful mother to the 11 children she was left to raise. Incredible strength and a positive outlook got her through. But how amazing is it that she didn't fall apart? It's HBO so I assume it will be repeated. See it if you can. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPAzvDnEyYs
Yesterday we saw Elektra at the Lyric Opera--and it was electric, just like the TV ad says. We were riveted for the whole hour and 45 minutes. I don't have the words to do it justice. The set, costumes, orchestra, music, and the voices--all were perfect. What a piece this is. I'm no expert, but I've never seen anything like it. We want to see it again. We're looking forward to all four of the operas we're going to see this season at the Lyric. This was a spectacular beginning. For more information http://www.lyricopera.org/tickets/production.aspx?pid=10689
And then there was Chicago Open House 10/13-16, which I am sorry to say, we missed entirely. It was rainy and we had other things going on, but next year we want to go. We also didn't have time to catch the Chicago film Festival 10/13-25. Next year ...
This is why we retired in Chicago. We love to travel, but when we're home, there's so much going on all around us--boredom is never an issue. Fortunately most of our friends feel the same way, so we have all of them around us too. To quote the overquoted song, "It's our kind of town."
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Wolfgang's Vault
Wolfgang's Vault
This is Bill Graham's amazing collection of sixties and seventies (maybe more decades) memorabilia. After it was purchased, it took 26 40-foot vans to move the collection to its present location!
I recently joined and I've mostly gone to this site to hear rock 'n' roll from that era, but I haven't scratched the surface of what's here. It's a great way to connect with those times. Such great memories it brings up.
Check it out--have fun!
This is Bill Graham's amazing collection of sixties and seventies (maybe more decades) memorabilia. After it was purchased, it took 26 40-foot vans to move the collection to its present location!
I recently joined and I've mostly gone to this site to hear rock 'n' roll from that era, but I haven't scratched the surface of what's here. It's a great way to connect with those times. Such great memories it brings up.
Check it out--have fun!
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