Tag: <span>Patti Smith</span>

Culture at War

Dear God, I had a dream last night. It made me smile. In my dream I witnessed: Serious academics debating the respective merits and legacy of Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Miles Davis Streets erupting with violent clashes between Tonality supporters and militant defenders of Atonality Millions of Twitter users sharing beautiful lyrics, and shredding…


Is it Jazz, is it Afrobeat, is it world music?

The record store owner frowned at me when I asked him where he kept Fela Kuti, under ‘Jazz’ or ‘World Music’. I already assumed he wouldn’t have ‘Afrobeat’ as a separate category or awared Fela Kuti his own, private entry. For a moment I saw him searching for the right words and then he said…


Fantasy Football II – The needed substitutes

I told you, a football team only has 11 players, and in putting together my near perfect line-up for the land of Music I had to make a lot of hard choices. let’s not try to be complete here. I could come up with at least 100 artists I could also have added. Let’s just…


Get into the groove; reflections on side A opening songs

I’m a romantic who loves destruction and a bit of chaos. I love human-made ruins, the results of criminal neglect or failed maintenance. I once saw a deserted and completely run down football stadium somewhere between Milan and Malpensa airport. Deteriorating tapes, scratched records, it all appeals to my romantic self. I hated the false…


Re-make/Re-model

I’m an old soul when it comes to cover versions. I believe musicians should first and foremost be judged on their performance and not on the quality of their songwriting. When Jimi Hendrix covered Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band a couple of days after The Beatles released the album with the same title he…


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