black and white

Watched Genius Within last night - the 2009 documentary about Glenn Gould, who I've thought, read about, and listened to maybe more than anyone else in the past 10 years. 
Especially memorable:

1. Footage from concerts in Russia (1963) where he unleashed his unforgettable versions of Bach, who most had never heard. He was 29.

2. Watching him direct/conduct CBC engineer Lorne Tulk while producing his seminal radio documentaries, the Solitude Trilogy. Watching Tulke take a razor blade to the tape, and make some of the thousands upon thousands of edits that introduced a totally new radio creature to all of Canada. And to me.

3. Ridiculously wonderful tape of Gould singing to elephants, (watch til the end of this link) who seem slightly aggravated by his musical selection. 


4. Gould's prediction that one day we'd all have "kits", and would disassemble and rearrange popular music. He knew!

5. His funeral. Never imagined I'd see footage from Glenn Gould's funeral. Was floored, saddened, thankful, crushed.

Still feeling some of all of that...and enjoying a little Well-Tempered Clavier while writing this - which, by the way, is traveling at great speed away from us into the depths of interstellar space, and always will be.

Light Goes Away

Another Sunday, another musical suggestion. Plus a picture from the Richfield Public Library, where I spent a few magical hours with my niece when back in Ohio, a few weeks ago. It's not 'my library' but I do love it. And I love it.

Loose Horse in the Valley

I may be able to pull off this one song a week impulse, after all. 

Know how sometimes you just stumble across something and immediately just... know? Posted a new suggestion to gallopinging v.2 on Sunday - Sam Amidon's "How Come That Blood." It's from his new record "I See the Sign" - which I feel like I've been listening to for decades. It references Bessie Jones, and to my ears borrows from Nick Drake and Palace Bros and Carter Family, and somethings way older, and somethings brand new. [Though they may have all borrowed from the same place.]

It's repetitive, and dark with occasional sparkle, and seemingly simple, and sometimes religious and mostly reworkings of traditional songs. It's much easier to listen to this record, than write about it. You can find it here.

Hey Chicagoans: Sam Amidon is playing this Friday at the Old Town School of Folk Music. Yes, I will be there, and yes, afterwards we will walk down the block for delicious frozen treat.