World Beat on KRNN-FM

madlib, enter-hot curry, beat konducta in india
“”, indian hump, “”
“”, movie finale, “”
damon albarn and friends, djembe, mali music
“”, kela village, “”
bob marley and the wailers, wages of love, destiny: rare ska sides
“”, don’t ever leave me, “”

ricardo lemvo & makina loca, isabela, isabela (Juneau Dance Fest Sept. 2009 Guest Artist)
beny more’ & band, el canonero, cuban counterpoint: history of the son montuno
field recording 1950 from bayamo, mercedes, cuban counterpoint
marc ribot y los cubanos postizos, obsesion, muy divertido
“”, el gaucho rojo, “”

etti ankri, nikach meemeni sod, puntamayo presents israel
itay pearl, chipopo, “”
lila downs, mi corazon me recuerda, border
horizons, rinpoche’s rag, cross cultrual jazz sampler
tatws penfro, crasant, music from wales folk collection
discover indonesia, mares
“”, curahan hati
asha bhosle, mera kuchh saaman, rough guide to bollywood legends
“”, ina mina dika, “”

joshua alo, dreaming, oasis world v. vii# 4
heptones, countryboy, tougher than tough: story of jamaican music
i roy, welding, “”
althia and donna, uptown top ranking, “”

Americana at its finest

The storytelling of Patterson Hood, songwriter/frontman for The Drive-by Truckers is nothing less than an immaculate portrait of the sprawling, family, political drama of life in America.  “Uncle Phil & Aunt Phyllis In The Month After The Election” is complete with betrayal, transformation, pharmaceuticals and ass-biting dogs.  Hood’s first solo album, Murdering Oscar is recently out and there’s a bonus track included on the Vinyl edition which has been available around the blogosphere.  Was listening this morning while at work and couldn’t help laughing my ass off on several occasions.  The subtle delivery and the understated accompaniment make for a tragi-comic blues scape from the American South.  Dig it.  Read a great post and get the mp3 from Stereogum.

Discovering Stafford

I’m almost ashamed to admit it that for years William Stafford has been little more than a familiar name.  Sure I knew he was a pretty influential poet of the Pacific Northwest and that he had served as Poet Laureate to the Library of Congress, but I finally brought home, An Orgeon Message from the library and just as I was completely engaged and blown away by the work of Theodore Roethke (see the Copper Canyon Press re-issue of Straw for the Fire) I’ve been inspired to read a biography and dive deeper into the world of Stafford.  Here’s a few that I thought particularly interesting due to their library connotations and the attack on ignorance and books not written.

Two Poems from An Oregon Message: Poems
By William Stafford

Burning a Book

Protecting each other, right in the center
a few pages glow a long time.
The cover goes first, then outer leaves
curling away, then spine and a scattering.
Truth, brittle and faint, burns easily,
its fire as hot as the fire lies make-
flame doesn’t care.  You can usually find
a few charred words in the ashes.

And some books ought to burn, trying for character
but just faking it.  More disturbing
than book ashes whole libraries that no one
got around to writing- desolate
towns, miles of unthought-in cities,
and the terrorized countryside where wild dogs
own anything that moves.  If a book
isn’t written, no one needs to burn it-
ignorance can dance in the absence of fire.

So I’ve burned books.  And there are many
I haven’t even written, and nobody has.

The Book About You

The book that tells about you slumps in the library
Somewhere in the medical section.  It is vague at first
but then detailed: you are hopeless and not even interesting.
Cases like yours routine through hospitals, especially
in slum districts.  By the end of the book, you are dead
one-third of the time but live a useful life
occasionally if treated early.  One patient
in Calcutta lived fifteen years.  Softly you close
the book and push back.  You walk past the travel section
and the mysteries and romances.  At the door you turn for a glance:
they have established a new shelf- pay books.  The librarian
is watching you.  You spread your hands, go out
the quiet door, and stand there enjoying the sun.
There are days like this for everyone.  Somebody else
Will put the book back.  Strangely- one of the symptoms?-
you feel like singing.

Got Fur?

I’ve encounter determined book collectors hungrily seeking out “1st Editions” but have yet to hear of any after “Fur Editions”. Perhaps this is because Dave Eggars’ novelization of Sendak’s classic childhood anthem, Where the Wild Things Are will be the first such edition.

Due out in October, to coincide with the theatrical release of the film (Eggars=screenwriter, Spike Jonze=director),  The Wild Things: the novelization will be my first “Fur Edition” and I can’t wait to hold it up to my face.  Paste had a nice article on the phenomenon, here.

Check out the trailer for the film which features a beautiful use of the Arcade Fire song, “Wake Up”. This is already my pick for best film of ‘09 and I know it will be competing with “Half-Blood Prince”.