Joseph Shabalala of Ladysmith Black Mambazo is on the Leonard Lopate show, which reminds me of a Christgau article about him called "Tribulations of St. Joseph". Be prepared for the penultimate paragraph, especially if you're familiar with his music. The disconnect between LBM's ethereal sound and Shabalala's personal tragedies is jarring: think the difference between Jasmine looking like Gina Torres and Jasmine with maggots crawling out her eye sockets. Grace under pressure doesn't even start to describe Shabalala.

New Fiery Furnaces song done acoustic: [link]

I'll pick 10 desert island discs offhand:

• Minutemen, Double Nickels on the Dime
• Love, Forever Changes
• Fiery Furnaces, Blueberry Boat
• Can, Future Days
• Television, Marquee Moon
• Miles Davis, It's About That Time
• Coltrane, A Love Supreme
• Beach Boys, Pet Sounds
• Go-Betweens, Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express
• Husker Du, Zen Arcade

edited 'cause I wrote the same thing twice

hayden - how's that beautiful boy doing? sleeping any better?

Television, Marquee Moon

Finally gotten around to picking this up on CD (my vinyl copy is SHOT), and I really need to get around to listening to it. Mebee as crash music tonight.

Hey, msbelle! Yes, indeed, he's sleeping better and generally calming down significantly. Now that I have a computer at home again, I'm going to put pictures of my grinning Li'l Jandek up this weekend.

Frank: did you get the remastered one? 'Cause, DAMN.

Frank: did you get the remastered one? 'Cause, DAMN.

I'm pretty sure it is. That's the one with the bonus tracks, right? Looking forward to it, as the only version of "Little Johnny Jewel" I've heard is the Siouxsie cover.

Yep, that's the one.

And my desert island disk is and probably will always be Achtung Baby

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. The only detriment to it is that it's fairly short by today's standards, but, truly, it is the perfect album.

Jon, I almost went to see One Ring Zero tonight when I learned that one of them plays the theremin. But I've got papers to write. I guess I'll have to wait for one of your legendary performances.

Speaking of which, A nice review of a performance I gave last week at a store a friend of mine just opened:

[link]

"The following night, I heard a very different encore of "Video Killed the Radio Star" at Honeyspot, a new JP boutique opened by Punk Rock Aerobics instructor and Count Me Outs guitarist Hilken Mancini and her friend Laura Dembski earlier that day. Perched on a platform behind the counter, Jon Bernhardt ­ best known for his long stint as one of the hosts of WMBR’s Breakfast of Champions and as one of four theremin players in the Lothars ­ played the song’s vocal melody on a theremin to a MIDI backing track playing from a nearby boombox. Bernhardt informed a packed house that the theremin was the first electronic instrument ever invented, and "through manipulation of the antennae, you can play beautiful melodies, like this." He then proceeded to play along to a MIDI version of "Smells like Teen Spirit." Other highlights included "Dancing Queen," "The Rainbow Connection," and "Blitzkrieg Bop" (complete with the theremin growling the heys and hos). The effect was hilarious and hypnotic ­ Bernhardt concentrating on the subtle hand movements required to produce the familiar melodies over an eight-bit Nintendo-sounding accompaniment, as if this were primitive electronic karaoke. Mancini, dressed in a honeycomb sweater, and appearing a little frazzled from what was no doubt an intense day, directed people to a chest in the dressing room filled with ice and mini-beers and once those were gone offered plastic cups of whiskey. (There was also candy for the minors.)"