Yancey Blues
At its best, music should relax your mind, massage your soul and make you feel good. Vicksburg Blues from Pat Donohue & Butch Thompson is music at its best. The dynamic duo creates an album that harkens back to the great a.
more »lbums of yesteryear, mixing Delta blues, ragtime and Dixieland jazz.
As if pulled from the backdrop of a Woody Allen movie, this stunning 19-track album features songs by Leroy Carr, Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Blind Blake and Butch s mentor blues legend Little Brother Montgomery. Woven in seamlessly with five fantastic originals and one that Butch Thompson co-wrote with Montgomery ( Sunday Rag ), these tunes sound both fresh and familiar, showcasing Butch and Pat s first-rate musicianship and their deep love and respect for the tradition of the blues.
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(Permanent Musical Accompaniment To The Last Post Of The Week From The Blog s Favourite Living Canadian)
It looks as though there is reactionary mischief throughout our institutions these days. As the
National Catholic Reportertells us, it s poisoning the life out in the parishes, too. Book-burning is, I admit, a bit of a flashback.
Fr. Matthew Codd, the then-pastor at St. Elizabeth s, was joined by a group of seminarians who went through the church s theology library and removed books deemed heretical, including those of spiritual writers Henri Nouwen and Thomas Merton. The books were later burned, she was told by a parish staff member. Lichtmann, a retired religious studies professor at Appalachian State University, left the region in part, she told NCR, because of the changes in the parish. She now lives in Georgia. I felt it was a lost cause, she said about St. Elizabeth.
There are few living talents who could be viewed as much of a New York theater institution as George C. Wolfe, the two-time Tony-winning director whose overall grasp of the arts is such that he speaks in cascades of enthusiasm and insight that he can barely contain. But if you want to get his goat, just ask him about opening up a celebrated play for the big screen, such as he did with August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” in which Viola Davis plays the title role.
“I would like to take the words ‘open’ and ‘up’ and stomp them,” Wolfe says. “You can’t think about that.”
A crucial technological boost to Christian’s pioneering style was the development of amplification in the 1930s. By 1937, he was using an electric guitar and word of his extraordinary ability began to spread far beyond the local scene, leading to an invitation to audition for the King of Swing, Benny Goodman, in 1939. Despite an unfortunate first impression – Charlie appeared in a bright green suit with a purple shirt, yellow shoes and a ten-gallon hat – the new Benny Goodman Sextet came into being there and then. Jazz guitar would never be the same again.
Christian starred with Goodman for the rest of his short life (he died of tuberculosis in 1942, aged only 25) and the Definitive compilation, devoted to him, conveys the unique flavour of the sextet’s recordings. Regardless of tune or tempo, their pervasive mood is a kind of elation, which seems to stem directly from Charlie Christian’s presence. Every solo he plays, however brief, says something, with a captivating mix
Fort Worth Weekly
By Jennifer Bovee
We are so done with 2020.
Photo courtesy iStock
As North Texas waves a big goodbye to 2020 the worst year in recent memory there are many choices for a night on the town come Thu, Dec 31. There’s something for everyone in all geographic areas, from bars, breweries, and live music to cultural events and fine dining.
ARLINGTON
506 E Main St, 682-276-1276
Enjoy Division Brewing’s Fifth Anniversary Celebration on New Year’s Eve. Division serves clean, refreshing light ales, such as blondes, wheats, and hoppy India pale ales, as well as malty amber beers, dark porters, sours, and stouts. It opens at 4pm. No cost to attend.