The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

("It will be live.") So said Gill Scott-Heron, who died last Friday. Undoubtedly a great influence on rap and hip hop that was to follow, when I first heard him in the early 70s he was known for his stance on hipocrisy in politics and entertainment, and was even regarded by some as the "black Bob Dylan". Here is one of his most memorable pieces ...

The Day

Moby gives us another free MP3 download, this an orchestral version of his The Day, included in a different arrangement on his new Destroyed album. Nice, peaceful, meditative. Along with the album is a selection of Moby's own fine, mood-fitting photography, also shown on the site.

Happy Birthday, Bob Dylan

Seventy. Believe it or not. Today my favorite is either Bob Dylan's Dream or Moonshiner. Fat chance getting some Dylan here but here are some covers, first from Judy Collins WAY back when ...



Then Cat Power (Bob Forrest also has a great cover of Moonshiner from the I'm Not There OST, too, btw) ...



Tomorrow, who knows what Dylan song I will want to hear? So many great things to pick from ...

Vivian Maier Update

Back in December 2010, we talked about Vivian Maier. A traveling exhibition of her remarkable photographs is underway. The Vivian Maier website also is now showing quite a number of images, including one of my favorites, a self-portrait made in New York City in 1953, as shown here.

Oregon Symphony at Carnegie Hall

As part of New York's Spring for Music festival, Carlos Kalmar and the Oregon Symphony performed at Carnegie Hall last Thursday to critical acclaim. You can hear the concert at NPR's Classics in Concert site, and read The Oregonian's David Stabler on the event, along with more photos and video. And even more today.

The New York City classical music station WQXR also arranged for a live broadcast of the concert in 3D binaural, optimized-for-headphones form. See here and here for more information.

Better yet, listen directly from WQXR:

The National Jukebox

Now hear online historical recordings from the Library of Congress:

http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/

For example, here is the incredible Enrico Caruso (pictured), surely the most famous operatic tenor of the early 1900s:



Looks like there are 176 Caruso pieces here. One I just spotted was Enrico doing the "O soave fanciulla" duet from Puccini's "La Bohème". Will have to give that a listen, for sure. Wonder who the soprano was? It will take some time to read up and work through this stuff -- and build up some playlists.

One of my anticipated future retirement projects was to be an attempt to digitize my very small collection of Caruso, mostly one-sided 78s, but now I may simply listen to those arias and more online. Brought to us by ... your Government!