nada retreats, abashed

Nothing today, sorry. But hey, I posted twice on the 23rd.

Tom Waits - The Piano Has Been Drinking

To celebrate his nomination to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, here is Tom Waits on Fernwood Tonight in 1977, with Martin Mull and Fred Willard.

Miles Davis at Montreux 1973 (Part 1)

Today is the feast of St. Miles. Enjoy.

Krugman on Structural Unemployment

Talking about long-term unemployment, Dr K as usual displays both erudition and sense. The money quote: So all the evidence contradicts the claim that we’re mainly suffering from structural unemployment. Why, then, has this claim become so popular? Part of the answer is that this is what always happens during periods of high unemployment — in part because pundits and analysts believe that declaring the problem deeply rooted, with no easy answers, makes them sound serious.

Oops

Damn. Sorry for not posting yesterday. Been a long time since that happened. The day started out strange and that seemed enough to throw everything out of whack.

Katy Perry sings "Hot N Cold" with Elmo on Sesame Street

Truth be told, I love the twenty-first century.

Little Feat - Rock and Roll Doctor

Felt like hearing some Lowell George.

The Pogues - The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

Happy birthday to Eric Bogle. The Pogues play what is probably his best-known song, about innocence and needless bloody slaughter.

Kids in the Hall - Reg

Kevin McDonald said that if he had to pick one KITH sketch to put in a time capsule, it would be this one.

Krugman on Conservatives Facing Reality. Or Not.

There's facts, and then there's what people say.

.

Leonard Cohen - The Stranger Song

From a Canadian TV show in 1967. Happy birthday to L.C.

Don Walser - T for Texas

Jupiter Approach

For astronomy nerds [raises hand], the news that the planet Jupiter is closer to Earth than it has been in fifty years is, well, news. Step outside tonight and take a look.

Brass Bed - Shame of an Earache

There's good new bands all over the place these days. Here's one of them.

The Pretenders - Back On The Chain Gang

A song that seems to be about the benefits of hard, hard work in helping to manage grief. Happy birthday to Chrissie Hynde, still one of the most underrated songwriters of the rock era.

Derek And Clive - The Worst Job

Pete and Dud,
Dud and Pete.
Pete was smart and Dud was sweet.
Dud was smart too,
But not like Pete.
And Pete was never, never sweet.

.

Sunday at the Village Vanguard - Bill Evans

I won't generally post what is basically a sort of advertisement, but I can't let this one pass. Orrin Keepnews was one of the great producers of jazz records, and here he discusses the genesis of one of the best-known of all jazz albums, Bill Evans's Sunday at the Village Vanguard.

Perez Prado - Cherry Pink & Apple Blossom White

Bach's Air on the G String - Leopold Stokowski conducts

Tony Judt on Captive Minds

Tony Judt, who died in August, wrote extensively on post-World War II intellectual life in Europe, both Western and Eastern. In recent years he commented often on current political issues, usually drawing a parallel (or even explicit connections) with some stream of thought in his area of study. In this article from the current issue of the NYRB, he performs that process in reverse, beginning with Czesław Miłosz and moving to today's financial crisis. If you never saw a similarity between Jean-Paul Sartre and Phil Gramm, then let Dr Judt explain.

Captive Minds | The New York Review of Books

.

The Who - Sea and Sand

Rick Perlstein on the Bookburners and the Current State of the Media

Pearlstein speaks with so much common sense you can be sure that the media will have no difficulty ignoring it completely.

The problem is that elite media gatekeepers have abandoned their moral mandate to stigmatize uncivil discourse. Instead, too many outlets reward it. In fact, it is an ironic token of the ideological confusions of our age that they do so in the service of upholding what they understand to be a cornerstone of civility: the notion that every public question must be framed in terms of two equal and opposite positions, the "liberal" one and the "conservative" one, each to be afforded equal dignity, respect — and (the more crucial currency) equal space. This has made the most mainstream of media outlets comically easy marks for those actively working to push public discourse to extremes.

H/t digby.

Elvin Jones Drum Solo Demonstration

Lyle Lovett - That's Right (You're Not From Texas)

This is dedicated to a significant percentage of my friends.

nada indolently strolls the boulevard

Nothing today, sorry.

Krugman on Partying Like It's 1938

No, the 2009 stimulus was not enough to turn our economy around. Krugman explains why the parallels with the Great Depression give us little reason for hope at this point. Apparently a global conflagration (with its obvious drawbacks such as millions of deaths) was needed last time.

Sunnyland Slim - Tin Pan Alley

I have no idea who the narrator is. Doesn't matter. Enjoy.

Danny Gatton - Blues On The Half Shell

With Joey DeFrancesco on Hammond organ.

Elton John - Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word

Obviously before the hair plugs. Nice song, though, which is why I'm posting it.

Ringo Starr and George Harrison Working on "Octopus's Garden"

Musicians at work. From the Let It Be sessions in January 1969.

Mercy Dee - Have You Ever Been Out In The Country?

Blues piano from a master.