Streaming Essential Video of the Day!

I try not to put more on my plate than I can handle. A before B. I fight battle A than move on to B than move on to C. I find it typically the only way to stay sane and functional in a world beset by horrors and injustices and stupidities and just plain evils, that all cry loudly and together for address. For your assistance.

But one way I have found to not destroy myself, by fighting too many fights, and enduring too many outrages, is to 1/ not be fed what is news (more often just sensationalism and division posing as news); but rather seek out for myself what is of import and newsworthy to me  and 2/ Research those fighting for causes I care about and delegate some of that fight to the people already fighting it. To help financially and morally, those on the front line, of maintaining the liberties of the individual, that corporations, and culpable governments, have decimated and continue to decimate.

Between those 2 policies, I remain somewhat sane, in a world poised always to make the mildest of men… mad.

I found a new group deserving of my money. Do your homework and decide if they are deserving of yours. Check out the below links.

 

 

 

LAST AND FIRST MEN (2020)

“Great are the stars. And Humankind are of no account to them.

But Humankind is a fair spirit.

Whom a star conceived.

And a star kills.”

—Johann Johannsson’s LAST AND FIRST MEN

 

I do not know why I was much moved by this movie.

I found myself at the end of it replaying that last Tilda Swinton uttered line.

I do not know why I was much moved.

Except this sole posthumous directorial creation, by the late, great composer Johann Johannsson (his SICARIO is one of my favorite scores) strikes me hard. Hard for his loss on top of my own myriad losses. The loss of a vibrant voice in music and now film, poorer we are all made.

The film is good. Adapted by Johannson from the source novel by Olaf Stapledon, there is in the film something that brings to mind the late, great Saul Bass’ sole directorial effort… PHASE IV.

Something about shapes, and structures, and group mind, and communication, and the fleeting nature of the concreteness of man ringing a chord between the two movies. But ultimately those themes are just that, thematic similarities, and this film, LAST AND FIRST MEN, feels wholly its own animal, its own brilliance.

I was moved by this film.

And the reasons for my being moved are as much about the film as they are about me, and about chords struck between the micro, and the macro. The fiction of the movie and the truth of my life.

My life personal. Which like most lives, is never far from being in shambles. And my life as part of a larger society, a larger zeitgeist, which itself is even closer to being in shambles.

it is 2024 at this writing and this world as it always is, is beset by the machinations of the venal, and the power-hungry and the mad and the ignorant.

We grope toward giving rights to inhuman symbols, corporations, machines, manufactured men… and all the while work tirelessly to strip away the rights of mankind. We look to grant rights to inhuman symbols of corporations and machines, when we can not even give respect and rights, to each other. To those born under the same sun, and beset by the same winds.

As I write this, in myriad places in the world, people are being…destroyed. Liberties usurped, lives… snuffed out.

And our lives are too… too fleeting for that.

Too fleeting to waste even one of them, in such pettiness.

Look up…. there are wonders

Look in… there are wonders

Look out… there are wonders

 

We can be better than this.

2024… we can be better than this. We can be better than those who play us fool. And have us squander ourselves for their amusement.

A mob is easily ruled.

Be better than that,

Be not a race of master less men seeking a master… be what you truly are

Be the stuff of stars

and see and act

toward nobler goals than money and hate and death.

I was much moved by this film.

It spoke of a larger world view. A humanistic world view.

And we need that more than ever, to save us from the fools.

 

Look up.

 

Movie of the day…. LAST AND FIRST MEN.

Catch it via your free Library or other Streaming service. Or pick up the Blu-ray. It is a keeper.

Streaming Video of the Day: THE LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO LIVE

Tough Times Don’t Last… Strong People Do.

A great group. A great video. And a needed music.

 

March 2024 Music, Album, CD Discoveries, Gems, Finds, Obsessions!

The fantastic acid jazz of Joe Boogaloo Jones!

 

Get these CD’s/LPs while you can!

 

The album that introduced me to this unknown (to me) guitarist. Just amazing work, and that striking purple makes it one of the most compelling covers. This is probably my favorite of the three, followed very closely by the other two.

All three are highly recommended!

How to get into and follow the UFC/MMA via Streaming! The essential channels to subscribe to!

The essential channels to subscribe to for UFC/MMA newbies or experts:

First channel you need of course is UFC.

 

Add to that :

For info on the fighters and build up, analysis of upcoming fights the following channels are must watch in the foLlowing order:

For play by play live stream commentary of fights the best (of the numerous I have tried) by far is:

For news, pre and post fight takes, and general pulse of the industry coverage the best are:

Honorable mentions:

Currently on hiatus this was one of the best channels for pre-fight breakdowns.

 

If you found this breakdown helpful please like, subscribe, and support this channel by buying off of this installment’s sponsor:

Ebay store of the Day

Also support our nonprofit of the day the IRC.

 

And lastly a word on Jonathan Glazer. I think Jonathan Glazer should be allowed his opinion and more than that applauded for it

When so many act only with the mob, people who toe the tribal or company line, without considering if that line be on the side of the angels, or even in step with their own conscience and morality… someone who does think for themselves, and speaks for themselves… rather than parroting the mob… should be recognized for the courage that act takes.

Because historically it is never the mob that makes the world better, often it is individual and risky acts of courage, that changes the tide of history. The individual in opposition to the mob… that makes the world… in fits and starts… better.

And regarding the mob, whether those mob members be called Democrat, or republican, or Zionist; an unexamined perspective, a perspective that brooks no challenge or middle ground, … is historically a dangerous perspective.

Here beginNeth the Lesson,

Till next time be well… and think… rationally. And feel… humanely,

New Subscribers and Marathon Music Listening! Part 2 of 2!

I want to thank the new subscribers that have recently come aboard, as well as thank my long time subscribers.

There are endless demands on your time, so for you to take a little time to visit and subscribe, and comment, and just enjoy… is not taken for granted and is DEEPLY appreciated.

Okay, onto today’s madness….

 

As promised in part one of this installment,here is a link to the list of 200 or so Jazz Fusion albums I went thru, and also (out of that 200) the much smaller list of the dozen or so gems I found.

 

Out of that massive list here are the ones to own! Now if I were to do this massive listening marathon again, this list might change based on my particular moods or the specific segments of audio I land on, I might find more to add. But the ones I’ve chosen so far, appear to be solid choices for me.

And may just be solid choices for you.

Now in the links provided you may find some lps along with cds. I generally speaking dislike records as a playback medium. I grew up with records and vhs tapes, I know the trials of something that gets worse every time you play it.

It was the best we had at the time, but god almighty I do not miss scratched records, or lint on the records or stylus, or records warping with the weather, or vhs tapes becoming snow filled due to damage from playing them too much, or fast forwarding and rewinding them too much.

Contact based playback devices are generally lessons in short lived enjoyment. Whereas optical playback devices, cds, dvds, laser discs, the sound or picture you get the 1st time, or the 100th time, is the same sound. With records, the 2nd time you listen to it it is already a little less than the first time. and by the 20th time, the pops and hisses are competing with the actual intended sounds/music for your attention.

For these reasons I strongly dislike records and vhs tapes as a playback medium. When that was all we had.. fine. But now that we have optical drives, I’m not going backward to degenerative formats.

The only reason I will get a record is 1/ if the CD version is not available or 2/ if I just want it for the art and liner notes and presentation aspect, and to compliment an existing CD I have. So if you see an LP option below, along with Cd options, that’s the reason. It is on this list as an art object, which if the price is right an LP can make a nice compliment to the CD. And generally speaking you can usually flip LPs later on for at least your purchase price, to those who are record lovers.

I have friends who love records, so take my LP bashing with the facetious nature it is intended.

I’m happy when my friends are happy, but for me… records for listening enjoyment?…. No.

 

Okay onto the small list of essential winners, that made it to the top of my marathon 200+ Jazz Fusion album listening binge:

 

Version 1.0.0

 

 

The CD contains 2 additional live tracks, that the consensus is those two are out of place and you can just skip, and stick with the original songs. However, the CD does reproduce the album art, that was cut off in earlier CD releases… and that is obviously a win.

This is an example of a great album that was never issued on CD, so you have to pick up the album. It is funk-tastic!

 

Version 1.0.0

 

 

 

Version 1.0.0

 

Don’t Let the slightly salacious cover fool you, this is an excellent jazz fusion album,

That’s it guys, my  highlights from over 200 albums listened to. Buy your copies while still available.  And if you enjoy this post like, subscribe, comment and recommend it to others. Thanks!

New Subscribers and Marathon Music Listening! Part 1 of 2!

I want to thank the new subscribers that have recently come aboard, as well as thank my long time subscribers.

There are endless demands on your time, so for you to take a little time to visit and subscribe, and comment, and just enjoy… is not taken for granted and is DEEPLY appreciated.

Okay, onto today’s madness….

 

I’ve listened/sampled almost 200 so called Jazz Fusion albums today (and still going)  courtesy of streaming to find the ones I think are great. I have to say, so far it is not many. I’m under a dozen so far.

And I know its not fair, my process. I’m being very surface level on the examination of these albums, I’m skipping thru them quickly to see if the sound throughout I find compelling or find a bit boring. And largely what makes an album stand out, is that is doesn’t sound the same as the 20 albums that came before it. So I acknowledge my quick process is a very flawed way to discard music.

But this flawed process is yielding a few gems.

 

In part two of this. I will provide a list of the 200 or so albums I went thru, and also the list of the dozen or so gems I found.

 

Be back soon!

 

Thanks!

 

 

Musical Discovery of the Day : The essential albums of Osamu Kitajima!

I spend my day, in between putting out fires, discovering musicians and music. The last month or so of 2023 sent me down a reinvigorated love for music and musicians, and a mission of CD buying that I have not been on… ever.

I mean I have bought more CDs and done more concentrated music listening in the last few months, than I have EVER done. Even when I was  routinely buying music, it was at most 2 or 3 cds a month. I’ve bought 30 to 40 CDs, in less than 3 months. And have listened to almost all of them.

And I have listened to 3 times that many albums via streaming to get an idea of the ones worth buying and owning.

Being a collector… passions and obsessions hit us like that. As I mentioned in the previous post I am really deep into the works of Sun Ra and Miles Davis since the start of 2024 and the great music and musicians just keep coming.

Today I am all about discovering the work of Osamu Kitajima. I’m listened to nearly all his available output.

Right now I would have to say his two essential albums are:

And arguably his best Album:

I have had the album MASTERLESS SAMURAI for YEARS. I think I bought the thing a decade ago because I liked the album art, but never actually got around to listening to it once I received it.

I know, crazy right?!

Anyhow I only finally went to listen to it in the last week or two when I decided to sell unused items. And listening to this early 70s  Jazz Fusion Cd, in the midst of my current deep dive into the mad genius and genre smashing of Miles Davis late 60s early 70s work, Osamu’s MASTERLESS SAMURAI fell right in line with that fertile experimental phase of Jazz Fusion that Miles kicked the door in for.

It became obvious not only was I not selling this CD, I would have to listen to the body of work of this musician and discover more gems like MASTERLESS SAMURAI.

His early 70s Jazz Fusion Experimental work, in the above mentioned albums; are for me his strongest work. his later work gets much more pop focused, and new age focused, and a bit softer, whereas MASTERLESS SAMURAI and BENZAITEN are a merging of eastern and western styles, to create something utterly evocative, compelling and daring.

So if moved to, please use my provided links to get yourself great music, and that will also earn this blog a few appreciated pennies. A win-win! 🙂

 

You can get the Osamu Boxset by clickling the link below, while supplies last:

1st Quarter of 2024 – Musical discoveries and Passions/Obsessions!

JANUARY 2024 – SUN RA – I bought a hardcover book by boutique publisher Fantagraphics, a book on the album art of musician, composer, band leader SUN RA; and that book sent me on a rabbit whole of collecting this music that I had been to that point ignorant of.

 

As one of the most prolific published musicians of his age, or possibly any age, getting a handle of where to start with Sun Ra’s immense and varied output is daunting. But after much reading, streaming listening, and research I decided on about 10 albums of the over 160 or so he released, that are must haves to begin to get into the genius that was Sun Ra. And having listened and researched, as out there (crazy) as Sun Ra seemed then and seems now, all that weirdness was part and parcel of a musical genius as great as any that you can name.

 

FEBRUARY 2024- Another  book, this time a graphic novel, sent me down the rabbit hole of the work of Miles Davis. And Miles Davis, while also very prolific, is WAY more direct a path to follow and wrap your head around then Sun Ra, though arguably you can say that of anyone. Miles basked in the limelight of super-stardom while Sun-Ra, for all his brilliant (and in hindsight groundbreaking) work, was relatively niche. Sun Ra’s work was largely un-classifiable and not suited at all for radio play. Miles initially was the shining star of Jazz, and to the end, even when his work was no longer deemed playable in America, was always Miles Davis. His legend preceded him.

People will to this day call his KIND OF BLUE which he did in the 50s, not just the greatest work by Miles, but the greatest Jazz album of all time. Depending on the day or my mood what is in my top 25 at any given time, shifts and changes, but without doubt  you can always make an argument for KIND OF BLUE being in that argument of the best. Not just for what it is, it has been so ripped off by everyone in the 70 years since, that it is easy to be “so what” about it. But you have to meet music in terms of also its effect on its time and place and genre, and by those measures KIND OF BLUE changed the face of Jazz and Music.

But here is the thing that gets lost, Miles was constantly doing that, He was constantly experimenting and striving and building and exploring. And I.. while a HUGE fan of KIND OF BLUE, without a doubt it is one of his greatest works [ great here inseparable from a works impact on its time and place… and by that definition, KIND OF BLUE released during the 50s heyday of Jazz, is in-arguably his greatest album]; I would argue there are maybe 8 or 9 albums that he did that I think are musically even more impactful and mind-blowing and beautiful to me than KIND OF BLUE.

He kept making these sea changes in music, in Jazz, to the point that he was evolving faster than his audience. He went places where the lovers of his 1950s work were not comfortable with and would not follow, where Jazz would not follow. There is a real thru-line in his work, that if you get a certain set of CDs, and play them chronologically you see this vast musical genius, pushing the edges of not just music, but us, from album to album… pushing us places beyond which there were only dragons and the deep blue sea

 

March— There are a few artists vying for my attention this month. Among them some newer artists such as KHAM MESLIEN and ‘NEW JAZZ UNDERGROUND’ that tell us the present and future of jazz is still great:

More on that in installment 2 where I also introduce you to those Cds I was mentioning for month’s January and February.

 

Till then be well. And if you enjoy this blog help it post more frequent and keep the lights on by purchasing using the links and also supporting the Ebay link below. If all of you buy at least one thing it would be a great help. Thanks!

 

Thanks!

 

Ebay Store of the Day!!

 

The Part That Gets Lost

Here is the part that gets lost

Perhaps it will always get lost

Amidst corruption and mendacity and apathy and greed, and proud ignorance by those impersonators of Democracy

Those eaters of our liberties

Those fornicators upon our freedoms

Here is the part that gets lost

Perhaps it will always get lost

It is a responsibility

Humanity

Humanity is in its best definition,

A responsibility to each other.

Humanity is  a responsibility.

And if that truth gets lost

Is mis-educated away, lied away, hidden away, bought away …

There are those for whom that truth

That ‘Humanity is a responsibility’

Will always be found.

Humanity is a responsibility

And we will not have the saboteurs of the dream of America

Bury our liberties as they buried our newspapers

Humanity is  a responsibility

And the one, can only rise with the other.

Go

Be

Responsible.