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In the summertime here, the Denver Botanic Gardens hosts a concert series ... a stage is set in the middle of the beautiful landscape at the bottom of a four-sided sloping hill, where people gather with blankets and bottles of wine, crackers and cheese, and full picnic baskets. Artists perform in an in-the-round style format, and there's usually an intimate feel to the concerts. On one evening six or seven years ago my friends and I were there to see K.D. Lang -- who was headlining and put on a great show -- but the real treat turned out to be the opening act: The Esbjörn Svensson Trio. I had never heard of the Swedish jazz group before this night, and I remember sitting there transfixed by Esbjörn's mastery of the piano, and how the group in one moment had launched off into a frenetic free-form jazz improv, where it seemed impossible that they would be able to pull it all back together, then in the next moment all had come seamlessly back into the fold. It was a fantastic set, and we were able to talk to Esbjörn for a few minutes afterward to say how impressed we were. He was friendly, and happy to have garnered some new fans ... he gave me a copy of EST plays Monk, which has since become a favorite of mine.
Over the last couple of years I tried to turn some friends onto the Trio ... it's not everyone's cup of tea, but last summer I decided there was one man who definitely needed to hear them. Chris "Crash" Pryor and I had conversed over on the other M a bit; I knew him to be a Thelonius Monk fan, and I gave him a copy of the album in the hopes he'd enjoy it as much as I had. It wasn't long before I heard back from him ... he was loving it, and a short time later he had written up a review in the one-and-only Crash Pryor style, complete with "porkie-pies," "brush-lush-tastic," and "nothin' but the truth son"'s. When I think back on reading his posts, it was as though I could hear his voice talking in the same room where I was ... every inflection, crash-ism, and nuance was just so, well ... Crash. He was full of mojo, vibrancy, intellect, sharpness, humour, and sage words with a crack-a-lackin twist. And three months later, much to our collective sadness, he was celebrating his birthday in another dimension. But there's still so much Chris left here for us to take in. His blogs are still up, his essence still palpable.
As for Esbjörn, tragedy struck as well in June of this year. His life ended in a tragic scuba diving accident, leaving behind a family, and a legacy of important and wonderful music. That news sealed the already-inseparable aural connect between Crash and this album, for me. It's one I'm going to listen to today, while I'm chillaxin and sending out a toast to the cosmos ... an Oat Soda for me, a Grepsi for you, Mr. Pryor.
Cheers and Happy Birthday, Crash. Your friends on Mog and Multi are thinking of you.
Hey moggers ... it's been a busy summer at work, and tomorrow at long last I'll be embarking on a week of vacation, followed by two days at the All Points West Music and Arts Festival, and the New York City mog-meet on Sunday, August 10th (info here). If any of you are planning on going to the festival and want to hook up for a show on Friday or Saturday, drop me a mog mail (if I don't get back to you today I will on 8/7 before I head out). For those left holding down the fort, I'll look forward to catching up with you again when I get back. Cheers!
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wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee I'll be there! Holding fort and taking photos!!!!
Edvard Munch
After a week from hell that included the death of both a computer and an external hard drive (thus obliteration of massive amounts of music and photos), impossible work deadlines, and an emergency root canal (owww), I know I do. Fortunately my favorite cover at the mo' takes all that and turns it into something that makes - at the very least - my ears feel good ... Here is Les Thugs take on Dead Kennedys' "Moon Over Marin" (even if DK weren't your cuppa tea, I think this one's a keeper).
Angsty contributions welcomed!
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Holy cow..sorry for all the bad news. Hopefully that's the end of it or you are at least turning the corner..Lovin' the Jello and Munch.
Wow... I of course know The Scream... but I haven't seen any of his other stuff... sorry that this week hasn't been kind to you... I am running a little low on the angst meeter right now, maybe I'll have to dial it up on my mood organ... then again I think the beer is holding it back.....
here is
Alice Cooper - Novocainelame video... but a good tune none the less...
damn, E! I was wondering where you were at! Did you get a new computer? what happened to the old comp? Shit, I'm so afraid of losing my tunes I've got to get a backup system this week. Let me know if you need anything, I'd give you access to my collection but I don't know how to do that.
My Digital Music Collection
MOG Meter
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oh man... that's really sad. R.I.P.
I heard these guys about a year ago and really liked them, but I never got around to really checking them out. I'm going to have to get on that.
Great men, both of them.
You might check out Crash's blog and his review of the album here.
Cheers. :)
I think I'll go pick up a bottle of grape sode for the kids. They'll just think it's a treat, but we'll know better, won't we? Virgin grepsi's all around. :)
It's good to have you back on these shores as well. It would have been agreat loss to not have Crash memorialized here, and for one I'm glad that someone with better dcition than I stepped up.