Passing Notes: 1/16/11

After a day of Nyquil and naps, it appears I am well enough to fill in tomorrow for Skip Lezama, the regular host of 88 Jazz Place Weekend, from 8-12 am on 88.9 FM WDNA. Although I don't have Skip's extensive knowledge of music from the islands, I'll certainly try to keep the pace in another area of Skip's specialties -- the blues. In the 10 o'clock hour, we'll do a full sweep of the clock with the blues, including music from Little Walter, Junior Wells, Freddy King, Albert King, Magic Sam, Howlin' Wolf, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Otis Rush, Elmore James, Luther Allison, T-Bone Walker, and the Reverend Gary Davis. I hope you'll tune in to 88.9 FM in the South Florida area or wdna.org online.

PN Feedburner | PN iTunes | PN Twitter | PN Facebook | PN Video | PN Goodreads

PN 143 - Lou

We welcome a new member to the family, Lou the dog. Learn about the need for pet adoption through the ASPCA and, for those of you in town, visit Miami-Dade Animal Services.

Permalink for PN 143

PN Feedburner | PN iTunes | PN Twitter | PN Facebook | PN Video | PN Goodreads

1/19/11

PN Video Jukebox - Ornette Coleman

Five performances from the 70s and 80s from the innovative musician and composer. Check out Coleman's website here.

1/17/11

Reader's Notes - Wikipedia: The Real Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Why all the haters? In essence, this is the question about Wikipdia posed and answered by Peter Gill of the UK Guardian. While Wikipedia is still largely viewed inside the academy with suspicion, if not downright derision, I'll be the first to admit that often, as someone who writes about popular culture, Wikipedia is invaluable, and, to my eye, continues to get better as more and more people use it and, consequently, help fact-check and edit its content. While, certainly, in many fields it's best to use edited and sourced materials from reliable publishers, if you're interested in the fast-moving infoverse, Wikipedia is essential. If more people joined in the writing and editing of the Wiki, it might just turn into that authoritative guide to everything -- from jelly beans to Jim Crow to the Jem'hadar - envisioned by Douglas Adams.

PN Feedburner | PN iTunes | PN Twitter | PN Facebook | PN Video | PN Goodreads

Reader's Notes - Classical and Jazz: The New Underground

New Yorker music critic Alex Ross pulls together a few threads from recent commentary about cultural elites, arguing that, in the age of mass culture, in effect, popular culture is elite culture, simply because other forms of music have much difficulty in being heard at all. In effect, the market rules all, and it's the poor and struggling classical (and, I would ague) jazz musicians who must fight to get their new music heard. Read Ross' short piece here.

PN Feedburner | PN iTunes | PN Twitter | PN Facebook | PN Video | PN Goodreads