Passing Notes

3/19/14

Video Notes - Dark Sax of the Sith

So the masterminds here at the Passing Notes HQ (located somewhere in suburban South Florida) have decided that in the age of social media and postmodern culture, it would be best to bring aboard a wunderkind to help manage at least part of the Passing Notes - Sunday Time Warp Media Empire (PNSTWME). To that end, Tori Friedlander joins the team as Social Media Producer, and she brings her quirky, artful touch to promo videos for YouTube and Vine. Here's the VERY FIRST THING she ever did as a tryout of sorts. We liked it so much, it's not PN/STW canon.

Go to YouTube and like it, Pirate Minions! And share it with your friends. There's lots more to come.

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

Digital Notes - Vintage Games Online

From BuzzFeed this morning is a sure time-waster: a list of the 23 Best Vintage Video Games that you can play online. If you are old enough (but not too old) to remember Mega Man X, Duke Nukem 3D, StarFox, Doom, Sonic2, and best of them all the original Super Mario Cart, then you'll enjoy these online emulations of classic titles. I suppose most of these games from from the 16-bit era, just before the console wars began to take off and gaming started being huge as a genre of entertainment. Just for fun, I've also included a vintage internet meme in the spirit of those games, the original "All Your Base" video. Remember, keep the sound down and CTRL-ALT-TAB is your friend. Have some Fritos and Mountain Dew handy, too.

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

3/18/14

Video Jukebox - Mark Lettieri

Guitarist Mark Lettieri is just about as busy as a working musician can get. With gigs in his hometown of Dallas-Fort Worth and touring with the Funky Knuckles and Grammy-winner Snarky Puppy, he seems to be all over the place lately. This week's video jukebox features Lettieri playing with different Knucks- and Pup-derived configurations. Lettieri will be the featured guest on Segment3 of this weekend's Sunday Time Warp, and we'll be talking about his latest solo album, Futurefun. For this video jukebox we also debut the first of what hopefully will be many pieces from the program's new social media producer, Victoria Friedlander. Dig her spot at the start of the playlist.

Mark Lettieri

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

3/17/14

Tour Notes - Jesse Fischer in South Florida

A friend of Passing Notes and the Sunday Time Warp, keyboardist, composer, and producer Jesse Fischer, is out on tour for a few weeks, and he'll be passing through South Florida -- the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, to be specific. Fischer plays a blend of funk, fusion, jazz, and R&B. You can find our more details at jessefischer.com. If you'd like to learn more about the artist, you can listen to the Segment3 feature I ran about his album Retrofuture, a little over a year ago. The link for the podcast is here.

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

3/16/14

Sunday Time Warp - Playlist 3/16/14

Song, Artist, Album

Hungry Ghost, Mehliana (Brad Mehldau and Mark Guiliana), Taming the Dragon

Love Train, Omaha Diner, Omaha Diner

The Dreamer, Mehliana (Brad Mehldau and Mark Guiliana), Taming the Dragon

SST, Ulysses Owens Jr, Onward and Upward

Lauren Z, Stanton Moore Trio, Conversations

Who The Devil, The Wood Brothers, The Muse

Sing About It, The Wood Brothers, The Muse

The Muse, The Wood Brothers, The Muse

Honey Jar, The Wood Brothers, The Muse

Ditty Wah Ditty, Ry Cooder , Paradise and Lunch

Five Long Years, Buddy Guy, Damn Right I've Got The Blues

I'd Rather Go Blind, Beth Hart with Joe Bonamassa, Don't Explain

Voodoo Child (Slight Return, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band

Counselor at Crime, Calibro 35, Rittornano Quelli Di Calibro 35

Minnie the Moocher, Swagger Jax, White Mink: Black Cotton 2

Spooky, Lack of Afro, Remixes and Rarities

Heliocentric, DJ Spooky, The Secret Song

Freedom Jazz Dance Remix, Nas, Evolution of the Groove

Segment3 - Chris Wood

After the release of The Muse, Chris Wood talks about relocating to Nashville, adding Jano Rix to the Wood Brothers mix, and moving back and forth between MMW and the "family" band.

Listen to Segment3 on Stitcher
Listen to Segment3 on iTunes
Permalink for Segment3

The Wood Brothers

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

3/15/14

Lecture Notes - Wayne Kramer

In prepping my usual series of lectures on popular music for an American cultural history class, I came across a lecture from Wayne Kramer, one of the primary songwriters and guitarists for the MC5, which most people understand now as a key proto-punk band. Now, years later, Kramer has cleaned himself up, found work not just playing rock but writing movie soundtracks. He's also a thoughtful commentator on the last 50 years of popular music. If you've got an hour or so, you might enjoy listening to Kramer's talk given at Loyola University of New Orleans, "On the MC5 and the Evolution of Pop Music."

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

3/14/14

PN 245 - TD Allman - 'Finding Florida: The True History of the Sunshine State'

Journalist TD Allman's latest book is Finding Florida: The True History of the Sunshine State, which recasts the past of Gator Country in sometimes unexpected ways.

PN 245 on Stitcher
PN 245 on iTunes
Permalink for PN 245

Allman will be one of many authors appearing this weekend (March 14-16) at Literary Feast 2014, to benefit the Broward Public Libraries.

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

3/13/14

Video Jukebox - The Wood Brothers

It's no secret that the Sunday Time Warp is a fan of Medeski Martin and Wood -- ad within the past year I've talked with both Billy Martin and John Medeski. This coming weekend, the MMW trifecta is completed as Chris Wood joins the show to talk about The Wood Brothers' latest release, The Muse. In the meantime, enjoy a selection of videos from the Wood Brothers.

The Wood Brothers
)

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

3/12/14

PN Unscripted - TD Allman - 'Finding Florida'

Noted journalist TD Allman spent almost a decade working on his latest book, Finding Florida; The True History of the Sunshine State. He's got his own view of Florida's past and how that history informs the present. Folks in the rest of the nation don't roll their eyes at Florida without reason.

Allman will be appearing at Books and Books in Coral Gables on March 13, at 6:30 pm.

Listen to PN Unscripted on Stitcher
Listen to PN Unscripted on iTunes
Permalink for PN Unscripted - TD Allman

Books and Books

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

3/10/14

New Broadcast Times, Podcast Drops, and Social Media

I’m not going to assume that everyone makes a habit of tuning in my weekly arts-and-commentary feature every Friday. For the better part of four years, Passing Notes has always been broadcast at 11:06 am after the BBC news. About a year ago we added another slot for the same feature at 6:06 pm – a time that I am particularly happy with as it coincides with drive time.

As it turns out, the folks at WDNA are going to be moving the morning spot to drive time as well – that is, 7:06 am. So, if you’re interested in keeping up with Passing Notes, you can tune in via terrestrial radio in South Florida to 88.9 FM WDNA at either 7:06 am or 6:06 pm. This change in broadcast time will also mean that the podcast will drop about 7:15 am, rather than midday.

The Sunday Time Warp, which has been doing better than ever, will remain on those lazy weekend afternoons from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. And, if there happens to be a musical guest on Segment3, that podcast will drop about 2:15 pm.

If you want to keep up with all things Passing Notes, your best bet is to follow this website – see the links at right, including podcast feeds through Stitcher or iTunes. You can also keep up with the Notes via any of the additional social media links below.

3/9/14

Sunday Time Warp - Playlist 3/9/14

Song, Artist, Album

Pusherman/Superfly, Dave Stryker, Eight Track

Reflex, Omaha Diner, Omaha Diner

Let's Go!, Cory Weeds Quintet, Let's Go!

The Uptown Shuffle, Vincent Herring, The Uptown Shuffle

Mutation IX: Descent, Vijay Iyer, Mutations

Mutation VII: Kernel, Vijay Iyer, Mutations

Spellbound and Sacrosanct Cowrie Shells and the Shimmering Sea, Vijay Iyer, Mutations

Naima, Turtle Island Quartet, A Love Supreme: The Legacy of John Coltrane

Blues Connotation, Ornette Coleman, This Is Our Music

Devil's Got To Burn, James Blood Ulmer, Birthright

Blue Monk, Thelonious Monk Quartet, Thelonious in Action

Cosmic Shuffle, Matthew Shipp, Piano Sutras

Tales (8 Whispers), Cecil Taylor, Unit Structures

Never Remember, Kneebody, Kneebody

Freedom Jazz Dance, Taylor Eigsti, Lucky To Be Me

Segment3 - Vijay Iyer

For pianist and composer Vijay Iyer, making music isn't so much about genre or style, it's about finding shared languages of expression. His latest release, Mutations, places his compositions in the context of piano, electronics, and string quartet.

Listen to Segment3 on Stitcher
Listen to Segment3 on iTunes
Permalink for Segment3 - Vijay Iyer

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

3/8/14

Movie Notes - 1959: The Year That Changed Jazz

I try to be careful about dwelling too much in distant decades of the great century of jazz music that's been created, as there's so much amazing music being made right now (see Icons Among Us). However, 1959 was a very good year; it is 55 years in the past now, but it's a year that gave the world the albums Kind of Blue, Time Out, Mingus Ah Um, and The Shape of Jazz to Come, among others. Below is a BBC documentary all about that banner year that changed jazz.

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

3/7/14

PN 244 - Vijay Iyer - 'Mutations'

Pianist and composer Vijay Iyer explores string quartets and different, more classical, styles of composition and performance on his new album, Mutations.

Listen to PN 244 on Stitcher
Listen to PN 244 on iTunes
Permalink for PN 244

Vijay Iyer

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

3/6/14

Video Jukebox - Vijay Iyer

Here's a fine dozen -- selected videos featuring the extraordinary pianist, arranger, and composer Vijay Iyer. Iyer's new album, Mutations, dropped this week, and he'll be the featured guest on both Passing Notes and Segment3 of the Sunday Time Warp. In the meantime, enjoy these live performances.

Vijay Iyer

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

3/2/14

Sunday Time Warp - Playlist 3/2/14

Song, Artist, Album

Mystic Brew, Vijay Iyer Trio, Historicity

Mr. Montauk, Snarky Puppy, groundUP (DVD)

The Witch [The Bamboos Version], The Broken Keys, The Witch 12

Open Season, Orgone, Bacano

Long Cool and Bubbly, Corduroy, Very Yeah

Aquarius, Dave Stryker, Eight Track

Money, Dave Stryker, Eight Track

Wichita Lineman, Dave Stryker, Eight Track

Chinese Checkers, Booker T and the MGs, The Very Best Of

Blues for Willarene, Grant Green, Grant’s Last Stand

Incredible Jazz Guitar, Wes Montgomery, Incredible Jazz Guitar

To The Devil For A Dime, Tinsley Ellis, Storm Warning

Too Many Dirty Dishes, Albert Collins, Cold Snap

Slide Rule, Mark Lettieri, Knows

Jazz Crimes, Joshua Redman, Elastic

Freedom Jazz Dance, Phil Woods, American Swinging In Paris

Segment3 - Dave Stryker

Veteran jazz guitarist Dave Stryker takes the music back to the 1970s in his latest release, 'Eight Track,' which offers songs from across the pop spectrum of the era.

Listen to Segment3 on Stitcher
Listen to Segment3 on iTunes
Permalink for Segment3 - Dave Stryker

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

2/22/14

Movie Notes - Jimmy Smith

I'm certainly not the first to share this documentary, uploaded three years ago, about organ giant Jimmy Smith during a 1965 tour of Europe. Smith's trio at the time (Quentin Warren, Billy Hart) were joined by a West German film crew for much of the tour. Although the documentary is in German, much of the dialogue is in English, and, of course, music needs no translation. Nor does Smith's temper. Keep an eye out for Dizzy Gillespie and his quintet, too. Marc (JazzWax) Myers brought it to my attention a while back.

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

2/21/14

PN 243 - Garage Bands I Have Known

Three decades of jamming and occasional gigging distilled into the Six Principles of Garage Bands. And yes, you can bring your oboe.

PN 243 on Stitcher
PN 243 on iTunes
Permalink for PN 243

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