Holocaust Memorial Day is a national commemoration day in the United Kingdom dedicated to the remembrance of the Jews and other minority groups who suffered persecution in the Holocaust, under Nazi genocidal policies. It was first held in January 2001 and has been on the same date every year since.
Jeff Buckley and Gary Lucas
After checking out the Interview with Gary Lucas that Aquarium Drunkard featured recently it showcased this video and it is really worth a visit not least to see a v young Jeff Buckley but its a fine number and Gary's guitar work is exceptional here from 1992 in the Knitting Factory NYC
Jeff Buckley performing with Gary Lucas' Band, Gods and Monsters at the Knitting Factory in New York City on 22 March 1992. Notes: With Gods & Monsters, Live from The Knitting Factory. This show was broadcast on WFMU radio and hosted by Nick Hill from inside the venue - you can see him during the video with his headphones and broadcast mic. It was also videotaped from a tripod inside the Knitting Factory. Gary Lucas and Jeff play the first two songs as a duo, and then there is a break for a performance by another artist. When they take the stage again, it is as a full band. Until the encores, that is. Jeff stays on alone to sing 'Satisfied Mind' in a very public break from his collaboration with Gary Lucas. Video contains all the additional unbroadcast content. "About a year after the Tim Buckley tribute, on March 13, 1992, Gods & Monsters had a big showcase concert at St. Ann's during which the sound was bad and each fine musician onstage seemed to be listening only to himself. After that performance Jeff told Lucas he was quitting; he would play the rest of the gigs they had booked that week and that was it. Jeff Buckley's final show with Gods & Monsters, to a small audience at the Knitting Factory the following weekend, was filled with tension and barely contained recriminations. One song into the set Buckley told the soundman, "Let's hear Jeff's guitar," and proceeded to hijack Lucas' band for the remainder of the night. As Jeff led the group, Lucas filled in piercing guitar leads and counterpoint. Jeff let loose howling, primal vocals that were, ironically, like the young Robert Plant while Lucas--relieved of leading the group-- played with disciplined abandon, raising the stakes at every hand. It was an amazing set, everything that the St. Ann's showcase had failed to be. It took the grim relief of failure and the anger of a breakup to show what the musical prototype for Lucas to Buckley should have been--not Page to Plant, but James Honeyman-Scott to Chrissie Hynde. One scene-maker leaned over duing the set and said, "If all the A&R people who'd been at St. Ann's were here tonight, these guys would be going home with a record deal." When the last Gods & Monsters song ended, Maimone, Fier and Lucas walked offstage but Buckley hesitated. He then surprised everyone--including himself--by staying onstage and continuing to sing alone. It was a bravura, egotistical move, a violation of all band etiquette, and exactly the right thing to do to establish that he had the guts and the ambition to build his own vision, and that he was not going to be tied to anyone else on his way. When he finished singing, Jeff walked off the stage and across the room to his girlfriend Rebecca. They locked into an embrace in the middle of the club, his head buried in her shoulder, not speaking and oblivious to the people who came up to tell him what a great finale it had been. "It was after that night," Jeff says of quitting Gods & Monsters, "that I knew I needed to invoke the real essence of my voice. I didn't know what it tasted like at all. I knew I had to get down to work and that anything else would be a distraction. In that band there were conflicts. It was really crazy, a desperate situation. I just didn't need things to be desperate. I needed them to be natural." " -- (from the article 'The Arrival of Jeff Buckley: A Talented Young Musician Learns to Navigate the Record Business While Protecting His Music', Bill Flanagan, Musician, February 1994, p97-101).
I know this has been around for an age but this has been preying on my mind of late. There is an amusing side, at hopefully my own expense, but I recall being shocked by an Interview in Rolling Stone where Miles Davis expressed his distaste for white people and supported the principles of black power and in retrospect at the time I was offended (poor me!) . . . . I might have chosen to dig a little deeper as to why he particularly held the views he did at the time and here is the answer (one amongst many!?)
Another in an occasional series of art found on the web and here via Instagram. Check this extraordinary artwork from Kris Kuksi
Two new sculptures by artist Kris Kuksi, available at Joshua Liner Gallery.
In his practice, Kris Kuksi juxtaposes Baroque and Rococo design principles with the rigidity of the industrial landscape and classical architecture, to explore religion, culture, war, industry, and death. To create these intricate assemblages, Kuksi sources model kits, jewelry remnants, figurines, and kitsch statuary from all over the world, meticulously arranging them into complex, multilayered compositions. The artist often alters these mass-produced objects by fusing them together to make anachronistic figures. It is not uncommon to discover mechanized humans or Roman Generals wearing gas masks. After securing all the pieces, Kuksi unifies the hundreds of disparate components together by adding layers of paint to achieve a weathered patina.
When encountering Kuksi’s frieze-like wall sculptures from a distance, the work resembles architectural ornamentation from the Belle Époque, characterized by decorative frills and ornamental beauty. On closer inspection, however, individual narratives emerge from each sprawling work, revealing what the artist describes as “historical narratives, biblical subjects, animal worship, architecture, symbolic views on commerce and development, as well as human psychology and behavior.” It is the combination of Kuksi’s elegant forms with macabre themes which allows his work to be at once peaceful and violent, beautiful and grotesque.
Kuksi’s micro and macro dimensions unfold into a boundless world of infinite narratives, carrying the familiarity of history, with elements collected from discordant paths and different moments in time. The extreme density and multiplicity in the artist’s assemblages not only reward close looking; it makes the viewer just as much a part of the artwork as the characters who inhabit these fantastic and otherworldly landscapes.-
Nice tape from Hear Rock City this morning, solo Floyd guitarist (as if you didn't know) Gilmour and his legendary appearance at the Odeon
David Gilmour - Hammersmith 1984 - Hear Rock City
Written more than 50 years ago, the Bob Dylan classic “The Times They Are A-Changin'” is as relevant today as it was then. We invite you to enjoy this touching rendition performed by Brandi Carlile along with Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) from our recent event, celebrating the 75th anniversary of the UN, Peace Through Music.
Change is inevitable. It’s up to us to create change that uplifts, change that betters ourselves and humankind, and change that is for the good and for the love of everyone. Let’s stand strong, united in one love, and be the positive change we want to see in the world.
"The Half Remarkable Question" & "Painting Box''
