NOT ENOUGH NOTHING YET
Shows to get back to the week’s endless delicious must-see lists of live performances – coming soon – but here are a few I recommend.
I usually don’t respond to someone else’s word. For myself, from the right person, I will take a risk sometimes, but not for publication, for others.
In this case, however, the recommendation was David Robaire, the musician who, along with owner Paul Dolomon, does such a great job booking the acts that play the Sam First jazz club in the LAX area. Robaire and I had a long discussion about our likes and dislikes about our music, and he remarked, You know, I’m sure you would really like the pianist Eric Reed we have here in a few weeks.
Well, he’s here with a trio, Friday and Saturday, two sets at 7 and 9 p.m., $ 25. I’ll be there with friends in tow, but if you hate it (very unlikely) don’t speak to me that night. Drop me a note. If you like it, tell management I sent you.
Friday at Harvelle’s, right here in SM on 4th Street Downtown, you can get four bands for $ 10, 9pm, but the one not to be missed is Westerner, one of my favorite bands from the region. Hopefully they haven’t lost their jump over the shutdown.
BE HONEST
How many times, how many hours, especially during the COVID restrictions, have you been sucked into the rabbit hole of YouTube music? You eventually break out because you realize you’re hungry, only to find that the dog feced on your old Martin guitar for not being let out in ages, the cat tearing up every good piece of clothing you had (cats instinctively can tell Halston from Haggar) and the kids have graduated and your wife has left you. Worse, you didn’t even like half of the videos you sat through.
Here is a music rabbit hole I can suggest where you will likely like everything that comes up and you will actually learn from it and maybe have an enlightened realization.
I went to a good friend’s FB page and clicked the first video I saw and as it scrolled to the next and next I was hypnotized and didn’t feel like stopping. But I felt great about everything. I was tossed around the world and through time, and from the visual audio experience I was left with an expanded amazement at the breadth and excellence of musical and cultural traditions and master musicians of all stripes from far-flung corners of the world. A table full of young Scottish women, led by an elder, all sang a song to their hand-clapping of the laundry – singing makes hideous chores go faster and easier, especially in groups, which is why the military has their marching chants. Then to a mystical Miles Davis quintet number, then to an orchestra that looks like an oriental orchestra, men in urban clothing from maybe the late 30s sitting on chairs and playing traditional instruments, then an Appalachian singer and picker, Cab Calloway in the Cotton Club, Moroccan master musicians gathered around a sacred tree in a mountain village – you get the picture.
Where does this amazing footage come from? The access to this world music rabbit hole is DUST TO DIGITAL. Nicole may have written about it in a previous NICOLE RECOMMENDS, but it’s well worth revisiting.
Founded in 1999 by Lance Ledbetter, he and his wife April continue their mission “to provide access to hard-to-find music by producing high quality books and CDs. DVDs, box sets and records. They have become today’s format standards for computers and telephones. By combining research with images, audio and video, Dust-to-Digital will continue to both entertain and educate the adventurous listener. “
I would disagree. I don’t think you have to be really adventurous. Sure, some of these people look and dress differently from the average Sunset Park resident, and the sounds may seem exotic at first, but good music is good music and that can blow your mind how much you didn’t know was out there . Music enriches life and DUST TO DIGITAL shows us that there is gold in the hills.
THE BOSS IS BACK!
OK, yes I was trying to get you to read this. It has nothing to do with Mr. Springsteen. In fact, it has nothing to do with music or the other common arts, but I am expanding my REMARKABLE web of arts to include the art of living, creating a recognizable, known, consistent and persistent personality and daily deeds.
Others may be offended that I am calling Jerry Rubin The Boss. That is probably because they disagree with some of his political positions, particularly at the local level, particularly on development.
Jerry and I couldn’t be further apart in this area. But we’ve been close friends for a long time. You can count on Jerry to speak up when it comes to his friends. I only suspect that he’s mysteriously misdirected in this area of overdevelopment in Santa Monica, but I respect the thrust of his life for the past 40 years, which is peace. Peace peace. He doesn’t even hate Trump. (Just the things he does.)
Oh, and trees. Who can hate peace and / or trees? And justice, equality and the environment. People can find differences in how to honor these things, and they do, but Jerry’s roots are buried in this essence and he’s immobile. That turns your word into your life and your lifestyle into art.
Ruby was a fixture at his sticker table on the boardwalk for decades until COVID hit. But now he’s back. The constant goes on. In a city that throws away its history like smelly trash and old news, I like that. Regardless of your beliefs, you can likely find a sticker or button on Jerry’s table that suits you. And you may have an interesting discussion with Rubin himself on a subject that is important to him, and that is all.
“I’m officially coming back! I’m tanned, rested and ready! I updated my Dump Trump sticker table sign. It will now be the DUMPED TRUMP sticker table! And I plan to rebuild myself in the same location on Santa Monica Third Street Promenade after a 15 month absence due to the COVID pandemic. Of course, we have a lot to do to stand up to all of the cowardly Republicans who are still scared of Trump and don’t even admit that Biden dumped him fairly and directly!
Provisional date: Saturday, July 10th! Don’t think it’s possible that you missed me almost as much as I missed you all! Available again due to high demand! Further! Together!?
THE LOST MURALS OF LONATO DEL GARDA, ITALY
Was presented online yesterday. I’m much more interested in the lost Santa Monica murals. They pile up.
Charles Andrews has heard a lot of music of all kinds, including more than 3,000 live shows. He has lived in Santa Monica for 34 years and would not live anywhere else in the world. Really. Send him love and / or rebuke to [email protected]