looking for the light switch

art.books.music.pedagogy

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

All One Song: "The Needle and the Damage Done" w/ Jeff Parker

As anyone reading this blog knows, I’m a guy who listens to a lot of Neil Young. I can’t help it. He’s a constant companion, whether I’m scouring the Neil archives site for random outtakes, digging into the endless supply of live bootlegs or just revisiting favorite albums in the catalog. But in recent years, this week’s All One Song guest has given Neil some serious competition on my stereo.

Jeff Parker is best known as the guitarist for the long-running Chicago post-rock group Tortoise — and he has been on a serious hot streak of late. He’s released awesome, entirely solo records like Slight Freedom and Forfolks, along with great albums with the New Breed. He’s collabbed with heavy hitters like Daniel Villareal and Makaya McKraven. He’s been an invaluable part of the Big Ego label’s session player roster, contributing to great records by Psychic Temple, Dave Easley (I wrote the liners for this masterpiece) and Maria Elena Silva.

And! Jeff is the leader of one of the most exciting improv groups working today — the ETA IVtet, featuring Parker, drummer Jay Bellerose, bassist Anna Butterss and saxophonist Josh Johnson. Their second LP, The Way Out of Easy, was one of the very best records of 2024. Oh and did I mention that there’s a brand new Tortoise album on the way later this year? Jeff is a busy dude, to say the least.

Now Jeff might not seem like the most obvious All One Song guest — his and Neil’s styles feel miles apart. At least at first! But as we get into in our conversation, he has found some serious inspiration in Young’s unique approach to the acoustic guitar. And the acoustic guitar is central to the song he selected for us to talk about: “The Needle and the Damage Done.” This haunting solo number from 1972’s Harvest remains one of Neil’s signature tunes. It’s a song that even the most casual of fans knows by heart. But Jeff’s perspective on this warhorse opened it back up for me — and I hope it’ll do the same for you.

Bonus Track: Over the past 50+ years, Neil has played "The Needle and the Damage Done" in pretty much exactly the same way as it first appeared on Harvest. But one night in 1996, he did it on Old Black, giving it a beautifully blown out sound. Check it out.

[neon-wonderlands]

[taiken408]

I used to love this commercial. Reminded me of Logan’s Run for some reason

[lisamarie-vee]

[retropopcult]

1964

[myjetpack]

A recent cartoon for New Scientist.

[vandals-took-the-handle]

Daily Dylan 2023 - 201

By David Gahr

[classichorrorblog]

Jaws (1975)

[retropopcult]

“You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

[hewasanamericangirl]

[uwmspeccoll]

Shakespeare Weekend!

French-born American painter and illustrator, Jean Charlot (1898-1979) illustrated King Henry the Sixth: Part Three, the last of the three-part play and the fourteenth volume of the thirty-seven volume The Comedies Histories & Tragedies of William Shakespeare, published by the Limited Editions Club (LEC) from 1939-1940. The plays were first acted in 1592. The second part was published anonymously in 1594, and the third part in 1595. All three parts were published in the folio of 1623.

The popularity of the Mexican printmaker, Jose Guadalupe Posada, is due in part to the work of Jean Charlot. Working primarily in Mexico, Charlot first saw Posadas work being sold on street corners in 1922. Posada’s original expressive style struck Charlot and he would become a contributor to the publication of catalogues on Posada’s work in 1928 and 1930. Charlot was a part of the Mexican Mural Movement, and his own work has been grouped and exhibited with with names such as Diego Rivera and David Siqueiros.  Charlot illustrated other books including Tito’s Hats by actor Mel Ferrer, Garden City Publishing, 1940; Carmen, the Limited Editions Club, 1941; and Springtime, Tales of the Cafe Rieu, 1956. Charlot became highly sought after by publishers who wanted illustrations for books having to do with Mexico.  When Charlot was first asked to illustrate Part Three of King Henry the Sixth he was not very excited. He had read a rather critical analysis of the text. But upon reading it for himself he became inspired saying: 

The very defects from the point of view of the modern theatre-goer seemed good qualities to me, who had seen in Mexico medieval mysteries and historical pageants performed by Indian actors on open air stages: the scenery a mere hanging rope, the facial expression reduced to naught by the use of masks….The drawings were, then, to function, hemmed between the strong guiding style of the play and the usual problems of illustration: subservience to format, equivalence to the black-and-white of the printed page.

The illustrations are reproduced from drawings by the artist. All volumes in the set were printed in an edition of 1950 copies at the Press of A. Colish, and each was illustrated by a different artist, but the unifying factor is that all volumes were designed by famed book and type designer Bruce Rogers and edited by the British theatre professional and Shakespeare specialist Herbert Farjeon. Our copy is number 1113, the number for long-standing LEC member Austin Fredric Lutter of Waukesha, Wisconsin.

View more Limited Edition Club posts.

View more Shakespeare Weekend posts.

-Teddy, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[harvardfineartslib]

Romare Bearden (1911-1988)

In the essay for a publication entitled, “Romare Bearden: Idea to Realization,” written by Professor Sarah E. Lewis in the Department of History of Art and Architecture at Harvard, she writes;

“Throughout the ages, artists have been truth tellers for our civilizations; they speak about the essence of their society in ways that others cannot or will not. Some such artists have incantatory vision. Romare Bearden was endowed with this gift. In his hands, slashes of textures and color became so active that they could show a complete world and its development across time; his collaged and painted images could inspire a vision of who we might become and remind us of who we had been all along.” (page 6)

Image: Front cover, “Bessie, Duke, and Louis”, c.1981 (detail) Romare Bearden : idea to realization Essay by Sarah E. Lewis Bearden, Romare, 1911-1988 New York, NY : DC Moore Gallery : Distributed by D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers, c2011. English HOLLIS number: 990129015530203941

[theseeker1864]

New Order - Power, Corruption and Lies (Full Album)

[atariforce]

Light Up the Night by Jittery Pixels

[taiken408]

[taiken408]

[theartofanimation]

Xavier Collette  -  https://www.instagram.com/coliandrium  -  https://twitter.com/Coliandre  -  https://www.facebook.com/Coliandrium  -  https://www.behance.net/coliandre  -  https://www.pinterest.fr/coliandre

[welcometoyouredoom]

Free Black History Library

[slam-drawings]

Alexander Calder, Andreas Feininger, 1964, Saint Louis Art Museum: Prints, Drawings and Photographs

https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/40114/

[taiken408]

Open Culture on Twitter

“Listen to The Night When Miles Davis Opened for the Grateful Dead in 1970 It happened 50 years ago today... https://t.co/OaLxF8SjkK”