Night After Night

One small victory.

Henry Fogel has exciting news: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has apparently chosen to retain the services of classical music critic Pierre Ruhe. I heard a rumor to this effect earlier today, but my efforts to nail down the facts came to nothing. (Nothing I want to print, anyway.) Ruhe's review of Pascal Dusapin's Faustus, The Last Night from the Spoleto Festival offers evidence that the AJC has done the right thing.

Coming the day after New York magazine's dismissal of veteran critic Peter G. Davis, one of this city's most erudite, experienced and fair-minded voices, this seeming about-face in Atlanta comes as a breath of fresh air.

Playlist:

Bridget Kibbey - Love Is Come Again (self-released)

Various Artists - Guitars of the Golden Triangle: Folk and Pop Music of Myanmar, Vol. 2 (Sublime Frequencies)

Various Artists - Princess Nicotine: Folk and Pop Music of Myanmar (Sublime Frequencies)

Bob Mould - Workbook (Virgin)

Various Artists - Green Tea Leaf Salad: Flavors of Burmese Music (Pan)

Hervé Boghossian, John Tilbury and Mark Wastell - Archi.Texture, Vol. 1 (Cathnor)

Will Guthrie - Body and Limbs Still Look to Light (Cathnor)

Graham Halliwell and Tomas Korber - The Large Glass (Cathnor)

MIMEO - Sight (Cathnor)

Administrative note.

I somehow managed to stay off the spammers' radar for more than a year and a half, but this morning I noticed no fewer than three fake comments attached to posts here. (The note from the Spiegelworld intern I decided to leave, figuring it for a borderline case.)

Since I think it's safe to assume that no one is coming here looking for "Eskimo porn," I've taken the measure this morning of requiring CAPTCHA images for post verification. I'm hoping that move won't be a huge burden. But actually, there's something else I'm much more concerned about: Setting up that filter required me to republish the entire site -- every single page. Since I'm not the most web-savvy blogger on the block, I'm simply praying that this isn't going to play havoc with RSS feeds, rebloggers and other amalgamators. (Apologies in advance if I've just carpet-bombed Jeff Harrington and Jerry Bowles…)

Playlist (pre-marathon edition):

Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles - Diamonds in the Dark (Sugar Hill)

Grateful Dead - Dick's Picks, Vol. 3: Pembroke Pines, FL 05/22/77 (Grateful Dead)

Various Artists - White Elephants & Golden Ducks: Musical Treasures from Burma (Shanachie)

Tartar Lamb - Sixty Metonymies (Ice Level)

Various Artists - Guitars of the Golden Triangle: Folk and Pop Music of Myanmar, Vol. 2 (Sublime Frequencies)

Kyaw Kyaw Naing - Pat Waing: The Magic Drum Circle of Burma (Shanachie)

Osvaldo Golijov - Oceana*; Tenebrae**; Three Songs*** - Luciana Souza*, Kronos Quartet**, Dawn Upshaw***, Atlanta Symphony Chorus & Orchestra/Robert Spano (Deutsche Grammophon)

King Crimson - Starless and Bible Black (DGM/Virgin)

godspeed you! black emperor - F#A# Infinity and Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada (Kranky)

Amiina - Kurr (Bláskjár)

Playlist (post-marathon edition):

Various Artists - Princess Nicotine: Folk and Pop Music of Myanmar (Sublime Frequencies)

Nai Htaw Paing Ensemble - Mon Music of Burma (Fire Museum)

Inle Myint Maung and Yi Yi Thant - Mahagitá: Harp and Vocal Music of Burma (Smithsonian Folkways)

Grateful Dead - Dick's Picks, Vol. 3: Pembroke Pines, FL 05/22/77 (Grateful Dead)

Marillion - Childhood's End (Sanctuary)

The Books - Lost and Safe (Tomlab)

Clogs - Stick Music (Brassland)

Alexandra Gardner - Luminoso (Innova)

Temporary residence.

Bang on a Can Marathon at the World Financial Center
The New York Times, June 5, 2007

More:

Darcy James Argue (who brilliantly liveblogged the entire 27 hours and 10 minutes)

Jason Bergman (nice photos at Pitchfork, mostly the alt-rock acts)

Bruce Hodges

Pete Matthews (excellent photos… there's more commentary in his prior posts)

Anastasia Tsioulcas

Perhaps I'll get around to some detailed postgame analysis myself some time soon…

Missing a beat.

(Posted today on the TONY Blog)

The downtown New York jazz scene lost one of its busiest, most creative souls last weekend when percussionist Take Toriyama passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. We received the sad news late this afternoon in an e-mail from Michaël Attias, curator of the excellent weekly series "Night of the Ravished Limbs" at Barbès in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Born in the small town of Chiba, Japan, Takeaki Toriyama found early success playing in a popular Japanese rock band. In search of something more musically satisfying, he came to the U.S. in 1993 to study at the Berklee College of Music. Toriyama arrived in Brooklyn in 2000, and quickly established himself as one of the scene's most promising newcomers. Some weeks it seemed that he was practically the house drummer at Barbès, one of the city's most vital music venues.

Among the many performers whose live dates and recordings Toriyama graced are seasoned figures such as Jimmy Heath, Dave Liebman, Chick Corea, Danilo Perez and George Garzone, as well as rising stars including Attias, Ben Monder, Loren Stillman, Russ Lossing, Anat Fort and Monika Heidemann. He was a member of Matt Moran's uproarious Slavic Soul Party!, and played on the band's outstanding recent release, Teknochek Collision.

Members of SSP! and other musicians whose lives Toriyama touched will be gathering this Sunday, June 3 at 1pm to honor his memory with a musical march, which will start at the 9th Street entrance to Prospect Park and make its way to Barbès (9th St at Sixth Ave). Toriyama's family has flown in from Japan; private donations will be accepted to defray their travel and funeral costs. It would be a lovely thing for them to see firsthand the many, many local listeners whose lives were enriched for all too short a time by Toriyama's lively playing and joyous spirit.

Go here for Darcy James Argue's touching, detailed post.