Let’s start with a video that in many ways embodies my values as a human being:
The song was one originally performed by Bob Marley, whose work I have admired for more years (now decades) than I would probably want to admit. This is a pretty nice cover, as it conveys the best our global village (as we once called it) has to offer.
I heard my first reggae songs thanks to a news segment back in the mid 1970s. Jamaica was newsworthy at the time, for reasons that were not quite understandable to a child, and I am sure the segment was intended to capture at least part of the political turmoil going on at the time. It was the music that caught my attention. My first exposure to the sound of steel drums came from that experience. My first exposure to reggae music came from that, and as my memory tends to be long, I remembered to look for reggae music when I started buying records just a handful of years later. The impression I got from Bob Marley’s work was that he was combating hate, racism, and economic injustice by injecting a bit of love and music into the lives of anyone willing to listen. Bob Marley died when I was a teen, but he left a great impression on me. Like any fan, I have my favorites, and many will be familiar to you. So here are a few videos I hope you enjoy.
Of course, by the time I was a young adult and digging the club scene, Ziggy Marley would have been more contemporary. And I do like this song:
Reggae has changed a lot since my day. I was in an outdoor cafe nestled along a beach on Lake Michigan, taking a break from workshops and panel discussions earlier this summer in Chicago. While I was enjoying some kebabs, a DJ was dropping the latest from today’s reggae scene. The music is still in some ways recognizable, but it has a different flavor to it. Each generation has to make it their own, of course. Even this old school guy could enjoy it though. I’m sure the sight of a middle aged guy in business casual attire grooving to the tunes the DJ was spinning was one to behold. Alas, eventually I had to head back, as there was still work to be done. Such is life.
When I did get back home, I made a point of adding a few more reggae albums to my flash drive to make the commute a bit more bearable. Bob Marley and Peter Tosh – always. But I also enjoy quite a bit of dub: (Lee “Scratch” Perry, African Head Charge, Creation Rebel, etc.). Another story for another diary.
Thanks for reading and listening. I’ll have another cafe and lounge up hopefully next week. Until then, light up the darkness.
Tips are welcome as are recommendations. We’re open 24 hours, so if you have some jams to add, or just want to drop a few words, feel free. Let’s light up the darkness, now more than ever.
I am just loving this eclectic mix tonight.
Thanks; I appreciate your Marley posts as well.
My wife and I saw the movie “Moonlight” last night. I can’t recommend it more; what a wonderful film. From the soundtrack:
https://youtu.be/0g7v1lobSlU
Nice one!
Sense we doing videos that show our values as human beings, here is mine.
NSFW!
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I’ll have that one stuck in my head for a while. And it does seem quite fitting given the times we live in.
Dedicated to …..well, hmmmm.
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I must admit, this song resonates with me very much. It’s now my go to place to calm myself after reading some of the ridiculous comments here.
It’s zen like.
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I know the feeling.
By the time I knew who The Clash were, they had gone way beyond punk. I started with Combat Rock and worked my way backward. That and stuff they were doing around the time they released Sandinista and London Calling – that was it. Would have loved to have seen them gig. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong age. Thankfully we have YouTube:
London Calling was a big leap forward for them; Sandinista was a fucking achievement. Took a while for me to warm to it fully, but it was a singular expression, from the songs to the production to the album art. Nothing like it.
RIP Joe Strummer.
To the Pond,
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There are days…I will say that when I made a tentative comeback after what amounted to a months long absence, the place was barely recognizable. Somehow managed to go from someone who’d get “hippie punched” to a “neoliberal sellout” without changing one iota of my beliefs – merely tactics. Fascinating.
It’s certainly enlightening.
I wish I knew why he puts up with it. Maybe he gets a check from every other site for giving the deplorables a place to play?
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Booman has enormous patience. Certainly more patience than I have. When this blog first began, I think he actually had not only trusted users but a few who essentially served as mods. That probably kept things a bit less crazy. Not to say there weren’t some dustups. Booman was also a bit more willing to ban users who appeared to be around only to create a scene. In hindsight most of those were well deserved, and I suspect I owe Boo an apology for being overly critical (actually I got downright mean for a bit) at the time. Amazing how time gives one perspective.
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Hey Don,
We talked about the Salander books, but have you seen the Swedish movies?
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Yep. The eldest of my offspring recommended them. Enjoyed them tremendously. Saw both the theatre length versions of each, and also the more extended version, that requires something like 12 hours of viewing. Well shot and acted. Made note of the ways that the timeline of the books was messed with, the missing characters, and so on. Then again, I suspect that was as much a function of budget as keeping the story as simple as possible and keep a viewing audience engaged. If you do get to that 4th book, let me know. Will be curious on your take on it.
I’m rewatching the 12 hour version as we comment. Netflix. Salander is returning from the Caiman Islands to buy her apartment.
Tried to reopen the fourth book, and the blurb about the NSA made me close it. I’m not in the mood.
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Yeah…the fourth will have a different pace to it, and a few new players. At some point I’ll get around to rereading that one. My initial impression, after being very ready to dislike it, was favorable. Too bad the original author died when he did. Would have loved to have seen what journeys he would have taken his characters on post-trilogy.
Just saw “American Graffiti” again for the first time in decades; it ages very well, and “The Great Pretender” was on the soundtrack. George Lucas got such nice, raw performances from a lot of the cast. Love this scene:
Candy Clark also gave a particularly nice performance in this movie.
Ages since I saw that film. Yeah, that is a great scene. Love the last line.
I’ll check in with my morning coffee before heading out for the day. May not get to comment much. Feel free to keep the cafe going. However you celebrate this particular holiday, make it a great one. After the year I’ve had, some much needed time with family is overdue. Take care of each other.
“Home For The Holidays” is one of my favorite movies. Raucously funny and emotionally resonant. It’s interesting that it hasn’t maintained a place in our culture; it gets a showing or two on television this time of year, but that’s about it. It deserves more.
The conclusion. It packs an emotional wallop:
Been mostly absent here. Happy turkey day to all. I’m baking now. Gotta go check on things.
Just good to see you around. Just got back from a very lovely visit. Appreciate the good vibes as always. Hope it was a good day for you. I’ll be curious as to the progress of your painting. I know…wait til Saturday. 🙂
I’m thinking of directions to take with the next few cafes. There is a band my eldest offspring turned me on to after also recommending that I binge Jessica Jones on Netflix (well worth it, by the way). The soundtrack to that series was fun anyway, but there is a song during a pivotal scene toward the end of Season One that is absolutely delicious – loud, almost metallic, and in a way almost works as an update and refinement of a band I liked a long time ago called Sacrilege. So anyway that might be on tap. A British friend of mine who shares some interests in electronic music turned me on to a subgenre known as minimal wave, and so I may do a blend of old-school (what I knew as simply techno pop or industrial at the time) and newer artists. There is some delightful contemporary music out there. The last few decades have been a great period to live in if one is a music buff.
I’ll be open to whatever you bring, and offer my own enthusiasms in kind. I like your taste.
I love each of these band members, individually and collectively. Glad they’re working together again.
I appreciate the props.
When I started this, it was merely a reaction to the loss of nearly all of the features that made this particular community blog a community blog. I have no delusions that these cafes can “bring the band back together” as it were. But maybe something new can grow, even if not in an especially hospitable environment.
When I think back to when I actually was doing the activist thing, yeah I remember some of what we accomplished and what we tried and failed to accomplish. But somehow I don’t really remember spending my time arguing over theoretical minutia and planning the next action. Much of our time was spent conversing over more mundane things – who’s playing or dj’ing at the nearby clubs, the latest album to come out, and so on. In the process, in hindsight, it is obvious that what really succeeded and really got built were human relationships, a few of which for me have been lifelong. So yeah, there is a bigger point to this exercise. It’s a point I might not be able to make weekly, but I’ll get as close to weekly as my sometimes chaotic life will permit, and one that I hope will catch on. We could use that about now. It’s worth a try, anyway. It’s the people that matter – the living, breathing human beings behind all the pixels and screen names.