Song of the Day # 4,108 Alan Sparhawk
1 hour ago
Wednesday, 14 October 2015
Tuesday, 13 October 2015
J.G. Ballard: The Concordance
Ballard has always experimented with the form of his fictions; fiction as book index, as questionnaire, as psychiatric report. This concordance of Ballard's works is part of a project to 'decode' the work using some of Ballard's own techniques — as he says:
'...the open-ended character of my fiction requires the reader himself to make a significant contribution. I'm offering a kit with which the reader, using my books as a sort of instructional manual (fit nozzle A into socket B, and you'll hear a loud whirring noise, which is the cosmos getting through to him).'The concordance is based on all the material in Ballard's published novels, his non-fiction works; A User's Guide to the Millennium and his autobiography Miracles of Life. Also included is all the material in the one-volume Complete Short Stories (Flamingo 2001), the stories from The Atrocity Exhibition (Re/Search 1990), and various uncollected pieces, such as Neil Armstrong Remembers His Journey to the Moon
HERE
Monday, 12 October 2015
You've Got A Friend: The Carole King Story
Documentary telling, in her own words, the story of Carole King's upbringing in Brooklyn and the subsequent success that she had as half of husband-and-wife songwriting team Goffin and King for Aldon Music on Broadway.
It was during this era in the early 1960s that they created a string of pop hits such as Take Good Care of My Baby for Bobby Vee, The Locomotion for Little Eva and Will You Love Me Tomorrow for the Shirelles, which became the first number one hit by a black American girl group. They also wrote the era-defining Up on the Roof for the Drifters and the magnificent Natural Woman for Aretha Franklin.
By 1970, Carole was divorced from songwriting partner Gerry Goffin and had moved to Los Angeles. It was here that she created her classic solo album Tapestry, packed with delightful tunes but also, for the first time, her own lyrics, very much sung from the heart. The album included It's Too Late, I Feel the Earth Move and You've Got a Friend and held the record for the most weeks at number one for nearly 20 years. It became a trusted part of everyone's record collection and has sold over 25 million copies to date.
The film features some wonderful unseen material and home movies, and narrates her life as an acclaimed singer-songwriter. To date, more than 400 of her compositions have been recorded by over 1,000 artists, resulting in 100 hit singles.
More recently, Carole was the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Gershwin Prize for Popular Song by the Library of Congress for her songwriting in 2013, and the 2014 Broadway production Beautiful (which tells her life story during the Goffin and King era) has received rave reviews.
Nowadays Carole King would see herself as an environmental activist as much as a songwriter, and she is to be found constantly lobbying congress in defence of the wildlife and ecosystems of her beloved Idaho.
Steve Mackay R.I.P.
Steve was a classic '60s American guy, full of generosity and love for anyone he met. Every time he put his sax to his lips and honked, he lightened my road and brightened the whole world. He was a credit to his group and his generation. To know him was to love him.- Iggy Pop
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