La Belle Dame Sans Merci (1921) by George Barbier.
• “Organic Music Theatre goes beyond jazz into something else entirely—an ecstatic, openhearted melding of cultures. It is the first live recording of Don and Moki’s ‘organic music’ concept, a holistic blend of the arts and education. It is an album that everyone should own, an absolute marvel.” Geeta Dayal on Don and Moki Cherry’s Organic Music Theatre: Festival de jazz de Chateauvallon 1972.
• DJ Food continues his dig into the history of London’s Middle Earth venue with an account of a Magical Mystery Tour that ended up being more mystery than magic.
• The Lamp Magazine is running a Christmas Ghost Story contest with a first prize of publication in the Christmas issue of the magazine, plus $1000.
• Dennis Cooper‘s favourite fiction, poetry, non-fiction, film, art, and internet of 2021 so far. Thanks again for the link here!
• From sport to sex: Louis Staples on how the jockstrap became part of gay culture.
• At Wormwoodiana: Mark Valentine on the weird fiction of AE Coppard.
• “How vinyl records are trying to go green.” Trying…
• Mix of the week: XLR8R Podcast 701 by 40 Winks.
• New music: Rushes Recede by Sarah Davachi.
• Lisa Gerrard‘s favourite music.
• RIP Peter Zinovieff.
• Organic (1982) by Philip Glass | Core (Organic) (1995) by Main | Organic Mango (1996) by HAT
RIP Peter Zinovieff, a true pioneer. I hope the recent re-evaluation of his artistic work as a composer in his own right (and librettist) helped temper the neglect he seemed to suffer once EMS folded in the 1980s. He always seemed – maybe rightly – annoyed that the synthesisers over shadowed everything else he achieved. Reading the tributes he sounded like a man you’d really liked to have known in real life.
It also sadly seems we’ve lost another path finder and light bringer – there’s a note from the fundraiser for Jon Hassell saying Jon passed away yesterday.
Grim times.
I confess I knew Zinovieff mainly for the EMS although I’m sure I must have seen his name in other contexts as well.
The Jon Hassell news was confirmed by the Ndeya Twitter account, unfortunately. There’s an obit here which was the first I knew of it when I woke up today:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jun/27/jon-hassell-avant-garde-us-composer-dies-aged-84