kotaji 거타지

Things will remain quiet here for a while, although I’m posting some things with a historical flavour over at Frog in a Well. In the mean time, this is what the Secret Santa brought me this Christmas:

FM3

I saw Terry Callier at the Jazz Cafe last night (which by the way, is probably one of London’s best venues). I’ve been wanting to see him live for quite a while, but wasn’t really expecting any great revelations. I was wrong: in real life he has a presence. He is an absolutely mesmerizing singer. A man who can spin out his lyrics (which sometimes, admittedly, have an air of richest fromage) in a way that brings tears to the eyes of grown men (and perhaps even women too).

The tracks from his recent album Lookin’ Out were another revelation, rivalling his earlier classic tunes from the 60s and 70s. The lyrics to his cover of Dino Valenti’s ‘What About Me’ particularly burned their way into my mind:

I work in your factory.
I study in your schools.
I fill your penitentiaries.
And your military too!

And I feel the future trembling,
As the word is passed around.
“If you stand up for what you do believe,
Be prepared to be shot down.”

Oh…….oh What you gonna do about me?
Oh…….oh What you gonna do about me?

The Guardian has a nice interview with the man who was a computer programmer at Chicago University from 1983 until 1998, when they sacked him after finding out about his double life as a musician.

Keeping with the cultural theme… (back to politics tomorrow I think).

Just been listening properly to Tom Waits‘ new album ‘Real Gone’ and it’s absolutely blinding. Particularly the second track ‘Hoist that Rag’ which is a sort of demented, distorted salsa that’s barely listenable to. His ’singing’ sounds like one of those new-age therapy sessions where people go into the woods and do primal screams, except he sounds like he wants the world to end. It’s a theme song for Iraq. Sort of a cross between Buena Vista Social Club and Napalm Death. (Which is entirely appropriate considering the US army’s penchant for locking people up in Cuba or raining napalm on them from a great height.)