[Landline] Getting on the good foot, and staying there as much as possible
Jane Wodening, Ed Sanders, John Balance, Dr. John, Sly Stone, Lord Buckley and more
Hello friends,
Sorry for the tardiness of this Landline—I was writing and rewriting something and it just kept headed towards dismalism and that’s not what I’m really in the mood to share right now.
So, starting from scratch, I’m instead just gonna very quickly, loosely list off some stuff that’s been popping through lately that might be of use/interest/amusement…
1. CHILD OF WODEN
I’ve been reading, and listening to, the late Jane Wodening, who was spotlit in a previous Landline. Amazing, brilliant, brave, wise woman who, having raised five kids and gone through a painful divorce from Stan Brakhage, went it alone at age 50, driving around the country for three years, living out of her 1979 Honda Civic. Her memoir of that period is called Driveabout. Love this Wodening quote from that book’s back cover:
Words to live by, right?
I’m told that the place to order Wodening’s books in paper form now is exclusively JaneWodening.com. Sockwood.com has several ebooks and the audiobook of Living Up There, Wodening’s absolutely mesmerizing memoir of living for ten years as a hermit in a converted storage shack high up in the Colorado Rockies. Get it!
2. WE HAD A CULTURE THEN
I just became aware of Ed Sanders’ recording of his poem "Yiddish-Speaking Socialists Of The Lower East Side" (1991). This was reissued on vinyl in 2015, with artwork by the great and somewhat mysterious Gwénola Carrère (below), and is also available on bandcamp.
From a description on the bandcamp page (sounds like Sanders writing here, but can’t be sure):
“Yiddish-Speaking Socialists of the Lower East Side” by Ed Sanders (b. 1939, founder of the mythical Fugs in 1964; also writer, publisher, activist, etc.) is an epic piece of almost 18 minutes’ length, a vocal setting of a dense and reasoned text that runs to 8 typed pages, 1400 words, 8500 characters. First issued on cassette in 1991 by the label Hyperaction P.C.C., the piece recalls an almost fifty-year history of Jewish militancy in New York by poetic means – combining historical scholarship, emotion and clarity the echoes of the past found in the present: of the pogroms and escape from Eastern Europe in the 1880s up to the death of Meyer London, the Socialist member of Congress, in 1926 (not overlooking exile, the crossing of the Atlantic, arrival at Ellis Island, back-breaking work in the sweatshops, the creation of political parties and trade unions, the outbreak of the First World War – the rupture in the narrative caused by this is marked here by the passage from the A-side to the B-side of the record). …
For this recording (solo… and mono) of “Yiddish-Speaking Socialists of the Lower East Side”, Ed Sanders accompanies himself on a “pulse lyre”, a small, finger-operated synthesizer which he invented himself in order to accompany the declamation of his texts in the manner of the acoustic lyre used by the ancient poets (Sanders studied Greek at university)…
Ed’s singing (and synth playing) is not going to be for everyone, but you gotta respect him following through on his idiosyncratic vision. Fantastic!
3. BRING THAT BLAKE SHIRT BACK!
A great slogan from an out-of-stock shirt.
From Julian Cope’s website:
“Why Be Bleak When You Could Be Blake?” So concluded Coil’s John Balance in a 1996 letter to the Archdrude [Julian Cope]. In honour of William Blake’s 250th anniversary, Head Heritage is proud to offer this iconic and Utopian call-to-arms. Available printed in white on a high quality black t-shirt. Out of stock
4. DREAM BOOK
Almost fell out of my chair when I came across this yesterday: a 300-page book by the great David Toop (blog site, wikipedia) forthcoming via Strange Attractor Press! From the publisher’s description:
Two-Headed Doctor is a forensic investigation into a single LP: Dr. John, the night tripper’s Gris-gris. … The story details in discursive style the historical context of the music, how it came together, its literary sources, production and arrangements, and the nature of the recording studio as dream state, but also examines as a disturbing undercurrent the volatile issue of race in twentieth-century music, the way in which it doomed relationships and ambitious projects, exploited great talents, and distorted the cultural landscape….
Good gawd, talk about the perfect match of subject and investigator. Not sure on publication date; pre-orders will be available soon — pay attention to the SA website and put the book in yer budget!
(UPDATE: USA paperback edition will be out July 9, 2024. Pre-order here: MIT Press)
5. THE NOBLEST WIG BENDERS OF THEM ALL
Speaking of the volatile issue of race in twentieth century culture… I happened to randomly (or perhaps not-so-randomly, who knows) come across this video on Friday: Sly and the Family Stone appearing on Midnight Special on October 26, 1973. Some portions of this show have circulated for years on tv and youtube, but I’d never seen the astonishing opening before1…
Sly starts the show, alone, in his most charismatic mode, doing a recital of a portion of Lord Buckley's “The Nazz”... before going into the final funk part of ‘Stand,’ then walking through the crowd, in his silver spangled heels, to the other stage to join his 11-piece band... and start the song over from a hushed beginning.2
Watch it from the beginning:
This is not the first (or last) time that Sly would go into parts of Buckley’s “The Nazz” rap; he did it regularly on his ‘60s radio show, on Dick Cavett’s show in 1971, on a late P-Funk tune. Somebody (not me) could write a long piece, maybe even a short book3, on The Nazz, Lord Buckley and Sly Stone4. On appropriation and re-appropriation; counter-appropriation, even! On slang and hipness, on church and stage, on religion and pop shamanism, on the message and the Message, on the rhythm and the language and the sweet swinging sphere. On digging each other. On the joy of Buckley, and the joy of Sly, too.
Be back atcha sooner than later,
Jay Babcock
Arizona
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Or the performance by Little Sister, a gospel trio featuring Sly’s younger sister who operated as a Family Stone spinoff group for a brief period.
The band, and the mix, isn't so hot but whatever.
Come on you writers! David Toop can’t do everything!
Until then, there is this essential 2003 piece from (to tie this Landline all together) Julian Cope: a review of “Lord Buckley in Concert” (1958)
Dr JOhn book orderable here in the states via the US publisher
https://mitpress.mit.edu/9781913689605/two-headed-doctor/