Gil Scott-Heron dead at a high-mileage 62
May 30th, 2011
Gil Scott Heron died at 62, the end of a tortured and torturous life, he was one of the few speaking out, standing up…
On Gil Scott-Heron, prelude to a performance at the Dakota last year, and “Gil,” warns his road manager, Danielle Beckom, “is not good with schedules.”
From City Pages:
By Rick Mason Wednesday, Mar 24 2010
Often called the Godfather of Rap these days, Gil Scott-Heron in fact emerged as a fiercely eloquent voice from the urban wilderness in the early 1970s, mercilessly skewering political and social forces that had disenfranchised huge swaths of the population and were leading the world down a treacherous path. A writer first and an admirer of Langston Hughes, Scott-Heron eventually fused his own poetry with a potent dose of jazz laced with blues and R&B, railing against complacent media, an oblivious mainstream America, runaway consumerism, racism, venal politicians, and drug abuse. Pieces like “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” “Winter in America,” “Johannesburg,” and “Home Is Where the Hatred Is” hit like lightning bolts, both electrifying and enlightening. The rise of hip hop was clearly indebted to Scott-Heron, who has been sampled and referenced by the likes of Kanye West and Common. Silent for a decade and a half—during which he reportedly battled health, addiction, financial, and legal problems—Scott-Heron, 60, recently re-emerged with I’m New Here, a stark, riveting portrait of the artist as weathered scribe, more personally analytical than of the wayward world that once drew his searing scrutiny. In place of jazz is hard-edged post-industrial blues laced with ragged beats as he covers Robert Johnson’s “Me and the Devil,” Bobby Blue Bland’s “I’ll Take Care of You,” and Smog, in the title track’s tale of arid alienation. It’s like hearing a voice from the other side of the apocalypse, but unmistakably that of a survivor.
South Africa, U.S. tunes from way back, became the theme today for me as I listened to Gil Scott-Heron, I’d seen him decades ago… a riveting show… the Guthrie, early 80s??? He was a staple in our album collection at KFAI. In Paul Hipp’s Bachmann McCarthy Overdrive “What’s the word? TINKLENBERG!” seemed like a good riff off of Scott-Heron’s Jo’burg. In the CapX 2020 Hampton-LaCrosse docket there’s a conslutant from Biko Associates, which reminds me of that era, everytime I look at his testimony, my tape loop starts.
Here’s Gil doing Johannesburg:
And another earlier version, 1976:
… and speaking of Jo’burg, then there’s the Biko song that keeps going through my brain whenever I read William P. Smith’s testimony in the Hampton-LaCrosse case — what’s his tie?
“People must not just give in to the hardship of life. People must develop a hope. People must develop some form of security to be together to look at their problems, and people must, in this way, build up their community.”
-Stephen Bantu Biko
So on that theme, Peter Gabriel on one of the Amnesty International tours, best version I could find:
Today - ON WISCONSIN!
February 26th, 2011
100,000 today fiercely standing up in a gentle snow!
From One Wisconsin:
And another claiming 120,000 strong:
Northfield flood and clean-up
September 26th, 2010
Hot off the press… er… just in on the wire… errrr, wireless!
northfield.org has a great overview!
Cannon River flood news roundups and updates
And the missive hot off the press?
Cleanup is ongoing in Northfield today
Looking Forward: Volunteers Needed!
If you are willing to be called on to help with the clean up effort in the next 2 to 4 weeks, please register to help at http://northfield.org/flood . You will be contacted to help out as needed.
Check this out, I’ve not seen this before in any of the million photos of flood sandbagging, look at this utterly brilliant ladder and cone sandbag technique– only in Northfield (photos stolen from Griff - Fair Use and Full Attribution!!!):
Eric Eichorn & Eichorn Installation haven’t gotten the job done!
September 2nd, 2010
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Update #2 - Nope, he didn’t finish the job. So we did. Next on the agenda is to let Menards know he didn’t follow through.
Update - got a call from him in response to our call #3, or maybe it was the facebook missive, and he said he’d have it hauled away today, Thursday. There’s 47 minutes left of Thursday, but something tells me he’s not following through again…
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On Monday, we had Eric Eichorn (Eichorn Installation, LLC, P.O. Box 562, Red Wing, MN 55066) remove the old awful floor in the kitchen, and put in a nice new one. He did a great job. Except when it was done, and there was a pile o’ crap on the deck, and he was packing up to go, I pointed at the pile and said, “That’s going too?” and he said removal wasn’t covered in the estimate. When setting it up, I’d left a message asking for verification that removal was included, and then forgot about it… grrrrrrrrr… so we agreed that I’d pay an extra $20 and he’d remove it, and he committed to bring his trailer the next morning and take it away. That was Monday. That was three days ago…
Here’s the side yard now, THURSDAY! It’s still there! Now it’s a wet mess. Alan left a message Wednesday morning (651-301-3029) after it didn’t disappear Tuesday, I left a message on Wednesday afternoon, and I’ve left a message this morning. He’s not returning calls, he’s not taking the crap as promised and as paid to do.
I’ll take this down when he takes the pile o’ crap!
It’s the end of an era…
April 25th, 2010
That’s my “Kelly Truck” on a Sunday night after a wash, and some dilled potatoes for me, at the Magic Wand in Vegas.
I’ve just cleaned out the closet under the stairs and put my truck stuff up on freecycle… sniff… sob… it’s the end of an era, but it’s time to admit that I’m probably not going back to driving a truck. I still go nuts every Friday at sunset, and it’s hard to drive with ameteurs. My life in two places and work all over the country sort of satisfies that road jones but… but… trucking? It’s done…
ZU ENDE!!! FINE!!!
