TONIGHT LET'S ALL MAKE LOVE
IN LONDON AS IF IT WERE THE
YEAR TWO THOUSAND AND
ONE.' - ALLEN GINSBERG. 1967
Well, did'ja? Did any of the
predictions for 2001 come true?
Other than my prediction from last
year's PoOp that 'It'll all end in
tears' and that Bush would have us all
in concentration camps, et cetera.
Life has resumed, PoOp is back in
bloom, and the horrors of Sept. 11
are behind us now. Are they? At
first I was unsure of whether to
continue with PoOp, but then I
decided that yes, I'll go with it, and
to give my friend who died in
Windows On The World a virtual vote
in my PoOp list by putting his
favorite, Bob Dylan, on it.
I had two faverave gigs this year, and
rather than squaring them off
against each other, I thought it best
to create two separate awards
FAVORITE DANCE OF THE YEAR
IABAS. the Hudson Valley's own
Brazilian powerhouse band, presided
over a stamping dance party at New
World Home Cooking on August 30.
They also appeared several times at
the Bardavon. These ladies are ready
for the big time!
FAVORITE CONCERT OF THE YEAR
Anonymous 4> which also has roots in
the Hudson Valley (in Piermont), was
a group who I hadn't really noticed
before, although I had listened to
some of their Medieval and
Renaissance song cycles. But they
sounded breath-takingly powerful and
clear at their August 17 concert at
5t. Gregory's Church (right down the
road from New World - this stretch
of road had some good karma in
August!) John Cale should be
producing these ladies, instead of
wasting his time with the Medieval
Babes.
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SOME OTHER IRIE BASHMENTS:
Mostly it's the same folks who keep
keepin' on and bringing on the good
times. So here's a word up to Ari
Up, The Holy Modal Rounders and
The Du-Tels, Gary Lucas, Jeb Loy
Nichols, Kid Creole and The
Coconuts, and Mike Seeger for
putting on good shows this year. And
Rhino in NewPaltz must be given
props for the fine Freedy Johnson
set in the store in August. Loved
the cover of 'Love Goes Where My
Rosemary 6oes".
Transg1obal Underground had a good
portion of the audience dancing in
their seats at their Prospect Park gig
in July. I got to see Adrian
Sherwood remix a TGU track in his
studio when I visited London this
summer (...but it hasn't been released
yet).
Special respect to Battlefield Band
who stopped by the Town Crier in
December, and filled the night with
rockin' bagpipe jams all night long;
and to Michael Hurley and The
Chabs (not the Chads...) who put on a
chuggin' folk boogie show at the
Colabergh Lodge in Croton-Harmon,
including a special tribute to Juice
Newton!
Also I note the passing of some
venues this past year - Flying Saucer
in Kingston, Wetlands in NYC, and the
World Trade Center plaza, which
used to host some of the best gigs
(and they were free, too!). This
summer alone I caught Mitch Ryder
and The Box Tops (Alex Chilton still
on his best behavior!)
ON THE RADIO:
As usual Vassar's WVKR, 91.3, is
still the best in the valley, and shout-
outs must go to Geet Mala with
Padma (now on cable TV, too!), to the
Polka shows with Mike and Terry and
with John Sogan, and to my favorite,
reggaespectrum.com with Dexy B and
Supa T for the best in reggae and
rocksteady! The Fancy Broccoli
show is pretty cool too.
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BOOKS REPORT (music books only)
Not really taken by many music books
this year - slim pickin's. I'll note that
The Da Capo Best Music Writing
2001 book edited by Nick Hornby
contains "The Rock Snob's Dictionary",
which all PoOpers should
getta kick outta.
Worth checking is Lloyd Bradley's
Bass Culture - When Reggae Was
King, which kind of fills in the
background for those who got a kick
outta last year's Dave Katz book on
Lee Perry. Unless you like academic
analysis of textual, semiotic levels of
influences. I'd avoid Norman C.
Stuizoff's book, Wake the Town and
Tell the People - Dancehall Culture
in Jamaica. The Katz and Bradley
books are much better.
BRISTOL STOMP
One used book that I got a big kick
out of was Phil Johnson's Straight
Outa Bristol - Massive Attack,
Portishead, Tricky and the Roots of
Trip-Hop (Scepter l997, found in
London). As I started to read it, I
decided to accompany the reading
with the actual sounds in question, so
I pulled all of my old Pop Group and
Glaxo Babies and Rip Rig & Panic and
Maximum Joy and Pigbag and Mark
Stewart and Gary Clail records off
the shelf, plus the Smith & Mighty
and Roni Size drum'n'bass stuff that
I had never taken a liking to, not to
mention the musicians mentioned in
the title, and, by golly, when I was
done I found that I finally "got"
drum'n'bass, which you woulda
thought I'da got ages ago since I like
On-U and trip-hop and so forth. So
now I listen to all of the latest Ninja
Tune and Dope on Plastic stuff and
I'm hip to it, so don't write me off
(yet).
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