Benefit for HIAS at Village Tavern in Pittsburgh

unexpected loss of our friend Lief has me sharing this musical moment with Lief and his friend the immortal Richie Cole. with Lief

Two-Headed Doctor: Listening For Ghosts in Dr. Johns Gris-Gris by David Toop
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was my first encounter with David Toop, who is thorough and comprehensive in wondering how other-worldly effects derive from cramped rooms infused with reverb, recorded in multiple tracks, and processed into stereo channels. He analyzes each track of the Dr. John album, and all the players, and all their history, with impeccable scholarship and wild interpretations, all of which wrench more than the most careful of listeners might expect from the album and from Mac Rebennack's musical journey.
He depicts writer/producer/arranger Harold Battiste as a primary influence on both Rebennack and Sonny Bono, who was not shy about copping credit for Battiste's work. He casts light on the nature of creative partnerships, their ups and downs.
His arguments of appropriation as both a sacrament and a ruse really beef up the whole. Set mostly in LA and New Orleans, the retellings of events surrounding 3 Rebennack albums bear up well to support his purposes. And the essential mystery that motivated his exploring of this topic is never too far away. If you can hear a world you can be in it, even if for a moment.

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Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's as good as everybody says, and the author is phenomenally skilled at keeping attention riveted on characters who flaunt their ordinariness in the regionalist way that Mainers are known for. Their traits mirror traits of all humanity, at least in prosperous Western civilization terms. I'm just curious if anyone else felt that Strout might be tiring of these people. How the Burgess boys deal with their past, and how love is distributed around like plates of cookies. I kind of got the impression of what a National Lampoon parody of Trout might be like, when parodies were gentle but pointed.

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