taintradio

Hurray for the Riff-Raff in concert Sat Feb 27 at Marsh Woodwinds

Posted by Dave Tilley on February 8, 2010 @ 3:08 am | Post a comment

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The Jazz Loft Project - book/website launch

Posted by Dave Tilley on December 5, 2009 @ 8:24 pm | Post a comment

Our friend in Durham at the Center For Documentary Studies, Sam Stephenson, has spent the last 13 years studying a collection of photographs and audio recordings made by the late W. Eugene Smith. These photos and recordings documented the goings on inside a building he owned in NYC at 821 Sixth Avenue from 1957 to 1965. Smith had placed pianos and other instruments in the building, outfitted it with cameras, a darkroom, and had wired the building from top to bottom with microphones so that he could record the proceedings. He opened his building up to jazz musicians and recorded Thelonious Monk, Zoot Sims, Paul Bley, Roy Haynes, Roland Kirk, Chick Corea, and hundreds of others in jam sessions, rehearsals, and casual conversations. He recorded Martin Luther King and President Kennedy giving speeches on radio and TV, Jason Robards reading F. Scott Fitzgerald’s essay “The Crack-Up,” and late-night callers to Long John Nebel’s radio show who claimed to have seen UFOs and been abducted by aliens. Smith also kept the tapes rolling when not much was happening. He recorded mysterious voices, people hiking up and down the stairs, taxis honking, and the Sixth Avenue bus chugging by every fifteen minutes.

During this time, Smtih shot over 1000 rolls of film (40,000 images) and recorded 1704 reels of tape. Sam Stephenson and his colleagues have been studying these recordings and photos for the last 13 years, tracking down who was on them, interviewing the musicians and onlookers present at the time in an attempt to fully catalog all of Smith’s photos and recordings.  With over 2/3 of this work now cataloged, it is incredibly exciting to see the launch of a book, website and radio series on The Jazz Loft Project. In early 2010, a traveling exhibition of photographs will go on display, beginning with a show at Lincoln Center - traveling around the country.

This week in Durham, the launch of the book and website was celebrated in a party at The West End Wine Bar, featuring a speech by Sam and music by former Jazz Loft resident Ronnie Free and his trio.  You can now purchase this lovely book at your local bookstore or order it online. It is an astounding collection of images and stories.  The website is simply amazing as well - you can view untold images and listen to recordings that few have even been aware of. Check it out: jazzloftproject.org Absolutely unreal.

Hats off to Sam and his colleagues. We’ve been waiting a long time for this moment.

Bruce Mack is a Master Selector

Posted by Dave Tilley on November 26, 2009 @ 2:58 am | Post a comment

DJ Dorrumi Naidoo aka our very own Bruce Mack (host of Free World Network Radio X) will be spinning the tunes in Orange, NJ next week — so, all you NY and NJ people get out and give him a listen and shake your moneymaker. Yah man!

Thurs. Night Prayer Meeting - 09/17/2009

Posted by Dave Tilley on September 17, 2009 @ 10:00 pm | Post a comment

The Bear Comes Home

Posted by Dave Tilley on August 21, 2009 @ 1:38 am | Post a comment

NPR just ran a story Thursday evening on some good books about music “that don’t have to be boring”. The tag line was amusing and caught my attention - it turns out that the books they picked included two of my favorites - Lester Bang’s “Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung” and Rafi Zabor’s “The Bear Comes Home”.

www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105898803

When Rafi is not busy turning out books about a saxophone-playing bear, he can be found here on taintradio, putting together exquisite shows of new music during his weekly show “Updoc”, which airs Friday nights at 8pm and Tues at noon. “The Bear Comes Home” is a very unusual book from a very unusual guy — our own Rafi Zabor — give him some love and check out his book sometime if you haven’t already. Highly recommended.

Music in my soul: the legacy and the lyrics - African American quilting group

Posted by Dave Tilley on August 17, 2009 @ 2:24 pm | Post a comment

There is a wonderful exhibit of quilts at the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham, called “Music in my soul: the legacy and they lyrics”. This exhibit features a collection of quilts created by a local group of African-American quilters. This particular group was co-founded by our very own Jereann King, co-host of Ungerground Railroad Love. So, stop by if you’re in the area and check out these fantastic quilts.

www.hayti.org/music-in-my-soul-the-legacy-and-the-lyrics/

Thurs. Night Prayer Meeting - 08/13/2009

Posted by Dave Tilley on August 13, 2009 @ 12:00 am | Post a comment

Thurs. Night Prayer Meeting - 07/30/2009

Posted by Dave Tilley on July 30, 2009 @ 12:00 am | Post a comment

You can now follow taintradio on Twitter

Posted by Dave Tilley on July 10, 2009 @ 12:57 am | Post a comment

You can now follow taintradio on Twitter.com — we’ll post occasional messages mentioning what is new and grabbing us at the moment or about what we’re hearing on-air that’s just knocking us out. Check it out @taintradio or simply click here:

Sun-Ra Exhibit to visit Durham, NC this Fall

Posted by Dave Tilley on June 2, 2009 @ 11:24 pm | Post a comment

From the Herald-Sun newspaper in Durham, NC — very exciting news for us Sun-Ra fans!

Eclectic Sun Ra exhibit on its way — By Cliff Bellamy : The Herald-Sun

DURHAM — He was born in 1914 as Herman Blount, and music history books credit him as a composer, bandleader and keyboard player. He was equal parts showman, mystic and philosopher, and hence most music listeners know him by his more common name Sun Ra. From the 1950s up until his death in 1993, Sun Ra and his band Arkestra helped to define the experimental, avant-garde styles of jazz.

This fall, the Durham Art Guild Inc., in partnership with the John Hope Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary and International Studies at Duke University, will present “Pathways to Unknown Worlds: Sun Ra, El Saturn and Chicago’s Afro-Futurist Underground 1954-1968″ from Aug. 21 through Oct. 18. The traveling exhibit is part of the Alton Abraham collection of Sun Ra papers at the jazz archive of the University of Chicago Library.

Sun Ra played with Fletcher Henderson’s orchestra in the 1940s, and later moved to Chicago, where he formed the Arkestra. He produced a huge body of recordings over the years, and performed the music for a short film titled “The Cry of Jazz.”

He worked outside the traditional music business, forming his own label, and was as much entrepreneur as artist, said Jennifer Collins-Mancour, director of the Durham Art Guild. “He kind of niched a market for himself,” Collins-Mancour said. “I see a comparison with [Durham's] Black Wall Street.”

Sun Ra, who claimed throughout his life that he was from Saturn, also practiced vegetarianism and macrobiotic eating long before they were widely know, she said. The exhibit includes his artwork, instruments he played, and lectures he gave. “It’s a wide range of ephemera,” Collins-Mancour said.

The exhibit also will include his original drawings for the mid-1960s albums “Art Forms of Dimensions of Tomorrow” and “Other Planes of There.” The exhibit also will include original artwork for other LPs. These consist not only of the sketches and final versions of the art, but also all steps along the way to printing the covers. They are from Ra’s tenure in Chicago, especially during mid-’50s, with his business partner and fellow mystic Abraham.

Other events related to the exhibit are planned for the fall. Other presenters will include Duke Performances and at the John Hope Franklin Center.

A pre-show Spectacle will be held Aug. 8 with an “Intergalactic Costume Creation.” The Spectacle of music, chants and “alter-ego” costumes will proceed from Durham Central Park through the streets of downtown Durham, ending at the Durham Art Guild gallery and Durham Arts Council building at 120 Morris St.

A pre-opening fundraising event will be held Aug. 20. The evening will begin at the Art Guild gallery with a wine reception and screening of the documentary “Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise,” by Robert Mugge. Dinner will follow at Revolution, Rue Cler and Piedmont restaurants. The Durham Art Guild will host the public opening reception in conjunction with Durham’s Third Friday Events on Aug. 21 from 5 to 7 pm.

September events include “Sun Ra Inspired: A Jam Session” following Centerfest on Sept. 19, showcasing tribute performances from local artists and a public showing of Mugge’s Sun Ra film at the PSI Theatre at the Durham Arts Council. On Sept. 26, The Mingus Big Band and the Arkestra will be in concert at Page Auditorium, as a part of Duke Performances programming.

Throughout the fall semester, there will also be a series of panel discussions and artist visits at the John Hope Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary and International Studies.

For information on the exhibit and related events, visit www.durhamartguild.org or call 560-2713.