R. Kelly has revealed to the press that he “suffers from illiteracy.”

Here is his quote: “When I was trying to make it out here, I already knew, and I was stubborn about it,” he says. “I don’t even read really and I’m not afraid to say that. My cousins and brothers used to tease me ‘you can’t even read right. How you think you’re going to come up?’ The only reason I graduated from grammar school is because I had a great jump shot. I went to high school and [my teacher] told me ‘you will one of the greatest writers of all time.’ I believed. You [have to] believe it. You can’t believe [anything] if you’re hating. You can’t achieve [anything] if you’re hating.”

I bet, given R. Kelly’s schedule, there really isn’t time to practice reading. It’s probably way harder to learn how to read as an adult than as a kid. I guess he probably has people in his life who can read stuff for him, but still.

What I don’t understand, and maybe someone can explain, is what the difference is between suffering from illiteracy and being illiterate. Like, if you suffer from illiteracy, does that mean that learning to read is exceptionally hard?

It is already too hot out. Here’s some good advice from Holger Czukay, a founding member of Can.

This beautiful remix/cover of “Chemirocha”, performed live by kría brekkan on east village radio, brought back fond memories of my first hearing the original version of the song on Pat Conte’s “Secret Museum of the Air” radio show on WFMU many years back.

The original version of “Chemirocha” is performed by Chemutoi Ketienya & girls from her tribe, the Kipsigis of Kenya. It is a tribute to The “Singing Brakeman”, ’30s country singer Jimmie Rogers. Jimmie Rogers was worshiped as a demi-god by the Kipsigi tribe, who heard his singing on old some old 78’s. According to the liner notes of the compilation “Kenyan Songs and Strings:”

“Rodgers’ records were the first to be heard in this part of Kenya and the name came to mean anything strange or new. The similarity of his guitar sound to the local lyre meant that a whole legend grew around him: he was supposedly a friend of a local musician and also a faun similar to the god Pan, half man and half antelope.”
The EVR youtube posting adds that “young Kipsigi maidens are alleged to dance their most seductive dances and beg him to join them.” Here is the song:

[audio:Chemirocha.mp3]

Ever since the demise of The Tourettes (Joanna’s girl-band brainchild and the best extracurricular experience in college by far) I have wanted to start a conceptual band. If conceptual art is a whole genre with entire PhD dissertations written on it, there should at least be a little more conceptual music.

Obviously the first step is to blog a lot about what the band will be like. So here we go. The band is essentially made of Speak, Peppery members.

The confirmed lineup so far is:
Marian: drums, dancing
Sam: vocals, banjo, violin, electric guitar
Dawn: keyboard, vocals, erhu, bass

Any one else in Speak Peppery is welcome to join.

Conceptual gestures to during performances:
— One song will have us singing while roasting meat on a stick (performed)
– Dawn will sing with an Emmy Lou Harris accent. This is to comment on the fact that many white people try to sing like black people and no one thinks it’s weird. Will anyone notice if an asiatic person sings like a southerner?
– Sam will sing in Chinese.
– Oh and a vocoder.
– Oh and an erhu.
– Marian will play the marimba
– There will be a song about our love for big business
– Every conceptual gesture will devolve cacophonously into just plain rocking out.

Doesn’t this band sound great? Our next three practices will be over group email.

for those of you somehow unable to attend my solo fiddle recital at the pure horsehair-curated music evening at zebulon last night, here is a recording:

solo fiddle at zebulon

bruce greene is one of my heros. he recorded a vast amount of fiddle tunes played by ancient fiddlers in the eastern kentucky mountains in the ’70s, they were very old then (many had learned their tunes as teenagers from ex-slaves and confederate veterans), and are all gone now. until very recently, the only way to hear the music he recorded was to go hang out at his house in the hills north of asheville, something many of us at speak, peppery have done.

but now there is the digital library of appalachia, which is an online archive of mp3s including bruce’s entire collection (mixed in with a bunch of other similar collections). the fiddle playing will freak u out. there’s no single page isolating bruce’s findings from the rest, but a good place to start is this page on one of his weirdest and most wonderful discoveries, hiram stamper (click on the picture to go there):

and you can go here and do a keyword search for “bruce greene” for his other recordings.

the wfmu blog is a gift from god. where else can you hear brian wilson’s 1989 rap single, “smart girls”?

1. Shop Assistants - I Don’t Wanna Be Friends With You, b-side: Looking Back & All Day Long (Slow Version)

2. The Jesus Lizard/Nirvana Split 7″ - The Jesus Lizard: Puss, Nirvana: Oh, The Guilt

3. Depeche Mode - See You, b-side: Now, This Is Fun

4. The Adverts - Gary Gilmore’s Eyes, b-side: Bored Teenagers

5. Empire - Hot Seat, b-side: All These Things

6. Ramones - Leave Home (Original Pressing with “Carbona Not Glue”)

7. The Embarrassment - Death Travels West

8. Various Artists - The Troublemakers

9. Mission Of Burma - Signals, Calls, And Marches

10. Holly And The Italians - The Right To Be Italian

11. Paul And Linda McCartney - Ram

12. Buckingham Nicks

13. Richard And Linda Thompson - I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight

now that we have reached the end of 2007 and are looking forward to be
what promises to be a tumultuous and emotional 2008, it is time to
look back and reflect. what were the top 10 movies, cds, and other
things? that is the important question.
2007- the year in review. by sam

top 10 albums
1. r. kelly - double up
2. dirty projectors - rise above
3. lil wayne - whatever last 50 tracks you downloaded off of limewire, & wu-tang clan, 8 diagrams
4. charles burnett, killer of sheep and woodie guthrie, live wire
5. memorize the sky, memorize the sky & eye contact, war rug
7. dougie bowne, guitar music (unreleased)
8. eyvind kang, athlantis
9. the national, boxer and cocorosie, the adventures of ghosthorse and stillborn
10. joni mitchell, shine and bryan ferry, dylanesque
albums i’m on
samamidon, but this chicken proved falsehearted
doveman, with my left hand i raise the dead
mary alice amidon, keys to the kingdom
stars like fleas, ken burns effect

top 10 movies
1. black book, verhoeven
2. killer of sheep, burnett
3. lust, caution, ang lee
4. michael jordan 5-dvd box set with five complete games, jordan
5. ratatouille, pixar
6. private fears in public places, resnais
7. superbad
8. darjeeling limited
9. steve martin, born standing up & buster keaton: interviews
10. the new sidney lumet film that comes out tomorrow

best movies i saw that i had never seen before: l.a. story, caddyshack, pandora’s box.

we’re blogging live from the national’s tourbus as we drive from buffalo (BUFFALO!!!) to northampton.

this photograph accurately represents my feelings about the new album by the band “radiohead.” this album, “in rainbows,” is the most rhythmically complex album ever. there is no such thing as drumming.

okay, so you can see what i’m dealing with, huh? a bus full of stoned people. at 3:40 in the morning. listening to “in rainbows.” which is weak. totally fucking weak. worse than “hail to the thief”, even. brittle, contrived, and most of all, COLD. i’m bored. at least i’m also drunk
also: drumming exists