Obituary: James Brown

Coldblooded by James Brown, from the semilegendary album Hell.

Live long in our hearts, Brother Rapp.

Track 21: Silent Night/Thanks

Silent Night by Phil Spector/various.

We'd like to ask a truly great music producer to thank you on our behalf. I think Phil expresses our sentiments at your kind listening much better than we could.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to All!

Track 20: Run of the Mill

Run of the Mill by George Harrison.

This is a track that's been coursing through my head and stereo for months now. It is a perfect expression of George Harrison's lyric and melodic sensibilities; much more so, in my opinion, than his Beatles-era experimentations (a few of which can be heard in the Inner Light/Here Comes the Sun track posted EARLIER).

This song is simple and majestic, in Harrison's quintessial style. To me, it's about telling your loved ones what you feel about them, but also about telling the world what it needs to know about those things beloved to you that have no voice of their own. The sentiment of this song is as simple as its melody, and as complex as its syncopated phrasing.

Om shanti.
Photograph by Richard Avedon.

Interlude: The Wish

The Wish by Shakti.

Alapana, Raga, Tanam, and Pallavi in Raga Keeravani, Desh Tala.

Warning: This is a long-ish piece (18 minutes plus), so download time will be extensive. By the standards of pieces in this oeuvre, however, it's relatively short.

Mayur: Dedicated to my Wizard of Oz giftgivers: My mother, who gave me a heart; my father, who gave me a brain; and Kate, who gives me courage.

Track 19: Fortunate Son

Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

This track is from a live performance in Tucson in 1970, when things were not so different for some of our young people than they are now.

Dedicated to Jim Webb and his candor, er, "lack of civility."

Photo of Marines in Falluja, Iraq, Summer 2004.

Track 18: Debris

Debris by the Faces.

We had to have one song about shopping...

although this song is also less obviously about some other things: Struggle, advice, and experience.

Photo of Portobello Road Market by Afra Afsharipour, November 1993.

Interlude: Peace - A Theme

Peace - A Theme by King Crimson.

Mayur: King Crimson gets an awful rap for their prog-rock leanings; I always liked them for their technical versatility and sheer adventurousness. Moreover, I think they're much more minimalist and inclined to prefer tight song structure to displays of random virtuosity than "prog" usually suggests.

Watercolor by Kate Conway.