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A little something to help the festivities go down.

Don't thank me - thank the BBC.

Westlake, Nigel (b. 1958): Winter in the Forgotten Valley
Guitar Trek

Samuel-Rousseau, Marcel (1882-1955): Variations pastorales sur un vieux Noel

Erica Goodman (harp)
Members of the Amadeus Ensemble:
Moshe Hammer and Barry Schiffman (violins)
Douglas Perry (viola)
Jack Mendelsson (cello)

Boccherini, Luigi (1743-1805): Quintet in D for guitar and strings, G448 (arr. for guitar quartet and string orchestra)

Zagreb Guitar Quartet
Varazdin Chamber Orchestra

From Christmas Night 2008.

If you aren't familiar with any of the above music, or composers, check out the BBC Radio 3 site - there is wall to wall great music and streaming the audio may save your life . . .or at least your sanity.

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(King Crimson - Went from "The Cheerful Insanity Of Giles, Giles and Fripp" to this - and never looked back)

A special installment of the Roundtable tonight. A live performance during what is considered the heyday of one of the milestone Progressive rock bands, King Crimson. This 1970 concert, recorded by the BBC has as close to the original lineup as possible.

I've often wondered what would have happened, had King Crimson never existed in the first place. So many bands from 1969 on owe so much to the pioneering work of Robert Fripp and company. I'm sure someone would have come along, and maybe the direction would have been totally different. Or maybe it would have stayed frozen in time.

No. The nice part about music is that it constantly changes - it never quite stays the same. That's what's great about it.

And that's what was so great about King Crimson - they were constantly evolving.

as are we . .

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(The Charlatans - going on 20 years and still one of the best)

I have been a huge fan of The Charlatans ever since I first saw them live at The Hollywood Palladium in 1993. It's been one of my favorite memories of a live gig (and this goes back to 1966, so they're in some good company) ever since. They've gone through numerous changes in personnel, label and direction since then. But they've always been an exciting band to listen to especially live, and the best part is they're still going strong and sounding great as ever. New album slated to come out in 2010.

I ran across this recording of their 2001 Birmingham Academy gig by way of the ever-astounding BBC6 Music. Naturally, I had to post it and, if you aren't familiar with The Charlatans, give you a one-hour taste of what you're missing.

Believe me, it's not too late to add them to your favorites list.

. . .or us, for that matter . . .

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(Billy Boy Arnold - Man with a Harp)

Staying with the spirit of live music this week, but doing it in the studio for a change. Blues giant Billy Boy Arnold doing a live session for John Peel at the BBC on October 5, 1977.

Nice batch of tracks to put you in the mood to unwind from another insane day.

. .and while you're at it . . .pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters . . .thank you,thank you,thank you . . .

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December 15, 2009 BBC World

The Foreign Ministry on Tuesday called on the British government to end the "absurd situation" in which arrest warrants were being issued to Israeli officials over alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip, warning that ties between the two countries could suffer as a result.

"Only actions can put an end to this absurd situation, which would have seemed a comedy of errors were it not so serious," said the Foreign Ministry, a day after it emerged that opposition leader Tzipi Livni had canceled her trip to Britain after a warrant was issued for her arrest. Read more at Haaretz

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December 11, 2009 BBC World

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI shares "the outrage, betrayal and shame" felt by Irish Catholics over cases of clerical sexual abuse and the way abuse claims were handled by church leaders, and he plans to write a special pastoral letter to the Catholics of Ireland, the Vatican said.

Pope Benedict, the statement said, "was deeply disturbed and distressed" by the contents of a report by an independent Commission of Investigation, headed by Judge Yvonne Murphy, which looked at the handling of some 325 abuse claims in the Archdiocese of Dublin in the years 1975-2004.

The report concluded that during those years, rather than being concerned about the victims, Catholic leaders were more interested in "the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the church and the preservation of its assets." Catholic News Service

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(John Lennon - an anniversary of sorts)

Twenty-nine years ago this day, everything seemed to stop. It's still difficult to believe John Lennon is gone and it's always hard to explain the profound effect someone's life and art has had on you. I know I can't, so I won't even try.

Rather than focus on the maudlin aspect of this day, I thought I would play an interview conducted by the BBC in 1965, celebrating John's abilities as a fiction writer, much to the bafflement of the interviewer.

John Lennon: “The second book was more disciplined because it was starting from scratch and they said ‘oh, you’ve got so many months to write a book in’. The first book, a lot of it I’d written at odd times during me life.”

Further evidence he came along at exactly the right time in exactly the right place.

The Brad Blog: 'Biased thermometers' to blame for global warming data, according to former Limbaugh producer

PERRspectives: Notorious hothead McCain now "madder than I've ever been"

The Impolitic: Libby's got links...

the talking dog: And now for something completely different

William K. Wolfrum Chronicles: I trust readers will forgive the overt nepotism

HOLY CRAP: All in The Family'...Christian Cowards...I preferred the holy blessing of the Christ-Cheeto and I didn't have to stare at the sun...Stem-Cell Advance...Pat Robertson on Karate...Our own Ahmedinijad...Socialism in the Bible...Uganda's Hollywood Christian Consul...Purpose Driven Heresy...Purpose Driven Murder...Jesus' General is always good

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(The Rolling Stones - 1971 with Mick Taylor, guitar - Heading off to France shortly)

Something to go along with your post-Thanksgiving weekend - a live concert (via the BBC) from Leeds University on March 13, 1971.

Aside from this being one of the last stops on their infamous "Goodbye To Britain Tour" of 1971, I don't think any other explanation is necessary other than turn up the volume and enjoy the show.

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November 23, 2009 BBC World

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November 19, 2009 BBC World
Soldiers. Charioteers. Archers. Musicians. Generals. Acrobats. Nearly 2,000 years ago, thousands of life-size clay figures were buried in massive underground pits to accompany China's first emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, into the afterlife. Their discovery outside the city of Xi'an in 1974 is one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century.

Now, you can stand face-to-face with these terra cotta warriors. In November 2009, National Geographic Museum will host Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China’s First Emperor, an exhibition featuring treasures from the tomb complex including 15 life-size figures, weapons, armor, coins, and more. Don't miss this chance to see the largest collection of significant artifacts from China ever to travel to the United States. Learn more...

Boy, that's a pretty big jump. The new numbers include deaths indirectly caused by flu complications like pneumonia:

Swine flu has killed nearly 4,000 people in the US, including 540 children, officials said after devising a new counting method.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the new system is based on more precise figures provided by 10 states.

The previous estimated death toll from the H1N1 virus in the US was 672.

Latest figures show about 22 million Americans contracted the virus in six months with some 98,000 hospitalised.

"This is just the first six months and I am expecting all of these numbers, unfortunately, to continue to rise," said Dr Anne Schuchat of the CDC.

She said that, although still imprecise, the new statistics provide "a bigger picture of what has been going on in the first six months of the pandemic".

The CDC now estimates that 3,900 people in the US have died from the virus in the past six months.

Dr Schuchat said that in children under 18, an estimated eight million have had swine flu, with 36,000 hospitalised and 540 deaths.

The new estimated death toll for children is four times higher than the previous estimate.

"We will be updating the toll that the pandemic has taken... about every three to four weeks," she said.

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November 12, 2009 BBC World
FOURTEEN months after Sabi went missing, in the same firefight that led to SAS Trooper Mark Donaldson being awarded a Victoria Cross, the much-loved veteran explosive sniffer dog has returned to barracks.

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(The Jags in 1979 - Catchy and hook-laden, but not sustainable)

A bit of late 70s UK Power-Pop this time. The Jags were one of the mainstays of KROQ here in L.A. around 1979. Not really considered Punk or New Wave, but not really mainstream either - sort of falling into that miscellaneous category that just sounded good, played catchy memorable songs but didn't last more than a couple albums. They broke up in 1982.

There were a lot of those kinds of bands from the late 70s to early 80s, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with them. They were not destined to change your life, but rather go along with it and provide the soundtrack to places, times and people.

Here is a live concert, recorded by the BBC at their Paris Theatre in London in 1979. A lot of familiar material.

And for some reason, I remembered exactly where I was when I first heard each of those songs.

The opening to the movie version of Hitchhiker's Guide, not as good as the BBC version, imo, but then this movie version had a bigger budget. It turns out** that's not always a good thing in entertainment.

**Douglas Adams in The Salmon of Doubt: “Incidentally, am I alone in finding the expression ‘it turns out’ to be incredibly useful? It allows you to make swift, succinct, and authoritative connections between otherwise randomly unconnected statements without the trouble of explaining what your source or authority actually is. It’s great. It’s hugely better than its predecessors ‘I read somewhere that...’ or the craven ‘they say that...’ because it suggests not only that whatever flimsy bit of urban mythology you are passing on is actually based on brand new, ground breaking research, but that it’s research in which you yourself were intimately involved. But again, with no actual authority anywhere in sight.”

Open thread below.