Monday, June 28, 2010

MADE 7 SPOTLIGHTS : JEAN MICHEL BASQUIAT, MILES DAVIS, AND BIG AUDIO DYNAMITE


This weekend was art, music and discovery. Ideally every weekend would be, if only!

I went to the Miles Davis exhibit and was pleasantly surprised to see a bunch of Jean Michel Basquiat works there, all of which were in some form paying tributes to jazz greats, i.e. Miles.

I have to say that seeing Basquiat's works felt larger than life, even when standing right in front it. At the same time it consolidates the fact that "oh, this person, was a human being" and this is the mark they left so you're no longer as distanced by films, biographies and photos. The art is the closest opportunity in a sense, to have an unmediated conversation. Also, and I guess this just depends on the artist, I tend to think alot about their life. The art piece became a less relevant artifact as a I started to think about the artist himself and what lead up to the production of the piece. In a nutshell the story behind it. Was it a one-off to make a quick buck? Was it something slaved over, a work of passion that the artist was pained to part with?

What I also left the exhibit thinking about was how much of a pop star Miles Davis really was. More than a jazz star but truly a pop star among many other things. A great painter (interestingly enough, influenced by Basquiat's style), piano player, FASHIONISTA, whoa, some the digs this guy got into and parading around with Warhol! Covering the music of Pop culture icons from Cyndi Lauper to Michael Jackson, Davis' aspirations to ROCK out landed him gigs with the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and the Who. What if Miles and Hendrix really were able pull off a collaboration? Miles's affinity to push the envelope I'm certain turned jazz fans into rock fans and vice-versa. I could do with a little less of the Whah-whah pedal so trademark of the physc-rock of the 70s but I'm sure I could have tolerated it for a Hendrix - Davis collaboration.

Below is this weeks set-list which I hope you will enjoy as much as I did when putting it together. If you want to hear more on Big Audio Dynamite, Mick Jones' post-Clash gig, I do a spot light segment on it on the radio show. Have a listen here:
https://secure.ckut.ca//128/20100628.04.00-07.00.mp3

Take care and until the next....
Tim (MADE 7)

This week's Playlist

Azz Everywhere Big Freedia
Holiday For Plywood Tuxedomoon
Sheet Iron and Brine Tiny Iota
The Tank Song Tiny Iota
Ave. B Gogol Bordello
The Beat Goes On The Screamers
Bull In The Heather Sonic Youth
Blonde Redhead DNA
The Untold Power Of The Cosmos Biffy Perdu
Jungle Rock The Weirdos
The Untold Power Of The Cosmos Biffy Perdu
Science Gone Too Far! The Dictators
Certain Harbours The Bongos
I Wanna Go Back Gray
James Brown Big Audio Dynamite
V. Thirteen Big Audio Dynamite
I Turned Out A Punk Big Audio Dynamite
E=MC2 Big Audio Dynamite
Badrock City Big Audio Dynamite
Rewind Big Audio Dynamite
Cornerstone Arctic Monkeys
Little Thoughts Bloc Party
Clear Island Liars
Beach Boys Pere Ubu
Preaching The Blues Gun Club
Dear Addy Kid Creole & The Coconuts
Disaster The Besnard Lakes
Falling In Love Again Jean-Louis Murat
Fool's Day Blur
Texico Bitches Broken Social Scene
Weighty Ghost WIntersleep
Susannah's Still Alive The Kinks
Go Limp Nina Simone
God Only Knows Beach Boys
Interstate 8 Modest Mouse
My Girls Animal Collective
Twins Arto Lindsay

1 comment:

  1. Great playlist, diversified and yet coherent :)

    ReplyDelete