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