Yusef Lateef, saxaphonist and flutist, passed away December 23rd. I was fortunate enough to have heard him at least twice, and was always happy whenever he had a new CD out.

The Detroit Free Press link above has its own link to Youtube videos for some of his audio tracks, which I'm embedding here:

Click to view

I knew of this and heard snippets before, but I had never heard the full broadcast (still haven't, I need to start listening). For those who don't know, Stetson Kennedy infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan, and uncovered quite a lot of damaging information about them ( Read more... )

I bought Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni ba's CD "Jama Ko", and I'm liking it a lot.

Click to view

I was actually looking for "Ne me fatique pas", but there doesn't appear to be a video for it at the moment.

Just heard on the radio program Re:Sound, a piece on the Purple Hotel, originally known as The Purple Hyatt, in Lincolnwood, Illinois.

There was a sign on the parking lot last May advertising the building for auction, and I had always assumed that no one had bought it, and assumed from that that it would be torn down some time1It turns out a) ( Read more... )

"Survival of the funkiest"

For example, how important is human creative input compared to audience selection? Is progress smooth and continuous or step-like? We set up DarwinTunes as a test-bed for the evolution of music, the oldest and most widespread form of culture; and, thanks to your participation, we're starting to get answers.

DarwinTunes ( Read more... )

For three weeks, he sat on top of a mountain in New Mexico waiting for the perfect thunderstorm to record...

Greg Smith, who recorded thousands of sounds for films ranging from documentaries to the Star Wars movies, has donated his collection to the American University library.

What kind of sound does a 1,500-sound-effect donation make?I ( Read more... )

UCLA astronomers at Keck Observatory discover pivotal star to test Einstein’s theory.

I heard of it on a BBC broadcast a half hour ago, here it is: More evidence of supermassive black hole (in our galaxy) (audio).