Passing Notes

PN Unscripted - 'Harvey Pekar's Cleveland'

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Tue, 29 May 2012 17:09:00 PDT

Part history, part memoir, Harvey Pekar's Cleveland is a bittersweet farewell to a fine writer whose medium was comics but whose importance, in the bigger picture, will likely be far broader once the clearer perspective of hindsight is used to evaluate Pekar's life's work. At the time of his death in 2010, Pekar was wrapping up work on Cleveland, and was already in the process of developing the book with artist Joseph Remnant, who does as fine a job as anyone in bringing visuals to Pekar's narrative -- particularly in the very specific demands of accurately representing the very real setting of Cleveland. Although Remnant's style is very different, I couldn't help but think of Chris Ware's work in terms of the "draftsman's eye" that Remnant must have had in illustrating this book. It's a beautiful book -- as much about the place as the place, and could as easily have been called Cleveland's Harvey Pekar as Harvey Pekar's Cleveland. It seems that Pekar, after all was said and done, was a neighborhood guy, a city-dweller, and, in that sense, he might even be a throwback of sorts in his attachment to place. All the more sweetly nostalgic, then, is his final work.

I had a chance to talk with Pekar's window, Joyce Brabner, and Cleveland's artist, Joseph Remnant, at the Miami Book Fair in 2011. Below is the lightly edited version of that full conversation. In this Passing Notes unscripted, Brabner talks about her efforts to have a Pekar memorial built, her own work in comics, and, finally, the pending publication of Cleveland.

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PN Unscripted - The Big Pond: Remarks for Graduates

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Tue, 29 May 2012 05:43:00 PDT

Regular followers of Passing Notes will have noticed that over the past few months there's been a decline in the amount of fresh material on both the website and the Friday broadcast/podcast. As you might have guessed, my work as a blogger and podcaster isn't a paying gig, and I'm lucky to have a civilian job that I enjoy very much. I teach at a private school in South Florida, run the school's writing center, and, up until very recently, I was the lead advisor (a sort of class dean) for the Class of 2012. The job of lead advisor in the high school requires a four-year commitment, and our team followed the students from the first day of 9th grade through to the last day of 12th, keeping an eye on their academics, athletics, and all the rest -- including the whole college application process. I had a tremendous amount of help with all of that from my wonderful partners in education at my place of work. With the students approaching graduation, there was simply so much work spilling over into the rest of my life that keeping up regularly with Passing Notes was impossible. Hence all the reruns on WDNA of late. But the young men and women are finished; mortarboards have been tossed; summer break has begun; I'm back at the keyboard with lots to write about.

Many matters have improved behind the scenes for Passing Notes over the past few months. WDNA was very generous in offering me a music show, the Sunday Time Warp, which allows me to play and talk about artists and genres that interest me. I hope you'll tune it in on Sundays from 1:00 to 3:00 pm, either over the airwaves or online. The growth of and coordination of social media has fallen into place nicely, as our following has steadily increased, and using management tools like HootSuite and MailChimp has made keeping track of every little detail much easier. And the listening times for podcasts have also increased on iTunes and our new platform on Stitcher. If you do listen to the podcasts, by the way, please leave a review!

For today, I'll leave you with the final lesson I had for the members of the Class of 2012. This speech was delivered last month at a luncheon with the graduates and the school's board of trustees. I've included links to the audio immediately below, as well as an edited version of the text following. Hope you like it.

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The Big Pond: Remarks for Graduates

When you work at a high school, one of the features of the job is the cycle of the school year – the end of which brings the customary end-of-the-year speeches. I was going to use the modifier terminal, but that sounds a bit cruel. After two decades as a teacher, I’ve heard about a hundred such speeches. I remember three of them: one was by Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden, one was by Palmer Trinity graduate Sandy Nader, and one was by my colleague in the English Department, Ms. Kenley Smith. It seems to me that one should strive, in the end-of-the-year speech, to remain free of clichés but not inaccessible, free of sentimentality but not without feeling, free of moralizing but not without gravitas, free of the cloying quotation but not without the apt allusion, free from being somber but not too serious. I know what you’re thinking: If anyone can meet that extensive set of rigorous standards, it’s Bobby Bowden. But he did. “To thine own self be true.”

The author David Foster Wallace – Amherst College, Class of 1987 -- gave a commencement address to Kenyon College in 2005, and he opened his remarks with a story.

There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says "Morning, boys. How's the water?" The older fish swims on by. The two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, "What the hell is water?"

Wallace then goes on to explain the story as a parable about what a liberal arts education does. That’s basically the kind of education you received here at Palmer Trinity, at this very good college preparatory school: A liberal arts education. And one of the essential points liberal arts educators like me will often emphasize about the liberal arts education is this: A liberal arts education teaches you how to think. I have spoken those words – It teaches you how to think -- many times, to many of you – perhaps cruelly and in great detail -- and I tried to explain what they meant.

But the fish. The familiar point made about the fish-in-water story is that the young fish – that is, untrained minds – don’t even realize that they are swimming in water – that is, untrained minds don’t understand that their thinking is determined, in large part, by frameworks that are cultural constructions. So really, “teaching you how to think” is a sloppy way to describe what it is we’re striving for here. David Foster Wallace argues – and I would agree – that we’re trying to teach you how to choose how to think. You can choose to think about things in the world as, say, a scientist would. Or think as a historian would. Or a musician. Or a mathematician. Or an artist. Or an economist. Or a writer. Or think about it in Spanish or French or Chinese. The choice of framework is yours, and that’s the fundamental value of a liberal arts education. If you can choose to change the way you think, all kinds of things that used to be impossible suddenly become possible.

When we first met about, approximately 1350 days ago – remember? I, a new father, had a bushy red beard and you were all (sigh) 9th graders. When first we met, I pointed out, perhaps cruelly, that you had roughly 1350 days to go before you would graduate. This information was met with groans, much to my delight. You thought you would never make it. Why would you think otherwise? The human mind can’t grasp the reality of 1350 days – certainly not the mind of a (sigh) 9th grader. But here you are, just 21 days from graduation. Here you are. Now. This, roughly speaking, is what the passage of 1350 days feels like. Even though then you didn’t think it would happen, let me point out that, in fact, that it is now happening. And let me add, perhaps cruelly, that you were wrong. You made it. All kinds of things that used to be impossible suddenly become possible.

Those of you who have had me as a teacher have experienced, at the start of the academic year, my lecture on Galileo Galilee. I love talking about Galieo because, as my students know, he provided the scientific proof that Coperinicus’ model of a sun-centered planetary system of which the Earth is part, was correct, and that the then-entrenched traditional model of an Earth-centered universe was wrong. The cosmos was not geocentric, but heliocentric. We are not the center of the universe, but rather, moving around the edge of a great circle. Our perspective on the world doesn’t change because everything moves around us; our perspective changes because we are moving as well. And what fascinates me most about Galileo isn’t that he was a just a man of science or just a man of faith – he was both. He could choose to think in both ways, in fact, he did. When the Catholic Church, quite cruelly but quite predictably, excommunicated Galileo for his heretical ideas, he never wavered in his deep faith in God. He lived the balance of his days, somewhat alone, in a new world he had helped create.

New worlds await you. I remember going off to college, twenty five years ago, off to Amherst College, a liberal arts school in Western Massachusetts, as far away from my little hometown in rural Maine as I could stand. Back home, I had been, like many of you, if you’ll forgive the cliché, a big fish in a small pond. At college, I wanted to challenge myself, though I didn’t understand what that meant at the time. Or rather, I had made that choice, although I didn’t fully know what that choice meant.When I arrived at Amherst, I was sort of prepared with my public school education, but not in the way many of my classmates had been – classmates who had gone to schools sort of like this one, schools with names like Deerfield, Exeter, Andover, Groton, Taft, Lawrenceville, and the like. Although I struggled academically, the social struggle was greater, because, you see, I wouldn’t have been able to go to Amherst without financial aid – a significant amount of aid. Amherst was then and still is, need-blind in its financial aid policy, so my family paid what it could, I was given a sizable grant (as it was called), and I worked washing dishes for my classmates in the dining hall. And you know what, there were lots of students at Amherst just like me, who felt like they were a little in over their head academically and plugging away at work-study jobs to pay the balance of their bills. I felt self-conscious about it all at first, but then I came to understand that catching up to the preppies and working in the dining hall were just parts of my particular challenge. Or rather, this was the meaning of my choice.

But we financial-aidees figured out, after not too long, that we belonged because of what we added to the mix of students. Because we didn’t feel entitled to our places at Amherst, most of us worked hard at everything. Because we came from working class backgrounds, we often had different political and social views from our preppie classmates, as was evident in both the classrooms and in the dorms. And so on, choose your framework. I was one of four people from Maine – four out of four hundred -- and probably the only person in my entire class with my particular blend of Irish and French Catholic sensibilities. I ran track and played intermural soccer, football, and basketball. I worked feverishly for every student publication I could and defended writers like Don DeLillo, Donald Barthelme, and Wallace Stevens. I played guitar in a rock band and championed the music of Frank Zappa, Fishbone, and John Coltrane. In my summers, I learned how to be a teacher by working for the Upward Bound project. I belonged, in the end, because at Amherst I was allowed to be me. The place shaped me and, in my small ways, I shaped the school.

And let me say, on the subject of financial aid, I am proud to work at Palmer Trinity, in great part, precisely because it offers roughly 2 million dollars in assistance to its students families. This school is richer in the education it can offer because of its commitment to making that education available to more and more people who don’t necessarily fit the mold of a traditional prep school student. Certainly, Palmer Trinity’s efforts in this area have made it easier for this public high school graduate to feel much better about working at an independent school. I know that every member of the Class of 2012 has earned his or her place in the room today. Never let a snob make you feel otherwise. Palmer Trinity has shaped you, to be sure, but each of you – all of you -- in your ways, have shaped the school – and I know that you all leave a Palmer Trinity that is a far better place than when you first arrived. You learned the big lessons well: responsibility, initiative, leadership, service. As driven to succeed as so many of you are, you have come to understand that you have more to gain by working together than by working against one another. That might be the most important lesson of all.

I know there were low points for everyone along the way. Some we know about, and some we do not -- Not only the loss of loved ones, serious illness, natural disasters, far-reaching impact of the financial crisis, but also all those frustrating personal moments of failure, frustration, and disappointment. But, you know, those low points, when you feel you may never make it through, are most important. I use the superlative: most. I don’t want to trivialize loss or failure with anything as trite as “the power of positive thinking.” I would suggest to you that a loss – and especially a failure, presents you with a moment of perspective and humility that is incredibly important.

I mentioned the name of saxophonist and composer John Coltrane earlier. In 1957, when Coltrane was playing in the first quintet of the legendary bandleader Miles Davis, he was also struggling with heroin addiction. At one gig in April, Coltrane was playing his saxophone, but was in such bad shape – chemically induced -- on the bandstand, that Miles Davis – who was a decent boxer – slugged him. Coltrane and his horn were knocked literally off the stage, and Miles fired Coltrane on the spot.

Having gotten himself booted from the best jazz band in the world, with nothing to do, Coltrane made the decision to clean up his drug habit and seek a new direction in his music. And, from the point forward, almost anyone who knows Coltrane’s music can hear a tremendously dynamic, rich, and courageous development in his playing and writing from 1957 to his death in 1967. Coltrane also got married, had a family, and built a close group of friends and artists collaborators. Provided with a moment of perspective and humility, Coltrane chose to reinvent himself. I’m not saying it was easy, but it’s what he did. As the man said, “One thought can have a million vibrations.”

Certainly, I have had moments like those – although Miles Davis never knocked me off the bandstand. I would have remembered that. But I can remember a point – oh, about a decade ago, when, having just moved to Miami in the last act of my first marriage, I found myself in a moment of perspective and humility. I didn’t have much: family back in Maine of course, my friends from over the years, some clothes and furniture and books and CD’s, and my job here at Palmer Trinity. And a green pickup truck. And although there was anger, and grief, and guilt, certainly, over my part in the mess I had created, I realized soon enough that I had to move on. I chose to make some changes in how I thought about myself, and how I thought about my relationships with people and my relationship with the world. And, I chose to believe in myself. Trust me, some reinvention was in order.

Here we are, 10 years later, and I’ve made it through. I have more in my life now that I could ever have imagined in my moment of perspective and humility, standing in my studio apartment with my boxes of stuff. The material stuff has never mattered much to me (although I miss my truck) but I love my work and the people I work with – you guys are definitely part of that joy – and I have a beautiful wife, Pamela, and two space-traveling superhero little boys,: Evan, who’s three, and Cole, who’s almost five. The name Cole, of course, is short for Coltrane.

Most of you know that I became a parent around the time I took this job, and the two positions – parent at home and . . . whatever it is I do here – have complemented each other. That is, doing one has made doing the other easier, and vice versa. When a teacher becomes a parent, I believe he or she is better able to see bits of their own children in their students, and that teacher also become much better at understanding where all parents are coming from. Hopefully, it’s a place of love. So, thank you, seniors, for helping me be a better father and teacher, because my life, happily, revolves around my family and my work in a way I never would have imagined possible.

My fundamental guide in most matters of parenting and education is, I’m sure, extremely obvious: Finding Nemo. The plot, you know. The father fish, Marlin, having lost his wife and most of his little fishy offspring to a nasty barracuda, is now the overprotective, fearful father of Nemo, he of the little flipper and the big ambition. On the first day of school – even fish have to go to schools, ha-ha – Nemo is captured by a diver, removed from his ocean habitat, and taken to live with a motley crew of aquarium fish in a dentist’s office in Sydney. Fearful father Marlin sets out to find his son and soon falls into the company of Dorrie, who suffers from extreme short term memory loss but is willing to help. Dorrie lives completely in the moment, whereas Marlin lives completely in his bottomless guilt over the past and his endless worries about the future. Together, they make a good team, as long as they just keep swimming. And the point for parents, of course, is that you have to let your kids go out into big old the world sooner or later. Young people can surprise you if you prepare and encourage them just enough. It’s Nemo, after all, who saves the day.

You were all eight or nine years old when Finding Nemo came out. Does that seem like that long ago and far away? That was 3255 days ago, about three times the number of days you’ve spent in high school. Time moves slowly, the earth turns, it all accumulates, but despite the distance between then and now, we can all go back to our childhood with a simple, almost random, phrase: “Shark Bait, OOH AH AH!”

When the theory of the earth’s rotation was being debated, people would sometimes ask, “Well, if it’s rotating, when we jump into the air, why don’t we shoot off toward the horizon all of a sudden?” I’m sure Mr. Zamarippa could explain why that doesn’t happen, but I was thinking about the possibility the other day. I was looking at some of the photos from the scavenger hunt a few weeks ago, those particular pictures of you in your advisory groups, jumping into the air, the photo snapped at the peak of the jump, the sand of Miami Beach behind you, and the shining Atlantic beyond. I imagine that I am taking the picture. I imagine that I am capturing that pure moment of joy and togetherness and youth. But, though the moment is frozen in my camera, instead of returning to earth, the force of time seizes you all in mid-jump and pulls you all up and away from me, away from each other, and you spread out, smaller and smaller against the sunny sky, waving goodbye to me and to each other, blowing kisses, eventually falling, far off, gracefully, into the ocean, where you surface, get your bearings, and swim away, each quickly in his or her own direction, away from the shore, confident and fearless. Soon, you’re all out of sight. The beach is empty, except for me – happy me – and the waves come and go, and the earth turns on.

So, it’s been 1350 days between our first meeting and this. You entered Palmer Trinity as naïve, awkward, confused (sigh) 9th graders, and you leave – well, as very fine members of the very fine Class of 2012. From a personal perspective, you have traveled a great distance, and that’s true. 1350 days – the earth twists on its axis, follows its orbit around the sun, and the sun follows its slow arc through the galaxy. From a cosmic perspective, you haven’t come far at all, and that’s also true. I choose to see it both ways – from the personal and the cosmic, which, after all, aren’t so far apart.

When you think about the problems that the people here on Earth face, all of us, I’m sure you feel overwhelmed. You worry about the future. I know I do. Ecological imbalance. Diminishing resources. Poverty and hunger. Violence in all its forms. Intolerance and bigotry. Spiritual and moral decline. I’m not saying that working on these problems will bel be easy, but it’s much of the work that lies ahead for us.

But after being with so many of you over these years, I worry a little less about the future. That is, I choose to worry less about it. I know that, as far as so many of those issues I just mentioned are concerned, you have all been well trained to think globally and act locally. Yes, I worry less about the future knowing that our work with you here at Palmer Trinity is just about completed and that the Class of 2012 will make its way into the bigger world out there. It’s our world. It’s your world. It’s both. I hope you choose to think about the world in whatever ways that suits you best. Almost anything is possible.

And now, I engage in another choice of my own – a deliberate act to frame my view of the world just so. I choose to believe -- my little fishies -- I choose to believe in you.

Sunday Time Warp - Playlist 5/27/2012

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Sun, 27 May 2012 13:12:00 PDT

Song, Artist, Album

Black Fire, Andrew Hill, Black Fire
Wilmington, Tim Carey, Room 114
Clash Up, Jazz Punks, Smashups
Every Goodbye, Eddie Roberts, Roughneck
Strollin' With Bones, T-Bone Walker, The Very Best Of. . .
Black Water, Charlie Musselwhite, Delta Hardware
What Have You Done?, Wynton Marsalis, Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Running Way, Monty Alexander, Harlem-Kingston Express
Water Sub, Teo Castellanos and DJ Spam, Fat Boy
Guero Bounce, Galactic, Carnivale Electricos

Wobble Walkin', The Duke Robillard Jazz Trio, Wobble Walkin'
Village Vanguard, Heavy Tin, Fused Jazz
Lennie's Pennies, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, XXI Century
All I Really Want, Louis Durra, The Best of All Possible Worlds
Tea for Two, Nat King Cole, The Jazz Collector Edition, Vol 5
Still, Gretchen Parlato, The Lost and Found
Celestial Blues, Gary Bartz NTU Troop, Mr. Scruff's Big Chill Classics
Old School Cylons, Greyboy Allstars, What Happened To Television?
Freedom Jazz Dance, Taylor Eigsti, Lucky To Be Me

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Sunday Time Warp - Playlist 5/13/2012

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Sun, 13 May 2012 16:43:00 PDT

Song, Artist, Album

Freedom Jazz Dance, Saxemble, Saxemble

Nica’s Dream, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Love and Peace

Tamborine Man, Abbey Lincoln, Who Used To Dance

Bo-So, Jazz Punks, Smashup

Radio Song, Esperanza Spalding, Radio Music Society

We’ve Got The Jazz, A Tribe Called Quest, The Low End Theory

Snake Hips, Soweto Kinch, Conversations With The Unseen

Hip-Hug Her, Booker T and the MGs, The Very Best Of

Maple Plank, Stanton Moore, III

Outa-Space, Billy Preston, Ultimate Collection

The Jaunt, Discern Define, The Poets of Rhythm

Ride or Die, The Budos Band, The Budos Band II

Rollo, Papa Grows Funk, Needle in the Groove

Emergency, Ben Allison, Cowboy Justice

The Tempest, Jeremy Pelt, Soul

Crosscut Saw, Albert King, The Very Best Of

Diamonds At Your Feet, Muddy Waters, His Best 1956 to 1964

Mack The Knife, Benny Golson, That’s Funky!

Terrorists and Movie Stars, David Binney, Greylen Epicenter

Sunday Time Warp - Playlist 5/6/2012

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Sun, 06 May 2012 13:14:00 PDT

Song, Artist Album

Sonny, Please, Sonny Rollins, Sonny, Please
Heavyfoot, Jazz Punks, Smashups
Birther Blues, The Dead Kenny G's, Bewildered Herd
Ich, Bin, George, Flat Earth Society, Psychoscout
Super Mario Brothers, The Vignola Collective, Gypsy Grass
Gazzelonim Eric Dolphy, Out To Lunch
Quiet Man Is Dead Man, Daktaris, Soul Explosion
Groove Holmes, The Beastie Boys, Check Your Head
Flash Light, Parliament, Funkentelechy Vs The Placebo Syndrome
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Gil Scott-Heron, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Loping Along Through The Cosmos, Theo Bleckmann and Kneebody, Audio of live performance
One for Lenny, Warren Wolf, WW
Calling All Units To Broccalino, Calibro 35, Il Rittonro della Calibro 35

Mr Tamborine Man, William Shatner, The Transformed Man
Spock Sends Back The Soup, Fatboy Russell with DJ Red Guardian, Revenge of the Red Guardian
Messin' Around, Jimmy Smith, Home Cooking
Pacific Express, Wallace Roney, Home
Something Distant, DJ Logic, Zen of Logic
East of Arrows Hi Fi, King Tubby, Dub From The Roots
Freedom Jazz Dance, MB3, Jazz Hits Volume 1

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PN Archives - Craig Pittman - 'Manatee Insanity'

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Tue, 01 May 2012 16:44:00 PDT

Craig Pittman will be appearing at Books and Books in Coral Gables tomorrow night. Here's a feature from last year about his book, Manatee Insanity. His latest book, The Scent of Scandal, was featured on Passing Notes last week.

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Sunday Time Warp - Playlist 4/29/2012

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 13:18:00 PDT

Song, Artist, Album

Fire, Chris Coretz, Aunt Nasty
Big Eater, The Bad Plus , These Are The Vistas
Riding The Nuclear Tiger, Ben Allison and Medicine Wheel, Riding The Nuclear Tiger
Missouri Uncompromised, Pat Metheny, Bright Size Life
Caravan, Chris Cortez, Aunt Nasty
Mu, Sun Ra, Atlantis
Rhythm-A-Ning, Ben Riley's Monk Legacy Septet, Memories of T
First Gravy, Leon Spencer, Sneak Preview!

The Gumbo Variations, Frank Zappa, Hot Rats
You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had, Muddy Waters, Martin Scorcese Presents The Blues
King Harvest, The Band, The Band
Hoe-Down, Oliver Nelson, The Blues and The Abstract Truth
Welcome Back, Jared Gold, Supersonic
Iron City, Grant Green, Iron City
Chubb Sub, Medeski Martin and Wood, Friday Afternoon in the Universe
Aunt Nasty, Chris Cortez, Aunt Nasty
Freedom Jazz Dance, Brian Bromberg, Wood

PN 198 - Craig Pittman - 'The Scent of Scandal'

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:15:00 PDT

The discovery of a new orchid in Peru leads to an international incident -- a new book from the award-winning journalist for the Tampa Bay Times.

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Sunday Time Warp - Playlist 4/22/2012

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 13:22:00 PDT

Song, Album, Artist

The Swarm, Emmet Cohen, In The Element
Shellah V, Chris Joss, You're Been Spiked
I Brake 4 Monster Booty, John Scofield Band, Uberjam

The Impaler, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Citizen Tain
Frim Fram Sauce, Diana Krall, All For You
Miss Otis Regrets (She's Unable To Lunch Today), Ella Fitzgerald, Cole Porter Songbook (Vol. 1)
I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl, Nina Simone, The Essential Nina Simone
How We Love, Gretchen Parlato, The Lost and The Found
Resolution, Kurt Elling, The Man In The Air
Seven Steps To Heaven, Turtle Island Quartet, Who Do We Think We Are?
Naima, Meg Okura and the Pan Asian Jazz Ensemble, Naima

Song To John, Clarke/DiMeola/Ponty, The Rite of Strings
All Along The Watchtower, Turtle Island Quartet, Have You Ever Been. . .?
Guitar Playah, Melvin Sparks, It Is What It Is
Gold Smoke, The Everyday People, The Everyday People
Streetbeater (Sanford and Son), Mark Rapp's Melting Pot, Good Eats
Things Are Getting Better, Eddie Jefferson, Things Are Getting Better
Freedom Jazz Dance, Don Ellis, Live in 3 2/3/4 Time

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Sunday Time Warp - Playlist 4/15/12

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 13:05:00 PDT

Song, Artist, Album

Open Country Joy, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Birds of Fire
Cantina Theme from Star Wars, Hot Club of Tucson, Audio from Concert Video
HCQ Strut, Django Reinhardt, Jazz Masters 38 (Verve)
Maple Leaf Rag, Marcus Roberts, The Joy of Joplin
Ashby Man, Charlie Hunter, Steady Groovin'
Who Am I? What Are We?, Us3 featuring Akala, Lie, Cheat, and Steal
Another Day In The Life Of Mr. Jones, The Bamboos, Step It Up
6/4 Jam, Jaco Pastorius, Jaco Pastorius
Blackjack, Donald Byrd, Blackjack
Stolen Moments - Murder By Numbers, Frank Zappa featuring Sting, Broadway the Hard Way

Moanin', Charles Mingus, Blues and Roots
Chicken An' Dumplin's, Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, At The Jazz Corner of the World Volume 2
C Jam Blues, Illinios Jacquet Quartet, Live at Schaffhausen, Switzerland
The Intro and The Outro, Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, Gorilla
Hip Hug Her, Booker T and the MGs, The Very Best of, , ,
Milestones, The Three Souls, Rapid Fire Jazz Style
Tropicalia, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Boogaloo To Beck
Dr Beauchef, Penguin Dentist, Kneebody, Low Electrical Worker
Freedom Jazz Dance, Taylor Eigsti, Lucky To Be Me

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Sunday Time Warp - Playlist 4/8/12

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 13:11:00 PDT

Song, Artist, Album

Elation, Mulgrew Miller and Wingspan, The Sequel
Cherokee, Freddie Hubbard, Video of performance at Blue Note Japan in 1990
Bulgarian Bulge, Don Ellis, Tears of Joy

San-Ho-Zay, Freddie King, The Very Best of Freddie King
Farther On Up The Road, Lonnie Mack, Memphis Wham!
Born Under A Bad Sign, Albert King, The Very Best of Albert King
Bold As Love, Jimi Hendrix, Axis: Bold As Love
Better Off Dead, The New Mastersounds, Be Yourself
Gauntlet, Vijay Iyer with Prasanna and Nittin Mitta, Tirtha
Plain Song, John Scofield, A Moment's Peace
Hurricane Season, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Ave, Backatown
Steam, Jamie Ousley, A Sea of Voices
Guero Bounce, Galactic, Carnivale Electricos

Blind Man Can See It, James Brown, In The Jungle Groove
Live At The Club, Lack of Afro, Press On
Jealous Guy, Ben Allison and Man Size Safe, Little Things Run The World
Kicking Up Dust, Robert Walter, Super Heavy Organ
Manah Manah, Cake, B-Sides and Rarities
Freedom Jazz Dance, Jimmy Carl Black, Freedom Jazz Dance

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Sunday Time Warp - Membership Edition #2

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 05:54:00 PDT

I had a great time last week hanging out with Michael Valentine during the Sunday Time Warp's membership drive show. We had almost a dozen new members join WDNA during our two hour show -- an very hopeful showing considering that STW has been on the air for only a month. I also had a very nice call in-studio from a listener who totally appreciated our playing 'Inca Roads' by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. At any rate, please tune in again today (from 1-3 pm), enjoy the music and conversation -- and, of course, if you can, become a member of the station and support serious jazz, blues, and work music in South Florida and around the world.

PN Archive - 'Law of the Swamp'

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 17:34:00 PDT

The shooting of Trayvon Martin has stirred up much justifiable outrage. From 2005, here's a Flak Audio podcast concerning Florida's then-new 'Stand Your Ground' law, one of the issues involved in the conversations over Martin's death.

Listen here.

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Sunday Time Warp - Playlist 3/18/12

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 13:52:00 PDT

Song, Artist, Album

Start-Stop, Medeski Martin and Wood, Combustication
Smells Like Teen Spirit, Robert Glasper Experiment, Black Radio
Think Of One, Robert Glasper, Double Booked
Why Do We Try, Robert Glasper and Stokley Williams, Black Radio
Smeels Like Teen Spirit, The Bad Plus, These Are The Vistas
Maiden Voyage, Robert Glasper Trio, Mood
Sweet Home Chicago, Magic Sam, West Side Soul
Farther On Up The Road, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Greatest Hits, Volume 1 - The Duke Recordings
Rock Me, Muddy Waters, Martin Scorcese Presents The Blues
Bip Bop, Matt "Guitar" Murphy, The Blues Don't Bother Me
Rocket 88, Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter, James Cotton, Breakin' It Up, Breakin' It Down
Ghost Riders in the Sky, Ryan Davidson Trio, Ryan Davidson Trio
Moohah the DJ, Joe Dukes, The Soulful Drums of Joe Dukes
Funky McSunke, The Mother Funk Conspiracy, The Mother Funk Conspiracy
Crown Vic, Artanker Convoy, Mature Fantasy
Up From The South, The Budos Band, The Budos Band
Skippy's Dream, Duke Robillard, Wobble Walkin'
A Change Is Gonna Come, Soullive with Derek Trucks, Nigel Hall, Ledisi, video from Bowllive III
Bean's, Jimmy McGriff and Groove Holme, Groove Merchant Super Funk Collection - Return of Jazz Funk
Freedom Jazz Dance Hall, New York Jazz-Ska Ensemble, New York Jazz Ska Ensemble

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PN 192 - Daniel Clowes - 'The Death Ray'

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 08:15:00 PDT

Comics creator Daniel Clowes (Eightball, Ghost World, Art School Confidential) talks about his non-superheroic superhero Andy -- sometimes known as The Death-Ray!

Listen to PN 192 on iTunes
Listen to PN 192 on Stitcher

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James Cotton at South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center - 3/17

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:11:00 PDT

I'm up in chilly New England for a few days this week, but I'll be happy to get back to South Florida, my home, and my family for the weekend. Even better, my best girl and I have a date to see James Cotton at the brand spanking new South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center, which is little more than five minutes from the house. Lucky us. If you don't know who Cotton is, you can check out his Wiki page or his artist page at Alligator Records. My wife looked him up and said, "Holy s--t, he's from Tunica!" -- because she's from Mississippi, everybody: West Point. At any rate, we'll be there, trying to eat a little food from Harvey's Smokehouse before the show. Say hello if you spot us!

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PN Video Jukebox - Clark Terry

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 12:54:00 PDT

The Video Jukebox returns this week with a score of videos featuring one of the patriarchs of the music -- and a legendary teacher -- Clark Terry. I'll review Clark's new autobiography later in the week.

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Sunday Time Warp - 3/11/12

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 09:18:00 PDT

Hey kids, don't forget to tune in this afternoon from 1:00 to 3:00 pm for this week's Sunday Time Warp -- jazz, blues, and funk from all over the place. On this show we've got some real old school blues, some real straight-ahead jazz from the 60s (Bu, Miles, Jimmy Smith), as well as the usual mix of creative backbeats. If the pickings have been a little slim on Passing Notes of late, keep in mind that the Notes are a labor of love, and when civilian life gets busy (jobs, toddlers, pets, lawn care, cold care), sometimes a hiatus can creep up on a guy. Have no fear, though, as it looks like routines have been retooled at the home office to provide sufficient time to return to our regular features: From the CD Stack, the Video Jukebox, and fresh Passing Notes. Upcoming broadcasts and podcasts include comics artist Dan Clowes, Senator Bob Graham, Bobbie Ann Mason, and public radio legend Bob Edwards. Stay tuned!

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Sunday Time Warp - 3/4/12 Playlist

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 13:59:00 PST

Song, Artist, Album

Blue Juice, Jimmy McGriff, The Worm
Berda's Bounce, Terell Stafford, New Beginnings
Kumquat Kids, Eddie Henderson, Sunburst
Concerto for Billy the Kid, George Russell, The Jazz Workshop
The Bar-B-Que Man, Sonny Stitt, Turn It On!
Prototype, Wallace Roney, Prototype
Listen Here!, Listen Here, The Gene Harris Quartet
French Quarter, DJ Logic, The Anomaly
Bring Down The Birds, Herbie Hancock, Blue Breakbeats, Volume 4
Mystic Brew, Vijay Iyer Trio, Historicity
Here Comes Charlie, Charles Earland, Black Talk!
I Love The Live I Live, I Live The Life I Love, Muddy Waters, His Best - 1956 to 1964
Knock On Wood, King Buster, single
54-46 That's My Number, Toots and The Maytals, single
Knock On Wood, Eddie Floyd, Knock on Wood
Boom Boom (Out Goes the Light), Little Walter, His Best
Little Walter Rides Again, Medeski Scofield Martin and Wood, Out Louder
Hang Up Your Hang Ups, Herbie Hancock, Flood
Freedom Jazz Dance, Lonnie Smith, Jungle Soul

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Sunday Time Warp - 2/26/12 Playlist

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 13:12:00 PST

Song, Album, Artist

The Mighty Burner, Charles Earland, Black Talk!
Smash, Avishai Cohen, Continuo
Dakan, Ben Allison, Peace Pipe
Running Away, Monty Alexander, Harlem-Kingston Express
Kung Fu Fighting (Remix), DJ Rob Smith
Calling All Units To Broccalino, Calibro 35, Rittornano Queli Di Calibro 35
Madness, Miles Davis Quintet, Nefertiti
Bank Robbery, John Lee Hooker (with Miles Davis and Taj Mahal), The Jack Nitzsche Story - Vol. 2 - Hard Workin Man
Boom Boom, John Lee Hooker, Greatest Hits
Faith, Afro Strut, Amp Fiddler
Oumou, Sam Yahel, Hometown
Rhythm-A-Ning, Branford Marsalis Quartet, Metamorphsen
Manteca, The Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Stars, Dizzy's 80th Birthday Party
Funky Bird, Galactic, Coolin' Off
Teddy Ruxpin, Kneebody, You Can Have Your Moment
Bloody Oil, Medeski Martin and Wood, End of the World Party
Iron Man, The Bad Plus, Give
Freedom Jazz Dance, Nils Landgren Funk Unit, Fonk the World

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Sunday Time Warp - 2/19/12 Playlist

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 13:17:00 PST

Thanks to everyone who tuned in and double thanks to listeners who said hello. Tune in next week, 1-3 pm on 88.9 FM or wdna.org. Too bad the web feed was out today.

Song, Artist, Album

When the Sun Goes Down, Lack of Afro, Press On
Ramblin', Ornette Coleman, Change of the Century
Mob Job, Pat Metheny/Ornette Coleman, Song X
Son of Mr. Green Genes, Frank Zappa, Hot Rats
Some Cow Fonque (More Tea, Vicar?), Buckshot LeFonque, Buckshot LeFonque
Action Figure Party, Greg Kurstin, ction Figure Party
Contra Los Roboticas Mutantes, Spam Allstars, Contra Los Roboticas Mutantes
Red Mask, Tony Williams, Angel Street
Nothin But Trouble, Charlie Hunter, Charlie Hunter
Blues at Midnight, Sun Ra and His Arkestra, Super-Sonic Jazz
Basehead, Corey Harris, Greens From the Garden
Mothership Connection (Star Child), Parliament, Mothership Connection
Star Trek Theme, Jeffrey Benson and Charles Alexander Quartet, A Handful of Stars
Theme from the Six Million Dollar Man, Joohyun Park
Old School Cylons, Greyboy Allstars, What Happened to Television?
It Gets Better, Miles Davis, Star People
Where's The Music?, Medeski Martin and Wood, Let's Go Everywhere
Freedom Jazz Dance, Ronnie Laws, A Tribute To the Legendary Eddie Harris

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Sunday Time Warp - Jazz, blues, and funk for the weekend

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 14:01:00 PST

It's been a while since I've had a regular music show on the air -- I went on hiatus in 2007 just before my wife and I started having all those bouncing baby boys -- but I'm completely excited to announce that WDNA will be airing my new show, Sunday Time Warp, every Sunday from 1 to 3 pm. The types of music will stay rooted in jazz both old and new, with a healthy infusion of blues, funk, and other flavors of creative backbeats. The first show is February 19, so let your family, friends, and even enemies know about the Sunday Time Warp. If you're in South Florida, tune in at 88.9 FM; anywhere else in the world, stream it online at wdna.org. Passing Notes, of course, will continue as usual at 11:05 am on Fridays, right after the BBC News. Thanks for tuning in, downloading, or otherwise giving up a little access-love.

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PN 187 - Pete Hamill - 'Deadline Artists' and 'Tabloid City'

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:15:00 PST

The great journalist talks about writing under pressure and the decline of the newspaper business. Pete Hamill's work was recently included in the anthology Deadline Artists, and his latest novel is Tabloid City.

Listen to PN 187 on Stitcher
Listen to PN 187 on iTunes

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Playlist - Jazz Cafe - 2/5/12

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 11:52:00 PST

Song, Artist, Album

The Burner, The Sound Stylistics, Greasin' The Wheels
Booker's Waltz, Carol Morgan Quartet, Blue Glass Music
Pretty Ugly, Alex's Axiom, Uncommon Sense
New Muse, Jack DeJonette, Sound Travels
Epistrophy, Goldberg/Jackson/Avital, Yes!
Simply Put, John Scofield, Simply Put
Black Truman (Harry the Hottentot), Dead Kenny G's, Operation Long Leash
Diablo's Dance, Wes Montgomery, Echoes of Indiana Avenue
I Will, John Scofield, A Moment's Peace
Drive My Car, Soulive, Rubbersoulive
Jealous Guy, Ben Allison and Man Size Safe, Little Things Run The World
Milestones, Bill Evans Trio, Waltz for Debby
Chim Chim Cheree, John Coltrane, The John Coltrane Quartet Plays
Let's Move, Pat Metheny, Day Trip
Coconut Boogaloo, Medeski Martin and Wood, Combustication
Nothin' But Trouble, Charlie Hunter, Charlie Hunter
Arava, Avishai Cohen, Continuo

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Guest Host - Jazz Cafe - 2/5

mark@wdna.org (Mark E Hayes) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:20:00 PST

The regular host of Jazz Cafe, Ed Blanco, is getting ready to watch his New York Giants as they prepare to lose to my New England Patriots, so I'll be taking over for Ed from 7 to 9 am tomorrow morning. It's been a longish hiatus away from the airwaves for Passing Notes, but I expect to be gradually easing into a more active presence on the radio and online. As usual, for the Jazz Cafe, I'll be playing the usual mix of jazz, blues, and creative backbeats in the first hour, and new music from the home office in the second hour. Tune in here in South Florida at 88. FM or online anywhere at wdna.org. Thanks!

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