Quote Of The Week

"Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within." -James Baldwin

There's So Many Things To Do

"La vie humaine commence de l'autre côté du désespoir."

Download: "Life Is Just Beginning" (Alt. take) by The Creation
Download: "I Live The Life I Love" by Willie Parker
Download: "You're In Life" by Icarus

The Dance

If she decided to buy the green dress, Mary Beth would certainly be the fanciest girl at the dance. Unfortunately in her heart, she knew that pink was her color. It matched her eyes, her soul and her windswept hair felt like silk to his touch, which was the way the oracle told him it would be. He then looked out. The air was colorful. The leaves paled in comparison. The only thing Henry said was, "This time I will take that walk. Why shouldn't I?" She replied, "Hello small frog. You belong in your original home. That's nature." And that is what she believed in.

© 2009 Lee Greenfeld

She Was The Leader Of The Pack

Ellie Greenwich
Rest In Peace
"Ellie Greenwich, the New York songwriter behind a string of 1960s hits that gave effervescent voice to unbridled teen romance including "Da Doo Ron Ron," "Chapel Of Love" and "Be My Baby," many of them in collaboration with producer Phil Spector, died Wednesday of a heart attack, according to her niece, Jessica Weiner." ... Story continues here: Ellie Greenwich Dies At 68 (LA Times)

Buy: Words And Music By Ellie Greenwich And Jeff Barry
Buy: Composes, Produces & Sings/Let It Be Written, Let It Be Sung
Read: Mover And Shaper Of American Pop

The Young Fools

High-heels were struggling with a full-length dress
So that, between the wind and the terrain,
At times a shining stocking would be seen,
And gone too soon. We liked that foolishness.

Also, at times a jealous insect's dart
Bothered out beauties. Suddenly a white
Nape flashed beneath the branches, and this sight
Was a delicate feast for a young fool's heart.

Evening fell, equivocal, dissembling,
The women who hung dreaming on our arms
Spoke in low voices, words that had such charms
That ever since our stunned soul has been trembling.

-Paul Verlaine

Quote Of The Week

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race." -Calvin Coolidge

Farewell To A Champion Of The Arts

Richard Poirier
Rest In Peace
"Richard Poirier, a prolific and populist cultural critic who founded a literary journal, Raritan: A Quarterly Review, and who was a founder of Library Of America, the nonprofit publisher of American classics, died in Manhattan on Saturday." ... Story continues here: Richard Poirier, A Scholar of Literature, Dies At 83 (NY Times)

Buy: Poetry And Pragmatism
Buy: Trying It Out In America
Read: The War Against The Young
Read: A Man Of Good Reading

Sympathy For The Dove

At the top of the bookshelf sits the soul of a trapped man. Embraced by many and understood by few, if any, he waits with the patience of a hawk. At times an entire day, if not two, pass without even a glimpse of that glorious sunlight that fuels his hope.

There he sits, knowing the worth of the wait. Holding the struggle tight to his chest, memories coursing through his veins like the swelling of his groin when bathing in the rays. On his perch he contemplates, briefly, other thoughts and questions... Then, just as quickly, banishes them to be with the doves.

There is no chance for surrender.

© 2009 Lee Greenfeld

I Feel Like Going Home

"Perhaps this is our strange and haunting paradox here in America — that we are fixed and certain only when we are in movement. At any rate, that is how it seemed to young George Webber, who was never so assured of his purpose as when he was going somewhere on a train. And he never had the sense of home so much as when he felt that he was going there. It was only when he got there that his homelessness began." -Thomas Wolfe

Download: "Going Home" by The Salvation Army
Download: "Can't Find My Way Home" by Sightless Trust
Download: "The Long Way Home" by Quintin E. Klopjaeger
Download: "I Feel Like Going Home" by McKinley Morganfield
Download: "Home Is Where I Want To Be" by The Dogs

A Line-Storm Song

The line-storm clouds fly tattered and swift,
   The road is forlorn all day,
Where a myriad snowy quartz stones lift,
   And the hoof-prints vanish away.
The roadside flowers, too wet for the bee,
   Expend their bloom in vain.
Come over the hills and far with me,
   And be my love in the rain.

The birds have less to say for themselves
   In the wood-world’s torn despair
Than now these numberless years the elves,
   Although they are no less there:
All song of the woods is crushed like some
   Wild, easily shattered rose.
Come, be my love in the wet woods; come,
   Where the boughs rain when it blows.

There is the gale to urge behind
   And bruit our singing down,
And the shallow waters aflutter with wind
   From which to gather your gown.
What matter if we go clear to the west,
   And come not through dry-shod?
For wilding brooch shall wet your breast
   The rain-fresh goldenrod.

Oh, never this whelming east wind swells
   But it seems like the sea’s return
To the ancient lands where it left the shells
   Before the age of the fern;
And it seems like the time when after doubt
   Our love came back amain.
Oh, come forth into the storm and rout
   And be my love in the rain.

-Robert Frost

It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train to Cry

Photography by Lee Greenfeld © 2009

Quote Of The Week

"Stand upright, speak thy thoughts, declare the truth thou hast, that they may share; be bold, proclaim it everywhere: they only live who dare." -François-Marie Arouet (aka Voltaire)

Dirt Road Blues

Jim Dickinson
Rest In Peace
What do Aretha Franklin, Sam & Dave, The Rolling Stones, the Flamin Groovies, Big Star, The Replacements, Ry Cooder, Bob Dylan, Primal Scream, and Mudhoney all have in common? Jim Dickinson worked with all of 'em -- and so many more -- in some capacity or another... Another true music legend leaves this mortal coil.

"Jim Dickinson, a musician and producer who helped shape the Memphis sound in a career that spanned more than four decades, died Saturday. He was 67." ... Story continues here: Memphis Producer, Musician Jim Dickinson Dies (Associated Press)

Download: "My Babe" (45 b-side) by The Jesters
Download: "John Brown" by James Luther Dickinson
Buy: Dixie Fried by James Luther Dickinson
Read: An interview with Dickinson

Absence Makes The Heart...?

A.I.T.A. is on a very brief hiatus... Back next week.

Quote Of The Week

"What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from." -T.S. Eliot

A.I.T.A. Hall Of Fame: The Small Faces

"The Small Faces were an English rock group from East London, heavily influenced by American rhythm and blues. The group was founded in 1965 by members Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones, and Jimmy Winston (replaced by Ian McLagan).

They are best remembered as possibly one of the most acclaimed and influential mod groups of the 1960s, with hit songs such as "Itchycoo Park," "Lazy Sunday," "All Or Nothing," "Tin Soldier," and their concept album Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake. They later evolved into one of the UK's most successful psychedelic acts before disbanding in 1969. After the Small Faces disbanded, three of the members were joined by Ronnie Wood (guitar) and Rod Stewart (lead vocals), both from The Jeff Beck Group, and the new line-up was renamed The Faces.

Despite the fact they were together just four years, the Small Faces' musical output from the mid- to late-'60s remains among the most acclaimed British music of that era. In 1996, they were belatedly awarded the Ivor Novello Outstanding Contribution To British Music 'Lifetime Achievement' award." -Paolo Hewitt


Steve Marriott & Ronnie Lane
Rest In Peace

Download: "Jump Back" (BBC Saturday Club, '65)
Download: "Shake" (BBC Saturday Club, '66)
Download: "You Need Love" (BBC Saturday Club, '66)
Download: "All Or Nothing" (BBC Saturday Club, '66)
Download: "If I Were A Carpenter" (BBC Top Gear, '68)
Download: "Every Little Bit Hurts" (BBC Top Gear, '68)
(See Close My Eyes And Drift Away... for an additional BBC cut)

Buy: Small Faces: Ultimate Collection
Buy: All The Rage: A Riotous Romp Through Rock & Roll History

Nietzsche Family Circus #1

The Statue

Deny your faith until the deathbed, but its stink is all over you and your precious borrowed clothes. Your coal-black hair carries the reek of want, and your saccharine breath betrays your core of loss. Now picture the multitudes — "sheep" you whisper. Picture them sulking in their lonely rooms, surrounded by pointlessness. It's hysterical how you step out briskly from the twilight and present yourself. "I am rational!" you shout, but behind you lurks that same broken-down machine that feeds on such paltry exclamations, emotions dripping like oil from its worn seams. In front of you stare your minions, their minds thick with the ache of betrayal, and their lips cracked from the ill wind bite of careless infatuation. Stare at yourself in my mirror and see not yourself, past or future, but a sentiment scarecrow, trembling from false declarations, and the disease of your mind's costume.

© 2009 Lee Greenfeld

Amor Fati

The Star Has Wept Rose-Colour

The star has wept rose-colour in the heart of your ears,
The infinite rolled white from your nape to the small of your back
The sea has broken russet at your vermilion nipples,
And Man bled black at your royal side.

-Arthur Rimbaud

The Sun Sets Again

Billy Lee Riley
Rest In Peace
"Billy Lee Riley, a rockabilly pioneer and songwriter who recorded for the legendary Sun Records label and is best remembered for his 1957 singles "Flyin' Saucers Rock and Roll" and "Red Hot," has died." ... Story continues here: Billy Lee Riley Dies At 75 (Los Angeles Times)

Download: "Red Hot"
Download: "Flyin' Saucers Rock & Roll"
Buy: Classic Recordings, 1956-1960
Read: Rockabilly Hall Of Fame's feature on Riley

Quote Of The Week

"Obviously the facts are never just coming at you but are incorporated by an imagination that is formed by your previous experience. Memories of the past are not memories of facts but memories of your imaginings of the facts." -Philip Roth

Close My Eyes And Drift Away...

"Sunday: A day given over by Americans to wishing
they were dead and in heaven, and that their neighbors
were dead and in hell." -H. L. Mencken

Download: "Sunday Papers" (live, '86) by Joe Jackson
Download: "Lazy Sunday" (BBC Top Gear, '68) by The Small Faces
Download: "Everyday Is Like Sunday" (live, '08) by Morrissey
Download: "Field Day For The Sundays" by Wire

Remember The Alamo

Tony Rosenthal
Rest In Peace
"Tony Rosenthal, who created "Alamo," the eternally popular revolving black cube in Astor Place in the East Village, and many other public sculptures, died on Tuesday in Southampton, NY" ... Story continues here: Tony Rosenthal, Sculptor Of Public Art, Dies At 94 (NY Times)