Quote Of The Week

"I want to learn more and more to see as beautiful what is necessary in things; then I shall be one of those who make things beautiful. Amor fati: let that be my love henceforth! I do not want to wage war against what is ugly. I do not want to accuse; I do not even want to accuse those who accuse. Looking away shall be my only negation. And all in all and on the whole: some day I wish to be only a Yes-sayer." [from The Gay Science]

A.I.T.A. Hall Of Fame: The Desperate Bicycles

The Desperate Bicycles were formed in March 1977 specifically for the purpose of recording and releasing a single on their own label. They booked a studio in Dalston for three hours and with a lot of courage and a little rehearsal they recorded "Smokescreen" and "Handlebars." It subsequently leapt at the throat. Three months later The Desperate Bicycles were back in a studio to record their second single and this is the result. "No more time for speculating" they sing and who knows? they may be right. They'd really like to know why you haven't made your single yet. "It was easy, it was cheap, go and do it." (The complete cost of "Smokescreen" was £153) The medium may very well been tedium but it's changing fast. So if you can understand, go and join a band. Now it's your turn.......... [sleeve notes from 'The Medium Was Tedium' 45]

Download: "Smokescreen" *

Download: "Handlebars" *

Download: "The Medium Was Tedium" **

Download: "(I Make The) Product" ***

Download: "Holidays" ***
Download: "The Housewife Song" ***

Download: "Occupied Territory" #

Download: "Pretty Little Analyse" +

Download: "Natural History" +

Download: "Grief Is Very Private" $
Download: "Obstructum" $

Download: "Teacher's Prayer" £

* Smokescreen 7" (Refill Records, 1977)

** The Medium Was Tedium 7" (Refill Records, 1977)

*** New Cross, New Cross 7" (Refill Records, 1978)

# Occupied Territory 7" (Refill Records, 1978)

+ Remorse Code LP ( Refill Records, 1979)

$ Grief Is Very Private 7" (Refill Records, 1980)
£ John Peel Session (BBC Radio, 1978)

Lonely Streets

"The eternal quest of the individual humanbeing is to shatter his loneliness."

Download: "That Lonely Feeling" by Dean Ford And The Gaylords
Download: "Sad & Lonely" by Garden Odyssey Enterprise
Download: "I Will Not Be Lonely" by The Fanatics
Download: "Life's Lonely Road" by Majic Ship

Photograph by Lee Greenfeld © 2009

Quote Of The Week

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes."

Favorite Buildings

Photograph by Lee Greenfeld © 2009

Briefly, A Candle

Drifting through the day and the night he does his best to propel the monsters from his head. 'Space is the place' is the chant, but he knows not how to achieve such a feat of transport. He takes another sip of his brandy.

The candle burns out, and out he walks into the rain and all that lie ahead.

© 2009 Lee Greenfeld

The Truth

"There is something very wonderful about music. Words are wonderful enough; but music is even more wonderful. It speaks not to our thoughts as words do; it speaks through our hearts and spirits, to the very core and root of our souls. Music soothes us, stirs us up, it puts noble feelings in us, it can make us cringe; and it can melt us to tears; and yet we have no idea how. It is a language by itself..."

Quote Of The Week

"Do what you feel in your heart to be right — for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't."

A.I.T.A. Hall Of Fame: The Hawks

In the early 1960s Levon Helm and Ronnie Hawkins recruited an all-Canadian lineup of musicians to be their backing band, The Hawks: guitarist Robbie Robertson, bassist Rick Danko, pianist Richard Manuel and organist Garth Hudson. In late 1963, the band split with Hawkins and began touring under the name Levon & The Hawks, and later as The Canadian Squires, before changing back to The Hawks. The band briefly contemplated the name The Crackers(!), but settled on The Band and began their ascent to stardom as Bob Dylan's live backing band, later recording a string of classic albums on their own, as well as collaborating with Dylan on the legendary Basement Tapes, and the highly underrated Planet Waves LP.

Download: "Leave Me Alone" by The Canadian Squires

Download: "He Don't Love You..." by The Hawks

Buy: The Best Of Ronnie Hawkins

The Bridge

Photograph by Lee Greenfeld © 2009

'And The Days Are Just Not Enough'

And the days are just not enough
And the nights are not full enough
And life slips by like a field mouse
   Not shaking the grass.

Honor

Photograph by Lee Greenfeld © 2009

Quote Of The Week

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

No Dominion

After a reported 18 shots of whiskey, the great Welsh author/poet Dylan Thomas stumbled out of the White Horse Tavern in the West Village and collapsed to the street. From there he was taken to the Chelsea Hotel, fell into a coma, and was taken to Saint Vincent's Hospital where he died a week later. Echoing his own famous words, he definitely didn't "go gentle into that good night."

Dig: Dylan Thomas' page on Poets.org Buy: The Poems Of Dylan Thomas (book & CD) Buy: Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Dog

To Be Alive

To be alive: not just the carcass
But the spark.
That's crudely put, but...

If we're not supposed to dance,
Why all this music?

Since 1947

All photos by Chris Arnade © 2009
(Except Montero's sign by Lee Greenfeld © 2009)

Rolling Thunder Detour

Bob Dylan & Allen Ginsberg

(Jack Kerouac's grave, 11/3/75)

Download: "It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry"
(Live at Madison Square Garden, New York City, 1975)

Photo by Ken Regan

Quote Of The Week

"There is no remedy for love but to love more."