May 26, 2007 - Kicks Don't Fail Us Now
A pre-summer's night of pure musical pleasure... well, we can only hope you agree! Check out the playlist for the most recent Free Kick show and feel free to download the mp3 so you can relive the experience:

• medium quality mp3

To stream the show, just go to the CKUT archives page and ask for the show from Saturday May 26, 21:03 to 23:04.

The artists we featured were:

Bonnie & Clyde with Terminator X, Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
James Brown, Vicki Anderson, The Meters, Fred Wesley & the Horny Horns, Red Saunders & his Orchestra, Little Feat, Orlando Julius & His Afro-Sounders, New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars, Sun Ra (multiple selections in an arrival day tribute! see my previous post), The Cosmic Rays, Billy Bragg, Baby Gramps, Abbie Hoffman, Medeski Scofield Martin and Wood, Billy Cobham, The Amboy Dukes, and the Electric Prunes!

Next show is Saturday June 9 from 9-11 pm eastern time on CKUT 90.3 fm in Montreal, and we do hope you'll tune in. Otherwise, what's the point?

cheerio
Dave

Happy Sun Ra Arrival Day!
May 22 1914 is the day on which Herman Poole "Sonny" Blount, AKA Le Sony'r Ra, AKA Sun Ra appeared on this planet in Birmingham, Alabama (he preferred to speak of this occasion as his arrival on Earth from outer space, rather than his birth, and who are we to disagree?)

I don't have a lot of time right now to go through the details of Sun Ra's life and work. He was an absolutely unique individual and musician - a great pianist (& electronic keyboard pioneer), composer and arranger who fostered musical innovations that are still being elaborated today. He was a champion of the imagination who spoke of the infinite possibilities achievable by human beings, and black people in particular (despite the degrading treatment they were subject to in the society he inhabited). He refused to be limited by what he was told were the the realities of life on Earth in the 20th century, and offered his music as a challenge, urging us to move beyond the constricted paths of a conformist existence by traveling the spaceways!

Here's a little taste of Sun Ra's music performed by a small group (he normally led a big band):

• When There is No Sun

This track appears on his New Steps album, recorded in Rome in 1978 with John Gilmore (sax), Michael Ray (trumpet), Luqman Ali (drums) and of course Mr. Mystery himself on the Crumar Mainman keyboard.

Sun Ra's legacy is being carried on by the Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen. They put on incredible shows and have two nice CDs, so check em out if you get a chance.

Lee Santa has set up an excellent page of photos of Sun Ra and the Arkestra from the 60s & 70s. Check out his pics of Ornette Coleman, Pharoah Sanders, Cecil Taylor and others too!

Also, if you want something to read, the good people at the Red Saunders Foundation have just added a fantastic new section to their site detailing the history of Sun Ra's work while he lived in Chicago, from 1948 to 1961. And of course, the first stop on the web for Ra-related stuff is Joe Moudry's great Saturn site.

I'll definitely be playing some Sun Ra on the next Free Kick show, May 26 from 9-11 pm eastern time. So check it out, and sign up with Outer Spaceways Incorporated. Space is the place!

Dave

May 12, 2007 - A Free Kick for Mothers
Oooof, what a busy week. Finally I have time to check in with you about the latest Free Kick show, which Shawn turned into a Mother's Day spectacular! Well, OK, more of a low-key tribute. I may have slept on this particular special occasion, but don't get me wrong: I am a vociferous supporter of mothers and all things motherly. And I love my own mother very dearly. Have you phoned yours recently?

Now to business. Here are the links to download the show in mp3 format:

• 64 kbps

If you want to stream the show without actually saving a file on your computer, you can go to the CKUT archives and ask for Saturday May 12 from 21:02 to 23:02.

The roll call of artists we played includes: J Dilla, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Sly & the Family Stone, Dennis Coffey and the Detroit Guitar Band, Chris Clark, Marcos Valle, Elis Regina, Duke Ellington Orchestra (vocal: Ivie Anderson), Trio Derome Guilbeault Tanguay, Richard Cheese, Trans-X, Dead Or Alive, Momus, DJ Dolores vs Taraf De Haïdouks, Ken Nordine, Boredoms, Slapp Happy/Henry Cow, Marnie Stern, Simply Saucer + William S. Burroughs, Eno, Moondog, Iva Bittova, Gong, and The Mothers of Invention!

Just one extra goody this week: a cool video splicing together 1966 performances in London by John Cage (actually mainly utterances) and Rahsaan Roland Kirk (great concert footage from Ronnie Scott's!). This one is housed at ubuweb, which I urge you to investigate thoroughly because, well, it rocks like no other avant garde multimedia arts repository.

Next Free Kick show: May 26, from 9-11 pm eastern on CKUT 90.3 fm. Just tune in please.

Oh, one more thing: don't forget to pay your pledge to the CKUT 2007 funding drive ... and if you haven't pledged yet, you can still do so. Click the link above for the 411.

walk good
Dave