I'm celebrating Maya Angelou's birthday by posting a beautiful poem by Oriah Mountain Dreamer, "The Invitation".
Gergasi Api and its majestic, magnificent, and atmospherically gothgeous post-rock.
21 years ago today, Ian Robins Dury, best known as the leader of Ian Dury and the Blockheads, died after a long battle with cancer at age 58.
Fenomena campur sari indie x Top 40 sedang riuh terjadi di Bali belakangan ini. Walau sejatinya sudah ada sejak cukup lama, jajaran pegiat indie mulai dari Zat Kimia, Aray Daulay (alM.), hingga bahkan Navicula, pernah cukup aktif ângamenâ di bar-bar di Bali selatan. Namun âserbuanâ para aktivis indie di masa pagebluk ini mengalami peningkatan signifikan. Musisi seperti Manja, Modjorido, Soulfood, Truedy, dsb. silih berganti meramaikan panggung-panggung pertunjukan bar dan restoran di Canggu, Seminyak, Nusa Dua, sampai Uluwatu. Bergantian dengan paguyuban dendang Top 40 veteran seperti, sebut saja misalnya, Ika & the Soul Brothers serta Djampiro. Apakah merupakan aksi terlarang ketika sebuah band indie menyanyikan lagu orang lain? Bisakah dikategorikan dalam perbuatan tidak menyenangkan kala sekelompok grup musik yang mengaku indie namun faktanya kerap tampil menyanyikan tembang-tembang populer/Top 40?
If Bertrand Belin is the French Nick Cave, well, then, Leonardo Ringo is the Indonesian Bertrand Belin. And if you're big into Waits and Cohen, too, you'll enjoy this beautiful melancholia.
Viva Hate, the debut solo album by Morrissey, turned 33 today!
Barangkali mengejutkan, tembang power pop âDunia Belum Berakhirâ oleh Shaden yang dirilis di tahun 2000 ini oh-ternyata punya peran lumayan signifikan di skena punk rock Bali Selatan, utamanya Twice Tape Shop (jalan raya Legian). Anak skena macam Superman Is Dead, Jihad (sebelum berubah nama ke The Dji Hard), Emocore Revolver, Commercial Suicide, dsb, mereka adalah saksi kunci.
Forty years ago today, Kim Carnes' version of "Bette Davis Eyes" won a Grammy Award.
Lima paguyuban dendang paling bersinar di Bali saat sekarang. Selain tangguh-tawakal, genre puspawarna, mereka juga mencengangkan secara musikal.
56 years ago today, Malcolm X is assassinated by rival Black Muslims while addressing his Organization of Afro-American Unity in Washington Heights.
136 years ago today, Mark Twain publishes his famousâand famously controversialânovel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (US version).
The oaken baritone singer of The National, one of my most admired singers from this era, a Cary Grant interpretation of Leonard Cohen, the Neil Diamond of indie rock, hit the big 5-0 today.
Eleven years ago today, "the hooligan of British fashion", Aexander McQueen, CBE, one of the most celebrated designers of our time, committed suicide. However, his work and vision still inspire the fashion world to create revolutionary, avant-garde, out of this world creations.
Today is the 62nd deathiversary of The Day the Music Died.
26 years ago today, Richey Edwards of Manic Street Preachers vanished leaving no clues to his whereabouts. He left The Embassy Hotel in London, England, at 7am. Edwards & James Dean Bradfield (lead singer and lead guitarist of Manics) were due to fly to the United States on a promotional tour. His car was found on the Severn Bridgeâa notorious suicide spotâ16 days later.
24 years ago today, four apartheid-era police officers, appearing before the court, admitted to the 1977 murder of the activist Bantu Stephen Biko.
64 years ago today, machines at the Wham-O toy company roll out the first batch of their aerodynamic plastic discsânow known to millions of fans all over the world as Frisbees.