A tribute to Roy Edward Ayers Jr. (September 10, 1940 – March 4, 2025) -- Celebrating a Life in Music

Finally this month I'd like to share what has to be one of the most extraordinary live performances ever captured on video. The legendary Pete Rock joins Roy Ayers on stage with a full backup band whose chops are just out of this world, playing not only some highlights from Ayers' storied career but offering several original jams and new arrangements that must be seen & heard to be believed! Recorded live at the 2011 North Sea Jazz Festival.

Despite departing our Earthly plane for the mystic harmonies of the beyond, the music Roy Ayers left us is a treasure trove of wonders that will dazzle us with its glittering briliance for generations. RIP. We could never thank you enough for the precious gifts we are so fortunate you've shared with the world.

Another stellar show. Was there anyone classier, more ahead of the curve, more effortlessly at ease with themselves and the entire panorama of musical possibility both as a performer and as a composer; as an auteur of the highest caliber??

Fundamentally, the spirit of his music was one of pure, unadulterated joy, lending it a universal appeal which shines through the whole body of his work. EVERYBODY LOVES THE SUNSHINE, now and always!!

Belated eclipse photos

While it was cloudy here in middle of the American continent for last week's solar eclipse, here are some photos I took last year in April showing the characteristic "crescent"- shaped circular pattern of light near totality filtered through leaves and projected through a pair of binoculars during the 2024 total solar eclipse over North America. Taken in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago just a few blocks from an apartment I no longer occupy.

 

 

 

 

Two-hour Constance Demby special on Sounds Of The Dawn from NTS

Trying to decide which bus to take
At last the wavefunction collapses
and I'm in my seat

Trump'n'yahoostein orders fresh round of foreign baby killing

"This one's on US"

💬🍺💥👊👺👿👹👃💩 💀👻💭

Long Live The New Flesh!

3/7/2024 

 

3/23/2024

 

3/20/2025

 

Time lapse photo montage showing significant recovery from last year's small bowel adhesion removal. The new scar is approximately three times as long as the original colectomy incision. The concavity at left is what remains of the temporary ostomy that was taken down before reconnective surgery several years ago. Seems I've put on a little weight as well :)

Lost in translation

καίτοι τοσοῦτόν γ᾽ οἶδα, μήτε μ᾽ ἂν νόσον
μήτ᾽ ἄλλο πέρσαι μηδέν: οὐ γὰρ ἄν ποτε
θνῄσκων ἐσώθην, μὴ 'πί τῳ δεινῷ κακῷ.

- Sophocles, from Oedipus Tyrannus

["Although I know so much, I will not suffer any sickness 

or anything else: for if I were ever saved by dying, 

I would not be saved from the terrible evil."] 

 

Another translation has it:

 

[So much, at least, I know, that no sickness or other factor 

would have killed me; for I should never have been saved 

from death but for some dreadful evil.] 

 

The latter sense of "this alone I know" (or more precisely "at least this") is echoed in Fagles. Especially in light of his name, it can be taken as a summation not only of 

Oedipus's character but of the human claim to knowledge according to Sophocles.

'I don't like bugs. Are you some kind of fascist? Or... wait, what's that other one...'
 

- typical reaction to the phrase "insectoid intelligence" from a sophisticated market analysis performed by 95 genetically modified fruit flies (in a jar)

Mixmaster Morris @ Atmospheric Audio Chair 1994

Also available at Internet Archive: 

https://archive.org/details/rave_Mixmaster_Morris_Live_In_Chicago

Giant metasurvey reveals 'catastrophic' butterfly losses in US

An alarmingly steep decline in populations across butterfly species is occurring in the United States that shows no sign of reversing, according to research conducted at Michigan State University and recently published in Science. 

Some eyebrow-raising findings include 107 species that lost half or more of their populations and, while not every species saw declines, 13 times the number of species did. Monarchs, once thought to be relatively protected due in part to a high level of public interest, have been hit hard as well; some other species in the MSU study lost more than 90% of their populations! 

The culprits are hardly surprising: climate change, habitat loss, overuse of insecticides and inappropriate agricultural land use patterns. What is surprising is that no one had performed such a large scale study of butterfly populations in the US before, and that as a consequence little was known about the severity of their plight beyond (now vindicated) informal observations of their decline over the past 20-odd years. 

We urgently need public officials to develop a strategy for mitigating these losses and for everyone to become aware of the enormous scope of life that is at serious risk of irreversible deterioration if business as usual includes continued ignorance or lack of concern with their - and our - collective peril. As one scientist interviewed put it, "The tree of life is being denuded at unprecedented rates." The price cannot be calculated. 

You can get involved. Sign this petition. Plant a butterfly garden in your yard.

While we're at it, I think we all owe a big THANK YOU to Seth Borenstein at the AP for his outstanding coverage of climate and Earth science news over the past couple of years, including bringing news of this kind to a wider audience.