The Smiths at 40
Plus: The Indian Roma & Flamenco, Wine For Normal People, & Scientist Meets Blanc du Blanc.
Greetings, salutations and welcome to another Midweek Update, especially to all the new subscribers. There is lots here at my Substack for you to sink your teeth into, as a quick visit to the home page should confirm. But for now…
HOW SOON WAS NOW? THE SMITHS AT 40
Following on from my highly successful multi-media event on R.E.M.’s Murmur at 40, and talks on two of my other biographical subjects – Keith Moon and Wilson Pickett - then on Saturday May 31st, at 2pm, I will be presenting How Soon Was Now? Meat Is Murder at 40 at the Orpheum in Saugerties.
As with its predecessors, the event will involve a discussion, rare videos, plenty of time for Q&A and also, live music from a special group I have put together featuring a rhythm section of Joe Magistro (who played the R.E.M. event) and
, and four wonderful current or alumni students from the Rock Academy: Ally Argueta, Miles Ametin, Sam Taylor and Noel Fletcher. I am proper excited.For those who don’t know, by the way, this is the book, in USA hardback and UK paperback designs. (Books will be for sale on May 31st.)
THE INDIAN ROMA AND FLAMENCO
I am otherwise engaged for next 48 hours in finishing off my college degree work, which understandably fell behind with my mother’s passing and other life events around me (one of which I posted about on Facebook last weekend, so it is not a secret any more than it ever was). Of two items needing completion, I have been working on a massive project of my own choosing entitled The Indian Roma Influence on Flamenco and Modern Guitar, which has felt like researching an entire book. I hope to find a way to share out some of it once completed. But while I have multiple books I can recommend and have also been assembling an archival playlist on Qobuz, for those who might want to get straight to the heart of the flamenco magic, I do think visuals can work best in this case, to which end I have not seen a better documentary than 1988’s BBC Arena two-parter by Jana Bokova, which lets the great Flamenco Family Dynasties do the talking – or, even better, the singing, the dancing, and the playing. This YouTube version is not hi-res, but that gives it more of an epic filmic look, which seems appropriate given the subjects, who themselves have an epic filmic quality to them.
And for anyone wondering about the overall premise of my project, I can recommend this “Forgotten History” lesson from the Odd Compass channel for background.
I am generally someone who thinks twice about allowing snazzy graphics to replace written cited sources, but there is a professionalism and expertise to this presentation. Everything in it that I had prior knowledge of pans out, and in fact, while in the UK, I spent a day at the British Library and on the third floor, among the many dusty shelves dedicated to the history of Asia, among the many hardback “Gazetteers Of India” that were filled with unbelievably minute historic accounts, among the vast section on Rajasthan, and by then selecting the book on Jodhpur because it seemed most appropriate, I found confirmation of Odd Compass’s initial historic accounts. (This, for the record, is what journalists/biographers do, in no small part because we love it!)
Tony Fletcher, Substack, posts lots of words, twice a week, with music and videos and other recommendations included. Free and paid subscriptions are both available.
THE HIDDEN GEMS OF ANDALUÇIA
While you shouldn’t need recommendations from anyone to visit Andalusia, the southern Spanish “autonomous community” as such regions are called, one that includes the greatest architecture from the thousand-year Islamic period, the Costa del Sol, and the sherry region around Jerez de Frontera, which just also happens to be in the cradle of Flamenco, a recent episode of Jason Moore’s Zero To Travel podcast offered plenty of them anyway. It includes the annoying truth that attending a flamenco juerga is almost impossible without a combination of incredibly good luck and/or incredibly good contacts. But don’t let that dissuade you: in Chefchaouen, Morocco in 2016, by taking a late-night walk through an officially deserted campground, I came across something very similar, not just socially but musically. Primary difference: while the Flamenco performers load up on sherry or tinto as a matter of rite, the Moroccans were clearly on the local kif!
WINE FOR NORMAL PEOPLE
On the subject of Spanish wine (we were, right?), once upon a time I really studied wine. I learned enough through reading, tasting, traveling, sampling and more than a fair share of spending, that I seriously considered making it a new career choice. Certainly I found that wine enthusiasm pushed all the same buttons as music enthusiasm and wrote about that aspect at the launch of the old iJamming.net a full quarter-century ago now.
Paramount to these writings and studies, was my fascination with QPR – quality-price-ratio – and especially, the quest for really good wines at a really good price. So I was drawn to this episode of Wine For Normal People, in which genial and clearly informed host Elizabeth Schneider talks listeners through “12 Great Wines for Under $20.” She is not talking here about individual bottles, but about varietals and appellations you should be looking out for, in which sense this episode is not limited to the dollar sign she presents in the title as much as its international equivalent (though this may yet be affected by insane tariffs).
I listened the whole way through and while like any such list I have my own additions, and would disspute her faith in Chilean Sauvignon Blanc, I had no disagreements with her other recommendations that I know about (especially Rioja Crianza) and, post-degree, may yet search out the few I don’t know. Cheers.
PURA VIDA IN COSTA RICA?
Before Friday night, I also have to turn in a research paper on a Latin American country of my choice. I chose Costa Rica, in part because it’s not only the last Latin American country I visited, but also the last “new” country I visited, and I documented that visit at the time and did some further research on return. In fact, Paula and I talked about it on our return, as part of the One Step Beyond podcast which is currently taking a long hiatus, though I can’t say definitively that it won’t return, especially if I resume travels.
One Step Beyond covers all aspects of the outdoor life, and while a fair few episodes have been dedicated to running/hiking/the Catskills, it has featured its share of musical guests along the way, and all episodes are freely available wherever you get your pods or from here.
KILL YOUR PET PUPPY!
The same is true of The Fanzine Podcast, which has the field largely to itself and is now up to 34 episodes and counting. In case you missed last week’s post, this is the latest episode.
OASIS: WHAT’S THE STORY?
And next week, barring the unforeseen, should see a new episode of the Crossed Channels podcast I host with Dan Epstein, who this morning beat me to the Substack punch with a wonderful ethnographic story about one of the greatest hard rock songs of all time (no, it’s not that Led Zep monstrosity!). Anyway, our next Crossed Channels plans to feature the group I came in on. No, not The Smiths - Meat Is Murder will form the following episode - but the aforementioned R.E.M. If you want to know what we do with the show, here is the episode we put out into the Universe in its entirety; others are for our paid subscribers.
SCIENTIST MEETS BLANC DU BLANC
Finally, this weekend, with my schoolwork behind me (I hope), and Palace having secured a place in the FA Cup Final (I dearly hope but do not particularly expect). I will be going to see the brand new album that this following track promotes, presented “live,” with the one and only Scientist behind the mixing board and some of my best friends on the stage. Music knows no borders or boundaries, and nor do I.