I finished a long, great 1993 New Yorker profile on the late Ricky Jay, Secrets of the Magus. It’s fascinating, and it makes me want to watch the documentary Deceptive Practices again. I’m thinking of how mastery and dedication of his level are often once-in-a-lifetime in any art, and what is lost until the next time around. Oh, he was in Deadwood, too. From the article:
Studying videotapes of him and observing at first hand some of his serendipitous microbursts of legerdemain have taught me how inappropriate it is to say that ‘Ricky Jay does card tricks’—a characterization as inadequate as ‘Sonny Rollins plays tenor saxophone’ or ‘Darci Kistler dances.’ None of my scrutinizing has yielded a shred of insight into how he does what he does. Every routine appears seamless, unparsable, simply magical.
The vintage card in the above photo was given to me by my step-grandfather who was a budding Vaudeville performer in his day. He had a love of entertainment and performance. I hadn’t heard of Thurston, but since this card came into my possession, he’s been popping up in documentaries and conversation. Like magic. This Ricky Jay article briefly mentions Thurston.
The news that the band Galactic has purchased iconic New Orleans nightclub Tipitina’s makes me reminisce about the great shows I saw there back when I lived in Louisiana. Though I didn’t live in New Orleans — I was up north, hours away. My favorite Tipitina’s moment was when Jad Fair gave me an enthusiastic hug after I told him that I drove 5 hours to see Half Japanese play (1988, I think?).
This sentence from Matty Karas in yesterday’s MusicREDEF email newsletter sums up one reason why I’m optimistic about music and music fandom as we hurtle through the 21st century:
The New York club was sold out and packed wall-to-wall with a young audience for whom I suspect the difference between these particular improvised saxophone, vibes, harp and electric-guitar solos and, say, a good house-music DJ is academic at best. {…} Sonic and cultural differences are ever-collapsing …
He’s writing about a jazz concert led by drummer Makaya Mccraven, whose new album Universal Beings is fantastic. Listen to it.
We just flew there specifically to see Vulfpeck play Tipitinas – one of the closest-to-perfect venues that’s ever existed thanks to its history, sense of community and layout. Re. Half Japanese playing there, you might remember that it was raining buckets that night and there were – at best – a dozen fans present. I wonder who was asleep at the marketing wheel?
I do remember the dozen or so people there. I think that was partly why the hug was so enthusiastic. Also, you may remember, they destroyed their instruments at the end of the last song. It turned out this was because it was the final show of the tour, and they didn’t want to haul all their gear back to New Jersey in their touring station wagon.