Today in 1941, in Leland, Mississippi, Wadada Leo Smith was born. Over the last few years, Smith has become not only one of my favorite trumpet players – for his tone, for his technique, for his fearless improvisation – but also one of my favorite musicians, period.

I don’t want to get all weird on you, but there’s a spiritual quality to his music that’s, I dunno…somehow necessary right about now. Not in a corrective or a political sense; just as a reminder that some things are simply bigger than we are. And it sometimes takes an artist like Smith to reveal that bigness, if you will.

Anyway, if you have a music lover on your Christmas list this year, you could do a lot worse than picking from Smith’s extensive discography. (He’s released 30 albums since 2000 alone.) Some favorites of mine: Divine Love (ECM, 1979), Ten Freedom Summers (Cuneiform, 2012), The Great Lakes Suite (TUM, 2014), A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke* (ECM, 2016), and Solo: Reflections and Meditations on Monk (TUM, 2017).

*with Vijay Iyer

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

Every year about this time I receive a special holiday greeting. Not just any ol’ greeting, but a package of original illustrated and silk-screened fine art cards. They’re beautiful. They always feature a mountain scene and night sky with an applied bright, shiny star. And they’re always the same size.

Illustrator and graphic designer Wild Bill Voiland – who once operated Wild Bill Graphics here in Spokane – has been creating these pieces of art for as long as I can remember. I’m not sure when I received my first, but I’ve kept a copy of every single card ever since.

Thanks for the annual holiday cheer, Wild Bill. And Merry Christmas to you as well.

posted by: CK Anderson  |  category: the design life  |  make a comment

I picked up my first copy of Desert Oracle the summer before last at the Little A’Le’Inn in Rachel, Nevada—mostly because its bright yellow cover stood out from all the self-published UFO- and Area 51-related tell-alls on the shelves.

A couple of minutes’ worth of reading and I was hooked. Ken Layne‘s digest-sized quarterly is part travelogue, part field guide, and part unapologetic nature writing—with a healthy dose of X-Files sprinkled in for good measure. Since then I’ve not only subscribed, I’ve also picked up every back issue available (sadly, no. 5 appears to be out of print).

If you like celebrating the weird and the wonderful, you need to subscribe. If you think the desert southwest is a mysterious and magical place, you need to subscribe. If you appreciate independent writing and publishing, you need to subscribe. And if you want to be responsible for the coolest present under the tree this year, you need to introduce someone to Desert Oracle with a gift subscription.

Finally, check out the podcast. It’s wildly entertaining and informative—and creepy as hell.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

The American edition of Andrew Roberts’s Churchill: Walking with Destiny comes out today.

I know, I know—you’re probably wondering whether yet another bio of the eminent British statesman was really necessary. Apparently so: Both the New York Times and the Economist named it one of the best books of the year.

What’s the fascination with Winston? Well, for one, he smoked as many as 10 cigars a day* and actually got a doctor’s note authorizing a minimum of 250 cc (a little over 8 oz.) of “alcoholic spirits” at meal times. During prohibition. I mean, sure, he led Britain to victory in WWII and wrote some 13 million words in 43 books and is one of the most significant figures of the 20th Century—a period with no shortage of significant figures—but c’mon. What a badass.

*According to former valet Roy Howells, “in two days his cigar consumption was the equivalent of my weekly salary.”

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

Surprise! Mid-century modern and minimalism are “a feast for the eyes, but a nightmare for the ears.”

Wanna be an artist? Jerry Saltz offers up “33 rules to take you from clueless amateur to generational talent (or at least help you live life a little more creatively).” Rule no. 20: Accept that You Will Likely Be Poor.

Speaking of art, this is pretty cool.

For months in the early 1940s, Alexander Weygers and his wife Marian “slept in a tent he’d built and stayed alive on dandelion soup and gopher stew.” Meanwhile, he patented a flying saucer.

William Logan reviews Ursula K. Le Guin’s poetry. He’s…not kind: “There’s a breathless bit of Zen, a dash of lardish sentiment, and a lot of pure idiocy on every page.”

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

Some people’s vacation ideal is a Caribbean cruise, others a European getaway. Me? I dig road trips. And even though it’s a cliché, it’s true: the destination doesn’t really matter. It’s the experiences along the way.

Take Yosemite, for example. Even though I grew up in California, I’d never been before this year. Sure, I’d marveled at the Ansel Adams photos. I’d also read the stories about the over-crowding. So it was never high on my list. But the missus and I figured, Hey, we’re heading south—why not at least drive through the park and see what the fuss is all about?

Well…this, for one thing:

Half Dome on a crisp fall afternoon.

And this:

All 3,000 feet of “El Cap,” as the cool climbing kids call it.

Nothing—and I mean nothing—can prepare you for the Yosemite Valley. We ended up camping in the park overnight, then driving over Tioga Pass early the next morning, stopping long enough to brew up a pot of coffee and fix some breakfast to enjoy along with the magnificent solitude of Tuolomne Meadows.

Call me crazy, but the western Sierra might just be the most beautiful place on Earth.

Check out Instagram (#superhappyfuntimeroadtrip) to see more.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

Under cover of darkness on the evening of November 2, the missus and I decamped for warmer climes—namely Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks (with a stop at Yosemite on the way down and Pinnacles on the way back up).

Death Valley, a starkly beautiful place of striking color—and oppressive silence.

All told, we logged close to 50 miles on foot through canyons, across sand dunes, and over old mining roads—and even managed to get a little spelunking in. We saw bats, roadrunners, coyotes, lizards, countless songbirds, rabbits, deer, and a bobcat. And lots of European tourists. And a U.S. Navy F/A-18 screaming through Rainbow Canyon at dusk.

Sunset at the Seussian Joshua Tree.

With temps in the low 50s at night reaching to the upper 80s by mid-afternoon, this is definitely the time of year to visit the southern California desert—though short days tend to limit your activities somewhat. On the other hand, that just means the crystal-clear night sky arrives sooner than usual.

Like last year’s #superepicmegaroadtrip, shots from this year’s #superhappyfuntimeroadtrip can be seen on Instagram if y’all are interested. More in tomorrow’s post…

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment