Category Archives: Commentary

Babylon

A Homage to Dr. John’s “Babylon”

Text by Bruce Gallanter (Downtown Music Gallery, October 14th, 2022)

“Babylon” written by Dr. John, the Night Tripper, title track from Dr. John’s 2nd album Babylon released in 1969

Babylon
Is represented in the Bible by a stone
Babylon
Is thrown in a river and lost in a storm
Babylon
And never, never, ever again
Will anybody ever wanna call you they home

Continue reading

Al Kooper

A Homage to Al Kooper and Blood, Sweat and Tears’ “Child is Father to the Man”

Text by Bruce Gallanter (Downtown Music Gallery, July 8th, 2022)

“The Modern Adventures of Plato, Diogenes and Freud” – Written by Al Kooper for the first album by Blood, Sweat and Tears, Child is Father to the Man

Father of my morning,
Once my child to the night
I see that you have minds to cop
And I can only watch the sickened sorrow

Continue reading

Charles Mingus

A Homage to Charles Mingus’ “Fables of Faubus”

Text by Bruce Gallanter (Downtown Music Gallery, July 15th, 2022)

“Fables of Faubus” by Charles Mingus. From Mingus Ah Um (1959) and Presents Charles Mingus (1961)

Oh, Lord, don’t let ’em shoot us!
Oh, Lord, don’t let ’em stab us!
Oh, Lord, no more swastikas!
Oh, Lord, no more Ku Klux Klan!
Name me someone who’s ridiculous, Dannie.
Governor Faubus!
Why is he so sick and ridiculous?
He won’t permit integrated schools.
Then he’s a fool! Boo! Nazi Fascist supremists!
Boo! Ku Klux Klan (with your Jim Crow plan)
Name me a handful that’s ridiculous, Dannie Richmond.
Faubus, Rockefeller, Eisenhower
Why are they so sick and ridiculous?
Two, four, six, eight:
They brainwash and teach you hate.
H-E-L-L-O, Hello.

Continue reading

Editorial: Gen Z, Music, the Metaverse, and Survival 

The sooner musicians accept that the world is moving on with or without us, the sooner our music – and our ability to profit monetarily – will be able to move forward.

An Editorial by Dawoud Kringle

I have a social media account with https://www.imvu.com. This platform is pretty much metaverse based. Now, for my taste this particular social media thing is bullshit. Most of the friend requests I get are clearly scammers, and I’m NOT putting money into building my metaverse presence on IMVU. So I don’t really do anything with it. This may change, but for now, it’s a toy I almost never play with.

Continue reading