Greg Burk

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Broken Mirror

Greg Burk
Akira Rabelais has made a musicimage DVD called Eisoptrophobia. The word means ”fear of mirrors,“ but for him it‘s not some ordinary fear; it’s a dread of limitation. ”I exist in a much larger space than what I am physically,“ says Rabelais (a.k.a. Vincent Carte). ”But if I were to......

Secret Agent

Greg Burk
IF YOU HAVEN'T LISTENED TO CECIL TAYLOR IN a while, you might find that he doesn't seem so weird anymore. Not because the clustery, jabbing way he plays piano has changed, but because you have. And even if you've never heard him, Taylor is one of the forces that changed......
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The Song, Not the Singer

Greg Burk
”We don’t pay off for fans of any genre,“ says Paul Lacques of Double Naught Spy Car. ”If you‘re a surf fan, we’re really gonna let you down. If you‘re a jazz fan, we’re gonna offend you. If you‘re a rock fan, good luck. If you’re a country fan ......
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Play It Loud

Greg Burk
There’s a lot of electricity flying off Matthew Shipp right now. His Nu Bop is an occasion for listeners to twitch, gurgle and bang on things. It’s the kind of arrival that could nudge people away from thinking about jazz history and point them toward jazz future. Nu Bop is......

Weekly Publisher Departs

Greg Burk
Photo by Raul Vega Michael Sigman, who spent 18 years as general manager, then publisher and finally president of the L.A. Weekly, has been asked to step down. The 52-year-old executive’s last day will be January 25. Sigman received the message last week from David Schneiderman, president of Village Voice......
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Fish Fry

Greg Burk
Etta James Sons of Otis Chris Botti Listening is like fishing. Most music never comes near your hook. Some of it nibbles and swims away. Some of what you land you throw back. Sometimes you fall in the water and it swallows you up. The following is music that I......
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The Electric Chair

Greg Burk
Do you wanna be surrounded? A setup diagram on the new electronica surround-sound DVD compilation Awaken shows how to position your TV and six (6) matched, specially amped speakers so the experience can fully enjoy you. It looks like some kind of futuristic custody. The listener shrinks in his chair......
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Dos Equis

Greg Burk
Photo by Debra DiPaolo Doug Pinnick worries that nobody hates his band. Everywhere the King’s X three travel, fans go crazy, and musicians love them enough that they were featured on VH1’s Top 100 Hard Rock Bands of All Time. Yeah, that must really suck. Lounging in the Weekly’s luxurious......
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Divine Suicide

Greg Burk
CHRIST: A CRISIS IN THE LIFE OF GOD | By JACK MILES | Alfred A. Knopf | 352 pages | $26 hardcover God felt guilty, so he killed himself. Now, that‘s a revisionist stunner. Jack Miles admittedly isn’t the only one to come up with the idea; he admires Pierre-Emmanuel......
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The Only Music

Greg Burk
Writer Phil Freeman loves modern free jazz. Loves it, sad to say, practically to death. Gods, take note: If this man builds you a temple, enter not unhelmeted. Viewed from one angle, Freeman is everything Charles Gayle, Matthew Shipp, David S. Ware and the others covered in his book New......