British rock keyboardist extraordinaire Ian McLagan, who lived in Manor the last 20 years of his life, passed away nine years ago today, at age 69. Mac didn’t come to the Austin area to retire, but to work and create. He and his band of topflight Austin players held a residency at the Lucky Lounge for ten years, and when he died you had to kick yourself for not going every single Thursday.
"Ignore negative people. They’ll find a problem for every solution." I read this “quote” on Twitter earlier in the week and I’m torn. On the one hand, I am all for ignoring negative people. On the other hand, I tend to sit in the finding problems camp. I’ve never thought of myself as a negative person. Of course, I have my moments when life sends me bucket loads of shit. In those times I can get a little down but that seems common.
My favorite classic Arabic song of all time was preformed by the great Syrian singer Sabah Fakhri, who died today in Damascus at the age of 88. Fakhri recited spiritual tunes and folk songs known as Qudud Halabiyah, after the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. His work made him one of the most popular singers in the Arabic-speaking world. The poem of Fakhri’s song chosen here is said to have been composed by a certain Medieval Muhammad al-Manbiji, of the northern Syrian city of Manbij, whose name means spring in Aramaic (the Arabic cognate word is Manbi').
Welcome to Inside the Outsider, a discussion about the HBO adaptation of Stephen King’s bestselling novel The Outsider with horror aficionado Ryan Bradford. Each week the discussion will alternate between Message from the Underworld and Ryan’s newsletter, AwkwardSD. The Outsider kicked off with a double episode and we’ve got a lot to talk about, so let’s get started. The Outsider opens with the discovery of the body of a young boy who has been brutally murdered in a park in Cherokee City, Georgia.
Milwaukee rap is on fire right now. The most exciting part of the city’s sound is built around incessant 8th-note 808 handclaps and unhinged energy. The music is a product of a longstanding local infatuation with uptempo Southern rap, but there is a new generation of kids less concerned with history and more concerned with going crazy. These kids are simply making Milwaukee music. One of the best rappers in this mode is AyooLii.