Gimme Dat Harp Boy – November 18, 2024

The harmonica, a small but mighty instrument, has left an indelible mark on American music. Known for its distinctive, soulful sound, the harmonica is often associated with blues, folk, country, and rock music. Its appeal lies in its portability, affordability, and versatility, allowing musicians to express complex emotions across a range of genres. Although its origins are rooted outside the U.S., the harmonica became an essential part of American music in the 19th and 20th centuries, shaping genres and adding depth to musical expression.

This week Next To Silence is not so much a history of the harmonica in American Music as a appreciation, which features a collection of some of my favorite  tunes that feature the mouth harp. We’ll hear the harmonica featured in different genres – blues, pop, rock, movie soundtracks, country, and African music.

Playlist for the week of November 18, 2024:

00:00:00 John Mayall – Room To Move

00:07:01 Little Walter – Juke

00:09:43 Stevie Wonder – Fingertips Pt 2

00:12:52 The Lovin’ Spoonful – Lonely – Instrumental

00:16:11 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band – Gimme Dat Harp Boy

00:19:42 The Paul Butterfield Blues Band – Born in Chicago

00:27:47 Ennio Morricone – Man with a Harmonica

00:26:13 Toots Thielemans – Scotch On The Rocks

00:32:15 Cream – Rollin’ and Tumblin’ – Live

00:37:16 Charlie Musselwhite – Christo Redemptor

00:40:34 John Barry – Midnight Cowboy

00:43::19 Sonny Boy Williamson II; The Yardbirds – Mister Downchild – Live

00:47:26 SOBA; Moussa Koita; Jean-Emile Biayenda; Vincent Bucher – Tounga

0:51:41 – Canned Heat – On The Road Again

00:55:04 The Rolling Stones – Midnight Rambler

01:01:54 The Doobie Brothers – Long Train Runnin’

01:05:20 Led Zeppelin – When the Levee Breaks

01:15:09 Joe Filisko & Eric Noden – Destination Unknown

01:17:4 Billy Joel – Piano Man

01:23:21 The J. Geils Band – Whammer Jammer

01:25:57 Bruce Springsteen – The Promised Land

01:30:24 Blues Traveler – Run-Around

01:35:01 Bob Dylan – I Want You

01:38:05 The Beatles -Love Me Do

01:40:24 Jethro Tull -Some Day the Sun Won’t Shine for You

01:45:53 Charlie McCoy -Orange Blossom Special

Radios

The radios sit, Bakelite husks,
Colors dulled by decades of light—
Red, green, blue, once vivid enough
To brighten rooms that are empty now.

Time hums inside them still,
The slow, indifferent tick of hands
Marking minutes that carried news,
Ballroom songs, the war’s end.

Music spilled out in tidy portions,
Tuned to the shape of ordinary lives.
Now, they gather dust on shelves,
Perfect and mute, outliving us all.

Waltham, Massachusetts

Those We’ve Lost in 2024 – December 30, 2024

This show pays tribute to some of the recording artists we’ve lost in 2024. There are way too many for me to include on one show, and I have selected some of the artists who, for one reason or another, resonated for me.

This week’s playlist:

00:00:00 The Shangri-Las – Remember (Walkin’ In The Sand)

00:05:59 Melanie – Brand New Key 

00:08:24 John Kander; Chita Rivera; Chicago Ensemble; Stanley Lebowsky – All That Jazz (from “Chicago”) 

00:11:34 MC5 – Kick Out the Jams 

00:14:11 Bob Marley & The Wailers – Lively Up Yourself 

00:23:19 Jello Biafra; Mojo Nixon – Love Me I’m a Liberal 

00:27:20 Allman Brothers Band – Revival 

00:31:25 Duane Eddy – Rebel Rouser 

00:33:44 Spider John Koerner – Rattlesnake 

00:35:19 Mansour Seck – Almany Bocoum 

00:42:10 Françoise Hardy – Le temps de l’amour 

00:46:14 Kinky Friedman – We Reserve The Right To Refuse Service To You 

00:50:16 Ali Farka Touré; Toumani Diabaté – Ruby 

00:56:12 John Mayall – Room To Move 

01:00:45 Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 – Mas Que Nada 

01:03:22 Kris Kristofferson – Me and Bobby McGee 

01:07:37 It’s A Beautiful Day – White Bird 

01:17:29 Grateful Dead -Box of Rain

01:22:46 Michael Jackson – Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ 

01:28:45 Martial Solal; Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen – Spring Swing 

01:33:55 Cissy Houston – Think It Over 

01:39:45 Onyeka Onwenu – Iyogogo 

01:44:46 Chick Corea -Samba Yantra

01:48:42 P.D.Q.Bach; Peter Schickele; The Greater Hoople Area Off-Season Philharmonic -1712 Overture S. 1712

Happy New Year!

Dave

What Remains

The awning stretches forward,
thin steel bones,
holding the weight of absence.
A cracked line of pavement,
its edges curling upward,
a slow retreat
from purpose.

Weeds twist
between fractures,
their stubborn green
cutting through the gray,
a quiet defiance
unnoticed,
persistent.

The sky folds low,
soft with clouds—
no sun,
only a dim light
slipping across the surface,
settling into shadow.

What was here
is no longer here,
yet the space remembers,
waiting,
its silence
a language we
cannot yet speak.

Mount Laurel, New Jersey

African/Caribbean Christmas – December 23, 2024


This week Next to Silence celebrates the holidays with Christmas Music from Africa and the Caribbean. We’ll hear holiday tunes from South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cabo Verde,Cameroon, Jamaica,Tobago, and Bahamas.

Playlist:

00:00:00 Judith Sephuma – African Christmas 

00:05:53 Various African Artists -12 Days of Christmas – Coke Studio Africa 

00:10:29 Kwadwo Donkoh – Yema Mo Afehyia Pa Papa Na Oye Bone Nyina Nko

00:20:53 Papa Wemba; Mino Cinelu – Angels We Have Heard On High 

00:24:58 Donsam; Soulbrother All Stars –  Christmas Abiago 

00:28:41 Maike Watson; VOX Cape Town – Christmas In Africa 

00:33:27 Cesária Evora – Natal 

00:38:30 Tunde Ednut – Jingle Bell Bell 

00:41:45 African Christmas – White Christmas 

00:43:48 Tunde Ednut; Tiwa Savage; Davido; Seun Kuti – Jingle Bell 

00:47:26 African Gospel Choir – Cameroun : Avak Avak 

00:52:51 Yonda – Xmas 

00:56:41 Alex Boyé – Refugee’s Christmas 

01:00:31 The Seraph Choir – Toyemba Noel 

01:04:40 Prinx Emmanuel – Afrobeat Christmas 

01:07:34 Mike Abdul – Fuji Christmas 

01:11:02 Alex Boyé – Little Drummer Boy 

01:13:06Floxy Bee – Idakeroro Lale (Silent Night) 

01:16:54 Eek-A-Mouse – The Night Before Christmas 

01:22:16 Michigan & Smiley – Drummer Boy 

01:25:52 Carlene Davis & Trinity – Santa Clause (Do You Ever Come To The Ghetto) 

01:29:42 Jacob Miller; Ray I; Inner Circle – Deck the Halls (feat. Ray I)

01:32:28 Lord Nelson – Party for Santa Claus 

01:35:16 Joseph Spence – Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town 

Santa in the Corner

Standing steady above the bar,
A red glow against the geometry of walls,
Illuminated through his plastic skin,
Abiding warmth in the darkest nights.

Santa, unswerved amid chaos,
Beckons the timeless mirror of imagination,
Reflecting anticipation,
Bestowing rewards for those

Who sustain unwavering belief in the spirit of hope,
His gaze fixed on it all down below,
An emblem of steadfast persistence when
The season shifts from festivity to memory.

Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts

Rain – December 9, 2024

Rain Chant

The rain drums on tin roofs, a jazz riff of despair,
splattering memories of love lost on cracked sidewalks—
gray skies bleed like forgotten poems,
and the gutters gulp their endless sorrow.

I walk alone, a vagabond of fleeting moments,
shivering under the cold exhale of eternity—
petrichor rising like ghosts of the soil,
their whispers cling to my skin, ancient and raw.

Each drop is a confession, a hymn to impermanence,
washing the graffiti of heartbreak from brick walls—
I lift my face to the storm, let the sky baptize me,
reborn, dripping, but still human, still aching.

Playlist:

00:00:00 The Temptations – I Wish It Would Rain
00:04:58 Irma Thomas – It’s Raining
00:07:02 The Cavemen. – Beautiful Rain
00:10:29 The Lovin’ Spoonful -Rain On The Roof
00:12:38 Eurythmics; Annie Lennox; Dave Stewart -Here Comes the Rain Again
00:17:27 Carpenters – Rainy Days And Mondays
00:21:03 Bob Dylan – A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
00:27:54 Led Zeppelin -Fool in the Rain
00:34:04 Tina Turner – I Can’t Stand the Rain
00:37:45 Creedence Clearwater Revival – Who’ll Stop The Rain
00:42:12 B.J. Thomas – Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head
00:45:14 Tom Waits -Rain Dogs
00:48:07 Dave Bartholomew; Al Reed – Drops of Rain
00:50:08 Prince – Purple Rain
00:58:47 The Weather Girls -It’s Raining Men
01:02:17 Grateful Dead -Box of Rain
01:07:34 Ray Charles -Come Rain or Come Shine
01:11:13 Jimi Hendrix – Still Raining Still Dreaming
01:15:37 Bruce Springsteen – Rainmaker
01:22:00 The Rolling Stones -Rain Fall Down
01:26:51 Creedence Clearwater Revival – Have You Ever Seen The Rain
01:29:29 Ella Fitzgerald; Joe Pass – Rain
01:21:51 Chicago – Another Rainy Day in New York City
01:34:44 Buddy Holly; The Crickets – Raining In My Heart
01:37:17 Bob Dylan – Buckets of Rain
01:40:51 The Beatles -Rain
01:43:49 Tones And I – Never Seen the Rain
01:48:05 John Coltrane -After the Rain

Not Quite Classical Part 1 – December 16, 2024

A name doesn’t make the music. It’s just called that to differentiate it from other types of music.
-Art Blakey

The first year of NEXT TO SILENCE featured the genre-defying music from the German record label ECM, and from there I have expanded the scope and content of the material.

This week is the first of what I hope are many shows that feature music that challenges the listener to pay attention to the flow of sounds without giving it a label., and the title of this week’s show is “Not Quite Classical.” My hope and intention is that the performances on this weeks’ show will allow you to drop any preconceived notions of what you will hear.

When describing music as “not quite classical,” I mean that this week’s playlist  incorporates some elements of classical music—such as orchestration, structure, or harmonic complexity—while also diverging from its traditional norms in notable ways. This might include blending classical techniques with influences from other genres (e.g., jazz, electronic, pop, or folk), experimenting with unconventional forms or instrumentation, or adopting a more accessible, less rigid approach.

There are seven compositions featured in this show and I’ll introduce each one before they are played. 00:02:20 Hania Rani -24.03 – Live at Studio 1 Warsaw

00:10:26 Harry Partch – Daphne of the Dunes 

00:29:08 Ingram Marshall – Fog Tropes 

00:40:00 Neil Rolnick – Balkanization 

00:51:20 Stuart Dempster; Pauline Oliveros; David Gamper; Deep Listening Band – Deep Hockets 

00:56:36 Terry Riley -Performance One – Part 1

01:19:19 Karlheinz Stockhausen – Gesang der Jünlinge