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Burning Ambulance

@burningambulance.bsky.social

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Website. Newsletter. Record label. Posts by Phil Freeman, co-founder/co-owner (and author of IN THE BREWING LUMINOUS: THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF CECIL TAYLOR, coming in 2024).

Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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I just donated to Ars Nova Workshop by "endowing" a chair in their new home, Solar Myth in Philadelphia. Sometime in the near future, you'll be able to sit in the official, engraved Burning Ambulance chair — which I believe will be seat #13.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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The concept of "disposable entertainment" seems foreign to critics these days. Everything is a treasure that should run forever and be preserved for the grandchildren; nothing is just This Week's Diversion anymore. Me? I want to make a thing, get paid for it, toss it in the ocean, and make another.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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The latest Burning Ambulance podcast is up now; it features an interview with Cindy Blackman Santana, and a *bonus* interview with Carlos Santana from 2019...
burningambulancepodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/cin...

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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For a long time I have believed in the superiority of the director's cut of MIAMI VICE, but I may now be coming around on the theatrical cut.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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Surman, Alan Skidmore, and Eje Thelin on trombone.
www.discogs.com/release/2869...

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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That recent live Weather Report double CD from 1971 is amazing.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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I asked Laswell about it once because he did a remix (excuse me, "mix translation") album of Santana's 72-74 spiritual fusion stuff, and he said he didn't know but that if anyone did know it would be Bob Belden. Unfortunately, Belden died in 2015.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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And yet still no official live release from the 1974 Carlos Santana/John McLaughlin tour, which I refuse to believe was not recorded.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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Dylan's people should have consulted with Robert Fripp about pricing. "Are you mad? You could get three times that, easy!"

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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I'm not a Dylan fan AT ALL, but I'm curious about the packaging. The pack shot on Amazon makes it look like it comes split into three boxes of nine CDs each, which is nuts, especially if they're only charging $130 for it.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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I would not pay a nickel for a 27-CD box set of live Bob Dylan recordings from 1974, but I would definitely pay a few bucks to read the internal sales projections for the thing.
pitchfork.com/news/bob-dyl...

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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There are lots of things I don't miss about the east coast, but Northeast Corridor (and North Jersey Coast Line) train service is the thing I don't miss THE MOST.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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Just a reminder that we're coming up on the one-year anniversary of the 13th album by one of the greatest death metal bands of all time; Incantation's Unholy Deification came out August 25, 2023 and it RULES.
incantation666.bandcamp.com/album/unholy...

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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Maybe down the road. I have a Very Big Plan in the works for 2025 already, though. Can't say anything yet, but it's Very Big.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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My wife and I each know lots of things the other has no idea about. For 30+ years, we've been experiencing things together, but *also* passing cool shit across the table (figuratively speaking). "Here, check this out! I love it because [x, y, z]. What do you think?"

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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I'm never coming back from Montana if I have anything to say about it, but it would be great to watch him play again.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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There are few things funnier to me than getting a “[NAME] subscribed to your Substack!” email, followed by a “[SAME NAME] unsubscribed from your Substack!” email less than five minutes later. What can you say beyond, "Thanks for stopping by!"

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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When you start thinking that people who make dark art must surely be dark people, remember that Cannibal Corpse vocalist George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher is famous for playing claw machines on tour and donating the stuffed animals he wins to local toy drives and children's hospitals.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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Reading that thread, it just seems like that person doesn't like violent art and is building a moral scaffolding to prop up their personal taste.

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Reposted by Burning Ambulance

CHOAM Nomsky 💭's avatar CHOAM Nomsky 💭 @thielman.bsky.social
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I suppose a thing that gets lost is that a worrying number of apparently adult people conceive of "love" as an emotion one person feels for another and not a state of mutual being. Love is exclusively mutual; whatever attraction or obsession occurs alone may be interesting but it is not love.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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I also really appreciated the "world music" discussion; when I was editing Global Rhythm we had many discussions about the term and what it demanded of us. Many of our readers wanted to be sold music as health food, while I wanted to present basically "pop from around the world."

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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This is a really, really good piece, though Nate and I disagree very deeply about the value of lyrics. (If I didn't speak English, I might like Elvis Costello's music.) Seeing King Sunny Ade play straight through from 8 PM to 4 AM in 1990 was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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DARK BLUE is pretty good. Russell is very good in it. You could also try STREET KINGS with Keanu Reeves, but be warned: both movies are based on stories by James Ellroy. Whether that's a selling point for you or not, you should know it going in.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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Wanna see some amazing art, including the covers to all Burning Ambulance Music releases and a whole lot more? Visit iafreeman.com! (New stuff coming, too; we're prepping two BAM releases now for the fall.)

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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I won't even be able to announce it for several months, but maybe the biggest project I've ever taken on is starting to look very real, and it's gonna have a *major* impact when it lands.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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I just think Coppola belongs in the pantheon of Voice-of-a-Generation Filmmakers but isn't ever considered, because of who's always having those conversations.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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Not at all joking: I nominate Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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Hey, remember when the entire Washington, DC press corps tried to force Biden out of office over the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan? No, just me? Never mind, then.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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FIGHTING, with Channing Tatum and Terrence Howard, is the MIDNIGHT COWBOY of underground bareknuckle fight-club movies, and a strong example of "New York as hellhole" cinema. It's on Netflix now; recommended.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=enej...

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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I saw one yesterday in my town and I can only hope that it was the same one I saw in a nearby larger town (they call it a "city" but they're kidding themselves, it has 1/5 the population of the town I moved away from) because if there are two of them that close together...ugh.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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Woke up to the news that physical copies of IN THE BREWING LUMINOUS: THE LIFE & MUSIC OF CECIL TAYLOR are out in the world. This photo comes from the UK, and someone in the US also got one (ordered direct from the publisher, arrived in 5 days via DHL). Excited, to say the least.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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A great line from a review of an album I'm really enjoying: "On the surface, fans of [Crystal Viper] will be pleased to know that nothing has changed between previous releases and The Silver Key. For the rest of you, continue to be posers."
www.angrymetalguy.com/crystal-vipe...

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Faine Greenwood's avatar Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social
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It really is making *me* feel crazy to see a bunch of other Democrat voters running around screaming about how Biden is now unelectable, on the basis of one bad debate and an incredibly obvious ratfucking campaign by America’s most craven newspaper.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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The speed with which the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Atlantic, and the New Republic will become organs of state power a year from now will astonish many people.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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How long until Canadian politicians start talking about the crisis on their southern border?

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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I don't think I've ever written about his music anywhere, and now I'm glad, because UK jazz artist Kamaal Williams seems like a real piece of shit:
ra.co/features/4341

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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It's always so weird when you have an interview scheduled and the person just...doesn't call at the appointed time. No email or text message to explain, just silence. Well, OK then...

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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Just watched BLOOD FOR DUST, a stripped-down, retro (it's set in the early 90s) Western noir. Solid cast: Scoot McNairy, Kit Harington, Josh Lucas, Ethan Suplee. RIYL A Simple Plan, Fargo (movie, not show). Highly recommended.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRrr...

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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He looks like not only is he big, but he deliberately chose smaller-than-average bandmates. Which is exactly what I would have done in his position.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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The number of decisions my car — a 2024 Subaru Crosstrek — makes on its own is shocking to me. Oh, there's a lot of water on the road so we're just gonna slow down to 45 miles an hour no matter what the driver thinks about it? Cool, cool.

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Burning Ambulance's avatar Burning Ambulance @burningambulance.bsky.social
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Sometimes I think about how much more popular and influential Burroughs' writing and ideas could have been had he not gotten sidetracked with that "cut-up" bullshit... he really had a fascinating and uniquely American prose voice that he destroyed in a fit of delirium.

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