• Listen: Paramore’s new album is out today, This Is Why. 🎵
• Read: The short poem Elegy for Jane by Theodore Roethke. 📚
• Watch: The offbeat short film ANIMA, staring and music by Radiohead’s Thom York.
• Drink: Coffee.

• Watch: Live stream of wildlife at a watering hole in a Namibia desert (YouTube).
• Read: Catastrophe star Rob Delaney tells how a brain cancer diagnosis for his 1-year-old son upended his family in A Heart That Works, a story of love and grief. 📚
• Listen to: Blues rocker Elle King releases Come Get Your Wife. 🎵

• Read: A Book of Days, by Patti Smith
• Listen to: Margo Price’s new album, Strays

Some thoughts about this past weekend’s Pilgrimage Music Festival in Franklin, Tennessee:

• I saw Elle King three weeks ago opening for Chris Stapleton and again yesterday at the Pilgrimage Festival. While she’s a great performer anywhere, her rock and blues sound really shines in front of a large festival crowd. I’ve seen here three times and I’d like to make it four.
• Twentynine-year-old bluegrass picker Molly Tuttle is a talented player, catchy songwriter and fun to listen to. You can read about her musical journey in this New York Times article from last year. I didn’t know much about here before this festival, but I would see her again if I get the chance.
• It was nice to be present and see Brandi Carlile headline a bigger festival. She’s had a good couple of years and nobody is more deserving. I’m happy to see her talent recognized and rewarded.
• On Saturday Jensen McRae took the stage by herself with an acoustic guitar. Her single Wolves is a powerful song. She’s another young singer-songwriter to watch.
• I wrote about Jon Batiste yesterday. All I can say is I still have chills from that set. Unbelievable talent.

Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway at the Pilgrimage Music Festival.

🎵

I try to go to a lot of live music, especially festivals, and every once in a while a set comes along that’s truly special. Like seeing an eclipse, once in a lifetime. On Thursday singer Jon Batiste premiered his “American Symphony” at Carnegie Hall. On Saturday at the Pilgrimage Music Festival in Tennessee, still clearly floating from that Carnegie Hall high, Batiste gave what is a contender for one the best live performances I’ve ever seen.

He tore the place down and when his set time was over, he wasn’t ready to go, so he grabbed a melodica and his band kind of looked at him like, WTF? He jumped into the pit and headed back into the crowd, toward the sound booth, followed by his drummer with a tambourine to keep the show going for a few extra minutes.

Truly an artist. Don’t miss an opportunity to see him perform live.

If you’re heading to a music festival be prepared, but don’t over pack. You don’t want to carry around a bunch of weight. Here are a few items I always bring:

• A small hydration pack with side water pockets. If it’s really hot, use the hydration bladder for water. If the weather is mild you can opt for refillable water bottles instead. A lot of festivals won’t let you bring a big backpack in, so go small. Think 17L or less.

• A packable parachute picnic blanket. These are great for resting or listening to a show and they don’t take up much space in your pack. Grand Trunk makes a nice one, but there are others.

• Several bandanas. If it’s really hot these are a necessity. You can tuck one in the back of your hat to shade your neck or soak it in water and place it around your neck to cool off. Bring a few extra to give away.

• Some small snacks. Most festivals won’t let you bring in food, but you can probably get away with granola bars and trail mix. It helps for those times when you can’t make it to the concession, but are loosing energy.

• Ear plugs. You may not think you need them, but when you score that spot at the rail directly in front of the speakers, you’ll be glad you have them.

• Suntan lotion. And make sure it’s a lotion. A lot of festivals will not let you bring in aerosol cans.

• Backup battery to recharge your phone. It will die. You will be sad if you don’t have this.

• A light jacket. It may not be necessary in August, but in other months it may be. Check the weather. It may be cooler at night than you expect.

Ukrainian punk band Gogol Bordello released their new album Solidaritine today. The track “Forces of Victory” speaks directly to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and features Ukrainian Nobel prize nominated writer Serhiy Zhadan.

With only one thing on its mind
I can’t go on, I will go on
With only one thing on it’s mind
I can’t go on, I will go on

When I was younger I thought someday that we will win
And in another country I will find my twin
Spread good music and good poetry
Joining forces of the victory

Although the album was mostly written before the invasion, tracks like the standout “Take Only What You Can Carry” speak to the universal struggle of displaced people. The band posted in the description of their video for the song, “‘Take Only What You Can Carry’ encapsulates [an] emotional message of uprooted people whose lives were destroyed by this fucked up war in Ukraine.”

In August the band played a secret show for Ukrainian soldiers. Watch an interview with lead singer Eugene Hütz discussing the album, punk rock and Gogol Bordello’s legacy. And you must watch them in a boisterous performance on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts in 2019.

“Bill [Withers'] studio albums were great. I’ll even go to bat for the late ones that no one (including Bill himself) liked. But let’s talk about his live album. It’s called Live at Carnegie Hall, and it’s a document of a show there from late in 1972, though it wouldn’t be released until the following April.

Though it’s not usually mentioned among the best live albums in soul music history, it should be. Withers delivers intense versions of his hits, sometimes leading into the songs with extended commentary (called ‘raps’ in the liner notes). I memorized that record down to the last second. To this day, I can re-create the two-and-a-half-minute spoken intro that leads into ‘Grandma’s Hands.’ "

– Music is History by Questlove