‘We Had This Amazing Connection’

This is one of those stories about something that happens at just about exactly the time the magazine hits the stands. So, if you happen to get a copy at the moment it’s hot off the press, you may still have time to go to the event. If you don’t, you get to decide whether you want to read a little something about the event even though you don’t have the chance to experience it.

Donny McCaslin and his band will perform at 7:30 pm on Jan. 20 at the James Devin Moncus Theater at 101 W. Vermillion St., Lafayette.

If the name of Donny McCaslin isn’t ringing any bells in your head, I’ll give you some tips. McCaslin and his band played most of the music on David Bowie’s last album Blackstar, which debuted in the No. 1 spot in both the U.S. and U.K. It was Bowie’s only No. 1 album in this country.

Just as Blackstar has been called Bowie’s commentary on death and on his death in particular, it’s also been called his commentary on jazz.

Bowie was an old hand at working with adventurous jazz players. Starting with 1973’s Aladdin Sane, jazz pianist Mike Garson peppered numerous Bowie albums with his long, acrobatic trills and his fast sequence of big, loud chords, many full of sharps and flats.

“On the first take, I did a blues-based solo, and David asked afterward why I didn’t do any of the ‘crazy jazz’ he’d heard I’d been playing in New York City before we met,” Garson told Quartz reporter Jeff Slate. “I asked if he was sure that was what he wanted — because that’s exactly why I wasn’t working when I met him, which he laughed about … For [the song] ‘Time’ on that album, it felt to me like an avant-garde ragtime piano from the ‘20s, but twisted a little bit. He pulled that out of me …

“He got the essence of everything I had been working on prior to meeting him, and he pulled all that out of me on one album … It’s really extraordinary for an artist who was just starting to have hits to rip up his formula and create something totally different.”

When Bowie came to a 2014 McCaslin show as a means of auditioning the sax man and his band, the ensemble knew in advance and were plenty nervous. After the show, Bowie came backstage and said to McCaslin, “Wow, that was really loud.” Apparently that was a compliment.

Once McCaslin knew he and his band would provide the music for Blackstar, he told Bowie he’d immediately start familiarizing himself with the star’s albums. Bowie advised him not to. “That’s old stuff. I’m into different things now,” the 68-year-old Bowie told him.

When Bowie and McCaslin started working on Blackstar in 2015, the former told the latter, “Whatever you hear, I want you to go with it.” McCaslin did — often in a single take.

When Blackstar was released on Jan. 8, 2016 — the day of Bowie’s 69th birthday — Bowie knew he would be dead in a matter of days. McCaslin didn’t. “I wasn’t prepped,” he told the Guardian. “I didn’t know what to say  … We had this amazing connection, and then he was gone … There was so much grief.” Since the day of the death (Jan. 10), McCaslin has resolutely refused to talk about how Bowie might have handled his cancer during recording sessions.

McCaslin has put out 12 albums since 1998. If experimental jazz sounds dry, keep in mind that McCaslin is also firmly grounded in experimental electronica. His favorites include such innovators as Squarepusher, Skrillex and Boards of Canada.

McCaslin’s Louisiana performances go under the name Beyond Now. That’s the name of McCaslin’s new CD, which was entirely a tribute to Bowie. Among the record’s cuts is a rendition of Bowies “Warszawa” — one in the suite of experimental instrumentals that made up the second side of Bowie’s album Low, released in a time when recordings had music on two sides (1977). “Warszawa” and the cuts before and after it were innovative predecessors of the kind of music now called “dark ambient.”

If you get the new Lagniappe by the 21st, you may still have time to catch McCaslin in New Orleans, where he’ll play on that date in the Snug Harbor. After that, he’s off to Japan, then returns for an extended tour in California.

More Adventures In Not Working

Shortly after the new year began, the Baton Rouge City Council announced it would not hold its third meeting in February. The reason? The date of the scheduled meeting was too close to Mardi Gras.

Journalism On Life Support

In my Up Front piece called “The State of State Journalism” in the last (Jan. 5) issue, my observations about the supposed decline of journalism in the state were largely tongue in cheek. I’d noticed a few curious journalistic developments in the state; whether they really meant something or were just a little noise in the general cacophony of trends and memes and news and gossip, I had no idea.

But I found nothing amusing about the notice at the end of The Guardian story I mentioned in the first section of the column. In a message headlined “Since you’re here …”, The Guardian asked its readers for donations to ensure its continued existence. “We need to ask for your help” someone had written; with it “our future would be much more secure.” Below all that was a “Make a contribution” button.

For me, it was a “something’s happening here” moment. I’d always assumed The Guardian was one of the world’s 15 or 20 top newspapers. It has a vast national and international readership. It never occurred to me that it would need to go begging. But then again, it had never occurred to me that the Chicago Sun-Times would go out of business or that the Times-Picayune would start publishing four days a week.

The question may be: if people can read this sort of journalism on the internet for free, will they voluntarily contribute some of their money so they can keep reading it? My gut feeling is they won’t.

The Funnies

Nora Charles (Myrna Loy): How did you find me here?

Nick Charles (William Powell): I saw a great group of men standing around a table. I knew there was only one woman in the world who could attract men like that. A woman with a lot of money.

Nora: [Reading phone messages] Here’s another one of those “Call Long Island Operator No. 15.” Don’t you think you ought to call her?

Nick: Certainly not! She knows better than that! I told her I was bringing the wife along this time.

Nora: I don’t know why I always take it for granted that you’re kidding.

Nora: I got rid of all those reporters.

Nick: What did you tell them?

Nora: We’re out of scotch.

Nick: What a gruesome idea.

— Another Thin Man, 1939, Dir. W.S. Van Dyke

Toss A Coin. The Loser Has To Grow Up.

A judge is charging a prosecutor in Baton Rouge for contempt because the prosecutor sent the judge a text message. Once you’ve wrapped your head around that concept, read on and learn about the text that’s shaking our justice system to its very core.

It was sent on Dec. 20 by Jason Napoli, who texted judge Laurie White: “Hey judge, I’ve spoken with a few co-workers about some things you’ve had to say about me. If you have things to say about me, I would prefer if you said them to my face. I would really appreciate it if you would refrain from saying those types of things to my co-workers. Have a great holiday, Jason.”

Sounds like a reasonable enough request. And the ending seems pretty friendly. But remember, this wasn’t addressed to any plain old genius or diplomat or super-hero. This was addressed to a judge. A judge!

Judge White didn’t like getting that text from Napoli. How did she show her displeasure? She texted him right back. Now, that throws me a little. Don’t like texts? Don’t text.

Anyway, the judge texted Napoli: “Please speak with me only in court when you do indeed show up to court. I will not tolerate such text or in-person comments from you. I have no fear or concern in expressing my disapproval of your lack of respect, incivility, out-of-bound ego and your failure to appear/handle cases assigned to you in my court. Do not text or call this number again and only communicate with me in court. If you think you have the authority to be so brazen in private and in court with me then you are mistaken. I hope the new year brings you a new attitude.”

Whew! I’d say that’s pretty verbose stuff for a person who claims she only wants to communicate in court.

Napoli — who, let’s remember, never told the judge he didn’t like texts or didn’t want to be texted — shot off a reply to the judge:

“It wasn’t inappropriate. [My text] was a request for you to stop bad-mouthing me to my co-workers. Your actions are unprofessional. Not mine. But I have no problem cutting off communication with you outside the courtroom as long as you can stop talking about me to my co-workers.”

White, who, in spite of her strident complaints about Napoli’s texting, seems really keen on texting, sent this missive to her nemesis:

“It is inappropriate if I find it inappropriate. You are unaware of decorum. Please refrain from any further comments to me via text.”

Now we see the judge speaking like a judge: “It is inappropriate if I find it inappropriate.” Imagine the feeling that you have the power to say, “It is X if I find it X” and (maybe) be taken seriously. Must be quite a rush.

I’ve always been afraid that the way courts operate give some judges an exaggerated sense of their value and importance. I mean, we all stand up when the judge comes in the room. Really? Why? Is the judge magic? Does he reside in the highest echelons of the great chain of being? Do choirs of angels sing him to sleep every night?

Anyhoo, White kept overcoming her repulsion for texting and Napoli kept texting her right back. At one point, the judge must have thought that Napoli had sent one too many of the texts she loathed but found it impossible not to respond to. She informed Napoli she would haul him in for a contempt hearing.

Judge or no judge, I’m guessing that White will find out that no one — not even a judge — can prevent another person from sending texts on innocuous matters. I suspect she will also find out she won’t be able to hold someone in contempt of court for comments he makes about his work life.

My unsolicited advice to the judge is to come clean and admit she just digs the hell out of texting. Why not? Texting may be annoying, but it’s not illegal or perverse. You don’t even have to be an adult to do it. In fact, this story tells me it kind of helps if you aren’t an adult.