Sun Ra at OTO

Jim Daze

Well-known member
yes I'm finally going to see the arkestra, has anyone else seen them lately? has there been a sun ra thread before, whats your favourite record, at the moment mine is Holiday For Soul Dance........
 

luka

Well-known member
I saw them at the barbican. I invited you but I experienced rejection
I likemail cosmic tones for mental therapy
 

Jim Daze

Well-known member
I saw them at the barbican. I invited you but I experienced rejection
I likemail cosmic tones for mental therapy

i couldnt go it wasnt rejection, I thought you only liked girls music since when did you find you afro cosmic soul brother luke
 

empty mirror

remember the jackalope
i've seen sun ra arkestra a bunch of times, though it has been years, i admit.
i'm lucky to live in the same city as the arkestra.

i've seen them in venues of various sizes, and i've heard they play to large crowds in europe. i've never seen the arkestra with sun ra at the helm. i've heard some people whisper that the band led by marshall allen is a more ebullient (if shambolic) iteration of ra's vision. where ra prohibited the arkestra from drinking/drugs, allen's band is... different. there's an apollo/dionysus nexus here.

i've seen the arkestra in venues as different as an impossibly small cafe, small pubs, to large crumbling old theater, and a church in disrepair. i've seen them at bigger venues on stage with Yo La Tengo.

amazing experiences, all of them.

one time, outside of the cafe gig, marshall allen was sitting on a little wooden deck. suddenly, his chair tipped and he fell four feet or so, but the man landed on his feet with his sax in hand. dude's 80-something year old. 80 cat years.

i went to the funeral of their trombonist (tyrone hill) and it was pretty wild. they showed a documentary about his life. he had been spending the last decade or more playing trombone in the street. images of people passing by barely noticing him. the band marched into (and through) the church playing When The Saints Come Marching In. After, I went to the bathroom and found there was only one toilet and a gentleman was already using it. As I turned to leave, he invited me to cross streams.

final anecdote: my mom is close friends with the mother of their trumpet player, Michael Ray. he is also in Kool and the Gang. when my parents decided i couldn't handle my german shepherd dog, the ray family adopted him.

forgive my ramblings, i love this band and they've provided continuity in my life.
favorite? Lanquidity - recorded in my birth year.
 

luka

Well-known member
I started listening to sun Ra in 96 after hearing Gilles Peterston play his music. The first time I read the wire was when Robert wyatt was on the cover and there was avsun Ra primer inside. I mostly like girls music but sometimes you are in the mood for something different
 

luka

Well-known member
I'm not a terribly sentimental person but I cried when I finishef szeds biography and I cried all throughout the concert. Its not the music which never rose above pretty good but something else. The project and the values and the commitment. I have a special affection for people at war with the reality principle
 

CrowleyHead

Well-known member
My father showed me Space Is The Place when I was still in the single digits. "Ra HAS LANDED!" I didn't get it then but now ofc I'm totally into it because I'm much brattier and pretentious.

I wanted to see them for my birthday more than a few years back, because they were doing a free concert with Sonic Youth (total perfect teen nerd thing), but I didn't have money for the train and my father was like "HE WON'T BE THERE, I'M NOT PAYING YOU TO WATCH JOHN GILMORE." :<
 

Woebot

Well-known member
yes I'm finally going to see the arkestra, has anyone else seen them lately? has there been a sun ra thread before, whats your favourite record, at the moment mine is Holiday For Soul Dance........

hi jim

i saw sun ra live in central park with sonic youth


because of youtube i can see that it was july 4th 1992. that's quite a long time ago now.

reynolds interviewed sun ra so that's pretty much better already

my fave ra album, it has to be CT4MT
 

Jim Daze

Well-known member
Hey matt

thats uncanny cos im going to see thurston moore tonight, then ra next week, what is that record you mention?:)
 

luka

Well-known member
youtube says
Ra-Hammond B-3 org;
Marshall Allen-astro space drums;
John Gilmore- bcl, sky drums;
James Jacson-log drums;
Ronnie Boykins-b; reverb.
 

Jim Daze

Well-known member
Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy, got it! yeah thats great one of the first ones I heard, going to listen to that again this weekend.
 
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