Today is the Future of Yesterday-Black History Month pt. 3

Of course, I never saw Sun Ra play live though he only died in 1993 (he probably isn't dead but playing at some lounge on Saturn). But when we had the chance to hear the remaining members of the Arkestra play at Central Park with the MC5 and DJ Spooky last summer (2005) for free, we decided to go. Some people find Spooky annoying, but as an MC I thought he was kind of endearing and always remained very humble, humorous, and down to earth. The MC5 were fun too, but somehow, even without their leader, the Arkestra was a sight to behold. I am posting a couple of utterly stupid videos I took by holding my camera aloft and swinging it around (I wasn't even high!) but at least you get to see some live Arkestra! I am also posting a couple tracks from when the maestro was still gracing our lowly earth. These tracks are fairly well known to Ra fans: the opening track Mu from Atlantis, and We Travel the Spaceways. Definitely outter space kinda stuff that hardly could be confined by the term "jazz" in its most conventional and deadened sense, though the term seems quite appropriate in its initial spirit. Finally, I am putting up a recent Madvillain track featuring Lord Quas and Doom making reference to Sun Ra (and Steve Reich too) and appropriately juggling past, present, and future over a pretty sick beat.


Sun Ra Mu Mp3
We Travel the Spaceways MP3
Madvillain Shadows of Tomorrow MP3 File