The Gary Files # 4: Gary Peacock

(I found this picture here.)

An explanation: Since the name Gary is going extinct, I thought it incumbent upon me to celebrate more notable Garys than myself.  This is the fourth of a series!

Gary Peacock is, according to the Wikipedia, "an American jazz double-bassist."  He started performing in the 1960s, notably playing with Bill Evans, Albert Ayler, & even Miles Davis.  He is still with us, at the age of eighty, & I hope still performing.  (Update: he is!)

When did you first become aware of him?  Probably on the mid-1960s Albert Ayler records, especially Ghosts.

Are you a fan of jazz bassists?  Honestly, I know very little about the bass guitar, in jazz or otherwise.  I try very hard when I listen to Peacock's sessions to pay attention to his artistry, but he strikes me as in the same vein as the late, great Charlie Haden.  I like how versatile he is.

Did you know he studied Zen Buddhism in the late 60s?  I didn't, but I have read about it.  I imagine it helps musicians a lot to practice mindfulness, which is something you can learn in meditation, which you can learn as you study Buddhism.

Ever seen him live?  I haven't.  I would have liked seeing him playing with Ayler, as well as the stuff he did with Keith Jarrett in the early 80s.  I really need to spend more time with Peacock's work as a leader.

Is his name really Gary?  As far as I can tell, it is, & he apparently has no middle name.

Do you know why he was named Gary?  It's gotta be Gary Cooper, again.  Peacock was born in 1935!

Anything else you want to say?  No, but if you'd like to see him play, here's a snippet:

Self Help Radio 100615: Everybody Knows

(Original image here.)

Well, lookee here.  I done did an entire radio show with every song titled "Everybody Knows."  Oh, there were a couple of songs with parentheticals next to them - a "(Part One)," a "(The River Song)," & an "(Except You)."  But I've always been told that you're not supposed to say that part.  Therefore, boom!  An entire two-hour show with every song with the same title.  It may not be impressive, but it is something that I like to do, therefore my self has been helped by this radio show.

But wait!  There's more!  I myself visit a town in Ohio where everybody knows everything!  I talk to a scientist who's written a book called Everybody Nose in which he postulates that everything we know comes from our sense of smell!  & I interview a cagey CIA analyst who's written a book called Stuff Everybody Knows!

All this & - if I haven't mentioned this before - every song I play is called "Everybody Knows"!  Seriously, I can't understand why my cats don't find this as amazing as I do.

The show is available now at the Self Help Radio website.  You say username/password?  I say SHR/selfhelp .  On the website you will see the show is in two parts - I will list the songs I played in each below but I don't really have to because... oh you know.

Thanks for listening!

(part one)

"Everybody Knows" Louis Prima with Sam Butera & The Witnesses _The Wildest Comes Home_
"Everybody Knows (Part 1)" Little Johnny Taylor _Everybody Knows_
"Everybody Knows" Sean Buckley & The Beatcrumbs _Beat It! Killer Tracks From The Roarin' 60's_

"Everybody Knows" The Dave Clark Five _Everybody Knows_
"Everybody Knows" Lost _The Arf! Arf! El Cheapo 2-CD Sampler_
"Everybody Knows" Brenda Holloway _The Motown Anthology_
"Everybody Knows (The River Song)" O.V. Wright _Down & Out: The Sad Soul Of The Black South_

"Everybody Knows" Incredible Kidda Band _Too Much, Too Little, Too Late_
"Everybody Knows" Half Japanese _Fire In The Sky_
"Everybody Knows" The Decemberists _Otis' Opuses_
"Everybody Knows" Three Finger Cowboy _Kissed_
"Everybody Knows" The Corner Laughers _Tomb Of Leopards_

"Everybody Knows" Leonard Cohen _I'm Your Man_
"Everybody Knows (Except You)" The Divine Comedy _A Short Album About Love_

(part two)

"Everybody Knows" James _Laid_
"Everybody Knows" Ride _Firing Blanks (Unreleased Ride Recordings 1988-1995)_
"Everybody Knows" The Cherry Orchard _The World Is Such A Groovy Place_

"Everybody Knows" Lunchbox _Lunchbox Loves You_
"Everybody Knows" Sex Ghost _Sex Ghost EP_
"Everybody Knows" The Free Association _David Holmes Presents The Free Association_

"Everybody Knows" East Village _Drop Out_
"Everybody Knows" Slow Loris _Routine Glow_
"Everybody Knows" Ballard _Bucky_
"Everybody Knows" Candybomber _Everybody Knows_

"Everybody Knows" Men Without Hats _Love In The Age Of War_
"Everybody Knows" Sheer Agony _The Unruly Sisters_

Whither Everybody Knows?

(I found this image here.)

A few years ago, I sent my show's playlists to a mailing list based on a band I liked, because the members wanted to know what I played. (It occurs to me I don't belong to lists like those anymore.  I wonder why.)  I'm not going to remember the theme of the show when I sent one particular list out, but the response I got was something like, "Gary's kinda going off the deep end."

(It might have been the show with the theme Here I/You/He/She/It/We/They Come.  But I can't recall.)

The point of mentioning this is that, at some point, I kinda got tired of themes that were mostly nouns.  Themes that were things.  My dumb process of making this show involves me suddenly noticing something about the music I'm listening to, & thinking, "That would be a good theme!"  Sometimes they're verbs.  Sometimes they're phrases.  Phrases recur in songs, you know.

In the case of this show, I was listening to Leonard Cohen (like I said yesterday) & wondered whether there were enough songs that were called or said "everybody knows."  That was the genesis of this show.

But it gets better!  I am kind of obsessed about doing a show in which all the songs have the same title.  I've only managed to do this twice.  (Here & here.)  Guess what?  It's happening again today!  That's right - every song today has the title "Everybody Knows"!

Don't believe me?  Listen!  The show is on today from 4 to 6pm on 88.1 fm WRFL Lexington, & online at the same time online.  Yes yes, I'll archive it tomorrow at SHR web central.  Of course I will.  Everybody knows that!

Preface To Everybody Knows: The Great Man

This week's show has the theme "Everybody Knows." & I think everybody knows the song that was the inspiration & impetus for it. Here's that extraordinary old man performing his wonderful song live.

Live Blogging On The DVD

Have I mentioned recently how awful I am on the Twitter?  Maybe it's because I don't have a Twitter account for me, but rather for my radio show.  & I sometimes worry that I'm being inappropriate, but trying to be funny or insightful on the Twitter about things in my life (my latest tweet is something my wife said to me) instead of things that pertain to my radio show.

Which is also something I worry about with another of my stunted social media experiments, my Facebook page.  When talking about it on the air, I often say, "You can follow me on Twitter or like me on Facebook."  But that's misleading - I want people to follow my show on Twitter, & like my show on Facebook.  I understand how incredibly unlikeable I am.  It's a hefty cleaning job every week to make the show as little about me as possible!

Currently I have over three hundred "followers" on Twitter (I loathe that term, I have no desire to be the sort of person that has "followers"), & a little over two hundred fifty "likes" on Facebook.  Those numbers baffle the fuck out of me.  I know that many of my Facebook friends, who are sweet & want to support me, & also probably pity me appropriately, "like" the show page when they don't listen to me on the radio at all.  But the Twitter thing - that's weird.  It's weird & I know there are several people on the Twitter who think they're "following" the idea of self-help radio.

You're thinking I obsess about this too much & you're right.  To change the subject entirely, I filled out an application tonight to do a show on WLXL, Lexington's new low-powered fm station.  I figured I should.  No word whether I'll actually get a show &, of course, to make matters worse, no word on whether I'd be able to handle two radio shows a week!

You know I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything.