Most KP readers will not know that I was a jazz DJ in Chicago and Washington DC while in grad school in the early and mid 1980s. I started at WHPK in Hyde Park, the U. Chicago student radio station. In DC I joined WPFW as a grave shift host, then a morning drive show host (a show called Sui Generis, both for its meaning and as a hat tip to the Argentine rock group of that name). I also had a carrell at the Library of Congress (LoC), first up under the dome of the main building with its extraordinary views of the Mall looking west towards the Lincoln Memorial, and then in the building behind the dome when refurbishments were made on it.
At some point I met one of the few other white DJs at WPFW (part of the Pacifica network that had stations in LA and NYC), which was a community sponsored black majority-staffed public radio station that still operates and features jazz, blues, world music and plenty of progressive news shows, including one hosted by the Nation of Islam (a guy called Askia Muhammed was the host). It was a cool place in which to to do music and after a short bumpy start with some of the old-timers I was well received and had good listenership numbers.
It turns out the other white guy, whose show was named Sounds of Surprise, worked in the Library of Congress in its Recorded Sound division. That division was located on the lower floors of the Law Library across Independence Ave from the main building. I used to go over there because I had a stacks pass for the foreign law archives given to me by the LoC’s Hispanic Division, something that I needed for my Ph.D. thesis research on the Argentine State because it was the only place where the complete records of Argentina’s Boletin Oficial were located (since various Argentine military regimes were prone to destroying all records of previous governments, especially those of the 1946-55 Peronist regime that was the starting point of my research). Since the LoC records were the most complete in the world, better than what could be obtained in Buenos Aires, I was very fortunate to have applied for and received that carrell as a LoC Visiting Scholar.
I mentioned this to the white DJ guy at WPFW and we started doing lunches at the Law School penthouse cafeteria (nice views to the south) and, during the warmer months, at his apartment in a brownstone down the street SE of the Library in Capitol Hill. He played incredibly rare old records (even 78s!) for me from his personal and the library collections that he was working on, and because he knew that I was especially a fan of Thelonious Monk, he always had some Monk on tap as well as a cold bottle of beer with which to enjoy the music. Those were some special days.
We stayed good friends during that time (1982-85) even though I travelled to Argentina regularly for field research and eventually gave up my WPFW show to write up the thesis in residence back at the University of Chicago. Whenever I was in DC we would catch up for more music (sometimes live gigs) and liquid lunch sessions where he opened my eyes and ears to a range of music and technologies (such as CDs) that I would not have understood had he not guided me through the intricacies of them. During that time he introduced me to his long-standing Eastern European partner (a journalist) and his newer apartment off of Dupont Circle in a building that they shared with Christopher Hitchens, among others of political bent.
Most notably, he came down to Rio for Carnaval when my first wife and family and I were living there in early 1987 during a Fulbright Scholarship research trip to Argentina and Brazil. Let’s just say that it was an eye-opening experience for him on a number of fronts, but he did get to enjoy some baile das panteiras (dance of the panthers–think of it as a lot of women and guys wrapped in very tiny lepoard skin outfits) close up and personal. He did not drink much but learned the joys of cacacha and the constant drumbeat of the street batucadas that echoed throughout the 10 days of Lent. That trip left an indelible impression on him and he even got some sun (unusual, for such an indoors kind of guy).
Sadly, after I moved to California, then Arizona, then Florida and then to NZ over the ensuing decade, we slowly lost touch, although we did communicate through a music blog that he ran in parallel to all of his other endeavours. We talked about his coming to NZ but it never came about because his health began to fail and I got wrapped up in triathlons and security related things that compounded the tyranny of distance that prevented us from maintaining closer ties. I regret that very much. In any case, you can find his extraordinary blog Lets Cool One here (its name comes from a Monk song): https://larryappelbaum.wordpress.com/
His name was Larry Appelbaum, and he was an extraordinary person.
May there always be a rhythm and musical surprise wherever you are, querido Larry!
I’m so sorry for the loss of your good friend, Pablo. And thank you for the very interesting background as to how you met – it must have been an amazing time.
I’ve loved jazz for decades, but oddly enough at the moment find I can’t listen to a lot of it, apart from the originals that invoked my love of it way back around 1965. I’m finding Portuguese Fado more soothing right now. Hopefully, I’ll get back to listening to much more jazz again when the world seems calmer. The other music that brings me joy currently is Latin American, especially from Colombia. So much energy & joy lifts the soul.
Thanks Di,
Larry was a real gem of a person. My wife and I lived in Lisbon in 2004 and went to a few Fado bar/restaurants while there. The music reminded me of the tangos of my hometown Buenos Aires, both melancholy and rich in human pathos. One thing I can claim is that his visit to Brazil made Larry much more interested in the whole range of Afro-Latino music, which he went on to feature on his shows.
I always figured you to be a person of good taste, so of course you would enjoy jazz! :-)
Thanks for the compliment, Pablo! :) I’ll get back to listening to much more jazz again one day.
I do envy your time in Lisbon, Visiting the country & spending time in the places where Fado is performed is on the bucket list.
“May there always be a rhythm and musical surprise wherever you are”
Indeed – and to everyone.
The US has some real little radio gems in various places, and often without being blasted to death with excessive advertising trying to sell us shite we don’t need.
@Di – you might like to go exploring with radio.garden.
For me, when not on RNZ National and Concert, it’s Soothjazz.com out of Monterey and there’s some mighty fine rhythm to be had in African countries such as Kenya and Tanzania.
Much thanks Paul,
For that excellent reminder. Community and public radio in the US is a real national treasure. Besides the stations on which I had shows, the country is dotted with progressive outlets that belie the notion that it is nothing more than rightwing talkback and cowboy music, especially on the AM band. One of my favorite stations, KXCI in Tucson, is a treasure trove of borderland sound. I also had the pleasure of driving cross-country several times over the years, and listening to the shifting sounds of rural America while tooling along the interstates and back roads in places like South Louisiana, West Texas and northern Arizona made those trips absolutely memorable along with the landscapes. Creole, Cajun, Okie, Norteno and grassland sounds segued easily as the miles passed, and what could have been a wretched moment of upping stakes and moving far away was made much better by the music I encountered along the way.