Technology has gone crazee the last decade, the pace of life being amped up by the day. We're attached to our iphones and our laptops, we don't even have to leave the house to "socialise" anymore: it's all done online. As a semi-Luddite who is caught somewhere between loving and loathing all this technology, it frightens me, and makes me wonder how us humans will be communicating with each other in 20 years time. But on the up side, it also means that I can kick back on my bed on a Sunday afternoon and aimlessly browse Youtube footage from half a century ago. Just about any clip there be: I can view it w/ a click. All this choice has spoilt us. Back in the '80s (kids, gather 'round), finding footage of a band or musician you loved was a slog. I had to resort to renting VHS tapes from Collector's Corner in Swanson Street, where they had things like Flipside videos, Dave Markey films or that exceedingly average Black Flag Live '84 performance (the one w/ the terrible sound), or if you were really keen (and I was), you'd trade the things w/ folks via ads in Flipside and Maximum Rock & Roll. I suppose I should be careful what I wish for - unlimited access to every cool music clip ever caught on tape - because even when it comes true, you'll still catch me complaining.
And now we have an awkward segue way to this clip. I wrote about Max Roach last year; read it here. This clip is one I'm glad has been preserved for the ages, and I'd like to share it: Max Roach and his quintet, featuring his wife Abbey Lincoln on vocals, performing a track from his ace We Insist! LP from 1961. Really, ignore my rambling and simply observe.