BigO Worldwide

June 3, 2022

Latest: A Cleaner BigO Homepage

JUST TO LET YOU KNOW: To reduce spamming, the BigO website is going through Cloudflare. What it does is scan your browser to ensure the visitor is not a spam. Please enable Javascript and cookies. Do not be alarmed as this usually takes only a few seconds. Email us if you still have difficulty accessing the BigO site; or playing or downloading the tracks. If you know a better way of reducing spam, do let us know.

+ + + + + + + + + +

Zionism has been an effective bludgeon to silence dissent, debate, or even reasoned discussion. Rest in peace Shireen Abu Aqleh. By Kenn Orphan.

I will be honest about something. Since the cold-blooded execution of Palestinian, veteran journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh [on May 11, 2022] by an Israeli sniper I have felt rather nonplussed. A rarity for me. But it does happen.

It happens when I feel overwhelmed with joy. It happens when I feel like I am overcome with despair. And when that despair is mixed with rage, I sometimes feel like I can’t even breath.

Click here for the article.

Free Downloads: This Week's New MP3s
(Click on the link to download the show)

We are taking a break for the month of June 2022.

Latest: Saving Grace (with Robert Plant)
Cheltenham 2022

Latest: Knoxville Symphony Orchestra
Knoxville 2022

Latest: Moses Sumney
BBC Proms, London 2021

Latest: Pink Floyd
Wembley, November 17, 1974

Latest: Patti Smith
New York 1997

Nduduzo Makhathini
Berlin 2021

Karla Bonoff
Sellersville 2022

Various
Roger Miller Remembered 1997

Cindy Bullens
Boston 1978

Steve Earle and More
Keswell School Benefit 2021

Mickey Gilley [R.I.P. 1936 - 2022]
Pasadena 1981

Emmylou Harris
Los Angeles 2007

Jeff Parker
Knoxville 2022

Cat Power
Cardiff 2022

The Smiths
Troy Tate Sessions 1983

U.K.
Long Beach 1979 [Mike Millard Tape]

Joe Cocker
Costa Mesa 1991 [Mike Millard Tape]

Paul McCartney
Inglewood 1989 [Mike Millard Tape]

Phoebe Bridgers
Coachella, Indio 2022

Makaya McCraven
Chicago 2021

Wishbone Ash
Nagoya 1976

Johnny Marr
Cardiff 2022

Nicolette Larson
New York 1986

The Regrettes
Coachella, Indio 2022

Godspeed You! Black Emperor
New York 2022

Matthias Schriefl & HR Big Band
Frankfurt 2018

Elton John
Anaheim 1980 [Mike Millard Tape]

Tom Waits
New York 1979

Groundhogs
Memphis 1972

Third World with Stevie Wonder
Jamaica 1981

Van Morrison
Norway 1988

Mark Lanegan
Moscow 2018

Miles Davis
Barcelona 1984

Taylor Swift
Tokyo 2018

The Kinks
Belly 1982

Belly
Boston 2018

Bruce Springsteen
Asbury Park 1982

Suzanne Vega
Carnegie Hall NYC 1987

Aoife O’Donovan
Copenhagen 2015

Matthew Shipp Trio
New York 2014

Kris Kristofferson/Waylon Jennings
Reseda 1982/Worcester 1984

Procol Harum
LA/San Francisco/New York 1969

Jackson Browne
Los Angeles 1990 [Mike Millard Tape]

KT Tunstall
London 2019

Joan Osborne
Alaska 2019

Mal Waldron Quartet
Paris 2002

Norah Jones
Alaska 2019

James Taylor
Treasure Of A Man CD3/4 of 4

James Taylor
Treasure Of A Man CD1/2 of 4

Dr John
New Orleans 1973

Shelby Lynne
New Jersey 2008

Father John Misty
Switzerland 2018

Woody Shaw-Joe Farrell Quintet
The Netherlands 1985

The Doors
Honolulu 1970

Deep Purple
Amsterdam 1969

Steve Earle
Berlin 2004

Dr John
Denver 1974

Lucinda Williams
Austin 1994

Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Amsterdam 2002

Vijay Iyer Trio
Berlin 2021

Bob Dylan
Plymouth 1975

Sting
Complete Timothy White Sessions 1993

Keith Richards
The Complete Honeymoon Tapes... So Far 1983

Reba McEntire
Pasadena 1983

Neil Young
Los Angeles 1991 [Mike Millard Tape]

George Jones
Pasadena 1984

Jeff Parker
Los Angeles/Atlanta 2021

Foo Fighters [Taylor Hawkins R.I.P. 1972 - 2022]
Glastonbury 2017

Foo Fighters [Taylor Hawkins R.I.P. 1972 - 2022]
Sydney 2011

Metallica
Seattle 1989

The Who
Inglewood 1973 [Mike Millard Tape]

John Martyn
Germany 1989

AC/DC
Boston 1978

Updated: Mash [Added May 7, 2020]
Coronavirus Songs

As of now, we have stopped all restarts of older shows to reduce the cost of running the site. Readers who can donate towards the cost of the site, please open a Skrill account.

Long Live Rock! [BigO Audio Archive]

New ROIOs*
Gentle Giant - Live in Houston, Texas 1972 audience (Goody Speed/Pitch-adjusted Remaster 1CD)
John Hartford - Sweetwater 1990 soundboard (no label 1CD)
Bonnie Raitt - Live in Los Angeles, California 1990 audience (The Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone Tapes Volume 137 1CD)
John & Buffy Ford Stewart - Sweetwater 1990 soundboard (New 2022 Transfer 2CD)
Sheryl Crow - Beachlife Festival, Redondo Beach, California 2022 Webcast 1080p (no label)
Doja Cat - Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Weekend 1, Indio, California webcast 1080p (no label)

*Recordings of indeterminate origin
Click here for complete list

Features

Some Thoughts On The Russia-Ukraine Conflict In Week Number Twelve

The 'splendid little war' may well bring about an economic crisis that nobody wants. By Ron Jacobs.

I expect the war will go on for awhile until the generals and politicians get tired of it. An international antiwar movement with significant numbers could hasten that moment. One doesn’t not demand peace because there’s a war on. The movement against the Vietnam war was organized and expanded while the war escalated, not before or afterwards. Indeed, that’s why one demands peace.

Since the example of the USSR arming Vietnam is being used as a reason to support arming Kyiv by some on the left who support NATO arms shipments, I think it is useful to turn that comparison upside down, as it were.

Click here for the article.

Satyajit, Ritwik And The Renegade ‘Father’ Figure

In a brief critique, Silhouette editor Amitava Nag looks at how Satyajit Ray [1921-1992] and Ritwik Ghatak [1925-1976] with their different socio-psychological conditionings deal with the ‘father’ figure in their very last film.

The cultural root of Bengal has a significant departure from the rest of India. The influence of Tantric mores and the impact of indigenous tribal practices ensure that importance is ascribed to the role of women and the fact that mother goddesses dominate Bengali culture.

How much that may be attributed to the Proto-Australoid origin instead of the Nordic Aryan one is debatable. However, if the rest of India worships Rama, Ganesha, Shiva or Hanuman, Bengalis for centuries pay their highest respect to Durga, Kali, Saraswati and even Lakshmi in domestic spaces ahead of Ganesha.

Click here for the article.

Shakin' All Over [the noize]

Movement Music After The Movement Fades: Reflections On Phil Ochs
The protest singer is a singular occupation that paid well to Bob Dylan but to no other. Movements come and movements disappear. How does the protest singer survive? By David Rovics.
click here

X'Ho [aka Chris Ho] R.I.P.
Singapore icon/DJ/writer/artiste X'Ho (aka Chris Ho) passed away from stomach cancer in the morning of September 27, 2021. He will forever be 27. Chris was on the first and last cover of the hardcopy BigO magazine. He was a mainstay in the magazine with his regular X'Ho Files column, with articles compiled into ‘Skew Me, You Rebel Meh? [1998] and Attack Of The S.M. Space Encroachers [2002]. He was the most insightful Singapore commentator that Singapore never realised it had. He told truths with unusual clarity. Both his book cover titles alone spoke volumes of the Singapore construct. Rest In Peace, Chris, dear friend and bigO founding member. The following interview was published in BigO #202 (October 2002). Interview by Alfian Sa'at; pictures by fFurious.
click here

“Pushing Back At Authority”: Son Volt, And The Power Of Protest Music
'With Electro Melodier, Son Volt have rejected mediocre commercialism, political complacency, and the cowardly withdrawal from politics on display throughout most of pop culture.' By David Masciotra.
click here

Harlem’s Forgotten Festival
Some parties and celebrations are more meaningful than others. Make sure you go to the right ones. By Seth Sandronsky.
click here

Thank Heaven For Nirvana
It was 30 years ago today... when Nirvana were the Next Big Thing! And since then, nothing has ever come close. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Nirvana's groundbreaking second album, Nevermind, here is the exclusive Kurt Cobain interview by Patrick Chng that we ran in BigO #75 (March 1992). Pictures by Jacque Chong.
click here

Click here for more articles

I Can't Explain [world affairs]

Taking Aim At Ukraine: How John Mearsheimer And Stephen Cohen Challenged The Dominant Narrative
Evil Putin vs Good Guy Zelensky? By Michael Welton.
click here

Watching The River Flow: Siddhartha 100 Years On
One hundred years after Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha, the adolescent religions that rose from the Middle East are still terrorising eastern thinking and culture. By John Kendall Hawkins.
click here

Hysteria And The Solomon Islands-China Security Pact
Whose island is it? The Americans? The Australians? It belongs to the islanders. By Binoy Kampmark.
click here

Remembrance Of Things Past
"No history is mute. No matter how much they own it, break it, and lie about it, human history refuses to shut its mouth. Despite deafness and ignorance, the time that was continues to tick inside the time that is," said Uruguayan scholar and journalist Eduardo Galeano. The Philippines General Election is on May 9, 2022. Will the Marcoses be brought back to power? Filmmaker and cultural critic Ram Botero reflects on her nation.
click here

Now Is The Time For Nonalignment And Peace
It's time to get back to where we once belonged. The Nonalignment Movement needs to be restarted back on the road to peace, progress and prosperity. By Roger McKenzie and Vijay Prashad.
click here

Western-Led Globalization Might End, But The New Globalization Might Have An Eastern Face
Time to loosen the West's grip on globalization. Look East. By E Ahmet Tonak and Vijay Prashad.
click here

The Astronomical Price Of Media Propaganda: An Electorate Of Morons
Fed with bull s**t and kept in the dark. Is this how your media is treating you? By Eve Ottenberg.
click here

Click here for more articles

I Can See For Miles [cinelife]

The Shock Of The New
What a wonderful world... the Kazakh New Wave. By Philip Cheah.
click here

My Favorites Of 2021
I’m really not a big fan of these “best of” lists, but of all the new arts entertainment (or edutainment as KRS-One would say) I consumed this past year, here’s what helped me most in wading through the muddied waters of 2021. By Joshua Frank.
click here

When Time Started Breathing – The Tale Of Burmese New Wave
The story of Burmese independent cinema seems like a tale of happy accidents. Nothing was planned. All the key players just happened to find small doors opening and rushed through them instinctively. In the case of Thaiddhi (Programme Director of Wathann Film Festival), it was attending a cinematography workshop that led to a film scholarship in Europe, that led to meeting his wife (who was in the same scholarship), that led to a shared dream, for an independent film festival, Wathann, that has now lasted 10 years. Philip Cheah hears the tale.
click here

More Burmese Days
For someone who has such sentimental memories of South-east Asian film, Burma remained a mystery to me. After 30 years, I had still not stepped on Burmese land even though I had met Burmese filmmakers at other festivals from Cinemalaya to Yamagata. It was more mysterious considering that the taste of a national cinema is not complete until you have visited the country in person, to taste its food, feel its heat and dust and see how the sun rises and sets on its rooftops. Since I live by signs given by the universe, it was a chance meeting with Thaiddhi, the Wathann Film Festival’s Programme Director in 2018, that prompted me to see his festival the following year. By Philip Cheah.
click here

Noteworthy New Tunisian Films
“A Son” and “She Had A Dream”, both from Tunisia, are among the new productions distributed by ArtMattan Films in the US this fall. By B Nimri Aziz.
click here

Click here for more articles.

Movie Reviews

Miranda Writes: Encanto’s Chart-Topping Enchantments
Another magic kingdom movie reviewed. And it's dripping with sarcasm... By David Yearsley.
Click here

Listening Up To 'Don’t Look Up!'
Don't look. This is entertainment. By David Yearsley.
Click here

Don’t Look Up: See It
By Manuel García, Jr.
Click here

Decolonizing James Bond
'So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye'. Fawzia Afzal-Khan reviews No Time To Die, the 25th James Bond movie in the franchise.
Click here

Ken Loach’s Stirring Exposure Of Capitalist Speed And Consumers’ Greed
Online shopping has moved up. From a week to delivery, to same day delivery, we are now in the realm of delivering within a few hours. But for that faster service, there must be a price. Is it worth all that effort to receive your purchases so quickly? Will you suffer any loss if it took a bit more time? By Eric Mann.
Click here

Click here for more movie reviews