Superhero Appreciation Week - Sun Ra

Sun Ra - Live at Peabody's, Cleveland, OH (1991) Part 1
Sun Ra - Live at Peabody's, Cleveland, OH (1991) Part 2

Happy Birthday, Sun Ra! Happy Birthday, me! Yesterday was the natal anniversary of the arrival upon Planet Earth of Le Sony'r Ra, Herman "Sonny" Blount, Sun Ra - the intergalactic man of of musical mystery! And today is mine. Yahoo.

It would be trivializing it if I said that Sun Ra changed my life. Because he didn't. He changed my heart and my mind.

Twenty years of Ra and counting now. I first saw Sun Ra in the summer of 1988. June 14th precisely. What better for a sci-fi freak than a musical hero from another planet? Nothing, if you ask me. Nothin' at all.

The place was the wonderful Barrymore in Madison, Wisconsin (talked about a bit in my post on the Mekons - look it up). It was a perfect early Wisconsin summer evening, not too hot or too cold, neither too dry nor too humid. If you haven't had a summer in Wisconsin, you should think about it. It defines summer.

It was a trio that went into the Barrymore - Larry and me and Doug. But I'd split myself in two several times over by the time we left. Dunno about those guys. I'm still looking for some of those parts. I don't know where the hell Doug went after the show - he just disappeared in his mysterious way. Larry and I split up but then found each other again, maybe we'd planned it, I dunno, but we had fun making very big sandwiches in his parent's kitchen sometime in the middle of the night. We didn't eat them, just made them. They were lovely. Around sunrise we finally ended it.

Everything has to end, I guess. Like "Superhero Appreciation Week." Everything except music and friendship. Going to see Larry and his lovely wife (The Fox!) in a few weeks. I'll let ya'all know how hot Memphis is in June.

PS This is a very rare Ra show. I got it directly from the taper in trade a few years ago. Really nice audience recording. I don't have a setlist, though a few tunes are obvious, like "Prelude to a Kiss." Enjoy!

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