NOVEMBER 27 — FERNAND BRAUDEL Revolutionary French historian of material life. “Events are the ephemera of history; they pass across its stage like fireflies, hardly glimpsed before they settle back into darkness and as often as not into oblivion. Every event, however brief, has to be sure a...

DECEMBER 5 —CAMARÓN DE LA ISLA Spanish nuevo flamenco cantaor, countercultural rebel. DECEMBER 5, 2009 HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS Ancient Rome: FESTIVAL OF FAUNUS. Feasting and merrymaking. Belgium: ST. NICHOLAS’ EVE. Black Peter, Nick’s Moorish servant, drops down the chimney with gifts for children...

DECEMBER 4 — HERBERT READ Distinguished British anarchist art critic. DECEMBER 4, 2009 HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS Nuremberg, Germany: KRIS KRINGLES’ FAIR. ALSO ON DECEMBER 4 IN HISTORY… 1122 — Poet of wine, women and song Omar Khayyam dies. 1866 — Painter Wassily Kandinsky born, Moscow, Russia. 1875 —...

NOVEMBER 23 — GRACCHUS BABEUF French Revolutionist, founder of the Conspiracy of Equals. NOVEMBER 23, 2009 HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS Japan: NIINAME-SAI, harvest festival. ST. CLEMENT’S DAY: Processions of blacksmiths and (mad) hatters. ALSO ON NOVEMBER 23 IN HISTORY… 1170 BC — First recorded strike...

UPDATES: 1. Neal Casal (Ryan Adams and the Cardinals) playing bass and singing harmonies… 2. Jennifer Maerz of SFWeekly reviews the SF gig: “[M]inds were melted, new musical ground covered, and a special sort of concert was cultivated, one that merged the thrill of surprise with the sure bet of...

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“I entered into literature on my own, I live in it on my own and I shall depart from it on my own when the time comes” http://www.khazars.com/en/ Academician and author Milorad Pavić, professor of the Faculty of Philosophy of the Belgrade University, passed away yesterday of complications following...

Hipped to this via a first-time-in-forever interview with Liz Fraser at The Guardian… Stream: Download: Jeff Buckley & Elizabeth Fraser – “All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun” (unfinished) (mp3)

Who wouldn’t benefit from a weekly two-hour dose of jangling, sunshine-inspired chords and harmonies with an undeniable undertone of the strange and slightly melancholy? Every Tuesday night from 7-9pm PST, give your mind a little vacation and listen to West Coast Fog, a California-infused folk rock...