Matt Waldman’s Reads Listens Views is back and devoted to a short list of recommended reads, listens, and views for the week. 

Welcome

If you’re new to the Rookie Scouting Portfolio blog, welcome.  Every Friday, I post links to pieces that I’ve found personally compelling or to content I hope will eventually scratch that itch when I get around to it.

You may not like everything listed here, but you’re bound to like something.

Reads: Kanye West is not Picasso by Leonard Cohen

If you don’t know who Cohen is, here’s an education worth your while.

Kanye West is not Picasso,

I am Picasso.

Kanye West is not Edison,

I am Edison.

I am Tesla.

Jay-Z is not the Dylan of anything,

I am the Dylan of anything.

I am the Kanye West of Kanye West,

The Kanye West of the great bogus shift of bullshit culture,

From one boutique to another.

I am Tesla,

I am his coil,

The coil that made electricity soft as a bed.

I am the Kanye West Kanye West thinks he is,

When he shoves your ass off the stage.

I am the real Kanye West.

I don’t get around much any more,

I never have.

I only come alive after a war,

and we have not had it yet.

Listens: David Sanborn performance and podcast interview

Marcus Miller’s band with George Duke and David Sanborn.

Cal Fussman’s Podcast – David Sanborn: From Polio to the Grammys

I’m a fan of Sanborn’s playing and if you don’t know who he is, then you’ve probably heard him or a thousand other saxophonists imitating his sound on popular recordings and movie soundtracks.

Sanborn’s story is inspiring to anyone in a performance medium because, in addition to overcoming polio as a young child, he became a great musician despite the equivalent beginning of Michael Jordan not making his junior varsity high school basketball team. To be fair to Sanborn, his road was actually less likely than Jordan’s in many respects.

Views: Analyzing Bruce Lee’s Sparring

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