Blake Leyh
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earlofedgecombe.bsky.social
Blake Leyh
@earlofedgecombe.bsky.social
3.4K followers 520 following 2.9K posts
Composer, Music Supervisor, Sound Designer, Mixer (The Abyss ,The Wire, Treme, Neptune Frost) Bass/Guitar/Cello/Gravikord. Bastard son of William Blake & The Velvet Underground, literally.

https://blakeleyh.com

Harlem ~ New Orleans ~ London
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earlofedgecombe.bsky.social
Blake Leyh @earlofedgecombe.bsky.social · Dec 5
A few new photos just arrived from my Glasgow gig with @pglolo.bsky.social the other night.
Blake Leyh playing electric cello with Peter Gordon playing sax at The Old Hairdresser's in Glasgow on November 23rd. They are bathed in red and purple light, and intently focussed on their instruments. Blake Leyh playing electric cello at The Old Hairdresser's in Glasgow on November 23rd. He is bathed in red and purple light, and intently focussed on his instrument. Peter Gordon and Blake Leyh standing in front of a distressed wall in Glasgow, backstage at The Old Hairdresser's in Glasgow.
Reposted by Blake Leyh
mlobelart.bsky.social
Among my many esoteric interests are shaped trompe l'oeil paintings like this one by 18th-century French painter François-Xavier Vispré (front & back shown below). I'm fascinated not only by the illusion but also by the care in creating an irregular shape to match the elements depicted
Trompe l'oeil painting that suggests a pile of paper elements, including a print and a sheet of music Irregular wood panel with cross supports
January 6, 2026 at 1:06 AM
Reposted by Blake Leyh
chtctr.bsky.social
Once in a lifetime music. Incredibly gorgeous, breathtaking! Found out about this from @geoffwilt.bsky.social - Jessica Williams's prepared piano work. Some might know Jessica (RIP 1948-2022) from her piano playing on Patty Waters's 1996 album Love Songs: pre-echo.bandcamp.com/album/blue-a...
Blue Abstraction: Prepared Piano Project 1985–1987, by Jessica Williams
8 track album
pre-echo.bandcamp.com
January 6, 2026 at 5:47 AM
earlofedgecombe.bsky.social
Five years to the day since the insurrection, @hcrichardson.bsky.social has a perfect summary of those events in a historical context.

As we descend into an era where the very fabric of consensus reality is contested, a crucial way to resist authoritarianism is to clearly remember the past.
January 5, 2026 (Monday)
Five years ago, on January 6, 2021, more than 2,000 rioters stormed the U.S.
open.substack.com
January 6, 2026 at 2:01 PM
earlofedgecombe.bsky.social
Good morning from Harlem

#GoodMorningFromHarlem
Looking through an arched window an hour after sunrise the sky is a flat gray mass. Pointed roofs of Harlem brownstones with red brickwork are across the street, and a taller apartment building can be seen in the distance. The leafless tops of two trees are on the bottom and right.
January 6, 2026 at 1:46 PM
Reposted by Blake Leyh
audacityofdespair.bsky.social
Prima aside, a Sam Butera sax solo never hurt anyone ever.
americanstudier.bsky.social Ben Railton @americanstudier.bsky.social · 7d
Working in a deli with a delightfully Italian playlist, & "Buona Sera" just played. Which means I'm morally obligated to share one of the most beautiful scenes from @audacityofdespair.bsky.social's magisterial Treme. I don't make the rules.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8pz...
Treme Buona Sera
YouTube video by happenstance06
www.youtube.com
December 30, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reposted by Blake Leyh
rbreich.bsky.social
America now has 935 billionaires with $8.1 trillion in collective wealth — a 20% increase from 2024.

Meanwhile, the bottom 50% of Americans control $4.2 trillion in wealth.

When 935 people control more wealth than half a country’s population, we have a very serious problem.
January 5, 2026 at 9:30 PM
Reposted by Blake Leyh
audiosand.bsky.social
for years i have been screaming about how we need "history for journalists" training.

how every j-school school should teach students the history of journalism, and teach future journalists how to access the history of what they are covering.
nhannahjones.bsky.social Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · 2d
So many in media are ill-equipped to interview officials about what’s happening because they begin with the presumption of legitimacy and don’t know enough about history or U.S. foreign policy to foment intelligent pushback and hold officials accountable.
January 5, 2026 at 2:15 PM
earlofedgecombe.bsky.social
Good morning from Harlem

#GoodMorningFromHarlem
Looking through an arched window nine minutes before sunrise the sky fades from yellow at the horizon to blue-purple up above, and is filled with pink and gray clouds. Pointed roofs of Harlem brownstones are silhouetted across the street, and a taller apartment building can be seen in the distance. The window is grimy on the bottom.
January 5, 2026 at 1:05 PM
Reposted by Blake Leyh
rainbowcore.bsky.social
Ended up moving from Spotify to Qobuz using the guide and it was quick and easy, I'd highly recommend it!
chanda.blacksky.app Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · Dec 2
I'm using Qobuz (and sometimes Apple Music) and it's very easy to port over and Qobuz pays artists more per track

help.qobuz.com/en/articles/...
January 5, 2026 at 6:17 AM
Reposted by Blake Leyh
christopherbrown.bsky.social
Arrived back in the Tropic of Kansas yesterday after a week away in the Andes. Strange how getting back into one’s own country is (and has been since 9/11) the most fear-inducing part of the trip.
January 5, 2026 at 12:16 PM
Reposted by Blake Leyh
obsofdeviance.bsky.social
Much contemporary ambient Jazz leaves me cold (e.g. Leaving Recs, some Inter'l Anthem, Andre 3000). There's exceptions, on IA, but a lot is meandering.

Adam Rudolph's HU VIBRATIONAL is the real deal. Exceptional rhythm science, balance of acoustic/electric, deep musician communication, plus CATS!!
2 LPs and one CD, CATS on all the covers. Cat
January 5, 2026 at 2:55 AM
Reposted by Blake Leyh
schooley.bsky.social
I assume people will tire eventually of modifying photos in AI, but at the point the damage will be done that photographs will never again be seen as mementos of lived lives.
January 4, 2026 at 11:00 PM
Reposted by Blake Leyh
joegross.bsky.social
Literally a publication for eight-year olds 40 years ago
January 4, 2026 at 6:49 PM
earlofedgecombe.bsky.social
Good morning from Harlem

#GoodMorningFromHarlem
Looking through an arched window three hours after sunrise the bright blue sky is marked with puffy white clouds. Pointed roofs of Harlem brownstones are silhouetted across the street, and a taller apartment building can be seen in the distance. The window is grimy on the bottom.
January 4, 2026 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Blake Leyh
leftistlawyer.com
It's more than a little disconcerting that invading another country to steal its resources is now less controversial and more acceptable to my government and much of this country than me using the bathroom
January 4, 2026 at 4:01 PM
Reposted by Blake Leyh
cristianfarias.com
Best thing I’ve read this morning, from a human rights lawyer in Mexico. Translation is in the ALT-text.
Twitter thread in Spanish by José Mario de la Garza, a human rights lawyer in Mexico, translated using Google Translate: 1. Overthrowing a dictator sounds morally right. No one mourns a tyrant. But international law wasn't built to protect the good, but to restrain the powerful. That's why it prohibits force almost without exception: not because it ignores injustice, but because it knows that if each country decides whom to "liberate" by force, the world reverts to the law of the strongest. 2. The problem is not Maduro. The problem is the precedent. When military force is used to change governments without clear rules, sovereignty ceases to be a limit and becomes an obstacle. Today it is “overthrowing a dictator”; tomorrow it will be “correcting an election,” “protecting interests,” “restoring order.” The law does not absolve dictatorships, but neither does it legitimize unilateral crusades. Cont’d: 3. The uncomfortable question is not whether a tyrant deserves to fall, but who decides when and how. Because history teaches something brutal: removing a dictator is easy; building justice afterward is not. And when legality is broken in the name of good, what almost always follows is not freedom, but chaos, violence, and new victims. The law exists to remind us of this, even when it makes us uncomfortable. Maduro isn't the problem: he's the face of the problem. Removing him from power would be merely opening the door. Behind him is the machine: Rodríguez, Cabello, the military command, the operators of repression and plunder. If you only change the person at the top and leave the system intact, what follows isn't democracy: it's a reshuffling. And there's something even more difficult: Chavismo didn't just capture institutions, it captured daily life. Economy, media, bureaucracy, employment, fear, favors, blackmail. A country can't be "de-Chavistaized" by decree or by an electoral miracle. The real transition begins when that network is broken without setting the country ablaze. The challenge is enormous, and it's also a moral one: to unite without vengeance, but without impunity. Targeted justice for those most responsible, truth for the victims, guarantees that the rest will dismantle the system, and a plan for people to live again—not just survive. Because freedom doesn't come with a new president: it comes when the state ceases to be a threat.
January 3, 2026 at 2:16 PM
earlofedgecombe.bsky.social
Good morning from Harlem

#GoodMorningFromHarlem
Looking through an arched window ninety minutes after sunrise the blue sky is filled with translucent, puffy white clouds, and a jet trail cuts across the middle sky. Pointed roofs of Harlem brownstones with red brickwork are across the street, and a taller apartment building can be seen in the distance. The leafless tops of two trees are on the bottom and right. The window is grimy on the bottom.
January 3, 2026 at 2:43 PM
Reposted by Blake Leyh
houseofreggae.bsky.social
Happy 64th birthday to Sister Nancy.

Her debut LP, One Two, is widely regarded as a rub-a-dub classic. As well as the ubiquitous Bam Bam, it also features many other classics like this one which also came out on 10" vinyl...

youtu.be/h3D0Xe2T4DQ?...

#reggae #reggaesky #vinylsky #vinyl #musicsky
10" of Sister Nancy - Transport Connection on Techniques label. Released in 1982. Produced by Winston Riley.
January 2, 2026 at 5:36 PM
Reposted by Blake Leyh
brotherbikini.bsky.social
I could murder a B-flat euphonium right now.
January 3, 2026 at 4:13 AM
Reposted by Blake Leyh
michaelhobbes.bsky.social
Never ever teach the algorithm what you like
January 3, 2026 at 2:04 AM
Reposted by Blake Leyh
cosmotropic.bsky.social
The whole "Grok admits" "Grok apologizes" thing reminds me of the famous IBM presentation quote that evidently everyone has forgotten. And I do think representing your brand on social media counts as a "management decision".
A piece of paper that says, in all caps: "A COMPUTER CAN NEVER BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE THEREFORE A COMPUTER MUST NEVER MAKE A MANAGEMENT DECISION"
January 2, 2026 at 11:54 PM
Reposted by Blake Leyh
chrisstein.bsky.social
Last night we met @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social at an arts fundraiser and he signed my copy of the @nypost.com who helped him win. Thanks Post
December 10, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Reposted by Blake Leyh
miasato.bsky.social
lol I just came across this post by Zoharn’s wife Rama Duwaji’s stylist and the boots were…. on loan

open.substack.com/pub/brainmat...
January 2, 2026 at 3:17 AM
Reposted by Blake Leyh
clapifyoulikeme.favrd.social
this is the most incredible interview i’ve ever read. the aei guy tries so hard to get sliwa to trash mamdani and he simply won’t. he also brings up flaco (rip) unprompted.

www.wsj.com/opinion/free...
Tunku Varadarajan: Will you ask New Yorkers who voted for you to give Zohran Mamdani a chance? Curtis Sliwa: Absolutely. He won a majority. He has a mandate. The Masters of the Universe, the billionaires, did everything they could to make sure he wasn't the mayor. It didn't work. He's a great organizer. I'll give you an example: Melinda Katz, the current District Attorney for Queens County, New York. She's the mother of my two youngest sons. She was running for DA in 2019. She had the institutional support. Moderate Jewish mother. Loyal Democrat. Queens borough president. Perfect résumé. She's running against Tiffany Caban, who wasn't even in elective office at that time. Very radical. You know, "do away with jails, don't arrest anyone." Tiffany Caban won on election night. But she lost the race on the absentee ballots, but only by about 20 votes. You know who the street organizer was for Tiffany Caban? Zohran Mamdani. So, when they talk about him as a trust fund baby, I say no, no, no, no, no. You don't like it when people call him a "nepo baby." He's earned his stripes. He had 100,000 volunteers going door-to-door, and I experienced that in some of the neighborhoods where you would never have seen anybody liberal or progressive go. Howard Beach! In conservative Howard Beach, they're going block to block. They were everywhere. 100,000. I call them Zohranistas. This was the secret to his election, not TikTok. It was good, old-fashioned retail politics. Frankly, Cuomo and not Mamdani was the nepo baby in this race. Born on third base. Felt entitled. Knew the political process, but mailed it in. He didn't have the stomach to actually go out and do retail politics. And shame on him. Do you think Mamdani will make a better mayor than Andrew Cuomo might have done? How would you describe Mamdani's politics? He's not a communist. People call him that. That's ridiculous. He is a democratic socialist. David Dinkins [New York mayor from 1990-93] was a democratic socialist. We've had a long history in New York City of socialism. What's the biggest challenge Mamdani faces as mayor! I don't think the Zohranistas totally understand the fiscal irresponsibility we just went through with the Adams years and how little money there's left. There's not enough money to do all the things that Zohran wants to do. A last question. All through our interview you pronounced Mamdani as "Mandami," transposing the "m" and the "n" in his name. Are you aware of the mispronunciation? Many people, Cuomo included, mangle his name. In the debate, Zohran brought that to my attention, my mispronunciation. I didn't do it on purpose. There's no disrespect. I have a hard time with it. It took people about 10 years to pronounce my last name correctly: "Sleewah.'" They pronounced it Silva, Saliva, Slywah. In the streets, we would have given Zohran a nickname, like I did for all the Guardian Angels. "Z Man" would have been perfect for him. That would have been his handle. Mr. Varadarajan, a Journal contributor, is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and at NYU Law School's Classical Liberal Institute.
January 1, 2026 at 11:16 PM
Reposted by Blake Leyh
transnews.network
In this in-depth interview Billie Jean Sweeney — a former editor at The New York Times — details how the paper shifted towards openly promoting anti-trans hatred, why this was directed from the very top, how some staff pushed back and the immense damage done by the NYT legitimizing bigotry.
'A directive from above': Former NYT editor lays out how the paper pushes anti-trans bigotry
In this in-depth interview, former New York Times editor Billie Jean Sweeney details how the paper shifted towards openly promoting anti-trans hatred, how some staff tried to stop it, how it's directe...
transnews.network
January 1, 2026 at 6:32 PM