Titian and Cesaria

A quick post since that’s all I seem to have time for these days…
Last weekend, my wife and I visited the Titian, Veronese, Tintoret show at the Louvre (http://tinyurl.com/y94p5pf) and it was fantastic. About 50 paintings or so, all well documented with intelligent themes and generally good lighting. There was a large crowd but there [...]

Marina di Ragusa, Porto Vecchio and Back to Work

I have been quite remiss in not making any posts since – OMG! – June. We spend two weeks in southern Siciliy in a beach community called Marina di Ragusa which is about 1 1/2 to 2 hours south of Catania. It is a fantastic little town with an excellent (and clean!) beach, lots of [...]

Van Halen…where have all the good times gone?

I have been listening to Van Halen in the car for a few days – almost every album except Fair Warning, OU812 and Van Halen III. It has been interesting comparing Sammy and Diamond Dave. I think I am still preferential to Dave for the antics in his singing and the constant tongue-in-cheek attitude. The [...]

Century of Jazz at Quai Branly

A quick review of the “Un siecle du jazz” exposition at Musée quai Branly in Paris (ending 28 june 2009):
A little disappointing to be honest this expo. It was really detailed on the origins of Jazz in the early 20th century but how they came up with a century while starting in 1917, I can’t [...]

The Beatles by Bob Spitz

I blogged a ways back about my re-discovery of the The Beatles in the car with my iPod pegged on the albums from 1965 on. Well, dropping  by my favorite Parisian Franco-Canadian bookstore (Abbey Bookstore, 29 rue de la Parchemenerie, 75005 Paris and ask for Brian), Is flashed on the attractive cover of Bob Spitz’s [...]

My favorite album runs…

A list of what I consider some of the best 4-album studio runs in rock-n-roll history. I insist on studio because the careers of all these groups are peppered with live recordings (Get Yer Ya-Yas Out) and intermediate projects (Rattle and Hum) but I wanted to list the albums which consisted of a concentrated studio [...]

My Top 11 Musical Discoveries of 2008 because this one goes to “11″

This past year I discovered quite a lot of music that was new to me. Here’s a recap.

The Hold Steady “Almost Killed Me” and “Separation Sunday” – this group based in Minneaopolis has great lyrics and vocals from Greg Finn. The music is loud and fun as well as funny. This one I discovered via [...]

My favorite live albums

I got to thinking about my favorite live albums so in no particular order: (my initial draft got eaten by Firefox so this one is a little shorter and perhaps more concise)

The Neville Brothers – “Live on Planet Earth” -  a classic New Orleans jamboree with lots of classics, fantastic singing and music [...]

Happy Holidays

Sorry for the drop in writing lately. Family events and holidays oblige. What’s happening with me? Well,
Reading: Vol 2 of Blotner’s biography of Faulkner. Fascinating. Sad that some of the greatest American writers of the 20th C (Faulkner and Hemmingway in particular) were heavy, chronic alcoholics. I didn’t know that Faulkner was hospitalized several times [...]

Albums and the Stones

A few weeks back, a friend asked me whether I listened to entire albums or just random music. The question has bounced around in my head since then and I realized that in fact, other than after initially purchasing and ripping an album into iTunes, I rarely if ever listen to music that way anymore. [...]