Technicalities

I 1. This page looks terrible in LINUX, or at least in the version I have and the browsers I have. 2. The exam I gave today was very hard to fail, if you studied, but very hard to pass, if you did not. All students who had failing averages before the exam, have now … More Technicalities

Avre este abajour

I should have known that the FNAC would have a recording I would like, and we could hear, of ladino folk songs. I am fascinated by Ladino or Judaeo-Spanish because it is so creolized, and so full of archaisms. As in this lyric: Avre este abajour, bijou, avre la tu ventana; por ver tu kara … More Avre este abajour

El mar y las campanas

There is much I do not like about Pablo Neruda, but these lines fit this morning’s windswept sunniness. Gracias, violines, por este día de cuatro cuerdas. Puro es el sonido del cielo, la voz azul del aire. On this graceful, four-stringed day, skies sound pure as violins: the air’s blue voice. Axé.

In Honor of HAH!

Moksha is on a blogging hiatus, but my stats suggest she may still be reading. If she is, she will discover that this post is for her, since I know she will appreciate it. How do I know that? Well, she liked a term I coined, “Bible-drippers.” With her in mind I will dare to … More In Honor of HAH!

Nanci Griffith

Today, being too busy to write much, and given that it is the weekend, so we should be singing, my first thought was to search for a James Brown video. I have specific reasons for this, upon which I may expound later. It being a beautiful country Saturday here, with Mediterranean weather reminding me partly … More Nanci Griffith

James Booker

It is the weekend, so we will sing. This appears to have been filmed in Nice in 1978. But Booker fairly shouts New Orleans. I have received an interesting question, am I in New Orleans or not? If I do not say where I am, how can it be known whether anything else I say … More James Booker

Professor Longhair

Did you like the John Cleary performance? Here is the late, great Professor Longhair on Tipitina. This clip has also been incorporated into Martin Scorsese’s documentary Piano Blues. Axé.