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
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
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.
Venturing beyond the garden wall this evening I saw a live set by a girl band. It was fantastic, and that is all I will say, since further information would permit you to detect my precise location, at least for those two hours. I have a crush now on one of the singers, wicked thing … More How Our Lives Become Stories
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!
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
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
Now it is time to thank a mysterious Erik, who has sent the link to an interesting video, made this year in Stockholm on the Jantelov. It has English subtitles, and it is only a minute long, so go ahead, watch. It emphasizes the oppressive aspects of Janteloven – to say the least. Especially considering … More Tak skal du have, Erik
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.
This is John Cleary playing Tipitina at Rosy’s Jazz Hall, in the summer of 2004. Now it is December. The sun is still beautiful, and it has fallen into the thirties tonight. The sky sparkles and glints on the windowpanes. People are shopping nation and world wide, but I say, if you participate in that, … More Sweet Home New Orleans
coldhearted scientist وداد 