The Beatles - Sexy Sadie

Yesterday was another walking day along the donkey path on the island of Thira, going up and down the hills and looking into the caldera hundreds of feet below the path. We spoke with more people are the Minoan eruption 3600 years ago, that is linked to everything from Moses parting the Red Sea, to crop failures in China, chaos in Egypt and even the lost city of Atlantis. At a minimum it was one of the strongest ever volcanic eruptions and it sent a massive tsunami to Crete which is 70 miles away. It also created an amazing caldera which is over 1200 feet deep, where cruise ships stay on idle since they don't have enough anchor chain to reach the bottom. The volcano remains active today and warms up a natural spring that feeds into the salt water. The bigger concern today though is the earthquake fault line that is active just off of the village of Oia. The other discovery has been traditional Greek food. I spent some time speaking with the chef at a great family style restaurant (Naoussa) about the local food, which is excellent and affordable. For those who like cooking and eating stew, beef stifado is amazing. (This seems to be a decent recipe for stifado for those interested though there are lots of variations.) It's a bit different from a French daube but not completely different either. The slow cooked whole onions are divine. I also had a sea bass which was cooked perfectly over coals. There's nothing more amazing than a simple, perfectly cooked fish for my taste. And Greek yogurt? Wow. I've never had anything even remotely close to the yogurt here which is very thick and not runny at all. What is amazing is that despite the heavy flow of tourists (it's pre-season now, admittedly and it's a zoo in the summer) the people here are amazingly friendly. I've been through plenty of heavily visited countries around the world and the Greeks here are as nice as they come. There are many in the island with ties to America or Australia so there's a definite bond between then and the overseas visitors. With the Greek economy being what it is today, it's likely that there may be another period of emigration ahead.

Steely Dan - Do It Again

It's been a vacation week this week for me which meant limited time online. Jojo and I are celebrating our wedding anniversary as well as ten years since we dropped everything and backpacked for a year. It's been a great time during our break and fortunately the weather has held up nicely. We've been doing our part to help the Greek economy down in the Cyclades. The history here is amazing, dating back to 3600 BC when the Minoans settled from Crete. The Minoans were so advanced that they had running hot (via warm springs) and cold running water. Later, others including the Romans and eventually the Venetians settled in the area. Fast forward to modern day, many locals are worried about a slow summer season due to the ongoing economic problems in both Greece and Italy. There's a concern that the rioting in Athens might also scare away foreign tourists, but they insist that the riots are much more contained than TV news shows. (Which is not unlike the Paris riots a few years back that hardly appeared in Paris, but TV news showed something radically different from reality.) They also recognize that the banks (many of them foreign) have screwed Greece so there is justification for people being very angry with the banks. For now, everyone is in a wait and see mode.

Flight of the Conchords: "It's Business Time"

With all this "sexytime" talk that icks out the Right, I want put a stake in the ground.

Here's what icks me out, and Flight of the Conchords puts a very fine point on it. Listen:



No plaid-shoed golfers were harmed in the making of that song.

The lyrics are a hoot. For example:

Oh yeah, that's right baby.
Tonight we're gonna make love.
You know how I know, baby?
Cause it's Wednesday.

And:

You know it's time for business
when I'm down to just my socks.
That's why they call it
business socks.

You don't want to miss the ending. Thanks, guys; nicely done.

GP

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The Band - The Weight

A fantastic performance by The Band at Woodstock.

It's election day in France. It's likely the first step in voting current president Sarkozy out of office after only one term. If this happens, he will be the first president of France since the early 1980's to be a one and done.

Dylan: "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"

I just finished watching season 1 of Mad Men, which ended with Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" — and that reminded me of this, the stunning "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)." A modern masterpiece, a legitimate precursor to rap, and one of the greatest songs written by an American, in my opinion.

This is a live performance, probably from 1964, and one of the best I found. Turn up the sound; it's on the quiet side, but very well performed, and similar to the studio version.



Dylan at the top of his pre-electric form. He's said that he couldn't write this song any more. Not sure many could.

Just one aspect of many to note — aside from the stunning content. It's often said that English is a rhyme-poor language, especially compared to any Latinate language for instance. Yet here's just the first verse (with chorus):

Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child’s balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying

Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool’s gold mouthpiece the hollow horn
Plays wasted words, proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying

Temptation’s page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover that you’d just be one more
Person crying

So don’t fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It’s alright, Ma, I’m only sighing

Even the last lines of each stanza rhyme with each other — trying / dying / crying / sighing — with lots of fun "feminine rhymes" like these. Note the internal rhyme in the line "So don't fear if you hear" — internal rhyme is a Dylan specialty.

The rhyme scheme for each stanza-set is:

• AAAAAB
• CCCCCB
• DDDDDB
• (Chorus) MMB

Verse after verse, that's an lot of rhymes, and effective ones, on four sounds per each 21 lines. Some of the rhymes are partial (the hole that he's in / if I can't please him), but even those work. I'm in awe.

GP

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The Band - Up on Cripple Creek

Sad news this week for fans of The Band. Singer/drummer Levon Helm passed away this week. One day to go until the first round of the elections here in France. Most are predicting a Socialist victory over the unpopular Nicholas Sarkozy. He's expected to make it through the first round but lose (possibly badly) in the second round. One factor that may impact the elections is that for many, this is a holiday period. Schools have break now so many are gone. It's still possible to vote but the numbers could be lower because of this.

Bach, Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582 (with fun graphics)

I've seen a bunch of these visual representations and enjoyed them all. This one is Bach's famous Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor for organ, performed and visualized by Stephen Malinowski.

Life is too heavy sometimes. Enjoy this if you have a spare tax-free minute.



This piece is in two parts — a passacaglia, followed by a fugue. The passacaglia has a bass melody, constantly repeated, with variations appearing in the upper voices. You'll hear the bass theme alone at first, then with the variations as the bass is repeated. There are twenty variations in all, each the same length.

Watch the purple line to follow the bass. At 4:00, the bass theme moves into the treble voice (the high one, in yellow), then lower again. The passacaglia starts to build to a close around 5:30.

The fugue itself starts at 7:20. Technically, this is a "double fugue" — one with two main subjects. Both fugue subjects are heard at the same time at the start. The bass theme is used as the first theme (in red). The green is not just ornamentation, but the fugue's second subject. These two themes, plus the "counter theme" that accompanies the first repeat (the green line starting around 7:35), are the building blocks of the fugue.

One of the nice aspects of this visualization is that you can always find the bass theme visually — just look for the characteristic long bars. The trills at 11:22 announce that the thrilling conclusion is near.

There are plenty more of these visualization, if the mood strikes you.

GP

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The Beatles - Cry Baby Cry

It's the Paris Marathon today and the skies are not looking good at the moment. Overcast skies may be welcome but it really looks like rain may be in the cards today.

I'm going to try and get more gardening done if it doesn't rain, but that might not be possible. I managed to get a few hydrangeas potted but have more to go. My summer wall of hydrangeas took a hit during the cold, so it needs to be rebuilt. This year I am also adding in a wall filter to cut some of the wind that comes through the fence. Every summer we get a good wind storm and the flowers suddenly go everywhere. Anyone else working on their summer garden? (Well, besides the warm weather folks who can start the process in t-shirts in February or March.)

B-52's - Rock Lobster

Due to a family emergency we're hosting our 11 year old nephew this week during his school break. Since he was born here I thought he would have better espresso making skills but no, I think I'm going to have to teach him how it all works. I then showed him the pile of flowers on the terrace that needed to be potted but for some reason he took a pass on that fun task. When I offered delicious Fruit & Fiber breakfast cereal, he said that he might look for something else in the kitchen.

We're now looking for movies that are playing this week in the neighborhood. I had initially suggested a gripping documentary about krill but he didn't seem nearly as interested. Kids today, huh?

Emily Loizeau: "Je ne sais pas choisir"

We did an Emily Loizeau song earlier, and it was well received. She's quite an interesting performer.

So here's another, a clever sly song about having problems choosing. Unlike the previous video, this is a studio performance with two other musicians.

The song, "Je ne sais pas choisir" ("I don't know how to choose", or "I just can't choose") starts with a sly, sexy verse, then turns (comically perhaps) more serious.

The sexy part, to get you started:

When I sleep all alone, I say, God it would be good
To share my bed with nice young guy.
When I share my bed with a nice young guy,
I say, to sleep all alone,
Oh God that would be good.

Chorus:
No, it's really true, I don't know how to choose
It's really annoying, you don't have to tell me.
No, it's really true, I don't know how to choose.
It's really quite disturbing, so just let me sleep.

Note the off-hand manner of performance; that distancing from the material is part of the fun of this piece — as is the Mozartean quality to the music. (Could you guess she's classically trained?)

Listen first; the rest of the translation (roughly) is below.

As you watch, pay attention to the man half-hidden on screen-right. From time to time, he reaches over the back of the piano to play his part one-handed ... and backward. Interesting.



So the first problem is choosing to sleep or not sleep with someone. Here are the other choices she can't make:

When I'm dining Indian, I pick Chicken Tikka
Then tell myself Lamb Korma would be best.
When, at last, I'm eating shrimp with grapes,
I tell myself I should have
ordered veg.

And some darker ones:

When I want to throw myself from the Pont du Carrousel
I say at last, No, life is beautiful.
When someone tells me, Life is beautiful
I want to throw myself
off the Carrousel Bridge.

When I want to die on Wednesday morning
I tell myself, This can wait till Thursday.
When I wake up on Thursday morning
I tell myself, I should have died
on Wednesday.

But the music is always light. A little masterpiece, in my opinion.

By the way, did you notice that the chorus always ends on an unresolved chord? Except the very last one. Nice.

GP

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Neil Young - Heart of Gold, Live

It's a perfectly sunny day today which will make for an ideal gardening day. I did find a few signs of life in my 10 year old hydrangea which is great. It doesn't look like it will bloom this year but maybe it will bounce back for next year. Fingers crossed. The slow cooked leg of lamb will go in the oven sometime this afternoon and ready for dinner tonight. If you're having an Easter meal with family or friends today, enjoy.

The Doors - Roadhouse Blues Live

Any fun Easter meals being prepared out there? We don't find whole hams over here the way you do in the US so I've never cooked one here. I did find an amazing deal on a leg of lamb (lamb is much more common over here than in the US) so will try doing the classic seven hour lamb, that's really more like four or five hours. I've done the traditional gigot (rare on the inside) many times and love it but wanted to try something that I haven't prepared before. The side will be flageolet beans which are delicious when cooked with some cream and garlic added. This will be followed by a nice long digestive walk.

The Beatles - Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey

I'm only back for a week and already I've managed to pick up the bug that's going around. I probably should have stayed under the covers and rested yesterday but couldn't help myself and did an easy 30 mile ride yesterday. Let's just say that the ride didn't help. Oh well, Sunday is supposed to be a rest day, right?

Jane's Addiction - Jane Says

My first week back home has been about as good as it gets for Paris weather. Sunshine and warm, but not hot. If only it could stick around longer. After a review of my garden, I now see that a painfully high number of plants were wiped out during the three weeks of cold in February. Plants that usually make it through the winter (camellia and jasmine) are done. If I'm lucky, I might be able to salvage one of my four camellia plants.

The cats have finished with snubbing me and we're now back to our normal relationship. They're both used to me being around all day so they weren't happy to be on their own until late evening (when Joelle gets home) while I was away. Sushi's medication for his hyperthyroidism problem isn't working so we're now scheduling a vet hospital visit for radioiodine treatment. The poor little guy keeps dropping weight so we hope that this works.

Emily Loizeau: "Je suis jalouse" (I am jealous)

It's been a rough week here at La Maison chez nous, and my view into next week isn't more promising.

So how about some fun. I wanted to put up a song by a terrific French singer-writer named Cali, but his best so far is "Elle m'a dit" — ("She told me she didn't love me, between the cheese course and dessert") — and that just seemed, well, off ... less fun than it could be.

So here's a song by Emily Loizeau called "Je suis jalouse" — I am jealous — with a terrific live action–animation combo vid that just a delight. And Loizeau proves to be quite the actress.

The story in simple: the main girl and guy, the ones in the carousel, have a problem. The guy turns out to be attracted to another women (in the video, she's the girl who shows up with the super-carousel that looks like a rocket ship).

So the first girl (Emily) fixes the problem. Enjoy the music, enjoy the video, enjoy the fun animation.



The YouTube version with the English subtitles seems to be missing, but if you care, the gist of the first verse is this:

I cried for two hours
Onto your tin cookie-box
The one that contained your letters
And the photos from New Hampshire

Your famous love trip with
Adele of Bayeux
I think her name is stupid
Sounds like a brand of sweaters

She wants to meet us
Have us over for lunch
She tells me she's going to adore me,
She insisted as much.

Oh yes, I'm jealous...

But you don't even need that much. She's upset and at least in the video, she takes care of business.

Happy Sunday,

GP

Update: I hope fans of these musical offerings (heh) are noticing that this song alternates between 5/4 and 3/4. The 5/4 is counted 3+2 (1-2-3-1-2) and is laid down twice before the singing begins. It's so well done, it's almost unnoticeable. Nice.

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Elvis Costello - Oliver's Army

After spending a few months in the US, I'm heading back to Paris later today. Something tells me that the sunny and warm weather that I've been experiencing will be gone. The great part of the weather change means I will have two springs. Can't wait for that.

The Pogues - Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six

A classic song by The Pogues about the failed system of justice in the UK during The Troubles. My visit to Austin is over following a fun St. Patrick's Day where I had the opportunity to meet up with some old friends from many years ago. Texas may not be my ideal state, but Austin is a fabulous town with so much going for it. I can't wait to come back.

Rocky Road to Dublin

UPDATE: Apologies for the video not making the cut when I first published. Somehow Blogger isn't being kind to me and keeps removing links. This pub reminded me of the music and fun of a pub that I visited while hitchhiking along the west coast of Ireland in my younger years. It's a great song about a traveler who leaves home. Today is the last day of SXSW so I'm going to take in some more music, which is everywhere in Austin. It's been a great experience and the town is just great. It's hard to beat a town that loves music as much as they do here in Austin.