Montreal '07 Part 2 Pink Martini

Singer China Forbes did a take on an old Carmen Miranda samba.
Pink Martini just has fun
The Portland, Ore., band is a Montreal favourite. Pink Martini packs the house in this town – twice last night alone. The 13-member band opened with a cover of Ravel’s Bolero, with the instruments joining in one at a time – cello first, with light percussion, then flourishes of harp. When bandleader Thomas Lauderdale came on piano, the song went from classical to kitsch. But nobody minded.
Therein lies Pink Martini’s appeal. All night the group flipflopped between serious art and unpretentious fun, leaning more toward the latter. Also in the first half, singer China Forbes sang an old Carmen Miranda samba, Tempo Perdido, from 1934; a few Latin jazz ditties, including the 1950 classic Anna (El Negro Zumbon); and the mildly melodramatic Japanese pop ballad Taya Tan, from 1970.
Several originals maintained the variety and general lightheartedness. The cheeky Je ne veux pas travailler could be an Edith Piaf song. The cutesy Lilly was an ode to Forbes’s cat.
The pacing was eclectic. A swinging, big-band instrumental jam (in which several of the players – trumpet, trombone, drums, guitar – got a chance to shine) gave way to the lilting Italian love song Amado Mio. Again, the crowd loved every minute. So did Maureen, Luke, Claire and I.

Montreal '07

John, Paul, Alex and i went to the opening night of the Montreal Jazz Festival.

We had a great time. The term supergroup is widely overused when star musicians come together. But the power trio of John Scofield on guitar, Larry Goldings on Hammond B-3 organ and Jack DeJohnette on drums lived up to that billing last night.
Each is an influential bandleader in his own right. Together, they call themselves Trio Beyond because they're determined to push the musical envelope.
And that was clear from the start at Theatre Maisonneuve of Place des Arts as they launched into a smartly swinging version of Woody Shaw's composition If, then dialed up the electronica and the spacey vibe on a medley that included As One, Allah Be Praised and Saudades.
This band takes inspiration from the late drummer Tony Williams's organ trio Lifetime, a fearless bunch of adventurers who came to prominence in the late 1960s, featuring pioneering organist Larry Young.
Not for them the roadhouse blues and jazz in a typical organ trio.
Sure, there was plenty of swing from Trio Beyond last night. But there was also some of the raw energy, amplified by swirling colours from Goldings's organ, psychedelia from Scofield and the primal force of DeJohnette's drums.
None of that detracted from the wonderful melodic sense these guys possessed on Scofield's composition Flower Power and the Ornette Coleman tune Invisible.
It was a great festival kickoff.

The boys and I also saw Wynton Marselis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Joan, Claire and Maureen saw them with me a few years ago. this was different as they were accompanied by a procussion group from Ghana. More on that later...

Tonight, we see Pink Martini.

Bernie come clean... What really happened to Dad's "White Album"??????????????

Green Ghost Anyone???

I believe I was the last Sauvageau to touch the light switch screws and the fridge on Garrett Avenue to purposely get a slight shock...

Garage Hopping...

Who actually saw "Blacky"???

May this summer bring much to all!!!

June 17th 2007. Luis has arrived bringing his soccer expertise to Littlestown for the 4th year of "LUIS Camp". Bringing the Dallas heat with him, we (Denise, Trish, Paul, Christopher, Xavier, Isaiah, Simon, Mathew Santry and LUis) enjoyed some Spanish cuisine at Baltimore's inner harbor. I'll upload some pictures of the day later. Hope all are well and you are able to enjoy some form of cold refreshment not unlike the shake being shared to the left. Carry on....

The Tale of the Eclipse (by John Nichols)

Long, Long ago, when there was only planets, stars, and comets, there was a great big star, which we today call the sun. All other stars feared him, including the smallest and dullest of them all, who we call the moon. Both sun and moon loved the planet earth.

Now, the two stars loved earth for her great beauty and cleverness, so both wished to propose to her. The sun got a huge comet that was almost as big and bright as himself to propose with. The moon got a beautiful small meteor with blue gems in it that sparkled when the tiniest bit of light hit it. When the two stars made it to earth's orbit, she was combing her wonderful green hair. When the two stars saw each other, they knew exactly what each was thinking; "She's mine!"

The sun thought fast and thew burning hot flames at the moon, creating dents on the moon's surface, which we now call craters. The moon was furious! He was so angry, that he glowed a little brighter. The earth screamed, "It's not worth it! Stop!" But secretly, the earth loved the moon's beautiful glow, and wanted his hand in marriage. She didn't care for the sun's light; it was too hot and bright. The sun grew upset that the earth was staring at the moon, so he was knocked the moon all the way back to the Milky-Way! The moon got up and charged at the sun. He was yet again knocked to the Milky-Way. The sun laughed, "Your glow may be breathtaking, but your strength isn't!" The sun glowed as he had never glowed before. The earth gasped at the beauty of the moon. The Milky-Way gave the moon an idea. The moon took a huge spoon (The Big Dipper) and dipped it in the Milky-Way. He drank it all up, stepped in between the earth and the sun, and spat all the milk at him. At once, his bright, searing rays had vanished. The sun was charred and ugly now. The moon had won earth's hand in marriage! But the sun soon grew hot, and his rays were as searing as ever. The moon had won the battle, but not the war.

This battle happens every year, and we now call it a lunar eclipse when the moon wins, and a solar eclipse when the sun wins. The earth and the moon got married, and the moon forever orbits around her, protecting her from the suns rays. Nonetheless, they lived happily ever after. The End.

(I got an S++ on this assignment in ELA. Luisito-draw a scene from this story, and post it!!!)

Miss Veronica and Miss Magdalene

My Spring Break

Those of you who know me will agree that I have a dream vacation: to travel from Nice, France all the way to Istanbul in Turkey, along the Mediterranean Sea. I have dreamed of this vacation for all of my life. Unfortunately, due to the tuition at Canisius for Andrew, I had to settle for my trip to the Czech Republic. Formerly known as Czechoslovakia apparently the Slovaks could not even stand the Czechs and so now Czechoslovakia minus the Slovaks = The Czech Republic. If you have never been to the Czech Republic and cannot afford to go there, a cheaper solution to afford yourself of the same sensory experiences would be to live in a fat man's pants in mid-August!

For the most part, the place is a pest hole. But thank whatever God the Czechs believe in that they know good beer. Czech beer has a long and important history. A brewery is known to have existed in 1118 , the city Brno had a right to brew beer from the 12th century, and the two cities most associated with Czech beer, Plzeň and České Budějovice (Pilsen and Budweis in German), certainly had breweries in the 13th century.
Hops have been grown in the region for a long time, and were used in beer making and exported from here since the twelfth century. The Czech Republic has the highest beer consumption per capita in the world.
In 1842 a brewery in Plzeň employed Joseph Groll, a German brewer who was experienced in the new cold fermentation lager method. Their beer at the time was not of very good quality and they needed to compete. Groll developed a golden Pilsner beer, the first light coloured beer ever brewed. It became an immediate success, and was exported all over the Austrian Empire. A special train of beer traveled from Plzeň to Vienna every morning. Exports of Czech beer reached Paris and the U.S. by 1874.
Originally Pilsner was a specific term for beers brewed in Plzeň (with Pilsner Urquell being registered as a trademark by the first brewery), and Budweiser for those brewed in České Budějovice (the most famous being Budweiser Budvar today). Both terms have lost their original meanings by different means, Pilsner because all the imitations of the original style (especially in Germany where the style became extremely common) used the name, Budweiser because of the American Budweiser brewery, set up by a German immigrant. The problem is that the name Budweiser Bier does not historically belong to either of them, since it was used for the first time in 1802 by burgess brewery, which exported its beer under that name to USA in 1875 while Anheuser-Busch started operation in 1876 and their first trademark registration is from 16th July 1878 (made by C. Conrad as Budweiser Lager Bier and transferred to the company on 27th January 1891). In 1911 an agreement was settled that Anheuser-Busch may use the Budweiser name in North America and in 1939 it was banned to use Budweiser by Czech breweries there. Nowadays, Anheuser-Busch is trying to extend this to the rest of the world by various lawsuits.
The German Reinheitsgebot, their purity law, was imposed when under German rule, and has been retained. Communism meant that the breweries, while nationalised, were not given funds for modernisation, so traditional methods were retained. Since the reintroduction of a full market economy, however, production methods of most mainstream Czech beers have been altered to take advantage of new technology. Lagering times have been, on the most part, reduced, and the quality of the final product is increasingly being questioned. Some Czech breweries have even begun to allow their trademark beers to be brewed abroad in Poland, Russia and other countries. Most beers are Pilsners, but some wheat beers and a large amount of dark lagers are produced.

Here's a photograph of of the main gate at Pilsner Urqnell. I had a grand old time here! I met many new friends and the more Pilsner I drank, I thought of some of my old friends.

These were some of the most fun Czech guys I met. Clubs and pubs are all over Prague – being at the best ones is the key. Pivos are so cheap, people go out with the equivalent of 20 Euros, drink like a fish and return home with enough cash for a hangover breakfast the next morning. There's a certain joy in ordering another when it costs about the same as a pack of gum back home.
In this compact city with a casual conscience there's no worrying about driving or even cab rides, only the biggest clubs have lines and cover charges (and even at that it's just a couple hundred KC) and places stay open until 4, 5, even 6 in the morning. There's no real closing time and it's not uncommon for some people to be getting home when others are headed to work.
This is nightlife in Prague.

Beers are from 25-35 krown (or KC), depending on where they are consumed. That's about one Euro for those keeping count. And while the Czech Republic is world famous for its excellent pivo, there is also a quite potent Czech vodka as well as a drink called Absinth, "the king of spirits."

If you see me, ask me to tell you of my new friend Blokus. He showed us all around Prague and was an absolutely wonderful man -- a man I now call, Blokus My Brother!

Love,

Phil