what music now (fall edition)?

In these early days of autumn the following CDs keep spinning away at home and car:

1. Metric - Live It Out
   This a transitional work for a Emily Haines' band as they shift away from synthesizer-based indie-pop (Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?), to guitar-rocking indie rock. Emily Haines has also been part of another great Canadian collective, Broken Social Scene
   
   
2. Elbow - Leaders of the Free World
   Very emotional and personal work for Elbow and not as rocky as previous releases (Cast of Thousands). I can't get that feeling that Guy Garvey comes off a little like Peter Gabriel. There are some great lyrics in here such as The Stops ("I'll miss you the way you miss the sea"), The Everthere ("If I loose a sequin here and there/ More salt than pepper in my hair/ Can I rely on you/ When all the songs are through/ To be for me the everthere"), or My Very Best ("And would you tell her/ Not to talk as if I died/ Though a tiny part just did"). Beautifully poetic.
   
   
3. Keep In Time: A Live Recording. Funky music from Ninja Tunes label to keep those dreary New England days warm. Think of P-Funk and George Clinton.
   

More later (Depeche Mode, etc.)

art for art's sake...

continuing and upcoming art exhibits around the world:


Jean-Michel Basquiat showcasing the art of a brilliant but tragic contemporary American artist. The Brooklyn Museum, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston have also created a unique Basquiat-related website From Street to Studio: The Art of Jean-Michel Basquiat. On view from November 20, 2005 to February 12, 2006 at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.


Cezanne in Provence at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC between January 19 - May 7, 2006. This exhibit will mark the centenary of Cezanne's death. Not to be missed!

Also at the National Gallery of Art in DC, Dada, the "most comprehensive museum exhibition of Dada art ever mounted in the United States". Ends October 22, 2005.

If you are in NYC over the next 10 days, visit the Sean Kelly Gallery for Laurie Anderson's "The Waters Reglitterized", an exhibition of her latest installation, a recreation of dreams during her time on the road last year.

For those of you in Denmark of flying there between now and December 4, 2005, you can catch Matisse & a collection of exhibitions at the Statens Museum for Kunst. The exhibitions feature nine of Matisse's masterpieces created during a key period of his creativity, 1905-1918, three contemporary artists in interplay with his works, and eight international experts' take on Matisse's universe.


If you prefer a slightly warmer climate during the fall and early winter whilst in Europe, you could visit the National Museum of Contemporary Art for a look at Videographies - The early decades which includes post-formalist and post-minimalist works from the 60s through the 80s. These works of art "explore critically, contemplatively and poetically, human substance and essence within the network of its social, communicative, existential and transcultural relationships". Phew! I'm glad I didn't have to say that from memory.


Love, Peace and Understanding

if you could read my mind...

Dream 1 ("The Dream Cycle")
I wake up in the middle of the night
still clutching fading cobwebs of a dream,
a dream that should never have started,
but since it did, I wish it would stay forever.

I wake up in the middle of the night
still reeling from the sweet wine that was
this dream, still feeling drunk from such
sweet sensations, wondering whether to
chase away your countless pictures in my mind.

Am I still dreaming? I want to wake up
hoping your memory will be gone,
hoping that you'll be gone from my dreams
just like you were gone from my heart.

But I can't. The brilliance of your image
exhausts my heart, causing me pain
I long had forgotten, the sad sweetness
of a lament still echoing in my ears.

loping along at the usual pace...

Love. People in love and people out of it, people who say they've heard of it but will tell us they never think about it, people who claim to have lived through it but say never again, people who deny its existence and whose lives may or may not reflect that sentiment, people who would scale the highest summit to plant its flag, those who walk shadowy lanes in fear of it, those who probe those shadows in search of it, those who stroll hand in hand with it, those who shoot poisoned arrows at it, those who confuse love wth everything else, those who assert nearly all well-travelled roads lead to or from it, and then there is ViVa Straight, sometimes one and sometimes the other, and this is her story, the story upon which all other stories hang like clothing flung across a clothesline, the day windy, though skies are blue.

Post-modernist literature at its best!

More on this later...

au nord de notre vie...

...is the title of a record by a well-known (at least during the mid 1970s and early 1980s) Canadian progressive-folk band, Cano. It can be roughly translated as "our life in the north", or maybe "our northern life". And so, during the last week of August, 2005, I found myself in my northern life, my life in the north.

If you have never been to the Canadian East Coast or North Bay, or Algonquin Park in Northern Ontario, there is nothing that can prepare you for the stark beauty of that region. You can get a glimpse of the wind-shaped trees against the barren vistas and the rock formations carved by the visiting tides from the works of the seminal Canadian artists collectively known as the Group of Seven. These paintings capture the all-too real scenery better than any photograph can, capturing the spirit on the north, and the power hidding in these lands.



A week before Labour Day – actually that last weekend in August - I decided to drive up the coast of Maine and into New Brunswick, with the idea of crossing over, either by boat or by driving around, to Nova Scotia. I managed to get to New Brunswick after passing up couple of opportunities to get to Nova Scotia, the first at Bar Harbour, ME, which would have lasted about 4 hours, the other from St. John, NB and into Digby lasting about couple of hours.

Once I got to St. John I was unable to leave. I was running short of time and there were so many places to visit and see. A trip to Nova Scotia would have required another week at the least to do it justice.

I hope the photographs below, alongside some of the Group of Seven paintings, display, even though poorly, the powerfull beauty of the Great North. One can only imagine the emotions such scenery evoked in these artists to allow them to express their wonder through their eyes.

words that touch the soul...

In the dark of the night
Those small hours
Uncertain and anxious
I need to call you

Rooms full of strangers
Some call me friend
But I wish you were so close to me

In the dark of night
Those small hours
I drift away
When I'm with you

In the dark of night
By my side
In the dark of night
By my side, by my side, by my side
I wish you were
I wish you were

Here comes the clown
His face is a wall
No window
No air at all

In the dark of night
These faces they haunt me
But I wish you were
So close to me

In the dark of night
By my side
In the dark of night
By my side, by my side, by my side
I wish you were
I wish you were

In the dark of night
These faces they haunt me
And I wish you were so close to me

Yes I wish you were
By my side
INXS - "By My Side"


You do something to me, something deep inside
I'm hanging on the wire for a love I'll never find
You do something wonderful then chase it all away
Mixing my emotions that throws me back again
Hanging on the wire, I'm waiting for the change
I'm dancing through the fire, just to catch a flame
an' feel real again

You do something to me somewhere deep inside
I'm hoping to get close to a peace I cannot find

Dancing through the fire just to catch a flame
Just to get close to, just close enough
To tell you that.....

You do something to me something deep inside.
Paul Weller - "You Do Something to Me"

let's all try and help...

...the hurricane victims in Mississippi and Louisiana! There are many ways we can help, not just with money but also by donating clothes and even used cell phones we have gathering up in closets and drawers. The Red Cross and The Salavation Army are accepting monetary donations, but there are many more other legitimate organizations as I have posted in the sidebar that will accept other types of donations.

Peace, Love and Understanding

words that touch the soul...

Simply brilliant CD. If I could, I would dedicate this song to all the women I see walking by but will never meet...


You're Beautiful
James Blunt, "Back To Bedlam"

My life is brilliant.
My love is pure.
I saw an angel.
Of that I'm sure.
She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man.
But I won't lose no sleep on that,
'Cause I've got a plan.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw you face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.

Yeah, she caught my eye,
As we walked on by.
She could see from my face that I was,
Fucking high,
And I don't think that I'll see her again,
But we shared a moment that will last till the end.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw you face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.
You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
There must be an angel with a smile on her face,
When she thought up that I should be with you.
But it's time to face the truth,
I will never be with you.

Kate Bush at last (!) and More Art News

It's been, what, 12 long years but the lady who mixed music and mime into a work of art will be back with a new release. The two-CD set is titled "Aerial" and is scheduled for release November 7th. The first single, "King of The Mountain" will be released on October 24th. Collaborations on the new CD include Mick Karn, best known for his bass guitar (fretless at that too!) work with Japan and his surreal solo work. Other collaborations include artists include drummer Stuart Elliott, jazz percussionist Peter Erskine, and string arrangements for two tracks by the late Michael Kamen.

For those of you visiting Greece this fall, make a trip to the capitol of the north, Thessaloniki during 10/21 through 11/15 to get a glimpse at K.Bhta's multimedia exhibit at the National Museum of Modern Art. It will include video, photographs and paintings (like the one below) from one of Greece's most interesting artists/musicians.


Peace, Love and Understanding

what music now...

These waning days of summer, my CD player at home and car is constantly playing the following:

1. James Blunt - Back to Bedlam


2. Brazilian Girls - Brazilian Girls


3. Royksopp - The Understanding


4. Deep Dish - George is On


5. Keren Ann – Nolita

From those listed above, James Blunt must be the most pleasant surprise of a CD I've heard in a long while. Back to Bedlam contains ten stunning vignettes built around stories on relationships, breakups and friendships. The lyrics are bursting with emotions, and the music is diversely moving between folk, pop and soulful ballads. Even though Back to Bedlam was released last year, it is only now gaining wider exposure in North America.

Keren Ann is a beautiful singer who moved to Paris a while back to create songs in the vein of the French singers she loves. The first two releases were all in French sounding a little like Francoise Hardy or Jane Birkin at times. In 2004 she released Not Going Anywhere, mostly English versions of songs from her previous CDs. Most recently, Keren Ann has moved to New York City, and more particularly in Little Italy (actually a little north of it), which explains the title of her newest CD, Nolita. I’ll have a more detailed review of Nolita in an upcoming posting.

Love, Peace and … good listening!

intelligent design...

...what a convenient term to describe the re-emergence and return of organized religion in the world of science, politics, policy and everyday life in general!

Are we coming full circle? Didn't those who left the old world behind did so in order to escape persecution for their beliefs, whether in science, religion or politics? Is this an attempt to bridge the separation of church and state? More importantly, do we live in such an uncertain world that we need to believe in superstitions, Friday the 13th, a four-leaf clover or a lucky rabbit’s foot, and black cats? Has science let us down in such a way that we have to start accepting the creation story found in the writings of monotheistic theologies as true? Is the world really only about 5,000 years old as some religious writings will have us believe?

Or is simply that intelligent design is an attempt by the current political force to maintain the hold it is having on certain groups within the population?

What does science have to say about the way the universe was created? If I’m not mistaken, scientists agree on some form of evolutionary theory to explain how we were created. If we give in to the intelligent design attempt to explain creation, we may as well start believing Descartes (Meditations) and other philosophers of past centuries who attempted to philosophically attribute our existence on some “malicious demon”.

More to come…

Peace, Love and Understanding!

what a wonderful, "wired" world!

A number of interesting stories have appeared in the news over the past couple of days showcasing the weird and wonderful world of technology we are currently living in. The benefits of the technological advances in the stories that follow are enormous, both societal and economic. However, the chances of abuse and misuse of these advances are also quite evident, and that is why we should be all become aware of them and what they could possibly mean for us in the future.

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts have discovered that bacteria used for cleaning toxic waste are creating nanowires as a byproduct. The bacteria, known as Geobacter, use metal for a power source instead of oxygen. Here's the link Bacteria grow conductive wires. The possibilities seem endless as do the potential rewards, especially from owning the right nano-technology stock.

Wired News is reporting that the British will soon be testing new car license plates with microchips embedded in them. The microchips will contain the vehicle identification number and other data which will be transmittable to readers about 300 feet away. The United States is also experimenting with similar "active RFID technologies" which are currently used in "electronic toll-collection". The technology can also be used by national security and law enforcement agencies in their fight against terrorism and crime. The other side of the coin is that these "smartplates" can be used to invade the privacy of drivers.

This RFID technology is also currently being tested in passports, according to Wired News, with airline pilots and flight crew as the test subjects. The chip-embedded passports will be used for security purposes at airports and international crossing points as part of governments' attempts to fight to fight the rise of supranational terrorism. Of course there are critics here as well. Since the chips will not be encrypted, those carrying these types of passports "could serve as a beacon to thieves and terrorists targeting Americans traveling abroad". This flaw can be easily corrected by encrypting the chips or enhanced with "optical technology" which will allow the chip to be read only after the passport has been opened.

For more information on the RFID technology, also described as "the mark of the beast", the obvious reference from the Book of Revelation in the New Testament, I refer you to the following article, To Tag or Not to Tag.

Peace and Love.

upcoming art exhibits

As the summer is coming to a close, so do a number of worthy art exhibitions around the country:

1. Cezanne and Pissarro at Moma until September 12
   
2. Jean-Michel Basquiat
   
3. Byron Kim
   
4. Landscape Confection
   

So if you do find yourselves in these wonderful towns (i.e. NYC, LA, San Diego or Houston), try to visit the museums and enhance your summer experience.

Peace and Love.

coldplay in boston - music for those who can't dance

here's the setlist from Saturday night's Coldplay concert at the Tweeter Center:

1. square one
   
2. politik
   
3. yellow
   
4. god put a smile upon your face
   
5. speed of sound
   
6. low
   
7. the hardest part
   
8. everything not lost
   
9. white shadows
   
10. the scientist
    
11. 'till kingdom come (acoustic)
    
12. don't panic (acoustic)
    
13. clocks
    
14. talk
    
15. what if
    
16. swallowed in the sea
    
17. fix you (encore)
    

I may be off by a song or two, but that's because I'm writing this half asleep. The show was good. Coldplay put on a solid performance and they pretty much played everything from the double-platinum X & Y, as well as their staple hits usually performed in concert. It's a testament to the quality of Coldplay's latest CD, having gone double platinum after only a month of its release. Despite the fact that the band has gone to great lengths to promote X & Y, and the almost formulaic style, the CD holds its ground based on a good number of well-crafted songs that translate very well on stage.

From the first note of "Square One", the crowd jumped to its feet, never sat down, and sang along during almost all the songs. Chris Martin did his crazy, twirling dance, while delivering songs of emotional depth capable of effectively reaching his audience. "What if you should decide that you don't want me there by your side" from "What if" is as bleak as anything we may have heard from such bands as Joy Division. Or, "All you ever wanted was love but you never looked hard enough" from "Low", and "when you love someone but it goes to waste, could it be worse?...when you're too in love to let it go" from "Fix You". These are lyrics of emotional angst that touch Coldplay fans and will continue to do so. The only criticism I have is that I wished that Coldplay would just unclench a bit and rip through some of their songs like the rock band that they want to be. Then, and only then, would they be able to reach their idols, U2.

Peace, Love and Understanding

books you'll never see on Oprah's list

Here's a list of books I bet Oprah will not be recommending on her show or website. They are in no particular order or subject matter. I haven't really considered the possibility that some of these books may or may not have been mentioned by the guests on the show.

I have moved the list over to the sidebar and will continue to update it on a regular basis. Also, if you want, just send me your favourite books for consideration.

Peace, Love and Understanding

if you could read my mind...

it seems our dreams
turned into smoke
and scattered by the wind
in this small life.

it seems you were a beacon
to find my way in the dark
of night, where my steps
brought me in this small life.

it seems that life never ends
no matter how quickly it passes
you by, like your name i wrote
in the sand before the waves.

it seems the first kiss is the last,
the one i search in every passing
face, a sun breaking through
the clouds in this small life.

the summer...

...doldrum days are here as we head into the final summer month, August. With only about 150 days left before the end of the year, I'm trying to spend as much time as I can enjoying the beautiful summer weather and the beaches of New England. Especially since winter here in the Northeast is really not all that far away.

i've gotten...

...lazy these past few weeks and haven't posted for some time. My apologies, the Oscillation Overthruster was out of order. So here it goes, some updates from life in the Northeast.

For the July 4th weekend, and of course, Canada Day, I visited the North Shore. More specifically, I spent time around Cape Ann (Rockport), and went a little further up to Ipswich, where it is believed to have the best fried clams in New England. They do! Ipswich-Essex is also full of parks and the home of Crane Beach - two miles of white sand and clean waters. Oh yeah, and some rocks too!


For those who don't know, Rockport is an artists' colony in Cape Ann. Very much a tourist trap, and up until, and including, the weekend I was there, a dry town! Now, after 70-odd years restaurants and other such establishments are allowed to serve alcohol on their premises. Imagine that! I wonder how did the artists managed to get any work done then?

The beaches though were nice, some were off to the side and away from all the crowds, and the water was nice and clear. Late afternoon, early evening swims were the best, looking at the sun slowly going down, and then rushing out to get the camera and capture to other than just memory such fine sites!

the world...

...is a terrible place, if when the leaders of the most powerful and richest nations in the world gather together in order to try and help others less fortunate, despite their political and ideological differences, and a bunch of nameless cowards take on innocent people by slaughtering and maiming them on their way to make something better of themselves. But, despite all that, despite these violent acts of cowardice, humanity will never give up, humanity will continue to strive towards improving its condition on this planet, and will never surrender to extremism.

Peace, Love and Understanding

Happy Canada Day and ...

...Happy July 4th to all!

As a Canadian living in the US, I am celebrating both holidays. Being spending few days around the North Shore. See all y'all (ha!) upon my return.