Archive for May, 2007
Thursday, May 31st, 2007
Softly as in a Morning Sunrise
“Softly as in a Morning Sunrise” is one of my most recent favorite Jazz standards. Here I have taken pieces from five separate versions and put them together. This is a nice way to see how different musicians approach and interpret the piece differently. Each version coincides with the photo from the album from which […]
3 Comments » - Posted in Jazz by eric
Thursday, May 31st, 2007
India: The John Coltrane Quartet with Eric Dolphy
I have taken the metro to work everyday this week which is not always a pretty site (but that’s for another post). One thing that gets me through the one hour ride (with three changes) is listening to music on my iPod Shuffle (courtesy of FON). This morning I was listening to one of the […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Jazz by eric
Wednesday, May 30th, 2007
Research and Study Group on Gender in Morocco
If you speak and or read French, here is a really interesting new blog, GREGaM - Groupe de recherche et d’études sur le genre au Maroc. I don’t read or speak French, so you’re just going to have to trust me. One of its creators is a friend of mine. Well, actually I don’t know […]
2 Comments » - Posted in Friends / Family by eric
Wednesday, May 30th, 2007
A Bend in the River
The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it.
The first line of V.S. Naipaul’s A Bend in the River is very provocative. Naipaul spares no one any pity or compassion in his portrayal of a brutal world. But, I am not sure that […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Digressions by eric
Tuesday, May 29th, 2007
How Many Galletas Can One Man Eat?
Si la pregunta del día en FON fuera
How many galletas can one man eat
Before you can call him a man?
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind.
La respuesta sería aún muchas más.
1 Comment » - Posted in FON by eric
Tuesday, May 29th, 2007
In a Free State
Last night I finished In a Free State by V.S. Naipaul, the 2001 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. I had previously read A House for Mr. Biswas and A Bend in the River. In a Free State is really three novellas dealing with individuals who have all left their homelands in search of […]
No Comments » - Posted in Essays by eric
Monday, May 28th, 2007
I’m Going to Be Totally Honest with You
In Paris on Sunday, I was having a late lunch in a restaurant and was reminded of something I had noticed in Ibiza on my way to Formentera last year, life is better when you speak fewer languages:
At the port, I also learned another interesting piece of information about myself: I am perfectly happy […]
7 Comments » - Posted in Digressions by eric
Monday, May 28th, 2007
Isn’t It a Lovely Day?
Sorry for going back to my poor quality, low-artisian videos, but sometimes I just can’t resist. Here is “Isn’t It a Lovely Day” by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald (which I have referenced before) to the view of Pont Neuf in Paris, first as the day is only gray and then as it turns to […]
No Comments » - Posted in Digressions by eric
Friday, May 25th, 2007
The Long Flight to No Where
This afternoon I set out for Barajas Airport in Madrid at 5:00pm for a 6:40pm flight to Paris. As always, I got into a very nice conversation with the taxi driver. Of course, the tax driver missed the Terminal 4 exit because we were chatting, and we got lost trying to weave our way back […]
No Comments » - Posted in Digressions by eric
Friday, May 25th, 2007
Time After Time
Shifting gears away from polemics and back to the more boring subject of Jazz, here is a video of Chet Baker singing one of my favorite Jazz standards, “Time After Time“, not to be confused with another one of my favorite songs, “Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper. As a matter of fact, I have […]
