Angry (young) women

and one more Liz Phair

to be continued

Meet my daemon :)

Oh those Russians....

The post-millennial version of "Crime and Punishment" would probably include a football-club owner married to a bleary-eyed top-model born somewhere in the tundra who is dating a fake aristocrat claiming a narrow escape from the royal family massacre temping as a gigolo so that he maintains his jet setter life-style, and hm, still considering what other characters to spawn. One thing is for sure - there will be lots of lots of sex, lies and... spam.
It's a pity one of the most inspiring characters ended his life rather infamously. He must have been a genius of internet marketing ("Tolstokozhev is estimated to be responsible for up to 30% percent of all viagra and penis enlargement related spam.")
R.I.P.

P.S. Well, Mr. Tolstokozhev can say, on a par with Churchill, "The rumours of my death are somewhat exaggerated". Theregister is sceptical, and they seem to have a point.

What about me

Getting nostalgic?

Imagine? ....

Extinct?

Really...

Duh... sooooo sentimental it makes you get a blood sugar test... but soooo nice, tooo (now, where's the syringe... )

Maybe time to reASSess?

Heh, still an optimist???

Would you agree that a pessimist is a well-informed realist? Not after this song :) (I wouldn't! Still crazy after all these years :))

Isn't bridge just another mind game?... Playing the mind games together, pushing barriers...

... if you (generic) stand by me (generic)... in other words, another partnership song!

why (not) be silly?

... now and then at least (just cos someone said you can never step into the same river twice):

why did nobody tell?

about this, for example:

or this:

before it is too late:

for Starting Over

or, if that is not an option, for just watching the wheels go by and by*****...

if AND when :)

Just one of those t(h)ings...

Wanna host your own show?

Then check this site: Operator 11.

and see a sample:

My favourite Canadians

Following a pretty non-sensical argument with someone on whether Canada has its own voice, musicwise... Guess we are all entitled to our opinions, and mine are youtubebookmarked. Unfortunately I could not find everything I wanted to list, but will expand as I stumble upon new things. Sooooooooooo, in no particular order, somewhat lacking in due respect to genre and chronology:


Guess Who with their Tin Soldier Classic


Another flash-back to the 60's, Lords of London & "Time Waits for Noone"


Hop, step and jump through time (and taboos) to my favourite Weird Al (Yankovich), Canadian Idiot


The sugar-coating for the previous item, April Wine, and "Tonight is a Wonderful Time to Fall in Love".... Yikes, too sweet, I am on a diet, but the song is cool.


While still on the romantic wave, this one - "It's Just One of Those Things..." and Diana Krall - is much more to my liking in any imaginable way.


Simon Frisk Trio, "A Better Day"


Mark Atkinson Trio, pulling at my heart strings (and they do have the expertise to pull strings, jazz guitars, oh yeah) - they are just great :)


... followed by a guy who knows how to press the right keys at the right moment, jazz pianist Claude Marc Bourget...


If you could read my mind, love... Gordon Lightfoot. An all-time favourite.


Just "Closing Time" (Leonard Cohen) - last but by no means least!

Suggestions welcome! :) Except Celine Dion please - I am afraid I don't like her.

A smile a day...

Thanks to Gerrit from BBO! :)

Fractals in Action

Fractales (Fractals) with Chi Mai (Ennio Morricone)

Doing the unstuck

"Truth is weirder than fiction"

Indeed!

Church school won't accept son of Hell

*
* July 09, 2007

A MELBOURNE father says his five-year-old son was barred from enrolling in a local Catholic school because of his surname – Hell.

Alex Hell, 45, of Hoppers Crossing in Melbourne's west, says despite the school now saying his son Max is welcome, he will move the family to Geelong.

"We're quite devastated by the whole thing," Mr Hell, a Catholic father of three, said.

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Mr Hell, of Austrian heritage, says the name means light or bright in German.

"It's 2007, not 1407, it's not the Dark Ages," he said.

You can read the complete story here.

July Morning

Those were the days...

Happy Birthday, Nik! :)

Eva Cassidy

Barbra Streisand & Tony Bennett - Smile

Diana Krall

Etta James

Norah Jones

Summer in the City (1)

Happy Birthday, Konstantin! :)
Many happy returns of the day!

Strauss Die Fledermaus - Overture

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F.Mendelssohn - Scherzo from Midsummer Dream(Flute Quartet)

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Jascha Heifetz plays Rondo (from Serenade No. 7 "Haffner", K. 250) by Mozart

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N. Paganini Concert N.1
Slovak Philarmonic State Orchestra
MAURO TORTORELLI, VIOLIN(cadenza)

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Ravel, Jeux d'Eau

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Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker, Waltz of the Flowers

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Vivaldi, Summer (Nigel Kennedy)

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Mozart, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

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Friday Night with Jan Garbarek

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Molde Canticle (1991)

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Twelve Moons

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Conversation,
March 22 2006 37th Internationale Jazzwoche Burghausen

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Spiral Dance, w/Keith Jarrett

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Garbarek/ Ustad Fateh Ali Khan - Ragas & Sagas (1990)

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Mandala, w/Keit Jarrett

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Questar, w/Keith Jarrett

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Country, w/Keith Jarrett

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My Song, w/Keith Jarrett

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Silence, Jan Garbarek,Egberto Gismonti,Charlie Haden (1980)

...

I'll be back but I need time for myself

i really don't know what i'm doing here
i really think i should've gone to bed tonight but...
just one drink
and there're some people to meet you
i think that you'll like them
i have to say we do
and i promise in less than an hour we will honestly go
now why don't i just get you another
while you just say hello...

... so i'm clutching it tight
another glass in my hand
and my mouth and the smiles
moving up as i stand up
too close and too wide
and the smiles are too bright
and i breathe in too deep
and my head's getting light
but the air is getting heavier and it's closer
and i'm starting to sway

and the hands on all my shoulders don't have names
and they won't go away
so here i go
here i go again...
falling into strangers
and it's only just eleven
and i'm staring like a child
until someone slips me heaven
and i take it on my knees
just like a thousand times before
and i get transfixed
that fixed
and i'm just looking at the floor
just looking at the floor
yeah i look at the floor....

and i'm starting to laugh
like an animal in pain
and i've got blood on my hands
and i've got hands in my brain
and the first short retch
leaves me gasping for more
and i stagger over screaming
on my way to the floor
and i'm back on my back
with the lights and the lies in my eyes
and the colour and the music's too loud
and my head's all the wrong size
so here i go
here i go again...

yeah i laugh and i jump
and i sing and i laugh
and i dance and i laugh
and i laugh and i laugh
and i can't seem to think
where this is
who i am
why i'm keeping this going
keep pouring it out
keep pouring it down
and the way the rain comes down hard
that's the way i feel inside...

i can't take it anymore
this it i've become
this is it like i get
when my life's going numb
i just keep moving my mouth
i just keep moving my feet
i say i'm loving you to death
like i'm losing my breath
and all the smiles that i wear
and all the games that i play
and all the drinks that i mix
and i drink until i'm sick
and all the faces that i make
and all the shapes that i throw
and all the people i meet
and all the words that i know
makes me sick to the heart
oh i feel so tired...

and the way the rain comes down hard
that's how i feеl inside.

More?

Bro, I just had to link to that, too!

John Cage & The Water Walk

Real Scorching Hot!

Alicia Keys & Joaquin Cortes

You thought you were depressed?

Try this...

Blues in Colour

Friday Night with Andre Rieu

I would love the evening to start like this... :)


and then:


.... and

Nino Rota, Love Theme from The Godfather

... and Once Upon a Time in the West


... and Poliushko, Pole in Berlin


... and the Strauss version of Cinderella (Mein Herr Marquis/Die Fliedermaus) from Roda Stadium


... and then probably this


... followed by something more cheerful


... and something more challenging


... and something that makes_you_hop_till_you_drop (less than 3 mins long, though!)


... and if there is still someone to help pick you up, end it like this!

Today in History: Bulgakov's Birthday

Mikhail Bulgakov was born on this day.

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Has anything changed since those days?

Just feeling blue...

... It was then that the fox appeared.
"Good morning," said the fox.
"Good morning," the little prince responded politely, although when he turned around he saw nothing.
"I am right here," the voice said, "under the apple tree."
"Who are you?" asked the little prince, and added, "You are very pretty to look at."
"I am a fox," said the fox.
"Come and play with me," proposed the little prince. "I am so unhappy."
"I cannot play with you," the fox said. "I am not tamed."
"Ah! Please excuse me," said the little prince.
But, after some thought, he added:
"What does that mean-- 'tame'?"
"You do not live here," said the fox. "What is it that you are looking for?"
"I am looking for men," said the little prince. "What does that mean-- 'tame'?"
"Men," said the fox. "They have guns, and they hunt. It is very disturbing. They also raise chickens. These are their only interests. Are you looking for chickens?"
"No," said the little prince. "I am looking for friends. What does that mean-- 'tame'?"
"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. It means to establish ties."
"'To establish ties'?"
"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world..."
"I am beginning to understand," said the little prince. "There is a flower... I think that she has tamed me..."
"It is possible," said the fox. "On the Earth one sees all sorts of things."
"Oh, but this is not on the Earth!" said the little prince.
The fox seemed perplexed, and very curious.
"On another planet?"
"Yes."
"Are there hunters on this planet?"
"No."
"Ah, that is interesting! Are there chickens?"
"No."
"Nothing is perfect," sighed the fox.
But he came back to his idea.
"My life is very monotonous," the fox said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life . I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the colour of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat..."
The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time.
"Please-- tame me!" he said.
"I want to, very much," the little prince replied. "But I have not much time. I have friends to discover, and a great many things to understand."
"One only understands the things that one tames," said the fox. "Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me..."
"What must I do, to tame you?" asked the little prince.
"You must be very patient," replied the fox. "First you will sit down at a little distance from me-- like that-- in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me, every day..."
The next day the little prince came back.
"It would have been better to come back at the same hour," said the fox. "If, for example, you come at four o'clock in the afternoon, then at three o'clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. At four o'clock, I shall already be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you... One must observe the proper rites..."
"What is a rite?" asked the little prince.
"Those also are actions too often neglected," said the fox. "They are what make one day different from other days, one hour from other hours. There is a rite, for example, among my hunters. Every Thursday they dance with the village girls. So Thursday is a wonderful day for me! I can take a walk as far as the vineyards. But if the hunters danced at just any time, every day would be like every other day, and I should never have any vacation at all."
So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his departure drew near--
"Ah," said the fox, "I shall cry."
"It is your own fault," said the little prince. "I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you..."
"Yes, that is so," said the fox.
"But now you are going to cry!" said the little prince.
"Yes, that is so," said the fox.
"Then it has done you no good at all!"
"It has done me good," said the fox, "because of the color of the wheat fields." And then he added:
"Go and look again at the roses. You will understand now that yours is unique in all the world. Then come back to say goodbye to me, and I will make you a present of a secret."
The little prince went away, to look again at the roses.
"You are not at all like my rose," he said. "As yet you are nothing. No one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one. You are like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But I have made him my friend, and now he is unique in all the world."
And the roses were very much embarrassed.
"You are beautiful, but you are empty," he went on. "One could not die for you. To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you-- the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose.
And he went back to meet the fox.
"Goodbye," he said.
"Goodbye," said the fox. "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
"What is essential is invisible to the eye," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.
"It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important."
"It is the time I have wasted for my rose--" said the little prince, so that he would be sure to remember.
"Men have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose..."
"I am responsible for my rose," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.

The whole story is here.

Yundi Li/Chopin

Yundi Li plays

Chopin, Fantasie Impromptu


Chopin Piano Concerto No.1 1st mov. [1of 2]


Chopin Piano Concerto No.1 1st mov. [2 of 2]


Chopin Scherzo No. 1 Op. 30


Chopin Scherzo No. 2 Op. 31


Chopin Scherzo No. 3


Chopin Scherzo No. 4


Chopin grande polonaise brillante Op.22 [1 of 2]


grande polonaise brillante Op.22 [2 of 2]


Chopin Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2

International philosophy

Art, truth & politics

Harold Pinter, http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/2005/pinter-lecture.html

What a lady doesn't like...

Somewhere over the rainbow...

Happy Birthday, Mom!

A tribute to Horowitz

Horowitz plays Chopin Ballade 1

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A home-made film featuring young Horowitz - the submitter's notes are very interesting, and I won't them do justice by embedding only the video here. Please check the original youtube site, if you are interested. No sound but the personal touch makes it a rewarding experience indeed!

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A really unique video - Horowitz in Carnegie Hall playing probably your two favourite Traumerei pieces... Enjoy :)

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VLADIMIR HOROWITZ
A TELEVISION CONCERT AT CARNEGIE HALL 1968
Pt.6/7 Scriabin Etude in D#m Op.8-12 & Schumann Traumerei Op.15-7

And if you loved it as much as I do, you can download whole video here. 340 MB worth their weight in gold!
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RGP3TI2D

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Another one from the Carnegie concert:
A TELEVISION CONCERT AT CARNEGIE HALL 1968
Pt.7/7 Horowitz Variations on a theme from Bizet's Opera Carmen

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And yet another:

Horowitz Schumann Arabesque Op.18

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Horowitz Scriabin "Vers la Flamme" (Toward the Flame)
Watch the beginning! :)

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Vladimir Horowitz rehearsing Chopin Polonaise ("Heroic") - Moscow, 1986

Chopin Polonaise

I remember this concert; a friend from the university managed to get us inside because "a cousin of a neighbour who lived next-door to a guy who knew someone closely related to one of the technicians on the show who owed him a favour" helped. The best po-mo way to describe the experience was being hit by a sledgehammer repeatedly and enjoying every second of it. Unfortunately, we couldn't find tickets to the concert proper. Those were the days... Btw, the sound is a bit off the mark; for a better sound quality version pls visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZGi49Bnghs

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Let's lighten it a bit, OK? :)

Horowitz Schubert Moment Musical No. 3 in minor

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Horowitz Scarlatti Sonata L33
Moscow, 1986 again

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Horowitz Scriabin Etude Op. 8 No. 12

Hauntingly beautiful... Lifted this off the comments area:

I rememeber reading somewhere that when Scriabin was sick and dying, young Horowitz came and played some of Scriabin's pieces for him and Scriabin loved it! Scriabin told Horowitz that he (Horowitz) played his own pieces better than he himself did!

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Horowitz Chopin Waltz op.34-2

Though the reviews on youtube are somewhat negative about this performance, it struck a chord (pun intended!) within, and so I am including it. If you prefer, you may skip it - but hey it is my blog, and I post what I like, ok? :)

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Rachmaninoff - Sonata No.2 in B-flat Minor, Op.36
1st mvmt - Allegro Agitato

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Vladimir Horowitz live in London performing for the Royal Family. Part 1 of 3 (2 & 3 follow immediately below)

Part 2 - embedding disabled by request - so pls follow this link for part 2.

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Part 3

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Horowitz Liszt / Schubert Soirees de Vienne: Valse-Caprice No.6 in Vienna (1987)

Divine, indeed!

Horowitz Liszt Consolation No.3 in D flat major (Vienna)
Horowitz Schubert Moment Musical No. 3 in minor
Moszkowski Etincelles Op.36 N.6

By way of introduction

ALICE was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?'

So she was considering, in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" (when she thought it over afterwards it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but, when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.

In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.

The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down what seemed to be a very deep well.

Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her, and to wonder what was going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything: then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves: here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs. She took down ajar from one of the shelves as she passed: it was labeled "ORANGE MARMALADE" but to her great disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar, for fear of killing somebody underneath, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell past it.

"Well!" thought Alice to herself "After such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down-stairs! How brave they'll all think me at home! Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!" (which was very likely true.)

Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end? "I wonder how many miles I've fallen by this time?" she said aloud. "I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, I think-" (for, you see, Alice had learnt several things of this sort in her lessons in the school-room, and though this was not a very good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over) "-- yes that's about the right distance -- but then I wonder what Latitude or Longitude I've got to?" (Alice had not the slightest idea what Latitude was, or Longitude either, but she thought they were nice grand words to say.)

Presently she began again. "I wonder if I shall fall fight through the earth! How funny it'll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downwards! The antipathies, I think-" (she was rather glad there was no one listening, this time, as it didn't sound at all the right word) "-but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country is, you know. Please, Ma'am, is this New Zealand? Or Australia?" (and she tried to curtsey as she spoke- fancy, curtseying as you're falling through the air! Do you think you could manage it?) "And what an ignorant little girl she'll think me for asking! No, it'll never do to ask: perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere."

Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again. "Dinah'll miss me very much to-night, I should think!" (Dinah was the cat.) "I hope they'll remember her saucer of milk at tea-time. Dinah, my dear! I wish you were down here with me! There are no mice in the air, I'm afraid, but you might catch a bat, and that's very like a mouse, you know. But do cats eat bats, I wonder?" And here Alice began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy son of way, "Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?" and sometimes "Do bats eat cats?" for, you see, as she couldn't answer either question, it didn't much matter which way she put it. She felt that she was dozing off, and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in hand with Dinah, and was saying to her, very earnestly, "Now, Dinah, tell me the truth: did you ever eat a bat?" when suddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over.