in contrast, bjork's medulla this year proved she's still going strong, and the tracks i've heard from ani's new album knuckledown (due jan 25) are promising. she's working w/ a co-producer for the first time ever and he can prob. be credited w/ the very professional and interesting string arrangements i've heard which automatically give ani a new sound.
sondheim's cast recording of the frogs (a curio, feat. nathan lane) is due out jan. 25 also, which i'm prob. going to hold off on for a while b/c i already have the other studio recording (also feat. nathan lane).
in an interview with playbill.com, audra mcdonald said she hopes to have a new record out in the spring. although i'm incredibly wary of non-pop singers doing pop songs (her repertoire apparently includes songs by paul simon, elvis costello, stevie wonder, and prince), i'm semi-hopeful that audra won't disappoint. we'll just have to see.
so far that's what i'm looking forward to on disc for 2005.
posted by fwc | 12/24/2004 8:36 PM
first up, i've started an open-discussion arts mailing list (mostly for boston folks). to subscribe, click here. the purpose is:"simply to discuss what books, music, movies, restaurants, local arts events, etc. you're into. the ideal candidate is an insatiable arts consumer (and hopefully is an artist as well) and has a strong opinion about all of it, current and/or old."
bess, jeff l., and i have been talking arts lately and how to be more active artists and audiences. that's all i'm going to say about it for now, but hopefully there will be a lot more info to come.
and am i the only one who finds bjork's fellow nominees in the grammys incredibly funny? i mean hmm sheryl crow, gwen stefani, ... and bjork?? it's good to see pj get a nod (though i highly doubt either of them will win), even though this just points out how worthless the grammys are; pj's last album (stories from the city) was way better than this one. anyway, as always it'll be interesting to see what bjork wears ... heh.
Field 1 - Pop
Category 5 - Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
(For a solo vocal performance. Singles or Tracks only.)
• Oceania - Björk
• The First Cut Is The Deepest - Sheryl Crow
• Sunrise - Norah Jones
• What You Waiting For? - Gwen Stefani
• You Had Me - Joss Stone
Field 5 - Alternative
Category 22 - Best Alternative Music Album
(Vocal or Instrumental.)
• Medulla - Björk
• Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
• Uh Huh Her - PJ Harvey
• Good News For People Who Love Bad News - Modest Mouse
• A Ghost Is Born - Wilco
posted by fwc | 12/13/2004 3:54 PM
so now that i've more or less caught up on my sleep and recovered from the cold i caught in london, i can report that london is doing well. during the first two days we wandered around a lot, but we eventually made our way through islington, camden town, covent garden, and soho and to the london zoo and a club. we also saw noel coward's blithe spirit which was enjoyable, as coward usually is. you may have already read about our great visit to st. john's (see below). then andy went home for a day and a half, so while he was gone (and after i had finished weeping) i went to the national portrait gallery (where they had a nice exhibit of the results from their photography contest) and the museum of national history and wandered around even more and went clubbing again. the last day we went to the V&A which was great. the cafe there was particularly noteworthy for the surprisingly good food. also there was a duo there playing beethoven and a very funny worker who admonished us to "please! give peas a chance!"
here are some pics. andy and i tend to not take as many photos as we should, but here are a few somewhat interesting ones:
row 1: regent street; flowers at regent's park
row 2: fluffy meerkat at the london zoo; andy and a ... condor?
row 3: fred as superfred; london school group
posted by fwc | 12/6/2004 8:28 AM
i'm holding off on writing about london until i get some pics from andy to post, but in the meanwhile here's some info on iggy's bakery. apparently the bakery began in january of 1994 and they used to have a location in watertown, but they've just moved to 130 fawcett st. which is 5 minutes away from where i work. score. (especially since my workplace doesn't have vegetarian stuff that often.) it looks like they also supply breads to whole foods, and prob. other places as well. i've been to their store twice so far, and this is just the kind of place that i love: local, organic, and homey. today i had a slice of potato/garlic/red pepper pizza and a quince jam croissant. mmmm. (although andy's prob. going to complain that i'm still sweating garlic when i see him tonight.) i also got a honey sticky bun, and i was definitely eyeing their cookies and almond croissants. it's kind of weird that they're out here in the middle of nowhere, but i'm definitely not complaining. hmm, guess who's going to be eating way too many pastries from now on?
posted by fwc | 12/3/2004 4:45 PM
i'm writing this at an internet cafe near leicester square in london, so this'll be short. london's been good so far, and i'm reminded of the simple fact that british guys are easily -way- hotter than american guys. the only drawback so far is that there are way too many !"£)^&*(! americans here. and all of them are embarassing andy and me and giving americans a bad name.
i thought winnie would like to know about our dining experience at st. john bread & wine spitalfields (94-96 commercial st, the second of their two locations). winnie has yet to steer us wrong, and today was certainly no exception. it's too bad andy's not writing this, b/c he was incredibly enthusiastic, but here's the rundown:
- andy started w/ a simple lettuce salad that was perfectly dressed and incredibly fresh.
- i started w/ the parsnip soup. simple, but nice and hearty.
- andy had the calves' kidneys w/ turnips, which he raved about.
- i had the "swede cake", kind of like an au gratin potato pie, with a watercress and pickled walnuts salad. my salad was a bit overly dressed i think, but the swede cake was quite good, with a slight tang.
- andy just about swooned over the spotted dick (note how i refrain from making any dumb remarks about the name), and he said it just about made the lunch the best meal he's ever had.
- i had the chocolate pot which was excellent.
the waitstaff was personable and attentive, and the space was just about perfect (although a tad chilly for me as all places here are apparently), and all in all i thoroughly enjoyed it, although not quite to the extent that andy did. we haven't decided yet if we're going to the other location for dinner, but i think the chances are high ... more to report in a few days.
posted by fwc | 11/26/2004 1:21 PM
fred's guide on how to draw new audiences to contemporary classical music concerts (notice how i'm not naming any names):
- DON'T FILL YOUR PROGRAMME WITH FLUFF. AVOID: pseudo-ethnic music (umm, why would we want to hear string instruments trying to sound like chinese, spanish, and/or african instruments when we can just listen to THE REAL THING??); percussion instruments (there's a reason bach never wrote a suite for maracas); and other gimmick-filled music (if your beats aren't any more interesting than bjork's, give it up).
- CONSIDER THE SPACE. it's nice that you're trying to draw audiences into more casual spaces, but really, the strong scent of fried chicken and the constant waitstaff literally treading on your toes is distracting. here's an idea: why not move the tables to the back of the room so that those who actually want to listen to the music can?
- REHEARSE. even if we've never heard the piece before, we can still tell when it's unmusical and thrown together, particularly if it's out of tune and sloppy.
- AVOID THE CLICHES. variety is good in a programme (within reason), but not in a single piece: enough already with the schizophrenic music! (especially the kind that riffs on popular music. it's NOT CUTE; it's ANNOYING.) we have a longer attention span than two minutes you know. and WHY are people still doing this pseudo-serialist crap? you're not an austrian composer from the 1920's!
- BOTTOM LINE: you may get a few people looking for cheap thrills to listen to your cheap renditions of contemporary classical music, but you won't convert anyone. give your audience a little more credit; most of us have brains in between our ears, and those that don't aren't going to leave britney spears for you so stop wasting your time. give us something honest, moving, surprising, and that takes itself seriously, and we'll listen. don't and you will only get OUR WRATH.
posted by fwc | 11/22/2004 2:02 PM
andy and i went to spire (tremont st at park st) this past monday. the one line summary is: okay food, terrible service. allow me a moment to rant (although i'm sure i've ranted about this before): HOW HARD IS IT TO GET GOOD SERVICE?? the bottom line is that restaurants' waitstaff and their managers don't realize that service is as much a commodity as food, and personally i think it's more. andy and i agree, and i'm sure most people do as well, that if we had to consider a place with slightly less quality food but with superior service, we'd go with the better service place every time. how was our service bad? let me count the ways:
- in general, our waitress was uncommitted at best and negligent at worst.
- apparently we were only allowed one menu for the two of us at all times.
- the waitress didn't give us napkins??
- asked for my wine to come w/ my entree when i ordered. of course she forgot. no apology.
- after my entree arrived i had to ask for a fork. (compare to number 9 park where they practically shower you with cutlery.) again no apology.
- they offered to pay for our first round of drinks b/c the kitchen was slow due to a large party. and then of course they forgot that too when they gave us our check. no apology.
- the bartender didn't look andy's way for at least five minutes even though he literally wasn't doing anything except chatting with the waitress while andy waited (not so) patiently for another drink.
- at least 60% of the time the bartender had his back to the bar.
- at one point the bartender left for at least 5 minutes and there was no one manning the bar.
- no offer for a dessert menu. even stranger was that our check was just left where we were sitting at the bar. uh ... isn't that what they do in diners? and why bother leaving a pen w/ our check if we haven't even given them a credit card yet?
- when the waitress brought out andy's entree he asked her a question about what it was comprised of, but she didn't know the answer and didn't offer to find out, nor did she apologize.
overall the service was amateur and it felt like the staff didn't want to be there. which, needless to say, is bad bad bad. if restaurants aren't welcoming, they're cold and unfriendly and you might as well be eating at your in-laws.
with all the disappointment in the service, it's hardly with mentioning the food, but here's a quick run-down:
- vidalia onion soup, pickled chanterelles, nantucket razor clams & scallion: andy said this was good but the ratio of soup to other stuff was off (possibly the waitress's fault).
- kobe beef shooters, 3 rare burgers with 3 different toppings: andy said the beef was really good. the toppings remain a mystery though (see above).
- pickled lemon & 3 basil salad, marcona almonds & almond oil: very good actually. salted on purpose, although i found it to be overly so.
- potato gnocchi, local tomatoes, basil pistou, & ricotta salata: not bad, but uninteresting. definitely way better than metropolis's slug-like gnocchi. incidentally, andy went back there once and they were still serving that bizarre molded asparagus dish. so weird.
- the shiraz i had was spicy and overly aggressive. (sorry, that's the best i can do. i really need to take a wine-tasting class or something.)
i've been listening to barber's prayers of kierkegaard. it's kind of surprising how much the choral vocal lines remind me of john adams' choral writing in the death of klinghoffer. speaking of classical music, stay tuned for a tirade about the worst concert i've ever been to ...
posted by fwc | 11/17/2004 1:40 PM
in case you didn't see it already, this is my favorite post-election site: sorryeverybody.com. my favorite sign is: "2 nations under bush's one god." and yes i'm still bitter.
posted by fwc | 11/12/2004 5:25 PM
some old pics
posted by fwc | 11/8/2004 10:01 AM
recent and semi-recent reads:
ovid's metamorphoses: phew! i can't believe i read the whole thing. although edith halmiton's mythology remains my favorite book on mythology, this translation is good, very conversational (at times a tad bit too much so), and pretty easy to read. the stories get a bit repetitive and the gory battle scenes get a bit long, but there were definitely a fair number that i hadn't been familiar with (mostly b/c they featured such charming topics as incest) and enjoyed. good if you're fan of mythology.
orson scott card's ender's shadow: this one was a definite page-turner; i literally spent the whole day reading this. it's been a few years since i read ender's game and my memory's not the greatest, so i think i enjoyed this more than i might have. the story missteps occasionally when the parallelism b/t the two books is a bit too close, but in general card's different perspective is worthwhile. instead of concentrating so much on the students' lives as in ender's game, card lets us see really get a feel for how the adults are operating and also what the situation on earth is like. bean is a great character, and from what i remember of ender i'd have to say bean comes out on top. the only problem is now i have to read the other books in the series.
anne sexton's transformations: poetic retellings and variations and mostly familiar grimm brothers fairy tales. the material most closely tied to the source material isn't so interesting, but the mini-poems that serve as a prelude to each story are usually good and worth reading.
william empson's seven types of ambiguity: haha. i hope joyce appreciates that i tackled this apparently famous book on literary criticism. empson has some interesting ideas, but the first section i read was way too unfocused, tangential, and wordy. i'm not sure yet if i'm going to read the rest (prob. not right away, anyway), but i did like how empson's examples are ones i'm not that familiar with, including a great sestina by sidney.
e.f. benson's queen lucia: a satirical look at a small british town and its denizens with pretensions to sophistication in the arts. mostly vignette-like, but has some really memorable characters and situations.
some recent listens include the cat power song he war, which i've had on repeat. also been listening to this band matt pond PA which has been compared to the shins and death cab. i would agree with that, although i'd say it's much more like the fly seville and the guy sounds like peter gabriel. not sure yet what my final verdict is on that.
posted by fwc | 11/5/2004 3:32 PM
recently re-ran across this quote from janeane garofalo from her book (co-written with ben stiller) feel this book: an essential guide to self-empowerment, spiritual supremacy, and sexual satisfaction. the book itself is pretty mediocre, but there are some good quotes:"Many people feel that mass acceptance and smooth socialization are desirable life paths for a young adult ... Many people are often wrong ... Don't bother being nice. Being popular and well liked is not in your best interest. Let me be more clear; if you behave in a manner pleasing to most, then you are probably doing something wrong. The masses have never been arbiters of the sublime, and they often fail to recognize the truly great individual. Taking into account the public's regrettable lack of taste, it is incumbent upon you not to fit in."
posted by fwc | 11/1/2004 9:43 AM
andy has gotten me hooked on BBC television. we started off working our way through all of the french and saunders videos (a comedy duo w/ some amazing parodies, including practically perfect parodies of fellini, star wars episode I, and the lord of the rings). then we explored some of french and saunders' spinoffs, including jennifer saunders in ab fab and dawn french in the vicar of dibley (see above). the vicar of dibley is set in a quiet english country town that's thrown into a whirl when their old vicar is succeeded by a female vicar with a big personality. a couple of choice quotes:Reverend Geraldine Granger : You were expecting a bloke... beard, bible, bad breath?
so anyway, although i resisted getting sucked into the miss marple series (based on the agatha christie novels, of course) and the inspector lynley mysteries, i think i've fallen for all creatures great and small, which as you prob. know is based on the best-selling series by english vet james herriot (also set in a small town). (thank god for netflix.)
David Horton : Yes, that sort of thing.
Reverend Geraldine Granger : Yeah. And instead, you got a babe with a bob cut and a magnificent bosom.
David Horton : So I see.
Alice: You know that stuff they're selling now at the local shop, 'I Can't Believe it's Not Butter'? Well, you know, I can't believe it's not butter. Then yesterday, I bought this other stuff, like a sort of home-brand you know. Well, I can't believe the stuff that is not 'I Can't Believe it's Not Butter' is not 'I Can't Believe it's Not Butter', and I can't believe that both 'I Can't Believe it's Not Butter' and the stuff I can't believe is not 'I Can't Believe it's Not Butter' are both, in fact, not butter. And I believe they both might be butter, in a cunning disguise. And in fact there's a lot more butter around than we all thought there was.
Gerry: What's so special about Jesus?
Kid: His name's a swear word!
what is it about british television that's so addictive? is it the accents? is it that they know how to avoid crossing the line into the realms of the intolerably maudlin? if the japanese reign supreme on cuteness, the british are definitely the masters of charming. i mean, how can you resist the escapism of a beautifully green countryside full of high-spirited, smiling country folk? i know i can't.
posted by fwc | 10/22/2004 4:59 PM
had a pretty busy (and spontaneous) weekend. on friday night andy and i saw dubravka tomsic at symphony hall (thanks, bess!). beforehand we went to one of the worst indian places i've ever been. shanti (huntington ave near mass ave) had food that looked like it would be okay, but despite its appearance of being seasoned and herbed was just about the blandest indian food i've ever had. they also had a penchant for big balls. the aloo tikki came as two huge balls whose exteriors were strongly reminescent of hush puppies. (at least it wasn't cold like the last time we'd gone.) the malai kofta also consisted of two gorilla-sized balls, rather than the customary chimpanzee-sized. needless to say, that is another one to avoid. is there any decent eatery around symphony??
recently andy and i also went to the franklin cafe. i started with the mashed potatoes, which were nice and creamy although rather too oily. i had the cannelloni which was good but not incredible, but andy and i agree that tomato-based pastas tend to be same-y. (well, in america anyway. the tomatoes seem to dominate the dish so that it's hard to add much subtlety.) andy had the rigatoni with italian sausage and escarole in fennel cream, which he quite enjoyed.
saturday morning i found out that pj harvey was playing at avalon that night. needless to say i was psyched. i got a pretty decent view, and the show was about what i expected: thoroughly enjoyable but no huge surprises (although she did a song by the fall and a song off of dance hall at louise point which was a bit on the obscure side). apparently it was her birthday, which may explain her unusually short set.
today andy and i went to the franklin park zoo. i don't know why people speak so disparagingly of it; we thought it was actually pretty decent (although the giraffes and the koala bears weren't out). we'll have to check out NY's zoo (and london's). speaking of london ... someone send me some recommendations of sights and eats to check out for when andy and i go over thanksgiving weekend. please?
posted by fwc | 10/10/2004 6:22 PM
