Xmas Blues v3

In which we continue to abuse the principle of noise-making as therapy.
Xmas Blues v3

Café Society - The Gones' Lights

Once a year Lyon becomes the City of Lights, for the length of a weekend, as the city becomes bathed in lights and the streets are flooded with the normally staid good burghers (as well as a few thousand Italian tourists.) The clip above was also a good excuse to mangle a Höfner Beatle Bass à la Stranglers.

Farewell to Stadium Rock - Titi Robin

We were privileged this week to see Titi Robin - the real gypsy king - in concert with his band at les Folies Bergères, better known for Musichall shows. Once again we were delighted, with not very pricey tickets, to be seated no more than 10 metres from the action. Titi plays guitar, luth, arab luth and almost anything with strings that can be picked. His band includes three classical musicians (two violins and one cello) and it's perhaps the first time that I see and hear classical instruments used to their potential by a popular composer.
Sadly, the iPhone showed again that's it's not a very good camera.

The Café Society - Part 19 - 'tis the Season

In a disin-genuous attempt to lift the neighbour-hood's prevailing doom and gloom (mind you, this may suit the customers of the four Goth shops around the corner) I have once again switched on my office Xmas lights, which reside year-round on a ficcus tree (that I have yet to manage to liquidate, despite one office move, one office fire, and many droughts.) Now, that was a long sentence...The LEDs consume a total of 5 Watts.

Hotel Rooms - Part 14 - Pestana Palace Hotel - Lisbon

The Pestana Palace Hotel certainly deserves its place in the association of "Leading Hotels in the World." The Palace was almost in ruins when it was rescued by private investors a few years ago and declared a national monument by the Portuguese government. However, the one major disappointment is that most of the rooms are in modern extensions, albeit with a view onto a tropical garden. Furthermore, unlike the modern extension at the very similar Galle Face Hotel, Sri Lanka, this extension is not quite up to palatial standards: carpet rather than hardwood or tiles, TV that has clearly seen better days. Time to go roughing it a bit... One is getting to be too difficult.

The Trader live at La Hacquinière

The Trader v2

This time, with a real Ric 330.

Youth is Wasted on the Young

When the source of archived Facebook entries becomes Unknown.

The Great Leap Forward Redux

The Château de Fontainebleau is an interesting palace, built on a patchwork of styles, from the middle-ages to le Premier Empire. The Palais de Tokio is an interesting contemporary art gallery. Thus, placing Palais de Tokio pieces in the Château de Fontainebleau was a promising idea. Unfortunately, the road to hell is also paved with promises. Once one has seen the elephant one can go home.

One trusts Greasy appreciates.

Hotel Rooms - Part 13 - Residency Hotel - Andheri, Mumbai

Hotels in Mumbai fall into two broad categories : expensive, or indigenous. Having experimented with both, ultimately one prefers indigenous. It's clearly affordable, and the service is probably better than in the big Western hotels, with little pretention. The Andheri Residency Hotel, the closest hotel to Mumbai international airport, has terrible reviews on Trip Advisor, which in itself was tantamount to a strong endorsement.
Having emerged into the Mumbai airport heat at 1:00 in the morning, I was tucking into (Hallal) Lamb Byriani at 2:00, with no beer but a Lassi. Indians may be taking over Route 66 motels, but Muslims are Mumbai's hostelers. The room had a double bed, a TV and a large bathroom, and at $40 a night one was surely a very profitable guest and was treated accordingly.

3 Vermont

Bears Gone Bad now have a bad bass player (bad as in unskilled.) The first take of 3 Vermont was tolerable, but the MacBook ate it, so you'll have to settle for the much worse second take, which sounds like Radiohead doing Motown on a bad day.
3 Vermont

Elodie

Elodie arrived in January this year, while S was in Cambodia. This ES-339, a late Xmas present to myself, is supposed to combine the sound of an ES-335 and the size of a Les Paul. It's not a bad attempt. Calling her Lucille would have been pretentious (though she does nail BB's sound quite nicely) so we settled for Elodie.
Googling for Elodie and her friend Marshall revealed a troubling namesake, perhaps a French variant on cheesecake.

Café Society Public Service Announcement

In a probably vain attempt to oust "Michelin Energy 3A Tyres" as the top Google search hit for this blog, here are the best substitutes for Cheesecake ingredients.
In effect, in the land of 350 cheeses, Philadelphia Cream Cheese is not for sale, except at extortionate prices in shops for homesick American expatriates. The same applies to Graham Cracker Crumbs and to sour cream.
These three base ingredients for cheesecake can be directly replaced by:

- St Moret (industrial cheese found in any supermarket)
- Bridelice 15% cream
- Speculoos biscuits

NB: Despite our best intentions, we now have a full set of Energy 3A tyres. They're OK.

Still More Big Drive Backfill & Fun with Garageband

Mornings in New Mexico, but no Etruscan Ruins.

After Texas, New Mexico felt like the Promised Land, with the best fluorescent Motel signs, Mexican breakfast diners, and laid-back people... It's also the State with the most temptations to leave old 66: Sante Fe, Las Vegas NM, Mile High City, Indian Casino's...

It is, after all, the Land of Enchantment.

The Middle Imperial Peril

Miss Q providing empirical evidence of how we should beware of an army of merciless Lucy Liu-like warriors invading the tired West. (One sincerely hopes that the Chinese national firewall censors this, failing which one may face unpleasant consequences.)

July 31st was a Splendid Day

Many thanks for all the good wishes.

The food was also quite good.

A Haven for the Intelligentsia

Max and Ms Q go to great lengths to demonstrate that life at La Hacquinière is not merely mindless merriment by pulling out books (it is not immediately apparent whether these are being held the right way up) and then computers (though Max seems puzzled by a non-black notebook.)

If they pursue this slippery slope they'll end up watching the WWII channel.

Farewell to Stadium Rock - Redux

Tom Waits' current European tour is an indication of where things may have to go.  Tom doesn't do large venues, nor does he tour very often (the last European tour was in 2004, and this year he's only doing a dozen dates.)

His gigs are obvious fodder for ticket scalpers. So his management came up with a complex scheme where only two (expensive) tickets were sold per person, and that person's name appeared on the ticket, for an ID check at the door.  It certainly worked for Tom Waits, but I have doubts about it working for Madonna.

PS: Having got into the gig, one was pleasantly surprised to see that there were few, if any, restrictions on photography.

Omaha Beach Blues

Spent the weekend at Bernard the Watchmaker's (and Ornithologist's), in the Contentin, a few miles back from the Normandy Beaches, in the thick of the bocage.

A splendid time was had by all.

Web 2.0 Lexicology

Almost as long as there have been  leaders there have been followers.

The advent of espionnage gave rise to disinformation.

In the Web 2.0 era, what is the converse of stalking?

No prizes.

From Lima to Machu Pichu

One cannot say that Lima is one's favourite city, but it does serve at least one purpose -- it makes the Valley of the Gods even more appealing. By the same token, Agua Calientes, a few thousand feet below Machu Pichu, makes rising at 4 AM very easy: one had so much rather be up at Machu Pichu at daybreak, than try to sleep in hot water ;-)

Farewell to Stadium Rock (for now at least)

The two concerts we attended on the last weekend of June made future concert decisions relatively easy.

  

The first gig, at le Parc des Princes (total capacity circa 45 000),  was the Spring Bosstime. Even in so-called Gold seats, the view was far from intimate and, to add insult to injury, the sound was, to put it gently, muddy. The real shame was that the band did, for all intents and purposes, put on a stupendous 3-hour show. 

The next time we attend a Bruce concert we'll buy the cheap general admission tickets, and then queue up at dawn in hopes of getting into the stagefront pit.

The following night we saw Lou Reed perform Berlin at la Salle Pleyel, the Paris equivalent of Carnegie Hall.  We sat ten rows back from the stage, the sound was HiFi impeccable (the cameraphone recording one made during the encore doesn't do it justice) and the tickets were about the same price as for the E Street Band.  

Late July we're seeing Tom Waits at le Grand Rex (total capacity approximately 1 000) for a touch of glitter and doom.  Tickets were almost impossible to acquire, but hope springs eternal.

Return to the Big Smoke

The visit to T.O. was also timed to coincide with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' passage through town. I once again experimented with cheap seats, this time above the side of the stage (TPATH's stage has no seats behind) and was rewarded with excellent sound, a decent view and...White Trash. In the 20 or so years since I lost touch with Tom Petty, his constituency has clearly evolved from college kids to Wayne's World. Nevermind, Dude.

Return to the Big Smoke

A trip to Toronto the Good was a golden opportunity to visit Donald, and to get to know a little Alix, Donald & M's daughter. Alix is pretty creative in front of a camera...

Rocky & Silvia - Redux

With the exception of mobile phones, consumers seem to have an insatiable appetite for things that get bigger -- for example, the current VW Polo is significantly bigger than the original Golf, or even the Golf Mk 2.
This occurred to me again when I chanced upon a photo of our first real espresso machine, a Delonghi, next to a Moulinex coffee grinder. To compare, you can see this year's models, Silvia and Rocky, here. The one part of the triptych that remains is the B&W photo of our favourite waiter at la Cerveza Alemana, Hemingway's old haunt in Madrid.

Google Hits - Redux

The algorithms used by Google tend to be self-fulfilling prophecies: hits generate more hits. So, to help along the process, and to simplify things, here's a summary of what one has to say regarding the top search topics in this modest endeavour.

1. Michelin Energy 3A Tyres: boring, overpriced rubber, that people (well actually men) buy for the same set of reasons they used to buy Levi's or Dell. If you need new, performance tyres take a look at Kumho K11s, that you can buy here. Mercedes OEMs them on the Class A, they're half the price of Michelins, and after almost a year they've performed beautifully on my Alfa 156 SW.
2. Fender Highway One Telecaster: the entry-level US-made Tele. My favourite guitar and also the cheapest. However, mine is pre-2006 'upgrade' which brought in Jumbo frets, extra-hot pick-ups and horrible CBS-era logo.
   
3. Tel Aviv Moriah Sheraton: you get what you pay for and pay for what you get. Like many of the big name hotels on the Tel Aviv beachfront, the Moriah Sheraton is a sheep in wolf's clothing, a mundane, run-down family-orientated 2.5 star masquerading as a 4-star. The WiFi works intermittently, and even the family part is poorly done: Russian hospitality workers roam freely from floor to floor (though presumably not using the Sabbath lift.)
   

Keep those cards and letters coming, and please don't call again -- Laurie Anderson

More Fun with Garageband - Part 6 - Facebook Périphérique

Return to the Sheep

I'd neglected crossing the field on my way home all winter, due to a combination of bad weather, a twisted ankle, and sheer laziness. I knew the sheep were there -- on some evenings the wind carries their baaing and bleating all the way home -- but I hadn't seen them. So it was with some trepidation that I set off across the field this Friday evening. The farmer appears to be doing colza this year, which looks gorgeous in any light. Then I saw the sheep, including a dozen lambs. They were shy as usual, probably recognising the meat eater in me.

Go West, Young Lady!

Honorary filleule Emma returns from the Big Apple at the end of the weekend. Just in case she doesn't see this ad in the subway (along with its associated object lesson), here it is. T'as bien compris, ma puce ?!

Ne'er a Drop to Drink - Part 8 - Sarah Bernhardt's Fort

Whilst strolling along Belle Ile's Pointe aux Poulains, the Divine Sarah came across an old fort that was "uncomfortable, inhospitable, in short, for me." Having purchased the fort, she continued to visit every year for the following thirty years, with coffin in tow.

The Café Society - Part 17 - Rocky & Silvia Come Home

Strictly speaking, the foregoing bears little relation to the Café Society, in that the typical French café does not serve very palatable espresso. This said...

It was with heavy heart that we threw out our last espresso machine, a Krups M4020, I believe. That having been our third machine to blow its pump in 7 years, I began to investigate more serious options. I discovered a world of espresso aficionados hitherto unknown to me, best embodied by the Coffee Geek site. After much research, I finally settled on a Rancilio Silvia and its grinder companion, the Rancilio Rocky. The Silvia bears more resemblance to a tank than a feminine persona, but that's the whole point: it's made of commercial grade components.

I won't add to the plethora of web postings concerning the Silvia, except to say that making espresso ristreto with it is much easier than many of the posters let on. It's harder than making American filter coffee, but what isn't?

Hotel Rooms - Part 12 - Nan Hai Hotel

The Nan Hai Hotel in Shenzhen is not a great moment in hosteler history. The first moments are pleasant enough, as the hotel is literally a stone's throw from the ferry pier connecting Shenzhen to Macau and Hong Kong airport. The extremely long check-in is a clue that something is amiss, as is the fact that the door key card does not work. The polyfilla stuck between broken tiles in the bathroom are not reassuring. The buffet dinner looks delightful, until one realises that the same buffet is laid out for breakfast and lunch. On the food front, there is a row of "chicken bars" just outside the hotel gates. The Nan Hai is clearly a 2-star in 5-star clothing. The breakfast garden is quite nice, though, on days when the smog is not too thick.

More Big Drive Backfill & Fun with Garageband

Texas comprises the midpoint of Route 66, as well as one of the longest stretches of uninterrupted original 66, where one doesn't need to tarnish one's tyres (I have no idea whether they were Michelin, Goodyear or Kumho) on the Interstate. However, perhaps it was the fact that it was a Sunday, or perhaps it was W Bush's spectre, or perhaps even it was memories of Thelma & Louise...in any case, we drove through Texas in a day, with just a few brief stops to admire Cadillac Ranch or the Gator biker bar in Amarillo.  All along the road,  a 12-string lick was reverberating in my head, but the Rickenbacker 360 12-string (I've noticed that guitar or tyre model names make for big Google hits) only found me in San Francisco. However, my use of the freshly acquired Gibson ES-339 (Google redux) is embarrassing...I plead the beginning of the learning curve.

 

Barcelona Mardi Gras

It was a glorious Sunday in Barcelonita as the local residents did their own Mardi Gras parade, complete with Samba drum schools and dancers.

In the backstreets removed from the beach, we happened upon a tiny bar-restaurant, with the freshest sardines and canelone (a Barcelona speciality similar to the Cosa Nostra's).   With only three tables, soon there was a queue of masqueraded adults  and children.

Airports (Part iv)

SylVie left for her second Project Abroad today, this time from the relative luxury of CDG 2F.  She's flying with Korean Air, via Incheon Airport in Seoul, for the simple reason that it was cheapest and yet gave her Air France airmiles.  This despite the fact that the Seoul detour added a few hours and 2000 km to her trip.

How many extra miles are flown and extra barrels of kerosene consumed with such economics?

More Fun with Camera Phones

For our latest Boss-time, last December, I decided to innovate by ordering tickets behind the stage.  These were almost the cheapest in the house.  All told:

• The sound is better; 
• The view is closer; and
• One gets to observe little details, like the fact that Bruce uses a karaoke-style teleprompter embedded in the stage, to remember the lyrics (with a 300+ song catalogue, who can blame him.)

One constant, however, is that cameraphones are yet to threaten concert IPR.

More Fun with Garageband - Part 4 - Berlin

Berlin in January inspires Electronic Machine Music, speaking of which, we'll be seeing Lou Reed perform Berlin at the Salle Pleyel in June.

Adventures in Web 2.0 v2.0

Decided that lack of a band shouldn't be an obstacle to having a virtual one, so created a band page on MySpace.

We are still without a record deal. 

Adventures in Web 2.0

Spoke to a friend in the Big Smoke, who told me that Facebook was now "it." I now have a page on Facebook, and am still puzzled as to the point of the whole mess.