Science! Psuedo-science! Nature! Art! Nonsense!
February 27, 2025
art, music, photography cathedral, notre dame, Paris 2 Comments
When I was 16, I played a concert in Notre Dame Cathedral. After the fire, it is very very clean inside. Work is still in progress on the outside. The speed of the reconstruction is very impressive.
Security to get in is rather intense. Martin Luther would have loved this.
The new clean interior is breathtaking.
And the organ is being put through its paces. We heard some Greig, including In the Hall of the Mountain King. Here is the bombastic ending of that piece. What a special treat!
February 27, 2025
art, music, travel jazz, karl Jannuska, live music, original music, Paris, record, sunset-sunside, suset-sunside, the pull 2 Comments
Well it’s not Caveau de la Huchette, but Sunset-Sunside is a great place to see a jazz show, especially if you want to sit close enough to the stage to read the music off the guitar player’s stand! We were lucky to catch the album release show for The Pull by Karl Jannuska (of Manitoba Canadian-fame now living in Paris). The show was very good.
Just how close to the stage?
A complete version of Unsung (track 11 on The Pull).
Karl is an absolutely outstanding drummer.
This guitarist is also astoundingly good. Revel in his finger work and tasty, subtle melody stitches (partial).
A jam (partial) from Picture Perfect, track 6 from The Pull.
The piano player (who also worked on the recording in an important capacity) held down the bass. This was by far the trickiest part of the gig and mostly worked. Seeing Karl preside over the rhythm section with a real bass player would be a dream.
I know the challenge of having recorded tracks that you perfected in the studio in your head that are nigh on impossible to redo live due to the two instruments problem. Sometimes I switch back and forth inside of one song when performing. At least piano players get two hands.
So What’s Next?, track 2 on The Pull, featured an outstanding release jam reminiscent of Miles’ Bitches Brew tracks. Watching this happen live really makes me want to grab my fiddle and hop in.
The sound guy spent a bit too much time recording and not enough watching what was going on. But I’m sure those were his marching orders.
Track 13 from The Pull, Unfiltered Life (complete) features some excellent guitar work from the other guitarist (whose back we watched). In this track he channels Andy Summers. I like this live version better than the recorded track, mostly because there were points when things got iffy and the band persisted).
For the third set, we moved out front.
For a last minute, “lets just pop the TGV to Paris early” plan, attending this show was absolutely lucky as hell. Thanks Karl for a very memorable evening. May we cross paths again.
Get a copy of The Pull from Bandcamp here. You won’t regret it.
January 25, 2025
art, concert, music pittsburgh symphony, prokifiev, vadim gluzman 1 Comment
In town on yet another wedding planning trip (woo hoo!), we attended the Pittsburgh Symphony. Incredible!
MARÍA HULD MARKAN SIGFÚSDÓTTIR: Oceans [PSO Premiere]
PROKOFIEV: Violin Concerto No. 2
SIBELIUS: The Oceanides [PSO Premiere]
DEBUSSY: La Mer
Vadim Gluzman was excellent. As always the Prokofiev was the best thing.
November 20, 2024
concert, mixology, music c'est bon, jazz, nick, nick schrenk, NOS, savoir fare Leave a comment
The jazz was fantastic. The company was excellent.
Sadly, the venue was only OK. The food is workaday suburban fare, kind of beige. The bar is terrible. C’est Bon by Savoir Fare needs to work on their non-musical aspects.
But if NOS is playing, go see them. Even in Round Hill.
October 31, 2024
flowers, music, plants charles arthur, clark hansbarger, cosmos, flowers, garden, living room, music, nick schrenk Leave a comment
Not often enough.
The ringer…
The liberals (bitter variety)
The garden flowers
The boots that were left behind
October 14, 2024
art, music, nature, photography jazz, jen lee, live music, nick schrenk, NOS, red barn Leave a comment
With apologies to Tom Waits, jazz is probably better than murder. For example, this song…
The red barn resplendent in its crisp Fall setting.
NOS quartet is excellent. The evening was likewise excellent. Thanks to Jen for hosting.
Claudio’s figs.
October 6, 2024
art, music boy, dublin, kate bush, miley cyrus, recording, recording studio, tourism, u2, windmill hill Leave a comment
I guess visiting a recording studio and scratching the surface of the craft is appealing for some. Windmill Lane certainly has its share of history. But when you have recorded a ton of records, the magic becomes more like hard work. Anyway, we paid a visit to Windmill Lane while in Dublin to see where Voodoo Lounge really is.
U2 records all of their records with these guys…including my absolute favorite. Mastering is done elsewhere.
A bunch of others record there too, including Miley, Kate Bush, and Springsteen. Run up that hill much?
The tour itself is interesting if you don’t know anything at all about recording, but beyond basic if you do. That’s OK. Hilarious that the space is really not all that expensive to build even with the top stuff. I guess for me, music is the people and not so much the place.
We signed the wall and walked on by.
September 26, 2024
concert, music 8, anthem, art, concert, dc, hoppipolla, iceland, live music, music, original music, photography, sigur ros, stralafur, untitled 1, untitled 5, video, washington dc 2 Comments
Ethereal. Scandanavian. As deep as the ocean. You can get all of those things without seeing Sigur Ros live, but when you do. Just wow.
We started our evening this time at The Grill on the wharf. Of the three restaurants we’ve been too lately, it is the best. That’s not saying that much though. Hanks Oyster bar needs work. La Vida is workaday. And The Grill? One notch over workaday. This is what happens when good restaurants are “suburbanized” for new development. Alas.
But really who cares when there is a band in from Iceland? With an orchestra.
The anthem was dressed for a concert with seating everywhere.
The show was out of this world. Well more like it was of this world in a different cultural context. We need more feels like this in the modern American experience.
It started with 8.
And it didn’t pick up from there as much as settle in. Even the tech bro in the row behind us shut up and ate his words.
There were some crowdpleasers (songs that we love too), but the songs from () were excellent.
And the song you’ve all been waiting for…
An evening to remember.
September 14, 2024
art, concert, music backstreets, born to run, bruce springsteen, dancing in the dark, darkness at the edge of town, dc, hungry heart, i'll see you in my dreams, live music, lonesome day, long walk home, nationals park, photography, Rock and Roll, springsteen, stadium show, tenth avenue freeze-out, the rising, video, washington dc 1 Comment
Lots of pictures and videos from our recent visit to Nationals stadium to hear some rock and roll. Springsteen does not disappoint (especially if you happen to be a long time fan). This show was originally scheduled for 2023 but was postponed a year. Our original plan was scrapped, and we went to the show with Julia and Porter (down from Boston).
Bruce started playing just as I made it to the front of the cocktail line. Yeah, there were “cocktails” of sort.
Our seats were excellent.
Springsteen has so many hits.
Clippy…
The crowd was pleased.
And the 37th encore…
And then we walked part way back with 40,000 of our best buddies.
August 28, 2024
music, party april, dublin, felst, julia, NH, oopstock, rhine, romey, spool, spoolia Leave a comment
We are creatures of habit. What?!
That’s right, 31 years. Some bits from the latest Felst. Was a fun one though we sorely missed the mooosehut guys.
Robber Robber steals the show
On Sunday there was anointing of the feet and a toast to the dearly departed. Inner Chijuana recharge!
