30 November 2009
29 November 2009
Russell Chatham
"Talent does what it can, genius does what it must." -Edward Bulwer-Lytton
I came to Chatham through the covers of Jim Harrison's novels. I was transfixed by the atmospheric quality created by the meeting of brush, pigment, and canvas. When I sit and contemplate Chatham, I feel like I've gone somewhere ... true.
I came to Chatham through the covers of Jim Harrison's novels. I was transfixed by the atmospheric quality created by the meeting of brush, pigment, and canvas. When I sit and contemplate Chatham, I feel like I've gone somewhere ... true.
Mozart piano sonata #16 in C K.545, Andante
One of Mozart's most sublime piano pieces, performed by the definitive interpreter, Mitsuka Uchida.
Happy Birthday, Kev!!!
40! Wow! Congratulations and Happy Birthday, buddy!
Thanks Route 62 BBQ for the headpiece ... "it's nice."
Frazier ... THROWIN' STRIKES!!!
Last night, as the evening wound down, my friend Frazier presented the staff at Nona with a magnificent gift ... homemade rabbit stew. Rich, robust, rustic ... it was a glory to behold. The rabbit was seared beforehand, and then left to bathe in red wine, stock, and herbs for three hours.
Spot on, Frazier. YEAH BUDDY!
Joe Ely, Settle For Love
One of the truest love songs ever written by this Hill Country poet.
You say you want drama
I'll give you drama
You say you want muscle
I'll give you nerve
You want sugar
Would you settle for honey?
You want romance
Would you settle for love?
Would you settle for love?
Would you settle for love?
Would you settle for love or do you need
All that meaningless stuff?
Would you settle for love?
Would it be enough?
Baby, would you settle for love?
You say you want fire
I'll give you fever
You want kisses
I'll give you all I got
You want diamonds
I'll give you rhinestones
And you want romance
Would you settle for love?
Would you settle for love?
Would you settle for love?
Would you settle for love or do you need
All that meaningless stuff?
Would you settle for love?
Would it be enough?
Baby, would you settle for love?
You say you want drama
I'll give you drama
You say you want muscle
I'll give you nerve
You want sugar
Would you settle for honey?
You want romance
Would you settle for love?
Would you settle for love?
Would you settle for love?
Would you settle for love or do you need
All that meaningless stuff?
Would you settle for love?
Would it be enough?
Baby, would you settle for love?
You say you want fire
I'll give you fever
You want kisses
I'll give you all I got
You want diamonds
I'll give you rhinestones
And you want romance
Would you settle for love?
Would you settle for love?
Would you settle for love?
Would you settle for love or do you need
All that meaningless stuff?
Would you settle for love?
Would it be enough?
Baby, would you settle for love?
Tighten your loops
Flip Pallot, one of my angling heroes, is so artistic.
Flip Pallot - Fly Casting Lessons from Slater Productions on Vimeo.
A Cathedral of Sound
from NPR ...
The Mass in B minor is as lofty in design, scope and expression as anything written by the hand of man. It's one of several instances in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach in which a piece is created as an ideal type, rather than crafted for a practical use. As such, it represents an attempt to both summarize the tradition of the mass in a single perfect specimen and leave a statement on the nature of sacred music as a bequest to the future.
Most of the work's component parts date from various times in Bach's long residence in Leipzig; they were assembled to form a complete mass only near the end of his life. The earliest section is the Sanctus, from 1724. The Kyrie and Gloria are taken from a 1733 mass that Bach dedicated to the electoral court of Saxony at Dresden. The last major addition was the Credo; the keystone to the whole archlike structure, and itself a wonderfully symmetrical arch, it was written in 1748-49. Bach never heard the work in its entirety, but it represents a collection of movements in diverse styles; the Mass in B minor transcends the inconsistency of its origins.
As I write, I am listening to John Eliot Gardiner's interpretation. Get it here.
Get it wrong
Is everyone to go off and lock the door and sit secluded like the lonely writers do, in a soundproof cell, summoning people out of words and then proposing that these word people are closer to the real thing than the real people that we mangle with our ignorance every day? The fact remains that getting people right is not what living is all about anyway. It's getting them wrong that is living, getting them wrong and wrong and wrong and then, on careful reconsideration, getting them wrong again. That's how we know we're alive: we're wrong. Maybe the best thing would be to forget being right or wrong about people and just go along for the ride. But if you can do that – well, lucky you.
– from American Pastoral by Philip Roth
Jim Harrison, "Barking"
The moon comes up.
The moon goes down.
This is to inform you
that I didn’t die young.
Age swept past me
but I caught up.
Spring has begun here and each day
brings new birds up from Mexico.
Yesterday I got a call from the outside
world but I said no in thunder.
I was a dog on a short chain
and now there’s no chain.
The moon goes down.
This is to inform you
that I didn’t die young.
Age swept past me
but I caught up.
Spring has begun here and each day
brings new birds up from Mexico.
Yesterday I got a call from the outside
world but I said no in thunder.
I was a dog on a short chain
and now there’s no chain.
I'm back ...
Today is the day.
The past few months have seen nothing short of a restoration of my life.