Sometimes There Is Magic

Magic little things that you'd forget if they didn't jump in front of you, that you wouldn't notice if they weren't there under your feet.  But there is still magic.
Going back from the Marais today with my father, we switched from Métro 1 to the RER at Chatelet and came across a chamber group playing Handel's "Water Music" in the station.  There were something like five violins, a cello, an upright bass, and a viola, and they were excellent.  A crowd had gathered, and the group - obviously good enough to be playing at way better venues than the subway - made it wound totally captivating.  The way three different violin parts rose and fell, intertwining in harmonies, the cello was sublime, the whole thing together....
Just magic

(violin from here)

Good Morning, Blog Readers!

Now it is officially summer!  Or is it the second half of summer?  I'm always confused if June 21st is the first day of summer or midsummer, because summer is grouped around the longest day in the year.  Oh, well - it's summer!
Yesterday night my family went out after dinner to explore La Fête de la Musique.  Let me just say - French people singing "Sweet Home Alabama" and "The Wind Cries Mary" aren't things I'm likely to forget anytime soon - combine that with the sweet taste of mango-and-passionfruit gelato (try it!) and it was in some ways the perfect Parisian summer night.
How was your shortest night of the year?

I didn't mean to be late

But I got waylaid by a Scottish brass band in the Jardin du Luxembourg.
Ah, Fête de la Musique, how I love you.
Paris streets filled with sunshine and music...
Happy Summer Solstice!

Fête de la Musique

Today is the twenty-first of June (the summer solstice) and in Paris, that means only one thing: the fête de la musique.  Tonight tons of groups play free concerts in public places, all day and into the night.  I'm super excited; some are happening right outside my flat and others are spread across the city.  Here's the website, if you're interested....
Does your city do something like this?

Unrelated, but...

I recently finished Infinite Jest (Mike, my dearest, this is one book you actually have to read.  I give you full permission to read it before Complications) and Flavorwire released another one of their incredible Literary Mixtapes - this one featuring Hal Incandenza (or, if you're in the Orin camp like I am, Hallie).... check it out!  I think a lot of their choices are good ones, but I'd add a couple songs - "And She Was" by the Talking Heads (something I always thought was about detachment from one's body) and "Smatter" of off the Gnu High record (which I consider music for smart people, and who is smarter than our resident "lexical prodigy"?)

Alexandra's Mixtape

Here is the lineup from the mixtape I gave Alex, if you would like to see....
I have included justification for each of the songs I put on here....
Thank you for your help, Mike and Daddy!

I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye
I just like this song.  We listened to it basically on repeat when we went driving through Greece when I was twelve...
Alex - Punch Brothers
Obvious choice, no?  A song about a girl named Alexandra.  Plus it's the Punch Brothers, so it's really good.
Space Oddity - David Bowie
Um, my favourite David Bowie song. And that's saying something.  One day I will write about David Bowie and you will understand.
Southern Cross - Crosby, Stills & Nash
Not my favourite CSN song, but it made sense with all the wanderlust-ey music I was putting in here. 
I'm A Cuckoo - Belle & Sebastian
Also somewhat wanderlust-ey.  Also, I just like it.
We Work The Black Seam - Sting
This is in here entirely because of the line "Your dark satanic mills have made redundant all our mining skills."  It's not every day that pop music references Blake.
I Know You Rider - Grateful Dead
Again, somewhat wanderlust-ey. And it fits between these two...
What Am I To You? - Norah Jones
I like this song, and I needed some melancholic slower songs in here
Graceland - Paul Simon
Again, it's about travel, and that was a vague theme tying this whole mixtape together.
Mercedes Benz - Janis Joplin
I ask you: why not?  Also, when we lived in Rwanda, there was a woman named Cheryl who sang this incredibly well.
Third World Child - Johnny Clegg & Savuka
I like this song, and it ties the other two together a little.
What About Everything? - Carbon Leaf
This was a suggestion of Mike's.  He likes this song too, so if you're going to judge my musical tastes, you have to judge his, too.  Yes, I'm that insecure.
Carolina In My Mind - James Taylor
Again, wanderlust and travel - AND slow and melancholic. 
Spanish Bombs - The Clash
Wanderlust and travel - though I'm not sure anyone goes "hey, I really want to go to Spain" after hearing this song....
Love and Some Verses - Iron & Wine
Slow and melancholic.  Alexandra likes the Weepies, so I figured she would like this.
Asleep - The Smiths
One of my favourite songs in the world.  Also slow and melancholic.  Also something that I just think everyone should know.
Fast Car - Tracy Chapman
Well, I'm going to hazard a guess that you know why this one is here.  It's about just driving and driving and "city lights [laid] out before us."
Amelia - Joni Mitchell
Specifically the line "I slept on pillows of my wanderlust."  Also I adore Amelia Earheart.  
And She Was - Talking Heads.
This seems like a good song to end on.  Alexandra is always happy and excited, and this is a happy (ish) song.  And it ties things together.


So, um, there you go - a mixtape I made Alexandra....
Should I have put other things on there?

Alexandra!

Today Alexandra has made the trek over from snowy Boston (well, Concord) to come and see me in Paris!
I've finally made her mixtape (with help from my father, who was really lovely and offered advice on the order of songs) and though I have classes in the middle of the afternoon, we have a lovely day planned!  She's been to Paris before, so I want to do things that aren't so touristed - the things that I love.  I'm thinking Shakespeare & Company, Le Loir Dans Le Théière, walks in the flowering trees in the Jardin du Luxembourg, the winding streets of the Quartier Latin, ostentatious lions on bridges, the gargoyle collection at St-Severin.... is there anything I'm missing?  Alex?
The mixtape I made has an awful lot of songs that are really wanderlust-y (that's usual, I promise) and a bunch that I just like, the kind that are melancholic and lovely.  There's overlap there - I've also given her my favourite Bowie song, so I hope she likes it!  If you want, I'll post the list after I've given it to her....
Happy Monday, blog readers!  How was your weekend?

It's been a while

I'm sorry for not posting sooner - I've been under the weather with a February flu thing and really haven't had time....  I'm not yet quite over it, but I'm doing lots better (unfortunately now my darling sister is sick).  In the meantime, what have you been doing all weekend/first part of the week?
Also, the website Flavorwire makes literary mixtapes of what your favourite literary characters might listen to if they were alive!  People like Hamlet, Little Red Riding Hood, Huckleberry Finn (I honestly really didn't like the book, but the music choices make sense), Alice in Wonderland, Ender from Ender's Game, Harry Potter, Humbert Humbert (and Lolita herself!), Holden Caulfield (one of my favourites), and Tintin. I'm excited to see who else they'll make literary mixtapes for - Matilda, maybe?  Dorothea from Middlemarch?  What would you like to see?

Mixtapes and Alexandra

Today my friend Alex stopped by to drop me off a mixtape (really, a mix CD) of songs for my trip.   We promised that we'd trade CDs a couple of days ago, and I still have to make her one!  She's also going on the Eurail trip with me, so I have to think of something really, really good... anyone have any ideas?
I don't often make CDs like this.  For one thing, I think that sharing music is one of the greatest gifts you can give someone, so I try and choose carefully.  I also think a lot about how the album progresses from one song to the next - is there a story or decent flow?  Are they all in similar keys or tempos or something, or are these just songs that they would like?  I know my father used to make mixtapes (actual mixtapes, with cassettes and everything) for my mother when they were dating.  For a while, my friend Mike and I used to trade song lists (something that I almost forgot about).  Those were, at the time, just lists of songs I liked or was listening to, but I think that if I made him a CD, I would put way more thought into it.  So I have to think of something great for Alexandra...
Do you guys make mixtapes for your friends?  Do you just put a lot of songs together that they would like or do you think about a concept or the flow from song to song?  Do you make them for everyone or are they only for special occasions?

You can have my precious bones on my return

The Decemberists, hanging out in a forest somewhere.  From here.

Has anyone else listened to the Decemberists' opera/concept album "The Hazards of Love"?  It came out about a year ago, I think, and only recently have I gotten around to downloading it.  Did you like it?  I personally have mixed feelings about it.  Because I like it as a whole - the story and the repeated themes throughout the album.  I like listening to a work like that - a work that comes back to remind you about what's going on.  But I also had some problems with it - mainly that I don't think that many of the tracks can stand alone as songs that I would listen to.  Because, let's face it - not many people listen to an album all the way through while they're listening to music.  I know that I put my music on shuffle all the time, and the pieces from "The Hazards of Love" don't really stand up next to the rest of the music in my itunes library unless they're all heard in succession.  It tells a story, and to hear "The Abduction of Margaret" after something like "Psycho Killer" or anything by David Bowie is a little odd.  Have you guys listened to this album?  Do you like it?

Antifogmatic

from here

I know, I know, I've talked about these guys already.
(But the Punch Brothers are really good!)
More to the point, I just downloaded Antifogmatic onto my computer.  Please, please, please, go listen to You Are at some point.  I don't think you'll regret it.  Also, Missy.  Also, Rye Whiskey...
Just - listen to the album.  It's lovely, I promise

(Mike, I think you might like it)

The Punch Brothers

from here

Do you guys know who the Punch Brothers are?  Last night my brother had to study for his English exam (today - good luck, Caleb!) so he gave me his ticket to go see them at the Somerville Theatre.  And oh, my God, people: they are really really good.  Like, fantastic technical and creative musicians.  They play what some would call "Modern Bluegrass" and at one point the mandolin player, Chris Thile, came out and played the last movement of one of Bach's lute suites on the mandolin.  Because holy shit they're that good.
We have their record "Punch" and the record "Antifogmatic" - I highly suggest checking them out.  Growing up in a pretty musical family, technical excellence was really important, but so was creativity.  These guys have both.  They're just super-good, I promise.  Also, anyone who can act like a rock star while playing a mandolin - and then get up and play Bach - deserves to be commended.  Mr. Thile, I just want you to know that you're kind of my hero at the moment.  Thank you.

It is blizzarding outside...

...And there is jazz playing inside my house.  Basically all of New England was put on a blizzard watch yesterday, and it is still snowing.  Usually we get this kind of snowstorm about once a year, but it came very fast and now we can't open the door.  If you were in Boston visiting for the holidays, your flight has probably been cancelled.  I'm sorry.  Since it's difficult to get outside, I would suggest curling up and reading good books and eating chocolate (that's what I've been doing).
Caleb's best friend came over yesterday with his upright bass and stayed the night, so it's rather nice to be sitting here and listening to "Black Orpheus."  At the same time, I'm starting to go a little crazy.  I am one of those people who goes running every day.  The kind of person who goes a bit crazy if they don't.  For two days, now (three, counting today) I have not been outside.  This is made worse by the fact that for Christmas I was given super-fancy high-tech running gear for cold weather after some family drove me home when I was freezing on the Mass Ave bridge.  And now I can't even use it yet.
But I had a wonderful Christmas!  A Christmas in which I made figgy pudding with saffron and crystallized ginger, a Christmas in which Ursie ran around in circles after receiving a present, a Christmas in which we all slept in a bit but still jumped on my parents at around 9:30.  How was your Christmas?  Are you snowed in?  What are you doing?

Snow

Picture from here

Right now I'm sitting on my couch while my brother is playing Mozart on the cello, looking outside at the snow lilting downwards.  It snowed (and stuck) for the first time on Sunday night, I think (maybe Monday?).  I love the first snowfall - and every one after that, really.  One of the perks of living in New England (aside from our perfect autumns) is the snow every winter - snow for Christmas, snow that makes people cross-country-ski down the Esplanade, snow that shuts down the city for hours.  But one of the best things about snow is the light.  In winter, at twilight, we get this crazy electrical blue sky, a blue that holds light, and for about seven minutes the snow reflects that light back so that the world seems a little less grey and a little more saturated.   There's a jazz group called Oregon that made a record called "Winter Light," and that gloaming sky is always what I think of when I listen to their music.  That blue light reflecting off the snow.
On the other hand, we have snow here until March.  While it is lovely through most of February, snow in March isn't that great.  And snow (and slippery ice) marks the end of my running outside for the year.  Oh, well.   The crabbiness that comes from a lack of exercise is a small price to pay for those seven minutes at four or four-thirty every day.  It's hard to be irritable when the light turns lovely colours, no?  Also - snow days and snow angels and days spent inside next to the fire - who can argue with that?

Music

Greece.  Via Sacred Mountains

Maybe it’s just me, but there are certain songs that mean different things to me.  When I was twelve and we went to Greece for my uncle’s wedding, we drove around the country for two weeks first.  On that trip we had three CDs: The Best of Johnny Clegg & Savuka, The Best of Marvin Gaye, and Babylon by Bus by Bob Marley and the Wailers.  Whenever I hear music from those records it makes me think of our long drives through the countryside and orange orchards, of fruit that tasted so real it’s hard to believe and the wine-dark sea.  And then there are other songs.  For my chapel in November of my senior year, I played “Under African Skies” by Paul Simon and “I Guess This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody)” by the Talking Heads because the songs were about Africa and home, the themes of my chapel.  I didn’t really know the Talking Heads song before my chapel, and now it’s one of my favorites. 

And then I have generalizations.  I listen to the Grateful Dead (specifically, Trucking and Casey Jones) and Peter Gabriel (Sledgehammer and Digging in the Dirt) on car trips.  Jason Mraz (Bella Luna, Sleeping to Dream, and Clockwatching) makes me sleepy.  Gotta Have You by the Weepies is the most Kerewin-y song I know – it always makes me think of the Bone People.  David Bowie will always be the Goblin King (my first love) for me, and As The World Falls Down is emblematic of Labyrinth. 

What kind of music do you listen to?  Do certain songs remind you of emotions or experiences?