Thursday, June 28, 2007

Hello








Except,




....the thing is....




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Sunday, June 24, 2007

Giovanni Sollima & Lasse Gjertsen

Sometimes music ends up being the places it takes you.

Giovanni Sollima is an Italian cellist/composer. As far as his composing, a lot of it is what they call "minimalism" -- bars of music that are repeated over and over again, to a point where you think, "ah, nuts..!" ... but the subtle changes creep in and you can get hooked. Depending where your heads at, it can be quite hypnotic.

What follows is a 2-part video made and incredibly edited by Lasse Gjerston, a Norweigan animator, based on two of Sollima's compositions Terra Aria and Concerto Rotondo (Copyright: Casa Musicale Sonzogno, Milan, 2007).





Bravo.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Belinda Brady

After a power outage that began on Friday from a whack of lightning that hit a neighbour's tree, and then subsequently, a small transformer at the top of the hydro pole right next to it, Saturday proved be a banner day!

A trip to the beautiful town of Kleinburg for their first annual Jazz Festival, featuring 'our' very own Belinda Brady, and Toya Alexis. Belinda was introduced by her manager, Farley Flex, probably the reason why Canada has the burgeoning urban music industry it has today ... original musical director of FLOW 93.5, always on the lookout to discover, develop and promote up-and-coming talent, Canadian Idol judge, etc. etc. Nice guy!

Belinda opened up the festival, and took the stage with passion and energy ... what a great job! With a back-up singer, her 'Chinese-Jamaican' guitarist :), Ashley on keyboards, the sound was perfect for the absolutely cloudless, blue sky of a day. A little bit of Nat 'King' Cole, a little Bread, and some tunes from her Naked CD -- including the single I Cried which is currently getting play on Mix 99.9 -- all in all a very impressive set. Talent, professionalism, stage presence, a two-time Juno nominee(!), even a pedigree to boot. Keep an eye on this one ... :)

What followed was a leisurely stroll around Kleinburg with the gals, a little shopping, and a stop at the Doctor's House for martinis & pesce. Ok, the incident with the 'killer pinecone out to bring someone down' we could have lived without, but the 'Giuliana belly dancing' was a moment to remember.

And, listening to Belinda's CD on the way home, well, the drive down the 400 never sounded so good.

Stay tuned for more photos from the show ...

Oh, ya, we got power back by about 6:30 Saturday night.

Sunday, June 3, 2007

Plasticine never looked so funny

In anticipation of tomorrow night's American version of Creature Comforts, enjoy a clip of the original. A British tv series with a whack of awards to its credit, it's about the lives of animals as told by the animals themselves. Created by the creators of the Oscar award-winning Wallace & Gromit, they have now brought the concept to North American tv audiences.

For those not familiar, the audio of unscripted interviews with real people, documentary style are added to some clay-mation.



It likely won't appeal to everyone ...so, hopefully it won't get lost in translation.

The enlightenment of a thousand hands

In keeping with what has been musical Sunday's, check out this Thousand-Hand Bodhisattva ... as the description goes, you should consider this all the more amazing considering that all of the performers are deaf. Incredible.