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Archive for the ‘Iraq’ Category

Admiral William H. McRaven–Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life … And Maybe the World (2017)

Posted in Admiral William H. McRaven, Baden Powell de Aquino, Bob's Burgers, Brazil, Bullying, Coronavirus, donald tRUMP, Fabiano Do Nascimento, Iraq, Leo Brouwer, Military, Quarantine, Saddam Hussein, Sharks, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert, War on July 5, 2020| Leave a Comment »

31423478SOUNDTRACK: FABIANO DO NASCIMENTO-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #43 (July 2, 2020).

fasbiFabiano Do Nascimento was born in Brazil and now lives in L.A.  he is an amazing guitar player, creating gorgeous soundscapes–‘an amalgamation of Afro-Brazilian jazz, folklore, bossanova and samba.”

For the first piece, “Nanã,” he plays what I think is a 10 string guitar (the fretboard is so wide!).  he starts a lovely melody and then the screen splits into four.  David Bergaud adds quiet piano and Julien Cantelm adds some complex drum patterns.  The fourth quarter is Fabiano again (it took me a moment to realize it, because he is in a different room).  He plays a lead guitar melody on a tiny ten stringed guitar.

The combination of his overdubbed rhythmic and melodic guitar lines, coupled with the delicate hands of piano player David Bergaud and drummer Julien Cantelm … flow into the first number, “Nanã,” a folkloric composition that “is the spirit that comes from African lineage and represents the forest … and is the primordial mother of earth.”

Up next is “Etude,” a composition by Fabiano inspired by Cuban classical guitar virtuoso Leo Brouwer.

For this piece, he switches to a six string guitar.  He has a different accompaniment.  Adam Ratner plays electric guitar (quietly) and Leo Costa play a some great complex drum (and cymbal) patterns as well as the chocalho.

Both Fabiano and Adam play leads, slow jazzy, pretty, while thr drums really do take much of the action.

Fabiano expresses

love for his motherland Brazil — an “endless foundation of inspiration” — is threaded deeply into the tapestry of his sound and ethos. If you’re looking for a musical moment of zen, this set comes highly recommended.

The final piece “Tributo” is a tribute to Brazilian composer Baden Powell de Aquino.  This piece is for solo guitar.

[READ: June 20, 2020] Make Your Bed

My son completed a leadership training course for the Boy Scouts and he was given this book as a gift.  I was intrigued by the title and because I like the guy who gave it to my son, so I thought I;d read it.

It’s a fast and easy read and I think a younger person (this was originally a college commencement address) could be inspired by it.  I’m a little too set in my ways t make many changes (although I have made sure my bed has been made ever since reading this).

The book is set up in ten chapters: the ten points that he made during the speech.  Each chapter gives a suggestion.  It is followed by the practical origin of that suggestion and then a more intense incident in life in which he used that suggestion. (more…)

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Hari Kunzru–Gods Without Men (2011)

Posted in Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, Aliens, Ashtar Command, Douglas Coupland, Hamilton, Hari Kunzru, Huh?, Humiliation, Iraq, Law & Order, Supernatural, Surreal on March 14, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LESLIE ODOM, JR.-Tiny Desk Concert #909 (December 2, 2019).

I knew I had heard of Leslie Odom Jr. but I couldn’t remember from what.  Apparently I have heard of him from….everything.

A Tony- and Grammy-winning star, Odom has added a slew of achievements to his portfolio since 2016, when he left his role playing Aaron Burr in Broadway’s Hamilton. He’s continued his work in television and film, written a book and released jazz and Christmas albums. He co-wrote most of the songs on his latest project, Mr; out earlier this month, it’s his first album of original material.

Dang.

His singing voice is fantastic and these songs that he wrote are really wonderful.

“Cold” is a hopeful ballad with a beautiful melody and a hint of contemporary musical theater.  It opens with a lovely acoustic guitar from Jeremy Ting and piano from Tommy King.  Odom’s voice is powerful and strong and he hits some nice falsetto notes.  This is all accented by rim shots and cymbal taps from Garrison “G-Beats” Brown.

His backing vocalists, Christine Noel Smit, Nicolette Robinson (Odom’s wife) and Astyn Turr add some nice calla and response and then harmony voices. There’s a pretty acoustic guitar solo as well.

And all the while Odom’s voice and lyrics are fantastic.

When it’s finished he says, “you are the second group of people to hear that song.”

Then he

recalled advice he’d received from a friend: “You have to get used to it — you are part of a cultural phenomenon in New York City,” Odom said, before quipping, “I feel so blessed to be a part of … Law & Order: SVU for three magnificent seasons.”

Up next is “Foggy,” which he says is the most personal song on the album.  It’s much more spare, a love song filled with the regret of failed good intentions.  It’s almost entirely just he and the piano.  Although half way through some xylophone notes add a cool echoing sound.  As the song nears its end, Astyn Turr sings along with him.

Introducing the final song, “Hummingbird,” he says “This song is admittedly… I think it’s a bop, but it’s an odd little bop.  But it has been tested by my 2 year old and it is her favorite song on the album.  For this song Tommy King and Theron “Neff-U” Feemster switch places so “Neff-U” (who worked with him to make the record) is now playing piano.

The song features some wonderful violin from Andrew Joslyn.  It’s a fun boppy song and I love that everyone raucously sings the “you’re my hummingbird” line.

I really didn’t know what to expect from this set, but Odom has a fantastic voice and his songs are really very beautiful.

[READ: August 2019] Gods Without Men

I had read a review of this book by Douglas Coupland on two occasions and each time it made me want to read the book.  So I decided to read the book.  And what a book.

Coupland had warned, in a sense, that there were UFOs and aliens–but not to be put off by them.  And he’s right.  The book centers around aliens and such, but there are no “little green men.”

Rather, the book looks more at a location and the spiritual power it has had on people throughout history.

The book bounces back and forth between various eras and the present.  In most summaries of the book, the present takes prominence–and it is the most often visited timeline in the book.  But at times I found the story in the present to be less interesting than those in the past.

The book begin in 1947 with a man named Schmidt.  Schmidt drove out to the Pinnacles “three column of rock that shot up like the tentacles of some ancient creature, weathered feelers probing the sky.”  He used his diving rods and sensed the power here.  He paid $800 to a woman who owned the property and then settled in.  Schmidt built an underground structure to live in.  He bought an Airstream trailer and set it up as a diner.  Then he put in an airstrip and a fuel tank.  Soon enough pilots were stopping in for fuel as they sailed across the desert.  Schmidt is an interesting character (with a reprehensible past).  He also, every night, lit up the lights on top of his property that said WELCOME.

One night a ship descended from the sky. (more…)

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