The other side of London: homeless people

From Heaven of country life to Hell of the big city.
London is at the very start of the Olympic games (saw the torch arriving to town) and everybody is very excited about it, huge crowds everywhere and it looks like a busy summer here.


In all this hustle its very easy to see only what one wants to see - happy faces, nice girls, pretty houses - hardly anybody notice something that is unfortunately also a trademark of the big city: homeless people sitting everywhere (on the streets, in the underground metro stations) sometimes with a dog, sometimes not even a dog.  Yes, cynics might say, there must have been somebody who takes care of them but unfortunately social workers are not miracle workers and what do we actually know about those people and how did they end up living like this? It's one thing to see some happy drunkard simply sleeping away his hangover on a park bench and another to recognize real pain and suffering on a face. No matter how long I had lived in North of Europe and know big cities, I still can't and never will get used to just ignore it and pass by. In fact, all my friends know that i give away coins left & right when I think I should help. It bothers me to this day to remember few occasions I didn't react immediately and let the chance slip by.

Yesterday I was on my way trough incredibly complicated web of London's underground (locals call it "tube") happy with my books, CDs and plastic bags when I spotted deeply unhappy man sitting on the floor as people passed by.  Usual story - just a sleeping bag - except that this guy was so down, he was actually looking down completely depressed. It was like a thunder struck me,I had to come back and gave him a coin - surprised, grateful look and really sad face (poor guy was cross-eyed so bad luck for him). Than as I walked away I said to myself "what a nonsense, what good can one coin do to help him?" and returned again (feeling like Jean-Valjean from "Les Miserables") and gave him 5 pounds note - for me,this is just a cigarette money, for him probably a nice meal from some fast food. It was probably his face that struck me - unbelievably how lots of people just make judgement on account of our looks, clothes and appearance - not realizing its all a reflection of moment, we all could end up on the street one way or the other, we all feel sadness in the same way. This guy was somebody's child once, there was a mother and a school and friends and laughter - this unlucky face does not invite sympathy from most of the people and there were many more people simply rushing by without even looking at him although it was clear that he needs a help. I was simply lucky that nature gave me this face so I can bluff my way trough life, I remember very clearly times of my early 20s when there was not a coin in my pocket but somehow I managed to pull trough - knowing and remembering how it is not to have, I will always deeply sympathize with people in need.

English countryside

My first ever visit to english countryside - village is called Stansfield and its in Suffolk area, train goes towards Cambridge.

What can I say - this is all like a dream. The way people live here, the way they keep their grass and everything around me is completely unreal, in Croatia (and Balkans in general) we simply don't have this kind of aesthetic like people here. It really looks like another planet and I have been traveling around. It has nothing to do with material things, money and possibility of building things up & higher but with a taste, simplicity and joy of making your little corner of the world as pretty as possible.

First, as opposite to where I am from, its not about the size of the house. Croatians like to build and build and its almost always never ending work of building more floors than a garage than balcony than another floor than christmas tree at the top while its clear & obvious that house would never be finished and finally it would be sold, while family probably lived in the dark ground floor with everything else empty above. Here, houses are mostly small and have magical atmosphere about them. My friend's cottage is 300 years old and previous occupant was a local witch who had runes on the ceiling.Of course he had refurnished everything (from the local antique shop) and filled the cottage with books, music and paintings that reflect his taste. Once you enter this unassuming, almost invisible little house (hidden behind Walnut Tree so the house actually got a name "Walnut Tree") it feels like entering Beatrix Potter story or Bilbo Baggins little Hobbit house: the main focus is unbelievably small but sweet living room with a huge fireplace and tiny dining room at the back. Cutest sleeping rooms upstairs. The most delightful little garden at the back (where I am writing this right now) with the sun always shining from the fields and petite corner in a shade. Pigeons are nestling above me head. Happy spider spinning his net. Snails crawling all over the place. Everything is in perfect order but small and nicely suited to nature that surrounds it. Nothing modern visible - if people have any electronic gadgets, they are hidden well, everything looks old, rustic and ancient.

This morning we drove to a local village - Clare - which was again the eye opening experience as locals really live nice and relaxed here. Houses are pretty. Streets quiet and picturesque. Church is ancient and stunning. I had great fun exploring local gift shop, bookshop and wonderful coffee in local coffee shop while reading "The Times". Antique shop has four floors and I could honestly move in, it looks like the most interesting museum where you can actually buy things. (I am surprised my friend resisted temptation not to fill his house with simply everything from here) The whole day is such a joy and happiness that I could just lie down and die here. I really wonder why people even bother with living in big places like London because this is really Heaven.

On the other hand, it feels me with sadness that I can never fully explain to my croatian friends how beautiful and magical this kind of country life can be - they don't really appreciate old houses or the beauty of simplicity and first thing they would think of would be where to do barbeque, park the car and build a garage. A person needs to have an eye for the details and beauty (not necessary always the money) to arrange the living place with love, tenderness and care. I was standing in front of the altar in a local church today and from the bottom of my heart thanked God for a perfect day.

Turn it up,I can't hear the words by Bob Sarlin

There is a second-hand english exchange bookshop in Amsterdam (along Kloveniersburgwaal as you walk from Hotel Europe towards Nieuwmarkt ) called "The Book Exchange" and i knew & loved this place for many years. It's not a ordinary,boring bookshop since it depends on unexpected arrivals of the books, so although titles are lined up and catalogued by genre, you will probably not find what you were looking for - but at least several other titles. I enjoy "The Book Exchange" far more than any other bookstore in Amsterdam and always make a pilgrimage there, my visit to town simply can't happen without checking out what's going there. I have this fantasy that one day I will come with a hand-luggage sized bag and just buy books here until bag is full. 

The latest discovery was a 1973. paperback print of "Turn it up,I can't hear the words" by Bob Sarlin: it is a collection of serious essays about than-current rock music and artists who worked as singer-songwriters back than. 

It is important to understand this was originally written and published in early 1970s: author is really passionate about the subject and obviously very inspired. This is not just pop music that blasts trough the radio or any nameless background,but music as poetry that works on many different levels and brings people together. Sarlin discusses how rock music changed from its start in 1950s when it hardly meant anything other than dance and entertainment (surprisingly uninterested look at Chuck Berry and others) via 1960s when singer-songwritter trend brought eruption of talented but introverted artists, to 1970s when corporate industry slowly took over and started to push artists into boxes. I can't express how much pleasure this little old paperback book has given me and it did occupy me for some time completely - its delightful to meet author who writes about music with passion, focusing on meaning and art and not on gossip like so many today's writers who would not miss to analyze private lives. Sarlin covers artists like Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Laura Nyro and Randy Newman - all of them in a first bloom of their success - discussing their albums, work, poetry and how they affect the listeners. It was the time when people actually listened vinyl LPs from start to finish, memorized the lyrics and followed someone's work with or without hits on charts. Nostalgic perhaps - from today's perspective - but its not only about the artists as much as about almost sacred experience of enjoying music as art.  What I see everywhere around me today is music as noise and background but hardly anyone bothers with lyrics and it seems that singer-songwriter genre is now completely obsolete. Kids are buying not albums but songs on iTunes - this makes the whole idea of album pointless - apparently what sounds catchy would sell and that in itself is the beginning and end of the whole contact with music for lots of today's listeners who have extremely short attention span. 

Victoria & Albert Museum

Another recommendation - Victoria & Albert Museum in Kensington, now I actually know the area very well and had walked there for years when I was 25 but somehow never looked at this direction, oh well - and its a free entrance so there is no excuse for my ignorance. It is a very impressive building with a tons of galleries to see, immediately I focused only on one part - European Medieval & Renaissance art, because this interests me the most, other exhibitions (Asia,Raphael,contemporary exhibitions) next time,if I don't return to the same favorites.

Loved,loved,loved it! A lot of exquisite art from very early Europe (as we know it) trough religious and royal artifacts - writing box owned by Henry VIII, quite scary bust of his father Henry VII (made from his dead mask) a complete room with a floor & ceiling preserved from Tudor times, portrait of Mary Queen of Scots, Leonardo Da Vinci's little notebook (made by himself) and other beauties - however,what left the deepest impression on me was a little wooden figurine of Virgin Mary with a little child, not bigger than my palm and done with detailed perfection, in my opinion this was the most beautiful piece in the whole collection.

Tate Britain Gallery

It's really strange that I actually lived in London but now discovering some of the famous museums & galleries for the first time. I guess my interests were quite different back than?

Or was it perhaps because places were always "there" (like British Museum where I passed by every single day on my way to work) so it wasn't really a urgent necessity to check them out as I always had time later. I remember Big 3 very well - National Gallery,National Portrait Gallery and British Museum but now re-visiting everything like a real tourist with (perhaps) better idea about the town than ordinary visitors.

Tate British was a very good recommendation from a friend - wouldn't come close to Tate Modern as I absolutely have no pleasure in most of the modern art - because it houses nice collection of historical,pre-Raphaelite art that I recognized and loved. It's not as huge as National Gallery but still have several galleries with most beautiful paintings and sculptures that were joy to see - I honestly giggled with happiness when I saw some of the pieces,like a schoolboy and was truly excited, left the Gallery floating. Sure,it was a lot of Victorian sentimentality but I liked it very much!

Etta James Sings Billie Holiday (1994)

I am not completely convinced with this, for many reasons.

Billie Holiday was an artist capable of expressing happiness and sadness - in her short life she had recorded some amazingly happy, bouncy swinging songs and later some devastatingly sad material, covering the whole gamut of human's experiences. On the other hand, Etta James was a blues/R&B shouter known for her soulful growling and though she did occasionally reach out into old "songbook" repertoire (after all, her biggest hit "At Last" was ancient 1930s ballad updated for R&B market) she would rely on rhythm and shouting to get the point. The only connecting link between these two singers is actually Etta James's mother who was big fan and played her recordings at home when young girl was growing up. So now, decades later, Etta is paying tribute to both women on album of late-night ballads focused entirely on heartbreak. Obviously that was Billie Holiday for her. Very one-sided. Like Billie never sung happy note in her life. The album was actually big success and got her "Grammy" (and side-lined her career into several similar albums) but I don't care much for this - Etta James sounds old,tired and weary - perhaps the biggest surprise was the fact that she actually toned down her typical growling for a moment. It's not a pleasant listening (despite fine music background) and it bothers me to see how people perceive Billie Holiday as only and exclusively sad, destroyed woman when in fact I know and love many of her uptempo music. Billie was NOT a victim, she was a strong woman who enjoyed life, smoked, drank and had a fist-fights when inspired - the fact that this album focuses only on sad ballads from her repertoire is like if Hollywood makes movie about your life and describes you only in very basic terms,like the street where you lived and supermarket where you bought your food but leaves out everything else. Come to think of it, it already happen when Hollywood made movie about Billie's life and just mangled everything. People who knew Billie were actually very upset. 

If you want to hear really good Billie Holiday tribute check out albums with similar albums by Anita O'Day and Carmen McRae.

Lee Wiley's last studio album (1971)

I'm so sick and tired of people writing about artists over 40 being "past their prime" - you won't find any reference to this album without people expressing their opinion that Lee Wiley was fine but "past her prime" - well this is how she always sounded. Check her music from 1930s onwards and she always was this husky, seductive siren who didn't have much of the voice but clearly projected sophistication and night club singer's world-weariness - perhaps "cabaret singer" would describe her the best. If you had ever heard Lee Wiley before, you would notice how similar she was to Peggy Lee (whom she preceded chronologically)  there always was intimate feeling of after-hours late night music about her and she carefully selected her repertoire to suit this limited but effective voice. Wiley was never a belter - she always crooned and whispered to listener's ear making this somehow unforgettable experience and no wonder so many people were seriously obsessed with her. 

For her very last studio album she re-visits some old american songbook chestnuts ("Moon River", "A Sleeping Bee") and sing few other old favorites with Dixieland backing ("You're Lucky To Me") gently crooning and swinging as always. When it comes to this "past her prime" phenomenon, well 1971 studio recording shows more closely cracks in her pipes than recordings from five decades ago. Yes, she was in her 60s but it's nothing compared to lots of today's rock stars who are still working full time and they are much older,big deal. On the CD re-issue there is a beautiful song not released originally and its called "When I Leave The World Behind" - obviously Lee Wiley couldn't possibly know this would be her last recording but its a perfect end of a career, really beautiful and haunting lyrics.

Paul Simon (1972)

Opening "Mother and Child Reunion" and "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" are excellent, upbeat, happy pop songs that definitely stand out in this collection of otherwise boring acoustic  singer-songwritter marathon that left me crying for Art Garfunkel. I understand critics have positive things to say about Simon as a solo artist and his writing but this didn't exactly blow me away and nothing except above mentioned two songs were worth remembering. When Simon sings along his guitar in "Everything Put Together Falls Apart" and most of the other songs on this album, I wondered why did he bother and did he really think hat as a solo artist he would be more interesting? To me it sounds very self-involved and centered on ME which I resent. Together with Art he was capable of writing music that really had universal appeal,this is all about himself and analyzing his own belly button. So far not very impressed with solo Simon,let's get to other albums. I actually like the cover more than music here.

Art Garfunkel "Angel Clare" (1973)

Art Garfunkel has such amazingly beautiful voice that it's almost a curse - not unlike Joan Baez or Judy Collins (who also made albums full of artsy, lovely music) this can sometimes overshadows the material and songs, when everything sounds so pretty,lush and romantic that its actually almost too much. I listened "Down In The Willow Garden" several times until it dawned on me that its actually a murder song - Garfunkel croons it so gently and sweetly that you wouldn't even notice. The one exception is upbeat,happy Van Morrison's "I Shall Sing" that shows how album could turn out much more accessible and poppy if Garfunkel wanted so. It was deservedly a big hit, along with typical Garfunkel stately ballad "All I Know" that safely plays on "Bridge Over Troubled Water" sound. The rest of the album is more of the same - sweetly crooned by sensitive, urban intellectual who cleverly mixes Bach and traditional Haiti song, centuries old "Barbara Allen" and a Randy Newman's song completely stripped of any composer's irony and done as a straight ballad, making you wonder did he actually get the meaning of it at all.

It IS very pretty, romantic collection of music - as a expression of artist's taste and choice it definitely shows where Art Garfunkel was and what he had to say before industry turned him into just another ballad crooner. Perhaps this is the best thing he has ever done as solo artist - if occasionally it sounds overcooked and too soft in its loveliness, well what else did you expect from a guy who was vocal centerpiece of legendary soft-rock duo? Compared to the rest of his discography this definitely stands head & shoulders above everything else. 

Ike Turner Studio Productions 1963-1964

A treasure trove of mostly unissued studio work by Ike Turner circa 1963-1964.

It is excellent gift for all the lovers of Turner's early R&B sound and perhaps a little baffling for everybody else - after all,Turner created music that rarely crossed over into pop but if you like hard,sweaty,bluesy R&B of early 1960s this is definitely for you. It's a wonderful glimpse into the world of screaming,shouting and passionate soul singers with a blues background,very far removed from slick productions of "Motown" - some of the best cuts here are actually blues numbers ("I'm Tore Up", "I Smell Trouble", "Dust My Broom") while many others are all over the place, covering whole R&B spectrum of early 1960s, from ballads to uptempo numbers. Its also very interesting because it clearly shows what kind of voices Ike Turner preferred in his music - without exception singers that he worked with were all soul shouters with a dark,husky voices capable of tearing the studio walls down. Most of them are long forgotten now but make no mistake, they are all more than capable of handling this type of material with passion and style - than Tina comes along (cover of Maxine Brown's "All in my mind") and its clear she was hundred times better than anyone else around. If Ike's singers were all shouting,screaming and passionate, well she was towering above them all. 

Very interesting! Just listen to Tina screaming "Bring it down low! Bring it down low! One more time!"

Art Garfunkel "Breakaway" (1975)

Urban, sensitive, intelligent and obviously gifted with outstanding voice, Garfunkel is kind of singer I would turn to for some music comfort. 

It is perfectly polished mid-1970s pop album with squeaky clean production and I don't mind - it matches Garfunkel's angelic tenor nicely and the choice of songs is fine by me. How can anybody dislike gentle ballads by Stevie Wonder or cover of "I only have eyes for you" anyway? It is excellent contrast to usual pop stars macho posturing and welcome change to a really beautiful voice that's pleasure to hear. Great Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim is presented with "Waters Of March" which is usually very pretty song but unfortunately done here in very monotonous voice which is a pity, it could have been much better had Garfunkel decided to sing it in higher register.

Very smooth and relaxing listening. 

Bobby "Blue" Bland "Midnight run" (1989)

If you had any doubts does Bland still has it after so many decades, it's enough to hear very first song "You've Got To Hurt Before You Heal" to know yes he is still good old himself. He had developed odd "snort" trough the years that might put some people off but once you got used to it, it's fine, I don't find it so unusual and after initial shock it's quite fun to guess where he would snort again.

"Midnight run" is a decent album with a typical 1980s synthesizers design  - I would prefer to hear him with a live band but this is the way albums were done back than. There is a great return-to-blues "Take Off Your Shoes" ("If you gonna walk over me woman,at least you can do is take off your shoes") and excellent cover of "Ain't No Sunshine" that I really like, I simply love Bland's voice in anything but its great when voice matches strong material. 

Not essential but good to hear old guy still has it. May he snort long.

Cher as songwriter on "Not.com.mercial" (2000)

35 Years in a business and finally lady writes her own material. 

You would expect that it would be something unusual, something original or unexpected as all this time she depended on "kindness of strangers" to write her music - and no matter what you might think,she did have luck with songwriters who kept her at the top of ever-changing profession even if the songs were often no more than catchy bubble gum of the moment. In whole of her discography there is one subdued and serious album ("It's a Man's World" 1995.) that didn't have great success and showed that audience prefers trashy and flashy material to a serious artist. Clearly she understand this and that is why this experiment was sold only trough her web site as not a typical Cher album - recent smash success of her dance album "Believe" served her well and inflamed new interest in her but music is basically return to more serious atmosphere of "It's a Man's World" except that it's not half as good.

As songwriter Cher has nothing much interesting to say - she follows usual cliché used hundreds of times in love songs, heartbreak, always-on-a-run outlaw, biker girl and so on, you get the picture. ("Born with a hunger") No deep thoughts, intimate perspective or different Cher - in fact this is kind of return to her 1980s image. Mildly controversial "Sisters Of Mercy" that sounds like theme for movie "Magdalene sisters" and song about Kurt Cobain that actually is not bad ("(The Fall) Kurt's Blues") are the only interesting songs here, the rest sounds very much like Chris Rea who I always find terribly boring. No wonder this was sold only to fans. 

Perhaps curious and brave experiment but really nothing specially interesting here. 

Kitty Wells "Pledging my love" (1971)

Early 1970s from a lady who was a big deal on country scene few decades ago - modern,current musicians and arrangements can't hide the fact that she is a little out of her depth here (she was and probably would have been far more comfortable singing gospel tunes and ballads) and her take on than-new "Rose garden" is simply bad.

The rest of the music shows that backing musicians and chorus are better than main focus - which is Kitty Wells who has a voice of questionable quality, it's a shaky, unsure, nasal sound. By today's standards she is not much of a singer, beloved as she must have been in country circles as early pioneer but honestly, hand-on-heart there are many more better voices around. Backing chorus in refrain helps to beef up her sound, still she is bland as a potato and there is nothing much to recommend here.

Sylvia Telles "Amor em Hi-Fi" (1960)

Feather-light singer with charming if not specially strong voice singing combination of brazilian and american songbook. 

As expected, she is adorable in brazilian repertoire (Jobim and company) and less convincing in jazzy standards, though arrangements and musicians are first class - it's simply that she is more at home in songs like "Dindi" or "Corcovado" than Gershwin. In fact, some to think of it, Gershwin medley is only english language song here but it sticks out like a sore thumb.

"This love of mine" by Jack Jones (1959)

For years I just couldn't take this ridiculous cover photo - because of it, I dismissed this artist completely and just recently re-visited the album again, listening with my ears instead of looking at the cover - its actually pretty fair vocal album of its time and perhaps I was to critical initially. 

Jack Jones was very young at the time and this was his first step into recording studio (for "Capitol Records" no less) so very probably he had to go with whatever bigwigs suggested, including attention-grabbing photo cover representing him like a caveman, which by the way is completely wrong anyway because Jones was a gentle crooner of romantic ballads, there is absolutely nothing macho about his music. Of course, nobody comes close to Sinatra on his turf, although young singer valiantly tries quite a few songs associated with chairman - "This Love Of Mine", "We'll Be Together Again" and "Angel Eyes" are closely associated with Sinatra, while "To Whom It May Concern" was already recorded by Nat "King" Cole. Comparisons are unfair because these artists were genuinely untouchable at the time and young newcomer was nowhere near their heights - Jones had a mellow, relaxed delivery that puts him in the group of pop crooners like Andy Williams, Pery Como and the rest of Las Vegas entertainers which eventually became his livelihood. In a way, "Capitol Records"  sabotaged him with this silly album cover, because later when he moved to "Kapp Records"  hits started pouring and he just continued on and on successfully forever, weathering rock and roll surprisingly well. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the music here, except that it relied too much on standards and he would have been served much better with new material, but that was just around the corner. 

French nostalgia: Rina Ketty

A nice if overlong collection of music by pre-WW2 french chanteuse remembered for beautiful "J' Attendrai" that actually sounds very beautiful after all these years and for me is one of the pretties french songs ever. Because I was grown with vinyl format where 30-45 minutes of music were norm, sometimes I find CD filled with more than 1 hour a little too much to sit trough but this has nothing to do with Rina Ketty, more my own preference how to enjoy music. 

As opposite to thunder-and-lighting passion of Edith Piaf, Rina Ketty was very tender, sophisticated ladylike voice, perfectly poised and chirping gently like Snowhite in Disney movie. Her crooning soprano was perfectly in fashion at the time and I understand why she was so loved and why eventually after WW2 her sound became old fashioned. 

Vashti Bunyan (1970)

Whispery folkie that sounds very pretty at first but goes terribly boring after a while.

The best thing about this album are arrangements : acoustic guitars, flutes and all very dreamy and artsy. It might work very well as background music while you are reading a book on a rainy day but it honestly it bored me to tears very soon and we all know quite a few high school girls capable of doing this. Simplicity of songs like "Lily Pond" makes it occasionally like music for kindergartens. Compared to this, 1960s Marianne Faithfull was a belter.

Kitty Wells "Sincerely" (1972)

The Queen of hard-core traditional nasal twangy country was 54 when this album was released.

Wells already had decades of very successful career behind her so its a little strange that after all this time she sounds like good natured amateur, her voice very unsure, wobbly and often flat - compared to other country nightingales she wasn't much of a singer - that album actually works very well in spite of singers faults and corny material is quite a surprise. I never cared much for Wells classic, early material because to me it sounds simply dated - here she is surrounded with contemporary and modern (for that time) sounds and it might be best Kitty Wells album I've heard so far. Music is flat-footed country that basically follows every cliché in a book (divorce songs, love songs, God songs) with just occasional uptempo number ("Reno Airport∼Nashville Plane") that comes as a nice surprise in this collection. 

Trough it all, Wells sounds very likable and sweet, like some unpretentious neighbor lady hat everybody roots for. The very best song is the last one - "J.J.Sneed" - not only because it is a great story song about girlfriend who kills her outlaw lover (written by excellent Dolly Parton) but because it obviously gives Wells a pleasure to sink her teeth into it. It's such excellent end of the album that it makes you wonder why she didn't record the whole album of Parton songs.

Spiderman (2012)

Visit to a spectacular Imax cinema in London and - unavoidable new "Spiderman". 

In general,I have nothing against superhero movies, some of them are quite enjoyable and most of them fascinating to watch on a big screen,although they seem to be terribly unoriginal and following clichés: everything is black and white, good guy versus madman (who often have no real explanations for his behavior), a nice family often placed in danger and a sweet ordinary girlfriend at the background. Believe it or not, the biggest cinema hit in London these days is "Spiderman" (with all the other far more serious movies lagging far behind) so I was intrigued when friend invited me to go,why not after all.

Movie was visual overkill and definitely a very pleasurable - almost orgasmic - experience, with 3D effects flying right in our faces. Often I would see my friend squirming in his seat because it was really so good - I've seen some 3D movies but never once that was made to thrill so perfectly,wonder how to top this one. On visual level everything was tailored to perfection, on script level it was just another bunch of clichés - after all it IS a cartoon so I won't go into deep analysis why and how, obviously this is easy entertainment and escapism and works on that level.I do need to mention the character of Spiderman - presented here as a moody,angry and obviously uncommunicative teenager - as contrast to usual muscled hero this guy is made to appeal to all confused, basketball playing teenagers with spots and clumsy hands so it would be easier for audience to recognize themselves in him (I guess) but to me this was extraordinary annoying since I dislike this type of guys very much, when he comes home after flying around the town, full of bruises and uncommunicative as always, his long-suffering family can just stand and watch and worry where he was been while teenage audience is supposed to understand he is hero so everything is fine. It shows my age that I feel more for Sally Field and Martin Sheen than for the young Andrew Garfield who I suppose was good for the role because he truly annoyed me,doing what director wanted him to do.

I prefer my heroes to be somehow more strong and silent than angry,confused teenagers.

"Delicacy"

Checking the cinema repertoire last night I was faced with dilemma - super heroes in 3 D or something, ANYTHING more substantial?  Retrospective of Stanley Kubrick? Drama about missing children? Finally I decided to go for french movie with adorable Audrey Tautou ("Amelie") thinking it can't be wrong if she is in it + movie is probably set in Paris with views of Seine and Eiffel tower. Which it was.

"Delicacy" turned out to be as I expected - sweet, fluffy and just occasionally meaningful. The problem - if there is a problem - is that I see "Amelie" in her and always expect magic to happen again, but "Amelie" was a work of particular artists and other people can just hope to come close to that good-natured masterpiece of feel-good movie. Everybody in the cinema had similar expectations - we all wanted to love this movie and we all loved Tautou, alas this was and never can be "Amelie". It's really strange to notice it has been 11 years since "Amelie" (I feel like I saw it yesterday!) and Tautou looks very much the same, adorable as always - this time around she is happily married girl who soon becomes a widow, burry-ing her grief in work - out of the blue and loneliness perhaps she falls in love with a geek swedish colleague (the type of person nobody ever notices) and for the rest of the movie story follows two of them circling around each other. She is the stronger of them two, he can't believe his luck and neither can we actually, but slowly trough the movie (and this is the magic of the cinema) we started to like this clumsy giant who has real loving and sensitive heart behind that dorky look. This makes Francois Damiens true star of the movie, because he slowly becomes adorable and we like him as much as we already like Tautou - this actor is actually perfect for the role, as much as Pio Marmai in his few minutes on the screen as his complete opposite, Tautou young husband who had looks, youth and charm poor swedish Markus never had. It does makes you wonder what it is that makes people fall for each other - as they say, beauty is in the eye of beholder - and its refreshing to see movie couple who are not glittering Hollywood supermodels.

Etta James "The Dreamer" (2011)

As we all know it, it's Etta's last studio album and every single review I read had focused on that fact, making it sound like it was a dying woman breathing her last breath in the studio and building very dramatical story around it - nonsense - Etta James could sing serious ballads (as her Jazz detour proves) but she was big, sassy, funky mama who loved life and laughed, growled and basically had fun with her music. If you are looking for sad decay, look elsewhere - for the past 30 years she sounded like this singing with that huge voice over modernized versions of soul covers, often backed by her musician sons (Ma Baker of soul?) and her albums were more or less very much the same thing, admired and accepted not for being specially innovative but for keeping the old flame going.Often she would reach out for some old r&b nuggets and give them a little twist here and there, growling her way around them.

So what about the music here - yes, it true, James sounds a little weaker than before but spirit is still here. It is not a "pretty voice" as it never was anyway and she was around 73 at the time of recording. As expected she does her usual r&b covers: Bobby "Blue" Bland, Otis Redding, Ray Charles and couple of the blues guys she must have known personally way back than. Opening song "Groove Me" was actually recorded by James decades ago,so this is new version - "hey, I can still do it!" - perhaps the one unexpected cover is "Welcome to the Jungle" by "Guns N' Roses" but if you are familiar with her discography, its not so unusual because James used to do these kind of things and she even did songs by "Rolling Stones" with soulful twist. 

At the time of this recording James was one of the very last living musicians who connected early 1950s r&b with present time. As soulful ballad "Misty Blue" proves, she still had this magical power to stop listener dead in the tracks and even at 73 she had powerful voice, it would be wrong and it is wrong to focus only on the sad fact that this is her last studio album. She could groove,but at this point her biggest talent was in ballads where life experience showed to a great effect and this is probably all we can expect from such elderly musician. 

Exhibition: Impressionists

Contrary to what my friends expect, my annual visits to Amsterdam are not focused on night life and hedonism but on re-visiting my favorite places and galleries & museums & cinemas. Night life is fine, but I also need something beautiful to re-charge batteries, something that I would remember and keep with me when I'm working again on the ships.

One of my favorite spots is Amsterdam's Hermitage museum - it's a satellite of the big russian mama in st.Petersburg (and I visited that one) where temporary exhibitions are changing every 6 months so that suits me fine, as I am visiting in these intervals. The building is very elegant, right in the centre on Amstel river and is museum is situated in a place that for centuries was an retirement home for elderly people. It was serving this purpose from 1682 to 2007 when it was finally changed into museum (and new retirement home was built somewhere else). Russian president and Dutch queen were present on the opening of the stunning,new museum.

This time around the exhibition was called "Impressionism: Sensation & Inspiration" and it was all about impressionists and their predecessors - very,very beautiful collection of paintings and sculptures by Gaugin, Cezanne, Rodin, Renoir and Monet. Because the weather was cold and rainy, museum was quite busy but I didn't mind, in fact I was excited to see lot of other people being impressed together with me and sharing my enthusiasm. On several occasions I was so happy and thrilled with beautiful art that I laughed out loud from sheer happiness. Impressionists were fine but I liked their predecessors maybe even better - artists who are mostly forgotten now and belonged to slightly more formal,classic style of expression - I wrote some names down for future research: Alphonse De Neuville, Jean-Paul Laurens, Jean-Leon Gerome and Edmond Grandjean - beautiful, beautiful salon art that was displayed around Paris long time ago. It was not quite impressionism but was going there and most of it was inspired by history and than recent archeological excavations in Pompeii. I had to admit to myself hat impressionism is probably as far as I would go when it comes to paintings, since I have no feelings for modern art and really love everything historical and classical. Was so happy & full of impressions that I left the museum like walking on the clouds, really beautiful day and a good decision.

Barbara Bonney Operetta Album

Piano and voice album focused on famous Operetta music. 

It does bow graciously to a classic Elisabeth Schwarzkopf recording  from 1959. and in fact this collection has a quite a few of the same songs, but where Schwarzkopf was surrounded with philharmonic orchestra and huge chorus, Barbara Bonney relies only on a simple but elegant piano - the results are actually very good as they present these well known gems in a different light, let's say more intimate - where 1959. recording was full-colored MGM extravaganza, this is after-dinner salon music, very refined and pretty nevertheless.

Bonney's beautiful, sparkling voice is cleverly used with different shades (from seductive and whispery to booming and powerful) and Ronald Schneider obviously has a fun with this music. Pretty ear candy.

"Prometheus" (2012)

So, last night I went to see "Prometheus" - the latest movie by Ridley Scott - don't know why I have chosen this one in particular because it is not the type of the movie I would usually go for and true, it is not my "cup of tea". I am just saddened that cinemas are so focused on blockbusters and big hits with special effects, explosions and fireworks - apparently this is what audience wants - I love good story, good acting and probably drama would be my favorite movie genre, however here in centre of Amsterdam this is what they are offering so off I went to see it in 3 D.

"Prometheus" is the name of a space ship traveling far into space to find a certain planet with atmosphere similar to ours - scientists have found a clues that our race might came from this place and our ancestors might came from here. A team of selected scientists is employed to research this strange planet and what they find turns out to be very dangerous, disturbing and violent. There is a lot of screaming, running, blood and ugly scenes with aliens popping out of somewhere right into your mouth (in 3 D!) actually I didn't feel so good about it and apparently this is what Ridley Scott is famous for (remember "Alien"?) but I was relieved when I finally left the cinema. Movie finished without clear ending (except that it points that there might be a sequel) and we are still left wondering are we descendants of these creatures or what, of course perhaps is wrong to search for a deep meaning in something that is clearly made to excite and thrill audience with special effects & violence. 

The story starts very well and it could have been much more interesting have they focused on interesting questions, like are we really engineered by aliens but unfortunately very soon it changes focus and goes for gross violence. I really don't need to contaminate my head with this kind of images and prefer to watch something that I will remember with affections. Reality around us is sometimes ugly enough, we don't need more ugliness.

Main actress is a swedish Noomi Rapace whom I recognized from somewhere but couldn't place her - she was in original swedish "Girl with a dragon tattoo" - but she looks much prettier here. It seems she might have strong international career now, hopefully this is not the best she could do, fighting aliens and screaming.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

My first week in Amsterdam and the very first movie I went to see was "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel".

Cutest comedy-drama about a bunch of retired people who for various reasons decided to travel to India (where life is supposedly much cheaper) and stay in luxurious hotel catering for "elderly and beautiful" . Of course, the moment when they step out of the airport they are knocked-down with reality of life in India: extremely crowded, hot, humid, mostly dirty and not at all what they were expecting. Not to mention that hotel turns out to be completely ruined building owned by young dreamer who like his father before him, builds castles in the air and basically avoids any plain answers to their questions. "Let's not get preoccupied with small details" says he when somebody asks him where the hell are doors for the room. I mean, rooms have no doors, pigeons are flying around and it's almost total disaster but this people are now stuck here and have to manage the best they could. And trough the movie they actually manage quite fine and it even changes their lives drastically.

The cast is excellent as usual for british movies (Judi Dench is particularly sweet as a good natured widow who finds herself a job for the first time in her life) but I have to point at excellent Maggie Smith who is brilliant as wheel-chaired invalid who despises all the "natives" around her (and she "will not eat the food she can't pronounce") but slowly warms up to their kindness and eventually at the end of the movie miraculously saves the day and becomes a real hero.

Wonderful, feel-good movie!