Ornella Vanoni 1961 LP debut

Together with Mina and Milva, Vanoni is remembered as one of the three italian goddesses of pop music in the 1960s and beyond - each of them different in their own way - knowing Vanoni only from her later recordings where she gently croons and sounds detached, it is a great surprise to hear her first LP that shows her in completely different light.

These are songs already previously recorded (and in some cases released as singles) several years earlier when Vanoni actually started in theatre - in Bertolt Brecht no less - many if them about "underworld" life and life of crime. At this time Vanoni was known as a "Underworld Singer" - there is a song "Sentii Come La Vosa La Sirena" where one can clearly hear police siren in the background. The biggest surprise is lady's voice which at this point was very plummy, rich, creamy and much deeper than later when she changed her singing style and focused on gentle crooning. One can easily imagine her singing these songs in the theatre. Also present is unmistakable sound of Ennio Morricone who is arranger here, he frames Vanoni's song about mafia with cinematic sounds that precedes his own "Once upon a time in the West" soundtrack. Because album is so different from everything else singer did later in her career, I find it completely fascinating - this is not simple pop music but slightly disturbing & ominous sound and therefore still fresh, in fact sounds far more interesting and contemporary than most of her later pop material. Songs sung with only a guitar ("Le Mantellate","La Zolfara") are highlight and my own personal favorite, while mainstream public probably went for more romantic and lush sound of ballads like "Senza Fine" and " Me in Tutto Mondo" where sophisticated orchestration pointed towards french chanson and Vanoni uses different, more restrained voice that would became her trademark. In a way, its almost like a photo album where one can hear how singer developed from theatrical artist to a ballad stylist. Fascinating. How I wish she stuck to this dangerous "underworld" music!

Italian music: Claudio Villa and Ornella Vanoni

One of the joys of my travels is the fact that I can easy find local music, that I would not find elsewhere. Unfortunately CD shops are slowly disappearing but occasionally good luck serves me still so in Italy I stumbled upon 3Cd compilation of Claudio Villa - it was sold on news agent kiosk together with other packages on offer (movies,magazines, shampoos and tampons) which shows how people perceive music these days - back to Claudio Villa,he was one of the brightest and most important names in italian music of 1950s and 1960s, true representative of schooled Bel Canto singing. I opened this package and listened in amazement, what a voice! - it must be one of the prettiest man's voices ever - Villa was tenor with a beautiful sound who obviously loved singing and it shows in his music, one romantic ballad after another (peppered with occasional Neapolitan or classical piece), I can't believe that italians are offering this stunning compilation for nothing on a news agent kiosk! First two CDs are covering 1950s and 1960s when Claudio Villa was king of San Remo festival, Cd nr.3 covers 1970s when he was still powerful voiced but slightly nostalgic older veteran who sang and recorded pre-WW2 repertoire like "Chitarra Romana" and "Funiculì Funiculá" - in my opinion Claudio Villa is GOD.

Another local singer I really listen carefully these days is Ornella Vanoni. Together with Mina and Milva,Vanoni is remembered as one of the biggest female stars of 1960s, however her style is quite different from other ladies as she does not belt but gently croons and sounds a bit detached. I have discovered her very first LP album from 1961. that absolutely fascinates me because it shows her in completely different light - more like actress she was at the beginning of the career - music is theatrical and arrangements done by great Ennio Morricone so everything sounds like some mad cinema music with lots of special effects in the background and Vanoni herself is actually passionate and very involved here. This first album of her must be my favorite Vanoni album.

"Straighten up and fly right": Helen Shapiro

Shapiro's voice basically never changed from those early 1960s days - she is still deep voiced wonder of the nature with very expressive instrument that only got better with years and it's a revelation to hear that voice singing not simple children's ditties like "Walking back to happiness" but some serious jazz colored material like "Cry me a river" or Cole Porter/Nat Cole/Irving Berlin songbook.

This being 1983. arrangements are heavy on synthesizers (fashion of the time, remember?) that might sound thin to today's listeners but I guess it was right back than and it does brings ancient material little up-to-date , though one could also point that this kind of classy repertoire perhaps don't need updating gimmick, the music and lyrics are written in stone as immortal classics. It is interesting to see how much Shapiro has moved from her early pop days to this 1980s jazz incarnation - she could definitely earn more had she stayed in pop arena,so this is a labour of love. The whole album is nicely swinging, synth jazz collection with hand picked highlight after highlight ("You go to my head", "Serenade in blue") and if you ever wondered whatever happened to Helen Shapiro after that first, initial early 1960s burst of glory, here is the answer - she grew up and turned her attention to jazz, that chocolate voice as good as ever,if not even better.

Prima Donna : a history (Rupert Christiansen)

Hugely entertaining book that follows centuries of phenomenon called "prima donna" (it was "virtuosa" and "cantatrice" in earlier times) from now-fogotten Mrs Tofts to present times - it definitely needs fresh update as we got newer voices in the meantime. Christiansen has a gift of turning potentially dry facts into interesting story and compares how one generations or style influenced the later artists. Along the way he has a thing or two to say about composers and conductors who had to put up with spoiled singers ("Nobody knows the Troubels I've seen" Rudolf Bing about Helen Traubel) and more often than not we got a picture of women who simply pushed everybody else around them to respect high standards. True, Christiansen has his own opinions about voices and I don't always agree with him but it's still the book is fascinating peek in a world that has its own rules. In the last chapter, he wisely recognizes the curious fact that people tend to appreciate stars of yesterday more than contemporary ones and that this is nothing new, every generation is showing this tendency to put up old names on pedestal and only the long gone stars are the real ones. I read this book several times from start to finish and always enjoyed it immensely.

Farewell Helga Vlahović

Dear Helga Vlahović just left us, what a sad news.

Vlahović was a famous TV presenter, visiting our homes for decades - hers was a very elegant face and soothing voice, she was a true lady from a generation of TV presenters who held themselves with class and style, probably they had some serious training because all the famous TV people from that time actually appear cultivated and educated as opposite to today's TV presenters. When I was growing up, people like Helga Vlahović were always present in various TV shows and in fact for many of us she represented TV Zagreb - hers was the voice and face always impeccably professional on many TV shows and programs, but what I remember the best about her was one unexpected appearance during the war (so it must be around 1991-92) when she came at the end of TV program (after midnight) and gave us a speech about life and how suffering and happiness are both part of it. At that particular day we had just bad news, bombs and air raids so the whole country was spiraling into depression and there was Helga suddenly, unexpected, looking at us like some big mother with her gentle voice and familiar face, telling us that this will also pass and nothing is forever. What a nice lady.

Farewell Helga Vlahović and be happy, wherever you are. You are not forgotten.

"Warning Shadows" by Gary Giddins

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a movie studio in possession of a fortune must be in want of Great Books."

This is just one of many brilliant,eccentric and elegant chapter introductions in collection of magazine articles published between 2005 and 2009 (mostly in "The New York Sun") and now nicely preserved under title "Warning shadows: home alone with classic cinema" by Gary Giddins . Giddins, who is an excellent music critic shows that he is not limited on just one territory: he writes about classic movies with the same fair and wit,often pointing at lesser known gems (1967 soviet "Anna Karenina") and offering his view on works by Kurosawa, Bergman, Tati and everything from "Blade Runner" to "Ben Hur", amusing his readers with riches of anecdotes along the way. I actually have his celebrated biography of Bing Crosby (that covers first part of Bing's career, hopefully there will be a sequel) so was no surprised that Crosby somehow found the way even in this book, as he left his mark in the movies as well. Giddins is a true wit, a man who knows how to engage a reader with a funny touch and often pointing at quality or lack of it in the classic movies - his opinions often suggest re-viewing and surely I am not the only one who noted few names down during the reading of this collection. Because it's basically collection of essays, it can be enjoyed slowly - myself,I was initially browsing trough some of my favorite pieces, going backwards and forwards, until eventually I read the whole darn thing from cover to cover once again with the biggest pleasure.

Touching not only the selected movies and giving intriguing informations about actors,directors and producers, Giddins also writes about the movie industry and the way audience perceive movie entertainment - he writes about nickelodeon days and muses what a long way we crossed from watching the movies trough the hole in a machine until present day when (again) movie watching is solitary business,often confined to a electronic notebook gadgets. In a way, this book is a love letter to countless cinema theaters that are now a thing of the past and in fact there is a heartfelt tribute to long-gone New York cinemas listed at the beginning of the book. Combining his knowledge of movies and music,Giddins is in my opinion in the same league as equally gifted Will Friedwald (author of "Jazz singing") and hopefully this work will inspire others to continue in the same league. Excellent reading that surely invites re-visits and it shows how wonderful and sincere the work can be when is done with love.

True Blood TV show

The pleasure of my "dry dock" of 2012. was to enjoy a room for myself only - as opposite to having to share this tiny place with somebody who smokes,farts,burps and leaves a mess everywhere - so I was alone, cleaned everything until every trace of my messy ex-roommate was erased and than relaxed with my books and music. As usual, my colleagues were wondering why i don't spend evenings drinking with them in a crew bar, but I am doing this way too long so can't even be bothered to explain that I've seen it all a million of times and I prefer to stay alone instead of spending time off with the people I work the whole day long.

First I was busy reading but at certain point I decided to explore my movies collection. I watched several very interesting documentaries and than somehow I started to look at all these TV shows collected - mostly because friends suggested something, I am in the middle of the sea so feeling like working out of space, have no idea what's new in the world.

A friend back home gave me his copy of "True blood" (first season) saying it's entertaining and different from usual TV shows - "if you don't like it, you can always erase it" he said very nonchalantly. So I gave it a try and could not stop watching it - got really hooked on it and even turned my friends on it, my colleagues also started watching it without a pause. I really enjoyed this first season very much and was sad when everything finished - this evening I have mentioned this to someone and the guy immediately gave me several more seasons, so I'm actually very thrilled now, guess what I am going to do tonight!

Just for those who have no idea what "True blood" is - the story is placed in a little fictional town around Louisiana where a group of local people are shocked with recent murders and the first vampire is moving in the town. This two things are not really connected but people of course talk - a lot - and if they don't talk loud, a telepathic waitress Sookie can hear them anyway, since she can hear what people are thinking. There are lot of major and minor characters involved in a story and the best thing about "True blood" is that it cleverly balances scary and comical episodes - just as something becomes serious, in the very next moment we laugh. At the end of the season one,I really liked some of the main characters and couldn't believe that season could end with such a cliffhanger - luckily now we watch this trough boxed DVD sets,otherwise I think in a good old days of "real" following I would drop everything and stop breathing just to enjoy next episode.

Dry dock

Since February 01,my ship is docked in so-called "dry dock".

In a technical jargon, "dry dock" is the time when ship is docked - without passengers - and all the water taken underneath so various work can be done properly,like painting, re-monting, carpets and furniture are changed, everything cleaned and basically people around the ship have hundreds things to do even though passengers are not around.

This is also time when more often than not, life is not comfortable since electricity, air condition and water are regularly switched off - thankfully this time everything was fine (more or less) since this is a new ship,built only in 2010 and going trough "dry dock" only because of insurance rules. My colleagues were all expecting some horrible survival but it turned out fine - I am working on cruise ships for more than eight years now,so of course for me this is nothing - in earlier times I had "dry dock" in both summer and winter and on both occasions lack of air condition/heating was nasty, however this time everything was fine - except usual side effect of having all the carpets covered with nylon: after walking on nylon,one always gets shock from static electricity when touching a door handle. So we walk around the ship and get electric shocks all the time!

I don't have a clue what other teams on the ship do - cleaners clean and housekeeping departments have full hands of things to do, my team used this time to do complete inventory starting from a scratch, we took lists and locked ourselves in different corners,started counting and checking every single item we have in shops, from pens, key chains and t-shirts to perfumes, handbags and jewelry. Everything. It is a kind of work one can't do with passengers around anyway, because passengers like nothing better than to disturb you in the middle of counting and to check what is it you have in that pile. So we counted and counted but it wasn't really difficult because days passed fast + working hours were far more pleasurable than what we usually do - compared with our regular 16-hours daily, this "dry dock" was relaxing experience. Best part of the day was dinner when we suddenly discovered red wine that was always there,but no one drank it earlier because we work,after all - so we started enjoying this long dinners with relaxed conversation and lots of red wine and it was true team-bonding.

Some of the guys in my team complained they don't know what to do with themselves in the evenings - its too cold to enjoy going outside, we even stayed several days in Venezia and nobody bothered to walk in a storm - I didn't have that problems because I enjoyed very much the unexpected pleasure of having a cabin for myself alone and relaxed, read, watched movies and slept a lot. Maybe its the lack of air or light,who knows, but the moment I return to my cabin after the dinner (and red wine) I am ready to sleep immediately - one evening I actually slept from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. next morning without a break. Obviously I needed it!

Also I used this time to watch TV show "True blood" which turned out to be far more interesting than I expected, I actually enjoyed it very much!

Bess of Hardwick

Having read books about Mary,Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I (and than about both of them by Jane Dunn) I was thrilled to finally put my hands on a book focused on a very important character who was standing in the shadow of these two famous historical characters and also played important role in the story: Bess of Hardwick, unwilling "hostess" to imprisoned scottish queen, who found herself as much imprisoned as her royal guest. The wealthiest woman in Tudor England right behind Elizabeth herself, Bess was forced (along with her husband) to always keep a watch over her unlucky visitor and her servants, which meant not only providing luxury for a huge group of people but also to always be close to scottish queen and stay in sort of house prison as her guards. If Bess and her husband always desired royal visit that would bring them patronage and favors, they did not count on such extended (15 years!) visit that would drain their finances and ultimately destroy their marriage.

Mary S. Lovell did excellent research into life of this formidable lady but the huge wealth of historical documents never stands on the way of the gripping story - instead of potentially boring list of informations, Lovell inspiredly portraits unusual person behind the facts: Bess started with nothing except her brain,charm and determination - she was no beauty,neither she had privileged background but somehow trough several marriages she accumulated wealth and connections,fighting the law and protecting interests of her ever-growing family with ferocity that was out of character for a meek and mild ladies of her time. Just for example,it was typical for widowed women to always have someone's "protection" and "guardians" when it came to estates and financial questions,well not Bess of Hardwick who took care of the business herself and nobody questioned her decisions as she invested left and right, balanced her unruly flock, political intrigues and court ups and downs.

Thought she might be chiefly remembered for her role in Mary,Queen of Scots story today, this book shows that this was just one of the many interesting chapters in the life of this interesting lady - there were lots of fascinating stories before and after scottish queen - amusing anecdote: when new Queen (Anne of Denmark) arrived in England,she was invited as a visitor to Bess palace but the Queen graciously declined,knowing her reputation as "hostess" to another Queen.

"Behold the Man" by Michael Moorcock

Well,curiosity killed the cat so I got too curious for my own sake and ordered this book from amazon,thinking it sounds interesting & I always found the question about Jesus as historical person a very intriguing one. No previous idea about the author except this is SF story,approaching it with a completely open eyes & ears & heart. If it's true that artist's role is to upset and arouse emotions,well this guy certainly aroused mine - curiously so,since I always considered myself an atheist and was never member of any church or religion but still I was offended with portrait of Biblical characters in this story. (Ah yes,the story - neurotic and very annoying main character uses time machine to go back to Palestine 29AD where he encounters some famous Biblical personalities in a very different light than we usually imagined them). I asked myself why was I so angry with this unflattering portraits of Biblical people - and no matter how do I look at this question,from left,right,above and under, I always come to the same conclusion that this author simply sounds like somebody who offends simply because he can. You know,a petulant child spitting nasty words because it knows it will hurt you. Perhaps I don't completely accept Joseph,Mary and Jesus as historical characters but their story is familiar to me my whole life and maybe it got under my skin a little bit,who knows,however Michael Moorcock described them in a such negative way that I almost threw a book into the wall - I have never before experienced such a hatred toward the book,neither I wished to throw a book in a garbage after the reading,like this time. It did upset me - and quite a bit - actually surprising me in a process since I never thought I will be offended with such thing as blasphemy,but I was. Maybe we are conditioned to be religious or call it what you want, certain inner feelings are sacred to us and we like to treasure them. I am not talking about cheap commercial souvenirs I see everywhere in Jerusalem these days, I am talking about the writer who creates the storm by describing Biblical characters in a nasty,vulgar way. Perhaps I won't throw it in the garbage,but it will be safely pack away immediately. Further the better.

"Care for the Soul" by Thomas Moore

The very first book I have read in 2012 (in fact,I was reading it during New Year's Evening) was "Care of the Soul" by Thomas Moore. No,it's not Thomas Moore that got beheaded on orders by Henry VIII but the new one. I wanted this book for some time already, since it as always mentioned in the same breath with my one of my all-time favorite psychology writers James Hillman - apparently they know each other very well and Moore often mentioned Hillman as his mentor. Finally I found this book when I browsed second-hand bookshop in Amsterdam and was very happy to finally put my hands on it - however,its close to Hillman but not as thunder-and-lightning for me : there are some interesting ideas thrown in there,mostly about accepting one's life without making a big fuss about changing something - Moore comes across as gentle and wise man who likes to reflect and prefers to think & meditate than to make drastic changes - I liked some ideas,like that our profession chooses us as much as we choose our profession and that depression is perhaps welcome as it forces a person to stand back and reflect. For almost everything Moore suggest thinking about it and reflecting on it - here the problem lies because most of us live our lives in a hurry and often we have hardly time to rest,not to mention reflect. My working life right now is such frantic 7 days a week rush that I have hard time finding time to keep hygiene & laundry in order,not to mention sitting back and reflecting on the day behind me.After midnight, I have just enough energy to smoke a cigarette and fall in a coma,than next morning all over again. I perfectly understand Moore and liked some of the things he writes about , still this book needs to be re-read some other time when I am in different frame of mind. If nothing else,it reminded me what a life I live & that I have no time to meditate on it.

Jerusalem

Finally after many years of traveling I had a opportunity to actually visit places I never been before.

So far, the biggest thrill was recent visit to Israel and of course Jerusalem - though our tourist excursion was rushed, exhausting and left us utterly tired afterwards (2 hours drive back and forth, lots of walking, I fell asleep as soon as I returned back to the ship) I was very happy to visit this ancient city. The moment I stepped inside the city walls there was a wonderful déjà vu feeling of recognition and I was floating on a cloud from happiness. It is truly wonderful old town full of historical architecture and everything is the way I like: crowd didn't bother me, neither people clicking with cameras and mobile phones, I understand it is modern world kind of pilgrimage now (though if you ask me,I would legally forbid all the electronic gadgets because they annoy me). I also had a good luck to visit Jerusalem in December so the weather was actually very nice,almost like a Springtime.

As for religious aspect of the surroundings, well I am not really into that - I watched it all more fascinated with town's awesome history and centuries behind these buildings than stone kissing that was present everywhere. If we are following archeological research, all those places were always actually somewhere else, either little down the road or a bit on the left or down the hill (or somewhere else completely) so it might be that people actually worship wrong stones but never mind - I guess that perhaps just being here in Jerusalem is enough and people probably feel happy and excited in their own way, if they believe, that is enough. My own reaction when faced with stones kissing was confused step back since I am not really into totemism and something inside rebels against outside adoration (it makes much more sense as intense spiritual experience from inside) but I must admit that most of the churches I saw were surprisingly simple and not ever-decorated like they sometimes appear in Europe. The atmosphere of the whole town was very spiritual and one can clearly feel this is a special place from historical,religious or any perspective.

Between other places, I have also visited famous Western Wall that separates town between Jewish and Muslim parts - I placed my hand on the wall and again felt wonderful déjà vu feeling but there was nothing sad about it, more like some ancient DNA recognition of place. Its difficult to talk about it without sounding a looney but I do have my own little opinion about reincarnation and can't explain in any other way why certain places have effect on me. Just as I am sure that I was here before, I am sure I will come again. It doesn't mean that I was jewish or anything like that, but perhaps someone far down the road was a soldier or a pilgrim who had visited Jerusalem before me and that is why my heart felt so happy here. Truly wonderful day.

"Pilgrim" by Timothy Findley

I knew canadian writer Timothy Findley from his excellent novel "Not wanted on voyage" so was naturally excited to lay my hands on "Pilgrim".

Than to my biggest surprise, I realized it all sounds familiar and I had probably read it years ago (wouldn't be surprised to actually find that I have another copy somewhere) but the writing style and the story was so beautiful that I truly enjoyed and upon finishing the last page I was so moved that I could just start reading it all over again. "Pilgrim" is a perfect match between interesting story and superb writing style - sometimes stories are great but writing clumsy or vice versa, not in this case, it is actually one of the best novels I have ever read and I am a lifetime reader.

Pilgrim is the name of a newly arrived patient in a Swiss sanatorium - he consistently tries to kill himself and apparently has no will to live anymore, refuses to talk and the only hint about his past comes from talking in his sleep and his diaries where surprising amount of detailed descriptions of various historical figures intrigues his doctor who is no less than Carl Jung himself.

Jung is the only one in a medical team who actually does not push to bring patients "back to the ground" and respects their different perspective of life, clearly saddened and frustrated when his colleagues don't understand this approach and force logic here deeper understanding might have worked better. Trough the novel there is push-and-pull between him and Pilgrim who is clearly superior intelligence between the two and refuses to co-operate.

It's not only the story but understanding of how people behave and feel that makes me truly love and enjoy Findley's writing - sometimes he simply sketches certain characters that appear only shortly on a page or two and they are equally unforgettable as anybody else. There is a lonely lady who happen to be in the right time & place to take a photo and later we never heard about her again, except we know she lived lonely life full of "what if" and remembering a man who might have loved her, if he only asked. Or a spanish shepherd mentioned in only one chapter but his story somehow stays with the reader trough the rest of the novel,I would love to have the whole book only about him. When the story eventually came to an end I was truly excited - of course it is not the end because we know Pilgrim probably just starts new chapter of his life - I absolutely loved this novel and from now will buy any book by Timothy Findley without hesitation, its really my biggest recommendation.

The Truth Will Out by Brenda James and William Rubinstein

The question of true identity of person(s) who stand behind Shakespeare's masterpieces is a very interesting and intriguing one - even thought the mainstream opinion still holds opinion that no other that "master from Stratford" wrote them, we now surprisingly little about his life except that he left school at the age of 13, have never travelled abroad and could hardly be expected to know court rituals, astrology and science of the time not to mention detailed description of Italian cities. At his death bed William Shakespeare writes what pieces of furniture to be divided between his family and not one word about literary work.

There are numerous candidates of "real Shakespeare" - mostly aristocrats and people connected to the court, even two women (Emilia Lainer and Mary Sidney) who could have hide behind pseudonym but the most interesting theory is about "group work" where various authors used Shakespeare as front man for their political agenda camouflaged as theatre plays. Now we have newest discovery, forgotten aristocrat Sir Henry Neville who had a gift to see but not be seen in a crowd - Neville was gifted writer but hid behind his diplomatic status and is life actually mirrors Shakespeare's plays closely - for example when plays are happy,Neville enjoyed his court position, when plays were dark Neville was imprisoned in Tower for his role in a political coup. There are many interesting little twists and turns in this book written by Brenda James and William Rubinstein (strangely enough, australian research team came to same conclusion independently) and though it makes sense, I could not shake a feeling that it's all a nitpicking - way too much "if", "possibly" and "must have" to actually convince me. It is true that James and Rubinstein believe passionately in their theory but somehow it just sounds far stretched in lack of concrete proof except guesswork. Yes, Neville travelled to Italy, knew the places Shakespeare describes in detail, spoke fluently foreign languages and had privileged education fitting for someone of his background, however after I finished the book the main impression was that I could be pointed as true Shakespeare if someone puts his mind to it.

Sir Henry Neville (curiously enough, nicknamed "Falstaff") is just one of the many aristocrats supposedly educated enough to have been "real Shakespeare". Its interesting mystery and I am still curious about it but not totally convinced - if you ask me, both versions sound possible. I see no problem with Stratford man showing genuine talent in spite of his background or perhaps someone other hiding behind theatre owner and financing public displays of political propaganda carefully camouflaged. Let's hope some documents will eventually be find and real Shakespeare finally get recognition.

Venice calling

The recovery from operation has come to and end - I got a new job coming and leaving home today for another 6 months, that means less writing here but surely I will find occasional moment for my musings. When I was on vacation, it gave me freedom to write almost daily and sometimes even few essays, now I am starting my usual ship drill with far less time for myself, sometimes not even enough for sleep, not to mention writing a blog.

Today I will be in Venice, Italy again. If everything works out as planned, will have overnight rest in a hotel before embarking on another ship tomorrow and than sailing away for another half a year. I actually decided against taking so many books with me, because it turned out too much to carry - I have to be practical sometimes so just selected a few than can fit in my backpack, surely I will collect many more along the way. Teddy Bear goes with me of course, he always does.

Stay tuned!