Dog's Heaven

If you ever glanced at this blog, you might know that I have two aquariums - first it was just one, than I decided my fishes deserve much bigger space so I got them bigger tank and kept the smaller one for babies and Pleco (affectionately called Babalou) who is too territorial and needs his own kingdom. I live in a comfortable but relatively small apartment so there is not too much space and the conversations about the possibility of more animals (a cat? dog? parrot?) was usually left in the air because pets need attention and it would make life complicated during vacation (a friend visits twice per week to feed fishes and it worked just fine). And than, this Spring, my house turned into a dog's heaven.

First it was the couple next door who rescued a little black dog and she stayed in my place a few times - apparently she came from Bosnia, her name is Zoe and because of her traumatic past, she can't stand other dogs - small as she is, she really gets upset when other dogs come close to her humans (competition?) but is very, very affectionate towards people and loves to snuggle her nose under my armpit and sleep under my blanket. She is so adorable that I even considered adopting a dog of the similar size. 

Not long after that, a friend was going on vacation and asked for a favour to take care of his dog for a week - Yip was not a small puppy like Zoe, but a real, proper dog and it worked out just fine. He is adorable and very handsome boy, walking him was actually a pleasure - I always thought that I would dislike dog walks but in fact it gave me a certain serenity and I would even take him out after I returned from work, late at night, when the streets were quiet and empty. Sure, I had to let him sniff every corner and he would occasionally jump into water but it was all part of experience. I was constantly stopped on the street by people telling me how beautiful he was. Yip stayed with me on two occasions, both times for a week. 

Just when I packed Yip away (with a sigh of relief), I got a call from a old friend who discovered that he has a cancer and is going trough a chemotherapy. This makes it too difficult to take care of his beloved dog Balder who is a fully grown goldendoodle and I immediately agreed to take Balder in, as long as its needed. Now, Balder is really big boy but this is favour I cold not refuse. There was even option to put him into a dog's hotel for a time, but he would have to be sterilised for this and all of us thought this sounds too drastic, I was more than happy to help. Balder is (so far) the biggest of my dog guests but he turned out to be a gentle giant. He is 5 years old with a personality of the lovable puppy and its really impossible to ignore his playfulness, affectionate nature and sweetness. He likes nothing more than attention all the time and is following me everywhere with a ball in his mouth, asking to be played with. Yes he is pulling very strongly from time to time (when he sees other dogs or recognises the path) but listens very well and is such a joy in the house that I don't mind his size. 

"The Night She Disappeared" by Lisa Jewell (2021)

 

Honestly, this book just read itself, it was such a good, old-fashioned psychological thriller that I got completely lost in it and savoured every chapter with the greatest pleasure - even had to control myself not to peek at the end. Funny enough, I never encountered Lisa Jewell before and discovered her only because according to Goodreads it was one of the best thrillers of 2021 - I liked the title and decided to give it a chance. Perfect choice, kept me busy for a week and at the end I even dedicated Sunday afternoon just to finish it.

The story is about a young couple (a teenage mother Tallulah and her boyfriend Zach) who disappeared after a party in a grand house in the woods, called the Dark Place. Now its up to Tallulah's mother Kim to take care of their baby and to push forward with investigation, but neither police nor the owners of the Dark Place are very helpful. Apparently Tallulah was friend with the villa's owner daughter, charismatic Scarlett Jacques but all the traces disappear here as Scarlett and her snotty friends all claim they had no idea about the couple or what happened to them. Later, in 2018 perspective switches to detective writer Sophie Beck who arrives in town as a girlfriend of a local teacher and somehow gets swept into the story - she bonds with Kim, digs out the hidden engagement ring and thanks to her, police re-opens the case again. 

I am not completely sure is it because of Lisa Jewell or simply that it was the right book at the right time - it fitted me like a glove and I enjoyed it a lot, as its very possible that I just needed something like this to occupy me and transport me elsewhere. The reality and the news are so bad and alarming currently that I needed something for a pure escapism and this was perfect. It's not the best thriller ever but its very, very solid and I might even check out more of this author.

Exhibition: Josephine Baker - A Life of Resistance

 

Amsterdam's Verzetsmuseum (Resistance museum), dedicated to history of Amsterdam in WW2 has long been one of the most interesting museums around - in addition to its permanent exhibition, it also brings amazing temporary displays like currently the one about Josephine Baker. While its true that in public consciousness she is forever associated with her 1920s notoriety as the half naked black showgirl who danced in banana dress, her life story is much more than that and deserves proper, serious look and understanding of what it was like to be black entertainer in her time.

I was vaguely familiar with Baker's life story, since I have read her 1989 biography by Phyllis Rose ("Jazz Cleopatra: Josephine Baker in Her Time") but that was decades ago and at this point I remember only few general informations, namely that she was just another girl in black revues who discovered that audiences liked her clowning and used attention grabbing choreography to be noticed - its interesting that she never achieved success in her own homeland where competition was much stronger, but flourished in Europe where lack of black entertainers means that she was perceived as special. She was embraced in France and made France her homeland - so much that she even got involved in espionage in WW2, which gave her life a certain purpose and validation that would have never been possible back home. After the war there were international tours, tons of adopted children and basically basking in adulation & celebration until her death in early 1970s. That would be her life story in a nutshell, so I was familiar with this but wanted to see the exhibition anyway.

It was very interesting because I forgot a lot - chilling reminders of lynching in her birthplace St.Louis that young Baker must have witnessed. That was the reality of life when she was growing up. We are talking about mob burning the whole neighbourhoods and 100 people burned and clubbed to death. Than we have her first Broadway success that lead to engagements in Europe where she spread her wings and achieved notoriety as "banana girl" but even here there were problems - she was thrown out of Germany where both police and church were against her. Still, she persisted and became one of the biggest names of Showbiz on the continent between two wars, again I must note that her charisma and stagecraft overshadowed what was basically a fairly limited singing voice - as another US transplant in Europe, P. P. Arnold noted much later in her own autobiography, the fact that we did not have blacks in Europe (or the tradition of gospel singing) every black singer was immediately embraced as authentic and she mentioned that even singers who would be considered mediocre back home, flourished in Europe simply because there was no competition. I was never bowled over by Baker's recordings, to my ears she always sounded almost comical until much later when in 1950s her mature voice became actually genuinely interesting and sophisticated. 

Yes, there is a fair amount of space on the exhibition about her post WW2-attempts to establish herself again in US but that was simply not possible, because of the racism. She might have been a huge star and a phenomenon in Europe but 1950s US would treat her abominably, like all the other black entertainers. While some, like Louis Armstrong were willing to close their eyes and simply accept the reality, Baker was too much of a diva to accept this and because back in France she was treated with respect and dignity, she fought publicly with bigwigs in US, with results that she was basically blacklisted and never accepted there. Just in case if you wondered what exactly was her connection to Amsterdam, she was regularly bringing her adopted children here and even published a children's book here, in collaboration with Dutch illustrator. 

"Let's Do It: The Birth of Pop" by Bob Stanley (2022)

 

A rare and beautiful thing, this voluminous book was captivating from the first to the last page - even though I was busy with it for a month, not once I wanted to skip the page; it kept me engaged to the very end and than I went back once more to re-read about Jake Thackray. I have read in the past books focused on specific genres, however this is the very first time that I have encountered book that covers almost the whole century of recorded popular music - in all its disguises, be it vaudeville, blackface, blues, crooners, swing, rock, Broadway, you name it. It sounds very ambitious and it is - it is also brimming with interesting perception, conclusions, sardonic wit and opinions. "Let's Do It" works as a kind of prequel to author's "Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop" but while it starts with the very dawn of recorded popular music, it goes much further than the rise of rock - it covers popular music all the way to the early 1970s and explains what were the seismic changes at that point.

   

Stanley is not only a brilliant writer but also a musician - it is because he is musician, that he has this unique perspective of what is the heartbeat of popular music (as accepted by masses, as opposite to critically acclaimed but unloved cult names) and as a listener, he really unearths rare gems that only nerds like me appreciate: he claims that one of Streisand's best recordings was rare 1966 single "Our Corner of the Night"  which is totally fascinating as its anomaly from her better known work (and never released or either album or compilations). He is also very funny, as for example in this particular paragraph: "No singer was more indicative of America's new-found effervescence than the insatiable Sophie Tucker, who emerged in 1912, aged twenty-six, as ˜The Last of the Red Hot Mamas, though no one had previously been aware that red-hot mamas were endangered."

What struck me as the most interesting conclusion after reading such a massive survey of almost a century of popular music is how transitory everything is - recorded music is simply a recorded document of particular moment in time. And just like every moment, it has its value and than it goes away, mostly to be forgotten. No matter how big or popular certain songs or artists are in their time, eventually the new listeners will find new favourites and their own idols: a perfect example is Bing Crosby who was once a massive pop superstar and is almost completely forgotten now. Name every artist you find important and immortal - this book will show you that its all about perspective and as the time passes, new generations will not give a damn about your immortals. A case in point: musician and poet Rod McKuen : "He may be almost forgotten now, but until Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, McKuen’s album The Sea was the Warner Brothers group’s best-selling LP of all time. That catalogue included every album by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis on Reprise, not to mention those by Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. McKuen was huge, and now his music is forgotten."  It seems to me this eventually happens to everybody, to metamorphose from current hit to oldies and than slowly to grandparents music. Re-evaluation and clever marketing (like in case of obscure blues artist Robert Johnson who became celebrated posthumously) might bring some names back into the spotlight, but generally speaking everybody has a moment in the sun and than it goes away, we are drops in the ocean, to be forgotten along with our pop stars. 

"The Greedy Queen: Eating with Victoria" by Annie Gray (2017)

 

I was familiar with Annie Gray thanks to her work with "English Heritage" youtube channel and her wonderful enthusiasm about historical cooking recipes, but I was not aware that she was also book author, until I stumbled upon Podcast "Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society" where one whole episode was all about this particular book - this was not possible to resist so here I am.

The book is great fun, as it follows various stages of Victoria's life trough the food that was prepared and served for her. It is full of wonderful details and you can tell that Gray gets giddy with excitement as she explains that even at that time it was not uncommon that guests would steal the plates and cutlery (from Buckingham Palace, imagine that!) as a souvenirs. Tons of behind-the-scene informations and thankfully, Gray decided not to bother with history - there are enough biographies about Queen Victoria - her focus is exclusively a insider look into Queen's household, chefs, staff, cooking recipes, etc. Somewhere halfway trough, I suddenly got exhausted from all this cornucopia of research, but it says more about my lack of attention than about brilliant work of Annie Gray. 

"Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth" by Avi Loeb (2021)

 

Just in case if it was not clear already, I have a passion and curiosity about extraterrestrial life - basically my youtube history show totally random selection of videos about UFO, Tina Turner and historical cooking recipes. And if I am chilling after midnight on youtube, you can bet it will be one of these subjects. During one of such evenings, I have seen (and heard) Harvard professor Avi Loeb who struck me as an interesting man and his book stayed somewhere in the corner of my mind until eventually I decided to dive into it completely. 

As expected, the book "Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth" was absolutely up my alley and I enjoyed it very much - Loeb is an intelligent, humble man who is still excited about the science and loves discussions and possibilities - although he is academic, he tries his best not to be dry and to explain everything easily. I must admit that I skipped some things because I was so engrossed in his theories that just couldn't wait to get to the interesting parts. (Perhaps I should go back and re-read it again with more patience). Loeb is tickled with unexplained presence of something we called Oumuamua that came out of our Solar System and continued tumbling into interstellar space - so far nobody really has explanation, except that science tend to call it probably some weird asteroid - Loeb theorises that it might have been artificial object designed by some other civilisation and builds the book about the ideas of possibilities of extraterrestrial life, other life forms and such. He even mentions panspermia, the possibility that our species arrived from Mars (or some other place) and what struck me as very interesting was his idea that the path of Oumuamua was not random but possibly programmed to avoid any research of its origin:

"The hypothesis that intelligent extraterrestrials designed ‘Oumuamua to be at LSR raises the obvious question: Why would they bother? I can imagine any number of reasons. Perhaps they wanted to set up the interstellar equivalent of a stop sign. Or maybe it was more like a lighthouse—or, more simply, a signpost or navigation marker. A vast network of such buoys could act as a communication grid. Or it could be used as a trip wire, an alert system triggered when one of them was knocked out of LSR. In that spirit, perhaps its creators wanted to disguise its—and their—spatial origins. Putting an object at LSR effectively camouflages who put it there. Why? Because math and a little knowledge of an object’s trajectory is sufficient to trace that object’s origins back to a launchpad; doing that is one of the primary purposes of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Consider as well that any intelligence with a grasp of math and a good map of the universe could trace back to Earth any of the interstellar ships we’ve launched from our planet’s surface."

"Aesop's Fables" as told by Joseph Jacobs (1894)

 

Dear reader, I have not forgotten to go back to my classics. Some time ago I had an idea that it would be good to read some classics from time to time, but eventually got distracted - however, since I am doing well with my reading, I was in the mood for some Aesop's Fables and this must have been long overdue re-visit to something I read decades ago. In fact, I could imagine reading these stories in their various incarnations in my fairy tale collections and probably at the very start of the primary school. Just like "One Thousand and One Nights", these stories seemingly have no origins and are known and beloved all over the planet - even their form (just a short story as told in a few sentences) suggest something told before sleep and without exception, each story has a moral lesson - which turned out to be quite immortal, strangely enough, no matter how many centuries have passed they are surprisingly fresh.

I do clearly remember some of these stories - particularly about the Fox and the Stork sharing a dinner - this was included in one of my childhood fairy tale collections - and it was a delight to re-visit them again. It worked simultaneously as a moral lessons, fairy tales and a beautiful literature. Perhaps the origins of this collection might be interesting to research, but I think its not really important - in my mind there is no doubt that the original Aesop served as a frame where the other stories were added trough the centuries - what really matters is how well these stories work even today and how delightful they are. 

"Soul Survivor: The Autobiography" by P.P. Arnold (2022)

 

 

Back to reading and its a sort of reading renaissance for me, as at certain point I had a serious slump in reading and now this current year I am on fire. For me its all about the right choice, as I my "to read" pile is definitely bigger and more ambitious than realistic, so I simply have to select something that will not be a task but a pleasure. So far this year I swallowed a complete "Silo" trilogy by Hugh Howey and really enjoyed some random choices, like Nigerian writer Nuzo Onoh, horror works by Robert McCammon and Stephen King, even glanced at historical fiction (Jennifer Saint) but curiously, I stayed away from my real, true love - music biographies. Knowing that this is something I easily gravitate towards, I kind of control this impulse, otherwise my reading list would be just celebrity memoirs. (I did sneaked in a book about Phil Spector and one by Nick Tosches on my reading list this year, but they were short and not demanding) At this point, it looks as I am deserving a threat for myself so I took autobiography of P.P. Arnold and, unsurprisingly, swallowed the whole darn thing in just a few days. 

As a lifelong fan of Tina Turner I am aware of the majority of people who were in her orbit, so I knew about P.P. Arnold - she was one of The Ikettes who was convinced (by Mick Jagger, no less) to stay in UK and try a solo career, instead of going back home. For one glowing moment, Arnold was in the spotlight, with two hits to her name: "The First Cut Is the Deepest" (written by young and upcoming Cat Stevens) and "Angel of the Morning" - but the hits, along the music career, eventually fizzled away and she spent decades floating between UK and US, trying to put her career back on track. 

Even if Arnold herself was just a footnote in 1960s pop, "Soul Survivor: The Autobiography" bursts with fascinating anecdotes and insights of music business of swinging London - simply by being an Ikette, she was instantly fascinating to most of UK audiences who idolised black American artists. She was there with Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, Brian Jones, Cat Stevens, Rod Stewart, David Bowie, George Harrison, The Bee Gees, Lulu and the list goes on forever. There are many interesting stories and observations, but sadly, the book eventually changes tone and becomes quite somber and cautionary, even as Arnold keeps a brave face and philosophically accepts her lot. What strikes me the most fascinating here is the understanding that the talent itself is not enough - it is assumed - but for a success, one needs much more, like right contacts, management, connections and the whole decision how to present yourself not just to audiences but to a musicians as well. It makes one appreciate even more, the later renaissance of Tina Turner who could easily have been just another forgotten casualty, but managed to break away and bulldoze her way to the top again.

"On the way back, we stopped at a quaint little pub off the motorway and sat in the garden for high tea: smoked salmon sandwiches, scones with preserves and clotted cream and of course tea. Marianne was in one of her ‘Lady of the Manor versus the Ghetto Mistress’ moods and began bitchily comparing my Watts roots with hers as daughter of a baroness. I was in no mood to put up with this and simply ignored her. I didn’t want to get into an argument in front of the children. I was hungry and refused to let her spoil the afternoon. Back at Cheyne Walk, I was surprised when Mick rushed Marianne into the house to a waiting doctor, who gave her an injection. This may have explained her behaviour. She needed her drugs and was having withdrawals."

"In 1968, Maurice Gibb had fallen in love with the singer Lulu and she and the family desperately wanted Barry to produce her with Maurice, but she was not Barry’s cup of tea and he had no intention of doing so. She very much wished to be Britain’s female soul favourite. I was this American outsider and she sometimes showed up at our sessions and put out very negative energy, showing me no love at all. By contrast, Dusty Springfield, who was Britain’s actual female soul favourite, was always warm and friendly with me." 

"You Like It Darker" by Stephen King (2024)

 

Because the previous book I read (and posted here) was not-exactly-successful attempt to check what were the best novels of 2024 (as voted by Goodreads readers), I was wary and careful of following their lead anymore - I mean, if they think "Indian Burial Ground" was one of the best horror novels of the year, perhaps the mainstream taste is not where i fit? But than I noticed one very important detail: that book was only a contender, what actually won the title of the best horror book of 2024 was the collection of short stories by Stephen King, titled "You Like It Darker". And since I know King and enjoyed his work, I decided to check it out. He has a long & successful career, a distinctive writing style and never ceased to grab me from the very first page - so far I have read "Carrie", "Salem's Lot" (my favourite), "The Shining" (my introduction to his style), "The Stand", "The Talisman", "It", "Insomnia", "Black House", "Cell", "Doctor Sleep", "Mr. Mercedes" and a short story collection "Different Seasons" (that inspired "Shawshank Redemption" movie). Not everything he does is horror and often he likes to spread his wings into other genres, as this latest short story collection shows: "You Like It Darker" has perhaps just one or two really horror stories, the rest is intriguing combination of dreamy and creepy atmospheric stories that could almost be called "twilight zone" - perfectly fine by me, as I enjoy this kind of stuff.

The best surprise about Stephen King's latest short story collection is exactly his enthusiasm to explore twilight-zone type of stories and move away from the horror genre, that made his name. Like many readers, I usually associate him with horror but King has moved on long time ago and is prolific and successful far beyond expected. As the collection progressed, I actually enjoyed it more and more, until the very last story (previously abandoned "The Answer Man") totally won me over and not only I read it several times, I think it might be my all-time favourite Stephen King piece ever - it has all his recognisable strong spots but adds a beautiful, philosophical tone to it, that brings the narrative to completely different level. I enjoyed this a lot! 

Antwerpen

 

Not long ago, I was watching excellent documentary about the history of The Netherlands and how The famous Dutch Golden Age was actually set in motion by exodus of wealthy citizen of Antwerpen, who were fleeing from Spanish invasion. What was the destruction of Antwerpen, eventually became the start of prosperity for Amsterdam. So at the back of my mind, I had this curiosity to check the city where it all began and was excited to see it all with my own eyes. It was also a plan to do something every month, to go and visit a place where I have never been before - this time it was Antwerpen, Belgium.

The train ride from Amsterdam was easy peasy, just a little bit over an hour. And to my biggest delight, upon the arrival I was admiring a truly spectacular central station which must be the most beautiful train station I have ever seen, anywhere - it is majestic, huge and sweeping above the city, with a new parts surprisingly well fitting with the original 19th century part. The one in Amsterdam is pretty but this one in Antwerpen is something else. And just like in Amsterdam, once you walk out of it, you are right in the city centre where shops are packed with jewellery - perhaps a bit strange, considering the areas around train stations are always considered a bit unsafe - window displays bursting with diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, etc. I used to work with those so I could tell different types of gemstones - I could also tell that enormous displays are overcrowded and from my own experience I know that less is more, just a few intriguing pieces would attract more attention than stocking window display with too much bling, but its not my problem and from what I have seen, nobody was really visiting these shops, the overcrowded displays killing any desire to look at them.

The city centre was very interesting: I could clearly see that this architecture eventually inspired what we have in Amsterdam now, shapes of the old houses looking familiar but somehow different at the same time. And the historical heart of the city definitely has its own charm, with friendly local people - I have also noted the large number of immigrants. I have read about the neighbourhood called Zurenborg and took a walk there, from what I have seen it is a very pretty and quiet area full of Art Deco houses. Also because it was Saturday, I have encountered a huge number of orthodox Jews going to a synagogue in their special clothes - apparently they live in a area beyond the central station and this is exactly where I was walking. The whole families were dressed accordingly, with their special hats, locks and the whole shebang, I found it very interesting and had to control myself from staring - you don't see this every day. It was here that I have seen a very intriguing detail on almost every house, next to a stairs there is some kind of hole framed with decorative metal - for the life of me I could not tell what is this and was wondering could this have been something to give water to horses perhaps, but it was too small for horses. Eventually some nice lady explained to me this was originally made to scrub the mud from the shoes before you enter the house - so before the streets were paved, they were apparently very muddy and this is how you would manoeuvre around the mud. 

It was a short, weekend stay so I did not bother with must-do lists, I simply decided to enjoy and have fun with two museums nearby: one was called "Illusions Antwerpen" and it was about interesting visual effects (simple but delightful) while another was "Chocolate Nation" and it was all about the famous Belgian chocolate - surprisingly enjoyable and informative, apparently there is a huge amount of work involved in its production, since the beans grow on the other side of the world and than must be shipped here, where the real work on chocolate begins. Not only you read about chocolate, but the corridors are discreetly sprayed with the smell of chocolate so at the exit (where is a museum shop) visitors are totally hypnotised into buying chocolate - I got myself a chocolate soap and chocolate candle. My one regret was that the weather was not on our side, it was way too cold (suddenly) to enjoy being outside and we were so relieved and delighted to return home to our central heating. There is so much more to see in Antwerp, next time I will like to explore more about Rubens and art in general. 

 

"Indian Burial Ground" by Nick Medina (2024)

 

Most of the time I read for entertainment and escapism. Sometimes, I go for non-fiction or literary classics but mainly its the desire to transport myself far away from the reality and enjoy the imaginary worlds. Out of curiosity (and desire to move away from my usual safe zone) I have checked the 2024 Goodreads Choice Awards, thinking that it might be a good idea to see what is actually new and recent. This particular novel was one of the nominated for reader's favourite horror. The winner was actually Stephen King but since I am already familiar with him, I thought why not read someone for the first time. 

I understand writing a novel is not an easy thing to do and author must be inspired in the first place. And Nick Medina has quite a few titles behind him already. But I don't remember when was the last time I suffered so much trough reading the book, I was reading it while literary gnawing my teeth. What appealed to Goodreads readers definitely did not appeal to me and although it might have been interesting to experience how it is to live in Native American reservation (called "rez" here) - well, according to Medina its all depression, sweat, alcoholism and suicide. There might be something about it, since apparently there is huge number of suicides and alcoholism amongst Native Americans - still, it makes a depressing reading experience as every single character here suffocates in a poorly isolated trailer home, drinks and mopes around aimlessly. Basically, everybody here wants to be somewhere else.

The story is happening simultaneously in present time and in 1986. Not that I actually understood this - it was pointed to me by other Goodreads readers - so we are following two different stories, connected by the same characters. In the present time, Noemi can't accept the suicide of her boyfriend and tries to find out is this true, while her long gone uncle Louie returns to the reservation for the first time since she was a child. Than we find out about young Louie and what happened back in 1986 that made him leave in the first place. The novel is extremely slow-burning (take it as you want, I would describe it as "not exactly gripping"), the switch between different timelines is not clear and all this atmospheric, creepy and eery plot (peppered with Native American mythology) eventually just fizzles out at the end, since we are led to believe supernatural powers are behind everything, but it turned out there is nothing supernatural at all. It's just a bunch of poor, depressed alcoholics doing things to each other out of the spite and boredom. I finished this book simply because I have already invested too much effort in it, but will not return to the same author again.