Recommended "New" Music -- In No Particular Order

People come up to me all of the time, and they all ask me the very same thing. They approach me at the studio; they buttonhole me at the office; they sidle up next to me at the haberdasher's; they seek me out at the club; they corner me at the garage; they even hail me on the open street; and they all ask the same thing, these days: They say, "Spencer, what should I now be buying? What is good, currently? Spence," they say, "to what NEW music should I be listening, now?" Then, for a brief moment they pause, as they work up further courage, and they continue, "Spence, to what are YOU listening, if I may be so bold as to inquire?"

Well, on some days my memory for all the current titles is better than on others; so, some of these poor souls hear about the glories of only five or six new selections; whereas, on the following day, I might regale my listener with the magnificence of a full dozen of the finest recent efforts in the musical world. However, it occurs to me now, that I might save myself some time, and provide my friends and dear readers with a more complete listing, if I were simply to include in this post the various titles of those CDs which have captured (or are about to capture) a coveted spot, for the present moment, in my CD changer.

Further, to save everyone involved even more time, it seems fairly appropriate to simply include an image of the cover of each CD, without going into any long explanations as to why it is good. This will save those who already own (or have already heard) an individual title, the drudgery of plowing through my analysis of its virtues. If an image is unfamiliar to you, or if you cannot read the title, merely click on the image, and the appropriate title should be revealed at the top of your screen.

Unless I have erred, all of these CDs are of recent enough issue to be considered, "new," since the beginning of this current year. Obviously, a few of the titles will appear to be much older: In such cases, it is generally the, "Remastered, Expanded, British Import Version," which I am recommending; and I've only chosen such new versions where the additional material basically makes the title an entirely "new" and significantly more valuable item than its old incarnation had been!
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--Spencer

Triple delight.... three books by Kate Spade

Recently I discovered a trio of books that I absolutely adore. Written by Kate Spade and published by Simon and Schuster in 2004, Style, Manners, and Occasions are delightful reads full of helpful advice, lovely images, quotes from authors, artists, and movies. She has crafted her books in a way not unlike the Susan Branch books over which I once obsessed. Namely, Girlfriends, a book shelved in cookbooks at your local bookstore, but containing much more than recipes. Branch's books are handwritten and full of quirky details and fun images. Kate Spade offers something similar but in a very classy way. Both of these women make me wish we were friends....I suspect we would be kindred spirits and I am sure I would love hanging out with Kate and Andy Spade. Their books make them seem down-to-earth, funny, clever, and a treat to be around. What follows are some highlights from each of the books.


Style opens with this quote:

"To achieve style, begin by affecting none."
--William Strunk, Jr., and E.B. White, The Elements of Style

Her contents are divided into three sections. Style and the World, with subsections that include Books, Movies, Architecture, Pattern Crazy, and Think Pink to name only a few. Section Two is Style Start to Finish featuring everyday style, the office, travel, accessories, and at play. Finally she focuses on Maintaining Style with subsections such as forever clothes, organizing your closet, caring for your clothes and jewelry. Actually check out the inside of the book here and you can read the actual table of contents and see a few sample pages from the book. You'll get the idea.

Her intro features a quote by Diana Vreeland, "Fashion Changes.... style remains." Then she talks about another famous Kate.... Ms. Hepburn. "When Katharine Hepburn wore trousers it wasn't about rebellion, it was about finding what made her feel most herself. By finding her "center of gravity," she made trousers look chic." I like that. The way Kate Spade explores the style in movies, books, art, and more is what made me love her. She recognizes the style in Wes Anderson, Dr. Seuss, and Keds. She has an entire page dedicated to fonts and typeface. She notes the style evident in the movies. Bonnie and Clyde, Out of Africa, The Royal Tenenbaums. Among a series of terrific examples, she points out the mod looks of Audrey Hepburn in a movie I enjoy, Two for the Road (1967).

At one point in the text the reader has the opportunity to learn about hats... the difference between the following different types: Beret, Bonnet, Cloche, Coolie Hat, Fez, Garden Party, Lampshade, Nehru, Picture, Pillbox, Profile, Sailor, Ski Cap, Tam O'Shanter, Toque, Turban, Visor (17 varieties described). She offers the same attention to detail again and again in all three books. It's delightful, really. In the book on style, she also offers the ABCs of Wardrobe but also tells a bit of history with each offering... From this section the reader can learn the difference between a Balaclava, an Empire waist, Palazzo Pants, and a peplum. You can also discover that a trench coat is worn by Anna Schmidt as Alida Valli in Carol Reed's The Third Man.


In Occasions, Kate explores the idea of being a good hostess. Look at the contents of this one here. In this book you can learn the difference between a brandy snifter and a highball glass, if you didn't already know. She lists movies which have a famous dinner scene: The Thin Man, The Lady Eve, Hannah and her Sisters. She suggests playlists of music for various events that include such artists as Lucinda Williams, David Bowie, Nina Simone, Pink Martini, and The Shins. There are so many more and it's song by song, really. I love it. That's why I was impressed to discover the gift set of these books available on their official website includes a music CD though it looks as if it might be all of one group, I bet it's good.

Then one of my favorite bits is the Anniversary Gifts list which states the appropriate gift per year and then tells a creative idea for each. I love the cleverness involved. She suggests things like... 5th Wood -- New cedar shoe trees and ballroom dancing lessons.... 7th Wool -- A wool stadium blanket (ivory with red, yellow, navy, and green stripes) and tickets to a football game (his) or outdoor theatrical performance (hers) (in our case, Spence, we'd reverse those, right?).... 9th Pottery -- Peruvian pottery coffee mugs, a pound of the best coffee you can get your hands on, and a new coffeemaker.... 45th Sapphires -- A Schlumberger gold and blue apillonne enamel cuff bracelet and a night on the town celebrated with Bombay sapphire martinis......


"Let common sense be your guide and graciousness your goal." That is one of the gentle reminders in her third book, Manners. Check out the table of contents here. This one is an effort to cover etiquette topics that apply to today -- the overnight guest, cell phone behavior, even the etiquette of bicycling on city streets. Rules for dining, tipping, how to be a good traveler, and a troubleshooting guide are also a few of the topics one might find in this book.

Some things I learned from Ms. Spade:
Food should always be passed to the right or counterclockwise.

For room temperature wines, hold wineglasses or goblets under the bowl. Chilled wines (whites and roses) should be held by the stem of the glass. As for champagne, choose the base of the stem depending on your glassware.

The origin of the phrase "nosey parker", which means a busybody or a snoop, varies. However, the most applicable version refers to the English parkskeepers (parkers) who liked to keep tabs on the amorous dalliances in Hyde Park.

Invitations are usually written in the third person and are best sent two weeks ahead of time.

If you are going to present your hostess with a hostess gift of flowers, always a crowd pleaser, it's best to arrange to have them sent earlier that day.

In this book there is a section on letter writing that includes snippets of letters from all sorts of famous people.
One I love was from Mozart to his wife Constanze,

"Catch! An astonishing number of kisses are flying about.
The deuce! I see a whole crowd of them!
Ha! Ha! I have just caught three. They are delicious."

Or this one from John Lennon to the Queen. He was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire), which he initially accepted and later turned down, for political reasons. His telegram read:

YOUR MAJESTY,
I AM RETURNING THIS MBE IN PROTEST AGAINST BRITAIN'S INVOLVEMENT IN THE NIGERIA-BIAFRA SCENE, AGAINST OUR SUPPORT OF AMERICA IN VIETNAM AND AGAINST COLD TURKEY SLIPPING DOWN THE CHARTS.
WITH LOVE,
JOHN LENNON

Kate praises the art of letter writing and says, "A courtship in letters is priceles, and a letter with wit is an achievement." I wholeheartedly agree. Sometimes time and distance can prove costly in a relationship but those letters, that written record, is a treasure of great worth.

Finally, each of these books have little factoids on the tagline of every other page which relate to the section they are in, however loosely. Here are a few of those juicy nuggets:

• It's good luck to give a man a gardenia.
• Six cities in the US are named Surprise.
• Skirts should be longer than they are wide.
• Kipling painted his golf balls red so that he could spot them in the Vermont snow.
• "Darling Little Water" is the literal translation of Vodka.
• With care, dark chocolate will keep for ten years.
• Robert Louis Stevenson considered wine "bottled poetry."
• There have been 29 brunettes, 25 blondes, and 4 redheads in the James Bond films.
• A content parrot grinds his beak at night.
• Popeye and Olive Oyl were a couple for more than twenty-three years.

I am so glad I stumbled upon these books at the library. I was drawn to the colorful covers and while I'd heard of Kate Spade in the past this opened my eyes to what she and her company have been up to. Check out their groovy timeline. (Oh, and this shoe I liked. Yum.) Others have proven similarly impressed as I managed to discover a Kate Spade Barbie (check out the others!) and a what looks like a book inspired by her. While, manners, style, and occasions may not be gripping topics for everyone, I promise that if you were to read anything on any of those topics you would not be disappointed by these three. They are a visual treat and full of great trivial fun. Plus I actually learned a thing or two. Enjoy.

-- Kate

So Does Everybody Else, Only Not So Much

Ogden Nash (1902-1971)
This American poet cracks me up. I am not sure I fully appreciate the poem referred to in the title of this post, however, I do like the title of the poem... Nash is a little like e.e. cummings in a way. His word invention and playfulness is what I appreciate most. I love many poets, and several more than this fellow, but it's his birthday today and I hadn't dabbled in poetry in awhile. I looked for a good bio link and instead discovered this... audio interviews. I thought that was more fun.

















Come on in, the Senility is Fine

People live forever in Jacksonville and St. Petersburg and Tampa,
But you don't have to live forever to become a grampa.
The entrance requirements for grampahood are comparatively mild,
You only have to live until your child has a child.
From that point on you start looking both ways over your shoulder,
Because sometimes you feel thirty years younger and sometimes
thirty years older.
Now you begin to realize who it was that reached the height of
imbecility,
It was whoever said that grandparents have all the fun and none of
the responsibility.
This is the most enticing spiderwebs of a tarradiddle ever spun,
Because everybody would love to have a baby around who was no
responsibility and lots of fun,
But I can think of no one but a mooncalf or a gaby
Who would trust their own child to raise a baby.
So you have to personally superintend your grandchild from diapers
to pants and from bottle to spoon,
Because you know that your own child hasn't sense enough to come
in out of a typhoon.
You don't have to live forever to become a grampa, but if you do
want to live forever,
Don't try to be clever;
If you wish to reach the end of the trail with an uncut throat,
Don't go around saying Quote I don't mind being a grampa but I
hate being married to a gramma Unquote.

-------------------------

Reflection on a Wicked World

Purity
Is obscurity.

--------------------------

I found another poem of his that was new to me -- "PG Wooster, Just as he Useter" I'm not sure I totally "get" it, still I thought it was fun and that Spencer would like to read this one!

--Kate

Is it a Good Nut or a Bad Nut?

What happens when you combine the work of Roald Dahl, Johnny Depp, and Tim Burton? A world of pure imagination. I grew up loving the 1971 version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and the dazzling performance Gene Wilder brought to the film. The idea of a remake left me with doubts. When the news hit that it was to be produced by Tim Burton, I was relieved, certain that he'd bring to the screen the wonders the book unfolds, and there was no doubt his own brand of strangeness would only serve to add to the masterpiece crafted by Roald Dahl, a writer who amuses and intrigues me in much the same way.

I watched the 2005 film, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, in a theatre last night and was hypnotised by the details. I loved that both films opened with the making of the chocolate and the Burton film takes it a step further by packaging them and sending them out in these sharp little vans that look vintage and modern in their own snappy red way, as is the stylistic choice of the film at nearly every turn. Everything was synchronized in a way only found in perfect worlds. I had visions of Edward Scissorhand's suburban neighborhood and the immaculate lawns. Still in that world, Johnny Depp played a man who lived alone in darkness and chaos set apart... In this film, Depp's Wonka seems to live in very organized, perfectly orchestrated wonder. He is god-like in the way of imaginative creation and even appears to be a little omnipotent. This is somewhat demonstrated by the Oopma Loompa's song and dance numbers that, while claiming to be improptu, seem to be rather rehearsed with the names of the unfortunate children and details of their ugly little lives. Each performance given moments after the child makes an error that removes him or her from the action. The lyrics in the new movie are straight from the book, but the performances are entertaining and display a variety of musical styles to accompany the words. In the 1971 version, the Oompa Loompa's left their mark in a similar way. Though the songs stood out less since the entire film was sprinkled with musical numbers--a fact I didn't recall until I watched it again on DVD.... last night after I returned from the theatre.

While I can't begin to say which film was better, I will say there are elements in each I prefer, and in each film there are elements of the book... at times, lines lifted straight from the pages. In the 2005 version, Charlie has a father who works at the toothpaste factory, as he does in the book, and their poverty seems evident in the way I imagined it when I read the tale so long ago. In fact, I loved the performances of Helena Bonham Carter and Noah Taylor who play the parents of Charlie. In the 1971 film, Charlie no longer has a father and it's his mother who must eke out a living for the family. In all three versions there are four grandparents bedridden in the same bed delighting in the presence of Charlie. And who wouldn't, for he, in every version, is a delightful, sweet, generous boy. Charlie Bucket is played by Freddie Highmore in the 2005 version. What is funny is Highmore (introduced in another wonderful Johnny Depp Film Finding Neverland), looks as if he could be the model for James as he appears in Tim Burton's rendition of James and the Giant Peach, another classic by Roald Dahl.

The other children are equally awful in every version of the tale. My favorite has to be Veruca Salt, though I think as a youth I really loved the idea of the gum-chewing Violet turning into a blueberry. The person who seems the most different between the film versions has to be Willy Wonka, himself. Roald Dahl's creation seems a bit more like the man played by Gene Wilder. Compassionate, clever, and in the end rather kind. I think that Dahl's character seems less mad than Wilder portrays him. But that even seems an illusion. Wilder's Wonka seems to be tolerant. He humors the idiotic behavior of the children and their equally ridiculous parents, yet he proceeds in his world efficient and businesslike without pity or fear. Often you hear him offering quips and snippets of wisdom, at choice moments when the rest of us would like to say... behave! His eyes twinkle and his comments to others shock and horrify all of them except Charlie who seems to be able to see beyond the guise and straight into the far too sane heart of a genius.

Depp's portrayal of Willie Wonka seems more crazy without the sane center. Sometimes you seem like a nut... sometimes you just are. Even in the end one sees this Wonka as a man who is creative, lonely, and in need of saving more than Charlie ever was. This version paints a back story for Wonka that doesn't exist in either the 1964 book or the 1971 movie. This story is told in flashback, along with several others which actually do come straight from the pages of Dahl's novel. The story of Prince Pondicherry, the story of the spies who were stealing Wonka's recipes, the story of where the Oompa Loompa's came from down to the detail of the caterpillars they mashed up to eat.... each one of those were a welcome addition to the film that the '71 version omitted. Depp's Wonka feels less friendly and more "I know you are but what am I" than the man portrayed by Wilder. He's not even interested in the names of the children and doesn't seem to be aware of the fact that the number has dwindled to just Charlie at one point. While it isn't necessarily bad, I tend to prefer the Wilder way. I will say Depp and Burton bring style to Willy Wonka though... particularly in the eyewear department. And the way the opening number "Willy Wonka" (figures singing Disneyland style) ends is so distinctly Tim Burton, that I could barely suppress a chuckle. I love how Depp's Wonka comments on the action standing beside them admiring his own show erupting in flames to the horror of the five children.

When it comes to the candy, Dahl's book still wins, hands down. There are so many references to wonderful treats, rooms full of delights, unusual and creative candy concepts that either film would need to be expanded to twice its length to properly capture them. The bird's egg candy that opened to reveal a tiny bird on the tongue shown in the 2005 version's flashback to Wonka's first candy shop is a favorite. But I also love the lickable wallpaper in the 1971 version. The Chocolate Room is wonderful in each film and I think made just a little better by the striking color in the Burton film. I long to taste a blade of that "eatable" grass or sample any one of the tantalizing goodies.

In some ways Burton's version follows the book a little more by creating a glass elevator the way it is pictured in the book and by creating the pink horseshoe boat powered by Oompa Loompa's who don't know where they're going. In the 1971 version frightening pictures flash on the walls as they speed past in their boat. Never having noticed this before it really struck me. I have no explanation for this bit of the film except to suggest it is another effort to play with the madness of Wilder's Wonka. In some ways it fits the style of the era as do the Oompa Loompa song sequences.

Should you see this film? Definitely. And if you've never read the book, perhaps you should begin there. It's possible you might want to watch the 1971 version and then proceed to this one. I think each stands alone and yet they can all work together as well. The 1971 version takes from the novel and invents too. It adds to the drama and creates more tension in the ending... Charlie isn't quite perfect in this film. Then the 2005 version remembers bits of the book forgotten in '71 and it also takes from the previous film as well. The character of Willy Wonka takes Wilder's efforts to a whole new level of wacky and then it invents a deeper look into the chocolate madman and candycoated genius. I loved it all. And I'm sure you will too. Be sure to have some candy on hand, it's hard to watch either of these without a sweet treat nearby.
--Kate

Some Of The Books I've Been Reading This Summer -- Part #3

To begin with, I must admit that I am biased. Henry Miller is easily my favorite author of all time. I have sought out the rare and out-of-print editions of his books both online, and in used bookstores all throughout the USA. The book we are considering here, “Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch,” is neither rare nor out-of-print. Indeed, it is one of Miller’s more successful and popular books. Needless to say, it’s not the big seller that his novels, “Tropic of Cancer,” or, “Tropic Of Capricorn,” have been through the decades, but it’s a relatively easy book to find in a good bookstore, or online.

Henry Miller was an American original, and one of the most remarkable and memorable personalities among American writers of any era. In 1930, at the age of 38, he left New York City, with ten dollars in his pocket, to go to Europe for the second time, determined to become a great writer. Miller lived in Europe-- much of his time spent in Paris-- for the next decade. For the first few years he was there, he had very little money and lived on the largesse of his many friends, including Anais Nin.

Some ten years later, after having written (and published) the two "Tropics" books which made him famous throughout Europe, he returned to New York, just as WWII was truly getting underway in earnest, all across the European continent. In 1942, Miller moved to California to live, and in 1944 he settled in Big Sur, just south of Monterey, California -- an area with some of the loveliest and most spectacular coastal scenery in the country, or in the world, for that matter. In those days, real estate was still relatively inexpensive in this small, spread-out “village,” so artists and other interesting characters abounded there.

In the latter half of the 1940's and all through the 1950's – well before the “New Age” gurus introduced their guides to better living -- Miller was letting his soul and spirit run free, and he was writing about his life there, high above the Pacific ocean in the remote Big Sur area. This book is his account of those experiences, which occurred after his return from Europe in 1940 and after his subsequent extended tour of America from October of 1940 to October of 1941.

“Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch” is a refreshing, joyous, insightful, touching, humorous and often profound book that challenges our acceptance of today's hectic, violent, irrational world. It’s also essential reading for those who’ve read Miller’s early trilogy which contains his two “Tropics” books, and would like a better understanding of the man behind them -- two of the greatest and most controversial novels of all time.

"This is my answer!" states Miller in the book's opening pages, and in this regard, Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch is his “Walden,” because it was there, on the far west coast, far removed from his native New York, that Miller found the only home he could fully abide in America. He found a place where he felt he could live peaceably as a creative artist; a place set apart from the old, “normal” way of life that he viewed as thin and meaningless, a way of life which he had long since turned his back upon.

In Big Sur, the living was not easy. The deserted convict shack where Miller initially stayed, a thousand feet above the crashing waves, had neither electricity nor plumbing. There was also the intense isolation. At that time, Big Sur was strictly for the adventurous: The neighborhood comprised a small colony of artists and individuals seeking to live and raise their families freely, simply, and close to nature. Highway One had yet to bring the flood of tourists. But despite these difficulties, and probably because of them, Miller came to see Big Sur as the first real home he had ever known. Creatively, he flourished, finding everything his spirit needed in the friendship of the community and the brilliant light and beauty of this road less traveled.

With occasional exceptions, such as extended return trips to Europe and New York, Miller would live there for nearly 18 years, writing his books, painting his watercolors, making friends, living (sequentially) with a couple of his several wives, and suffering visits from the occasional, unannounced fan! It is clear in reading this book, that the awesome beauty of Big Sur affected Miller deeply, as did Paris in the 1930's and as did Greece, after Paris. He came to see the people he met there as kindred spirits in a timeless sanctuary; a sanctuary conducive to reflection, greater perspective, and inner peace. This new-found consciousness found its way into his writing, especially so in this book.

As is the case with many of Miller’s books, Big Sur is not a strict linear narrative but, rather, a collection of thoughts, reminiscences, hopes, loves, dreams, stories, and reveries. Indeed, the book has no central plot; in fact, it doesn't really pretend to have any forward momentum at all. The narrative just floats. As others have noted (either enthusiastically or bitterly), Henry Miller delivers, in this book, a seemingly random swirl of philosophy, wit, character studies, soaring observations of topography and weather, literary and arty musings, puzzles, koans, epigrams, aphorisms, scripture, historical trivia, astrological forecasts, and jokes.

This great book does not, upon first glance, seem to have any real point whatsoever. But that, of course, is the point. What Miller was laying out here (in a unique way, free of the usual jargon) is a meditation on how to live a different life, a vibrant life, a life of the spirit -- which, by definition, can only be expressed through a narrative that (like the life it describes) refuses to conform to the usual numbing standards of conduct. Upon a bit of reflection, one comes to recognize that such an expression, ultimately, was precisely what Jesus Christ (although in a rather different era and place) was attempting to do through his own teachings and his own life examples.

The core of this book -- what shines through most -- is the reality of the man, his unique viewpoint, and a wisdom born of spiritual freedom and real experience. This is not to be found in much of anything written today. Unlike today's authors, Henry Miller knew what it was like to live without money, to often be hungry, to be out on the street without a home, to be maligned, to turn against convention, and to subordinate all to art. Not everything that he did in his life can be considered honorable or noble. But he refused to be a pessimist or give up on life's possibilities. Optimism and hope were the two indomitable qualities at the very heart of Miller, which informed nearly all of his art.

The best elements of Miller’s character – his absolute love of life itself, his driven nature to be creative and to express himself, his transcendence of what others accept blindly, his pursuits of individuality and of an enlightened spirit fully at rest -- are this book's great gifts to its readers. For those ready for it, this book inspires, and one is made into a better person through learning the truths Miller lived by, and through coming to know the true paradise called Big Sur that nurtured his wandering soul.

So, if you are looking for a traditional story, per se, then pass right on by “Big Sur” and keep driving until you get up to Monterey. Or, if you are looking for some of Henry Miller's famously invigorating foulness and fury, pick up Tropic of Cancer instead. If you are looking for peace, stop here.

Incidentally, if you ever do make it to the actual location of Big Sur, and you have any interest in Henry Miller or his books, be sure to check out the Henry Miller Memorial Library, which is a marvelous place to visit. I’d encourage all those who come to love Miller’s writings to offer some financial support to the Henry Miller Memorial Library.

--Spencer