Public Service Message

Regular blogging shall resume shortly. But first, a public service message:
The end of the world is coming. We're all going to die.
(Tnx to Josef Vissarionovich Stalin)

I want this movie.

Best. Cast. Ever.

it's almost four in the morning - i'm off to bed.
Goodnight, all.

Rodney Alan Greenblat is a creator of intriguing and whimsical art. Go check him out!

So much things to say right now...

Don't know where to start. many interesting things are deserving of blog attention.
Ok. one: i have a hangover.
But last night was really, really, really cool.
Two: Drew's at it again! Go Drew!
Three: went to comic shop today, found and immediately bought the new Sandman hardcover, Endless Nights. Had to do it.
Four: i'm tired, and i'm going to bed, so i'll tell the rest of the stuff tomorrow. it's been a long day.

Na Baixa do Sapateiro

Here's a nice page telling us about one of Ary Barroso's most famous tunes, after the ubiquitous Aquarela Do Brasil. The song is also known as Bahia, as anyone who's heard Fatha Hines' version knows(Pino - it was him wasn't it?). My personal favourites are Dorival Caymmi's heart-breaking guitar and (loud) vocal version, Joao Gilberto's solo guitar rendition, and Caetano Veloso's re-elaboration of the latter as a horn arrangement at the beginning of his own version, an overlooked gem in his reknowned 1997 Livro album.

Also, the song was so famous in the fifties, it was even featured in one of the dances in the landmark fifties comedy/entertainment movie, I Pompieri Di Viggiù. Bet you didn't know that.

And typing all of this has been very hard, because a cat has been sleeping on my lap throughout.

Food, food, glorious food. We hope.

Oh, i'm going through this nice interview to Neil Gaiman about food, so i thought i'd link to it here.
It's nothing fantastic, mind you, but it is themed in with what goes on tonight. Tonight, to celebrate my parents going on holiday for a few days, Fred and i are organizing a Polish Dinner here at WGD central. Fred's cooking.
Oh, let me repeat that:
Fred.
Is.
Cooking.
For.
Us.
Tonight.

I'll update on the different recipes later, when we get back from shopping. All i remember is that they had something to do with raw fish, lemon, diced raw onion and sliced salami. Oh, and lots and lots of drinks. But that was quite obvious, wasn't it?

Al Green - Let's Stay Together

I, I'm so in love with you
Whatever you want to do
Is all right with me
'Cause you make me feel so brand new
And I want to spend my life with you

Since, since we've been together
Loving you forever
Is what I need
Let me be the one you come running to
I'll never be untrue

Let's, let's stay together
Lovin' you whether, whether
Times are good or bad, happy or sad

Whether times are good or bad, happy or sad

Why, why some people break up
Then turn around and make up
I just can't see
You'd never do that to me (would you, baby)
Staying around you is all I see
(Here's what I want us to do)

(repeat to fade):
Let's, we oughta stay together
Loving you whether, whether
Times are good or bad, happy or sad

Been a while since i've last posted a song lyric. This last one is among my secret favourites, so secret i only realized it today, after Winamp random-played Tokyo Ska Paradise's cover right after Al Green's original version. And i also realized the tune had constantly been in my head for the past week or so. Well, that, and Wes Montgomery's version of Satin Doll.
Anyway, at the moment this is only one of the two songs i know by Al Green (the other one is Simply Beautiful, which i discovered via Arto Lindsay's wonderful cover). So somebody remind me to download anything available by the man next time i open WinMX.

(Also, i have to see Pulp Fiction again sometime soon. Haven't seen it in something like a year)

Ubi Maior, Smaller Quits

Which is just an ounce of the wisdom that can be found on my friend Nervo's recently created blog. Which is in italian, not in latin american like this post's title.
Also, Nervo's an extremely skilled keyboard player and vocalist, and you can check one of his bands out at this site.

Do you want fries with that? US congressmen at their best. (Warning-pdf file)

Via Mark Evanier.

McKean, again

Dave McKean is the featured artist at apple.com.
But he *still* doesn't have an official site. blah.

Dalì's Car

Salvador Dali - Rainy Taxi (1938)

Which is the sculpture/installation that inspired one of the three instrumentals from Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica album.
The song's title? Well, Dalì's Car, of course!

Ok, i know i've been going on and on about this album throughout the months. But i can't do anything about it. I love it to the extent that this blog is named after a piece of text from one of its songs. That's my excuse.

A Foreign Sound - Caetano Veloso Update

Some news.
Over at Elektra Nonesuch's website, the tracklist to Caetano's long-awaited english-language cover album can finally be found.
Said tracklist brings some surprises.
First of all, we're treated with a whopping 22 songs. Many songs not mentioned in this post (which, let me boast about it again, was the first english-language news about the album made available online) are there, including the Talking Heads' (Nothing But) Flowers, Dylan's It's Alright Ma, which features Naçao Zumbi's Pupillo on drums, and -Hear, Hear!- a cover of DNA's song Detached. This i HAVE to hear. DNA, as you all should know, was Arto Lindsay, Ikue Mori and Tim Wright's late seventies/early eighties noise-punk trio. And the song itself only ever appeared on an obscure movie soundtrack.

Other surprises, albeit far less radical, are the inclusion of Stevie Wonder's If It's Magic and the song Jamaica Farewell, of which i'm particularly fond of Harry Belafonte's version. To the extent that i urge you all to go download it, now.


A Foreign Sound, Caetano's 35th album, will be released in march in brazil, worldwide in april.

comics blogs

Ever since The Comics Journal's Journalista! went into hiatus earlier this month, i've had few chances of finding interesting comics-related sites or articles. Today i came across This Comixpedia article about the so-called Comics Blogosphere, and didn't even manage to finish reading it due to the sheer amount of great links it contained. And then i started following the links' links, and started finding fascinating articles like this one about Asterix or this one about Art Spiegelman's next project. So it's been hard to start getting work done this morning.

gigs, here and there.

The 13th of march will be a busy day.
First of all, i will very, very probably be in Verona attending my first Eelst gig of 2004.
But more importantly, londoners will be thrilled to know that another reknowned milan-based band, intuassenza, will be playing at the 12 Bar Club, 22-23 Denmark Place London, which is just around the cornr of Denmark Street, where i bought my first harmonica oh-so-many years ago.
...
ok, they're not *that* famous. But i hope they will be, because one of my best friends is in the band. So guys: go there, grab the drummer as soon as their set's over, avoid the ghastly headliner, and get him utterly sloshed. Two beers and a half are usually enough. If you're lucky, he'll even throw up.

Oh, the guitarist's also a cool gay.
Guy. I meant to say "guy". Damn.

Animals! On the Underground!

For all those of you currently residing, or planning to move to London: Animals on the Underground. Really, really, really cool.

Furious favourites

Did you know?
King Sunny Ade loves Brook Benton. Robert Moog loves Zappa's The Grand Wazoo. Blixa Bargeld loves Pete Seeger. And almost everybody loves Trout Mask Replica.
Figures!

Source: Furious.com - interviewee's favorite music.
Also check out their Arto Lindsay Interview and their Captain Beefheart and Harry Smith retrospectives.

Overheard in Venice, yesterday:

"What? You missed the bus for the submarine?"
-Some guy screaming into a cellphone, somewhere between San Marco and Rialto.


Which offers me a great excuse to recommend inpassing.org, one of the best humorous blogs around. My personal minuscule claim to fame is that i was in the pool of voters who got it admitted to the Bloggie finalists...
(yeah, i know, big deal.)

Ok, am leaving for Venice in twenty minutes or so. If you're in town for the Carnival, keep your eyes open for a large anthropomorphic cat. Which is how i usually dress up anyway, so it's no big deal.

This did NOT surprise me.

You're Godel, Escher, Bach!

by Douglas Hofstadter

Despite being interested in things like mathematical theory and the
secret lives of numbers, you're actually quite popular. You carry on great dialogues,
though you keep asking people about their heel. When faced with a flight of stairs,
you always have great difficulty knowing where you'll end up, and have been known to
consult a calculator. Despite these oddities, what you say is relevant to the future.
Though the day Deep Blue beat Kasparov, you sure were surprised!


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

nice clip

If you go to this page and scroll down a bit, you can watch the nice clip of Almamegretta's cover of the Robert Wyatt song, re-born again cretin.

Found this out by following the link at the end of Cristina Donà's beautiful Goccia clip, also featuring Mr. Wyatt. I recommend listening to anything by either of the two.