Hi-Fi Rediscovered

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted on Ribbie’s weblog – a couple of years I think. And it’s been a long time since I’ve obsessed over stereo equipment. Back in the late 70’s, my dad purchased a hi-fi system for the house. As I recall, it was a JVC receiver with an 10-band equalizer and a turntable with a pair of Polk Audio speakers – I think they were the Monitor 10’s we bought from Kirk out at Project One Stereo in Little Rock. Wonder if that place is still around? Those speakers sounded heavenly playing the music of Jeff Beck, Carlos Santana, Genesis, Jimi Hendrix, The Pretenders, The Rolling Stones, Yes, King Crimson, and the B-52s. My dear dad gifted me the speakers as a high school graduation present, so to speak knowing how attached I had become to them. At some point, probably around the second semester to my freshman year, a buddy of mine from high school who was one of my college roommates for a semester made some speaker stands for the celestial Polks which helped to dial them in by getting the tweeter closer to ear level in a near field listening situation, and they never sounded better. By that time, I had been bitten by the hi-fi bug.

After college, those speakers moved with me to Boston, but I eventually parted with them and my entire album collection. That’s another story. When my wife and I bought our house, one of the first things we purchased was another pair of Polks that I got for about $50 bucks, and we added a Polk subwoofer, a Sony receiver and CD/DVD player. The receiver bit the dust after a few years unexpectedly (an ill-advised, non-returnable open box deal) and we replaced it with a Harmon Kardon 3385 stereo receiver. Later, I ditched the subwoofer because it took up too much space, and I’m not a boomy bass guy, nor is my cat. I next acquired a bluetooth Technics turntable and began buying thrift shop records to re-experience the joys of pure analogue sound. We had this set up for a good decade, and when streaming music became more popular and accessible, I added a bluetooth adapter to the HK and began listening to Spotify and my digital music but wasn’t quite satisfied with the quality of the sound and then…

…I began listening to the cheapaudioman over on YouTube. The host, Randy, does reviews of and recommendations for affordable hi-fi equipment and it got me thinking that I should upgrade our system a little bit. While I don’t consider myself cheap, I do believe in bargain shopping. The first thing I purchased to enhance the listening experience was another pair of speakers, the Neumi BS5 for about 100 bucks. They sound terrific – not appreciably different than the Polk R150’s that I already had, but with a slightly better soundstage and good bass response after plugging up the front ports with socks and pushing them back against a wall. For a time, I had them both hooked up to the HK 3385 but didn’t think they sounded good together due in part, I’m guessing to the fact that they have different OHM and sensitivity ratings. Not satisfied with the old HK Bluetooth adapter, I bought a Dento BLT-HD receiver that with the latest BT codecs and a good digital analogue converter (DAC). It can deliver high resolution streams from Spotify Premium. Next, I purchased a bluetooth class D Amp – the Fosi BT10A. My idea was to relocate the Neumi’s to my home office and power them with the little but powerful mini-amp and stream music to them from my iPad. So impressed by these little amps, I bought another for the basement family room and purchased another pair of speakers, the mighty and affordable Micca PB42X. They have a small footprint but big clean sound. However, after a few months, and further research, I discovered that WiFi streams are better sounding than Bluetooth in that the files are less compressed – lossless vs. lossy. Committed to the highest quality stream given my budget constraints, I bought a WiiM mini streamer with a built-in DAC. I plugged this into the Fosi BTA10A, bypassing the bluetooth signal and hooked up the old Polks to began streaming Spotify to get that hi-fi sound I’d always wanted. But wait.

Backing up a bit. Before I began listening to streams on the stereo, I had upgraded my old Sony CD/DVD player to a Denon 600NE. By that time, I had retired the Polks and the Sony CD/DVD player and just had the Neumi’s hooked up to the HK 3385 to play CDs only. It wasn’t until I bought another Class D mini-amp, the Fosi TB10D with 300W per channel capability, for $60 US, that I decided to switch things up.

I bought another pair of speakers. I know, it sounds like overkill, but the deal was one I could not ignore. I got a pair of Polk Audio TSi100 speakers for 100 bucks. 100 bucks! They were once selling for $250 or so. They are old new stock speakers. I think these came out around 2009. And they are killer. I bought a stand for them but had to velcro them in place because one of the speakers upon initial setup slid off the stand and crashed to the floor breaking one of the mounts for the speaker cover. The speaker was not otherwise damaged in any way, thankfully. I attached these speakers with banana plugs to the powerful Fosi TB10D. It doesn’t have bluetooth but has RCA inputs for the CD player. Now, I have this setup as my dedicated system for playing CDs, (see first photo) and have the WiiM hooked up to the Fosi BT10A for streaming, powering the resurrected Polk R150’s that sit inside the bookshelves (not shown) that flank the TSi100s. I relocated the HK integrated receiver to my office and brought up the Neumi’s, the old Sony CD/DVD player, and the technics turntable and plugged in the Blue Dento Bluetooth receiver for Spotify streams from my iPad. In this small space, the Neumi’s fill the room with warm sound. See photo below:

Bottom line: I upgraded my stereo system to accommodate digital streaming and in the process built three systems for the house – one for my office, one for the living room, and another for the family room, all for under US $1,200, $400 per system. I want to buy another pair of speakers, the ELAC BS41 but will wait for them to go on sale. They retail for about $150, but they can go for as low as $68 a pair. No, I don’t need them, but I’ve got the hi-fi bug and my fever has not yet lifted.

Trump’s Ship of Fools

The Grateful Dead were never very political although they did a lot of fund raisers and seemed to have a social conscience, a sort of spirit that goes against all that Trump stands for.  Whereas, the Dead always had a wall of sound so that everyone could hear the music, Trump has always wanted to build a wall to keep people out.  The Grateful Dead were always about bringing people together, never alienating or walling out.  So it is in this spirit that I propose to describe the Trump years with Grateful Dead songs.

Looks Like Rain (1972)

Despite the fact that it did rain at his inauguration, Trump declared that the sun was actually shining in what can only be described as a “Sunshine Daydream” (coda from Sugar Magnolia 1970)

Ship of Fools (1974)

It’s a cautionary tale to Republicans who have cast their lot with the devil in a soul destroying Faustian bargain.

Dark Star (1968)

The Republicans appear to be navigating by the Dark Star that may just steer the ship of fools into a giant rock.

Not Fade Away (1957 – Buddy Holly and the Crickets; first played by the Dead in 1968)

Trump may believe that he is above the law but the impeachment stain will not fade away.

Loser (1971 – Garcia/Hunter)

Not only did Trump not win the popular vote in 2016 even with Russian assistance, he lost control of the House in the 2018 midterms.  And 7 of Trump’s associates have been convicted of crimes and have either already served time, are currently in prison or awaiting sentencing.

Mexicali Blues (1971)

Trump is singing the Mexicali blues because he can’t get the wall built, and he couldn’t get Mexico to pay for it, or anyone else for that matter.

Going Down the Road Feeling Bad (arr. 1971 – Traditional, 1924 )

Trump says he doesn’t feel like he’s been impeached but you know that he is going down the road feeling bad, as suggested by the all-caps Twitter tirades and that 6 page rant of a letter to Nancy Pelosi.

 

 

Looking on the Bright Side of Life

Photo from Key West by Ribbie

from the political desk of Ribbie’s Weblog. 

Kavanaugh will be seated on the Supreme Court, but he may be unseated if the Democrats win the House and do a proper investigation into his background, following up on leads that Trump instructed the FBI not to explore.

Bright Size Life is one of my favorite records, released at the end of 1975, around the time John Paul Stevens was appointed by President Ford and confirmed by the Senate to serve on the Supreme Court.  He was thought to be conservative but mostly voted with the liberal block on key issues.

Jobim’s classic Wave, one of the greatest records of all time, was recorded in 1967.  And 51 years later, in just a few months, an unstoppable Blue Wave is coming.

The Senate may not turn blue, but it could happen.  Elections matter. All the Dems up for reelection need to keep their seats – if you live in FL, IN, MN, MO, MT, ND, NJ, OH, WI, WV, CA, CT, DE, HI, MA, MD, MI, NM, NY, PA, RI, VA, WA, VT, and especially in the highlighted states, be sure to vote and vote for the incumbent Democrat.  The Dems must maintain all these seats and gain two Republican seats.  Ok, so if you live in AZ, NV, TN and TX, vote Dem. I urge my friends and family who live in TX to please vote against Ted Cruz. And any other Texans out there who might be reading this, I ask you do the same.

I had to lol when the former Iowa farmer Chuck Grassley used the French term resistance, likening the Dems and those who oppose Kavanaugh to the Jacobins during the French Revolution. It was the most radical thing the frightened Republicans could think of to smear the opposition. My educated guess is the reference was not understood by most, and instead simply appealed to rabid Trumpists on a pure xenophobic level.

It should come as some comfort to know that Trump is one of the least popular presidents in modern history some 624 days in – less popular than Obama, the Bushes, Clinton, Carter, Ford, Kennedy, Eisenhower, and even Nixon. Trump, it’s not too late to resign.

Final thought:

The Blues could win the Senate

and the Red Sox

the Pennant.

 

 

 

Review of Deep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History of the Mississippi Delta

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/269359.Deep_Blues

Beethoven No. 6 “Pastoral” Reviews

Beethoven completed Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 (“Pastoral”) in 1808 writing most of it during the spring and summer, no doubt inspired by the countryside in his beloved Vienna.  It is one of my favorite works by the composer. To honor the spirit of this symphony on this fine spring day some 200 years after its first performance, I thought I would put together a list of recordings of the 6^th that are of merit along with notes on the performances, recordings, and pricing.  As a bonus, I am also recommending a handful of Beethoven Symphony cycles that can be purchased at bargain basement prices for the budget minded listener.

Let me say at the outset that I purchased almost all of the recordings I reference as MP3 downloads through Amazon, not iTunes. That is to say that you might not find all of the music or the same prices on iTunes. For the “record”, I do have an iPhone and cannot purchase digital files from Amazon on it, although with an app, I believe it is possible.  I did, however, create a wish list of albums to buy and then accessed the wish list on my PC laptop and purchased the titles on Amazon. You see, I am a Windows guy mostly and until very recently had never used an Apple anything of any kind.

After carefully listening to 7 complete Beethoven Symphony cycles from the ’50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, and the ‘00s, AND comparing movements of No. 6 from 9 different recordings back to back; AND after reading countless on-line reviews of what critics and devoted listeners have said about them, here are my opinions and recommendations.

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 (Pastoral)

The following are listed in descending  order of preference:

9 Blomstedt – Staatskapelle Dresden $8.99 (1975-1980)

The Dresden State Orchestra under Blomstedt plays flawlessly but it is too bad the quality of the recording from Berlin Classics is not of the highest standards.  The sound is murky and muddled when the strings unite and the full orchestra blends.  The soloists seem to be playing muted instruments at times as if banished to the penalty box, to borrow a hockey phrase.  The pace throughout is fairly even bordering on monotony and on the slow side, similar to Bohm and Szell.  Beethoven seems to be walking with a cane taking care not to stumble on the rocks all around.  The storm in the 4th movement is somewhat agitating and reminds me of rolling through a tortuous car wash with the windows down.

8 Leibowitz – Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) $2.69 (1961)

Leibowitz leads the RPO on a fast-paced romp through nature.  His tempi are nearly as brisk as the versions conducted by Krivine and Toscanini.  The storm is a cyclonic burst that sounds artificial, almost comical or melodramatic, but fun I must confess.  Like the Blomstedt recording, the orchestral soundscape here suffers from a lack of clarity at key moments.  I have not heard the original 1961 pressing from Reader’s Digest from which these have been re-issued on The Genius of Beethoven: 100  Classical Masterpieces, but the sound here is slightly distant.  However, considering that you get all 9 symphonies from a widely acclaimed set plus many other Beethoven classics for $2.69, what are you waiting for?

7 Morris – London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) .99 (1987)

Morris commands the orchestra confidently.  The pacing seems on the brisk side in all the movements as if Beethoven were on a 45-minute power walk.  The violins have a tinny, razor-like sound.  This shrillness adds a rough edge to the performance that gives it character and spirit.  However, the recording lacks the richness of sound that I prefer,  rather like skim milk in coffee – it helps to cut the bitterness, but not enough to smooth it out.  Movement No. IV is positively terrifying.  Here, Beethoven takes cover from violent lightening strikes, and tornadic winds emerging with a disheveled look but otherwise undeterred.

6 Boult – Philharmonic Promenade Orchestra of London .99 (1957)

The Boult performance of the No. 6 found on The Beethoven Big Box has grown on me after repeated listens.  The pacing is uneven and the dynamics give the piece an odd level of excitement.  The British Boult evokes a startled Beethoven who might have encountered a bear or lost his way in Epping forest, pausing periodically to check his compass.

5 Tennstedt London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) 9.49 (1984)

The LPO under maestro Tennstedt deliver a solid performance of the “Pastoral.”  Coupled with excellent sonics in a package that also includes Symphonies 3, and 8 plus the Overtures,  this is a desirable recording.  One caveat is that the storm in movement IV of the 6th is a letdown, frankly, with only a few thunderous timpani strikes. I would characterize it as a dreamy thunderstorm that produced a torrential downpour for a few seconds after which a dazed Beethoven wakes up to ask what just happened.

4 Toscanini – NBC Symphony Orchestra $29.99 (1952)

I bought the renowned ’50’s Beethoven cycle on used vinyl for $1 at a Public Library book sale in Warner, New Hampshire some 10 years or so ago.  The vinyl was in “decent” condition so to preserve it, I converted the records to MP3 files.  The sound is pretty rough because of all the pops, scratches, and skips, not to mention the original lackluster mono RCA recording.  It’s hard to get past the limitations of the recording, but if one can, the rewards are the glorious historical performances of the NBC Symphony Orchestra passionately guided and inspired by one of the greatest conductors of all time.

3 Szell – The Cleveland Orchestra $6.99 (’60s)

Szell’s version of No. 6 is almost as good as Bohm’s.  Perhaps his tempi are a bit slower and somewhat plodding and mechanical like a fine tuned march at times, but the Cleveland Orchestra play magnificently throughout.  The instruments are not as present in the soundscape as in the DG recording of Bohm and the VPO, but the sonics are clean and silky. If you want to calm your nerves, Szell may be all the medicine you need.  Even the 4th Movement is serene, never menacing, just a quick and proper no-frills thunderstorm.  At $6.99 U.S. for all 9 Symphonies, brilliantly played, this is the bargain box of the century.  One caution, as some reviewers have pointed out, the 9th is alleged to be a hybrid – starting off with Szell and ending with another conductor and choir.  I haven’t verified this yet, but even if true, it should be no reason to shy away from the set.  The complete Beethoven cycle of Szell on Sony with the full 9th, would run you $30 U.S.  Is the 9th worth 23 bucks?

2 Krivine – Le Chambre Philarmonique $11.97 (2009)

If you like period instruments, this recording is the one for you.  The tempi are faster than most, making one wonder whether they were speeded up as a result of a recording glitch; actually, the brisk pace feels quite natural.  The sound is crisp and clean.  The storm in Movement IV sounds like a twister rolling through the countryside uprooting trees and bushes in its path before petering out.  This bargain price collection of the 9 symphonies was recorded live in 2009 making it the newest and freshest among the group surveyed and highly recommended.

1 Bohm – Wiener Philharmoniker (VPO) $9.49 (1971)

This one is the gold standard. I should point out that I already had the CD in my collection, so I did my own rip.  I wanted to hear the MP3 format so that I could fairly compare the recording with the other selections reviewed, all or most of which I ONLY own digitally. Bohm’s interpretation feels the most realistic. Nothing is rushed or forced. The tempos just seem right.  The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (VPO) sounds passionate, yet controlled. The instruments blend beautifully and shine when individually highlighted. The sound quality of the recording is simply outstanding.  At 9.49 for the digital download, it is not the best bargain among the group reviewed, but it IS the one you want if you only could have one recording of No. 6.

 

Top 10 Albums as a Teen

A tribute to Jobim in the Rio Botanical Gardens. His LP Wave is one of my all-time top 10. 

If you are on Facebook, as I assume most of you are, you may have seen this challenge circulating among your network of friends.  I almost posted a list myself but would have felt the need to explain my choices and in doing so would have violated the spirit of the challenge. So I’m sort of doing an end around the rules and sharing a lengthy blog post with commentary on each of my selections. So here goes and in no particular order and ALL from my high school days. I should note that my tastes have changed or expanded since high school but I still love these albums.

Again, in no particular order with some honorable mentions thrown in at the end AND no repeating artists.

1. Jeff Beck – Blow by Blow (1975). My big sister turned me on to this album when I was probably 12, and I played it endlessly for a number of years thereafter.  “Diamond Dust” and “‘Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers” are sublime tunes.  It is a guitar masterpiece and perhaps Jeff Beck’s greatest achievement.
2.  Jimi Hendrix – Are You Experienced (1967).  Well, I thought of myself as experienced as a teen but little did I know what the real world would be like away from my comfort zone of home. There was nothing like him then and nothing like him now although many bands were influenced by his other-worldly sound including the Beatles who owe him a huge debt.
3. David Gilmour – David Gilmour (1978).  This was his self-titled solo debut and what a debut.  I loved Pink Floyd then and still do, but I spun this one on my turntable more than I did The Dark Side of the Moon, which was actually the only Floyd I owned until college, although I had heard and liked many of the others including Ummagumma with its mind-altering properties that simultaneously fascinated me and freaked me out.
4. The Beatles – The White Album. (1968). It is not my favorite Beatles’ record which would have to go to Revolver, but it was the only one I owned as a teen. It does have some great tunes – “Dear Prudence”, “Blackbird”, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, and is arguably one of the top 5 Beatles records of all-time. See my list of the Top 7 Beatles’ here.
5. The Rolling Stones – Get Your Ya-Yas Out (1970). I had several other superb Stones records as a teenager, including Their Satanic Majesties Request, Goats Head Soup, and Tatoo You, but the one that stood out and that I played more than the others was the Ya-Yas record. This live album was like being in the crowd and featured some of the greatest tunes from their catalog like “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Sympathy for the Devil.”
6. Genesis – The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974). I lived in a town with radio stations that never played older Genesis records, so I didn’t even become aware of the band until I heard “Follow You, Follow Me” on the radio from And Then There Were Three (1978). Over the course of my teen years, I bought every Genesis record available.  And while I loved and still love Wind and Wuthering, Seconds Out and Foxtrot, The Lamb is their masterpiece and perhaps the greatest art rock piece that was ever written and incidentally the last studio Genesis record on which the great Peter Gabriel appeared.
7. Joni Mitchell – The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975). My dad owned Court and Spark (1974) which I liked a lot and so when Hissing was released, I bought it.  This beautifully written and recorded album has stood the test of time.
8. Stevie Wonder – Innervisions (1973).  This was the second album I ever bought, and one of the best too.  At the time, I was too young to understand the social significance of the album with its comments on the evils of racism in songs like “Living for the City”. I did feel something of Stevie’s soul on the record and it moved me like no other music. Almost every song on the album is a masterpiece which ranks it, in my opinion, as one of the best albums ever recorded.
9. John McLaughlin – Electric Guitarist (1978). By this time, I had become interested in jazz-rock and latin fusion and was attracted to Santana’s music. I remember buying a copy of Guitar Player magazine with McLaughlin on the cover. I had never heard of McLaughlin but was fascinated by the cover article describing him as the world’s fastest guitarist. So I ran down to the local record store and bought Electric Guitarist, which featured a duet with Carlos Santana on the tune “Friendship.” This underrated record is a seminal example of fusion.
10. Steely Dan –  Aja (1977). This band surfaced on my radar with their smash hit, “Do It Again” from Can’t Buy a Thrill (1972). I would have been about 13 when Aja was released and remember hearing “Peg” on the radio. I bought the album just for “Peg” only to discover that all the other tunes on it were better. This is another slickly produced and beautifully sounding record that was never far from my turntable.

Honorable mentions:

• Todd Rundgren –Todd (1974)
• Supertramp – Even in the Quietest Moments (1977)
• Earth Wind and Fire – That’s The Way of the World (1974)
• Crosby Stills Nash and Young –Deja Vu (1970)
• Fleetwood Mac – Bare Trees (1972)
• Elton John – Rock of the Westies (1975) the first album I ever bought.
• Yes – Yessongs (1973)
• The Who – Live at Leads (1973)
• Nick Drake – Five Leaves Left (1969)
• Heart – Dog and Butterfly (1978)
• Ronnie Montrose – Open Fire (1978)

You might be interested in some of my related posts from the past…or not.

6 Songs of my life

Yes, Boston 2012

Fleetwood Mac’s Bare Trees

Records of my life

Derek Trucks Band

Wine and Coltrane

Accidental Music

Top 7 Beatles Album

7.  Let It Be (1970)

It’s a strange one with some live recordings that sounds fresh but not very cohesive. It has a few big hits including Let It Be, The  Long and Winding Road and Get Back.

6.  Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

Some great tunes along with some not so great ones.  The great ones, of course, are some of their best like Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Getting Better, and With A Little Help From My Friends.

5. The White Album (1968)

The first Beatles album I ever purchased with money from my paper route.  I tell you this, the song Revolution 9 scared the hell out of me and still does.  Notable tunes include, Back in the  USSR, Dear Prudence, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Blackbird, Julia, & Revolution 1.

4. Magical Mystery Tour (1967)

The Fool On The Hill is one of my favorite Beatles tunes.  Penny Lane, Strawberry FieldsForever, and All You Need Is Love are strong contenders for my all time favorites.  And all in one package.  Amazing.

3.  Abbey Road (1969)

Here Comes The Sun and the Sun King are sublime tunes.  Come Together and Something are something too.  This album doesn’t contain hit after hit, but the great songs present are great and the album is one of the most cohesive of the lot.

2.  Rubber Soul (1965)

A bit of a sleeper on the lists, not usually ranked as high as two, but for me, it is probably the most interesting one of all.  The tracks are mostly chill but the band seems to be exploring new concepts and this keeps my attention throughout. Norwegian Wood, Michelle, In My Life, You Won’t See Me, Nowhere Man, and Girl are highlights.

1.  Revolver (1966)

After the impressive Rubber Soul, it is no surprise to me that Revolver finds the Beatles really hitting their stride.  There are no bad songs on this album and some little-known ones that are strange and entertaining like Doctor Robert.  The hits on this one remain some of their greatest tunes of all time: Taxman, Elenor Rigby, She Said She Said, Good Day Sunshine, and Got To Get You Into My Life.

Ibeyi: Soon To Be Superstars

Theatre District, Boston

Ibeyi means twins in Yoruba and is the name of a twin sister band who trace their roots to Nigeria and Benin through their father, the late great Cuban percussionist who played with Irakere and was best known for work with the Buena Vista Social Club.  The Diaz twins, Naomi and Lisa-Kainde, were born in Paris and spent some formative years in Cuba. They recently launched their music careers with their self-titled debut album. I was fortunate enough to catch their act in Boston, the second to last stop on their first world tour.  A mix of Afro-Cuban fused pop, European electronica and a unique blend all their own, Ibeyi brought down the house last night.

The house where the twins performed happened to be the Royale in Boston, a tiny club that seats or stands less than 1,000 people in the heart of Boston’s Theater District.  Ibeyi sports a sparse stage setup included an Akai synthesizer atop a Roland 700 digital piano for keyboardist Noami and an electronic drum machine, a cajon, a sort of drum box that is sat on and played, and a set of bata drums for percussionist Lisa-Kainde. A video screen hung in the background to project abstract black and white videos of urban scenes to accompany each song.

There was a spacious bar in the back, a small dance floor in the middle in front of the stage where most of the crowd packed and balcony seating all around for those who preferred to chill in the distance. The venue did not appear to be at maximum capacity, but the crowd, mostly Gen. X’ers and Millennials, was nonetheless enthusiastic and welcoming. I attended with my daughter, a recent college graduate, who is a big fan of Ibeyi. I was one of the oldest in the crowd, no doubt.  One funny aside, as the concert was held in the Theatre Distict, and we were running a little late getting there, we hurriedly walked up to get in line with a group of patrons who looked much older than we would have expected for an Ibeyi concert. I asked the ticket taker what band was playing and to my amusement, he said “Kraftwerk”.   We were at the wrong theater and I could not help but laugh at the thought of Mike Meyer’s SNL “Sprockets” routine. Fortunately, Ibeyi was playing right across the street and we got there just a few minutes before they walked on stage. And even though I had never heard Ibeyi’s music before, I liked their sound instantly, something I could never say about Kraftwerk.

It is hard to describe Ibeyi’s music and I am probably not doing them justice, but I can say that they harmonized, vocalized, memorialized with tributes to their late sister and father, and mesmerized with captivating beats, melodies and rhythms.  It was the kind of music that makes you move and sway but also takes you by surprise, especially the percussion work. The tunes were emotional, yet upbeat with a spirit that brought smiles to all in the crowd.  It was a night I won’t soon forget.  And I am betting that as their sound reaches more ears, their popularity will increase.  I predict stardom in the twins’ future!

Here’s their setlist from the Boston concert that I found on setlist.fm. Do yourself a favor and go have a listen!

50 or Something

You know you are 50 when:

You get the membership invitation to the AARP.  Funny acronym, the AARP, it’s like something a dog would say – “aarp, aarp” or a seal maybe, and it also looks and sounds  like the word harp, which is mentioned numerous times in the bible and certainly connects to aging and death.

Psalms 108:2

Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. (NIV) Awake psaltery and harpe: I my selfe will awake early. (KJV (1611))

I rather prefer the King James version which may have been the first recorded instance of the world selfie.  That aside, and even though the context here is giving praise to God, the fact is that King David, the author of this particular passage, references the act of getting up early, which is something I can’t help but do each morning.  5:15 a.m. on weekdays and 6:00 a.m. on weekends, without fail, my internal alarm strums softly not unlike the harp, or the smaller psaltery, two stringed instruments I do not own.  When I was younger, I could sleep the whole day away in a state of hibernation, but in my advanced age, I’m lucky if I get 6 hours.

And speaking of harps, there is this nugget:

Revelation 14:2

And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps.

This is what it’s like when I have to get up earlier than 5:00 a.m. and my alarm goes off. Although when I can’t find the alarm, it’s as if the harpers are thunderously harping on their harpes.

Uruguay and the U.S.

You may have never considered the connection between Uruguay and the U.S. before or maybe I’m wrong and it’s all you think about.  The smartypants would say, “I know, both countries start with a U.” True, and a good connection, I’ll give you that.  Anything else?  Another wiseguy might say, “they speak Spanish and so do people in the U.S.”  And that would be true, although the brand of Spanish you hear in the States is nothing at all like what you hear on the streets of Montevideo.  As to other connections, if you’ve been following the news a little bit, you’d know that President Obama negotiated a deal with President Mujica of Uruguay to resettle 6 prisoners released from Guantanamo Bay.  And do you know why the Uruguayans agreed to resettle them?  One of the reasons is that President Mujica was once a political prisoner and felt an obligation to provide humanitarian assistance to the men.  Granting the prisoners refugee status, they are free in Uruguay to do what they please, even leave the country if they so wish. And though they seem grateful to be there, there are very few immigrants from Arabic speaking countries living in Uruguay – one estimate put the number at 300 –  and the country has no mosques.  The cultural transition may be difficult for the men, but the people of Uruguay on the balance seem to welcome their presence.

Now we don’t know the terms of the deal.  It is not known if the Uruguayans received anything in return for accepting the detainees or whether they would agree to resettle some of the other prisoners still left at Guantanamo Bay in the future. But if I were on the negotiating team for Uruguay, I would ask for two things, no three in exchange for cooperation.  1) Clean buses.  Buses spewing dirty diesel are everywhere.  The boulevards of the downtown area are caked in soot and the air is anything but bueno despite the fact that Buenos Aires is a short distance from Montevideo.  2) Better Internet for the people.  Did you know that Uruguayans have free Internet?  Sounds good, right? But there’s a catch.  It’s just 2GB of data a month.  That’s like a few google searches, browsing a couple of websites, 2 YouTube videos, 1 minute on Facebook, 10 photos uploaded and 5 minutes of a Netflix movie.  I know, I’ve been there.  3) Most Favored Wine Nation status.  Did you know that Uruguay produces some of the most interesting wines in the world grown from the tannant grape, indigenous to the country? The stuff is absolutely sublimely delicious and not easily found in the States.  Do try a bottle if you have the chance.

One last connection.  I didn’t know this until recently, but one of America’s greatest composers, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, who I would venture that most Americans have never heard of, grew up in New Orleans, moved to Paris, came back to the U.S., traveled extensively abroad, relocated to South America under very strange circumstances, and died in Rio. His Symphony #2 is dedicated to the great city of Montevideo.