Street Performers

Laury's posts about accordeonistes the past two days over at Soar-Dream-France reminded me of this group that I photographed in 2007 on Place des Vosges.  Reading about Laury's encounters with street performers brought to mind my first introduction to this very Parisian phenomenon. The year was 2005; names have been changed to protect the innocent...

The four of us spent a couple of days exploring Paris together. Every time we'd come upon musicians performing on the street or in the Metro, Chuck would stop to listen...sometimes for two or three songs. Barbara, his partner, would fume and fuss. "Come on, Chuck, let's go!" as she tugged on his sleeve. Marie and I would comfort her.."It's okay, really, we're in no hurry." Chuck always tossed a few coins into the cup or basket or open guitar case. Barbara would rag on that, too. "Why do you waste time listening and then waste money?" Chuck's answer: because I enjoy the music, I'm not in that big a hurry, and they work really hard. Showing my appreciation is the right thing to do." Amen to that! Much as I love Barbara (and Chuck not so much!) on this he and I agree. The music is always wonderful, I never want to be in such a big hurry that I miss any of what Paris has to offer, and those musicians and performers work really hard. I follow Chuck's lead...I always stop, I always applaud, and I always throw some coins their way. Heck, I've even been known to buy a CD!

Lunch with Isabelle

I had lunch with my friend, Isabelle on Saturday. We met about a block from the Porte St. Denis, shown here. Duh...I never even thought to get a photo of Isabelle or the beautiful restaurant where we ate. I can show you the Julien here, but alas, no photo of Isabelle...guess I'll just have to make another trip to Paris, huh? Lunch was yummy, the ambiance of the restaurant felt very Parisian. The neighborhood around the Porte was very lively...full of ethnic peoples and markets. After lunch Isabelle took me on a tour of 'passages' narrow covered streets lined with wonderful shops.

These passages are not particularly easy to find. Even Isabelle had to break open her map book once to make sure we were headed the right way.

We discovered shops for toys, old books, art, miniatures, canes, pipes...anything you can think of...as well as restaurants, chocolate shops, and wine shops.

We ended our tour of passages at the Palais Royale where there was a long line snaking around the courtyard. It was 'patrimony weekend' when many of the buildings in Paris are open free to public admission, Many people were taking advantage of this special weekend to view buildings not usually open for touring. Outside the Palais grounds we came upon one of my favorite Paris sights...street musicians. Isabelle told me that not only do these performing groups need special permits to be able to perform on the street, but that they also have to audition before being allowed to do this. This group of string musicians was playing lovely classical music.

Paris to Cuba

It's no secret that I love Paris. I also love Parisian music...bistro and cafe music, tunes of the bal musettes, accordian music, Django Reinhardt jazz. In fact, I've got a Parisian music CD playing right now. I also have a secret fascination with Cuba...bet you didn't know that! I think it all began with the Cuban missile crisis. That's about the first real piece of news that I remember from growing up. What is this place called Cuba that is suddenly such a big threat to us? I was intrigued by the whole Castro/General Batista/Che Guevara thing. They all seemed like 'bad boys' and bad boys were so much more interesting than the boys I knew! And then in the late 1990's I met my favorite Cuban, the cardiologist I worked for in Boulder. A superb physician, an outstanding human being...Cuba surfaced again in my life. When I saw this CD advertised on Kristin's blog, I knew I had to have it. It came in yesterday's mail and I'm not disappointed. Parisian jazz flavored with the spice of Cuba...some trumpets, a marimba. I'm dreaming of Paris and the Seine and hot Havana nights.

If you click thru at 'Parisian jazz...' you can listen to each track on the CD. While I love them all, I'd suggest you try #1 and #9 to start. Enjoy!

Tous les Matins du Monde

Don't let the cover fool you...this movie, Tous les Matins du Monde, is not a movie filled with steamy sex. Rather it's a film filled with divine Baroque music. The title translates as "All the mornings of the world," and in the novel by Pascal Quignard, the entire quote is "All the mornings of the world leave without ever returning." Or more simply "Each day dawns but once." It's the fictional story of composer Sainte Colombe and his student, Marin Marais. While both men are real, little is known for certain about their relationship as teacher/student. However, the author has created a plausible story that entwines the lives of the men with Sainte Colombe's daughters. There are some brief R-rated moments, but overall the film is about music...beautiful music...and the creative process. I first learned of the composer in an e-newsletter I receive daily called "Composer's Datebook." I heard some snippets of Sainte Colombe's music and was intrigued. Clicking onto the accompanying links brought me to more music, his instrument, the viola de gamba, and this movie. I blogged last year about the viola de gamba, an instrument I'd never heard of, and knew I had to see this film. I wasn't disappointed by its slow, meditative, music-filled story. I recommend ift for anyone who enjoys foreign films with English subtitles, movies that can tell a story without gratuitous sex and violence, and movies filled with gorgeous music.

Late Night Song Fest

I took this video of Jim on my first night in Reno. We had exhausted both the repetoire of songs we knew the lyrics to and a bottle of wine when Jim began to play a song he composed, hauntingly Spanish and very beautiful. I wish I could have published the entire song but it was too big a file for Blogger to handle. Damn, I wish I could make music like this! Jim is self-taught which makes his talent even more amazing. We had a wonderful visit which was over all too soon. I flew home last night arriving between storms around 11:30pm. It's early to bed for me tonight!

Erik Satie

"The Writer's Almanac" appears in my email inbox early every morning. I love to listen to Garrison Keillor recite poetry and read tidbits of literary, musical and cultural history every day. Today's edition contained this: "It's the birthday of composer Erik Satie...." I'm immediately transported back to March 2006. I'm enjoying the last full day of my solo trip to Paris. A light dusting of snow lingered in Montmarte, but the morning skies were brilliant blue as I wandered the streets beyond the Sacre Coeur. My destination was the Musee de Montmarte where I hoped to find more information about my favorite painter, Modigliani. That hope was not realised, but I did discover Erik Satie at the museum which at one time was his home. The portrait shown here was painted by Suzanne Valadon, his lover, and an artist in her own right. She was the mother of Maurice Urtillo; she and Satie were part of the cadre of bohemian artists that included Picasso, Andre Derain, Georges Braque, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Edgar Degas. Satie considered himself a child who ..."came into the world very young in an age that was very old." His music was radically different from that of this 'old age.' As I wandered the museum, it played in the backgound, and I was haunted by its beauty. When I returned home, I bought a collection of 4 CD's to remind me of my serendipitous discovery of this complicated composer on that brisk and beautiful snow-dusted Paris morning. Let me share it with you...click here and enjoy.