Champion in the Arena: A Tribute to Jackie Mittoo

The Nufunk Festival is on now and tonight there is a funkalicious event/gig in tribute to Jackie Mittoo, "an integral part of the Skatalites and the whole creation of rock steady".

Read more about Mittoo in this article in the Jamaica Observer. More about the gig here on BlogTO.com.

Update #1: More about Mittoo and the Jamaica to Toronto phenom on this Yahoo blog here - with MP3s!

Update #2: Light in the Attic Records is where to find all this great music. MP3s available here too.

That's where I'll be tonight. You come too.

Thanks to my ultra-hip friends who keep me aware of stuff like this. You are welcome to guest-blog your ultra-hip activities any time!

I'll be out tonight, but the premises will still be guarded by the ATTACK CAT.

Misc Pcs

Isaac Mizrahi has a great site worth exploring. He's got webisodes (Watch Isaac), several blogs (including a video blog), and lots of links to his collections, inspirations, etc. He's just designed a very cute collection for Liz Claiborne too.
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Who is the young woman in the new Oasis video, Falling Down? (That's a link to the NY Mag embedded video. You can go to Myspace to see it, too.) She's fab. Looks a little like a blue-eyed Jewish Penelope Cruz at certain angles. Anyhow, I'd be surprised if her career didn't pick up after this - though she may already be famous in England, for all I know.
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Really, it's too risky for celebs to sing live?! I find this incredibly insulting to both performers and audiences. First of all, if I had the God-given talent to sing, I'd be much more afraid to screw up the lipsynching than to actually sing. Seems like you're adding on a whole unnecessary skill-set with lipsynching, no? I just don't understand why this has become acceptable practice. If the audience is willing to listen and then applaud your performance, shouldn't you give them something to legitimately applaud? It defeats the whole point of a performance and insults every performing artist who has gone before you on their own talent. Arrrgh.

Childhood Fears

When we moved to Canada, I was in short order introduced to many new and strange and often wonderful things that I had not had as a pre-schooler in Israel. While I never felt that I lacked anything as a child, there were things my friends had that differed from what I had at home. New to me were the Easy-Bake Oven, boxes overflowing with Barbie clothes, an entire shelf of only Dr. Seuss books with matching book-ends, and lastly, the item that will continue to haunt me in my declining years, a Mini Pops record.

For those of you blissfully unaware of the words "Mini Pop" till now, Zoe Hart, a former Mini-Popper herself, explains the Mini Pops.

I don't know if we had the actual show here in Canada, but I do remember terrifying commercials for the records. A childhood friend had one of these records and I remember my discomfort listening to songs like this mutilated Abba Medley. Supe-per-Troop-pe-per. I think that's the exact record my friend had too. I wonder if that records explains my deep loathing for medleys.

Medleys are like Jell-O salads, aren't they? A bunch of things that are decent on their own, but really awful when forced together (i.e. lime jello, berries, cream, marshmallows).

Anyhow, if you hate child pageants, lipstick on underage girls, and songs by Alvin and the Chipmunks, Mini Pops will give you nightmares too. (That's why I thought the whole VF-Miley Cyrus brouhaha was so ridic; she'd been wearing heels and lipstick for way too long already and no one got all righteous about that.)

And if you think I'm employing hyperbole for dramatic effect, you obviously haven't checked the links yet. I really did have nightmares: a blonde 8-year-old Mini Popper threatened to "get me" if I spoke to her boyfriend. I was afraid. You'd have been too.

Ah, the eighties. Good times!

CinePassion!

I bought a CD for Christmas. I know you are thinking, "but you don't celebrate Christmas". True. I didn't buy it for me. I was so fascinated by the CD (by the cover design, and the theme of the disc) that I bought it with the excuse that it was a Christmas gift for someone else. Undecided as to the recipient, however, meant that no one received it, and so today, after letting my conscience off the hook, I unwrapped the CD and put it on. (The wrapping was made of biodegradable cellophane of some kind, which was a plus.) It's great. Sorry I didn't give it to you... but obviously not that sorry!

The CD is by a German quartet called Quadro Nuevo.

This particular CD is their interpretation of melodies from film soundtracks and is called CinePassion.

The themes they cover range from Lawrence of Arabia to The Sixth Sense. I haven't even finished one full play of this CD and I knew I ought to blog about it - it's that good.

Quadro Nuevo's albums are distributed in Canada by Justin Time Records.

Does buying CDs indicate I am an old geezer? I rather think it might.

In Pursuit of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street

I watched Sweeney Todd (w/ Depp). I luuuurved it. I want to hear MORE! I google the Angela Lansbury version. I google the Patti Lupone version (there are two). I read about George Hearne and Michael Cerveris and Neil Patrick Harris and Len Cariou. I can't find a clear description of the various versions of the soundtrack cds or the production dvds.

Frustrated with Google, Amazon, iTunes, etc., I go to a real, live store!

I tell the cute guy at Grigorian how difficult it was to find the music online. (I can't keep my mouth shut sometimes.) He says, "Oh, one day, there will be no cd stores, and THEN--", he says ominously, "the online retailers will jack up their prices and you'll have no choice!"


Of course, Grigorian has an online store as well and yet... he frightened me.

Just 'cause the word "Gotham" is like, cool.

Links, 'cause I have nothing witty to say:

(1) Online writing courses with good reputations at the Gotham Writers' Workshop. I've signed up for Fiction I, i.e. "paying someone else to get oneself to write".

(2) The Weather Station played today at the street festival on Bloor. They managed to catch one's attention in the intense muggy heat and keep people standing there to listen - impressive.

(3) Really, listen to your Once soundtrack again. Hansard and Irglova (and The Frames) are amazing.

(4) New Emmylou Harris album coming out.

(5) A completely different Harris: Chris Van Allsburg's The Mysteries of Harris Burdick continues to be worked on as an off-off Broadway musical! Creator Joe Calaraco has a blog and here's Playbill's announcement.

Oh, and tonight was the start of Shavuot. The one holiday when I'm encouraged to stay up all night! You're supposed to stay up and study Torah and it's usually a lot of fun, but I forgot to take tomorrow off work. Well, I'm staying up unnecessarily anyhow - I should've just gone to synagogue!

So You Wanna Write a Musical?

As the Tragically Hip song says, "I can get behind anything".
Anything I read about or hear about or see, I want to try.

Delusional? Yes. A noted feature on the ADD spectrum? Yes.

A short list of things I've considered:

Choreograph a modern dance company
Entertain sick children as a clown
Go back to school for Neuroscience/Forest conservation/Zoology/Gemology
Design shoes/jewelry/acrylic furniture/wooden laptops
Be a hip rabbi
Lead walking tours of Rome

So, when I'm temporarily fixated on a musical, thoughts of "gee, wouldn't it be swell to write some little musical for the Fringe festival?" pop into my head. I googled "so you wanna write a musical" and I discovered:

How to Write a Musical by John Kenrick.

His writing is clear and the site is well-organized. I highly recommend it - all his advice relates to any creative endeavour. And the mind-boggling Broadway trivia entertains too!

Violins and Orchids

I have just been introduced to Samuel Barber's Op.14 Concerto for Violin. I want to own it. I go to iTunes. I browse around and decide on an album I like. It is this one. ITunes sells it for $9.99 CAD.

Then I pause and wonder if I shouldn't support my local classical music store. It's been there forever and I rarely buy anything there. I would be sad if it closed down. There it costs $15.98 CAD.

Then I think, is it fair to ask me to pay six more dollars because it's an actual CD that comes in a case? Or am I just paying for their rent in Yorkville? (But then, I'd be sad if they moved.)

Then I look a little further - just to find a good link to the album for this blog and find an even cheaper option. Sony-BMG sells the album for $7.95 USD (which at this time is still $7.95 CAD). Sony is the distributor of the RCA Victor Red Seal line. So, pass the middle men?

What to do? Which option benefits the artist? Which option benefits the environment? Which benefits my local economy?

I'm still undecided. Maybe I'll just request it from the local classical station and save myself the headache of trying to be conscientious.

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Today was my parents' 48th wedding anniversary. That means my sister and I have two years to plan their 50th! (G-d willing, right?) Anyhow, I took them to the Southern Ontario Orchid Society Show at the Toronto Botanical Gardens. It was a judged show with hundreds of stunning orchid specimens on display. Eventually I'll post some photos. Then we went to LCBO 'cause my parents like to browse the wines, the beers, the everythings. They're not big drinkers, but they appreciate an occasional whistle-whetting. (Me too...) Finally we headed to the parental units house for bruschetta and champagne and then I left them alone.

Now someone on my floor is cooking something with fried onions and I'm ready to eat again...

Super Saver Shipping

My sister asked me to get her a book from Amazon.ca since it isn't available in the States yet. I ordered it, but I couldn't pass up on the "Super Saver Shipping". Just get your total up to $40 and shipping is free. Otherwise, you pay $6 or $10 for shipping, and thinking sadly of the book you could've bought. I decided to purchase the recent Robert Plant & Allison Krauss CD, Raising Sand. I don't buy music all that often, and I'm certainly not on the vanguard of musical taste, but this CD is incredible. It is atmospheric and coherent, and Plant and Krauss' voices blend beautifully. I really need to own more Allison Krauss albums - she has a truly angelic voice.

I also bought a Martha Grime's Book, I Am the Only Running Footman, but more about Grimes' series another time.