moravian farm recording from june 15 2008

some tunes

Here's a medley of tunes Bohemian Swing played last January at the Dominion on Queen in Toronto. This medely was submitted to a folk-ish music fest but was deemed not "ethnic" enough. Judge for yourselves

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekTM2no8DJk


(tried to embed...didn't woik)

early spring

When people have nothing to talk about, they talk about the weather. Or about the Toronto Maple Leafs, which is like talking about nothing. Experience has taught me never to talk politics and religion with friends. Conversly, it's a very good idea to talk religion and politics with non-friends because at the end of the conversation, you'll dislike each other even more deliciously. Politics, just like religion, is irrational - though unlike religion, it seems rational and bears all the hallmarks of feasible logic...to start with! That's because it's only your own view that is rational, whereas the other person's view is total bullshit. And so, let's talk about weather.

A few years ago, I was in Prague in April and came back home in early May. Prague was sunny and green, the fragrance of lilac permeating old courtyards, chestnut trees in full glory, pigeons starting to fatten up. Conversly, the landing at Pearson was a shock. It was about 10 degrees, a cold drizzle and fog hugged the runways and when we reached home, nary a green leaflette was in sight. Only one scrawny bush in front of our house tried valiantly to sprout its yellow flowers. It took another two weeks (till mid-May) to catch up to where Prague had been a month before.

Well, this year, we went through a winter that must have been sent to us by some zealous demon. Or maybe Al Gore. Snow up the yin-yang and up to your eyeballs, right up till the end of March. And then suddenly BANG and spring gallops in. The last few days have been fantabulous and wonder of wonders: the trees in my street are beginning to sprout plumpy little buds and even the odd magnolia is starting to show its mettle. Only once before do I remember spring arriving this early (despite the dire predictions of "experts", btw....more below) I think that was in 1985. I recall taking my ex and two daughters to the airport and driving back, the nature all around me already in full dress and the date was May 1. And so, last night, we had our first deck BBQ with satay chicken, fried rice (my own secret recipe which involves oil and rice), veggies, Ceasar salad and a glass of chilled PG (fellow wine snobs will understand)

Now, the experts: I've been tracking "expert" financial/economic advice for the last few years and here's my conclusion. Do what George Costanza did on Seinfeld: THE OPPOSITE. I tells ya, you can't go wrong. When the "experts" predicted our dollar to fall below 50 c U.S., it began its meteoric rise. When they said there was no real estate bubble, house prices began to decline. When they said our economic indicators were strong, we began to tank. And when they said our decline would continue for at least another two years, the economy started firing on all cylinders. In short: economic "experts" are well paid dufuses ("dufi"?). They have well tailored suits and brains full of crapola. There's a reason for it: there is no such thing as an ECONOMY. There are millions of micro-economies in each country: families, individuals, villages, towns, clubs etc...Yes, there are broad trends but precise predictions are an idiot's game. So no prediction from me. I am no idiot. I'm a musician. So I must be a genius.

bank job

It's a funny thing...so often reviews and reviewers just plain get things wrong. If I had read some of the reviews about the movie "The Bank Job" before heading out tonight with the DW, I would have stayed home and watched some insipid reality show on TV. As it, I luckily hadn't read any crap on IMDB and as a result saw one of the best movies I've seen in ten years. The pace is fast and furious, the period (early 1970's in London) well portrayed. The bad guys are bad to the bone and the good guys are only slightly bad. A good soundtrack and an edge-of-your-seat thriller with Cockney accents, a phenomenal bank heist and some stomach churning torture scenes. I'd rank this up there with another excellent gangster movie I saw earlier this year, "American Gangster" and very close to my all time favourite "Pulp Fiction", though perhaps not quite as enormously intelligent and intricate, and definitely a lot less self-referential, than PF. A delicious twist is that this movie is based on real events. Almost makes you want to believe the conspiracy nuts. Rush out and see it. And don't read the IMDB reviews - judge for yourself.

Whoa! Hard to believe I haven't written anything in almost three months. My last entry sounded like I had it SO together....but the rest of the winter was a biatch. Too much snow for human and canine.

Talking of too much snow....yesterday, as I drove home from my local supermarket, negotiating the winding, hilly streets of my neighbourhood (yeah, like I live in San Francisco!), I saw an elderly oriental lady chipping at the remnantes of a snow bank in her driveway. What a crazy, silly thing to be doing - hacking at the last two inches of ice when it's 60 degrees outside and sunny and what ice and snow is left will be gone within 24 hours anyway. Does this sort of activity come down to people simply having nothing to do?

Back in February, I played at a big gala gig at the Royal York hotel. A fun gig - except one thing. There was a silent auction and I couldn't help but bid on an acoustic guitar. It looked so pretty, a little thin Ovation imitation. Couldn't resist. I ran it up all the way to...nah, I can't tell you. I'm ashamed. So, I bring the thing home and it turns out to be an unplayable piece of plastic garbage. It took me an hour to file down the saddle to just be able to play a G chord. Absolutely, positively, THE worst guitar I ever played. So today, I took it down to Capsule (a great store, well worth checking out) to have them consign it for me. They were very reluctant to defile their store with this piece of junk but eventually took it. If it sells, I'll make $40. Waaaaaaaaay less than what I paid. If Jews are supposed to be good businessmen, I am the honourable exception.

Yesterday, I sat down to write a ballad. A great jazz ballad. The greatest jazz ballad ever...to rival My Funny Valentine. I'll let you know how it goes - but so far I only have 16 mediocre bars. Very mediocre...although I did insert some very hip chords. So hip, I don't even get them. The tune is called "One Day in Early Spring". If it doesn't go as ballady as it should, I'll rename it "I Sprung One Day Too Early"

Au revoir....I'll try to open you more often, dear diary

mid winter, no blahs

A slow, light snow is falling. Just what winters were meant to be (in German fairy tales) No wind, no hard frost, just puffy flakes and dogs frolicking in the ravine. And glorious whiteness all around.

Christmas was fun. My wife takes excellent care of my wardrobe, not letting me become a dowdy middle-aged fart (well not as far as clothes are concerned, anyway) I got a sharp new suit, a couple of shirts and some other smaller items. In retrun, I gave her a new bag, gloves - all white. And a bluetooth earpiece for her BlackBerry. We ate turkey leftovers and chocolate for about ten days. I weigh 20 pounds more than at this time last year. I LOVE capitalism.

I haven't been paying much attention to the news lately, except the Human Rights Commission fiasco with Ezra Levant. The man is a true hero. I hope that the nation wakes up and that we get rid of this vestige of totalitarianism, called HRC. Any sentence that starts with "Human rights..." is liable to be full of some leftie crap. I believe in individual rights - freedom of speech etc... - not in the rights of some groups not to be offended. Read Ezra's blog if you have no idea what I'm talking about.

I did watch a bunch of hockey of the Christmas holiday, more specifically Canada's juniors who were once again magnificent in winning the World Cup for the under 19's. Strange thing was that there were more Canadian fans in the stands than Czechs, even though the championship took place in Czecho.

May your year be happy, healthy and filled with joy. Rejoice in your libery and defend it wherever you can. Rejoice in hockey, too. And in chocolate!!

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