Smokey and "U"

A friend's new "whatever" sent this and I thought it was so funny, I am posting it.

All the young dudes...

I just got back from a preview of the new movie "Wackness" dues to hit theaters in July thanks to Sony Pictures Classics and Landmark Theatres. They also gave us a tasteful brown tshirt.

This is what the preview invite said about it:
"It's the summer of 1994, and the streets of New York are pulsing with hip-hop and
wafting with the sweet aroma of marijuana--but change is in the air. The newly inaugurated mayor, Rudy Giuliani, is beginning to implement his anti-fun initiatives against "crimes" like noisy portable radios, graffiti and public drunkenness. Set against this backdrop, Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) spends his last summer before college selling dope throughout New York City, trading it with his shrink (Ben Kingsley) for therapy, while crushing on his step-daughter (Olivia Thirlby). Famke Janssen, Mary Kate Olsen, and Method Man round out the cast in this edgy, bittersweet, and funny coming of age story. Rated R."

It also said "Absolutely no kids admitted to this screening! Enjoy!"

It was an interesting movie and the above doesn't go near to describing the movie. I mean what can you say about a movie that has fly girls dancing in the subway in the beginning and ends with Bowie's "All the Young Dudes."
I say see it, its got lots of music, lots of stuff happening, great performances, and Mary Kate Olsen is amazing. There were some great scenes. Its not the 1994 I remember but then I was older, living in Minnesota working with refugees at a place where we were trained how to respond to bomb threats, but that's another post... About the no kids, I think I agree, and no impressionable young adults either.
During the credits, I was singing along of course, and when the music died off, I was surprised to hear others singing too ;-)

All the young dudes
Carry the news
Boogaloo dudes
Carry the news....

Historic Al Stewart

I was lamenting to a Toronto friend that I couldn't be there and see Al this week so they sent me this clip:


This has got to be at least 30 yrs old. Al still sounds this good. I have the t-shirt Al is wearing only in red ;)
If that is Peter White playing the keyboards, not the piano, he looks SO young, almost too young!
Can anyone identify the other people playing?

Live at the Dakota

Live at the Dakota Nachito Herrera and Puro Cubano Date: December 17, 2002 December 17,   —   Music product page Rating:

I thought of another CD I purchased relatively recently, Nachito Herrera and Puro Cubano Live at the Dakota
I am one of the voices yelling "1-2 cha cha cha" in the background of one of the songs. They were a great latin jazz band, and I used to see them regularly, got to know a few of them, things were great until Nachito decided to fire the flute/clarinet/soprano/alto, AND lead vocals and replaced her with a synthesizer, an additional drummer playing a standard drum set and his teenage daughter whose voice can't handle some of the notes in Como Fue. Around that period the bass player Jorge also stopped commuting from Miami to MN to play with Nach, I am afraid this is their one and only CD. The last time I heard them, the sub bass player bounded off the stage during a break gleefully saying "I am in a percussion band!!!" That was pretty much it.

China Song

China Song Shanghai Quartet — Music Rating:

Thanks to Panther, updated itunes or something, all my music in itunes has disappeared. The titles appear but they are no longer connected to the music and the music itself can not be found anywhere, so I am reloading.

This also means that I am listening to it all again. I just listened to my favorite CD's, one of a few I have purchased in the last few years . I would purchase it again tomorrow if I had too.
Its called China Song by the Shanghai Quartet.
A chamber music quartet that meets all of my friend Julie's criteria for musicians who play in her series. They are cute, very nice and extremely good musicians. The album China Song is a group of Chinese Folk music pieces played on western instruments. I purchased the CD during intermission when I was hearing them play, I got it autographed and everything. I recommend it to anyone who likes a variety of music, my favorite piece is a Yao people folk song, which I find very beautiful and haunting.

A review of the concert where I first heard them