JOE DOLCE NEWSLETTER
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Friday January 2, 2009
Preaching to the Cats
"Did St. Francis preach to the birds?
Whatever for?
If he really liked birds
he would have done better to preach to the cats."
Rebecca West
Happy New Year Folks!
Are you ready for another twelve months of absurdity, bellyache, buffoonery, celebration, cheer, clowning, distraction, diversion, enjoyment, big noting, entertainment, escapade, festivity, foolery, challenge, frolic, gaiety, gambol, grins, high jinks, horseplay, jesting, jocularity, merriment, mirth, nonsense, account, playfulness, pleasure, recreation, rejoicing, relaxation, tomfoolery, whoopee, conviviality, festiveness, announcement, broadcast, blackball, bulletin, cable, cognizance, communiqué, copy, data, description, disclosure, discovery, dispatch, declaration, enlightenment, exposé, eye-opener, headlines, hearsay, intelligence, itemization, knowledge, leak, lowdown, message, clamor, narration, news flash, particularization, advice, recital, recognition, release, report, rumor, scandal, scoop, specification, statement, story, recipe, directions, formula, challenge, instructions, pattern, prescription, process, rule, demonstration, demurral, difficulty, dissent, flak, complaint, grievance, gripe, grouse, holler, howl, kick, knock, nix, objection, outcry, protestation, question, rally, remonstration, revolt, riot, tumult, turmoil, mis-information and stink?
I know I am.
This week we have Resveratrol Enhanced Wines, the SAS training facility on Swan Island, Vic, a John Corigliano-Does-Dylan Music Supplement, Nudity on Album Covers, a whole cupboard of interesting recipes from readers and a resonant poem from the Vietnam era by Adrian Mitchell.
A Time of Lawlessness: Beware the First Few Hours of 2009
Geesche Jacobsen, Crime Editor, SMH
THE first hours of a new year are traditionally its most dangerous and lawless, as assaults and other crimes soar.
Domestic violence is no exception: twice as many women - it tends to be mainly women - are subjected to it on January 1, than on other days. Incidents spike at Christmas, but nothing compares with New Year's Day.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/beware-the-first-few-hours-of-2009/2008/12/29/1230399131601.html
First Culinary Treat of 2009: Salt-Coffee
Since launching Salt Coffee on December 11, the 85 Degree Bakery Cafe, Taiwan's largest coffee chain, has changed coffee drinkers' habits and more and more customers are ordering Salt Coffee rather than black or sugared coffee. Cathy Chung said her company hit upon the idea of launching Salt Coffee because the trend of using sea-salt as a health ingredient in food or as cosmetics is sweeping Taiwan.
"Sea salt, which is also called ocean salt, is not refined and has more minerals than table salt. Besides giving the salty flavour, it opens the taste buds of your tongue, so you get a unique flavour from our Salt Coffee," she said.
The 85 Degree Bakery Cafe adds a small amount of sea salt to the creamy foam and chilled cream to a cup of steaming coffee.
Many customers screamed with delight when they tried their first cup of Salt Coffee.
"It gives you three tastes. First, you get the slightly salty taste from the cold cream foam, second, the mixed taste of the salty cream foam and hot coffee, third, the aroma of coffee," Ho Hsiu-ling, a university student, told a DPA reporter at the 85 Degree Cafe outlet on Hsinyi Road in Taipei.
"It is amazing. I ordered it out of curiosity and expected it to be salty, but the taste is not entirely salty. It is salty and sweet, and is more fragrant then sugared coffee," she noted. Li Ping-mou, a computer engineer, said he preferred iced Salt Coffee "because the salty-sweet taste is sharper."
Taiwanese traditionally rub salt to fruits to make them taste sweeter and this may explain the latest craving for Salt Coffee.
http://www.topnews.in/healthcare/content/-2626taiwan-goes-crazy-salt-coffee
(Note: This brings back porch-memories of growing up in Painesville, Ohio, in the 50s. Our custom was to sprinkle salt on watermelon before eating it. I haven’t done this for decades but I tried it yesterday and it really works! And sea salt is actually good for you.)
If you want to do something extra-specially important to kick the New Year off, instead of giving a goat to a homeless person in St Kilda, or a box of food to Oxfam, (which oft times ends up in the hands of the local tribal gangs and is sold on the blackmarket), how about the following:
Sponsor an Executive
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=qDC0qcf0kzE
(thanks to Alicia Bay Laurel)
And if you aren’t happy with what you got from Santa Claus, think of others less fortunate:
Eight Dead in US 'Santa' Shooting
Stinging from an acrimonious divorce, a man plotting revenge against his ex-wife dressed up like Santa, went to his former in-laws' Christmas Eve party and slaughtered at least eight people before killing himself hours later.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/5232749
Shut the Hell Up Gum
The latest news in the Ultravox-Shaddap You Face-Vienna story: I read recently in the British press that Midge Ure sometimes sings the chorus of Shaddap You Face, at the end of Vienna, in his live shows! Talk about co-dependant! I think Midge needs to chew on some of this: 8 pieces of Shut the Hell Up. No seriously. Shut the Hell Up Cinnamon Gum. Seriously. (Ultravox has reformed and will be touring in 2009.)
http://www.sparkadoodles.com/fun_things_gmc_gum_shut_the_hell_up.html
(Thanks to Wyldflowr)
FAVOURITE LETTERS OF THE WEEK
Dear Joe,
Re: Cristes Maesse
When living in Tokyo in the mid to late nineties, I had heard a story about a Christmas display somewhere in the city featuring a crucified Santa. So it was great to see the Japanese Christmas card of the same in your festive season epistle. When things get frantic at the end of the year I think all of us at times would just like to crucify the bastard. Best Wishes, Rod Gregory
Joe,
Don't know if you can use this in your next paper, but thought you might get some chuckles from this, especially if you are experienced. Gary Burt
(ps. This is from Dave Barry's Colonoscopy Journal. Dave Barry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist for the Miami Herald.)
“Colonoscopies are no joke, but these comments during the exam were quite humorous..... A physician claimed that the following are actual comments made by his patients (predominately male) while he was performing their colonoscopies”:
1. 'Take it easy, Doc. You're boldly going where no man has gone before!
2. 'Find Amelia Earhart yet?'
3. 'Can you hear me NOW?'
4. 'Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?'
5. 'You know, in Arkansas , we're now legally married.'
6. 'Any sign of the trapped miners, Chief?'
7. 'You put your left hand in, you take your left hand out...'
8. 'Hey! Now I know how a Muppet feels!'
9. 'If your hand doesn't fit, you must quit!
10. 'Hey Doc, let me know if you find my dignity.'
11. 'You used to be an executive at Enron, didn't you?'
12. 'God, now I know why I am not gay.'
And the best one of all.........
13. 'Could you write a note for my wife saying that my head is not up there?'
(Note: Gary, I went up that road, so to speak, several years ago, and I also have my own contribution spoken just before the anaesthetic knocked me out:
‘I’m ready for my close-up, Dr DeMille.’
Joe,
Hi ... and thanks for your insightful notes that pop up in my inbox irregularly. we only met once and that was briefly, a long time ago... at Port Fairy I think when i was down there either MC'ing or playing... or Maldon... doesn't matter... over the many years though, I've seen you perform those lovely numbers that you do... a million miles from 'Shaddup Your Face'... It's a long while since my own musical ventures, gigging, running Frankston Guitar Festival and other events... I work as a paramedic (a job I've done on and off for 25 years now) on site in a mine in Moranbah far north Queensland, live in Frankston (far south Victoria) and still write songs that don't get played... and play songs that no one hears ... and still love music ... as I have since joining the Victoria Banjo club in 1963... music is the mainstay of the many and the joy of my life.. though I've lost my mojo a few times... it slips back into your pocket when you think it's still out!
there on the road somewhere doesn't it.. why am I telling you this.. cause you've taken the time to tell me and others what you're up to.. and because it's Christmas day and I'm here in my little clinic up north at a mine that's pretty much closed down for the day and I need some music today... and your email was there... keep on choogling... Billy
http://www.billdettmer.com.au
http://www.myspace.com/billdettmer
The Rules For Ambulance Officers
If you drop the baby, pick it up.
Truly sick people don't complain.
Air goes in and out, blood goes round and round, and any variation on this is a bad thing.
If it's wet, sticky and not yours, leave it alone!
All bleeding stops.... Eventually.
When dealing with patients, supervisors, or citizens, if it felt good saying it, it was probably the wrong thing to say.
Skin signs tell all.
All people will die sooner or later, no matter what you do.
If the child is quiet, be scared.
Patient’s families can be just as stupid and unreasonable as football supporters.
Don’t look so shocked. It will take you a little while, but you will learn how to not look surprised.
If the patient vomits in the ambulance try to hold their head to the side of the vehicle with the disposable equipment, not the stuff you have to clean.
When a patient vomits outside, be sure to aim it at the bystanders who wouldn't back up.
If someone has to die as a result of accident, chemical hazards, electrical shocks or other on-scene dangers, it should be the patient, not you.
You will need that thing over there, one day.
There will come a day when everything you’ve learnt goes out the window. At that point, ‘may The Force be with you’.
Any ambulance officer and/or supervisor who is more stupid than the patient is the real problem.
There will be problems.
You can't cure ‘stupid’.
You are bound to get a call either during dinner, while you are on the toilet, or at 2am in the middle of a great dream.
The severity of the injury(s) is directly proportional to the difficulty in accessing, as well as the weight, of the patient.
Machine guns on the roof would work better than lights and sirens.
There is no such thing as a ‘textbook case.’
Ambulance work is extended periods of intense boredom, interrupted by occasional moments of sheer terror.
Every Emergency has three phases: Panic, Fear, and Remorse.
If there are no drunks at an accident scene after midnight, keep looking, some one is missing.
Paramedics save lives; but it's your skills that save Paramedics.
Always follow the rules, but be wise enough to forget them sometimes.
And yes, it can get worse than this.
What I’m Watching This Week
I Told You I Was Trouble – Amy Winehouse, Live in London. I love this DVD. I have very few musical DVDs that I can watch repeatedly and this is one. Amy is supported by a crack band who really know how to play, and two exciting male black back-up singer/dancers, al la The Blues Brothers, that keep the visuals popping. Musical arranger, Dale Davis, on bass, creates a passive kind of Bill Wyman counterpoint. Amy’s an extremely creative songwriter as well as stylist and the songs range from R&B, 50s girl groups, jazz torch songs and Motown, to Toots and the Maytal’s reggae. Highly recommended.
Into the Wild, directed by Sean Penn. Tragic but unforgettable true story of a young man’s quest for personal freedom on the road. You can’t help but feel what a waste of a creative life, but it’s a road many of us have gone down, and many of our children are presently going down, and there but for fortune . . . . .
El Callejón de Los Milagros (Midaq Alley) – with Salma Hayek. (English: The Alley of Miracles.) Midaq Alley is the English Translation of Zuqāq al-Midaq, by Egyptian writer, Naguib Mahfouz. This work won its author the Nobel Prize in Literature. Originally set in the back streets of Cairo, this screen adaptation sets the drama in Mexico. I accidentally stumbled on this little gem in a Mexican video shop in San Francisco but since have discovered that it is well known to be the greatest Mexican film of all-time, critically acclaimed by international critics and earning more than 49 international awards and nominations. Pan's Labyrinth and El Callejón de los Milagros were named as the best Mexican films by Entertainment Weekly.
Langrishe, Go Down, screenplay by Harold Pinter. Set in 1930s Dublin with a young Judi Dench and Jeremy Irons. Very sexy. Wonderful Pinteresque dialogue.
What I’m Listening to This Week
Forbidden Fruit, by Nina Simone. One of the finest 60s albums by one of the finest singers ever in her prime. Downloadable from iTunes. No Amy Winehouse mumbling here (bless her little soulful heart) - Nina makes every syllable count.
St Matthew’s Passion, by JS Bach. My favourite musical work of art. The great fountain to which I must regularly return for renewal and inspiration.
What I’m Reading This Week
The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman. About a real live baby who escapes the murder of his entire family by wandering into a graveyard and is looked after by an assortment of ghosts from every period in history. Gaiman writes on that shadowy line between child and adult.
The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama. Go Obama 2009!
Soldiers Without Borders: Beyond the SAS – A Global Network of Brothers-in-Arms, by Ian McPhedran. Published by Harper Collins.
Here’s an excerpt which may be of particular interest to Australian readers, especially folks going to the nearby Queencliff Music Festival, where I have performed:
“ . . . the secretive Swan Island, near Geelong in Victoria, [is] essentially the finishing school for unconventional warfare. Shrouded in mystery, the island house some of the most shadowy training facilities in Australia. It is run by the Department of Defense, but it is utilized by a variety of government agencies including army special forces, the government’s foreign affairs spy agency, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS), Federal Police, Customs and others. Established in 1877 as a fort to defend Port Philip Bay, the island is only accessible by a single lane bridge. It was from that bridge that a vehicle carrying three senior SAS soldiers plunged in 2007, killing the men. (see link below) The island was also a repository for some unconventional weapons including WWII ‘spy’ weapons – such as James Bond-style paraphernalia as cuff-link dart guns and pen pistols. Legend has it that following the bungled ASIS ‘raid’ on the Sheraton Hotel in Melbourne in Nov 1983, when armed ASIS agents invaded the hotel without telling anyone including the police, many of the special weapons were dumped at the bottom of a lake before Royal Commission staff could find them.”
Counter-terror Trio Die in Crash
http://www.smh.com.au/news/general/counter-terror-trio-die-in-crash/2007/04/09/1175970983832.html
Capitalist Fools
by Joseph E. Stiglitz, Vanity Fair
Behind the debate over remaking US financial policy will be a debate over who's to blame. It's crucial to get the history right, writes a Nobel-laureate economist, identifying five key mistakes - under Reagan, Clinton and Bush II - and one national delusion.
“There will come a moment when the most urgent threats posed by the credit crisis have eased and the larger task before us will be to chart a direction for the economic steps ahead. This will be a dangerous moment. Behind the debates over future policy is a debate over history - a debate over the causes of our current situation. The battle for the past will determine the battle for the present. So it's crucial to get the history straight.
What were the critical decisions that led to the crisis? Mistakes were made at every fork in the road - we had what engineers call a "system failure," when not a single decision but a cascade of decisions produce a tragic result. Let's look at five key moments.
No. 1: Firing the Chairman
In 1987 the Reagan administration decided to remove Paul Volcker as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board and appoint Alan Greenspan in his place. Volcker had done what central bankers are supposed to do. On his watch, inflation had been brought down from more than 11 percent to under 4 percent. In the world of central banking, that should have earned him a grade of A+++ and assured his re-appointment. But Volcker also understood that financial markets need to be regulated. Reagan wanted someone who did not believe any such thing, and he found him in a devotee of the objectivist philosopher and free-market zealot Ayn Rand.
Greenspan played a double role. The Fed controls the money spigot, and in the early years of this decade, he turned it on full force. But the Fed is also a regulator. If you appoint an anti-regulator as your enforcer, you know what kind of enforcement you'll get. A flood of liquidity combined with the failed levees of regulation proved disastrous.
Greenspan presided over not one but two financial bubbles. After the high-tech bubble popped, in 2000-2001, he helped inflate the housing bubble. The first responsibility of a central bank should be to maintain the stability of the financial system. If banks lend on the basis of artificially high asset prices, the result can be a meltdown - as we are seeing now, and as Greenspan should have known. (more)
http://www.truthout.org/121008R?print
LEE IACOCCA IS ANGRY!
'Remember Lee Iacocca, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from its death throes?
He's now 82 years old and has a new book, 'Where Have All The Leaders Gone?'.
Iacocca Says:
‘Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder! We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay the course.'
Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America , not the damned 'Titanic'.
I'll give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the bums out!'
You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore.
The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs.
While we're fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of the ' America ' my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you? I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have. The Biggest 'C' is Crisis!
(Iacocca elaborates on nine C's of leadership, with crisis being the first.)
Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down. On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A hell of a mess, so here's where we stand.
We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia , while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy.
Our schools are in trouble.
Our borders are like sieves.
The middle class is being squeezed every which way.
These are times that cry out for leadership.
But when you look around, you've got to ask: 'Where have all the leaders gone?' Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.
Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throwing away our shampoo?
We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.
Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina.
Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm.
Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again.
Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.
Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when 'The Big Three' referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?
Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening.. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.
I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? - that some bonehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?
Had Enough? Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope - I believe in America . In my lifetime, I've had the privilege of living through some of America 's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises:
The 'Great Depression,' 'World Wars I and II,' the 'Korean War,' the 'Kennedy Assassination,'the 'Vietnam War,' the 1970's oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I've learned one thing, it's this: 'You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a "Call to Action" for people who, like me, believe in America '. It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the crap and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had 'enough.'
(thanks to Stevanne)
Resveratrol Enhanced Wine - Cleans blood vessels as you drink
Some researchers believe that resveratrol might be the key ingredient in red wine that helps prevent damage to blood vessels, reduces "bad" cholesterol and prevents blood clots. Research in mice given resveratrol has indicated that the antioxidant might also help protect them from obesity and diabetes, both of which are strong risk factors for heart disease. However, those findings were reported only in mice, not in people. In addition, to achieve the dose of resveratrol used in the mice studies, a person would have to consume 100 to 1,000 bottles of red wine a day. (1000 bottles = 2 grams of resveratrol per day. There are companies out there selling it in 500mg pills.)
Now, an Australian doctor says he has created the world's healthiest wine, which cleans your blood vessels and reduces the risk of heart attack as you drink it.
Each bottle contained up to 100 times the amount of resveratrol - a naturally occurring anti-oxidant found in grapes - than a standard drop, says Sydney's Dr Philip Norrie. Resveratrol helped to maintain blood flow by keeping arteries free of fatty deposits called atherosclerotic plaque, Dr Norrie said, and a wine infused with high levels of the odourless, tasteless anti-oxidant would act as a "vascular pipe-cleaner".
"While the positive effects of moderate wine consumption have long been documented, the inclusion of such large quantities of this beneficial anti-oxidant is very good news for wine drinkers," says Dr Norrie.
"What we've been able to do is boost the amount of resveratrol in wine and you wont even know its there... you're effectively clearing your arteries while you drink."
Dr Norrie said in producing both a Chardonnay and a Shiraz and each have 100mg/L of resveratrol per bottle.
He said this was as much as is contained in 70 to 100 bottles of standard white wine or 15 to 20 bottles of standard red.
"I stress that these benefits are best realised with moderate drinking," Dr Norrie also said in a warning to any connoisseurs planning a wine-based health kick.
University of Queensland cardiologist Associate Professor David Colquhoun also stressed the need for "moderate" consumption as he said the benefits of resveratrol were well known.
"Studies have strongly suggested that consumption of wine rich in resveratrol can lessen cardio-vascular disease, heart attack and stroke, he said.
http://www.drnorrie.info/
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=kVBXhrqu-9Y&feature=related
(Note: RESVERATROL derived from Japanese Knotweed is apparently even more potent than resveratrol from red grape skin.)
http://wealthfreedomonline.com/blog/amazing-health-benefits-of-resveratrol-by-rejenx/
Jerry Brown: Gay-Marriage Ban Should Be Invalidated
Jessica Garrison, The Los Angeles Times
In a surprise move, state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown asked the California Supreme Court on Friday to invalidate Proposition 8. He said the November ballot measure that banned gay marriage "deprives people of the right to marry, an aspect of liberty that the Supreme Court has concluded is guaranteed by the California Constitution."
http://www.truthout.org/122008Y
Little Hitler Can't Have Name on Cake
The father of three-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell, denied a birthday cake with the child's full name on it by a US supermarket, is asking for a little tolerance.
Heath Campbell and his wife, Deborah, are upset not only with the decision made by the nearby ShopRite, but also with an outpouring of angry internet postings in response to a local newspaper article about the cake.
Heath Campbell, who is 35, said in an interview people should look forward, not back, and accept change.
"They need to accept a name. A name's a name. The kid isn't going to grow up and do what (Hitler) did," he said.
Deborah Campbell, 25, said she phoned in her order last week to the ShopRite in New Jersey. When she told the bakery department she wanted her son's name spelled out, she was told to talk to a supervisor, who denied the request.
Karen Meleta, a spokeswoman for ShopRite, said the Campbells had similar requests denied at the same store the last two years and said Heath Campbell previously had asked for a swastika to be included in the decoration.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/5219982
MUSIC
Nudity on Album Covers
Have a look at some of the more controversial images that have appeared on record albums over the past fifty years.
http://rateyourmusic.com/lists/list_view?list_id=6482&show=150&start=0
Fan Death Made Simon Cowell Think "Hard"
(Reuters) - Acerbic "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell said on Wednesday the apparent suicide of a former contestant and obsessed fan forced him to think "long and hard" about his blunt comments to hopeless singers on the show.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/mp/5221388/fan-death-simon-cowell-think-hard/
Handy Online Guitar Tuner
You can customize this tuner and even put a smaller version on your website!
http://www.howtotuneaguitar.org/
SONGWRITING WORKSHOP SUPPLEMENT 3
How Not To Set a Poem to Music
Corigliano-Does-Dylan
Mr Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan
When I first heard this idea, I was excited. Pulitzer-Prize winning composer John Corigliano, who wrote one of my favourite film scores, The Red Violin, had taken seven of Bob Dylan’s lyrics and set them to his original music.
How bold!
But when I read what Corigliano wrote about why he did it - and then actually heard the results, I got angry.
Because, Pulitzer-Prize or no Pulitzer-Prize, Red Violin or no Red Violin, this is everything that I hate about contemporary classical composer blinker-vision - and lack of respect for the written word. (That’s why most of these guys don’t write their own words, even though Wagner told them to.)
Corigliano, who is 70 years old, and ten years older than me, says this:
“. . . I had always heard, by reputation, of the high regard accorded the folk-ballad singer/songwriter Bob Dylan. But I was so engaged in developing my orchestral technique during the years when Dylan was heard by the rest of the world that I had never heard his songs. . .
I may have heard them in the background but I didn’t stop and listen because it didn’t catch my ear. . .”
Wha??? Can you believe this? From someone who is considered a serious contemporary composer?
“ . . it didn’t catch my ear. . .” What ear?
Corigliano needs to have his Pulitzer-Prize revoked.
How can anyone in the Western world who considers themselves a serious musician not be familiar with the music of Bob Dylan? Unless they have their head up their culo in music theory myopia, that is.
Of course, Corigliano fails on every level to pull this good idea off. Why?
Well, this would be like someone – say, Michael Jackson - having never heard Mozart, deciding to take the libretto of The Magic Flute and make pop songs out of it.
What are the chances this would be something worth putting in a time capsule?
Corigliano grasps neither the essence of Dylan’s unique fusion of music and lyric (which he himself doesn’t possess) nor the essence of what makes a folk song work period. Convoluted progressions and soundscapes designed to impress Arnold Schoenberg wanna-bes - but never to snuggle themselves warmly into the human soul. Taking extraordinarily singable lyrical ideas and making them extraordinarily unsingable- except by the most highly-trained - is a plain waste of music paper.
Corigliano reveals his lack of understanding on what makes folk music tick with his comments on Mr Tambourine Man, (when he finally got around to listening to it:)
“ You have the same eight bars repeated like 25 times. When I first heard it, I was dumbfounded.”
Like. . . eh duh!
Obviously, John must have been sleeping in class when they were discussing the work of Australian composer, Percy Grainger, who deeply respected the folk song, and profoundly wrote:
“There is no musical notation yet invented that can capture what happens when a folk singer sings.”
A much more intelligent and coherent idea would have been for Corigliano to have composed his music –and then, after he had emerged from the Cave of Classically Trained and Inbred Eternal Night, listened and absorbed Dylan’s magnificent original masterpieces – and, then, finally - totally rewritten his own work weaving variations of Dylan’s musical themes creatively throughout. I understand the concept of bringing something new to the table but not at the expense of leaving the guts out.
The real tragedy of this Wank-of-Art is that Dylan himself supposedly approved the idea which again goes to show how much old Zimmy himself has lost the plot.
Remembering Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter - "Is Our Conscience Dead?"
by Ann Wright
On the news today of the death of Harold Pinter, the winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature, I remembered hearing his Nobel Laureate lecture/acceptance speech. I was in London in December 2005, speaking at the annual Stop the War conference when Pinter delivered his speech - not in Oslo, as Pinter was very sick and could not travel, but in London via TV link.
I was amazed and thrilled that he chose to use the Nobel Prize platform and devote a huge portion of his speech to shining an international spotlight on the tragic effects of the past decades of US foreign policy and particularly, on George Bush and Tony Blair's decisions to invade and occupy Iraq, on Guantanamo and on torture.
Pinter's Laureate speech question, "Is Our Conscience Dead?" is most relevant today when three years after his acceptance speech, "Art, Truth and Politics," Bush, Cheney, Rice and other administration officials are either trying to rewrite history or, as in Cheney's case - purposefully revealing his role in specific criminal acts of torture and daring the American legal system and people to hold him accountable.
Following is the part of Pinter's lecture that speaks to the invasion of Iraq, torture and Guantanamo - and our collective and individual conscience:
"Art, Truth and Politics", Noble Lecture by Harold Pinter, December 7, 2005.
"... The United States no longer ... sees any point in being reticent or even devious. It puts its cards on the table without fear or favour. It quite simply doesn't give a damn about the United Nations, international law or critical dissent, which it regards as impotent and irrelevant. It also has its own bleating little lamb tagging behind it on a lead, the pathetic and supine Great Britain...“(more)
http://www.truthout.org/122608J
Freestyle Dance
This guy is a joy to watch. He keeps finding better ideas the more he persists.
http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=4bWtZdiIWCg&feature=channel
Here’s another good one:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=UYFDYX4i2EY&feature=related
And one that went very wrong. Watch for the little kid who wanders onto the floor.
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=EV2rjap1Or4
(Thanks to Frank Dolce)
~ FAMOUS DOLCES OF THE WORLD ~
CHRISTINA DOLCE
Model’s Sexy Anti-Fur Ad
http://dailymotion.alice.it/lang/en/tag/dolce/video/x7ded8_christine-dolce-aka-forbidden_shortfilms
RECIPES
Folks, several weeks ago, I got a ‘recipe chain letter’. Move your name to the top of the list and send your simple favourite recipe to 10 of your friends. That kind of thing. Normally, I don’t do chain letters anymore. (I still have a closet filled with chains from the last one. Boom boom.) But this one looked interesting and I thought I might pick up a few good ideas. Here are the ones I received back.
1. NOVELIST’S LUNCH
Take 1 Savoy cabbage – chop into fork-sized chunks.
Open a pack of Back Bacon and dice into tempting pieces.
Crumble a generous chunk of Black Pudding and toss with the cabbage and bacon in a medium-sized bowl.
Add a generous knob or two of quality salted butter
and MICROWAVE for 7 or 8 minutes.
EAT ALONE and finish that chapter.
XXX Neil Innes
2. MOROCCAN CHICKEN SPRING ROLLS
1/2 teasp tumeric
2 teasp cumin seeds, ground in a mortar + pestle
1 teasp coriander seeds, ground in a mortar + pestle
1 small chilli
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1/2 teasp ginger, chopped
1/4 lemon, chopped, zest and all
2 tablsp coriander leaves
2 tablsp veg oil
1/4 cup greek yoghurt
s+p to taste
600grms chick thigh fillet skin off, cut across the fillet into fine strips
1 pkt of spring roll wrappers, and for later, 100grms raw cous cous.
This is a simple recipe, combine all the ingredients in a baking dish, (not the cous cous)
Mix well and cook at 180c for about 20 mins. Make sure to cover with foil to retain the moisture. Once cooked gently remove the foil and stir through the cous cous, cover with foil again and set aside to cool.
Once cool, roll in the s/roll wrappers. As per diagram on packet. I always brush the inside of the s/roll with egg whites prior to rolling. This will prevent them from opening whilst frying.
Finally to cook simply fry in veg oil until golden brown.
Paula Nathan
3. SWISS RÖSTI (Hashbrowns)
Serves: 4
3 large or 4 medium potatoes, peeled
1 medium onion, peeled, halved
1 tbsp. olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Coarsely grate potatoes and onion.
Brush non-stick skillet with oil. Add potato mixture in even layer. Press down with spatula. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes, or until bottom is browned and crisp. Turn and cook until bottom is browned and crisp, 6 to 8 minutes more.
janez spendov
4. SWEET POTATO GNOCCI with Maple Cinnamon Sage Brown Butter
2 sweet potatoes
2/3 cup of whole milk ricotta cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour plus 1/3 cup for the work surface.
Maple Cinnamon Sage Brown Butter
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
20 fresh sage leaves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspon black pepper
Bake sweet potatoes until tender about 45 minutes in 425 degree oven.
Cool and scoop out measuring 2 cups. Add ricotta cheese, salt, cinnamon, and pepper and blend.
Add flour a 1/2 cup at a time until forms a soft dough. Lightly flour surface and divide in 6 balls. Roll out each ball into a 1-inch wide rope.
Cut rope in 1 inch pieces. Roll the gnocci with a fork to give it shape.
Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Add gnocci in 3 batches and cook until tender for 5 minutes. They will float to the top. Using slotted spoon put in baking pan and tent to stay warm. For butter sauce: Melt butter over medium heat, add sage leaves until foamy. Remove from pan, stir in cinnamon, syrup, salt & pepper. Gently stir, add gnocci. Serves 6-8.Manchia.
Kathleen_Gentiluomo
5. BUTTERNUT SQUASH/ CARROT/GINGER SOUP
One largish butternut squash
Three large carrots
A piece of fresh ginger root, about 3" x 4"
Six large cloves of garlic
Two large yellow onions
Slice the squash into pieces 2" thick. Discard the stem. Scoop out the seeds and place them on a baking pan in the oven, and bake until light brown and crisp.
With a potato peeler, peel the carrots and the ginger root, and cut into one inch sections.
Peel the garlic cloves by pushing down on each one with the side of a wide knife and then removing the skin. Cut in half and then peel the onions and then cut each half into four pieces.
Steam all of the above in a large pot until a fork easily pierces all of it. (Wear an oven mit when attempting this test.)
Remove the vegetables to a platter and let the pieces of squash cool until you can handle them without burning your fingers.
Scoop the squash from its skin, and discard the skin. Place the remaining squash and other vegetables in a food processor and reduce it all to a smooth thick soup. Use the leftover cooking water to thin it as necessary.
Owing to the squash, carrots and onion, the soup will probably be extremely sweet (varies with the veggies used), so the next step is to balance the flavor with (plum) vinegar, which is both salty and sour. Add a teaspoon to the soup in the food processor, blend it for a minute or two, and then taste it. If it's still too sweet, add another teaspoon. Keep going until you like the balance of flavors in the soup. You can also blend in a couple tablespoons of olive or flax oil to make a richer soup. I do. Optional garnish: the afore-mentioned toasted squash seeds (and/or toasted pumpkin seeds) and fresh cilantro leaves.
Alicia Bay Laurel
6. CAESAR SALAD, with a difference
Cos lettuce broken into bite-size
Anchovies
Barbecued pork fillets (2 or 3)
Salad onion sliced
Tomatoes sliced
Stoned Olives as many as you like or none at all
Capers – tablespoon
3 Button mushrooms finely sliced
Paul Newman’s Caesar Salad dressing (or home-made if you prefer)
2 lightly poached or almost hard boiled eggs
Mix all ingredients together place poached eggs or boiled eggs on top and serve. Adjust quantities to suit the number of people dining. Alternatives can include barbecued chicken or fish or traditional bacon.
Myrna Bull
7. VEGETARIAN PEA SOUP
green & yellow dried split peas (1 bag each)
approx. 7 stalks of celery
5 large baking potatoes or more smaller ones
1 large yellow onion
approx. 7 carrots
salt
coarsely ground black pepper
celery seeds
I take both green & yellow split peas (1 bag each) soak them overnight in a large pot.
I drain the water a couple times and replace it to get rid of the residue that causes the windy effect.
When they're quite saturated with water, I start them in a pot with water on a medium high heat.
I [wash & peel then] chop finely [into pretty small chunks] the celery, carrots, potatoes, & onion.
Toss them into the pot. Add water as needed. I usually start with about 2/3 of the pot full and add more if it gets too thick. Bring it all to a boil. Then reduce the heat. I skim off the foamy part, if there is any. Add salt, pepper & celery seed to your liking. Stir it occasionally and let it simmer for 2-3 hours (or more depending on how firm or creamy you like your peas.) The soup is even better reheated. It can be frozen too.
(Jetgerl, from Chase, in San Francisco, CA)
8. AVOCADO, MANGO AND WALNUT SALAD
2 avocados, peeled and sliced
2 mangoes, peeled and sliced
1/3 cup walnut halves
3 bacon rashers, finely chopped
1 mignonette lettuce
Cook bacon in pan until crisp; drain. Arrange avocado, mango walnuts and bacon over bed of lettuce, top with dressing.
Dressing:
¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1teaspoon French mustard
1tablespoon thickened cream
Combine all ingredients in screw top jar and shake well. Serves 6.
Lesley Tyerman, via Terry Dwyer
9. FIG AND WALNUT TART
(Mr Dolce: 2 recipes in keeping with your name - desserts! I am also including a recipe to take up the egg yolks you will have left over - just in case you don't have a dog! This is a good recipe to use if you have coeliacs in your group, as it is "gluten free".)
Serves 8
Preparation: 25 minutes
Cooking: 50 minutes
This recipe is best made on the day of serving
1 ¾ cups (175g) walnuts
1 ¾ cups (330g) dried figs
6 egg whites
1 ¼ cups (250g) firmly packed soft dark brown sugar
Crème fraiche, marscapone or thick cream to serve
Preheat the oven to hot (220° C). Place the walnuts on an oven tray & bake for about 5 minutes or until browned lightly. Rub the walnuts in a clean tea towel to remove any bitter skins. Discard the skins and cool the walnuts. Reduce oven temperature to moderate (180° C)
Grease a 24cm (base measurement) springform pan & line the base with baking paper. Remove the hard stems from the figs and chop them finely. Combine the walnuts & figs in a medium bowl.
Beat the egg whites in a large bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, beating until dissolved between additions. Fold approximately ¼ cup of meringue into the figs & walnuts, then, using a large metal spoon, gently fold walnut mixture into the meringue. Spoon into prepared tin, leaving the surface rough. Bake in a moderate oven for about 45 minutes or until the tart pulls away from the sides of the tin and feels set on top. Cool the tart in the tin on a wire rack.
Candied Lime:
2 cups (440g) sugar
2 cups (500mL) water
2 limes, sliced thinly
Meanwhile, combine the sugar & water in a large shallow frying pan; stir over a low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil, add lime slices in a single layer and simmer, uncovered, until the rind slice is transparent. Remove slices carefully and place onto baking paper to cool. Store in a single layer in an airtight container at room temperature until ready to use. Decorate the top of the tart with candied lime and serve with crème fraiche.
Not suitable to microwave. Not suitable to freeze.
Sue Murtagh
10. CHOCOLATE MARQUISE
Serves 6 – 8
Begin this recipe a day ahead
7 egg yolks
¾ cup (175g) caster sugar
200g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
250g unsalted butter, chopped, softened
65g cocoa, sifted
600 ml thickened cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
Halved strawberries and thickened cream or cream anglaise to serve.
Lightly grease an 8cm by 22 cm (1 litre capacity) terrine. Line with plastic wrap, leaving the excess to hang over the sides.
Use an electric mixer to beat yolks and sugar in a heatproof bowl for 5 minutes or until thick and pale. Place bowl over a pan of simmering water (make sure bowl doesn’t touch water). Add chocolate and whisk for 5 – 6 minutes until melted. Add butter one piece at a time, whisking between each addition until melted. Remove from heat and fold in cocoa.
Beat cream and vanilla until soft peaks form. Fold a little cream into chocolate mixture. Fold in remainder until combined. Pour into terrine, fold over plastic wrap to cover, then refrigerate overnight.
Turn out terrine, cut into slices, and top with strawberries and crème anglaise
Sue Murtagh
To Whom It May Concern
I was run over by the truth one day.
Ever since the accident I've walked this way
So stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam.
Heard the alarm clock screaming with pain,
Couldn't find myself so I went back to sleep again
So fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam.
Every time I shut my eyes all I see is flames
Made a marble phone book and I carved all the names
So coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam.
I smell something burning, hope it's just my brains.
They're only dropping peppermints and daisy-chains
So stuff my nose with garlic
Coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam.
Where were you at the time of the crime?
Down by the Cenotaph* drinking slime
So chain my tongue with whisky
Stuff my nose with garlic
Coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam.
You put your bombers in, you put your conscience out,
You take the human being and you twist it all about
So scrub my skin with women,
Chain my tongue with whisky
Stuff my nose with garlic
Coat my eyes with butter
Fill my ears with silver
Stick my legs in plaster
Tell me lies about Vietnam.
*Cenotaph - war memorial in London
~ Adrian Mitchell ~
(Thanks to Dai Woosnam)
News!! 'Shaddap You Face' currently in the Top Five of download sellers in the UK, (as of 31/12/08) right after Johnny Cash’s, 'Hurt', and before Dolly Parton’s, 'Here You Come Again'.
http://www.play.com
Recently uncovered 'lost' version of Shaddap You Face, by THE ABS. Hailing from Newport, South Wales, THE ABS were one of the leading UK melodic punk bands of the late 80s. The latest band to be given the Boss Tuneage Retro Series treatment, their back catalogue is made widely available again for the first time in almost 15 years. From the legendary debut single “Grease Your Ralph” through to releases on both Vinyl Solution and Link Records, through to final album “Nail It Down” “A WOP BOP A LOO BOP… A COUGH, WHEEZE FART!” tells the whole of THE ABS story, with liner notes on the history of the band from singer/guitarist Baz Oldfield
http://www.play.com/Music/MP3-Download-Track/4-/8423167/Shaddap-You-Face/Product.html?aid=8422847
'Shaddap-a You Face!'
"Joe Dolce matches amazing covers, including 'The Wind Cries Mary,' with heralded originals, including the international hit 'Shaddap You Face' and 'My Home Ain’t in the Hall of Fame,” KPFA, Berkely, CA.
(Note: ‘My Home Ain’t in the Hall of Fame,’ has been used as the theme song, for years, for Mary Tilson’s, KPFA show, American Back Forty, every Sunday afternoon, at 1 pm.)
Listen to some excerpts via the link below:
Joe Dolce Electronic Press Kit
http://www.sonicbids.com/JoeDolce
THE FINAL HURRAH
Beware of the Doghouse!
A reminder of what will happen if you get your baby the wrong gift this year.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2077360/beware_of_the_doghouse_hilarious/
(Thanks to Frank Dolce)