So Sylvie

recent posts

  • Groovy Tuesday

    I'm making an effort to bring back certain dated terms from my upbringing in San Francisco in the psychedelic 60s.

    Far-out! 

     

    I remember when the song Ruby Tuesday came out in 1967 (yes, I'm that old). It made me swoon. I played the 45 over and over.

     

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    "According to [Keith] Richards's autobiography,"Life", the song was written about his girlfriend Linda Keith. Linda had taken up with Jimi Hendrix and had got involved with drugs. She left Richards and he tried to get her back. He eventually went to her parents and told them she was going down a dark path. Linda's father went to New York to collect her, and by order of court she was grounded. Richards reports that Linda regarded this as a betrayal, and they did not speak again for many years. According to Richards's autobiography, Linda Keith survived, brought up a family, and now lives in New Orleans"

     

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    I love the way the song is composed, Bill Wyman and Keith Richards play the double bass together – ! –  Bill presses down the strings while Keith drags a bow across them. The sounds of the lilting recorder played by Brian Jones and Charlie (same birthday as me) Watts'  fills on the snare drum are indelible. It's sweet to see Keith at the keyboard in that video, and Mick's wide-eyed response to the adoration from the crowd is precious. What a gas. Right on!

     

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  • Maudlin Music Monday!

     One of my favorite Johnny Cash songs, sung by the best female singer, hands down: 

     

    "I go out to a party and for a little fun, but I find a darkened corner, "cause I still miss someone."

     

    Ahhhh.

    Mar 2014

     

    I have something extra special for Tuesday, then I promise I will get back to some interior intrigue.

  • Claire Basler: Portes Ouvertes!

    **NOTE**

    Get in touch if you're interested in joining us for Claire Basler's Open House, Sept. 2018. 5 slots available.

    Claire Basler Open House 2018

    www.artfulfrance.com

     

    CLAIRE BASLER PORTES OUVERTES 2014 P1

    Claire Basler opens her home to visitors May 29 to June 15.

     

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  • A Mythic Quest…Divine Interior Design

    "Pay attention to your dreams, and indulge in the pleasure of wild fantasies, and see yourself as a mythic hero in life's divine drama. See yourself as being on a mythic quest to discover and fully express your soul's code. " Gemini ~ by Free Will Astrology

     

    and I'm taking my bag of tricks with me!

    Etsy

    and furthermore…

    "To help take the edge off the darkness you have been wrestling with, I offer you these lines from a poem by Kay Ryan: 'The day misspent,/the love misplaced,/has inside it,/the seed of redemption,/nothing is exempt,/from resurrection.' In other words, Gemini, whatever has disappeared from your life, will return later in a new form. The wrong turns you made will lead you to a fresh possibility."

    "I hope you will respond by embarking on a heroic effort to make life beautiful everywhere you go. Little by little, with your steady affection and relentless devotion, you can transform what's rigid and hard."

    ~ Gemini, Free Will Astrology

    Speaking of "rigid and hard", the barn is finished ! and we'll soon be moving on. You will be dazzled with imagery from this grand experiment soon, je vous promets. It's been a blast transforming it into something beautiful. More to come. For now, here are some tiny peeks:

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  • Melancholy Monday: Father John Misty

    Father John Misty ~ Every Man Needs A Companion

     

    "Joseph Campbell and the Rolling Stones couldn't give me a myth,
    so I had to write my own."

    Amen.

    Sad can be sexy: watch live version at Don Quixote's in Felton, California.

     

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    KEXP always has great performances in the studio. See FJ Misty here.

    And happy sad Monday to you!

  • Winery Winter Wonderland

    Marcel and I have been up north at Francis Ford Coppola's place!

     A sprig of rosmarino in the lapel…

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    Bright eyes

     

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    He's not really upset with me photographing him endlessly, he's just trying out his serious side…

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    Warm enough for a dip in the pool…

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     Happy Marcello!

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  • Melancholy Monday ~ Carrickfergus, Bryan Ferry

     

    “I would swim over, the deepest ocean,

    just to see my love, before I die,

    but the sea is wide, and I cannot swim over,

    nor have I wings, so I could fly…”

     

    This was on the 1978 album The Bride Stripped Bare (Waddy Wachtel was one of the producers). I played it to death when it came out. That’s How Strong My Love Is follows this heartbreaker on the album. Way to hit you when you’re down, heh. It’s like a one-two punch.

    I just found a 45 of Jealous Guy (I love his pinky on the mic) recently. Another tearjerker. Read the background on it here.

    I’ll be seeing Mr. Ferry in a little over a month, in Oakland. I haven’t seen him live since 1978. 

  • Dr. Dog ~ Live Grooves and Etsy Leather!

    Drdog

    Marcel and I were happy guests at Dr. Dog's concert last night in Santa Cruz. We got back from our trip just in time for the band's first appearance in Surf City. They had a documentary film crew in tow who interviewed Marcel and plied him gifts throughout the night. Merci mille fois to Monsieur Santos.

    Marcel, adorned for the show:

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    They set the tone before taking the stage by blasting a recording of Bad Boy by the Jive Bombers…"I'm taking the trouble to blow my bubbles away"…and they blew them away, well and good. With a campy stage set, that looked like something from a 60s game show, they entered through a metallic drape hung from an arch studded with red light bulbs. An electric marquee glowed from stage left that read "Dr.Dog – Live From Steamer Lane" ~ a reference to one of our local surf spots. The band were stunned by the roar of the sold-out crowd.

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    Highlight: Toby Leaman's vocals on Fate reminded me of Graham Parker (video below)…

    Music

    After the show I talked with him about how I could easily hear Billie Holiday singing it ( or even Amy Winehouse):

     

     song begins at 3:20:

     

    Another highlight of the show was Broken Heart, with syrupy harmonies, jangly rhythm guitar, chunky bass, driving drums (is that some kind of effect on the tom-toms? or is that luscious Dimitri with one of his toys?) and shredding guitar (solo comes in at 2:05 on the video), set to vintage footage of amusement parks (pre-liability era I'm guessing):

     

    The encore for the show lasted for at least a half hour and was a fun free-for-all. They invited guitarist Christian Peslak from the opening band Saint Rich to jam with them. He felt a little "shy" and halting, but Dog drummer Eric Slick nudged and pushed him so masterfully. It was a brilliant display of the drummer's artistry (his Mom's blog). I really appreciate small moments like that at a live show.

    Look for them on tour and check out the free download from a house concert they played in Nashville (boy, they grow them houses big in Music City). 

    We saw them last August at the First City Festival in Monterey:

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    Photos of the band with Marcel backstage, along with Isaac Brock from Modest Mouse:

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    And now for the "leather"…

     

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  • Vashti Bunyan: Train Song

    It's mournful monday again. Time for another beautiful sad song. This ones parfait for the day as I'll be traveling north. Vashti Bunyan is a 60s singer/songwriter ~ a 'discovery' (like Marianne Faithfull) of Andrew Loog Oldham (Rolling Stones manager, etc.). Devendra Banhart and Andy Cabic (Vetiver) are fans and collaborators of Vashti's…and you know they have good taste.

     

     

     

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    Traveling north, traveling north to find you
    Train wheels beating, the wind in my eyes
    Don't even know what I'll say when I find you
    Call out your name love, don't be surprised

    It's so many miles and so long since I've left you
    Don't even know what I'll find when I get to you
    But suddenly now I know where I belong
    It's many hundred miles and it won't be long

    Nothing at all in my head to say to you
    Only the beat of the train I'm on
    Nothing I've learnt all my life on my way to you
    One day our love it's over and gone

    It's so many miles and so long since I've met you
    Don't even know what I'll find when I get to you
    But suddenly now I know where I belong
    It's many hundred miles and it won't be long

     

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  • This Will End In Tears

    I love sad music. It makes me so happy. I will endeavor to share a sad song every Monday, to kick off the week  (we’ll see if a gemini gypsy gal can be that disciplined). This week I am in love with this song by The National and the ancien film footage brilliantly fused by omnisciencia ficción.

    J’ai descendu l’escalier de la tour eiffel…once upon a time, in another time. A happy time.

    This was parked outside of my flat in the 16th Arrondissement in Paris:

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    Blue music for a blue car 🙂