The working title of “Hotel California” was “Mexican Reggae. — According to Don Feldrr in a Rolling Stones article
So have I mentioned that we get some of our nastiest weather this time of year? Thus it is this weekend with sleet, freezing rain and high winds keeping all save the staff that tend to our livestock inside. Which is why I’m in the Robert Graves Memorial Room sitting next to a roaring fire writing this update up for you. I’ve got a pot of Darjeeling first blush which needs no cream, so I’m as content as Hamish, one of our resident hedgehogs, who’s sleeping in a quilted basket near the fire. So let’s see what we’ve got for you this week…
But before we start, some words from one of our favourite people, Ellen Datlow, on why she likes Spring better than any other season: ‘I love spring in New York–even if it only lasts a few short weeks. I celebrate spring by trying to view the very few magnolia trees in bloom around my neighborhood (they’re in full bloom for only a few days so it’s quite easy to miss them completely).’ The rest of her reasoning for this choice is thisaway.
Just things of a haunted nature this time, some you decide wouldn’t want tomeet.
Andrea looks at an Appalachian set tale for you: ‘Ghost Rider is the latest novel in Sharyn McCrumb’s “Ballad Series.” Ghost Riders is different from the others in the series in that there is no mystery (in the “mystery novel” sense of the word) to be solved. In the other books, the storyline goes back and forth between past and present, the stories linked sometimes obviously and sometimes tenuously. Usually in the “modern” story there is a mystery which the story in the past fleshes out or provides with a new insight. In Ghost Riders there are two separate tales from the past and a storyline set in the present. The narratives set in the past are linked by a chance meeting but still remain separate tales. One of these stories has a direct influence on the present. There are various characters, past and present, whose lives intertwine briefly in interesting and occasionally surprising ways.’
Cat looks at the urban legend retold yet again of a ghost girl asking for a ride home on the anniversary of her death: ‘Seanan McGuire decided to tell her own ghost story in Sparrow Hill Road which, like her novel Indexing, was originally a series of short stories published through The Edge of Propinquity, starting in January of 2010 and ending in December of that year. It appears they’ve been somewhat revised for this telling of her ghostly narrator’s tale but I can’t say how much as I’ve not read the original versions.’
Ellen Datlow and Nick Mamatas’ Haunted Legends anthology, says Gereg, is ‘something of a paradox: As a collection I found this volume kind of weak, but there are a lot of very fine stories in it. So many, in fact, that on going back over the anthology a second time, I wondered why I’d thought it was weak in the first place. As a reader, I’d probably just leave it at that; but as reviewer, I feel I owe it to my adoring public to tell you precisely why I feel the overall effect is weak. So I dove back into the book for a third time. Such travails are how I earn my fabulously high salary here.’
A woman who sees ghosts is the central character in a novel that Kathleen reviews for us: ‘Cherie Priest is a first time novelist. However, she writes with ease and a deceptive power, like the flow of the Tennessee River through her home city of Chattanooga. Four and Twenty Blackbirds is a Southern Gothic with a hint of hard boiled mystery: there’s grit in the magnolia honey and in the heroine as well.’
Possibly the earliest example of the American ghost story gets reviewed by Kestrell: ‘It is difficult to think of an American ghost story more well-known than that of Washington Irving’s short story ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’. Though Irving’s original sources for the stories may have been local folklore based on the same stories which the Grimm Brothers would collect and publish back in the Old World, Irving’s tale would emerge as one of America’s first and most familiar stories until, like the best stories, it seeped into the American consciousness the way well water rises from some hidden source deep underground.’
And one of my favourite literary treats with ghostly presences for Autumn evening nights is reviewed by Robert: ‘Peter S. Beagle’s Tamsin first saw the light of day as a story idea for a Disney animated feature. Disney never followed through. Beagle did, finally, for which I think we can all be grateful.’
In new music, Gary reviews the latest from one of his favorite musicians, Anouar Brahem’s After The Last Sky. ‘The album as a whole has a somber feel, due to the influence of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war as these works were being composed and recorded. The title is the same as that of Edward Said’s influential book, a searing examination of Palestinian identity; the penultimate track is a haunting duet between Bates and Lechner entitled “Edward Said’s Meditation”; and the opening track “Remembering Hind” is a similar duet in memory of a victim of the Gaza war.’
For a change in tone, he reviews an album by La Baula, a new folk group from Catalonia. ‘Cançons a l’ombra is a good introduction to Catalan roots music with its lovely vocals and a wide variety of traditional instruments on updated arrangements of traditional songs.’
He also reviews the new album from the Finnish retro group Uusikuu. ‘Four of the twelve tracks on Piknik are Uusikuu originals, and the rest are a blend of humorous humppas (a peppy, jazz-adjacent dance music rather like a fast foxtrot), tangos, ballads, and iconic swing tunes. Among the latter is “Sä kaunehin oot,” better known here by its German title of “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen,” as sung by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald.’
Balkan music had a moment back around the turn of the century. We reviewed a lot of it then, and we still do so, as the music continues even though its casual fans have long turned elsewhere. From the archives, here is just a smattering of our Balkan coverage over the years, including some of the more obscure titles.
Big Earl had strong opinions about three Balkan related discs he reviewed: Los Niños de Sara’s Gipsyolé, Jony Iliev & Band’s Ma Maren Ma, and Besh o droM’s Nekemtenemmutogatol! (Can’t Make Me!) ‘… Besh o droM ups the stakes considerably. Hailing from Hungary, this group takes the tradition and moshes it into the modern era. Fast playing and tight arrangements make Can’t Make Me! the standout here.
Brendan Foreman reviewed one of the discs that brought Balkan music to the attention of Americans, the benefit compilation Balkans Without Borders. ‘This CD cuts across the spectrum of Balkan music from the Mediterranean to the Baltic Sea, from the Ural River to the Ruhr, and stretching even beyond those boundaries. Taken as a whole, it clearly shows the shared musical and cultural heritage that all of the people of the Balkans share, a heritage that, given the current violence of the region, is that much more heartbreaking to witness.’
Gary raved about Choban Elektrik’s Choban Elektrik. ‘Choban Elektrik’s music is billed as Balkan psychedelic jazz-rock, and that’s a pretty good description. The band is Jordan Shapiro on keyboards and guitar, Dave Johnsen on electric bass and Phil Kester on drums and percussion with Jesse Kotansky and Eva Salina Primack providing violin and vocals respectively on some tracks.’
He also enjoyed Cosmic Voices of Bulgaria’s Mechmetio. ‘This is powerful stuff, but never overly solemn. Its moods range from raucous to tender, playful to pensive, but it never feels like it’s done merely to impress. If you think you’ve heard all you need of Bulgarian women’s choirs, think again.’
And he reviewed Drumovi, a hybrid American Balkan recording from Zabe i Babe, a similarly hybrid band led by American folkie Tim Eriksen. ‘The group’s name, Zabe i Babe, translates as “grandmothers and frogs,” and is roughly the equivalent of the American idiom “apples and oranges,” used for comparing non-comparable items. But the elements go together better than that, at least most of the time.’
Judith enjoyed Adam Good’s Dances Of Macedonia and the Balkans. ‘Good includes traditional dances as well as his own compositions, which are played on the tambura, the four string lute used in Macedonia. On some of the tunes he is accompanied by a variety of village flute called a kaval and by drumming on tupan or dumbek, mostly by his bandmates in the American-Canadian group 9 Olives.’
Naomi reviewed Ciganine by the Pennsylvania based trio Sviraj. ‘This CD has 17 tracks, filled with a music containing so much passion it is impossible not to let it work its magic upon you. The lyrics are in both their original tongue and in English, allowing for a complete understanding of the song.’
Robert was favorably impressed by Boban Marković Orkestar’s Boban i Marko, which, he noted …”features a group of mostly traditional songs from the south of Serbia, fourteen tunes that range from the rollicking opener, “Balkan Fest,” complete with its marked “oom-pah-pah” rhythm, through “Southern Comfort,” a mellow, fluid piece with surprises in tempo and melody. There is even a samba, Serbian style.’
The Eagles penned a song, but not just any song. It was ‘ Hotel California ‘ and pretty much of all of the band in the form of Don Felder, Don Henley and Glenn Frey are credit is writing it. Released in February 19 77, it is truly magnificent with its never to be forgotten refrain as Glen Frey performing it
Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year (any time of year)
Here it is as performed thirty years in Burbank, California.
I'm the Pub Manager for the Green Man Pub which is located at the KInrowan Estate. I'm married to Ingrid, our Steward who's also the Estate Buyer. If I'm off duty and in a mood for a drink, it'll be a single malt, either Irish or Scottish, no water or ice, or possibly an Estate ale or cider.
I'm a concertina player, and unlike my wife who has a fine singing voice, I do not have anything of a singing voice anyone want to hear!
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What’s New of 2nd of March: Kibbles and Bits including ghostly stories, the Hotel California, music picked by Gary of course
So have I mentioned that we get some of our nastiest weather this time of year? Thus it is this weekend with sleet, freezing rain and high winds keeping all save the staff that tend to our livestock inside. Which is why I’m in the Robert Graves Memorial Room sitting next to a roaring fire writing this update up for you. I’ve got a pot of Darjeeling first blush which needs no cream, so I’m as content as Hamish, one of our resident hedgehogs, who’s sleeping in a quilted basket near the fire. So let’s see what we’ve got for you this week…
But before we start, some words from one of our favourite people, Ellen Datlow, on why she likes Spring better than any other season: ‘I love spring in New York–even if it only lasts a few short weeks. I celebrate spring by trying to view the very few magnolia trees in bloom around my neighborhood (they’re in full bloom for only a few days so it’s quite easy to miss them completely).’ The rest of her reasoning for this choice is thisaway.
Just things of a haunted nature this time, some you decide wouldn’t want tomeet.
Andrea looks at an Appalachian set tale for you: ‘Ghost Rider is the latest novel in Sharyn McCrumb’s “Ballad Series.” Ghost Riders is different from the others in the series in that there is no mystery (in the “mystery novel” sense of the word) to be solved. In the other books, the storyline goes back and forth between past and present, the stories linked sometimes obviously and sometimes tenuously. Usually in the “modern” story there is a mystery which the story in the past fleshes out or provides with a new insight. In Ghost Riders there are two separate tales from the past and a storyline set in the present. The narratives set in the past are linked by a chance meeting but still remain separate tales. One of these stories has a direct influence on the present. There are various characters, past and present, whose lives intertwine briefly in interesting and occasionally surprising ways.’
Cat looks at the urban legend retold yet again of a ghost girl asking for a ride home on the anniversary of her death: ‘Seanan McGuire decided to tell her own ghost story in Sparrow Hill Road which, like her novel Indexing, was originally a series of short stories published through The Edge of Propinquity, starting in January of 2010 and ending in December of that year. It appears they’ve been somewhat revised for this telling of her ghostly narrator’s tale but I can’t say how much as I’ve not read the original versions.’
Ellen Datlow and Nick Mamatas’ Haunted Legends anthology, says Gereg, is ‘something of a paradox: As a collection I found this volume kind of weak, but there are a lot of very fine stories in it. So many, in fact, that on going back over the anthology a second time, I wondered why I’d thought it was weak in the first place. As a reader, I’d probably just leave it at that; but as reviewer, I feel I owe it to my adoring public to tell you precisely why I feel the overall effect is weak. So I dove back into the book for a third time. Such travails are how I earn my fabulously high salary here.’
A woman who sees ghosts is the central character in a novel that Kathleen reviews for us: ‘Cherie Priest is a first time novelist. However, she writes with ease and a deceptive power, like the flow of the Tennessee River through her home city of Chattanooga. Four and Twenty Blackbirds is a Southern Gothic with a hint of hard boiled mystery: there’s grit in the magnolia honey and in the heroine as well.’
Possibly the earliest example of the American ghost story gets reviewed by Kestrell: ‘It is difficult to think of an American ghost story more well-known than that of Washington Irving’s short story ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’. Though Irving’s original sources for the stories may have been local folklore based on the same stories which the Grimm Brothers would collect and publish back in the Old World, Irving’s tale would emerge as one of America’s first and most familiar stories until, like the best stories, it seeped into the American consciousness the way well water rises from some hidden source deep underground.’
And one of my favourite literary treats with ghostly presences for Autumn evening nights is reviewed by Robert: ‘Peter S. Beagle’s Tamsin first saw the light of day as a story idea for a Disney animated feature. Disney never followed through. Beagle did, finally, for which I think we can all be grateful.’
In new music, Gary reviews the latest from one of his favorite musicians, Anouar Brahem’s After The Last Sky. ‘The album as a whole has a somber feel, due to the influence of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war as these works were being composed and recorded. The title is the same as that of Edward Said’s influential book, a searing examination of Palestinian identity; the penultimate track is a haunting duet between Bates and Lechner entitled “Edward Said’s Meditation”; and the opening track “Remembering Hind” is a similar duet in memory of a victim of the Gaza war.’
For a change in tone, he reviews an album by La Baula, a new folk group from Catalonia. ‘Cançons a l’ombra is a good introduction to Catalan roots music with its lovely vocals and a wide variety of traditional instruments on updated arrangements of traditional songs.’
He also reviews the new album from the Finnish retro group Uusikuu. ‘Four of the twelve tracks on Piknik are Uusikuu originals, and the rest are a blend of humorous humppas (a peppy, jazz-adjacent dance music rather like a fast foxtrot), tangos, ballads, and iconic swing tunes. Among the latter is “Sä kaunehin oot,” better known here by its German title of “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen,” as sung by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald.’
Balkan music had a moment back around the turn of the century. We reviewed a lot of it then, and we still do so, as the music continues even though its casual fans have long turned elsewhere. From the archives, here is just a smattering of our Balkan coverage over the years, including some of the more obscure titles.
Big Earl had strong opinions about three Balkan related discs he reviewed: Los Niños de Sara’s Gipsyolé, Jony Iliev & Band’s Ma Maren Ma, and Besh o droM’s Nekemtenemmutogatol! (Can’t Make Me!) ‘… Besh o droM ups the stakes considerably. Hailing from Hungary, this group takes the tradition and moshes it into the modern era. Fast playing and tight arrangements make Can’t Make Me! the standout here.
Brendan Foreman reviewed one of the discs that brought Balkan music to the attention of Americans, the benefit compilation Balkans Without Borders. ‘This CD cuts across the spectrum of Balkan music from the Mediterranean to the Baltic Sea, from the Ural River to the Ruhr, and stretching even beyond those boundaries. Taken as a whole, it clearly shows the shared musical and cultural heritage that all of the people of the Balkans share, a heritage that, given the current violence of the region, is that much more heartbreaking to witness.’
Gary raved about Choban Elektrik’s Choban Elektrik. ‘Choban Elektrik’s music is billed as Balkan psychedelic jazz-rock, and that’s a pretty good description. The band is Jordan Shapiro on keyboards and guitar, Dave Johnsen on electric bass and Phil Kester on drums and percussion with Jesse Kotansky and Eva Salina Primack providing violin and vocals respectively on some tracks.’
He also enjoyed Cosmic Voices of Bulgaria’s Mechmetio. ‘This is powerful stuff, but never overly solemn. Its moods range from raucous to tender, playful to pensive, but it never feels like it’s done merely to impress. If you think you’ve heard all you need of Bulgarian women’s choirs, think again.’
And he reviewed Drumovi, a hybrid American Balkan recording from Zabe i Babe, a similarly hybrid band led by American folkie Tim Eriksen. ‘The group’s name, Zabe i Babe, translates as “grandmothers and frogs,” and is roughly the equivalent of the American idiom “apples and oranges,” used for comparing non-comparable items. But the elements go together better than that, at least most of the time.’
Judith enjoyed Adam Good’s Dances Of Macedonia and the Balkans. ‘Good includes traditional dances as well as his own compositions, which are played on the tambura, the four string lute used in Macedonia. On some of the tunes he is accompanied by a variety of village flute called a kaval and by drumming on tupan or dumbek, mostly by his bandmates in the American-Canadian group 9 Olives.’
Naomi reviewed Ciganine by the Pennsylvania based trio Sviraj. ‘This CD has 17 tracks, filled with a music containing so much passion it is impossible not to let it work its magic upon you. The lyrics are in both their original tongue and in English, allowing for a complete understanding of the song.’
Robert was favorably impressed by Boban Marković Orkestar’s Boban i Marko, which, he noted …”features a group of mostly traditional songs from the south of Serbia, fourteen tunes that range from the rollicking opener, “Balkan Fest,” complete with its marked “oom-pah-pah” rhythm, through “Southern Comfort,” a mellow, fluid piece with surprises in tempo and melody. There is even a samba, Serbian style.’
The Eagles penned a song, but not just any song. It was ‘ Hotel California ‘ and pretty much of all of the band in the form of Don Felder, Don Henley and Glenn Frey are credit is writing it. Released in February 19 77, it is truly magnificent with its never to be forgotten refrain as Glen Frey performing it
Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year (any time of year)
Here it is as performed thirty years in Burbank, California.
Reynard
I'm the Pub Manager for the Green Man Pub which is located at the KInrowan Estate. I'm married to Ingrid, our Steward who's also the Estate Buyer. If I'm off duty and in a mood for a drink, it'll be a single malt, either Irish or Scottish, no water or ice, or possibly an Estate ale or cider. I'm a concertina player, and unlike my wife who has a fine singing voice, I do not have anything of a singing voice anyone want to hear!
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About Reynard
I'm the Pub Manager for the Green Man Pub which is located at the KInrowan Estate. I'm married to Ingrid, our Steward who's also the Estate Buyer. If I'm off duty and in a mood for a drink, it'll be a single malt, either Irish or Scottish, no water or ice, or possibly an Estate ale or cider. I'm a concertina player, and unlike my wife who has a fine singing voice, I do not have anything of a singing voice anyone want to hear!