Old Friends, New Friends

Welcome back Dear Readers.

Glad to see you again.

The weather here has been appropriately wintry

and on a snowy day I pulled out this old gem.

Bruce Cockburn's early work

High Winds White Sky 

is almost 40 years old

and I remember hearing this sensitive,

poetic work when it was first released.

I think you will really like this.

Do take a moment to seek this out and visit it.

You won't be disappointed.

High winds
White sky
Wild birds do glide
Tattered smoke fades
Embers in the pipe
Move like
Life beginning
High winds
Pyramids
Glittering ring
Blood of the king
Daughter of the stars
You are
Life beginning
The wind's travellers' tales tease the tops of the trees
the ships have all sailed to the mouth of the sea...
High winds
Wheel turns
The spider spins
Hands draw us in
River-scented skin
Moves in
Life beginning
Falsehood lies panting like a fish in the palm...

A Long Lost Menu

Dear Friends,

Dear Readers,

As many of you may already know,

I just endured

the pain and injustices

of moving.

If there could possibly be

any upside to all this upheaval,

it would be going through ones belongings

and stumbling upon

lost treasures.

If

you ever

have to move,

I hope you will make

some wonderful discoveries.

I found this menu

of a meal I created years ago.

Celebration Dinner

Saturday August 15, 1992

Peppered Seared Rare Tuna

with Papaya Salsa & Epazote

Pouilly Fume

Cuvee Speciale Vielle Vignes

1989

Regis Minet

Grilled Blackberry Quail

served on a Mesclun Nest

Grapefruit Thyme Granita

Chateau La Lagune

1986

Grilled Veal Rib Chop

with Chanterelles,

Haricot Vert Bundles,

& Fritters made with fresh White Corn,

Tomatoes, Roast Peppers,

Scallions & Boucheron

Mocha

Arabica Sanani

Bittersweet Chocolate Tart

served on a Raspberry Coulis

&

a Prune Plum Tart

with an Almond Cream

Sounds pretty tasty, no?

I sure wish I had someone here to prepare it for me!

Best,

David

Music For The 2009 Holiday Season

Welcome back Dear Readers.

I hope you are enjoying

the start of Winter.

Here we're experiencing

the first snow of the year

and it is really quite lovely.

It has gotten me thinking about what music best accompanies it.

Earlier I enjoyed a cup of Lapsang Souchong with Cherry Preserves

along with Ivan Moravec performing the Chopin Nocturnes.

Very nice.

Robert Shaw and his Festival Singers

performing Rachmaninoff's Vespers seemed

appropriate as well.

Oh yes, and I just picked up

a copy of

what is probably

the hippest recording of this Holiday Season -

Carla Bley's - Carla's Christmas Carols.

Don't miss it.

Following you'll find 10 listings from my Library

that I think are great for this time of year.

I hope you'll enjoy them .

1. First up I think you'll love hearing Claude Debussy

playing Claude Debussy. Revel in this special recording and

Snowflakes Are Dancing.

2. Here's Fleet Foxes great rock recording.

You will not want to miss their amazing vocals.

Check out

White Winter Hymnal.

3. Many of you out there know that I think the world of Norma Winstone.

Her ethereal vocals have colored my world.

On the recording Distances you won't want to miss

Snowflakes.

And you will no doubt be thrilled to know that

on December 17th Norma, Glauco, & Klaus

are going back into the studio to record their second ECM release.

Something to look forward to there!

4. Here we have the ever talented Fred Hersch

performing a tune that Norma has sung beautifully on many occasions.

You may have heard Kenny Wheeler perform it as well.

Another great tune for this kind of weather -

Wintersweet.

5. For a breezy wisp of a pop gem you can turn to

Pizzicato 5 and

Snowflakes.

6. From their compatriot Ryuichi Sakamoto

there's Winter

from his

Alexei And The Spring

recording.

7. Another fine soundtrack recording brings us Rachel Portman's

Snow Story

from the Paul Auster movie Smoke.

8. And here we find a super group made up of

Ralph Towner, Jan Garbarek, Eberhard Weber

& Jon Christensen

performing

Winter Solstice.

9. Jarrett's American Quartet was brilliant

as well and here's their warming version of

Blackberry Winter

for those cold nights.

10. Lastly, no list of wintry delights would be complete

without a tune my Uncle Alan

brought to my attention years ago.

A tune you will want to seek out

when that delicate white stuff starts

a blowin' round in that sky.

Claude Thornhill's

Snowfall

is a real gem from

an earlier time.

Treat yourself.