Global Around Town - Anniversary & Award

Hello again Dear Friends.

I've been very bad.

I've been procrastinating.

You see

it was on

 December 12, 2008

that the first edition of

Global Around Town

hit the stands.

And this is the first chance I've had

to thank you for accompanying me

on the first year

of this journey.

So to you I say

Happy Anniversary!

And I hope that you're up for

our continued travels

and exploration of The Arts.

My intention in all of this has been to preview events in the Arts

so that you too might enjoy & experience them as I do.

Following are a few of "My Favorite Things" from this past year:

For the first edition we traveled to Paris

for the premier of Richard Dubugnon's Violin Concerto

performed by Janine Jansen with Esa Pekka Salonen and Orchestre de Paris.

We traveled to Copenhagen

to celebrate one of the

Fathers of Scandinavian Design: Arne Jacobsen.

In Rome

we went to hear -

"A Secret Rose: Concerto for 100 electric guitars Orchestra Contemporanea,

conducted by Rhys Chatam, a multimedia event. Described as "an imaginary jam session with John Cale, Tony Conrad and the Ramones".

Last Spring we took in the tulips in Amsterdam

with trips to The Cobra Museum for all the brilliant works of Jorn, Appel, and Alechinsky.

We dined on rijsttafel at Sama Sebo and enjoyed fine cigars at Hajenius.

In Milan,  when we took a break from all of the great Art & Design,

we shopped and dined at Carla Sozzani's

10 Corso Como

while reveling in

The Manifesto Of Futurism

1. We want to sing the love of danger, the habit of energy and rashness.

2. The essential elements of our poetry will be courage, audacity and revolt.

3. Literature has up to now magnified pensive immobility, ecstasy and slumber. We want to exalt movements of aggression, feverish sleeplessness, the double march, the perilous leap, the slap and the blow with the fist.

4. We declare that the splendor of the world has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed. A racing automobile with its bonnet adorned with great tubes like serpents with explosive breath ... a roaring motor car which seems to run on machine-gun fire, is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace.

5. We want to sing the man at the wheel, the ideal axis of which crosses the earth, itself hurled along its orbit.

6. The poet must spend himself with warmth, glamour and prodigality to increase the enthusiastic fervor of the primordial elements.

7. Beauty exists only in struggle. There is no masterpiece that has not an aggressive character. Poetry must be a violent assault on the forces of the unknown, to force them to bow before man.

8. We are on the extreme promontory of the centuries! What is the use of looking behind at the moment when we must open the mysterious shutters of the impossible? Time and Space died yesterday. We are already living in the absolute, since we have already created eternal, omnipresent speed.

9. We want to glorify war — the only cure for the world — militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of the anarchists, the beautiful ideas which kill, and contempt for woman.

10. We want to demolish museums and libraries, fight morality, feminism and all opportunist and utilitarian cowardice.

11. We will sing of the great crowds agitated by work, pleasure and revolt; the multi-colored and polyphonic surf of revolutions in modern capitals: the nocturnal vibration of the arsenals and the workshops beneath their violent electric moons: the gluttonous railway stations devouring smoking serpents; factories suspended from the clouds by the thread of their smoke; bridges with the leap of gymnasts flung across the diabolic cutlery of sunny rivers: adventurous steamers sniffing the horizon; great-breasted locomotives, puffing on the rails like enormous steel horses with long tubes for bridle, and the gliding flight of aeroplanes whose propeller sounds like the flapping of a flag and the applause of enthusiastic crowds.

In Barcelona we celebrated the birth of Mies van der Rohe

 

with a visit to his

 

Barcelona Pavilion.

 

We continued our celebration with trips to

 

Gaudi's Sagrada Familia,

 

dinner at the magnificent

 

Jean Luc Figuera,

 

and chocolate and more chocolate

 

at

 

"The Christian Dior of Chocolate"

 

Cacao Sampaca.

 

 

 

I've tried to bring great films to your attention, and to point out what a great job

 

Film Movement  does. 

 Lucky to have attended the US premier of

 

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

 

I brought that to you immediately.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've tried do bring great literature your way...

 

 

 

 

 

and great painters 

 

with works by Mary Hambleton & Ken Buhler.

 

You were curious about...

Some of

My Works

 And of course there's been plenty of great Music!

 
 

 

And the FOOD!!!!!!

We've dined at many of the finest restaurants in the world.

Shared menus...

... and a recipe or two.

Who could forget my brother's famous

Pineapple Coconut Matzoh Farfel Kugel?

Contributions by the ever generous and completely indefatigable

Global Around Town Senior Travel Correspondent

Doug Wingate

have been nothing short of immense!

Traveling like a spinning top,

almost non stop,

(I'm wondering where he is now)

he brought us:

 Dining tips from Honk Kong

Theatre in NYC

Trips to India, Nepal, Bolivia & Peru...

Thanks Doug!

Global Around Town Senior Music Correspondent

Don Yaffe

assisted with his ruminations on Django Reinhardt.

Creating and working on this blog has been an amazing experience.

I have learned a ton.

At times it has been terribly frustrating.

Most of the time, sharing this beauty, is very meaningful and fun for me. 

Where else could I hope to share this amazing pick up line that I may one day use?

 In Subiela's great film  

The Dark Side of the Heart

the protagonist Oliverio approaches a woman in a bar

with this:

"I don't care if a women has breasts like magnolias

or like dried out prunes.

 

Or skin like a peach,

or like sandpaper.

 

I could care less if in the morning her breath is like an aphrodisiac,

or if it's like an insecticide.

 

I'd be more than willing to accept a nose

that would win first prize at a carrot show.

 

But there's one thing.

 

I'm very strict about this.

 

I will not permit, under any circumstances,

a woman who can't fly."

Where else but on my very own little blog can I point out little delicacies like that?! 

And it seems that

there have been many of you out there

 and around the world

who have enjoyed and participated in my folie,

 Global Around Town.

I have worked with 

and met many amazing people from all over.

In particular,

Lala, of My Castle in Spain

and

Willow, of Life at Willow Manor

have been great sources of love, support, & inspiration.

Thank You Girls!

Ah yes...

and thanks  for 

The Beautiful Blogger Award! 

It's nice to know that someone out there is sharing this experience 

and appreciates my aesthetic. 

Thank you all for joining me this past year.

I hope you will continue along this path with me as we seek

The Most Exciting Events in the World of the Arts.

All the best,

David

Shall We Kiss?

With all my friends

 either heading to 

or returning from Paris

right now,

I decided on taking a romantic little trip there as well.

Settled into my comfy couch last night 

I viewed 

Shall We Kiss?, 

a cute little gem, 

the answer to which is a resounding,

Mais oui!

Certainement!

Stephen Holden 

described 

Shall We Kiss?

as a

"mouth-watering Gallic soufflé" . 

And I say... 

Isn't it time for dinner?

A 3 B's Evening - Till Fellner at The Austrian Embassy

How should Beethoven be played?

How did Ludwig van 

want his music to sound?

And what responsibility does the artist have 

in interpreting a composer's works? 

These are some of the questions

that were running through my head 

as I listened to 

Till Fellner at The Austrian Embassy

earlier this evening. 

Till is in the midst of presenting all of the Beethoven Sonatas

and tonight he performed 

No. 9, 10, 8, 11, & 26. 

As I listened to him perform 

the words

clarity,

and purity

came to mind.

Till played with a firm and gentle purpose.

With a calculated and calibrated precision. 

The concert was beautiful 

and

 Mr. Fellner is obviously very, very talented. 

BUT is this the way to play Beethoven?

When I think of Beethoven

I often think of 

forceful playing,

spontaneity,

capriciousness,

and music that might teeter on the brink. 

There was little if any of that this evening. 

I really have loved Fellner's recordings of Bach's 

Well-Tempered Clavier

and 

Inventionen und Sinfonien

and feel that his approach is better suited to this composer. 

I think his style might work well with Brahms 


and look forward to hearing that in the future.

St. Patrick's Day Dinner

Still Life - Adriaen van Utrecht



Long ago and faraway,

and many years ago,

I was rather involved in 

the Food & Wine Industry. 

And one Spring, 

in planning for an interview 

for a Wine Steward position, 

I created this menu as an example of my aesthetic.

St. Patrick's Day Dinner

Black Pepper Tartlet with Caramelized Onions, Leeks and Green Garlic

Domaine Zind Humbrecht, Tokay D'Alsace, Clos St. Urbain '83

Salade de Saumon Printennier

Qupe Marsanne '87

Granita de Chartreuse

Spit Roasted Leg of Lamb with Gremolata,

Gratin of Florence Fennel,

and Potatoes Raked Over The Coals

Bandol Tempier, Tourtine '85

Salade de Mesclun with Caeriphily

Highland Fling with Whiskied Currants

Irish Mist

Could you possibly enjoy this meal any more knowing that I did in fact get this position?


à votre santé

Old Friends, New Friends - My Fatherland

I just went to visit my almost 88 year old Dad.

Something I do regularly.

Something that can be very nice,

as well as very stressful.

So after my visit,

 how wonderful it was, 

to be able to put my cars top down

on this Spring like day,

and revel in the sounds of 

Ma Vlast!

I really enjoyed 

the dreamy, pastoral sections

and 

Vltava - The Moldau.

Here's what Smetana had to say about this tone painting:

The composition describes the course of the Vltava, starting from the two small springs, the Cold and Warm Vltava, to the unification of both streams into a single current, the course of the Vltava through woods and meadows, through landscapes where a farmer's wedding is celebrated, the round dance of the mermaids in the night's moonshine: on the nearby rocks loom proud castles, palaces and ruins aloft. The Vltava swirls into the St. John's Rapids; then it widens and flows toward Prague, past the Vyšehrad, and then majestically vanishes into the distance, ending at the Labe (or Elbe, in German).

My little trip,

down this 

beautiful river,

with the wind & sun on my face,

did me a world of good. 

Now if I'm really lucky 

I just may make it 

to Prague in time for a dinner of

Guláš (Goulash)

  Knedlíky (Dumplings)

and  Palačinky 

(Czech Pancakes) 

 filled with ice-cream, jam or fruits and coated in whipped-cream, almonds or sugar.

Ah yes,

My Fatherland.

Mary Hambleton - The Brilliant Painter, The Lovely Woman

Lotus

Welcome back Dear Readers.


It always seems that we are 


losing too many fine artists.

    

      Last year for example, 

one of my favorite pianists,

Alicia de Larrocha

passed away.

Now who's going to serenade me with 

Mompou's Impresiones Intimas?

The great Jazz player, 

composer, conductor, educator,

and author of 

The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization, 

George Russell

left this Earth.

Dear Dodo

And

groundbreaking 

Choreographer 

Merce Cunningham 

is gone too.

Misericordia

A 
lot
 closer to home,

a friend of mine,

after a courageous,

years long battle     

with cancer

died.

Mary Hambleton
was quite a brilliant painter, 
a lovely woman, Mother, and Wife.

I will miss all of these great artists.

Elements of a Periodic Table

This posting 

of 

Global Around Town 

contains some of Mary's works 

and a few images that may have inspired

and humored 

her.

Dot Calm
It just never seems fair 

when we lose such great artists. 

Particularly when they are so young.

Query

Ivory

Nine Dodos

Game Plan

Target

Hard Rain

"And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son ?

And what did you hear, my darling young one ?

I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin'

I heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world

I heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin'

I heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin'

I heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin'

Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter

Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley

And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard

And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall."

Enough

Blue White Dodos

4 Blue Dodo

Waiting for the Miracle

A note here from Mary's husband Ken Buhler - 

            Painter Mary Hambleton was diagnosed with advanced melanoma in June of 2002. For 6 plus years she defied the odds, living a full life though a challenging one, mounting several one-person shows, teaching, traveling and receiving a Guggenheim, two Pollock-Krasners, a Gottlieb, and a Fellowship to Ballinglen Foundation in Ireland. She died on January 9, 2009.

           Her work chronicled her journey of living with the disease, starting with the introduction of images of extinct species into her once abstract work, and later images from the innumerable scans of her body. Mary never let her illness define her, but chose to define it instead by transforming it into art. As her own energy waned, she took the scans of the disease that would ultimately take her, and she turned those into striking and profound images. In that sense, she had the last word, because her body of work is a living, poignant reminder of who she was.

(Many thanks to my Dear Friend, Mary's husband Ken Buhler, for his contribution. )