Little Humpbacked Horse

This is a great DVD of the Russian Ballet:

The Little Humpbacked Horse

The primary role of the Queen-Maiden is danced by Maya Plisetskaya. The music is a refreshing score written in the '50s so it's not so heavily formal as classical music in the 18th or even 19th centuries tended to be. The composer Rodion Shchedrin is Plisetskaya's husband (what a life they must have together !).
The story is based on a Russian Folktale and features a pure, guileless proletarian hero and a bumbling, inept aristocracy. Just the thing for a politically correct '50s era Soviet production. Thankfully, the ballet is un-political and utterly delightful with such novelties as:
a dancing horse (the cute heroine Humpedback Horse),
dancing jellyfish !
dancing anemonies !


Plisetskaya shines in the role of the Maiden-Queen. She, like all great artists, has marvelous technique, but is able to transcend the physical to give us something that we get lost in as we are drawn to it.

Filmed in 1961, the DVD simulates the experience of going to the Ballet in Soviet Russia: starting with reading the performance announcement in the paper, going to the theatre, watching the ballet acts and wandering around the foyer during the intermissions and finishing with the curtain calls...

Nice and recommended !

from Video Artists International: www.vaimusic.com

2 weeks of Fury

Well, I've had this Honda Fury for 2 weeks now and it has been a phenomenal experience. I don't think that the marketeers at Honda in their wildest dreams could have imagined the reception that this machine is getting with the casual public. At practically every location that I park this bike at people are drawn to look at it and more than a small percentage of them want to talk about it. The casual public that I'm referring to isn't restricted to 'motorcycle enthusiasts', the appearance of the bike has touched the psyche of the non-motorcycling public as well. Perhaps the recent spate of 'chopper builder reality shows' has seeded minds with this aesthetic, I don't know, but the effects aesthetic recognition are there.
I have been a long time custom bike chopper fan, but the cost of obtaining one was always beyond what I am willing to pay.. a price of $30 to $40,000 or more is just too much for me to even contemplate. The idea of fabricating one myself holds a lot of appeal, but I don't imagine having the time to engage in a project like that till after I retire (if that ever happens !)..

So, along comes Honda who have decided to produce one. They wisely hired a team of AMERICAN designers who understand the genre very well and let them call the shots when it came to specifying the bike's style. Honda have proceeded to manufacture a mass production 'chopper' at a mass production price that I was willing to pay.

They've hit the mark dead center and as a result people just aren't leaving me alone when I park the thing.

Harley-Davidson product of Globalization

It's a bit paradoxical. To a good percentage of motorcycle enthusiasts Harley-Davidson is the ultimate symbol of the American bike. To people who aren't into motorcycles (and to some people who are), the passion that some express towards Harley-Davidson motorcycles to the exclusion of other brands (and especially to the exclusion of Japanese brands) is puzzling, I mean, I might prefer Coke to Pepsi but I don't look down on Pepsi drinkers and I *surely* would not tattoo the Coke logo on my arm, but such are the extremes to which some people feel.
The paradox of the 'American-ness' of the Harley brand vs. what it is in 'cold steel (and aluminum and plastic) reality' shows itself most readily when one has to service the brakes of, say, the popular Softail model.

To remove the front brakes and brake pads for servicing requires that one use a metric (re: foreign) 10 mm wrench AND an American 1/4 inch wrench. The need for using 2 sets of tools working in 2 different measurement standards is because the brake body is from an American company whereas the fork leg that the brake body is mounted on is from a Japanese company (and for all we know the fork leg could have been manufactured in Thailand or something).


If that isn't symbolic of globalization, I don't know what is !

pre-Torn and pre-Worn

It all started in the 80's, I think.

After the movie 'Flashdance' became wildly popular, loose tops with rips at the seams began appearing on the apparel floors in Women's Clothing Departments. If one wanted to emulate the 'Flashdance' look, but couldn't trust themselves to tear up their clothing 'just right', you could just go in and buy a brand new top already ripped for you fresh from the factory.

A decade or so later, I think, came the phenomenon of new 'stressed' jeans, new jeans that one can buy in the store that look like they've been worn for a couple of years. No need to hunt for a used pair at the local Goodwill store when you can just pay up and walk out with a worn looking pair jeans that fits just right.

Now, the other day I got a music instrument catalogue in the mailbox. Right on the cover (see photo), you can buy a brand new Fender guitar or bass that comes from the factory with a finish called 'Road Worn'. The from the factory guitars have chipped and scratched wood showing along with the finish worn off in just the right places. Now you don't have to look like some Jr High School dweeb that just learned how to play 'Louie Louie' on your brand new shiny guitar*. Instead your new guitar looks like it seen a decade of traveling from coffee shop to coffee shop with a lot of street corners thrown in along the way...

oh my... I guess the look screams "yeah, dude, I PAID my dues !"

(with cash)


* (I'm saying this very tongue in cheek, I respect and appreciate anyone who values music !)

Minty Boost USB charger

I found some time at last to solder and assemble my MintyBoost !

MintyBoost Kit

It's small handy USB charger powered by 2 AA Batteries. I've been using a 4AA battery USB charger for years, but after saw this neat smaller and lighter 2AA charger kit that fits neatly inside an Altoids Gum Tin, I knew that I wanted one. The kit is well thought out. The printed circuit board is designed to fit the contours of the Tin container. The circuit board is etched with handy part numbers and markings that make it easy to correctly place the electronic components for soldering in to place. The electronics are necessary to boost the ~3 Volts from the pair of batteries in series up to the required ~5 Volts that USB works with.

Very very nice solution. Much easier to carry around than my old 4 battery charger (plus it looks cute to boot (or is that 'boost' ?))

Ballet Class

My favorite Jazz dance classes ended after Zafra left town.

farewell Zafra

Happily, I've found a new set of classes to fill the gaping void that was left behind:

Beginning Ballet classes taught by Kathy Mata @SF Dance Center.

The classes are great and despite being called 'Beginning', there are more advanced dancers that also attend the class (a very good sign !). Kathy is a teacher very mindful of everyone in her class at all times, offering helpful corrections and advice for the duration of each class. I can feel that I'm making technical progress since starting the class (a very good feeling). A happy start to a new chapter !

Jazz Drums Instructional DVD

Peter Magadini is a great drummer and instructor. Part of his lifetime of experience playing the Drumset in a Standard and Latin Jazz setting is passed along in his DVD 'Jazz Drums'. If you're a drummer, Jazz enthusiast or even just Jazz curious, this DVD will demonstrate how and why Jazz drumming sounds the distinct way that it does. You know that it doesn't feel the same as Funk/HipHop and it's not the same as most Rock/Pop, but what makes it what it is ? Knowing these things can greatly enhance the Jazz listening experience. (Peter, being a pro, *can* play all those other styles, of course, but this DVD is about Jazz).

In the DVD intro Peter demonstrates something with a concept that I've not heard anyone else do:
To show the roots and evolution of Jazz Drumming, he starts off playing a Traditional West African Rhythm 'Angbeko'. Without missing a beat, this gets morphed into 'Standard' Jazz timekeeping. From there he morphs into one of his specialities: Polyrhythms, that is, different time signatures being played simultaneously. Polyrhythms on the drumset give a nice tension and break from the normal 'thunka thunka pop' pulse. Dennis Chambers, one of my favorite (living) drummers is heavily into Polyrhythms.. It's great stuff, a 'spicy cuisine' that makes life more interesting..

Here (available at the time of writing this post) is a link to Opening Solo portion of the DVD, starting off with West African 'Angbeko' rhythm and morphing:

http://www.petermagadini.com/opening_solo.mov


Fascinating !