Something Cool Jazz

A friend has released her debut CD and it is amazing. I’m not just saying this because I have done nothing of late worth writing about. Here is a link to the Something Cool Jazz website with further information about her CD. The songs are Jazz Standards made up of popular songs, some songs from musicals and covered by some of the most famous performers ever.

It’s a great CD to listen to on a Sunday morning while reading the paper, not bad to wash dishes to either. Patrice’s mellow silky voice makes even the most mundane household drudgery tolerable.

I find myself singing the tunes in my head hours later. The first time I listened, I couldn’t stop humming the last song on the CD, Up a Lazy River. Today, cutting the grass I started singing My Heart Stood Still.

The other performers on the CD include:

 Bill Crow on bass.

Don Hahn on coronet and flugelhorn.

Peter Prisco on guitar.

Peter Scattaretico on drums.

Patrice has played all over the Tri-State area with different types of bands. Her latest gig was at Alor Cafe on Staten Island in the guise of Patrice Bohlen and the Something Cool Band, which was Fred Crisson on guitar. I’m sure she’ll be there again.

The food selection at Alor is atypical for Staten Island (neither Italian nor Chinese) and everything I have had has been very good. They have a very broad selection of foreign beers, so you can pick your beer first and then your entree.

Road Trip

Thursday October 8, the Jobless of Staten Island visited The Cloisters, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The day started out sunny and warm, but while we were visiting the sky clouded up and the temperature dropped a bit. Still, quite a nice day out. I hope I didn’t catch swine flu by leaving my bubble.

The Cloisters Museum is “devoted to art and architecture of medieval Europe” and contains 4 Cloisters, 3 Chapels, and artwork made up of sculptures, stained glass, tapestries amongst other things.

The Cuxa Cloister contains columns and capitals of the Cloister from the monastery of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa in the French Pyrenees. The original Cloister was built in the 12th century. The original Abbey of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa can be visited today and has a small community of monks in residence, there is also a music festival in August.

The Abbey is located near Prades, France(tourist info) and the nearest large cities are Toulouse and Montpellier in France and Barcelona in Spain, all three equidistant. Travel is about 2-2.5 hrs by car from all 3 cities. Travel by rail will take longer involving a transfer at Perpignan, France. From Montpellier the trip is 3 hours, Toulouse is 3.5 hours and the trip from Barcelona would be about 4.5 hours.

The cloister contains the Garth (garden) which was usually only planted with grass and on occasion, a symbolic tree.  The Garth always included a water feature and usually crossed paths, more symbolism. I plucked the Garth info from “The Medieval Garden” by Sylvia Landsberg.

These photos are of the Cuxa Cloister in NYC.

The two following photos are of the Cuxa Cloister in France. It is quite a bit larger than the NYC version. Only 35 of the columns at Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa are original, the Abbey was in ruins from the time of the French Revolution until the 1950s, when it was partially reconstructed. In 1906-7, American George Grey Bernard purchased pieces of Romanesque architecture which had been dispersed from the Abbey and shipped the loot back to the United States, included were parts of the Cloister.

The Cloister of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa in Prades, France.

The Trie Cloister, original bits from the 15th century, was planted with plants seen in the Unicorn tapestries. The original Cloister was part of a Carmelite convent at Trie-en-Bigorre in the High Pyrenees. I can’t find much more information about the town or the convent on the web or in some travel books I have on the area.

The Bonnefont Cloister has parts from the 13th and 14th century, mainly from the abbey at Bonnefont-en-Comminges. It is planted as a Monastic Herb garden. When standing in this Cloister it seemed bigger than the Cuxa Cloister, but when viewed from the air, they both appear similar in size. The Bonnefont Cloister is not surrounded on all sides by columns and covered walkways so that might account for the feeling of spaciousness.

The abbey at Bonnefont-en-Commings located in the Midi-Pyrénées section of France suffered the same fate as the Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa Abbey, being dissolved at the time of the French Revolution. The abbey, at one point was being restored, is about 15 minutes from Trie-sur-Baise (a fortified market town). I don’t know if the site can be visited. The closest cities to Trie-sur-Baise are Toulouse and Tarbes, Toulouse having a regional airport and rail service, while Tarbes only has rail service. Rail connections to Paris are on the order of 6 hours. Tarbes is about an hour away from Tris-sur-Baise by bus and Toulouse is about the same by car.

Espaliered trees in the spaces between the buttresses of the Gothic Chapel, the one on the left is a pear tree.Four dying quince trees and wattle fencing. Now to recreate a Cloister in my backyard. Garden layout, easy, covered walkway and open colonnade, not so easy.

Stained Glass

Arms in the Unicorn room .

Look at those colors, I love the blues and the red.

Secular Quatrefoil Stained glass panel: The Imperial Arms of Austria are at the center of this piece and is surrounded by scenes from a tournament. The construction is attributed to the Nuremburg Germany  area(1480-90). Tournaments, depending upon the period could be defined as melees between two groups or applied to the whole festival including combat between knights.

The entrance to the Langon chapel. It looks like the entrance to heaven.

Exterior shots

Gothic Chapel

Buttressed wall on the exterior of the Trie Cloister.

Exterior of the Boppard Room.

Upper driveway with entrance/exit at left.

Part of the ramparts.

While the cloisters is a beautiful place, it is almost like visiting disney world. It looks real, but doesn’t smell or feel real. I was reminded of the same thing when I visited the Chinese Scholar’s garden earlier this week. But it’s the next best thing to being there.

Just the sort of day to play Hookie

It was sunny, it was warm, it was Tuesday, October 6, I was dressed. So why not. I hadn’t been to Snug Harbor for a few weeks and you never know how many of these days are left this fall. If I was working I would have felt like taking a mental health day. The Chinese Scholar’s Garden at Snug Harbor was built by a bunch of imported artisans from China, but not much has been done to maintain either the building or the plantings since. You would think they could use some volunteers, but I guess they know what’s best.

This humble entrance belies the beauty and wealth of shapes, colors, textures, and sounds that lie on the other side. I don’t know what the characters above the door say, maybe “Enjoy the day, for you know not how many more you have in your sack”.

Floor paving.

Gratuitous artsy photo. But look at the sky. It was a glorious day.

The view across the pond of the first large courtyard.

The view from the view across the pond. The bridge overlooks waterfalls and the moon pond, where you can see the reflection of the moon at the proper time of year. I think it is the Autumn Moon, the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, which in 2009 was on October 3. 

This pavilion also overlooks the moon pond and has a small table with 4 stools. The sound of the waterfalls is strongest here.

A view looking across the pond in the second large courtyard.

A close-up of the small pine from the previous photo.

Another view of the second courtyard.

The moon gate back into the first courtyard. There are many paths in this garden and they all lead to wondrous and beautiful things, which could be even more wondrous and beautiful if they only had volunteers to help out with maintenance. I guess they know best. There are also some rooms and smaller courtyards, but I didn’t take any photos of them. They were in the shade and felt cold and too enclosed and I wanted to be outside enjoying the sunshine.

One of the waterfalls down to the moon pool.

Koi

Hungry Koi

Blurry Koi

Rock

Sky, tree, curved roof, reflected in water.

The End

Fibre de verre

Not much going on around here, no major projects started or completed, no new sights seen, no big news to announce. Only thing new is that the heat came on yesterday morning for the first time this season and now it seems chilly during the day. Do I need to further insulate the attic?

The biggest accomplishment this week has been to figure out a song. The song, Fibre de Verre (fiberglass) by Paris Combo is on the CD French Café. It is sung in French and has a jazzy swing feel. A podcast translating part of the song is here, Fibre de verre translation.

I looked for chords or TAB for the song without luck, so I tried to figure it out. I think the following is pretty close. Next up, maybe some version of the Jeeves and Wooster TV series theme music by Anne Dudley.

I used the program QuickChord Ver. 1.2.7 to produce the chord charts. It is a quick and easy way to add chord charts to word documents. The program also makes it easy to modify chords and chord names.

Chords used

   Major chords with root in the bass

E, D major with 5^th in the bass

E, D variant  

F7 with 5^th in the bass E7 with flat 5^th in the bass

Intro - A C B Bb7(2x)

Intro solo

1. A/ B/ E/ A/ 2. A/ B/ D/ E/ 3. A/ B/ E/ A/ 4. A/ F7/ E/ A/

5. A/ E/ F7/ E/ 6. A/ B/ F7/ E/ 7. A/ B/ Bb/ E/ 8. A/ F7/ E/

A C B Bb7(2x)

Verse 1

Fibre de verre, je ne sais vibrer
Qu’en paratonnerre, je suis condamnee
A l’eclair, la foudre ephemere
Car si l’on m’aime, L’on doit me consumer
Mais demain, oui, demain, J’en fait le serment/
J’ouvrirai les yeux, Mes deux yeux, tout en grand
Sur un bel home,Un bel amant
Qui laissera ma vie sauve, Tout en m’aimant A7 C B Bb(2x)

Verse 2

1 Fibre de verre, je me suis cassee
2 Les dents, le nez, sur bien des affaires
3 De cour trop pince, De mours trop epicees
4 Car pour me plaire, Il faut me consumer
5 Mais demain, oui, demain, J’en fait le serment
6 J’ouvrirai les yeux, mes deux yeux, tout en grand
7 Sur toi, en somme, Mon bel amant
8 Toi qui assis, m’attend, Tout en m’aimant

A7 C B Bb

A7 C B E7b5 (key change)

Solo

1. C D G C 2. C D F G 3. C D G C 4. C A7 G C

Fibre de verre, je me suis allumee
Sans un éclair, Sans meme un brasier
Juste une lueur, En mon interieur
Ta chaleur, A su trouver mon cour
Mais demain, oui, demain…