January 18, 2009 by David Baer
Joaquín Sabina, his band, and his audience shine on this 2001 double-CD live performance. The first disk is labeled acústico, the second eléctrico. Both display Sabina’s captivating stage presence and his knack for telling the story of regular people caught up by irregular forces like that of love itself. This balladesque touch puts one in mind of Juan Luís Guerra, a very different musician but a close cousin when it comes to musical narrative touched with glimmers of Latin America’s signature realismo fantástico.
‘Yo me bajo en Atocha’ is a stunningly beautiful tribute to the enigma that is Madrid. ‘Princesa’ is as bitter and biting as ‘Atocha’ is fluid with exquisite nostalgia. Continue Reading »
Posted in reseña | Tagged Joaquín Sabina, music, reseña, trova | Leave a Comment »
January 17, 2009 by David Baer
The focus of the gospels on presenting Jesus within his real-world Palestinian millieu does not allow for a nuanced portrayal of the Pharisees. It is all too easy to fall into caricature.
Yet even when the proper interpretive precautions have been taken and caveats installed in all the right places, the Pharisee movement appears to have got some things quite wrong. At least when viewed from the perspective of Jesus and his chroniclers, a well-intentioned commitment to fostering holiness across the breadth of their ‘Israel’ had engendered some ugly myopia. Continue Reading »
Posted in textures | Tagged biblical reflection, Matthew, textures | Leave a Comment »
January 13, 2009 by David Baer
How great would it be if maturity could take its shape without us first walking the painful mile? Or if love did not insist upon the improvement of its object?
That would be the life! Or at the least it would seem to be so for a season before the mildewed scent of its mediocrity filled the room. Continue Reading »
Posted in textures | Tagged biblical reflection, Proverbs, textures | 1 Comment »
January 13, 2009 by David Baer
SJO as she is called was my home airport for many years, so this review of its single, well-hidden VIP lounge may be nudged from stark objectivity by a certain affection for the place.
In spite of the wide spectrum of airlines that now services Costa Rica’s capital city, none of the major North American airlines has a dedicated VIP lounge. You’ll need credentials with a Latin American airline, like Panama’s COPA, or a bolt-on agreement like Priority Pass, my favorite for international airport lounge access. Continue Reading »
Posted in two hippos make an island | Tagged air travel, airports, travel | 5 Comments »
January 7, 2009 by David Baer
As the old saw used to put it, ‘Children are to be seen and not heard.’
Jesus’ teaching on righteous behavior is even more severe. Good deeds ought to be neither seen nor heart, at least not in a way that reflects creditably upon their practitioner:
Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Jesus tackles both the horizontal and the vertical axes of piety with this potent offensive against religiosity. That horizontal sharing of resources with one’s human neighbor is to be carried out unnoticed. It’s objective is the mere application of mercy and allocation of resources where they are needed. No referendum on the actor’s stature is to figure in the equation. Continue Reading »
Posted in textures | Tagged biblical reflection, Matthew, textures | Leave a Comment »
January 4, 2009 by David Baer
If I did not hold Sting’s 2006 Deutsche Grammophon recording of the 16-17th centuries’ John Dowland’s lute-accompanied music in my hands, I would not believe that the British rock star had truly attempted to pull this one off.
But I do, and he has.
And not to bad effect, either. Unlike may Sting critics who seem to think the man should stay in his rut, I admire his constant rebellion against the artistic expectations to which we admirers of his art may want to hold him. I like his audacious impertinence.
I just didn’t expect this. Continue Reading »
Posted in reseña | Tagged music, reseña, Sting | Leave a Comment »
January 4, 2009 by David Baer
It is possible even through the centuries of transmission and the editorial layers of the gospels themselves to discern the deep affection that Jesus’ earliest followers had for their ‘master’ and friend. Some of them would choose to die for him rather than renounce his memory. Continue Reading »
Posted in textures | Tagged biblical reflection, Matthew, textures | 1 Comment »
January 3, 2009 by David Baer
One of the great 2008 musical stories is the resurrection tale involving a bunch of college dudes of yore (well, actually, not that many years ago) who reunited their Indiana University combo long enough to grab the attention of a record executive who offered them a multi-album deal that, fortunately, began with this Christmas sendoff.
Simply put, Straight No Chaser is sensational a cappella music which the boys clearly have fun making. Continue Reading »
Posted in reseña | Tagged music, reseña, Straight No Chaser | Leave a Comment »
January 3, 2009 by David Baer
This eclectic compilation is worth acquiring for Aretha Franklin’s opening track (‘Yield Not to Temptation’) alone. And that’s before you hit the aesthetic roller coaster of the remaining eleven titles.
Unfortunately, as one of the gems that emerged under the 1990s Sunday Times Music Collection rubric it is not widely available. The artists tagged in this post, however, are widely available under their own names.
1994 sounded good.
Posted in reseña | Tagged Aaron Neville, Aretha Franklin, Chi-Lites, Curtis Mayfield, Etta James, Impressions, Jackie WIlson, James Brown, Joe Tex, Lee Dorsey, Mary Wells, music, Percy Sledge, Sunday Times Music Collection | Leave a Comment »
January 3, 2009 by David Baer
The Sunday Times Music Collection of the mid-1990s produced some fabulous compilations, of which Sax Appeal must rate as one of the best.
Twelve pieces, recorded by front-list bands between 1929 and 1944, are splashed across 35 minutes of play time.
This is quintessentially American music played by orchestras who usually had the conductor’s name in their title. Sadly, this 1995 CD appears not to be readily available.
Posted in reseña | Tagged Adrian Rollini & His Orchestra, Benny Carter & His Orchestra, Bud Freeman & His Summa Cum Laude Orchestra, Cab Calloway & His Orchestra, Chu Berry, Coleman Hawkiins Quartet, Frankie Trumbauer & His Orchestra, Freddy Gardner, jazz, Jimmie Lunceford & His Orchestra, Jimmy Dorsey, Johnny Hodges & Orchestra, Lester Young Quintet, music, reseña, Sindey Bechet, Sunday Times Music Collection, Willie Smith | Leave a Comment »
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Canter Bridge 