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Mr What Mookie Thinks stowed a CD in my minivan -- written in his confident print reads 'Mulata Astatqe -- Ethiopian Jazz.' For months I've used this CD as my secret weapon against particularly restless car rides. Within a song or two all passengers are transported to a very mellow, groovy place -- humming, foot tapping and thumb sucking included. This blend of american free jazz, traditional ethiopian music, and blaxploitation funk tames the Joneses.
After some rudimentary research I found that this magic is made by Mulatu Astatke also spelled Astatqé, an Ethiopian musician and arranger, the father of Ethiopian jazz. His genius is by no means a secret -- he worked with Duke Ellington in the 70's and more recently his music appeared on the soundtrack to the Jim Jarmusch film Broken Flowers.
I'd recommend clicking HERE to get a taste. If that works for you check Dengue Fever too.
The final birthday bash. Ella had a record number of celebrations this year -- here are pictures from the infamous "friends birthday" -- which turned out to be a gay ol' time.
In an ongoing effort to beat the heat, Grandma, Ella, Cy and I went to see "Wall-E" at the South Austin Alamo Draft House. Between multiple trips (ala Cy) to the lobby to see the planes and spaceships that hang from the ceiling and the enthusiastic noshing on fresh, real-butter popcorn and a pitcher of root beer, I watched and warned off gloom. I'm sometimes prone to melancholy and taking my kids to see a movie the NYTimes describes as "a G-rated, computer-generated cartoon vision of our own potential extinction" was enough to plummet me into the doldrums. YEsh! Not to discourage anyone from seeing the movie -- it is a classic but despite the tender love story I didn't leave with that good vibrations feeling that summer movies can elicit. Good thing for Kung Fu Panda. I loved this line, "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a Mystery but today is the present... a gift" says the Yoda-like turtle. Words to live by.
San Francisco Chronicle art critic Kenneth Baker complains that Dale Chihuly's glass work is not worthy of a de Young exhibition. Chihuly's baubles don't compare to the deep ponderings of 9/11 or Abu Ghraib like Marlene Dumas' latest show -- which I hope to see in Houston this Winter -- this exhibition is for regular folks who like to be visually tantalized with big, bold, colorful Dr Seussy swirls and twirls. Maybe it is a stretch to consider this work an exemplary representation of 'decorative arts and crafts' which the de Young is known for but it sure does feel good.
Chihuly at the de Young
Marlene Dumas
