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Blog postThis week I appeared on a talk show on the TV78 channel broadcast to the Yvelines region where my Versailles tour takes place!
Author Joe Start on panel of TV talk show They also showed a teaser about my Père Lachaise tours on @VoiceMap and allowed me to speak about my book French License.
Fellow expats @Paula Branco and @Tony de Souza shared their creative activities and adaptation stories. Paula runs a very active Internations group with events for expats, and she’s b -
Blog postJubilee The Figaro sets the record straight: “God Save the Queen” (or King) was written and composed by the French, when another hole was found in the anus of Louis the 14th. Here’s the back story…
They operated on the fistula in Louis’ derrière, butt it wasn’t clear the king would survive. Worried courtiers, including Fanny, wrote a ‘get well, soon’ poem, and Lully put it to music. The requiem to a rectum worked, and the monarch’s plumbing problems were behind him!
An -
Blog postWhen you do something well, or you make a salient comment in the US, where I’m from, you can hear all sorts of positive feedback. From “well said” to “atta-boy” to “great job,” and so on.
Not in France. You may be wondering, ‘how do you know when you’ve earned esteem in the eyes of a French person?’ This list aims to help. It goes from neutral (#10), to exceptional effusive and hearty approval (#1)
Hierarchy of Compliments in France:
10)”bof-bof”
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Blog postI wrote in French License that the automobile is the Number One source of income for the French state. Many of the figures I cited have now been updated in a comprehensive article by Erwan Benezet et Aurélie Lebelle in today’s Parisien https://articles.cafeyn.co/61ccea/le-parisien-paris/2020-08-17/letat-accro-aux-taxes-automobiles clearly demonstrating that the situation has worsened for car owners. A sample:
-Fully 36% of all revenues to the government in France come from taxe -
Blog postMusée national de l’automobile
In my book, French License, I detailed in the chapter on Car Culture how little France cared about the automobile. I contrasted French attitudes toward motorised vehicles with those of their neighbours and the USA, where I come from. The differences are stark and plentiful.
So, on a trip to Alsace this week, I was stunned to learn that France claimed the world’s largest, most prestigious and valuable car museum, the ‘Musée nati -
Blog postAlbum #10: Ivo Papasov and Yuri Yunakov Together Again
I was introduced to Bulgarian Wedding music by Eddie Current through an article in Bass Player magazine when I was in my late 20s. The fusion between jazz and folk and progressive rock was bewildering and enticing at the same time. Even Frank Zappa thought the sound was ‘way out there.’ The musicianship is phenomenal. Radomirska Kopanica will forever be the song that I’m unable to clap to for the life of me. It switches time signa -
Blog postAlbum #9: Joni Mitchell Blue 1971
What? A GIRL on this list? I was surprised as well, in my mid-20s, when a male friend turned me on to her. He said her early albums were the equal of her all-male counterparts. I was incredulous. How could that be? But as I listened, I agreed with him. I couldn’t believe my ears. Here was musicianship, and songwriting, and complex melodies that were rich and intelligent and generous. And she sang with such feeling, and soul, in a way I’d never heard b -
Blog postThis is in response to a challenge from Alain Cournoyer of the Homebuddies to post 10 albums which marked my life in ten days.
I challenge Dan Vuletich, not only because he has a vast knowledge of music, and a degree to prove it, but today’s his birthday. Also, it was his brother, Tom, who introduced me to jazz, pointing me to the all-time great recordings.
Album #8: Dave Brubeck Quartet Time Out 1959
I grew up thinking nothing good ever came out of my hometown. -
Blog postAlbum #7: Rush Moving Pictures 1981
Neil Peart was everyone’s favorite drummer, so he couldn’t be mine. But boy did I admire that guy. He could hit it as hard and fast as anyone. But what set him apart was how crisp his fills were. Here was a perfectionist who practiced endlessly to get it just right. He put so much emphasis on sound, from his set, to tuning, to mic’ing, to selecting which drum or cymbal he’d hit at a given moment. His set was so big, not to show off, but to accommoda -
Blog postAlbum #6: The Clash, Sandinista 1980
I was late to the punk scene. Most likely because I was too young, and a freckle-faced kid who believed in the inherent goodness of the world. Why spoil it with a bunch of self-absorbed whining and screaming and lack of musical talent? (insert picture of Sex Pistols here)
Then came the Clash. They were some guys who could really play with fantastic thoughtful lyrics, and melodies in tune. They definitely had something to say, and an origina
