Manafonistas

Allzu sympathische Typen hat er nicht immer gespielt, aber er zählte stets zu meinem knappen Dutzend geschätzter und gern gesehener Schauspieler aus Amiland, neben Willem Dafoe, Kevin Costner, Billy Bob Thornton, Clint Eastwood, Jeff Bridges, John und William Hurt, solchen Kalibern. Was für eine Freude, jüngst den alternden Kevin Costner in den ersten zwei Staffeln von „Yellowstone“ zu erleben! Und nun also „The Sinner, season 4“. Die gute Nachricht, man kann diese Staffel unabhängig von den vorhergehenden sehen – hier und da ein Flashback zur dritten (der einzigen leicht enttäuschenden) Staffel, der aber nur eins verdeutlicht – Bill Pullman aka Harry Ambrose schleppt einige Traumata mit sich herum – und ob es klug war, sich aus seinen Antidepressiva rauszuschleichen, vor der Urlaubsreise an die Küste mit seiner neuen Liebesgefährtin (einer Malerin, die bereits manche Düsternis mit Harry teilte), sei dahingestellt. Aber ein „alter Hut“, von Maigret über Sherlock Holmes bis hin zu Detektiven der Moderne – ein Reich der Schatten öffnet sich auch da, wo man am liebsten nur Seelenfrieden erleben möchte. Es gibt eine Szene ganz zu Anfang: Harry spricht small talk mit seiner Freundin und einer Frau aus dem Inselkaff in einem Restaurant – auf einmal packt Harry eine innere Unruhe, und er hastet ans Meer. Als er dort mit einer jungen, leicht verloren wirkenden Frau, ins Gespräch kommt, ahnen wir nichts Gutes. Und es kommt, wie es kommen muss. Die bleiche Weltverlorene scheint sich vor Harrys Augen (selbst der Zuschaeur darf sich nicht sicher sein, ob das hier real ist oder Traumgespinst) vom Leben zu verabschieden. Die alten Dämonen seiner Schlaflosigkeit kehren zurück – was nun? Der unlängst in der Rente angekommene Harry helfen, diesen Fall zu lösen (die Dorfpolizisten sind tatsächlich nicht die hellsten Kerzen auf der Torte)  – oder nur tiefer in eigene Abgründe geraten. Es steht zu befürchten, dass beides passieren wird. Auf jeden Fall lohnt es sich, Bill Pullman auf seinen Wegen und Irrwegen zu folgen – ein meisterliches Minenspiel, ein Blick, der in Sekundenbruchteilen von Seelenruhe in Panik wechseln kann, suspense in jeder noch so stillen Szene. Die schockierenden Momente werden uns umso kälter erwischen. Mutmasse ich mal. (🎩🎩🎩🎩)

 
www.charlierose.com
 
Happy New Year
 
 

It will start in the last week of January. Now the deadline is over, and we will be five: Lajla, Thomas, Ian, Wolfram, Michael. How said Lajla, after collecting first impressions: „Johnny Cash Prime Time!“

“Once in a blue moon a book drops down on your desk that demands to be read. You pick it up and read the first page, and then the second, and you are hooked. Such a book is Ordinary Grace…This is a book that makes the reader feel better just by having been exposed to the delights of the story. It will stay with you for quite some time and you will always remember it with a smile.”

“One cannot read Ordinary Grace without feeling as if it is destined to be hailed as a classic work of literature. Ordinary Grace is one of those very rare books in which one regrets reaching its end, knowing that the experience of having read it for the first time will never be repeated. Krueger, who is incapable of writing badly, arguably has given us his masterpiece.”

Overall praise for the book that will be the central theme of our second parallel reading adventure.

WINNER OF THE 2014 EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL

And, yes, it is only available in English, as a paperback, or in the e-book edition.

Willliam Kent Krueger’s ORDINARY GRACE is 336 pages long, as always, there is one and only one first price to win, this time it consists of:

 
– The Missing (season 1) – english only (DVD-box)
– The Place Beyond The Pines (DVD, german, english)
– Under The Skin (DVD, german, english)
– Peaky Blinders (season 1 & 2, DVD, english only)

Here the dates for the parallel reading episodes:
 
Till February 1st:

Prologue

Chapter 1 – 10

(You have to write your first comment till Feb. 1st (and so on) – in the end there would be five comments, Sunday is always the last possible day of sending your weekly impressions and remarks to our webmaster)

Till February 8th

Chapter 11 – 19

Till February 15th

Chapter  20 – 28

Till February 22nd

Chapter 29 – 33

Till March 1st (the final chapters plus epilogue incl. your evaluation of the whole book)

Three versions cursed around the fact that a member of the Mothers of Invention was fired by chiefmaster Frank, while playing a new composition in a typical singersongwriter-manner. First, the man just seemed to be too talented for not having his own band. Second reason: he played a 15 minute solo on an acoustic guitar, without amplifier. And third, he had drug references („weed, whites and wine“). So he came to his own band („Willin‘ to be movin‘ …“) with a funny name having references to his small shoesize.

Years later Andrew and John, youngsters from Germany, were going on a tour to England – no rockets but fresh baken A-level examinations in their pockets and on the backseat of their olivegreen Peugot a bunny bunch of guitars, a mandolin and a bouzuki. In their mind was – beside girls – all that musical stuff from that time: James Taylor Songs, Joni Mitchell and John Martyn Tunes, the Jazzrock of Weather Report and a lot from the Folk Scene, including Steeleye Span and the Albion Dance Band.

They first rested in the Lowlands of Holland, near Zwolle, where folk singer Christin gave them the copy of a demo tape from an unknown band as a provision – containing a song, which later became famous and was titled „Sultans of Swing“. On the island, starting from Londontown, for six weeks they would have a gig nearly every night, mainly in English Folkpubs spread all over the country. They played in Exeter and the magic mushrooms, they received from a „Hippie“-Family in Falmouth, were tested later, back in Torquay.

Not running on empty nor running blind, on the bright side of life and the left side of the road – and no blizzard was down in Britain in Seventyeight. A great time, garnished by those brilliant lines of golden september tree crowns that contrasted the clearblue sky like in a painting of Max Ernst. Young Andrew mostly wrote love letters and Johnboy read the Glasperlenspiel by Hermann Hesse, preferably relaxing in English Landscape Gardens. They were forecasted to have a worldcareer, which was not proven true.

Decades later – meanwhile he got used to analyze popsongs of his pasttime paradises – Captain Senior John is listening to that special Album and Song, which gave the main soundtrack for their ´78 Roadmovie: Lowell George sings and plays „Time loves a Hero“ – on Waiting for Columbus, with his band Little Feet. John, now with his headfones on, the Strat at his knees, thin hair on his forehead, tries to work out what it means, when they said: the words were not build on the song as usual but the harmonic and rhythmic changes were build on the lyrics, meandering like roaming taoistic rills and snuggling skills.

 
Jeffrey Eugenides: Middlesex

Ernst Augustin: Eastend

Rupert Thomson: Das schwarze Herz der Stadt

Paul Murray: Skippy stirbt

Ernst Augustin: Der amerikanische Traum 

Julio Cortazar / Carol Dunlop: Die Autonauten auf der Kosmobahn

Thomas Köner’s album will stay a little bit longer, as our album of January 2015. It is simply unspeakable. For more information, go to the website of Denovali Records. According to the Boxing Day radio show, Fredrik posted here, two new Eno albums might be in the pipeline of 2015. Tigran Hamasyan’s overwhelming debut on ECM (probably a double-cd) with Arve, Jan and Eivind might see the light of day, just before Robert Wyatt’s „Moon in June“ is finding its perfect month. And in February, I’ll  review the forthcoming, disturbing, beautifully broken Kammerflimmer Kollektief album DESAROI on Staubgold. In rather short sentences, full of diversions, illogical thinking and wrong u-turns. Christian Wallumrod is about to release a haunting solo piano cd on Hubro. Robert Wyatt’s retirement from music is a sad affair. Another February release called MOUNT THE AIR, by chamber-folk-innovators The Unthanks, will (of course, not only) be a delight for those looking for subtle influences of Robert’s intricate melodicism. The sisters once covered his songs, and after a passage of private life, they are back with a new, even somehow jazzy take on their old English roots. Great news, too (for the happy few): the Go-Betweens are opening their archives, they have always been „best company“ for me. And besides all, I’m keen on listening to the new Father John Misty album, for rather strange reasons and because one of his latest songs stopped me in the tracks. The cover is bullshit kitsch. But he sang an overwhelming song in the last minutes of the last episode of TRUE DETECTIVE. So, 2015 might become a damned interesting year. More songs about buildings and food. Love comes to town. Daniel Lanois to Frankfurt. And „Dubnobasswithmyheadman“ to Cologne, time traveling with Karl Hyde.

THE SHERIFF

The song Sheriff is based on a strange and funny groove Eyolf (the piano player) came up with – very determined but still a bit unsteady. We played and improvised with this idea for a couple of hours, composed a melody and started finding the essence of it. The title is inspired by the old American western series „Bonanza“ of which features a sheriff character. And this sheriff is both very determined and a bit unsteady …

HULA HOOP

The song Hula Hoop started with some rhythmical ideas André (the sax player) had written down. The piano part had some very difficult rhythmic combinations, and playing it felt like using a hula hoop (something none of us ever managed to do). That´s the reason for this title. Musically we try to do very rapid changes in mood and style when we improvise, as the main theme (in the beginning of the song) has these strange rapid changes … very fun song to play, especially during concerts!

ALBATROSH

Our main goal is to try to find original and organic ways to make music go forward. And in every case, the composition is the main factor in deciding which way to go! We spend a lot of time with the compositions, finding the right mood and finding ways to improvise within the song. We most certainly have influences from many different jazz artists, both American jazz and European contemporary music – but when do our Albatrosh-music, we try to put those influences aside and just play … Albatrosh. All music, in our opinion, needs some resistance, some contrast, and we try to serve the music as best we can.

Alle dere som liker jazzen en smule melodiøs, kan ha mye å hente hos Albatrosh. Den norske duoen har eksistert i åtte år, men de to 29-åringene har spilt sammen siden de var 17 og møttes på skolen i Skien. Eyolf Dale, piano og André Roligheten, saksofon og klarinetter viser med sitt femte album hvordan man kan sitere fra jazzhistorien og skape en helt ny og egen fortelling. Både Christian Wallumrød og Chick Corea flimrer gjennom den idémassen som bærer de to første sporene på Night owl, menDale og Roligheten bruker påvirkningskilder som springbrett for egne svev. Det ligger en sterk kvalitet i det symbiotiske særpreget, og det gi og ta-forholdet de to har utviklet. Den slående jevnbyrdigheten er både leken og lett, og fargene skifter fra komposisjon til komposisjon. Når de kommer til «Early bird» står de frem som ettertankens musikere og sørgmodighetens akkompagnatører. Det låter vakkert som i en Jimmy Giuffre-ballade og nesten like varsomt som morgengryet. De driver hverandre frem som melodibærere, improvisatører og rytmeforvaltere, mens jazzens tradisjonelle solistrolle blir nedtonet. Jeg gleder meg over motstand og medgjørlighet og hvordan duoen anvender dyktigheten. Slik kan en god eksportvare låte. 5/6.

Aftenposten (NO)

Highly recommended by Jochen and Michael („nothing typical Norwegian, except inventiveness, and, apart from that, a zig-zagging journey through moods and decades with a strong sense for form, dissolving form –  and playing with expectations“, j.s., m.e.)

A day has 6,400,099,980 moments … (Dōgen/Ozeki) …
 
 
 

 
 
 
2014 MOMENT: no 1 [ ©FoBo_HenningBolte ]