Last thursday, I had the chance to go with my father to see one of the best drummer still on this plan of existence.
Magma was at the casino de paris for its 40 years of evolution tour.
Subtitled the music of the forces of the universe , Magma is a great group full of wonderful musicians. I don't know much of teh group so I won't be delving nto their history, the concept of Kobaïa and such.
I wanted just to send a note about the drummer and main force behind Magma : Christian Vander.
That is my second time witnessing him play and boy it's getting better and better... Christian as a way of playing that can only be described as flowing. Music coming from his set is flowing, precise, not over powering.
Reminded me of the Zhuang Zi fable of the butcher. Christian has such a complete mastery over his drums that all his movements and gestures, even the most swift ones reek of perfection and feel natural yet precise.
It is an amazing experience to witness people having so much mastery in their skill.
Truly magical moment..
http://www.seventhrecords.com/
lundi 16 février 2009
jeudi 12 février 2009
New stars are born
One tiny thing plagues nowadays the movie entertainment and that is called Star.Stars are those beautiful people that make the front page of the magazines, are spread all over the movie posters and make most of the time the tabloids's headlines.
First, don’t get me wrong. I like actors, the job, the harsh work of trying to be somebody else and to sound and act someone else. Stars I don’t like. Mostly because they used to be actors and now they just play themselves on the movies, being paid hideous sums of money that probably account for most of the producing bill.
You’re gonna tell me they are in front of the lens so it is natural to be the PR of the movie, especially if they are beautiful, sexy and glamorous.
Pretty sure the second assistant of the director of the photography is not good enough for the front cover but still.
Even if these Stars are sooooo huge they are allegedly the main magnet for viewers and so retrospectively speaking producers and money, why all that ?
So they have to be on the posters. All over. Hopefully if the filmmaker is also bankable, he’ll be in fat letters too but most of the time you really hope the title is good enough to explain to you what the movie is about (I mean… besides being a movie by Spielberg about Tom Cruise for example’s sake).
No, today it’s all about the Star, maybe a bit of filmmaker and the rest hopefully in the story and theme. A bit of a rotten way to make business considering even if actors are the most visible part of movie making, an essential one, they are far from the biggest part.
But Stars, whenever they are oversized egomaniacs or not, have this strange power to make things sell. And moreover, the power to make themselves be asked everything.
It’s amazing to see month after month of periodicals with interviews of them about life, babies, fashion or whatever.
I understand they have a right to have opinions, detailed or not, passions or such. Hell I’m doing the same here. But since when exactly did people who earn big sums of money for lying or at best recreating a life for fun and entertainment started being more interesting than medical doctors, philosophers, activists and specialists and historicians ?
Oh but they are gorgeous, and sexy and live in this golden dream full of strass and paillettes that is the dream-movie land of Hollywood.
Pretty sure if the doctoress shows some legs and stockings, with good make up and Photoshop sure they could sell a lot more of good articles.
But Stars… They shine way too bright and blind us in the end.
First, don’t get me wrong. I like actors, the job, the harsh work of trying to be somebody else and to sound and act someone else. Stars I don’t like. Mostly because they used to be actors and now they just play themselves on the movies, being paid hideous sums of money that probably account for most of the producing bill.
You’re gonna tell me they are in front of the lens so it is natural to be the PR of the movie, especially if they are beautiful, sexy and glamorous.
Pretty sure the second assistant of the director of the photography is not good enough for the front cover but still.
Even if these Stars are sooooo huge they are allegedly the main magnet for viewers and so retrospectively speaking producers and money, why all that ?
So they have to be on the posters. All over. Hopefully if the filmmaker is also bankable, he’ll be in fat letters too but most of the time you really hope the title is good enough to explain to you what the movie is about (I mean… besides being a movie by Spielberg about Tom Cruise for example’s sake).
No, today it’s all about the Star, maybe a bit of filmmaker and the rest hopefully in the story and theme. A bit of a rotten way to make business considering even if actors are the most visible part of movie making, an essential one, they are far from the biggest part.
But Stars, whenever they are oversized egomaniacs or not, have this strange power to make things sell. And moreover, the power to make themselves be asked everything.
It’s amazing to see month after month of periodicals with interviews of them about life, babies, fashion or whatever.
I understand they have a right to have opinions, detailed or not, passions or such. Hell I’m doing the same here. But since when exactly did people who earn big sums of money for lying or at best recreating a life for fun and entertainment started being more interesting than medical doctors, philosophers, activists and specialists and historicians ?
Oh but they are gorgeous, and sexy and live in this golden dream full of strass and paillettes that is the dream-movie land of Hollywood.
Pretty sure if the doctoress shows some legs and stockings, with good make up and Photoshop sure they could sell a lot more of good articles.
But Stars… They shine way too bright and blind us in the end.
lundi 9 février 2009
A Kind of Heaven
Multi instrumentalist Julien Gaullier finally completed his first album.
We're talking here good old prog rock with bit of opeth and marillion thrown for good measure among the mandoline and the mellotron.
It's free for Download to listen to and cheap for a download in a good encoded MP3 for enjoying more.
It's a great debut album with its share of problem and mistakes, the voice of Julien is a bit unsure at sometimes but overall it is a nice release with nice things in it so give yourself a treat and go listen (and buy if you like)
http://www.spleenarcana.com/
We're talking here good old prog rock with bit of opeth and marillion thrown for good measure among the mandoline and the mellotron.
It's free for Download to listen to and cheap for a download in a good encoded MP3 for enjoying more.
It's a great debut album with its share of problem and mistakes, the voice of Julien is a bit unsure at sometimes but overall it is a nice release with nice things in it so give yourself a treat and go listen (and buy if you like)
http://www.spleenarcana.com/
mardi 3 février 2009
Open Mind
If curiosity killed the cat, I must say lack of curiosity kills culture.
It's a bit of an understatement of course but it has to be said.
In those days of mass media communication, I feel like there is a bit of curiosity and open mindness missing around.
As stated before, People tend to go buy what everybody is talking about. And more than that, they don't usually do a review of it. People buy, consume and wait to buy the next one.
Not that all that is in the spotlight is bad, of course not. Hopefully not. But People do wait for the next article to tell them what to read... and the more general the source is the more they stick to the usual suspects.
People lack open mindness. Try to find by themselves, or to hear good journalists and critics that actually do some research to find new interessant stuff.
Sure it has a cost but the worst one is that you'll find something you will like. Almost everybody started small before becoming household names.
On the other hand, snobbery must be kept at bay... Why most of People feel like theit artist sold out because the 'common' People starts taking interest into him... It's just a matter of liking and feeling and what makes you tick.
Go forth and try something else... because a guy told you you might like it, as I said before... The worst that could happen is that you will like it.
It's a bit of an understatement of course but it has to be said.
In those days of mass media communication, I feel like there is a bit of curiosity and open mindness missing around.
As stated before, People tend to go buy what everybody is talking about. And more than that, they don't usually do a review of it. People buy, consume and wait to buy the next one.
Not that all that is in the spotlight is bad, of course not. Hopefully not. But People do wait for the next article to tell them what to read... and the more general the source is the more they stick to the usual suspects.
People lack open mindness. Try to find by themselves, or to hear good journalists and critics that actually do some research to find new interessant stuff.
Sure it has a cost but the worst one is that you'll find something you will like. Almost everybody started small before becoming household names.
On the other hand, snobbery must be kept at bay... Why most of People feel like theit artist sold out because the 'common' People starts taking interest into him... It's just a matter of liking and feeling and what makes you tick.
Go forth and try something else... because a guy told you you might like it, as I said before... The worst that could happen is that you will like it.
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