SacWorldFest: H'sao

SacWorldFest: H'sao, a set on Flickr.

H'sao, performing on Saturday evening, October 6th, headlining the Sacramento World Music and Dance Festival (SacWorldFest).

Don't be mistaken by these photographs: believe your ears, not your eyes. H'sao are not rap; they sing, a capella, and they sing in French, in English, and in the African languages of their native Chad. They put on a very enjoyable, happy, musical show, leaving us wanting to hear more. The music draws from their traditional African musical and rhythmic heritage, from gospel and soul, jazz and pop. An intriguing sound, all their own. They may be labeled as "world" or "Francophone", but don't let that keep you from hearing some really good music.

I'm going to listen to them some more.

For more information about H'Sao: www.hsao.ca/

For more information about the annual festival in Old Sacramento, see www.sacworldfest.org

alisontoon.com

Next year, maybe I'll just grow flowers

Maybe next summer, I'll just grow flowers. And winter squash. Nothing else.

The tomato harvest was pitiful; I'll be planting them on the other side of the house, next year, where they flourished last year. And moving the roses that I planted in their place this year, because they don't get quite enough sun, and they are stretching towards the south. The tomatoes, despite needing lots of sun and heat and light, scorched badly on the south side, while the "volunteers"--stray seeds from last year--had a bountiful crop in the shade. So yes, I will grow tomatoes next year.

And herbs, of course. And peas. Oh and broad beans, they were wonderful. More broad beans.

I planted too-many garden/French beans and we didn't eat them because they were tough as old boots.The turkeys ate most of the melons, and scratched up about ten packets of baby carrots until I covered them with chicken-wire... which volunteer melons then grew all over so that the turkeys would stomp them... But fresh carrots are just wonderful, so I will keep trying with those, and parsnips, and oh that chard just looks so beautiful for so long I'll have to keep growing that too.

The beetroot did well, so did the aubergines and hot peppers. It looks like a jewel-box of red and yellow and green and black chilis right now. So I will grow all of those next year.

Oh and we have to have at least a few new fresh potatoes... and salad/lettuce... and cucumbers cos they did really well, and all the squash...

So maybe next summer, I'll just do it all over again.

And now for the "winter" planting.

Full review soon, OK?

Yes, I will write a full review of Sounds that Can't Be Made. I just have to listen to it again. And again. And again. A few more times. Can't interrupt the study. Yet.

Maybe you should just listen to it and not wait for my opinons. Seriously. I may just keep listening to the beautiful music...

I'm a Synner. Yes.

I don't write reviews about music that doesn't move me, not any more. Did that for quite a while, years ago, back in France, at the beginning of internet time. Wrote about music I loved, music I liked, and music I just didn't understand how to start liking. It's hard to write creatively and meaningfully about music or writing that you yourself don't enjoy, when you know other people do. Why criticise something just because I like green and you prefer pink? I prefer to take pictures... so when you see a longer review on here, it means something has touched, moved, nudged something deep.

Before going to Aftershock, to photograph all the bands, I did my research. Checked out those that I didn't know, or didn't know well. I'd never heard of Gemini Syndrome before that. And there is not too much available, yet, as recordings or official videos or sneaked-in-the-cam-to-a-show YouTube movies. But there's a little... and I knew they were the one band I really wanted to see (as well as STP of course, and under Karli's guidance, Bush).

Gemini Syndrome already have some rave reviews coming out of Los Angeles: "Most Anticipated New Artist", the cover story of Hollywood Music Magazine, among others. A few more have been added since their appearance at Aftershock; and I'm certain there will be many more.

I really don't go for metal-screaming. Ask Jade. She tried to teach me by oh-so-lovingly sharing her whole Cannibal Corpse and randomly-nasty Scandinavian metal band collection, full volume, when we still lived in France. Really I don't like it. I think it's the failed singer in me. It's not so much the music: it's the vicarious pain in the scream-rasped sore throat that makes my ears hurt.

So when I heard the first few bars of "Resurrection" online (there's a version on YouTube, I don't know if it's official or not, so I'm not linking it here, but I'm sure you know how to find it), I didn't for one moment think that, by the end of the song, by the end of the set at Aftershock, I'd be completely-and-utterly hooked. Line and sinker. A Synner. And the rest... "Basement", "Take This"...

Aaron Nordstrom can sing. He can scream, but he sure can sing too. They all can. The band makes music. Good music. And they are rather special to see. These are not babies; a relatively-new band, maybe, but it's a gathering of musicians.

So... I'm waiting for the first album, and waiting for tour dates to be announced. Hopefully, once again in Sacramento. (Aftershock, and the Sunrise at Night concert series, both proved the huge audience there is in this town, and in all of Northern California, for rock. For music. Not just in the bar scene, but accessible-to-all venues.We need to put this town on the map, good-and-proper.)

Other reviews on this blog:  Aftershock, first thoughts   

Gemini Syndrome photoset on Flickr (This set has had more visits than any of the other Aftershock performers, more than my set for Deftones, more than Bush, more than STP. Way to go.)

Keith Richards v. Paul McCartney. No competition really, is there.

So about ten days ago, I was in Barnes and Noble, looking for something worth reading in the bargain books section. And there, smiling up at me with a wonderful, sheepish grin, was Keith Richards, (#photosIwishI'dtaken, back jacket photo by Deborah Feingold)... irresistible. Naughty, naughty, but who's going to tell him off now? (The book in question: "Life", Keith Richards with James Fox, published by Little, Brown and Company. The hardback version was in the bargain section at $6.99 while the paperback was on full display at full price. I never understand how that works.)

Reading it over several days, there were times I had to put the book down, and just walk away. It's like watching a wrecking ball cleaving a path through a planet, debris and destruction on either side, and then someone else pops off to the next world, and then another, then some more naughtiness, "it just seemed to happen!", another friend lost, then another... yet all the time this strong, almost inhuman drive to make the music, understand the music, grow the music, play the music, share the music. I had to put the book down and walk away, because it brought back memories of people and places and things that I thought long-forgotten, so much so that I really just wanted to reach through the book and slap and shake him, hey Keith, really????? "I'm clean just a bottle or two of Jack and some this and some that, it's good to be clean" sort-of-thing and you know he believes it and, heck, he has survived. And continued to make the music. Who am I to judge.

I still want to slap him.

So Keith's Life read, nothing else to read in this house-full-of-books, so off to Barnes and Noble again this weekend.

And, surprise, another British musician's biography in the bargain book section.

(Can then do that through my iPhone now? Rearrange bookshops based on prior purchases/listening preferences/iTunes/country-of-origin-what-the-heck-cyberspying? Or is it just paranoia creeping in?) Anyway, this one was another Life, Paul McCartney's Life, "A Life", (another Life?), by Peter Ames Carlin.

I was ready to read a Life with a little less calamity.

What I got was Miss Goody Two-Shoes school report. Seriously. Really. I'm on chapter three... or rather, almost beginning chapter three, and it's just as thrilling as reading someone-else's kid's school report.  It's even written in the same way that British teachers used to write when I was at school. My school reports were good but heck I'm not going to publish them. I will persevere a little further, but it's going to be tough...

And there's the problem. Keith Richards, despite it all, is still one of the most attractive, endearing, enchanting human beings on this planet. And he's just so darn passionate about the things he does. No matter if they are "right", or "wrong".

Beatles or Stones? You really need to ask?

Sounds that Can't be Made by Marillion, available now! in the USA

Today is the day that "Sounds That Can't Be Made" goes on sale in the USA.

You can buy it on Amazon: if you've never heard Marillion before, you can of course listen to a preview, but you won't hear the depth and layers and sheer Marillion-ness unless you hear the whole thing--especially Gaza! So... be daring, buy something new, give your ears a treat.

You'll also find it on iTunes and of course from Marillion's own website:  http://marillion.com  along with all their other music.

Go listen, be happy.  I am!

(Search this blog for more Marillion reviews... there are a few, including of Gaza, from Sounds That Can't Be Made.)

Bella update: September 30th

Today, like yesterday, Bella spent a couple of restful hours outside, on her bed on the deck. She limps there from the big bed in the bedroom--just a few steps--and then lays down. If she's on her way to go potty, it's the same thing: first a stop off at the bed-on-the-deck.

Her turning circle has grown larger, like stretching a limo.

The lump on her leg that was the size of a small ping-pong ball, almost unnoticeable, four weeks ago, is now the size of a tennis ball. You can almost see it growing.

She had to go to the vets on Friday for a blood test, to make sure that the anti-inflammatory medicine she is taking is not messing up her liver. The results of the test were good; the taking of the test, not so easy! We took her in Dylan's car, as I can't get her into my truck any more. She was fine on the way there, but just couldn't (or wouldn't) get out once we arrived at the vets. We tried from both sides of the car, coaxing, pushing, encouraging, ordering. I went and asked a vet tech to help: same results. Moved the car to the back of the vet's office, into the shade. Still stuck on back seat. We had to muzzle her so that the two technicians could climb into the car and do the test there. How many vet techs and Great Danes can fit into the back seat of a Ford Focus?

We came back home. She wouldn't get out. We added the step from the deck, to make the step down from the car shorter. Still not budging. We tried enticing her out with turkey. She turned her head and ignored it. By this time, Dylan's car was bathed in scared-dog panting drool, and I was starting to wonder if we'd ever get her out.

In the end, Dylan worked the front end and I worked the rear. By folding up her sore leg, we were able to lift her enough that she put her front feet onto the floor, and then the good back leg. Suddenly she was very proud of herself, wagging, and extremely thirsty. (As were we all... it was around 95f.)

It would have been somewhat amusing to watch, I'm sure. And I had to laugh, otherwise I would cry. Again.

Bella's story in pictures:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/alisontoon/sets/72157630577326710/

Aftershock 2012: Chevelle

 

Aftershock 2012: Chevelle, a set on Flickr.

Chevelle performing at Aftershock festival, Sacramento's Discovery Park, 23rd September 2012

They brought a bull with them... a big, black bull. I guess to promote the new album, "Hats Off to the Bull". Their set was loud in the extreme; I want to listen to their music again, but at a lesser volume. I suspect that it's good.

Aftershock 2012: a day at the festival

Aftershock 2012: a day at the festival, a set on Flickr.

Discovery Park, Sacramento CA. People: the happy fans, their tattoos, their T-shirts... a day at a live music festival under the hot California sun.