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Category: music

“Fleur Carnivore”…

Published September 1, 2021 by Pelidoug

“Fleur Carnivore”…

 

…is an arresting, humorous/sinister/beautiful composition by Carla Bley. (for more, see footnote at bottom of this post)

Probably, Carla was inspired by some fellow Americans – Venus Flytraps.

Possibly, she had in mind the spectacular pitcher plants that lurk in Asian jungles.

However, the hottest spot for carnivorous plants is somewhere Carla has never ventured – Western Australia’s southwest corner, where more than 25% of “our” planet’s flowering carnivore species live, exclusively.

Many have exquisitely delicate flowers and look like they wouldn’t hurt a fly.

read more“Fleur Carnivore”…
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Taste of Spring (West Australian & Norwegian)

Published August 25, 2021 by Pelidoug

Taste of Spring (West Australian & Norwegian)

According to the people who were already here for many thousands of years before “European settlement”, southwest Western Australia has six seasons.

Each is determined by what is actually happening, rather than by a calendar’s fixed dates.

Currently, in and around Perth, it is very evidently Djilba – the first of two “Spring” seasons.

read moreTaste of Spring (West Australian & Norwegian)
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Revelatory Covers (#21 in series – special bumper edition)

Published August 9, 2021 by Pelidoug

Revelatory Covers (#21 in series – special bumper edition)

This post includes my favourite cover of a wistful, very famous Johnny Cash song, and a singular version of a less famous, more urgent song, authored by Stuart Adamson.

Both are “live” performances.

Darrell Scott is their American singer-guitarist, Danny Thompson their English double bassist.

And that’s not all…

read moreRevelatory Covers (#21 in series – special bumper edition)
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Word power: “the Billy Joel of Australian politics”

Published July 7, 2021 by Pelidoug

Word power: “the Billy Joel of Australian politics”

 

Did I stumble upon his/their avatar in a Tibetan Plateau marketplace?

Peter Lewis’s essay is an amusing and perceptive look at “Scotty”and Billy, as fellow “masters of pastiche”.

Morrison doesn’t even pretend to try to build his own coherent body of work. It’s not that he can’t come up with a tune. Far from it, there is a ditty for every occasion. It’s just that it’s not leading us anywhere.

read moreWord power: “the Billy Joel of Australian politics”
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Revelatory covers (#20 in series): “I’ll Be Seeing You”, sans words, but really singing…

Published July 5, 2021 by Pelidoug

Revelatory covers (#20 in series): “I’ll Be Seeing You”, sans words, but really singing…

Arguably the quintessential nostalgic song, I’ll Be Seeing You was composed in 1938. (music by Sammy Fain, words by Irving Kahal)

That year it was inserted into a Broadway musical…which flopped.

The song, however, became a “standard”, covered by countless singers…and not a few instrumentalists.

It was a #1 hit for Bing Crosby in 1944.

Frank Sinatra recorded it more than once.

Even Eric Clapton did so, in 2016.

The most celebrated recording – Billie Holiday’s 1944 version – is the one which reached Mars in 2018, as the conclusion to NASA’s final transmission to its Explorer rover.

However, the most “out of this world” version to reach this Earthling’s ears is a “live” and exploratory instrumental trio treatment, delivered in “the city of fallen angels”, in June 2016.

read moreRevelatory covers (#20 in series): “I’ll Be Seeing You”, sans words, but really singing…
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Autumn leaves…but not as you usually know them

Published May 22, 2021 by Pelidoug

Autumn leaves…but not as you usually know them

Not all deciduous trees have home addresses in cool temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere.

This one’s home is in a very particular part of tropical Australia.

This individual is circa 750 years old, weighs 36 tonnes, and is thriving in a place with quite the “wrong” climate, 3200 kilometres from home.

Even more amazingly, to get “here” it survived uprooting, followed by almost certainly the longest road trip ever undertaken by a large, living tree.

read moreAutumn leaves…but not as you usually know them
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