Robert Pollard continues to effortlessly shake perfect pop kernels from his sleeves, but the lo-fi charm has now been completely eclipsed by the stadium-shaking of ‘Doing the Collapse’, the latest album by Guided by Voices. Don’t expect a slick show but do look forward to good old-fashioned rocking and singalong fun.
Archive for February, 2009
Parcours chanté
The genteel environs of Le Botanique play host to a celebration of Francophone culture for three weeks in March. The bill, which features 30 different acts, caters for very eclectic tastes. Highlights include the sparse folk-rock of Senegalese protest singer El Hadj N’Diaye, the blues of Boubakar Traoré from Mali, the techno of French group Bosco and the electro-Arabic marriage arranged by Tunisian chanteuse Amina. Indigenous Belgian talent is also well-represented with Daniel Hélin, William Dunker, Marc Morgan and Vive La Fête.
Beautiful Heidelberg
The Altstadt centers on the Marktplatz, a cobbled square where a mighty Hercules flexes his muscles over a fountain and where for many years punishments from beheading to imprisonment in a rotating hanging cage took place. Now tourists and locals gather not to laugh at convicts but to drink a coffee or to buy fruit in the market on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
“Why does everybody else have to like this town too?” This is the question bitter tourists searching for a room in Heidelberg ask as they encounter one booked hotel after another. It is very important to call ahead to reserve, and the tourist office is very helpful in booking rooms. Hotel-Pension Elite is a quaint Victorian place in the bustling old part of town.
Heidelberg?s buzz of tourism is without a doubt worth enduring as its stunning hillside setting, endless list of attractions, and lively nightlife can always inspire poetry and romance.
Tips for travelling in Moscow
There is now a western-style laundromat in Moscow. The machines are not coin operated, you pay the operators of the laundry. There are about 20 washing machines and 20 dryers. It is in Building 3, behind the apartment block facing Prospect Andropova.
Russian Youth Hostels and Tourism (RYHT) is the best option for accommodation with booking confirmation in St Petersberg and Moscow. Its fax in Redondo Beach, California (310-379-8420) is the easiest to access. You should send a fax asking for reservation and payment forms, information about hostel rules and regulations, and confirmation to the consulate in your city.
Russian cameras are good and cheap. Kiev and Zenith reflex cameras can be found in most photo shops. The Zenit 122, for example, which is a good manual camera, costs US$50 with a 50 lens. Apparently Russian lenses are very well made.
The MTO mirror lenses, which are not for common use, are extremely cheap compared to the original ones, they have 500 and 1000. For professional use I would suggest a 6×6 Kiev 88 which is available at the Izmailosky Park market for US$200. For special use I would suggest the Horizon Panoramic Camera. The new model, 202, is sold at the same market for US$340 (the official price is somewhere between US$200 and US$250, but it is difficult to find in the shops). I was told the old Horizon cameras are worth a fortune in the west, they were selling for between US$120-180 at the same market. Tripod stands are also extremely cheap: for US$20 you can get a really good metallic one.
Mappa Mundo
Although it only opened a year ago, this bar is on the corner of the increasingly hip Place St Géry, guaranteeing it a constant flow of business. Tastefully furnished, the bar is ideal for either a subdued coffee during off-peak hours or for knocking back beers in the evening. Its only drawback is that it has a reputation for slow table service, with the result that its best to place orders at the bar. It also serves a range of snacks, such as salads, soups, pittas and New-York-style bagels.
Music Antiquariat
Vinyl heaven, with thousands of LPs from Jimmy Cliff to once-forbidden Czech bands of the underground like Plastic People of the Universe. With impressive jazz, blues, folk and classical sections, Music Antiquariat makes a great argument for exploring the empty-looking old shopping passages of Prague. In this case, your venture is rewarded with autographs, 45s, 78s, Ozzy Ozbourne’s sheet music and the full set of Motorhead albums imprinted with demonic creatures.
Joseph Beuys: Drawings After the Codices Madrid of Leonardo Da Vinci
Joseph Beuys is back in fashion on New York’s streets, now that the fashion world has declared that ‘grey is the new black’. Grey felt and fur (together with fat, which isn’t yet back in fashion) were among Beuys’s preferred materials. The German artist, who died in 1986, was among the leading art radicals of the Fluxus movement of the late ’60s and early ’70s. ‘Drawings After the Codices Madrid’ is a series of 1974 sketches by Beuys inspired by the Da Vinci notebooks recovered in the ’60s and which Beuys saw as symbolising the marriage of science and art – and an opportunity to extend the reach of art beyond the elite.
The Glory of the Golden Age
In celebration of its 200 years of existence, the Rijksmuseum has put together this ambitious summer-long exhibition of 17th-century Dutch art. ‘The Glory of the Golden Age’ will feature a broad and priceless selection of silverware, glassware, furniture and – of course – paintings by the illustrious likes of Rembrandt, Vermeer, Ruysdael and Frans Hals.
Violent Femmes
Imagine The Velvet Underground playing rockabilly and you’ll have some idea of the quirky delights of Gordon Gano’s Violent Femmes. Veering from the party pop of ‘Blister in the Sun’ to the scary vision of ‘Country Death Song’, the Femmes never failed to bring a giddy smile to the lips of warped rock fans. Fifteen years since their inception, their witty gems leave younger anoraks for dead, as new album ‘Freak Magnet’ proves. Who else could make a chorus like ‘What’s for breakfast? What’s for lunch? What’s for dinner? Captain Crunch’ sound existential?
