Alphaville: une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution

a film by Jean-Luc Godard

After a year and a half living here, we just started to discover various free events and activities in Las Palmas. On Friday, we went for a free bus excursion organised by the Cabildo de Gran Canaria to watch a (not quite yet) winter solstice sunrise and visit a cave village called Acusa Seca. And on Saturday, there was a free open-air movie night. Godard’s Alphaville was closing Futuro, a cycle of sci-fi films screened at Palacete Rodríguez Quegles.

Sunrise at Acusa Seca, 18 December 2015. More photos of Acusa Seca @ Shutterstock.

Now I can think of a few pastimes more satisfying than watching a 50-year-old black and white French film noir. In French. With Spanish subtitles. Outdoors. None of them would be as cool though. (In fact, it was positively chilly last night. Next time we have to bring a blanket.) I mean, Lemmy Caution, aka secret agent 003, aka Ivan Johnson, a journalist for Figaro-Pravda — can it get Frenchier than that? Not exactly a comedy but full of deadpan humour (the car chase scene is priceless). Of course, Lemmy, played by Eddie Constantine, is nobody else than an early cinematic incarnation of Lazlo Woodbine, so expect a lot of gratuitous sex and violence, now and then unashamedly accompanied by “dun dun dun”. A great cast featuring Anna Karina and Akim Tamiroff; names like Leonard Nosferatu, Prof. Heckell and Prof. Jeckell; and fireworks into the bargain — well that was not a part of the original movie but that’s what you can get when watching in the open air. Marvellous.

Song of the Sea

a film by Tomm Moore

Once again, brought to us by Timur: a strange, not-quite-coherent story, beautifully, almost entirely hand-drawn animated. IMDb’s Parents Guide states that the “climax can be intense for some”. Which turned out to be true. Timur noted that, in spite of all the sadness, it still left more people happy, unlike The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, where nobody was happy in the end.

Cascadia

a film by GoPro

Looks like, at long last, scorchio made its way into Spanish language: ¡Buenos días desde Radio El Scorchio!

In this great new commercial for GoPro’ HERO4 camera, Scottish cyclist Danny MacAskill takes you for a crazy and colourful ride — guess where — across the roofs of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. And when I say “crazy”, I mean it. Don’t try this at home; don’t attempt this outside home either.

Buika Sinfónico in Las Palmas

If you know anything at all about me, you’ll know that spending a Sunday evening listening to symphonic orchestra is not my idea of a good time. In my early days, the (otherwise joyous) burials of the Politburo members were invariably but puzzlingly accompanied by sombre classical music on the radio and Swan Lake on the telly. But what a man won’t do for the love of Buika? Surely enduring a bit of orchestral noise is a reasonable price for a sheer pleasure to see and hear her live.

This was the first time we went to the Auditorio Alfredo Kraus. I mean inside. It is a beautiful venue, however I wasn’t much impressed by its acoustics. At least from where we were sitting. On this occasion, Buika was supported by Orquesta Sinfónica de Las Palmas conducted by Toni Cuenca, Iván “Melón” Lewis on piano and Ramón Porrina on cajón. It’s a shame that during the first two songs, Mi niña Lola and Nostalgias, Buika’s voice was practically drowned by the orchestra. It got better later though. Either my ear got used to it, or, what’s more plausible, the sound engineer finally found the voice fader. Not that the orchestra was bad; rather the opposite (and you hear that from someone who firmly associates symphonic music with Soviet-style humourless pomposity). I really enjoyed the orchestral work in Throw It Away. But the true magic happened on two or three occasions when, as if to illustrate that, after all, this orchestral grandeur was totally superluous, maestro Cuenca put down his baton and picked up the double bass. Frankly, I did not expect him to be that funky! Concha Buika accompanied by piano trio; just piano; just cajón; cajón and bass; Buika singing and dancing on her own, pure passion and joy. Encores included Que Nadie Sepa Me Sufrir and Siboney. Ahhh... Wish you were there.

かぐや姫の物語

a film by Isao Takahata

When I was about ten, I came across a book of Japanese folk tales (in Russian translation) and read it from back to back in a few days. I was fascinated by them, not least because they were very different from the “classic” fairy tales I was accustomed to. Most of the Japanese tales were dark (if not menacing), refreshingly moral-free, and had no obligatory happy ends. Now Timur bought another Studio Ghibli DVD and we watched it over two evenings.

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, which is based on the folk tale, is a work of beauty. I don’t know how exactly this animation is made but it looks like watercolour, pastel, charcoal... It has got a lot of humorous moments. Maybe because of that, against my better judgement, I was hoping for a happy end. Well it is not very happy, unless going to the moon with Buddha and his entourage is your idea of happiness. Absolutely worth watching, although I still prefer My Neighbors the Yamadas.

Scandinavian Nights (Live in Stockholm 1970)

by Deep Purple

For Deep Purple Mark II, 1970 was truly an annus mirabilis. Not only because of In Rock — wait a minute, I’ve got a 25^th anniversary edition CD which is 20 years old already; shall we expect a 50^th anniversary edition in five years’ time? — but also because of Jon Lord’s Gemini Suite Live and Jesus Christ Superstar superstarring Ian Gillan. I was practically growing up on this latter album.

What about Scandinavian Nights? It was recorded in Stockholm exactly 45 years ago, on 12 November 1970, so it’s not clear why “nights” in plural. But trust me, behind its rather uninspired cover art you’ll find simply the best live recording of this, or any, Purple line-ups. Sure enough, there are Child in Time, Into the Fire and Speed King (in my view, vastly superior to their respective studio versions) as well as half-an-hour monsters of Wring That Neck and Mandrake Root. But also, please, don’t forget the cover of Paint It Black.

Nocturno

by Pascal Blanchet

I hesitate to call this book a graphic novel, but then, what else is it? In any case it does not look like one, with one panel per page spread or per page, often with blank black verso (or recto). The Cole Porter’s song In the Still of the Night provides the obvious background for the story, or stories. But there’s more. In the end of the book you can find a discography, which I took the liberty to reproduce here. It also prompted me to do a bit of research (if you can call a web search that). I could not find any info on the singer called Anne Scheffer outside of the Blanchet’s book context. I was able to identify all the tracks in this discography and supplementary material apart from those featuring Scheffer, even though the orchestras she supposedly recorded with did exist and indeed had those songs in their repertoires. So... who exactly is this mysterious “queen of the radio waves”? Doris Day, Jo Stafford, Margaret Whiting? I may never learn, but I’ve discovered for myself a new artist as well as music of André Mathieu.

Discography

1. In the Still of the Night — Jo Stafford with Paul Weston & his Orchestra, 1948
2. Love on a Greyhound Bus — Kay Kyser & his Orchestra, 1946
3. Street Scene — Harry James & his Orchestra, 1955
4. Lonely Woman — June Christy with Stan Kenton, 1955
5. A Tree in the Meadow — Margaret Whiting with Frank De Vol Orchestra, 1948
6. City of Glass, Second Movement — Stan Kenton & his Orchestra, 1951
7. Dancing in the Dark — Jo Stafford with Paul Weston & his Orchestra, 1957
8. Nature Boy — Frank Sinatra with The Jeff Alexander Choir, 1948
9. It’s Magic — Doris Day, Orchestra under the direction of George Siravo, 1948
10. André Mathieu, Concertino n° 2, Opus 13, II. Andante — Matthias Bamert & London Mozart Players
11. Haunted Heart — Jo Stafford with Paul Weston & his Orchestra, 1948
12. Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child — Fred Waring & The Pennsylvanians, 1957
13. Antonín Dvořák, Symphonie n° 9 en mi mineur, II. Largo — Ferenc Fricsay, Berliner Philharmoniker
14. That Lucky Old Sun — Frankie Laine with Harry Geller Orchestra, 1949
15. In the Still of the Night (from Silk Stockings), M-G-M Orchestra

Supplementary Material

1. Ennui — Stan Kenton & his Orchestra, 1951
2. The Night We Called it a Day — Frank Sinatra, Axel Stordahl Orchestra, 1947
3. Free — Helen Humes & The Contrastors, 1948
4. Again — Doris Day, 1949
5. Bess, You Is My Woman Now — Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Isaac Stern
6. Long Ago and Far Away — Jo Stafford, 1944
7. Lazy Afternoon — June Christy, Orchestra conducted by Pete Rugolo, 1957