Quick Review - Book #12 - "Treason's Crown" - by Anne Wheeler

     Treason's Crown by Anne Wheeler, is book 1 of a Novella series, The Crownkeeper Trilogy. Roughly a medieval fantasy/romance, but not in the way that you'd think.

    Definitely a novella, but I wasn't sure if she was expanding a short story into a series. It felt like a longish short story; this is not a harsh critique! Character development keeps moving as you read, and there are a few twists that make this not your typical 'heroine has to do dangerous things to win over the king' type of read. 

    The main character, Riette, goes through quite a few interesting revelations about herself. I would have loved to see a deeper dive into this development. I guess I need to read the rest of the series for that! As she works her way through problems that occur, her encounters seem to be through a fresh set of eyes, not just as if she were... as one reviewer put it "not as if she is just a man in a dress." Kudos for that!

    This reads fast, and you will easily finish it in a day or two. There is betrayal, adventure, and more than enough development to keep the book moving forward. A good read indeed!

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Up Next! -- Flatland: a Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott

March 23 is Julie Fowlis

 Scottish Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis recorded on the Brave movie soundtrack, and has also toured the US. She sings to keep alive the memory of her ancestors....

Quick Review - Book #11 - "The 48 Laws of Power" - by Robert Greene

     More like the "48 Laws to Being a Sociopath," or the "48 Laws to Follow to Die Alone and Friendless."

    There is actually quite a lot to recommend this book surprisingly. The author, Robert Greene, has a BA in Classical Studies, and was working in Hollywood when he came up with the idea that attaining power and influence could be taught through the study of history, and application of knowledge of how 'the greats' achieved and attained power and influence. A good deal of what he writes gives examples of how leaders have achieved their goals, but it is also through trickery, deceit, and ruthlessness. All great skills to have if what you want is "Power," but just... a little bit... overboard as far as social situations go.

    My problem with this assertion, is that it is not necessary power itself that one needs to attain; power for the sake of power, after all, has zero meaning whatsoever. Congratulations, you have power. The roads of history are littered with the carcasses of the powerful, and there are monuments and libraries full of their deeds... and yet, dead they still are.

    So there must be more to life than power, but his main premise.. that power is good to attain, and any means that you employ is necessary and good for the attainment of said power... is flawed.

    He does assert that power can and should be used to bring yourself up in social situations. This is where everything will fall apart. 

    An example of flaws in his logic...

    Openly contradicting itself right in the table of contents--

        Law 6: Court Attention At All Costs

        Law 16: Use Absence to Increase Respect and honor

    One of the major problems with the book, is that it is overwhelmingly concerned with a single objective- gaining power. Other facets of life.. the things that bring life color and meaning, things in life that we regard as healthy and necessary, are completely ignored, or dismissed as irrelevant. There is more to life than power. 

    Part of this lays in how he dismisses life outside of power this way-- "never trust anyone completely and study everyone, including friends and loved ones." What he means is, study them to see how you can use them, or their friendship, to your advantage; use what can be gained by them, and discard the rest. 

    One review that I read states "If you can ignore the more questionable aspects of T48 LoP, and read it with a grain of salt, there is a lot to be gained from the book. For all his rhetorical flaws, Greene possesses the remarkable ability to convey the most grandiose power plays in history in a relatable fashion." This leads to questions such as "What do I do that keeps me from being as successful as I could be?" and "Do I navigate difficult situations as adeptly as I think I do?"

    His writing will hopefully get people to question themselves with regards to what they are looking for... power for the sake of power? additionally, he does promote self-assessment and introspection. For his use, to work on perfecting your goal of becoming the Nietzschean Ubermensch, but in reality, a good dose of self-assessment and introspection would do all of us some good.

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Up Next -- Treason's Crown

March 22 is Anike Nilles

    Anike Nilles is a drummer out of Germany, great chops and a really good feel for style and rhythm. 

Quick Review - Book #10 - "The Raw Shark Texts" - by Steven Hall

     In "The Raw Shark Texts" we follow the psychological odyssey of Eric Sanderson in his quest to recover his secreted past. Sanderson must descend through personal traumas and persevere haunting revelations in his struggle for salvation. In a world governed by abstractions, Sanderson is ultimately able to confront his demons using logical devices and remnants of his former reality. And, in his epiphany Sanderson finally realizes that he must make a decisive choice.

    It takes a bit of a leap of faith that this book is worth the read. It has a difficult start, with the lead character waking up in a room he does not recognize, in a life he does not remember, with his memory completely gone.

    There are clues to who he is, but we see the story through his eyes, and his confusion is our confusion. The writing is nimble and assured, which is a surprise for a first time novel.

    When I started the book, I saw a quote that said "A dazzling smart postmodern treat." If is an interesting read, with conceptual fish, and his own mind working against him. 

    It is a tough decision to recommend this book. You really have to hang with it for a while to get swimming with everything... 

 

March 13 is DOMi

     Domitille Degalle is a young French pianist. Currently at Berklee, she completed her piano studies at Nancy Conservatory in Nancy, France, she went on to study at the internationally renowned Superior National Conservatory of Paris ((Paris Conservatory). At age 16, she was awarded the full Presidential Scholarship by Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she is currently studying.

just a note... JD Beck is pretty amazing on the drums... he's an amazing young guy knocking out drumlines that most adults can't handle. 

March 11 is Heavy Weighs The King

 This is mostly the vocalist, Carmen. She has a voice. Wow. The band was signed by RCA, and their A&R guy basically ruined the band. The entire story is told on Rick Beato's channel. The original name of the band was I-Nine. There are some videos they have out, but they were not even supported, and basically they were screwed over. 

I really wish they got a LOT more airplay. They are innovative and interesting, and her voice is amazing. Plus... cello. How can you go wrong with that?

Quick Review - Book #9 - "Insomnia" - by Stephen King

     It had been so long since I had read a King book!

    I read "It" when it was first published while I was in high school, when I worked for the Chicago Public Library. We had the books for pre-order, but some of us were able to sneak a few out before official publication date, and I read fast enough that I finished it before that date, too. Ah, such a young criminal.

    "The Stand" is probably my favorite King book. The serialization that was on regular TV was pretty fantastic, too.

    Surprisingly, given how much I read back then, I never got to this book. I see it was published in the early 90s, so that would probably explain it. I was away from the horror books by then.

    The book has a nearly standard King narrative... if you know his books, it will all seem familiar. His handling off why the main characters experience insomnia, is interesting, and will help drag you further through the book, if only to see how far he takes the concept.

    A good read... especially if you like his style. I had forgotten how good his character development can be, and that is why he is one of the better modern American authors. 

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next up... The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall (two Steph/vens in a row!)

March 10 is Marina Krupkina... a.k.a., Marina's Decacorde

 Marina Krupkina is a young composer and arranger out of Russia, who works on the 10-string guitar. She has a number of beautiful arrangements out already, but I think these two are her best....

March 9 is MARO

     MARO is a Portuguese singer/songwriter and graduate of Berklee. She has done a bunch of collaborations due to COVID, but her earlier videos, she really shines on her own.

Cheers!!

March 8 is Esperanza Spaulding

 This one brings out big sighs from me.

    Esperanza Spaulding makes me want to be a high schooler again, at which point I would pick up my bass guitar and burn it. She has more raw talent than nearly anyone I have seen play, and that is saying a lot. 

    I know I posted this video before, but there are two songs here, and she sings and plays bass on both of them. In the first song, I really don't know how she can sing and play those bass lines at the same time. Then, to really annoy me, she plays the second song here on upright. She's amazing.

March 7 is Kinga Glyk

     Kinga Glyk is a 23 year old bass player from Poland. She was 'discovered' in 2016, when she released a video of her funk interpretation of Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven:"

    She has since gone on to record with many of the new young jazz players, and while she doesn't count as undiscovered, she is certainly worth the time to listen to, and I'd love for her to get a wider appreciation here in the States. 

    She is obviously having a good time with her playing, and really... that is what it should be all about.

Dig it.

Quick Review - Book #8 - "A Moveable Feast" - by Ernest Hemingway

     "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."

    In 1956, the Ritz Hotel in Paris finally convinced Hemingway to repossess two small steamer trunks that he had stored there in 1928. Inside the trunks, were forgotten remnants of his first years in Paris; from the time that he had left being a 'newspaper' columnist and reporter,  and dedicated himself to writing fiction. He wrote all the time, and had character sketches of his friends and semi-friends in Paris, in addition to his notes from while he was working on his first novel, The Sun Also Rises.

    He never named the book himself. Multiple chapters have been re-written, left out, added in... whatever combination that you want to call it. 

    The version that I read is called "The Restored Edition." This is all taken from a typed manuscript with original notations in Hemingway's handwriting; the actual manuscript is in the JFK Library in Boston.

    His character sketches and comments on his friends and companions are interesting. He was very close with F Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, Andre Masson, Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, Sylvia Beach... It is an interesting list! 

    One of the things that takes time to get used to is his writing style. I have described it as 'pugilist.' His friend Gertrude Stein was a big influence on his style, especially his use of repetition.  He was always in search of the 'one true word, one true sentence' to write, to describe. Here is an example from the first chapter in the book:

    "The leaves lay sodden in the rain and the wind drove the rain against the big green autobus at the terminal and the Cafe des Amateurs was crowded and the windows misted over from the heat and the smoke inside."

     He describes how he would write in the morning, and then walk to a particular park, because in that park he wouldn't smell the Cafes around the city and therefore he'd be less hungry. He would then go home to his wife, and describe in loving detail the beautiful lunch that he had, so that she would not think that he was skipping out on eating. They were really poor at the time, and part of the reason the ex-pat scene was so big in Paris, was due to the cost of living there.. basically, pennies on the dollar. 

    I particularly love his description of Scott Fitzgerald;

"His talent was as natural as the pattern that was made by the dust on a butterfly's wings. At one time he understood it no more than the butterfly did and he did not know when it was brushed or marred."

    Here are some of the other selections that I highlighted---

   "I was getting tired of the literary life, if this was the literary life that I was leading, and already I missed not working and I felt the death loneliness that comes at the end of every day that is wasted in your life."

"There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lives in it differs from that of any other. We always returned to it no matter who we were nor how it was changed nor with what difficulties nor what ease it could be reached. It was always worth it and we received a return for whatever we brought to it."

"The only thing that could spoil a day was people and if you could keep from making engagements, each day had no limits. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself."

"In Dostoyevsky there were things believable and not to be believed, but some so true they changed you as you read them; frailty and madness, wickedness and saintliness..."

"... the man who believed in the mot juste - the one and only correct word to use - the man who had taught me to distrust adjectives as I would later learn to distrust certain people in certain given situations..."

    That last quote was regarding Ezra Pound, who he described as "... I wanted his opinion on a man who almost never used the mot juste and yet had made his people come alive at times, as almost no one else did."

    The book is a fascinating read.

Scott

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 Coming up.... book #9!! - Insomnia - by Stephen King!!

Women's History Month! March 6th is Kate Davis

     So, since I removed FB from my phone, I miss all kinds of things!

    March is International Woman's Month. 

    So for the rest of the month, I'll do a quick post on women in music. There is a good chance that this will be heavy on bass players (heh.) 

    For starters, here is The amazing Kate Davis. This first clip was the second recording of hers that I heard, and I think the original video was taken down by the Kennedy Center for copyright reasons. Rogers and Hart standard from 1936.

    She is a multi-instrumentalist, but started out on bass. She has a voice to beat the band, and her bass chops are to die for. 

    

    The song that introduced her to the world----

    

One of my favorites, just watching her run up and down the upright bass, while laying down that rhythm, and singing.... just wow.

Kate Davis