One more cup of coffee for the road

Magnus, Bertand and I met early to make our way to Fiumicino and then split up to return to Stockholm, Paris and London.

A final Lavazza Italian coffee and then the hop, skip and a jump back to London

Tag: breakfast, coffee, italy

Roman Evening

We made our way back to the centre of Rome, past the huge Mussolini creation sometimes referred to as 'the Wedding cake' and on into the area of the Trevi Fountain.

Annalisa showed us the proper way to throw the coins over our shoulder, with our back to the fountain. One coin for a wish and three coins for marriage! The Trevi is an interesting tourist sight, so here is a special downloadable quicktime tour of the Fountain, grab the photo to move around it.

We wandered around with the early evening crowds and finally stopped at Al Presidente, a fine restaurant where we ate Roman Style dishes, including fagioli (thick Roman bean soup), Roman style pasta and lamb.

Tag: italy, rome

Rome

And so I travel to Rome, Italy.

Rome, starting from 509 BC ascended to become capital of an empire dominating the whole of the Mediterranean and across Europe as far as the United Kingdom.

Rome's city walls were built in about 270 AD but didn't stop the city being sacked in in the 400s. It was as a result of the constant wars around it in the 500s that Rome's Empire fell into total disrepair becoming nearly abandoned and desolate.

The Bishop of Rome (Pope) ascended to become one of the leading religious figures in the entire Byzantine Empire and effectively more powerful locally than either the remaining senators or local Byzantine officials.

So power in Rome devolved to the Pope and much of the remaining possessions of the senatorial aristocracy and the local Byzantine administration in Rome were absorbed by the Church.

The Vatican is nowadays a separate State, with its own "Swiss" guards,

Every day of the year, many visitors make their way to the Vatican City, Sistine Chapel, St Peters and the Citadel.

And then there's the secular pleasures of coins in the Trevi Fountain and the many delights for tourists on holiday.


Tag: italy, rome

I heard you being quiet

There is so much written about Tori Amos. Flashing between 2005's The Beekeeper and the January 1992 Little Earthquakes shows Tori Amos to have excellent and durable singer/songwriter qualities with emotive, raw and poignant songs spanning the entire period.



Years go by will I still be waiting
For somebody else to understand
Years go by if I'm stripped of my beauty
And the orange clouds raining in my head

Sometimes playing just piano, other times using dance track style drum and bass accompaniment, Tori creates a web to enthrall. In Scarlett's Walk, which toured post September 11 in the USA, as well as visiting us here in Europe, she is able to demonstrate the performance quality of her work

Years go by will I choke on my tears
Till finally there is nothing left
One more casualty
You know we're too
easy
easy
easy



If you have not checked Tori's work, click one of the
references in this entry.

There is a fuller version of this post with accompanying music and comments here. People reading this at work asked for a version without automatic music.

Tag: music, Tori Amos

two tyred

My car needed replacement tyres and the man in a van said he would arrive at 12:00 to check what was required. He actually arrived at 12:03, I showed him the car and he started work. At 12:17, he handed me back my car keys.

All done. Almost a pit stop. Can anyone beat 14 minutes outside of Formula 1?

you call that psychedelic?

Seeing the goat (below) also created a brief search for other psychedelia. Where better than the Avalon Ballroom? And check out those sandals. You know, you can still buy them.

goat hunt

So I looked at Edie Sedgwick's Photostream, where I spotted a Psychadelic Goat. An internet adventure loomed.

1) Why spell it with an A instead of an E?
2) Why in monochrome for something psychedelic?

A little exploration found ellen's sadly neglected website and a few musical tracks about getting ready for Finals. I wonder what happened next?

saxophone headgear

I was having a debate with Ray a few days ago about headgear for a saxophone player. We narrowed it to berets or trilbys. Then I remember seeing saxophone guy in London a couple of days ago and that I had captured him on the edge of a photo I took with my phone. With massive enlargement and general Photoshopping, I managed to make a little dot into this kinda arty photo shot.

The result... No hat!

Wanna hear some sax? Click here!

Tag: music, saxophone

dream gomi and F:F:F

Look carefully at this picture (or the bigger version) for one minute before you go to bed.

Have happy dreams.

Tag: dreams

blog shuffle

Google has added blog search. It is quite interesting to use against your own blog as a kind of 'shuffle' setting! Here's my current blog listings as an example.

2-1 The Ashes come home

I joined everyone walking to Trafalgar Square, today at around midday, to celebrate the return of the Ashes to the UK.

Overhead was the pronounced buzz of multiple helicopters; Nelson surveyed the scene from his usual lofty vantage undisturbed by passing policemen.

The song Jerusalem was introduced and sung, complete with giant song words displaye for all to see.

Then the bus containing 'our lads'; the victorious Ashes winning team, made its way into the Square.

And on top, Vaughan and Pietersen restraining Freddie Flintoff who had already consumed a reasonable quantity of alcohol.

Tag: London

I heard you scream from the other side of the mountain

There is so much written about Tori Amos. Flashing between 2005's The Beekeeper and the January 1992 Little Earthquakes shows Tori Amos to have excellent and durable singer/songwriter qualities with emotive, raw and poignant songs spanning the entire period.



Years go by will I still be waiting
For somebody else to understand
Years go by if I'm stripped of my beauty
And the orange clouds raining in my head

Sometimes playing just piano, other times using dance track style drum and bass accompaniment, Tori creates a web to enthrall. In Scarlett's Walk, which toured post September 11 in the USA, as well as visiting us here in Europe, she is able to demonstrate the performance quality of her work

Years go by will I choke on my tears
Till finally there is nothing left
One more casualty
You know we're too
easy
easy
easy



If you have not checked Tori's work, click one of the
references in this entry.

To give another perspective, Amanda Palmer from the Dresden Dolls describes a 2005 Tori concert. Amanda appears a sceptic, but has really already been quite influenced over a long period with views about Tori and her writing.

She writes, "So we went to see her here in Boston the night before last, my band and I, and there I sat. And as I watched her I thought: This performer does not need to care about whether I like her music or not. She has a huge following, people who love her music and stick with her, she's forty, a mother and she's touring."

"Terrible album or not, Amanda, you've got to respect this woman. Coming home, I finished the last few pages of her book and thought about what had struck me, stuck with me. One thing that she expressly said a few times was how sad she thought it was that female musicians and singers felt the need to compete so fiercely with each other, as if there were only room for so many - and it was kill or be killed."