mtadkins

So…there were two great acquisitions last Friday that I forgot to talk up.

One was the a print from Audrey Kawasaki that I had purchased in February (picture in an upcoming post) that finally arrived, and it is beautiful.

But, what’s been burning up my CD /mp3 players this week is the latest album from Galactic, Ya-Ka-May. I’ve got a nostalgic bent for the band from my days at Tulane, when we’d book them for shows here & there (I’m going way back there, btw).

Anywho, Ya-Ka-May kicks some serious ass. My favorite track so far is “Heart Of Steel” a collaboration with the incomparable Irma Thomas, which has commandeered the ‘repeat’ button on my radio for days.  There’s a Trombone Shorty track that’s almost as awesome, so I’d say the whole album is worth your time.

I went in search of some sheet music or midi files of the this oh-so-beautiful tune from Yann Tiersen (heard in Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain), and was sucked into the youtube vortex of (mostly) endearing alternate versions:

• for solo guitar
• a wild version for ringing bells (yea you heard me right) — gotta make it 2:00 into this one for the full effect to hit
• two guitars
• a  “metal” version
• flute and whistle

And the original….

The new film from Jean Pierre Jeunet, Micmacs à tire-larigot, has pounced on my brain’s expectation centers.

@jonathancoulton Seriously smile-inducing: Children’s Choir Sings “Still Alive” http://goo.gl/lzIR #portal

I used to be very in to the Oscars, but now not-so-much. It was actually tough to work up some enthusiasm for last month’s show.

Perhaps it correlates to a time when I saw every frickin movie that came out (1996-2001). Or maybe I’m just older and my expectations have drifted upwards. Anyway, now that we’re finally catching up with 2009’s films… I have trouble believing that An Education wasn’t the ‘Best Picture’ in that group.

Still, I’m holding out hope that  UP or A SERIOUS MAN will at least be as good…