A Walk Around the Hill

So my son and I took a stroll around Chapel Hill yesterday
when we encountered this rather Seussian sculpture.
It looks like something right out of "How the Grinch Stole
Christmas" to me.

The Golden Compass

Just finished reading Phillip Pullman's page-turner "The Golden Compass." My daugther tells me she read it in sixth grade. Well, it wasn't written yet when I was in sixth grade. Regardless, it's a fabulously engrossing story written for any age with all the ingredients that books that have complete worlds within have. The richness of detail and likable and detestable characters along with the exotica that usually pops up in any good tale. I read this book in two sittings and it is compelling all on its own. Now I'll have to go back to finishing up "Last Temptation of Christ" which I thought I was reading first until I read the first chapter of this book. I don't know if I'll read about the rest of Lyras travels but this first bit was fun.

The Wind That Shakes the Barley

I went to see director Ken Loach's new epic on the Irish revolution on Sunday. The age old story of brother pitted against brother is recast yet again. Damien and Teddy are the main protagonists in the story and as brothers wind up having differing views on how to achieve what is best for their beloved homeland. Damien winds up being converted to the IRA in the most impressionable way after a British brigade busts up a train station. Teddy was already in the IRA and welcomes Damien to its ranks. The film begins in the 1920's and follows the progression of Irish politics from there. Its very clear from the directors point of view that the English were nothing short of storm troopers harassing the locals and torturing where necessary. The interesting bit is beyond the two dimensional depiction of the Brits and all about the evolution of Irish politics on into the Republican days after the signing of a truce with England for peace in most of Ireland. There is a scene where the truce is discussed that is a history lesson all its own.

Dohnanyi and Mozart

Attended the Chapel Hill Chamber Music Workshops opening concert on Sunday afternoon in the Graham Memorial. It was a perfect setting to hear two really different chamber pieces. First up was Serenade in C Major by Enro Dehnanyi. The intensity and beauty of this piece immediately put me in mind of Dvorak. The complex harmonies of the 3rd and 4th movements are a wonder to hear. It was played crisply and clearly by a trio of cello, viola and violin. I do not know this composers work but this piece has inspired me to learn more.

The second piece of the afternoon was Mozart's Horn Quintet which was much less challenging to the ear. A brisk 3 movements where the latter two felt almost like rondos of the first. Again beautifully performed but not quite as interesting to the ear as the first.

Temples and Tombs at the NC Museum of Art

Focus in this exhibit is always on the Egyptian royalty. Numerous statues and stelae attest to the greatness or power of many a forgotten monarch. Really interesting to see the shift in styles from the old kingdom through the middle kingdom
and onward to the new kingdom. Shifts toward realism are evident in the representations of kings and nobility as time passes toward the present.

Included in the exhibition are sculptures, reliefs, papyri, heiroglyphs of all kinds, jewelry, cosmetic objects, and funerary items in a variety of media – including stone, wood, terra cotta, gold, glass, and papyrus.

The first room is scattershot with objects used by artists and nobles. Among the included items are objects of decoration and protection, such as amulets, earrings, rings, a beautiful necklace, and cosmetic jars. Other items, such as a scribal palette, drawing board, practice drawings, and inked grid show the inner working of the artist's process and training.

There is a whole section of the private statuary. The earliest statues of private individuals were found in tombs, as a place where the spirit of the deceased could reside. The statuary here ranges from about 3000 B.C. to the first century A.D.

The last section of the exhibit focuses on Egyptian tombs and the afterlife. Seeking to gain life after death, items interred with the deceased were intended to protect their physical body and insure a successful afterlife for the soul.

There are bowls, palettes, headrests, ostraca (pieces of clay or stone with writing on them), and other everyday objects in the exhibition are embedded with protective symbols because they were intended for protection of the burial tomb.

Mr. Sebastian and The Negro Magician

Just finished reading an early copy of the Daniel Wallace book called "Mr. Sebastian and The Negro Magician." Fans of "Big Fish" will appreciate its return to magical realism. I did not intend to finish the whole thing in a day and a half but I could not put it down. I found the story itself to be the star and myself really wanting to see what happens next. It will make a great summer read when it comes out in July! Not revealing any particular details but suffice it to say any book that has magic, the devil, a dash of bone-crushing American history, and a bit of true love is worth our time.

dB's at the Cats Cradle

Yes it sounds like a headline you would have read in the Spectator 3 times a year in 1982, but its 2007, and yeah it's been that long since they played here. The recently reformed dB's put on a show of wide ranging material in front of a packed house saturday in Carrboro. The audience and the event itself came very close to outshining the actual show. Folks like Robert Kirkland, Mike Connell, Terry McInturff, Mitch Easter, Kitty Moses and many many others turned up. So many in fact, you could not turn around without seeing someone who had some context for the NC music scene. There were people at the show who had not been in North Carolina in a decade who had come home to see the godfathers of NC pop one more time. All these familiar faces in the same old places turned back the clocks for one night.

On to the bands! The Mayflies USA opened up the show with their one-night-only reformed status. They clearly had to knock some rust off but got it going in time to have their single "Walking in a Straight Line" sound great. As for the dB's they came on around 10:45 and cranked it up with the opening guitar salvo from "Black and White." Suffering from a poor house mix it took about 4 songs for the band to sound like they were clicking at all. Particularly great songs that night included: "Molly Says", "Living a Lie", "Lonely is as Lonely Does", "Ask for Jill", and of course "Amplifier." By the time of the encores the band really was sounding great and like they could have played another hour and we all wish they had. Now for the mitigating factors... The house mix was never really satisfying or very clear. Solos never turned up etc.. The other issue was tempo which at times was way under where it felt like it should have been. In spite of all that it was still a "had to be there" NC rock history moment.