The game between Wales and Belgium just ended and I am so happy that Wales reached the semi final of the UEFA Euro 2016. It was a very interesting game to watch and it was more than earned that Wales won this game. I supposed before that Wales would win because they are a TEAM, playing with hope in their hearts and I am looking forward to the next game. Hope they kick out Portugal and fucking CR7. Anyway, watching the games of Wales were the greatest fun in this tournament (except Iceland of course).
George shut down his blog yesterday. I am really sad about it but I respect his decision. It was always a pleasure to follow him - especially his ongoing posting the dates of birth/death of musicians. I will miss his regular postings of soul and gospel during the weekends that gave me often a real inspiration to this kind of music. I hope you are well and can enjoy more family life with Jo and your bunch of animals. Here are some songs, I suggest that they will hit your choice.
Welcome to the new millennium and to a new employer. As I have already indicated last week I have got difficulties with my directors. To cut a long story short: he put the blame on me because he lost his face in front of all other employees. Because I would not longer stand any other chicaneries in the future I have already applied last year for a new job. With some connections I built up the last years I got a very good job in our capital Stuttgart. It was hard to leave the company and all my co-workers behind after 23 years. But I have also been glad about the new challenge. The first weeks were hard because it was all new and totally different. I used to work in a familiar bank and now I came to a bank that tried to work as a really big bank. Anyway, I did my best to get my position in this bank.
Christiane and I have grown together more and more and we decided to take a longer time out and go traveling to India for 5 weeks. We spent a lot of evenings to plan our vacation. I haven't been there before so it was a great surprise how it will be. I heard about the poorness, dirt and crowded places but I wanted it to see by myself. In fact that this is a very big country we decided to travel 'only' through the southern part of India, Kerala. And we wanted to travel by ourself - not with any guided and fully arranged tour. So we fixed the places we wanted to see not knowing how to get there. We traveled by bus, train and sometimes by a taxi and it worked easily. We have seen a beautiful and for Indian relations a rich country. Kerala produces the most of home vegetables in India and their number of illiterates is less than 20% because this region was civilized by Portugal. Impressed of a lot pictures and places we have seen we spent a week to relax on Goa, a place where the hippies went to in the late 60s. A few of them were still there but most of them toothless and stoned. When you sat at the beach at sundown you could hear sounds that my ears didn't knew before. So I was introduced to the Goa sound.
Not much records this year but it might be my fault because I listened much to old school jazz, funk and soul music this year:
Radiohead - Kid A: More electronic sounds with influences of Krautrock and Jazz now on it now
Phoenix - United: This summers record comes from France
Coldplay - Parachutes: This record is the reason why I listen to them still
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven: Canadian instrumental post rock - fantastic
Steely Dan - Two Against Nature: They are back on the same high level
Underworld - Everything, Everything: Just dancefloor but awesome
Santana - Supernatural: His last good work
This are some songs from 2000 I remember very well:
Of course we went to the cinema this year again:
The Perfect Storm: Fantastic novel and a congenial movie as well
Gladiator: A good period movie
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Martial art at it's best
Billy Elliot: Great movie about a boy going his way
Oh Brother, Where Art Though: The Coen brothers going to Homer's Odyssey
The Beach: I've been there
High Fidelity: What are your top 5?
Almost Famous: Movie about the Rock and Roll Circus
Snatch: Crazy story with an excellent Brad Pitt and Vinnie Jones
Let's take a little look what happened in the rest of the world:
Pope John Paul II apologizes for wrongdoings by members of the Roman Catholic Church throughout the ages // Vladimir Putin is elected President of Russia // Civil war in Sierra Leone, Africa starts // The Tate Modern Gallery opens in London // At the Roskilde Festival 9 people die and 26 are injured on a set while Pearl Jam performs // France defeats Italy 2:1 after extra time in the final of the European Championship // The Russian submarine Kursk sinks in the Barents Sea, all 118 members on board die // Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visits Temple Mount and Palestinian riots erupt
Calexico's third record Hot Rail was a great step forward in their career. Sure they played that sound before but now they added horns and violins in their sound. As I was a kid I used to watch a lot of western movies and I loved when the gunman hit the saloon and saw a Mariachi band playing. Dressed up in their suits and big sombreros the played their Mexican instrumental songs and mostly added with a trombone. These pictures comes to my sense when I listen to Calexico. Named by a town in California they play a kind of desert rock (often called Americana but I don't like this classification) with a lot of influence by the Mariachi sound. It is one of these records I have chosen when I had to drive a long distance. There are less records that are so relaxed and cool as this one. The songs slowly develop from easy, almost monotonous rhythms and quiet melodies. Partially these are rather sound collages than songs. Every movement solidifies, the thoughts become pleasantly sluggish. Only the Mariachi inserts rouse the listener over and over again briefly to let feel him, however, immediately that he has mounted again only of one fates Morgana. I know a similar mood from "Siesta" by Miles Davis.
Occupational change at the office. In addition to my general tasks they added new obligations to me. Now I have to switch to the customers to serve and to conclude contracts with them. That was exactly the thing I never wanted to. But I had no opportunity to refuse this job if I wanted to keep my job. And I was to lazy to look for a new job because I was integrated in my social life and the big advantage to have a job in my hometown. After weighing all the pros and cons I bit the bullet and did my best, knowing that this will be my final job. Therefore me and Susanne decided to take a longer time for vacation this year. In summer we went for a four-week vacation to the coast of the Algarve in Portugal by car. It was 1.300 miles one way from our town to the final destination of Albufeira. As we go by car we decided to take not the shortest way and visit some other places on our way. So we first drove through France towards Marseille and from there up to Barcelona. We also stayed a couple of days in the beauty Camargue. It was an easy and free time to travel and to stop and stay if ever we had the feeling inside that this place needs to stay for longer. All in all we had a great time, not knowing that this was the best moments in our both life so far. Looking back to this trip I ask myself how I could manage driving this distance. Maybe you can do this when you are younger - today it would be too much for me.
This year's records that are worth to remember again:
The Triffids - Calenture: Another great record by a underrated band
Public Enemy - Yo! Bum rush the show: A monument of rap
U2 - The Joshua Tree: You couldn't ignore because it was played everywhere
Gary Moore Wild Frontier: Blues rock with Irish influences
Deacon Blue - Raintown: Perfect pop about life in Glasgow
The Cure - Kiss me, kiss me, kiss me: Back again with an more optimistic mind
John Hiatt - Bring the Family: A perfect combination of Blues, Country and rock
Terance Trent D'Arby - Introducing the Hardline According to ...: The return of soul inspired songs
The Smiths - Strangeways Here We Come: Their legacy and final highlight
Nyah Fearties - A Tasty Heidfu: Minimal Irish Punk Folk; short songs - great fun
The Jesus and Mary Jane - Darklands: Gigantic
39 Clocks - 13 more Protest Songs: German New Wave goes Psychedelic
The Sister of Mercy - Floodland: Andrew Eldrich turnes into bombast
Aztec Camera - Love: One more great record from one of the finest Scottish bands
Aretha Franklin - One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism: The mighty voice goes back to the roots
Some songs that was played very often this years and others they should have been played more:
What was on the movies this year:
Good Morning Saigon: Robbie Williams as a radio DJ in Vietnam - awesome
The Untouchables: Fantastic movie about how to get Al Capone in jail
Dirty Dancing: Patrick Swayce tried to teach us how to dance
Dragnet: Dan Aycroyd's homage to the 50s cop series
La Bamba: Good biopic about the life of Richie Valens
Moonstruck: Nice movie about relationship in the family. Great: Cher
Angel Heart: Maybe the best movie about the devil ever. Fantastic: Robert De Niro as Lou Zeyfer (especially peeling the boiled egg)
The Big Easy. Corruption in the police department of New Orleans with great Cajoun music
Full Metal Jacket: Great idea to show military education on Paris Island and the reality fighting houses
Radio Days: Woody Allen takes us back to the times before television
Wall Street: Oliver Stone shows us how trading business works.
When I remember this year there are a few things that touched me personally:
The so called Unabomer Ted Kaczynski strikes another time in Salt Lake City with his bombing campaign against modern technologies // The Iran-Contra affair continues and blaming Ronald Reagan for not controlling his administration // The first appearance of the Simpsons in the Tracey Ullman show // Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II // Nineteen year-old West German pilot Mathias Rust evades Soviet air defenses and lands a private plan on Red Square in Moscow // Through a visit in Berlin Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet prime minister Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin wall // 400 Iranian pilgrims are killed in clashes with Saudi Arabian security forces in Mecca // Black Monday: Stock market levels fall sharply at Wall Street and around the world // English jockey Lester Piggot is jailed for three years after being convicted of tax evasion //worker rebel against the communist regime of Nicolae Ceausesco in Romania // King's Cross fire in London Underground kills 31 people - after that the historic wooden lift was replaced // Barschel-affair in Germany: One day before the state elections in Schleswig-Holstein, reports the mirror, Prime Minister Barschel have let spy on the SPD's top candidate Björn Engholm // Rudolf Heß kills himself in Spandau prison // Zeebrugge disaster: Roll-on/Roll-off cross-channel ferry MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes off Zeebrugge Harbour in Belgium; more than 180 people die.
A year of very good music and essential records were released. Most of them I copied on tape listening to them on our vacation to Portugal and it was again very hard to decide what record I will show up for this year. Finally it was Prince with his monumental record 'Sign 'O' The Times'. Why? Because it shows Prince on the highest level he ever reached. He was full of ideas and combined his influences from R&B, Dance, Funk, Soul, Jazz, Rock and Pop to an extraordinary mixture that stands the test of time. No song is like the other and the title track was a veritable chart breaker. His class was also recognized by the great producer Quincey Jones who asked him for a duet with Michael Jackson on 'Bad'. But he denied because 'he doesn't do things like that anymore'.
