blossom dearie

I dig
I'm in step
When it was hip to be hep, I was hep
I don't blow but I'm a fan
Look at me swing
Ring a ding ding
I even call my girlfriend man
I'm so hip


One of my biggest regrets, and I have a few, too many to mention, was not going to see Blossom Dearie when she was here in Melbourne not all that many years ago. My conscious and unconscious pre-occupation with last week's heat, flame, darkness and destruction, means I've only just learnt she died on February 7, 2009.

When I first heard her voice I thought that's a very smart, clever, hip, piano playing pixie. I was right.

I've picked this youtube clip because although it's longish it does contain some typical songs. Unfortunately the sound and vision are disconcertingly out of synch a bit. But it does sound great. I'm Hip is at around 6.40 into the clip.

Blossom Dearie live clip on youtube - 9 mins.  (This clip can't be embedded. You'll have to click through) 

Update: Another reason she's great. From NY Times: 

"Ms. Dearie didn’t suffer fools gladly and was unafraid to voice her disdain for music she didn’t like; the songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber were a particular pet peeve."

thursday feb 5

Leonard Cohen, 2009-02-05 (Thursday, February 5, 2009) 8:15pm AEDT, Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

set 1
01. Dance Me To The End Of Love
02. The Future
03. Ain't No Cure For Love
04. Bird On The Wire
05. Everybody Knows
06. In My Secret Life
07. Who By Fire
08. Chelsea Hotel #2
09. Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye
10. Sisters Of Mercy
11. Anthem

set 2
12. Tower Of Song
13. Suzanne
14. The Gypsy's Wife
15. The Partisan
16. Boogie Street
17. Hallelujah
18. I'm Your Man
19. A Thousand Kisses Deep [recitation]
20. Take This Waltz

encore 1
21. So Long, Marianne
22. First We Take Manhattan

encore 2
23. Famous Blue Raincoat
24. If It Be Your Will
25. Democracy

encore 3

26. I Tried To Leave You

27. Whither Thou Goest

Amazing gathering of all crew, stage roadies, lighting etc arms around each other singing humming while Mr Cohen thanked crew, audience, Australia everyone and everything. Went on forever.

pre lenny

If I was using twitter I'd be saying " off to see lenny tonight". I wouldn't write "woot".

Its a good job I remembered the tickets were electronic and have printed them out after looking for them for 20 minutes. It's also a good idea that I looked up to see it starts at 7.15 pm, yes 7 bloody 15, not 8.00pm or 8.30pm . So I'm cancelling that meal and meetup at the Corner Hotel before the show for 14. I'll be at the Corner though to eat something.

Anyway to keep you busy here is an great interview with the man that not "everybody knows" about:

"Norwegian producer Kari Hesthamar, Cohen looks back over his life and shares some thoughts about earlier days. Along the way he considers the different paths his career has taken, talks about various creative projects he was (and still is) involved with, and sweetly reminisces about a beautiful young woman he shared some time with on a wild Greek island, whom loyal fans will know by the name "Marianne."

We'll also hear a brief excerpt from an interview Leonard Cohen gave to Robyn Johnston in 1985, when he last toured Australia.

Radio National Interview with Mr C.

modern times

In November 2008 I purchased a cheap,  $87 on special, colour inkjet printer to work off a computer in another room for convenience. Last week it ran out of ink. Today I found out it will cost $120 to replace all 4 cartridges.

This caused me to say a rude word out loud in the shop.

The nice lady said "Yes I agree".

She then said "We have this clearance printer on sale for $50 including full size cartridges"

I now have another new printer.