michael nesmith: and the hits just keep on comin'

1. Tomorrow & Me
2. The Upside Of Goodbye
3. Lady Love
4. Listening
5. Two Different Roads
6. The Candidate
7. Different Drum
8. Harmony Constant
9. Keep On
10. Roll With The Flow


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Michael Nesmith: And The Hits Just Keep On Comin'

super hits of the 70s - have a nice day, vol. 5

1. Chick-A-Boom (Don't Ya Jes' Love It) - Daddy Dewdrop
2. Me And You And A Dog Named Boo - Lobo
3. Here Comes The Sun - Richie Havens
4. Superstar - Murray Head
5. When You're Hot, You're Hot - Jerry Reed
6. Don't Pull Your Love - Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds
7. Indian Reservation (The Lament Of The Cherokee Reservation Indian) - Raiders
8. Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again - The Fortunes
9. Get It On - Chase
10. Draggin' The Line - Tommy James
11. Games - Redeye
12. Burning Bridges - The Mike Curb Congregation


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Super Hits Of The 70s - Have A Nice Day, Vol. 5

the houses of parliament, london, with the sun breaking through the fog & portrait of claude monet

The Houses of Parliament, London, with the sun breaking through the fog, 1904
Claude Monet




Portrait of Claude Monet
Charles Emile Auguste Carolus-Duran

solomon burke: the very best of solomon burke

1. Just Out Of Reach (Of My Two Open Arms)
2. Cry To Me
3. Down In The Valley
4. I'm Hanging Up My Heart For You
5. If You Need Me
6. Can't Nobody Love You
7. You're Good For Me
8. Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye)
9. Everybody Needs Somebody To Love
10. The Price
11. Got To Get You Off My Mind
12. Tonight's The Night
13. Someone Is Watching
14. Take Me (Just As I Am)
15. I Wish I Knew (How It Would Feel To Be Free)
16. Soul Meeting - THE SOUL CLAN (Solomon Burke, Arthur Conley, Don Covay, Ben E. King, Joe Tex)


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Solomon Burke: The Very Best Of Solomon Burke

billie holiday: the commodore master takes

1. Strange Fruit
2. Yesterdays
3. Fine And Mellow
4. I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues
5. How Am I To Know?
6. My Old Flame
7. I'll Get By
8. I Cover The Waterfront
9. I'll Be Seeing You
10. I'm Yours
11. Embraceable You
12. As Time Goes By
13. He's Funny That Way
14. Lover, Come Back To Me
15. Billie's Blues
16. On The Sunny Side Of The Street


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Billie Holiday: The Commodore Master Takes


Strange Fruit

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.


Los árboles del sur dan un extraño fruto:
sangre en las hojas y sangre en la raíz,
cuerpos negros balanceándose en la brisa del sur,
extraño fruto que cuelga de los álamos.

Escena pastoral del galante sur,
los ojos saltones y la boca torcida,
aroma de magnolias, dulces y frescas;
luego el repentino hedor de la carne quemada.

Éste es el fruto que los cuervos pican,
que recoge la lluvia, que el viento sorbe,
que se pudre al sol, que cae de los árboles.
Ésta es una extraña y amarga cosecha.


Traducción de niki

hamlet

Boris Pasternak
(De los «Poemas de Zhivago»)

El ruido cesa. Salgo a escena.
Recostado en la jamba,
conjeturo por el eco distante
qué ocurrirá durante el tiempo que viva.

La oscuridad de la noche se dirige a mí
en las miradas de mil gemelos de teatro.
Abba, Padre, si es posible,
aleja de mí este cáliz.

Amo tu obstinado propósito,
consiento en interpretar mi papel.
Un drama distinto se representa ahora;
por esta vez, déjame ser.

Mas el orden de los actos se ha planeado
y no hay escapatoria al final del camino.
Estoy solo; en la hipocresía de los fariseos se ahoga todo.
Vivir tu vida no es tan sencillo como cruzar un campo.*


[*El último verso es un proverbio ruso.]


Traducido por niki de la versión inglesa de Max Hayward y Manya Harari (Collins and Harvill Press, London):


The noise is stilled. I come out on the stage.
Leaning against the door-post
I try to guess from the distant echo
What is to happen in my lifetime.

The darkness of night is aimed at me
Along the sights of a thousand opera-glasses.
Abba, Father, if it be possible,
Let this cup pass from me.

I love your stubborn purpose,
I consent to play my part.
But now a different drama is being acted;
For this once let me be.

Yet the order of the acts is planned
And the end of the way inescapable.
I am alone; all drowns in the Pharisees' hypocrisy.
To live your life is not as simple as to cross a field.

luiz bonfá: plays and sings bossa nova

1. Samba De Duas Notas (Two Note Samba)
2. Vem Só (Come Here, My Love)
3. Sambalamento
4. Tristeza (Brazilian Blues)
5. Manhã de Carnaval (Morning of the Carnival)
6. Silencio do Amor (The Silence of Love)
7. Domingo a Noite (Sunday Night)
8. Ilha de Coral (Coral Island)
9. Adeus (Goodbye)
10. Quebra Mar (The Sea Wall)
11. Amor Que Acabou (The End Of Love)
12. Chora Tua Tristeza (Cry Your Blues Away)
13. Bossa Nova Cha Cha


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Luiz Bonfá: Composer of Black Orpheus Plays and Sings Bossa Nova with Lalo Schifrin & Oscar Castro Neves

titania awakes

Titania Awakes, surrounded by Attendant Fairies, clinging rapturously to Bottom, still wearing the Ass's Head, 1793-4
Henry Fuseli

the kinks: soap opera

1. Everybody's A Star (Starmaker)
2. Ordinary People
3. Rush Hour Blues
4. Nine To Five
5. When Work Is Over
6. Have Another Drink
7. Underneath The Neon Sign
8. Holiday Romance
9. You Make It All Worthwhile
10. Ducks On The Wall
11. A Face In The Crowd
12. You Can't Stop The Music


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The Kinks: Soap Opera

louise o'murphy

Louise O'Murphy
François Boucher

frank sinatra: no one cares

1. When No One Cares
2. A Cottage For Sale
3. Stormy Weather
4. Where Do You Go?
5. I Don't Stand A Ghost Of A Chance With You
6. Here's That Rainy Day
7. I Can't Get Started
8. Why Try To Change Me Now?
9. Just Friends
10. I'll Never Smile Again
11. None But The Lonely Heart
12. The One I Love (Belongs To Somebody Else)


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Frank Sinatra: No One Cares


In March and May 1959 the songs for this superb album were recorded with the late Gordon Jenkins. Twelve songs were programmed for the L.P. but in the event only eleven were used. The remaining item "The One I Love (Belongs To Somebody Else)" is now restored to its rightful place in this new digital reissue.

Alan Dell, 1984

windows in an old monastery refectory

Ventanas en el refectorio del Monasterio cisterciense de Santa María de Huerta, Soria


Foto de niki

rendez vous at the bluebird

Alex went to sleep and he dreamed he was wandering the streets of an uncertain city. The twilight had fallen. High above the chimneys and the streetlights, appeared a silvery moon. Suddenly he began to recognize some of the places: a small café, a park where he had often played, a corner of unhappy remembrance.

“Alex, you’ve come at last!” said a young man with spectacles, who was standing by. “I’ve been waiting for a long time. The Bluebird must be overcrowded by now, but we made a reservation, didn’t we?”

Alex remembered that the young man with spectacles was Lewis, his long forgotten friend. The Bluebird used to be their favourite restaurant.

“Where’s The Bluebird?” asked Alex.

“Just here. Watch. The good old Bluebird.”

As they entered, Lewis and Alex noticed a curious advertisement taken from a newspaper review, hanging on the doorway:

The Bluebird
Since Long Ago

Ambiance, 10
Service, 9
Décor, 8
Bathrooms, 7
Food List, 6
Wine List, 5
Desserts, 4
Price to Quality Ratio, 3
Presentation, 2
Music, 1
Others, 0
Type of Clients, Human Beings

TRESPASSERS WILL EXIT FED UP

The three-and-twenty tables looked empty. The jukebox played Sinatra’s Young at Heart.

“Is this the good old Bluebird?” said Alex, staring at the walls.

“You see, sir” answered politely a middle-aged man with a foreign accent, “we were tired of the blue, so we painted all in green. I’m Victor –the waiter, the cook and the owner.”

“You don’t have many customers around here lately, do you?” said Lewis. “I suppose nobody’s coming this evening.”

“I beg your pardon, sir? I think you’re wrong. Everybody’s coming this evening.”

And all of a sudden The Bluebird was full of cheerful faces again.

Alex saw the evercharming Mirna sitting at a table, waving her hand. The song ended. After a few seconds, Sinatra was singing Young at Heart again.

“I love this song” said Mirna. “Only it doesn’t seem completely necessary to hear it over and over again. Hello, boys!”

“Mirna, we’re glad to see you. But I don’t think you were invited to dinner, were you?”

“Good heavens! Of course I’m uninvited, Lewis. That’s why I’m here. I only go to places when I’m uninvited.”

“Quite natural. Everybody does so” said Victor offering them la carte.

Alex, Lewis and Mirna gazed upon the pages with curiosity and astonishment:

CHICKENS COMING HOME TO ROOST
SALAD-DAYS
FISHES OUT OF WATER
TALKING TURKEY
THAT TAKES THE CAKE
TILL THE COWS COME HOME
PORKIES
BIG FISHES
ODD FISHES
RABBIT ON

“I’m afraid I’d only have a mere paella, Victor” said Lewis.

Now Frank Sinatra began to sing Young at Heart again. The lyrics had become very familiar.

“How nice! Paella” said Mirna. “I like Spaniards.”

“We don’t have them, madam.”

“What?”

“Spaniards.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Victor. I don’t like Spaniards. I mean, they’re very nice and funny but I can’t understand a word they say.”

“Maybe that’s because they speak Spanish, madam” muttered Victor.

“I’ve heard Spaniards don’t speak Spanish anymore” said Alex holding a cigarette. The unlit cigarette was dancing at Young at Heart.

“Do you need a match?” asked Mirna. “So tell us, Alex. What have you been doing all these years?”

Alex lit the match and he awoke.


A story by niki