Post-Literacy: A Realisation Of Modern Times, by Wiggia

I am in the process of having a declutter as we just might be moving, a previous piece* deals with all the horrors of that separately.

My biggest task was/is a large collection of books, I love books and am loath to part with them yet the truth is apart from a few most have served their purpose and one section especially falls into this category.

Books on gardening, there are coffee table books, history of books, plant guides, single genus specialist books, landscaping books, water garden books, soil management books, design manuals, specialist design books, manuals on costings, material usage books, plant and tree sourcing books  and on and on.

Most of these come from my time designing and creating gardens, though some are purely for pleasure and some have a sentimental value, being tomes from people I have known and revered.

The fact remains that apart from endless trade catalogs and fact sheets that have been disposed of the books remain or the bulk of them do, well over a hundred remain on my shelves with no obvious purpose left for them.

The knowledge gleaned from the reams of writings has been used and what I need now in life is stored in the old gray cells; the books apart from a select few are redundant.

So what to do, the specialist and “rare” books I decided I would put on eBay, that is until I saw that there are countless same volumes already on there that simply don’t sell whatever the price, so that wasjunked as an avenue of disposal.

What about charity shops? On principle I will not give to the enormous charities that pay executives huge salaries whilst the staff work for nothing, so that leaves the small ones and they when approached said they have too many books and no thank you.

I then thought that local gardening clubs/associations was a good route to explore; from those that bothered to answer the result was negative, one explained that they have a members' library yet only two books had been borrowed in twelve months, so again they politely declined my offer.

The sad truth is people simply do not read anymore, or certainly not as in years past, all information can be obtained on the internet. There is no need for hefty tomes to invade your ever-smaller living space: you have a problem then seconds later you have the answer in front of you - all the sections I mention above can be extracted from the web.

Is it the end of books apart from those posh coffee table adornments? To a large degree I have to agree and say yes.

The same can be said for my map collection. I had endless maps of various parts of the country, Europe and the world, most out of date and virtually all never to be used again. The sat nav and mobile phone apps have seen the end of maps apart from the basic back up variety so with no one wanting them either, into the recycle bin they went.

I have always believed books have a special place in one's life: we learn from them, we are entertained by them and many are reminders of times gone by, by association or time placement, so what to do? I am adverse to dumping them so will in the end take them with me, no doubt to claim a corner of my study until I pop off and someone else has the sad duty to put them in the skip along with much else that will be available at that juncture. The unloved, unwanted book, not words I thought I would ever say. 

The printed word has been with us an awfully long time, it has been the mainstay of our education system, yet along with the newspaper appears to be in terminal decline. 
________________________________
* http://theylaughedatnoah.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/moving-house-by-wiggia.html

Forget tax changes and austerity; invest in R&D and education

From the USA, "Paddington" says: I'm trying to cause trouble again. I sent this to Michael Gerson of the Washington Post, and Paul Krugman of Princeton and the NY Times:

________________________________________________________________________________

There is a great deal of discussion on the amount of economic growth that can be generated by changes in tax or fiscal policy.

What appears to be missing in that discussion is the likely answer: none. In fact, the changes proposed are very likely to hurt the economy.

The reason is that all long-term growth can be attributed to innovation, discovery and conquest. The first two are themselves dependent on earlier basic science research. The last is one reason why the Roman Empire collapsed when its expansion stopped.

Without basic science research, open access to the results, and a lead time of 20-30 years, there is no major innovation. The technology boom which began around 1990 was built on the government-funded research of the 1940's through the 1970's, in computers and electronics. Companies do not generally invest in research until the potential profits are demonstrated. When they do so, the results are often treated as proprietary, which impedes human advancement.

The US reduced funding for basic science around 30 years ago, which is one reason that most 'innovations' that we are seeing are the offshoots of earlier work, and nothing really novel is appearing.

Added to that is the attack to trim university budgets and faculty lines. Those faculty members are the very people who generate much of that new knowledge, for the common good.

Finally, we have the escalation in the cost of higher education and the proposed elimination of tax write-offs for it, without the realization that most of the people who staff the laboratories of the country are from middle-class families. Children from wealthier families choose business, law and sometimes medicine. Why more children from poorer families do not choose the STEM paths is a matter of some discussion.

In short, we are proposing, as a country, to shut off every avenue for the very innovation that we need to thrive. Our policies are a recipe for economic disaster.

FRIDAY MUSIC: Female Flamenco, by JD

This was interesting in the El Pais weekly supplement:
https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/11/30/inenglish/1512048292_394530.html

"Female flamenco guitarists are so rare that Eulalia Pablo, a retired flamenco teacher and lecturer at the University of Seville, is often asked by her students why and if it was always like this. Analyzing press clippings from the 18th and 19th century, Pablo tries to answer these questions in her book Mujeres Guitarristas – Female Guitarists. “It’s a myth that women have never played the guitar,” she says. “But the flamenco world has always been very macho and inflexible. It remained that way until last century.”

Not something that I had given much thought to previously so I decided to browse to see what I could find. I wonder what Paco de Lucia or Sabicas would have said? I think the big question is not male vs female but are they any good as flamenco guitarists? According to the article some of the ladies already have the endorsement of Tomatito so we can start with him and then see what follows (not all are flamenco because there is a very large repertoire of Spanish guitar music)



Just like Johann Sebastian Bach, who composed his famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor at a the young age of 22, one of the greatest soloists and musical geniuses of this century – Paco de Lucía – wrote the Guajíras de Lucía at the same age.

Catalina is interpreting this virtuoso work as homage to the great Spanish Maestro.

She is catapulting herself into the magic hemisphere of Flamenco, breaking all boundaries of the common classical style of playing guitar, bravely mastering a lot of innovating Flamenco techniques like the posture, Picado, Golpe, Tresillos and Rasgueos.

Pity only that Paco cannot listen to her anymore. But maybe he floats beside her like an angel smiling as her patron.







I have been looking through various videos of the Plaza San Nicolas which looks out across to the Alhambra in Granada. There are lots of 'gitanos' there playing and singing and dancing flamenco but so far the ladies stick to the traditional role of singing or dancing; no guitarists yet. If one of them does eventually start playing she will have to be as good as Charo before being accepted by los gitanos.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charo

FESTIVE FARE: Does It Matter? The Pairing of Food and Wine, by Wiggia

The choice of wine to accompany food has been a talking point for ever among those who claim to care about these things. On a personal basis, outside basic taste clashes it does not bother me that much, and like most things these days far too much is Sunday paper blether.

Some wines and food do clash  but not as many as is thought; even the old adage "only white wine with fish" has been debunked to a degree; but some common sense rules do apply.

Where it becomes a problem is when people who only drink red or white have to change when an obvious conflict of tastes comes about. Never is this more so than at Christmas when food not really eaten during the rest of the year is put on the table. In the perfect situation supplying a variety of different wines overcomes most obstacles but not everyone has the knowledge or the pocket to accommodate every eventuality.

I am not going through every foodstuff and suggesting a wine to match just some of the “problem” foods that crop up during the festive season whilst we are still upright and care enough to bother - after the tipping point nothing really matters - but some advice is still worthwhile.

With meats such as roast beef something substantial like Shiraz/Syrah, Malbec, the more robust Pinot Noirs and Bordeaux are the obvious choices; if lamb is on the menu a wine not quite as robust, lighter, such as good Bordeaux, Chianti, Rioja  Brunello de Montalcino are better bets; and roast pork will also suit Chianti and Rioja but because of its fat content  is one red meat that suits white wine - Gewurtztraminer and Pinot Gris work well cutting through the fat content that can overwhelm some wines. Northern Rhone reds, Chianti again because of that edge it has, and Bordeaux - the latter of course goes with more food than any other wine, hence its popularity.

It’s when you get to white meat it gets interesting. This can be broadly separated into two groups, game and other white meats like turkey and chicken. With turkey Chardonnay from the new world as well as Burgundy sit alongside Pinot Noir, and Cabernet blends from the old and new world are pretty good company plus Chateauneuf du Pape. Chicken is not that different except that you can add Pinot Gris from the Alsace and Kabinett level German Rieslings to the list, but overall non-oaked or lightly-oaked Chardonnay is a safe bet.

Goose is like pork because of the fat content, in that Gewurztraminer works well, as do Northern Rhone reds, Cahors reds, the white Viognier and even decent Pinot Grigio and something like Greco de Tufo; basically any lighter wines with that acidity to overpower the fat content.

Ham you can roughly put in a single category: smoked, prosciutto, dry hams; the best all-rounder for these is Beaujolais and un-oaked whites like Chablis.

Game, Pheasant and Partridge plus Guinea fowl are all well suited to lighter red wines like Beaujolais and the satellite areas and other versions of Pinot Noir plus the Gamay grape and Chianti and if you can find a decent Valpolicella it will do well (but not the Amarone versions) and Montepulciano d’Abruzzo can be added to the mix.

The only other meat not normally eaten other than at the festive season is Venison. Southern and Northern Rhones - like Crozes Hermitage, to give one example - have the power to come through what is a strongly-flavored meat;and Shiraz works too.

Fish is not a staple of Christmas apart from the smoked salmon that is popular at this time of the year, and for that again, being a strongly flavored dish, it needs it requires something that does not clash; the new love of Rosés finds a home here, along with white Burgundy, Champagne and sparkling wines.

In the same way, Tapas is always accompanied with Fino or Manzanilla sherries and the same pair go well with a lot of fish. Oloroso is more than a pudding wine: it can be drunk with red meats like pork and game and makes a change from the usual combinations

There are numerous lists out there on wine and food matching but to be honest after reading them all your cellar ! would never have all the ingredients to satisfy those who write these lists. They are subjective, as is the individual's taste in food and wine; there will always be quite rightly someone who will say "try this with that, it really works" and they could well be right.

There are foods that are very difficult to match up. In vegetables, asparagus and brussel sprouts are really not worth making the effort to find something that will go with, despite the efforts of experts to come up with something complimentary.

Cheese is a challenge. The classic Port with Stilton really does work, but others do not naturally lend themselves to be paired up with wine and many of the suggested pairings are a bit hit and miss. In reality strong cheeses like Roquefort and Gorgonzola go better with a sweet wine like Sauternes or Liqueur Muscats, and Sauvignon Blanc from the likes of the Loire works well with Goats Cheeses, but all the others are a bit of a pig in a poke - what works for you, is the answer.

On the home front I noticed that this year there are some amazing bargains in supermarkets with vintage port. If you are a port lover both Tescos and Sainsburys have been selling a single Quinta Grahams vintage port for around £23 discounted, this is a ridiculously low price for such an exceptional wine, and Morrisons had a similar Warres version for £19. If you like port go for it, for the price will never be lower.

With desserts there is an overall winner in the use of Liqueur Muscats, Sauternes , sweeter Rieslings, Oloroso Sherry and Hungarian Tokay plus all the similar sweet wines like Beaumes de Venise.

In among all this do not forget the enemies of wine: anything vinegar based, artichokes, garlic, tomatoes, peppers (all) and chocolate. Chocolate is interesting as many say sweet white wines go with chocolate but just as many say no, better to have your chocolate separately from wine and play safe.

Of course at Christmas by the time you reach the Stilton and port you are past caring anyway so anything goes, but it does make sense to follow the basic rules even if only to please those dining with you who may not have your rather personal taste in wine and food pairings. Never force your choice on anyone else, it's a sure fire way to lose friends; play it safe and the following day with the turkey left overs you can indulge your fantasies.

I am lucky as this year as we shall be on our own so I can raid the wine racks and please myself: my last bottle of Grahams ‘85 vintage port is already in the firing line.

A quick addendum, in my last wine piece I did refer to the cult of “natural wine” and bio-dynamic growing. The former has no real guidelines and most decent quality wines are as near natural as you can get anyway, any added products to stop rot etc are all as far as I am aware natural products themselves, so I just don’t buy into the natural wine cult at all. This piece explains the downsides of natural wine:

https://life.spectator.co.uk/2017/03/beware-cult-natural-wine/

As for bio dynamics, there is no harm done if you wish to follow this small trend, if you believe that the phases of the moon dictate grape picking times pruning times and more, fine, but when I asked a vineyard proprietor, and a good one, about the merits of bio dynamic wine production all he did was laugh! It’s a bit like homeopathy: if you believe in it you will champion the merits, but the truth is that as with homeopathy, at best it is a placebo: it doesn’t actually work.

Happy Christmas, everyone!

FRIDAY MUSIC: A Japanese Blend, by JD

Wiggia gave us some Japanese jazz recently so perhaps we could venture down a side track into what seems to be a blend of traditional and modern Japanese music:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaR-xcp8UaY

Classical - Jazz - Fusion, by Wiggia

This was sparked by JD's latest piece on Wynton Marsalis. We spoke about it and I came up with some items of classical music played by jazz musicians. Some are their own interpretations, some are new works, suites, some are interpretations of standard classics and some is jazz/fusion - a genre that I generally have little time for, though as always there are exceptions.

I think with jazz fusion it was simply born out of a desire by the musicians that went that way, to tap into a more lucrative market than pure jazz, and who can blame them? But much was pretty turgid stuff and musicians like Miles Davis went too far on an ego trip and produced some very strange stuff that didn’t sell and was not well received, leaving him coming back into the jazz fold.

None the less there are some works that show the sheer musicianship that exists in the jazz fraternity and over a wide spectrum of work. One of those special events was Art Tatum caught playing classical piano in someone's home and captured on a cheap tape recorder. Vladimir Horowitz said at the time he would retire if Tatum seriously turned to classical music. This came after visiting a jazz club and playing his own version of Tea for Two, something he had been working on for a while; Tatum responded with his own version and Horowitz was amazed he had played it as a straight-off-the-cuff interpretation. Rachmaninoff and Alfred Rubinstein were jazz fans and great admirers of Tatum's musicianship.


- and in ‘53 did this version of Dvorak's Humoresque:


Classical music has always had an influence on jazz as many jazz artists started out as classically trained musicians, Nina Simone being a good example. This version of Love me or Leave Me has a piano solo that is full Bach influences:


I don’t have any doubts that George Gershwin was fusing jazz and classical as far back as the twenties; this 1924 version of Rhapsody in Blue shows that mix and also shows the genius he was:


Duke Ellington did several classically inspired works of his own and interpreted this version of Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite, Morning Mood:


Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquin Rodrigo got the full works from Miles Davis on his Sketches of Spain album. By any standards this is as near classical as you can get, despite the jazz influence of Davis.


An early version by Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli of a J S Bach movement also is not without merit in this genre for something early - the recording is also good:


Sibelius is not an obvious choice for a jazz angle yet Wayne Shorter made this version of Valse Triste one of his best known works, great musicianship from him and Freddy Hubbard on trumpet:


There are quite a few more worthy entrants in this sector including the jazz fusion works of Herbie Hancock, all well known, but I finish with a rendition of Ravel's Bolero by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention on their last tour in Barcelona, showing they also could do their bit for fusion:

FRIDAY MUSIC: Wynton Marsalis, by JD

Wynton Marsalis is well known as a jazz trumpet player but he is also an excellent classical trumpet player and an 'explorer' of all genres of music as can be seen and heard in the selection below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynton_Marsalis
http://wyntonmarsalis.org/