PODUNK TAVERN : Biased Reviews
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Glister's reactions to just about anything as of 02Apr2007
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Glister's reactions to just about anything as of 02Apr2007
Musician: JC Donelson; Albums: How Much Fun Can We Have; Reflections;
I first heard JC play in a small southern New Hampshire cafe, and had the excited feeling one gets when realizing something very rare has just been discovered. With chords reminiscent of Errol Garner and Gene Harris, and his own unique emotions that he eloquently channels through fingers and keys, JC Donelson consistently conducts memorable musical adventures. His music has the power to transport one to a different place, filled with gentle breezes and gale force winds, soothing warm glows and exhiliarating hot spectral explosions, all surprisingly coherent. Each piece is a journey through new territory, always leaving you feeling exercised and satisfied, and anxious for the next ride.
Song: Where I Go; Album: Tiger Lilly; Artist: Natalie Merchant
From a heritage with a group with the name of 10000 Maniacs it seems ironic that Natalie Merchant can like a warm immersion melt the maniac within with her song "Where I Go". How can I be anything but convinced that we have been to and carry with us an equal impression of a place that simply soothes the mind. She somehow with her song draws from the protective depths of memory the experience of a place so therapeutic that the mind's barriers dissolve and cares flow out and away on some symbolic flowing stream.
Title: Shantaram; Author: Gregory David Roberts
You don't just read Shantaram, you actually seem to live the life of an escaped Australian convict pursuing sanctuary in Bombay, India. Blending his own imperfect but noble character with philosophical inspirations from the cultural richness and human poverty of Bombay, Shantaram is a unique, colorful, exhilarating adventure in a beautiful foreign environment strangely recognizeable for it's universal human themes. Although it's difficult believing that a person could actually experience and even survive all that takes place here, the fact is that it all rings cathartically true, and after 900+ pages the end is not a relief, its a severe let-down that it's over!
Title: Wind, Sand and Stars; Author: Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Title: Passion Below Zero; Author: David Hays
Island Park Idaho is a beautiful forrested mountain environment nourished by various water derivatives of the Snake River, including abundant lakes and ponds. It is a pristine wild area home to fish, fowl, deer, moose, elk, and bear, along with the requisite hard snowy winters, warm pleasant summers, and rainy windy in-betweens. Living for years in this natural beauty, much of it without human companionship, David Hays expresses through personal essays fundamental emotional and aesthetic resonances that develop in this classic natural environment. For those who have actually tasted life in a wild setting like this and for those who instinctively feel a desire to, David Hays' reflections will reinforce and feed those latent needs. This is a very personal and poetic tribute to the underlying beauty of this area and an intimate recognition of our profound connections to nature that many of us never really get to experience.
Title: The God Particle; Author: Leon Lederman
How far are we in modern physics from the ancient goal of finding the "basic" element of everything? Leon Lederman with humor and irreverance towards the sober field of particle physics traces the footprints of the evolution of the simple concept of indivisible "atom" to the current colorful model of 48 particles and 12 force carriers that consolidates the observable properties of everything (with the minor exception of gravity). In the course of sharing his privilidged perspective on the current abstract theories of matter, energy, space and time, he bridges the supposed gap between those that intentionally live physics and those that don't.
Title: America The Powerless; Author Alan E. Waltar
As long as electricity flows when we flip the switch, it's easy to believe that there is no energy crisis. But what are the larger considerations regarding the world's energy future, including U.S. and worldwide consumption trends, generation and distribution issues, current and evolving technologies, and fuel resources? What are the economics, environmental aspects, availability and tradeoffs associated with various energy sources and is our energy future really as secure as our complacency suggests? In spite of a national emotion against it, nuclear energy should be debated on a more rational basis. Alan Waltar presents well supported positions that America needs to consider.