Taxi Tehran

Ruabaiyait

They tell me the other world is as beautiful as a houri from heaven!
Yet I say that the juice of the vine is better.
Prefer the present to those fine promises.
Even a drum sounds melodious from afar.

Persian poem in Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyait, translated by Edward Fitzgerald

Cully Jazz 2015

ELECTRON 2015

April in Geneva means Easter Electron Festival.
Venues include Usine, Fonderie Kugler, La Gravière.

Good ol' Charlie Brown

Some years ago in a second hand english books sale in Geneva that I found by chance while wondering around in Paquis, I bought three comic books from the Peanuts. The Peanuts were not always consensual amongst comics lovers and there is an annoying tendency to compare it with Calvin and Hobbes as if you had to choose one and throw the other. I met Charlie Brown and the Peanuts a long time ago but only later I was able to fully appreciate Charles M. Schulz's humour. From Charlie Brown's anxieties and fears to Lucy's grumpiness and Linus' naivety, it is difficult not to empathize with the characters. But I understand the ambivalence towards Charlie Brown, he is not easy to love. As one of the characters said in one of Peanuts' first strips:

'here comes good old Charlie Brown, 

yes indeed good old Charlie Brown, here he comes... 

Good old Charlie Brown... 

- How I hate him!'

FIFDH 2015 Geneva

le grand mort

After the success and longevity of the already mythic "La Quête de l'oiseau du temps", Loisel continues exploring the realm of fantasy comics in the series "Le Grand Mort". Although not having the same epic stature of its previous work, "Le Grand Mort" is both engaging and intriguing. The scenario is carefully thought with a credible set of characters that are slowly introduced to the reader through the first books.
The only thing I would point out to anyone starting this series is that the plot  takes its time to unveil and this lenteur can be a bit unnerving. A deliberate strategy from the authors to allow more time for the reader to get involved and for the plot to thicken. So as long as you're ok with that, this is a series that can help mitigate that "l'oiseau du temps" nostalgia...

dia de chuva

tempo de sobra entre as palavras
para engolir espinhos, rosas, caules,
uma expressão gutural
que me caiu no rosto
muito antes da chuva
e estilhaços de céu
a bater nas vidraças

O Coxo

Antigel

First day Antigel festival of the Antigel festival in Geneva.

black movie festival Geneva

The Black Movie festival is on. From 16 to 25 January 2015, Geneva.

Un voyage en Inde

"En calcule statistique rapide,
la moitié des guerres a son origine dans l'invasion concrète d'un
compartiment meublé d'un pays
tandis que l'autre moitié est due à l'invasion de l'ennui.
Voilà pourquoi la paix est plutôt dans le monde un état obsolète.
Les arbres, par exemple, tolèrent bien l'ennui:
il ne se passe pratiquement rien dans le royaume végétale d'une forêt,
et ce n'est pas pour autant que les exaltations guerrières
se multiplient. L'homme
devrait apprendre à imiter la douce impétuosité des arbres"

in "Uma viagem à India", Gonçalo Tavares, traduit librement par O Coxo

mad as the mist and snow

Just saw my second The Waterboys' concert, yesterday at Paradiso, Amsterdam. Mike Scott, Steve Wickham and Ralph Salmins were on stage with the other musicians who make the new "modern blues" line up. The venue was fantastic and The Waterboys played a mix of songs from the new album and old hits, with the same energy that has kept them going unstopped since the 80's. Great stuff.
As for the beautiful city of Amsterdam, it is one of those places difficult to label, and although I was tempted to cite Jacques Brel's "Amsterdam", I will refrain, and rather go for Herberto Helder's words: 
"A Holanda agora é isto: vacas, e - no centro - o inferno".
Back to The Waterboys, here is the acoustic version of the song "Mad as the Myst and Snow" adapted from a poem by William Yeats. Lyrics below.

Bolt and bar the Shutter for the foul winds blow
Our minds are at their best this night and I seem to know
That everything outside us is mad as the mist and snow
That everything outside us is mad as the mist and snow.

Horace there by Homer stands, Plato stands below
And here is Tully's open page, how many years ago
Were you and I, lads, mad as the mist and snow ?
Were you and I, lads, mad as the mist and snow ?

You ask what makes me sigh, what makes me shudder so
I shudder and I sigh to think that even Cicero
And many minded Homer were mad as the mist and snow
That Cicero and Homer were mad as the mist and snow
That Cicero and Homer were mad as the mist and snow