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Frances Livings
Songwriter | Multi-lingual Singer | Author | Poet
Ipanema Lounge
Ma Solitude (2017)
Ipanema Lounge (2016)
The World I Am Livings In (2013)
Songs of Antônio Carlos Jobim (2012)
Glory Me (2011)
Candy's Caravan (2011)
Urban Survival (2010)
When Love Falls Apart (2010)
During The Hours (2010)
Gold & Frankincense (2009)
Sticky Traxx (2009)
Banalities
Candy's Caravan
Don't Ask Me If I Miss You
Don't Treat Me Cool
Eating the Darkness
Glory Me
I'll Be Leaving Soon
It Will Never Be The Same
Lonely In The Night
Mr. Moon
Only Time Will Tell
Pebbles In My Hand
Please Close Your Eyes
Samba On The Moon
You Can't Rewind…
When Love Falls Apart
White Angel's Café
A Breath She Took
Cast In Bronze
During The Hours
Evaporated
Goldfish Bowl
Gold & Frankincense
Ink on Silk
Ode to Tinsel Town
Songs of the Soul
The Butterfly
The Maliciousness of Words
Worst Case Scenario
Your Perfect Body
Livings In Los Angeles – Ma Solitude
Songs of the Soul ~ Musical Poetry and its Inspirations
Frances Livings' Ipanema Lounge Repertoire. French Chansons
Aganjú ~ Music and Spirituality
Brand New EPK Launched for Frances Livings' Ipanema Lounge
Fishnet Stockings and Lonely Tissues Boxes. The Reeperbahn in Hamburg and Candy's Caravan
Livings In Los Angeles. Public Parks and Gardens and their Impact on Mental Health and the Creative Mind
I Just Lost It
Funeral Blues…
Eating the Darkness. Francesca Woodman's Wallpaper
During the Hours – A wonderful review by the Poet Hound
The Mystery of Unicorns
"When Love Falls Apart" and the Beauty of Melancholy
May You Shine…
Waters of March and the Circle of Life
The Pomegranate ~ On Finding Poetry
Wonderful Review of "The World I Am Livings In"
Creative Influences ~ Poems I Read. 'Desiderata' by Max Ehrmann
Livings in Los Angeles. Closet Stories – The Hollywood Uniform
National Poetry Month, April 2014
Creative Influences ~ Poetry. Sun at Midnight
Creative Influences ~ Sneezles by A. A. Milne on Record-A-Poem
Frances Livings' Ipanema Lounge ~ New Album Out Soon!
Still Lifes ~ The Art of Tranquillity
Songs of the Soul ~ In Memory of Zane Musa (1979 – 2015)
Press Release: New Album Frances Livings' Ipanema Lounge
Objects of Desire – Are You Smelling the Roses?
Livings in Los Angeles. Whole Foods and the Terror of Me. Now!
Ephemeral Cult Sites – The Staging of Space and Material at Nazi Mass Rallies (2020)
Nationalized Landscape and the Cult of the Dead. The Staging of "Blood and Soil" at the Bückeberg 1933 – 1937 (2020)
Erscheinungen des Sakralen (2011)
Ephemere Kulträume (Dissertation 2003)
"Licht" in Lexikon des Künstlerischen Materials (2002)
Blog Posts auf Deutsch
Waters of March und der Zyklus des Lebens
Category: Foreign language songs
My Spanish Repertoire
Posted on October 3, 2019 August 20, 2021 by Frances Livings
Víctor Meléndez, Poster design for National Hispanic Heritage Month, 2019
I recently performed with my Latin jazz band, Frances Livings' Ipanema Lounge at the West Covina library in California in honour of National Hispanic Heritage month, which is celebrated each year, from September 15 to October 15. For me it was a welcome occasion to dig a little deeper into my Spanish repertoire. In this blog post I would like to share my love of some of these often highly romantic and rhythmically enticing songs and some of their backgrounds.
During National Hispanic Heritage month the focus is on the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. Especially significant is hereby, the 15th of September because it is the anniversary of independence for Latin American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16 and September 18, respectively. Also, Columbus Day or Día de la Raza, which is October 12, falls within this 30-day period.
I always love the process of searching for new songs to explore and interpret. So I spent a fair amount of time searching for new material and came across some beautiful songs to add to my Spanish repertoire – some written by contemporary songwriters, others deemed meanwhile almost classic. Since the venue I performed at was a library, a place of knowledge with most likely, information hungry patrons, I thought it would be nice to also provide some background information to some of the songs and music styles – which would ultimately, also honour the specialness of these Latin compositions for the occasion.
La Puerta by Luis Demetrio
Long before I even imagined that one day, I would develop such a passion for singing jazz songs in foreign languages, I fell in love with "La Puerta". It is a slow, heart-felt ballad that was written by the Mexican singer and songwriter Luis Demetrio (1931-2007). I haven't been able to find out when it was exactly written or recorded for the very first time but in 1957 "La Puerta" was placed among the great favorites of the Spanish-speaking public, interpreted by the famous Chilean singer Lucho Gatica. It has since then been made popular by contemporary singers like Luis Miguel and Laura Fygi. For a very long time it was the only Spanish song I had in my repertoire – but that was before I moved to Los Angeles…
Ipanema Lounge by Frances Livings
I later discovered that Demetrio co-wrote another favourite song of mine, "¿Quién será?", a bolero-mambo better known to the English speaking world as "Sway". Like often falsely assumed however, Demetrio didn't co-write the song with his fellow songwriter Pablo Beltrán Ruiz (1915 – 2008) but sold the rights to him. Beltrán recorded the song for the first time with his orchestra in 1953 as an instrumental cha-cha-chá. Dean Martin's 1954 tongue-in-cheek recording with the Dick Stabile orchestra in English was then the first version to achieve considerable success in the United States. Norman Gimbel (1927 – 2018) who in the 1960's became famous through his lyrics for "The Girl From Ipanema", which is probably the most famous Antônio Carlos Jobim song, wrote the English lyrics for "Sway". I recorded both "La Puerta" and "Sway" on my 2016 album, inspired by Dean Martin and the Mexican pop-singer Kalimba, I recorded it half in English, switching to the Spanish lyrics in the first chorus.
Hoy by Gian Marco
Another song really wanted to introduce at the library performance – and that I simply love singing live (ideally, with a minimal instrumentation of guitar, bass and percussion) –, is "Hoy" (which means in Spanish "today"). This contemporary ballad, written by the Peruvian singer-songwriter Gian Marco Zignago, known as "Gian Marco", became popular after Gloria Estefan recorded the song on her Spanish album, "Amor y Suerte". Estefan is the original Latin crossover international star. First as lead singer of Miami Sound Machine and then as a soloist, she has achieved success in both languages, English and Spanish.
Especially for the occasion of Hispanic Heritage Month I thought it would be interesting and relevant to introduce "Hoy" because it addresses the topic of being an immigrant, of your heart belonging somewhere else. Gian Marco wrote the song, after immigrating to the United States. Its lyrics, carried along by a beautifully crafted flowing melody, sounds like a love letter to a person with many beautiful metaphors, but is ultimately a love letter to his home country Peru that he left when he moved to Florida to pursue his music career. "Un camino empinado" (a steep path) for instance, is a reference to the Andes that are the longest continental mountain range in the world, and extend from north to south through seven South American countries: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. The line "tengo el mar del otro lado" means as much as, I have the sea on the other side, which refers to when he lived in Miami, saying in an interview that his ocean is "the Pacific, not the Atlantic".
In his official video for the song he even integrated some of Peru's traditional instruments: towards the middle, you can listen to and watch traditional Peruvian music and dancers. His musicians are playing a small guitar called the "Charango", which is a native Peruvian instrument. A charango is a relatively small string instrument, around 65 cm long, similar to the size of a ukulele. It typically has ten strings in five courses of two strings each, but many other variations exist. Traditionally, they were made of armadillo shell, today superseded by wooden parts. Some designs however, still imitate the patterns of armadillos on the rounded back. Interestingly, and somewhat serendipitous (why it caught my attention maybe), is that as a spiritual animal totem, the armadillo symbolizes that it is time to define your own boundaries and space. It also symbolizes trust, peace, pacifism, balance, complexity, and compassion.
Did you enjoy this post? If so, why not…
Posted in Foreign language songs, Jazz, Language, Live Music, Livings In Los Angeles, Music, PerformingLeave a comment
O Barquinho ~ My Little Boat
Posted on October 31, 2018 November 7, 2021 by Frances Livings
Finding new songs for my foreign-language repertoire always involves a lot of musical archaeology. It is definitely a most enjoyable process. It's like stepping into a dark, mysterious castle with only a spotlight at hand, never knowing what you'll find. That was how I came across O Barquinho (Little Boat) from 1961, a very playful and cute Bossa nova song about a boat sailing along on a calm summer day as the evening falls.
I had only recently discovered the American vocalist Karrin Allyson through a search for interpretations of the French chanson Sous le Ciel de Paris, which I was adding to my French repertoire. Her version of this 1951 classic from the French film with the same title, is from one of her early albums, From Rio to Paris. I very much took to her grounded voice and her elegant intonation – despite finding her interpretation a little humourless. She frequently spikes her songs with very delightful and short, not endless, self-indulged scatting sequences.
So, while enjoying a cooking session in my kitchen, I flipped through the other songs in French and Portuguese. I immediately took to her very cute and enticing version of O Barquinho, sung in both beautifully phrased Portuguese and English. Later, I understood why The New York Times, had called her a "no-frills singer with a feline touch and impeccable intonation, […] is an interpreter who cuts to the chase, but with minimal psychodrama."
Brazilian Jazz Rhythms ~ The Bossa Nova
I have now been performing O Barquinho after learning the Portuguese lyrics for a couple of weeks now. In its lightheartedness and cheerfulness, it very much reminds me of tunes like Summer Samba (also known as So Nice and in Portuguese Samba de Verão). So Nice is a song I also enjoy singing because of its cheerful bounciness. It was written in 1964 by the Brazilian composer Marcos Valle, with English lyrics by the American lyricist Norman Gimbel and original Portuguese lyrics by the composer's brother, Paulo Sérgio Valle.
O Barquinho was written three years earlier and also has very buoyant lyrics. Its rhythmical temperament makes it a very typical bossa nova song.[2] When playing these kinds of songs live, it is crucial for the right tempo to be counted off. If it's too slow it will lose it's lightheartedness and cheeriness. When only a bit too fast, it's like singing the title melody to a breath taking car-chase. Another element of course, is the groove itself. While So Nice is a Samba and O Barquinho is a Bossa nova, Brazilian jazz tunes like these have in general their very own rhythmic feeling – like the Bossa nova composer Carlos Lyra, described in reference to one of his own songs, Influência do Jazz. He said that overall, the rhythm has a "swaying" feel rather than the "swinging" feel of jazz. The samba rhythm moves "side to side" while jazz moves "front to back".[3]
O Barquinho (The Little Boat) 1961 ~ The Topic of the Sea
This swaying notion lends itself of course perfectly to the topic of the sea. Indeed, Roberto Menescal used references to the sea in many of his songs – like in O Barquinho. Roberto Menescal was born on October 25, 1937 and is a Brazilian composer, producer, guitarist/vocalist and important to the founding of bossa nova.
The idea for the song came when Menescal, Ronaldo Bôscoli (another composer), and some other friends were in a boat just off the coast of Cabo Frio, a city near Rio de Janeiro, when suddenly the boat had problems and the motor broke down. To pass the time, Menescal started playing the guitar and making up a tune. By the time another boat came and rescued them, he had created the main parts of the song. He and Ronaldo Bôscoli completed it the next day. The English version, My Little Boat was written by the songwriter, musician and producer Buddy Kaye in May 1967.
The topic for the song was obviously already present but the Portuguese children's song, that carries the same title, O Barquinho may have also influenced him. You can read the Portuguese lyrics and an English translation here.
O Barquinho was first recorded in 1961 by the guitarist João Gilberto. A year later, in 1962, it was recorded by the American guitarist Charlie Bryd – and many times since then. That year, the American entertainment magazine Billboard (also known for its music charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200), listed Charlie Byrd's recording of O Barquinho in the column of singles with "strong sales potential". Indeed, it was to become one of Menescal's most famous songs.
And here's João Gilberto's version from 1961:
Did you like this post? If so, why not…
Further Info & Reading on Brazilian Jazz:
~ For some more insight into this music genre check out the book "Brazilian Jive: From Samba to Bossa and Rap" by David Treece, professor of Brazilian studies, author and founder of the Centre for the Study of Brazilian Culture and Society.
~ Watch the documentary film "Coisa Mais Linda: Histórias e Casos da Bossa Nova" (This is Bossa Nova: The History and Stories) released in 2005: Menescal and fellow trailblazing composer Carlos Lyra tell the stories of the people, places and performances that put Brazilian music on the international music scene in the early 1960s, culminating in a 1962 performance at Carnegie Hall in New York.
~ See also this playfully illustrated and informative website called Mama Lisa's World that collects international children's songs from around the world.
Here's one of my Brazilian tracks, Aganjú, from my album Ipanema Lounge. It was written by Antônio Carlos Santos de Freitas (Carlinhos Brown) [EMI Blackwood Music Inc.]. My recording features a dear friend and fellow musician, Robert Kyle on alto flute, tenor & soprano saxophone, who is also responsible for the arrangement at the beginning of the track:
Posted in Foreign language songs, Jazz, Language, Music, SongwritingTagged bossa nova, Brazilian jazz, Brazilian musicLeave a comment
Posted on December 24, 2017 August 18, 2021 by Frances Livings
Alphonse Osbert, Solitude du Christ, 1897
Los Angeles, December 24, 2017
Dear Visitor, dear Readers and Listeners,
I am writing this blog post shortly after the release of my new single, the French chanson Ma Solitude. I have known and loved this song since I was in junior art college, where I also studied French (read more about those influences in my post French Chansons). Ma Solitude was written in the 1960's by the singer-songwriter Georges Moustaki (1934-2013), who became famed in France for his repertoire of simple romantic ballads, one of them being Édith Piaf's hit song "Milord".
Although it's been in my repertoire for quite a while now, I only recently decided to make a recording. My motivation was on the one hand, that my connection with this beautiful tune had deepened naturally after having performed it so many times. On the other hand, it was almost as if I had to learn what the song really meant before recording it. Ma Solitude came to mark the end of a very painful journey both emotionally and geographically. It stands for a time during which I felt utterly alone but somehow transitioned into a state of solitude, which in contrast to loneliness, offers a special value to those who learn to cherish their own inner worlds. This is after all, exactly what the songs describes. It has therefore been emotionally very cathartic to sing.
Ma Solitude is such a beautifully crafted melancholic song but it is not sad. While you listen to my new recording you can read the French lyrics and an English translation by clicking here.
Available for streaming and downloading:
Ma Solitude by Frances Livings
2016 – A Year of Many Losses
The years 2016/17 were for me personally completely traumatic. After months of stressful arguments, debates, break-ups and reconciliations, my husband moved out in May. It was so hard to adjust to being on my own again and the challenge of trying to be survive as an artist in one of the world's most expensive cities seemed almost impossible. I somehow managed. But then, in the autumn, I was given notice on the house we had been living in for over eight years – a house that had been our home and that, in midst of all of the change, at least was a familiar staple. Unsettling for me, as was for many, was then the shocking outcome of the US election in November. It became apparent that more people in America – more than most had ever imagined –, had voted for a misogynistic, narcissistic, reality-TV creator, simply an autocrat: for Donald Trump.
It verified for me a complete decline of society, which ironically felt like an epitome of my life.
I was "hanging in" as they say, until completely out of the blue, on December 16, my beloved dog Ginji died. I surrendered to a paralyzed state of utter grief and shock. Ginji was a beautiful, mischievous Whippet-Basenji mix who I had named after one of my favourite jazz tunes Dindi. I have since then been unable to sing that song live. My other dog, a small rescue called Leonora, was similarly shocked and visibly grief stricken. For weeks she would run out of the door into the garden and then stop, look behind her and – wait, wait for Ginji to join her.
Meanwhile, I still had to face the task of packing up a decade's worth of married life, of hopes and dreams – many, that never came to be. I had no clue where I would move to or what I would do. My small family had diminished within a few months from four to three, and then suddenly to two members. And although "It Never Rains in Southern California", those were the months with the most rainfall in years. So last year I spent Christmas in utter loneliness, grieving. It was the first year of not creating a warm and festive family Christmas – for us, his sons, their partners, and random orphan friends.
Months of Restless and Relentless Moving…
I was so distraught by January from all of the losses, that I felt more than paralyzed by all of the decisions I had to make. Would I even stay in Los Angeles? Would it be better to move back to Europe? Maybe I needed to get away from the political climate, away from all the heartbreak? Do a "geographical" as they say. I felt too heartbroken to think clearly. In addition, the housing market in Los Angeles was, and still is, in a total crisis. So to find an affordable, clean and dog-friendly apartment anywhere, was more than daunting.
The packing of endless boxes, the wrapping of furniture in old blankets and discarded sheets felt sheer overwhelming. What would I keep, what would I even need in the future? Where and what was my future? I managed to cram everything into a mobile storage container that was picked up by a huge truck and hauled off to Compton. What followed was quite an odyssey. I spent five fairly unhappy and cold but also eye-opening weeks in Berlin but then returned to L.A. in April. I was determined to find an apartment and refocus on my music and writing. While apartment hunting however, I had to couch-surf here and there, constantly looking for new places to stay for as little money as possible. It was distressing for both my little dog and I.
But a few weeks later, in May, I finally found a new home! So I thought. My luck didn't last. After two days I started to get throbbing headaches and flu-like symptoms. But I had no fever. It dawned on me that I was having a severe allergic reaction. That something was wrong with the apartment. It had smelled musty when I moved in but I thought it was just lack of being aired out properly. After talking to the neighbours and doing some research it became apparent that it was toxic! There had been water damage, which had never been properly tended to and behind the walls the building was full of hidden mold!
Not Being Able To Function on Many Levels
Feeling absolutely awful, desperate, heartbroken and sick, I knew that if I didn't move out again, I would never be able to function again, let alone sing. So in June, I was forced to pack everything up again and put it into storage. After that second move I basically collapsed and fell incredibly ill for six weeks. I had such a painful and hacking cough, that I had to use an asthma inhaler. An ex-ray of my lungs showed that at least it wasn't anything like the valley fever, a fungal pneumonia that can lead to hospitalizations. But I was unable to earn much money, so yet again, I bunked with friends. Some of these "friends" I had never met before. I learned very quickly who stepped up and who couldn't be bothered. On August 6, still searching and in full-on crisis mode, I was taking a break, sitting on a park bench, poking around in some greasy, store-bought salad in a plastic container, and wrote in my journal,
"I watch the homeless thinking, I feel you – I'm one favour away…"
During that time I definitely gained empathy for people whose lives, sometimes through a simple turn of fate, unravel. The sight of hundreds of homeless encampments thereafter, has become more and more unbearable.
One Year Later – Full Circle
Then finally, in September, I was able to move into a proper home in L.A. again. It felt as if years had gone by – around the world in 90 days – and emotionally they had. Despite still feeling all of the losses in my bones, this Christmas, I am spending my alone time reflecting in solitude but not in loneliness. And this is exactly what the lyrics of Ma Solitude illustrate so perfectly and why I wanted to record the song before the year was over, so to also mark a full circle. The chorus alone is a beautiful and clever oxymoron:
"Non, je ne suis jamais seule / avec ma solitude"
which means, in a very existentialistic way, "No, I am never alone / with my solitude".
Being in solitude implies being on your own but Moustaki cleverly personifies this "quality time" in one of the verses as if it were time spent with a lover. And the third verse always brings a smile to my face:
"Quand elle est au creux de mon lit
Elle prend toute la place
Et nous passons de longues nuits
Tous les deux face à face"
The intimate scene of two people sleeping in a bed together makes me think of my little rescue dog Leonora. She felt the loss of Ginji, who was like a mother to her, as much as I did. Leonora now seeks solace by hopping onto my bed at night and curling up into a little fur ball – in that dip in the middle of bed, that "creux de mon lit" and indeed, "elle prend toute la place"!
To reflect this kind of intimacy of the song is why I ultimately decided to record the song with a very intimate ensemble, consisting of voice, guitar and double bass. Another meaningful factor was the release date I chose, the 16th of December, marking the anniversary of Ginji's sudden death.
Solitude versus Loneliness
After sharing these very personal experiences and my motivation to record Ma Solitude I would like to bring the following to anyone reading this:
Obviously, solitude can only be productive if we don't feel excluded, hurt or punished.[1] But in tranquil times it offers an intimate connection, a realm of solace, like with a lover. The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche declared on a similar note: "My solitude doesn't depend on the presence or absence of people; on the contrary, I hate he who steals my solitude without, in exchange, offering me true company." The French philosopher and novelist Jean-Paul Sartre even wrote, "If you're lonely when you're alone, you're in bad company."
Ma Solitude has always so poignantly illustrated the beauty one can find in alone time. It's a deep connection with oneself. But this connection can obviously also get severed in times of deep grief and trauma when our brains are stuck in a state of terror and operate in pure survival mode. Sadly, not everyone is capable of this inner connection or willing to let go to this sometimes almost meditative state. I was quite shocked to recently read about a study at the University of Virginia in which several participants – a quarter of the women and two-thirds of the men – chose to subject themselves to electric shock rather than be alone with their thoughts.[2]
On the other hand, it seems as if in our hyper-connected, social-media driven and extremely competitive society, alone time or solitude is more devalued than it has been in a long time. The author Ray Williams writes in an essay published in Psychology Now, "all current meanings of 'alone' imply a lack of something. Invariably, a desire for solitude is viewed by others as a sign there is something wrong. Even worse, people associate going it alone with antisocial pursuits and unnecessary risk taking, like jumping off cliffs. And when we see photos of people sitting alone by a lake on a mountain top, many of us might wonder if that person is lonely or even depressed."[3]
For me solitude is about consciousness. It's about asking the – sometimes uncomfortable – questions, how deeply am I feeling myself when I'm feeling lonely? Am I feeling disconnected and if so, where is it stemming from? Are we comparing other people's outsides with our complicated insides? Especially social media can have that effect. On Facebook we only see glossy versions of our "friends'". We see their feats but seldom their failures illustrated by carefully curated glamour-selfies. During this outer and inner journey I was forced to embark upon, my inner world has shifted from grief and loneliness to solitude. In the process I discovered who my real friends were – one of them being myself.
Click on the picture to stream the song on Spotify or download the recording from Bandcamp or from iTunes.
Click here to read the French lyrics and an English translation.
Also, keep an eye out for my next blog post on inspiring art depicting the topics loneliness and/or solitude.
May you also find some inspiration in the following books:
[1] Brent Crane, "The Virtues of Isolation", in The Atlantic, posted March 30, 2017. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/03/the-virtues-of-isolation/521100/
[2] ibid. [see also Matthew Hutson, "People Prefer Electric Shocks to Being Alone With Their Thoughts", in The Atlantic, posted July 3, 2014 https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/07/people-prefer-electric-shocks-to-being-alone-with-their-thoughts/373936/.
[3] Ray Williams, "Why Solitude Is Good and Loneliness Is Bad. Loneliness is becoming an epidemic but the value of solitude is unappreciated", in: Psychology Today, posted Oct 31, 2017, https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201710/why-solitude-is-good-and-loneliness-is-bad.
Posted in Creative influences, Creative Writing, Foreign language songs, French Songs, Jazz, Language, Livings In Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Music, Philosophy, Poetry, Psychology, Record releases, SongwritingTagged chansons, French, French culture, French music, French songs, loneliness, Ma Solitude, solitude4 Comments
Posted on May 30, 2015 August 18, 2021 by Frances Livings
© Elliot Erwill, Paris 1989 (100-year jubilee of the Eiffel Tower)
I have always loved French chansons which definitely derives from my strong affinity with the French culture – and I am not only referring to the delicious food. I was thrilled to start learning French at middle school and very excited about being able to count to ten, say bonjour, merci, oui and non after a couple of lessons. My emotional bond with French music however, developed later in junior art college, where I had a very Francophile teacher. He spent (probably) all of his holidays in France and often came to class wearing the typical black beret. So often, instead of bending our heads over books, like the children's (and adult's) classic Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry we were supposed to be reading at the time, he would bring his acoustic guitar and we pour our hearts into singing French chansons.
Apart from loving to sing I always felt that these songs were very special, very pensive and always very poetic. One of my favourite lines was from the song Ma Solitude by Georges Moustaki. I thought it was just so beautifully melancholic and at the same time a clever play with words: "Non, je ne suis jamais seul / Avec ma solitude" (No, I am never alone / with my loneliness). I have, in the meantime recorded the song. You can read about my thoughts and inspiration here and listen to it embedded in a beautiful Spotify playlist while you read this blog post…
Years later, my mother's second husband bought and renovated an old French farmhouse in Perigord, the southwest of France. I was very lucky to be able to spend so much time there before he sadly passed away unexpectedly. The property stood slightly elevated on a small mound and was surrounded by a beautiful soft and green, hilly landscape. It was a whitewashed house with a huge, heavy oak barn door and Bordeaux-red window shutters. A low, irregular, old mossy stone wall, next to which luscious bushes of red roses and lavender grew, semi-enclosed it. There was no telephone, internet or TV. It was perfect for either relaxing or being creative. I wrote and sang a lot and sometimes listened to the radio, which was always very inspiring because of the large amount of French songs they played.
While searching for material and writing my own songs to continuously expand my repertoire, these songs have always been in the back of my mind. It wasn't until compiling the music for my multi-lingual Ipanema Lounge project, and playing some regular gigs at some of L.A.'s best French restaurants, The Little Door, and Le Petit Paris, that they resurfaced and I started learning some of them, gradually adding more and more. So after a friend of mine asked me for the lyrics of the ones I had been singing live, I thought I would just upload them here for anyone who is interested. I have uploaded the following medley and added our recording of the songs with some background information.
Jardin d'Hiver
Years ago, a friend of mine compiled these lovely mixed tapes for me. One of them included a very cute and amusing song Jardin d'Hiver, written by the French-Israeli songwriter Keren Ann. Later I learnt that the most well-known recording, the one I listened to over and over again from that tape, is by Henri Salvador. He was French but originally born in Guyana, and virtually an institution in France from the 1930s until his death in 2008. This song is from his 2000 comeback album, Chambre Avec Vue that he recorded at the ripe age of 83!
My recording of this song borrows from the Beguine and the Cha Cha Cha. The tempo is 126 bpm and the backing track consists of various percussion instruments (Sandro Feliciano), nylon guitar (Greg Porée), double bass, bandonéon, synthesizer string pads and piano.
Listen to and download the song here:
Je voudrais du soleil vert
Des dentelles et des théières
Des photos de bord de mer
Dans mon jardin d'hiver
Je voudrais de la lumière
Comme en Nouvelle-Angleterre
Je veux changer d'atmosphère
Ma robe à fleurs sous la pluie de novembre
Tes mains qui courent, je n'en peux plus de t'attendre
Les années passent, qu'il est loin l'âge tendre
Nul ne peut nous entendre
Je voudrais du Fred Astaire
Revoir un Latécoère
Je voudrais toujours te plaire
Je veux déjeuner par terre
Comme au long des golfes clairs
T'embrasser les yeux ouverts
Pour te Plaire
The song Pour Te Plaire was written in French by Maxime Le Forestier and was first released by the chanson singer Julien Clerc in 2003. It was adapted from the famous American jazz standard That's All (Bob Haymes, Alan Brandt) that was written in 1952 and made popular by Nat King Cole. To be completely honest, I like the lyrics better in French than in English. I absolutely adore the line, "Que toujours et plus encore" which means basically for longer than forever – isn't that romantic?
My recording of the song features three of Los Angeles most wonderful studio musicians: Greg Porée on guitar, Trey Henry on upright bass and Jeff Colella on piano – just wait until you hear the short and sensitive, most romantic solo. Remember, this is a serious love song… Also, when we did the premix I wanted the song to have a special guitar sound. I was inspired by Jeff Buckley's recording of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah and Paul Simon's use of very atmospherical, spherical sounding electric guitars. The sound credit here goes out to Greg Porée and the sound engineer Nolan Shaheed.
Stream the song here:
Je te donne seulement l'amour pour la vie entière,
La promesse de me trouver à tes genoux,
Aussitôt que tu m'appelles,
Rester toujours fidèle,
C'est tout. C'est tout.
Je te donne tous mes printemps, mes étés de mer,
mes automnes quand les feuilles tombent partout.
Si ce n'est pas une bonne affaire,
Je te donne tous mes hivers,
C'est tout, C'est tout.
De ces choses qu'on t'a dites pour te plaire
Ces promesses avancent pour séduire
Il y en a-t-il de meilleur que l'on puisse faire,
un amour que rien ne peut détruire.
Si tu veux savoir quoi me donner pour ma peine
Rassures-toi je ne veux presque rien du tout
Que toujours et plus encore,
Je soit la seule que tu adores,
De ces choses qu'on t'a dites pour te plaire,
il y en a-t-il de meilleur que l'on puisse faire
un amour que rien ne peut détruire
Si tu veux savoir quoi me donner pour ma peine,
Je sois la seule que tu adores,
"Ne Me Quitte Pas" (English: "Don't Leave Me") is a song I frequently sing live, ideally with the full band but I haven't recorded it yet. It was written and recorded in 1959 by the Belgian chansonnier Jacques Brel. Considered by some as Brel's ultimate classic, it has since then been translated into over 20 different languages! Brel wrote the song after his mistress "Zizou" (Suzanne Gabriello) ended their affair. Zizou was pregnant with Brel's child but Brel refused to acknowledge it as his own which resulted in her having an abortion.
The lyrics "Moi, je t'offrirai des perles de pluie venues de pays où il ne pleut pas" ("I'm offering you rain pearls from countries where it does not rain") are sung to a theme that Brel borrowed from the second part, Lassan (Andante), of the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 by the composer Franz Liszt.
For me as a woman it has an overly dramatic component in which the man is persuasive and almost intrusive. Sting's hit song Every Breath You Take speaks similarly of an obsession to the extent of stalking someone ("I'll be watching you…"). Sting's lyrics however, are void of any romantic or poetic, high-flying promises. Unlike Brel who makes offerings or maybe bribes like rain made of pearls or light and gold to cover her body; he will be king, she will be queen in a world ruled with love… The French film "Le Chambre Bleue" (2014) deals with the topic of love in a similar way. Its female protagonist reminded me very much of the obsessive character (Brel) of this song.
To lift the slightly triste and melodramatic atmosphere of the song, I like playing it live as a teasing Tango –
Il faut oublier
Tout peut s'oublier
Qui s'enfuit déjà
Oublier le temps
Des malentendus –
et le temps perdu
A savoir comment
Oublier ces heures
Qui tuaient parfois
A coups de pourquoi
Le cœur du bonheur
Moi je t'offrirai
Des perles de pluie
Venues de pays
Où – il ne pleut pas
Je creuserai la terre
Jusqu'après ma mort
Pour couvrir ton corps
D'or et de (la) lumière
Je ferai un domaine
Où l'amour sera roi
Où l'amour sera loi
Où tu seras reine
Ne me quitte pas !
Je t'inventerai
Des mots insensés
Que tu comprendras
Je te parlerai
De ces amants là
Qui ont vu deux fois
Leurs coeurs s'embraser
Je te racont'rai
L'histoire de ce roi
Mort de n'avoir pas
Pu te rencontrer
On a vu souvent
Rejaillir le feu
De l'ancien volcan
Qu'on croyait trop vieux
Il est paraît-il
Des terres brûlées
Donnant plus de blé
Qu'un meilleur Avril
Et quand vient le soir
Pour qu'un ciel flamboie
Ne s'épousent-ils pas?
Je ne vais plus pleurer
Je ne vais plus parler
Je me cacherai là
A te regarder
Danser, danser!
Et à t'écouter
Chanter et puis rire
Laisse-moi devenir
L'ombre de ton ombre
L'ombre de ta main
L'ombre de ton chien
Dansez Maintenant
This song was originally composed by Glen Miller as the theme for his orchestra and is usually known with English lyrics as Moonlight Serenade. I recorded it as a swung-ballad with French lyrics. The track is very true to how it would have been performed in the 1940's. It's such a cheerful tune about the summer holidays. The tempo is 90 BPM and is backed by electric piano, double bass, electric guitar and a brush snare. It is frequently one of my most popular tunes on Spotify.
Ipanema Lounge by Frances Livings Dansez Maintenant
Dansez maintenant,
tout l'été les pieds nus dans le sable
Et jetez vos ennuis dans les vagues
Qui dansent, balancent, au gré du vent sale
Tout l'été aimez-vous sur le sable
Tout l'été vous serez des cigales
Qui dansent, balancent, au gré du vent léger
Quand l'hiver sera venu vous
prendre au dépourvu
Vous danserez main dans la main
En attendant l'été prochain
Qui dansent, balancent, au gré du vent salé
Caravan (Caravane) is a jazz standard composed by Juan Tizol and Duke Ellington, and was first performed by Ellington in 1936. Irving Mills wrote lyrics that were however, seldomly performed. It is more known as an instrumental. Its exotic sound interested musicians; Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, and Gordon Jenkins all covered it.
The French lyrics were written by the chansonier Philippe Elan and first recorded in 2007 by the Dutch jazz artist Laura Fygi. I haven't made a recording yet but am burning to…! It's a great song to play even in a trio.
Woody Allen used the song in two of his films, Alice and Sweet and Lowdown. The song is also heavily featured in the 2014 film Whiplash as an important plot element. The Mills Brothers recorded an a cappella version, making the instruments' sounds with their voices, and Johnny Mathis recorded the song in 1956. There are more than 350 recordings of this song by Duke Ellington's orchestra, the great majority of them now in the public domain.
Nuit – s'aimer d'étoiles
Qui pris si fort
Le mystère de reflet d'or
Aimer de notre caravane
D'or – sur mon épaule
Tout en rampon
Dans le vent le sable mouvant
Souvenir de notre caravane
Tout semble possible
Tu es irrésistible
Blotti dans mes bras
Je subi
Ton mystérieux charme
Oh, toi,
Si près de moi,
Sous le ciel roi
Mon rêve se réalisera
Au cœur de notre caravane
The Ultimate French Chanson: Ma Solitude
The writer of this poetic piece is Georges Moustaki, an Egyptian-born French singer-songwriter who became famed for his repertoire of simple romantic ballads. In his obituary in 2013, The Irish Times called him a "troubadour of love, tenderness and anti-racism [who] gave France some of its best-loved music." Ma Solitude was first recorded in 1967 by the Italian-born French singer and actor Serge Reggiani. Two years later, in 1969, Moustaki released it himself. His version has been so far the most popular one. Read about what inspired me to record this beautiful ballad here.
Ma Solitude by Frances Livings
Ma solitude
Pour avoir si souvent dormi
Avec ma solitude
Je m'en suis faite presque une amie
Une douce habitude
Elle ne me quitte pas d'un pas
Fidèle comme une ombre
Elle m'a suivi çà et là
Aux quatre coins du monde
Non, je ne suis jamais seul
Je ne sais vraiment pas jusqu'où
Ira cette complice
Faudra-t-il que j'y prenne goût
Ou, que je réagisse ?
Par elle, j'ai autant appris
Que j'ai versé de larmes
Si parfois je la répudie
Jamais elle ne désarme
Et, si je préférais l'amour
D'une autre courtisane
Elle sera à mon dernier jour
Ma dernière compagne
My Solitude
After having slept so often
with my loneliness
I have almost made it to my friend
like a sweet habit
She doesn't leave my side
Faithful like a shadow
She has followed me here and there
to all four corners of the world
No I'm never alone
When she's in the crater of my bed
She takes up all the space
And we spend long nights together
Both of us, face to face
I really don't know how far it will go
with this accomplice
Will I have to take a fancy
Or will I react?
Through her, I have learned so much
that I have cried tears
If sometimes I reject that
She never disarms me
And If I preferred the love
of another courtesan
She will be on my last day,
My last companion
For some more French chansons sung by female artists, follow me on Spotify and subscribe to my playlist!
…merci et à bientôt!
Posted in Creative influences, Foreign language songs, French Songs, Jazz, Lyrics, MusicTagged Alan Brandt, Bob Haymes, Caravan, Caravane, Chambre Avec Vue, chansons, Dansez Maintenant, Don't Leave Me, Every Breathe You Take, France, French, French culture, French music, French songs, Georges Moustaki, Glen Miller, Henri Salvador, Jacques Brel, Jardin d'Hiver, jazz repertoire, Julien Clerc, Keren Ann, Laura Fygi, Le Chambre Bleue, Le Petit Paris, Ma Solitude, Maxime Le Forestier, Maxime Le Fprestier, Moonlight Serenade, Nat King Cole, Ne Me Quitte Pas, obsession, Perigord, Pour Te Plaire, stalker, stalking, Sting, That's All, The Little Door, The Little Next Door, world musicLeave a comment
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Bandleader & foreign language singer w Ipanema Lounge 🎶Author, Art Historian w PhD | jazz cook, dog, art + nature lover #livejazz #IpanemaLoungeJazz
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Hey, and what did you do today? I fixed my piano!
🌕 Wishing you an abundance of magical time ✨
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text:
Q: I want to improve my SQL I have one table (table1) and it has 2 columns id and name and below are the data in the table.

---- INPUT TABLE ---

id   name
 1  |  ABC
 2  |  XYZ
 3  |  DEF

I want write SQL which will give output as mentioned below
Columns of output are id,col1,col2 and col3 and below are the values expected in the columns

1 TRUE  FALSE FALSE
2 FALSE TRUE  FALSE
3 FALSE FALSE TRUE

Now I want to write a SQL based on the above output.
I have written one SQL using CASE statement withing SQL but I know there should be a better way to write this SQL and get the output.
My SQL :
select id, CASE WHEN NAME ='XYZ' THEN 'TRUE' ELSE 'FALSE' END AS colTRUE ,FALSE as col2,FALSE as col3 from tabel1
union all
select id, FALSE AS col1 ,CASE WHEN NAME ='XYZ' THEN 'TRUE' ELSE 'FALSE' END as col2,FALSE as col3 from tabel1
union all
select id, FALSE AS col1 ,FALSE as col2,CASE WHEN NAME ='DEF' THEN 'TRUE' ELSE 'FALSE' END col3 from tabel1

A: SELECT t.id, t1.id = t.id, t2.id = t.id, t3.id = t.id
FROM table t, table t1, table t2, table t3
WHERE t1.id != t2.id
  AND t2.id != t3.id
  AND t1.id != t3.id

A: A CASE statement is your best tool for this situation.  Sometimes you just have to go with your first hunch.  However you do not need the union all operator, just use each CASE statement as a single value in your SELECT statement.

A: I think this is what you are looking for but I'm not sure why.
select
  id,
  CASE WHEN NAME ='ABC' THEN 'TRUE' ELSE 'FALSE' END AS col,
  CASE WHEN NAME ='XYZ' THEN 'TRUE' ELSE 'FALSE' END AS col2,
  CASE WHEN NAME ='DEF' THEN 'TRUE' ELSE 'FALSE' END AS col3
from tabel1

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Trucost has been commissioned by UNEP to work on multiple projects.
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It sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment.


From left to right: Carla Bruni, Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, and Helena Christensen. There they stood, like statues; there they posed, like models; and there they walked, like legends. It's not often we get to use those names in the same sentence anymore — save for ye olde occasional Balmain campaign — but on Friday, some of our favorite '90s-era supermodels came together to commemorate the legacy, and death, of the late Gianni Versace. A reunion for the ages, the iconic catwalk queens shut down the brand's 20th anniversary show like only Gianni's Girls could.
But that was the easy part, considering they were among the ones who first walked to Freedom! 90 for Versace himself in, well, 1990. It went down as one of the greatest, most epic moments in fashion history. Alongside Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, and more, they began what some would consider the most important era in fashion, with Versace leading the charge. And today's event called for a stunt just as genius. After showing the label's spring 2018 collection, designed by Versace's sister, Donatella, who took over the Italian fashion house following his death in 1997, the supermodels took to the catwalk, side-by-side, just as they did 20 years ago. "This is for you, Gianni," said a voice from behind the curtain — and then the music played.
Such is any Versace display, all of today's top models were there, too: Kendall Jenner, Gigi and Bella Hadid, Kaia Gerber, Taylor Hill, Candice Swanepoel, Anja Rubik (who now only works the runway on special occasions), Teddy Quinlivan, Natasha Poly, Doutzen Kroes, and more. Of course, how could we go without highlighting the fact that the moment marks Cindy Crawford and daughter Kaia Gerber's first (and hopefully not last) show together.
Recent months have seen rumors of whether or not Donatella Versace is soon to step away from the brand circulate through fashion's inner crowd. It's been said that everyone from Riccardo Tisci to Virgil Abloh could take over, but nothing — and everything — has yet to be confirmed. However, in terms of timing, this event felt less serendipitous as it did a very carefully planned, Versace-style exit, in which the memorial collection could potentially be Donatella Versace's swan song. We couldn't think of a better way to go out, and with such an epic bang as that. But whoever is chosen to continue the Versace legacy has very, very tall shoes to fill.


For our patients who successfully complete any program within the St. Christopher's network, and remain in the Baton Rouge area, we provide one year of aftercare support at no cost.
Aftercare is an excellent way to stay connected to other alumni and is helpful in sustaining long term sobriety. Our aftercare patients remain involved with others in recovery, build support systems in the community, and create close bonds with people active in recovery programs. Aftercare includes weekly group sessions and case management services.
Aftercare group for our Intensive Outpatient Program graduates is also available on a weekly basis. You may attend this group (males and females) if you have completed a treatment program at an outside facility and if you are clinically appropriate for the group.
For patients who leave Baton Rouge upon completing treatment we can help you secure aftercare providers in your area.
For more information call us at 877-782-4747 and visit our Staff Page to meet the St. Christopher's Team.


Science has proven that having a pet has a positive impact on children's lives, both emotionally as well as physically. A kid with a pet is said to be more responsible and less prone to allergies. This has been proven scientifically and many parents have taken this fact to heart. Accordingly many of us, as parents, feel it is our duty to provide our kids of the pleasure of owning a pet. Hence, as soon as our kids are old enough, we get them a pet. Things can turn into a nightmare after sometime if not done right. So here is a list of things, compiled over the years that I wish I knew before I allowed my kids to have a pet.
Well, this should be a no brainer right? Not many of us think enough about what you need to be prepared with before you bring your pet home. I recall a night of driving around looking for dog beds for sale because we forgot to think of place to sleep for our puppy. We ended up spending an arm and a leg on one that was definitely not on sale. So you need to think well in advance about the needs and requirements of a pet, before you bring it home.
Another thing that I learned the hard way was that kids only love to create messes. They do not like to clear them up. Especially if it is pet droppings. So before you let your kid have a pet, think about how you are going to manage a pet who is going to be needing to use a toilet a lot. Keep in mind that your kids will definitely turn up their noses at the first sight of a pet dropping. You will most definitely end up cleaning pet poop from all kinds of surfaces right after you bring in a pet. You may also want to equip yourself with a book or two about dog toilet training. A few videos on YouTube will also come in handy. Another thing that you should not forget is to brief your kid about this not so brighter side of having a pet. This way, your kid is prepared, and will not be taken by surprise, when the pet uses his room as its own personal toilet.
New pets take time to get used to their new surroundings. Until they get used to their surrounding and settle in, they are nervous. When pets get nervous, it is only natural that they would want to chew things up. Chances are that your kids would most definitely get a kick out of this. So try not to take it to heart when you come home from work, and find your sofa shredded to pieces. Also try not to take things to heart when you find out that your kids helped the pets to shred the sofa to pieces. As a solution and prevention to this problem, keep some rawhide sticks around the house, in places where your pet can find them. Get your kids to place them in different places everyday so that your pet will not get bored. Ensure that you keep them in places where your pet can find them easily. The minute they cannot find it, your belongings will be at risk.
Having a pet is cheap, said no one ever. Regardless of how effortless your kids will tell you it is, I am here to tell you that it is not. In addition to food and other supplies, you will find that vaccinations will take a huge chunk of your monthly wages. So be prepared. Start a pet fund and keep adding to it every month. You will find that in addition to the usual vaccinations, you will also be expected to spring for things such as routine checkups, medicine, vitamin and, grooming products. If your kids get an allowance, let them spend for basic things such as grooming products and food. Before you get your pet, let them know of this, so that they too won't be caught by surprise.


In our culture, a wedding is usually described as the most beautiful day in life. Somehow, many times it is one of the most stressful days, due to the whole organization, planning, big number of guests, costs and duties that the newlyweds need to handle.
Sometimes, realization of wedding scenario steal the magic of the day. This is why, we often encourage couples to get at least a single moment to be just on their own, to have that small piece of time together to share some warm gestures, hugs and good words.
The outdoor wedding of Marti and Michael was just like that. It was a quintessence of being truly together on the wedding day. It was also the most emotional, mind-blowing wedding we have ever been to. As an intimate ceremony, only the Bride, the Groom and their closest family, two dogs and one cat, it took place in the forest and nearby field, where Marti and Michael are planning to build their new home. This traditional Slavic ceremony was full of rituals, small but important details and what is the most outstanding is that the couple was constantly focused on each other and their feelings. They meditated together, cried together while paying the vows, and enjoying every single moment of the day. Both, the place of the wedding and dinner, all decorations and clothing was prepared by the members of the family. After the wedding, everybody sang folk songs and danced. During the dinner, the couple ate from the same plate which symbolizes their connection. An element present everywhere was the light and fire showing the family love. The most important part of the day was binding of couple's hands by the ceremony master and dances by the fire. The whole day was totally filled with love, honesty and deepest feelings.


The retreat built with love following the vision Radhanath Swami had of creating simple living and high thinking!
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Our participants enroll in Yoga programs to learn the finer nuances of yoga and its benefits leading to an overall enriching life. The program is flexible where based on availability of time – you can choose to start with a 7days, 15 days or the full term of 28 days. You can then choose to return for the balance of the program at your convenience or should you have the time – finish the entire 200 hours' certification in one go.
You may visit our website www.ecovillage.org.in/yoga for more information.
The schedule for our upcoming programs is mentioned below.
You can choose the convenient date and let us know so that we can reserve your seat.


text:
Neeson says Seagate problems are a test that Executive must pass
Alliance Enterprise Spokesperson Séan Neeson MLA has stated that the Executive must act quickly to solve the problems at Seagate to prove to local people that they can live up to their Programme for Government promise of creating 6,500 new jobs in the next four years. More than 900 jobs are under threat at the company's Limavady base.
The Opposition MLA said: "The Executive must pass this test and save these jobs to prove that they are capable of living up to last week's Programme for Government promise to create 6,500 new jobs in the next four years.
"Seagate is an extremely important company for the wider area and any job losses would hit the region extremely hard.
"This issue will test the resolve and capability of the Executive and they must act quickly and decisively to prevent more than 900 jobs being lost at the company.
"This potential crisis needs to be resolved and the jobs simply must be saved. Failure to do so would be a damning indictment of this already shaky Executive."

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text:
Bruins on a special run
Don BrennanMore from Don Brennan
Updated: May 17, 2019 7:36 PM EDT
Ottawa Sun
Reports: Seattle's new NHL franchise to name Ron Francis as GM
TRADE: Senators send Zack Smith to Chicago for Artem Anisimov
Blues agree to two-year deal with goalie Jordan Binnington
RALEIGH, N.C. — The NHL record for most consecutive playoff wins in one season is 11, shared by three teams — the 1991-92 Blackhawks, the 1991-92 Penguins, and the 1992-93 Canadiens.
A fourth, the 2018-19 Bruins, can join the group by sweeping whomever they face in the Stanley Cup final. And after that, Boston would be in position to break the Penguins record of most playoff wins over two seasons (14) by putting the broom to its first round opponent next spring.
Okay, we're getting a little carried away here. The point is the B's are on a roll. Since dropping a 2-1 decision that put them down 2-1 in their second round series with the Blue Jackets, they have been unbeatable.
Their winning streak stands at seven games, all in the month of May, and they seem to be getting better every time out.
Oh, and that rhetoric about the fourth win of a series is always the toughest? It doesn't look so difficult the way the Bruins are doing it.
Tuukka Rask of the Boston Bruins defends a shot from Cam Atkinson of the Columbus Blue Jackets during the second period at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, May 4, 2019. Maddie Meyer / Getty Images
In elimination games against Columbus and Carolina over a span of 10 days, they were a combined 7-0 with Tuukka Rask stopping all 64 shots he faced.
In both cases, the opponents were quite familiar with the wall their backs were up against. They were playing at home, with the support of a rambunctious crowd behind them.
"Tonight, and I think our close-out game in Columbus was excellent as well," coach Bruce Cassidy said when asked what he thought was his team's best game of the playoffs after Thursday's 3-0 elimination of the Canes. "Very similar to tonight, I thought. So one or the other."
In other words, the Bruins have developed a killer instinct.
"Toronto (Game 7) wasn't a complete game," Cassidy said, keeping the conversation alive, obviously enjoying the topic.
And what coach wouldn't?
"They got the best of us in the second period for awhile," added Cassidy. So it would be Columbus or tonight, although I like Game 2 of this series (the 6-2 Boston win) up at home. I thought we played really well."
Charlie Coyle of the Boston Bruins skates against Warren Foegele of the Carolina Hurricanes during the second period in Game Two of the Eastern Conference Final during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden on May 12, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. Adam Glanzman / Getty Images
How exactly have the Bruins been able to do it? They had a seven-game winning streak during the regular season, but this is altogether different.
These is good opponents chasing a Cup they can almost smell. With 99 games now in the books this season, how have the B's manage to rattle off seven W's in a row?
"It's a good question," said Cassidy. "I think we've probably won a special-teams battle every night, or at least sawed it off. That would be my first observation. It usually helps. We don't give up a lot to begin with.
"Tuukka has been very consistent. Usually if you're going to get on a roll your goaltender is going to have to … I don't know if you say win a game for you somewhere along the line, or steal one, whatever you want to use, but he's going to have to be there for you. He can't have a bad night if you're going to string together that (many wins).
"It also shows the depth of our group. Because it hasn't been on line. Tonight it was. The big line was there. Other guys obviously pitched in, in the 200-foot effort.
"So special teams, goaltending and secondary scoring is why I think we've been able to string all these together against good hockey clubs at a tough time of year."
And right now, there appears to be no stopping them.
DBrennan@postmedia.com
Twitter: @SunDoniB
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text:
Remembering Vijayaratnam
By Elizabeth Looi
THE late Datuk Dr S Vijayaratnam was a man who touched many hearts. The Gerakan vice-president was known to be a down-to-earth leader who provided guidance to the grassroots.
(Pic courtesy of Gerakan)To his friends outside the party, the 58-year-old will be remembered as someone who was always helpful and reliable. But to reporters, Vijayaratnam was someone special: he was a jovial and friendly politician who always made himself available to the press corps when they needed feedback on current issues.
Which is why his death on 3 Nov shocked many, including yours truly. I was a rookie reporter covering Parliament when I first met Vijayaratnam in 2006. At the time, he was a senator and parliamentary secretary for the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities.
Vijayaratnam was one of the first few executive members I made friends with. He immediately struck me as a friendly politician as he was always smiling. The soft-spoken doctor was not known to have had any tiffs with backbenchers or opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) when replying to questions about his ministry
Politics in his blood
Vijayaratnam hailed from a family of politicians. His father, Dr S Seeveratnam, was DAP MP for Seremban Barat for a term in 1969, while his uncle S Rajaratnam was the former Singapore deputy prime minister and foreign minister.
He entered politics in 1985 when he joined Gerakan, a party whose multiracial approach and principles appealed to him. He rose up the ranks in the party, winning the vice-presidency in 1999. He was recently re-elected for a fourth term during the Gerakan party elections on 11 Oct 2008.
Vijayaratnam, who was into his second term as senator having first been appointed in 2002, had served as parliamentary secretary for the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities for four years until the 8 March general election.
He was one of the more hardworking parliamentary secretaries, always attending Parliament proceedings and hardly ever leaving early for his lunch break.
Although he was not one of those who often called for press conferences in Parliament, he was a familiar face among reporters stationed there. Vijayaratnam always took the effort to greet and talk to reporters whenever he walked through the Parliament lobby. If he was door-stopped for comments about an issue, the patient doctor was not one to avoid journalists.
Once, I wanted to write a story about the tobacco industry in Malaysia, and asked him for an exclusive interview. He immediately agreed, and spent almost an hour patiently explaining the issue to me. He even elaborated on the progress of the replacement crop programme, Kenaf, and the ministry's plan to encourage farmers to switch to this crop.
During one of our chats, he said he loved travelling and did not mind driving back to Seremban every day after Parliament. "After all, it is only a 45-minute drive," he said.
The three new Gerakan vice-presidents (from left) Huang Cheng
Guan, Mah Siew Keong and Vijayaratnam Vijayaratnam was not one of those politicians who only wanted to build relationships with reporters for the sake of publicity. I realised this when I met him at the Gerakan headquarters in Cheras during one of the party's events. I had not seen him in a while, but he remembered me and asked me how I was.
A sense of humour
Besides being friendly, Vijayaratnam will definitely be remembered for his great sense of humour.
I once casually asked him how he was doing, and he laughingly replied out loud: "Good! My ministry's making money, palm oil prices are increasing!"
To reporter V Vasudevan from the New Straits Times, Vijayaratnam "had a wicked sense of humour."
"We chatted a lot in the lobby. He complained about my teetotaller ways, and we often joked about the Ceylonese community, which we both are from," recalls Vasudevan, who has been covering Parliament for a decade.
"He was a gregarious fellow. He did what he could for the media. [He was a] good man. Sad ending, though."
Vijayaratnam, who died of multiple head injuries after falling from the third floor of his shop lot in Seremban, is survived by his wife T Anucia and four children. He will always be cherished in the thoughts of his family, party members, friends and reporters.
Filed Under: Columns Tagged With: Cheras, death, Gerakan, obituary, Vijayaratnam


The setting sun was bright on our eyes as we walk towards our car after taking a walk around the water gardens near our house. It was so bright, I still squint my eyes when I look at this picture.
Or maybe it's just late. It's after 2, and I'm still awake. I had about 4 hours of sleep last night. In the morning, I'll be driving my daughter downtown. That's less than 4 hours away. Are you seeing a pattern here? Sleeping 4 hours only with a birthday party to do the next day is probably not one of my brightest idea ever.
This was a great shot!
Your picture is great bright idea...see my entry..Thanks.
NICE! That's one of the brightest photos I've seen yet today.
Have fun at the party!!
we hardly thinking about that photos from our everyday life does mean anything.
Like the one you here have posted.


text:
Q: Call a function defined in an external javascript function from vb.net code behind (.html not .aspx) I have a plain .html page which has a hiddenField and a reference to External.js. Since I am implementing using ASP.NET, server side will execute first. However, I need to execute a function in External.js before server code execution. The solution is available by the having the following code:
*In .aspx *
<script src="External.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<asp:ScriptManager ID="ScriptManager1" runat="server" EnablePageMethods="true" />`

In .aspx.vb
Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
Try
If Not Page.IsPostBack Then
ScriptManager.RegisterStartupScript(Me, Me.GetType(), "register", "MyFunction();", True)
End If
Catch ex As Exception
MsgBox(ex.Message)
End Try
 End Sub

The code works perfectly when I am using a .aspx page. Obviously, I cannot use any ASP.NET server controls in a plain .html page. So using <asp:ScriptManager> in a .html page will not work. How  can I do the same exact thing but in an .html page. What should be defined in the .html page and how can I call the function from the code behind, keeping in mind that I cannot use any <asp:> controls.
Ok so what I am trying to do is that I have my External.js which has the function populateHidden() which basically sets a value to my hiddenField.
function populateHidden()
{
document.getElementByID('Hidden').value = "abcdefg";
}

I also have another function PassData() which basically initializes an ajax request to the server to pass the value of Hidden to the code behind (using a webMethod). The problem is that I want populateHidden() to execute first so that passData() passes abcdefg (after populateHidden() is executed) to the code behind to store the value in a database. So currently the way I am running both functions is as follows.
in .html
<body onload="PassData()">
in code-behind
trying to execute populateHidden(); on Page_Load since server side executes first.

A: I'm not sure if I understood it correctly. But, if you want do call a script in the same way you've done you just need to do it:
<body onload="MyFunction();">

complete version:
<html>
    <head>
        <meta charset="UTF-8">
        <title>Document</title>
        <script src="External.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
    </head>
    <body onload="MyFunction();">
    ...
    </body>
</html>

Is it?

A: I borrowed this from @Cleydson's answer:
JS
function MyFunction()
{
    populateHidden();
    PassData();
}

HTML
<html>
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>Document</title>
    <script src="External.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body onload="MyFunction();">
...
</body>

Now you're calling populateHidden() before PassData()


text:
from __future__ import absolute_import, unicode_literals
from gaegraph.business_base import NodeSearch, DeleteNode
from livro_app.commands import ListLivroCommand, SaveLivroCommand, UpdateLivroCommand, \
    LivroPublicForm, LivroDetailForm, LivroShortForm

def save_livro_cmd(**livro_properties):
    """
    Command to save Livro entity
    :param livro_properties: a dict of properties to save on model
    :return: a Command that save Livro, validating and localizing properties received as strings
    """
    return SaveLivroCommand(**livro_properties)

def update_livro_cmd(livro_id, **livro_properties):
    """
    Command to update Livro entity with id equals 'livro_id'
    :param livro_properties: a dict of properties to update model
    :return: a Command that update Livro, validating and localizing properties received as strings
    """
    return UpdateLivroCommand(livro_id, **livro_properties)

def list_livros_cmd():
    """
    Command to list Livro entities ordered by their creation dates
    :return: a Command proceed the db operations when executed
    """
    return ListLivroCommand()

def livro_detail_form(**kwargs):
    """
    Function to get Livro's detail form.
    :param kwargs: form properties
    :return: Form
    """
    return LivroDetailForm(**kwargs)

def livro_short_form(**kwargs):
    """
    Function to get Livro's short form. just a subset of livro's properties
    :param kwargs: form properties
    :return: Form
    """
    return LivroShortForm(**kwargs)

def livro_public_form(**kwargs):
    """
    Function to get Livro'spublic form. just a subset of livro's properties
    :param kwargs: form properties
    :return: Form
    """
    return LivroPublicForm(**kwargs)

def get_livro_cmd(livro_id):
    """
    Find livro by her id
    :param livro_id: the livro id
    :return: Command
    """
    return NodeSearch(livro_id)

def delete_livro_cmd(livro_id):
    """
    Construct a command to delete a Livro
    :param livro_id: livro's id
    :return: Command
    """
    return DeleteNode(livro_id)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
NewsLatest News
Tyre Oil to be Monitored in Real Life Scenario
Research is to be undertaken into real life use of tyre derived oil in diesel engines.
Tyre Oil Testing to be Conducted in Brisbane
The 'on-truck' tests will be conducted on a Kenworth K200 semi-trailer that will leave the Tytec Logistics depot at Wacol, Brisbane this week and undertake the 1200-kilometre journey to the Rio Tinto Hail Creek mine, south of Mackay, North Queensland.
The actual results will be calculated and revealed next week.
The truck will be fuelled with a mixture of ten percent recycled tyre oil and standard diesel and 100 percent diesel on the return journey to provide a comparison.
It will be followed by a Hyundai 2017 iLoad which has a 2.5 L diesel engine, that is similar to many other diesel vehicles on the market in Australia, as well as most 4WD/SUV diesels that are in the 2.2 to 3 L in capacity.
The van will transport the team from QUT and Deakin University who are conducting the research and will be responsible for monitoring the portable performance and emissions measuring equipment.
This vehicle will also be fuelled with a mixture of the recycled tyre oil and diesel so that the emissions and performance can be measured on the 1200-kilometre return journey.
The purpose of this research is to compensate for what is now known as the 'Volkswagen Factor' as the previous research was done on a bench test in a laboratory.
That research was conducted by QUT and found that the recycled tyre oil, when it was mixed as a percentage with standard diesel fuel, had exhaust emissions with thirty per cent less nitrogen oxide, which contributes to photochemical smog and lower particle mass than emissions from standard diesel oil, but almost the same performance.
Professor Richard Brown said that the on-road truck test would be able to confirm the basic results of the previous research which found a 30 per cent reduction in nitrogen oxide which contributes to photochemical smog, and lower particle mass which means fewer problems for emission treatment systems.
"We have been asked why we are adding ten percent of recycled tyre oil to the diesel and not using 100 percent tyre oil as the fuel we are testing. The answer is that diesel engines in Australia are designed to run on diesel fuel that is refined to a particular standard, while the tyre oil is an unrefined crude oil," Professor Brown said.
Green Distillation Technologies Chief Operating Officer Trevor Bayley said that the research is important as they are currently building a plant in Perth, Western Australia to recycle oversize tyres.


text:
A Never- Ending Struggle
By Victor Cygielman
Victor Cygielman
Victor Cygielman is a co-founder and former co-editor of the Palestine-Israel Journal.
An examination of the human-rights situation in the world reveals that organizations dedicated to the defense of human rights are able to function freely only in democratic societies. In countries subjected to dictatorial regimes, where the watchfulness of human-rights activists is most needed, they are often persecuted and imprisoned in order to silence them. However, even in democratic states, proud of the rule of law and of their independent judiciary system, the protection of minority rights and of the individual's freedom to oppose national consensus should not always be taken for granted.
Governments and public opinion are frequently more sensitive to human¬rights violations abroad than to those committed in their own country. Thus in the 1970s and 1980s, British public opinion was very much concerned with Israel's systematic violations of Palestinian rights and freedoms, while being much less upset by the brutal persecution of Irish nationalists in Ulster, meted out by Britain's Special Forces. In April 1999, Israelis mobilized en masse to protest against the situation in Yugoslavia and help the Albanian refugees of Kosovo, fleeing Serbian persecution, with money, food, blankets, clothes and medical supplies. However, the plight of the Palestinians suffering from thirty years of Israeli occupation, the hardships caused by the many closures of the Palestinian territories by the Israeli army and police, the d~tention of hundreds of Palestinians by military decree without due trial, the continued demolition of Palestinian houses, the shooting and killing of Paleslinian children aged under sixteen during demonstrations - all these did not cause a fraction of the sympathetic interest in Israel induced by the tragic fate of the Kosovo refugees.
In Israel and Palestine today, several human-rights associations are alive and kicking in the right direction - against their own governments. It was not easy for the editors of this journal to initiate an issue focusing on human rights. The main obstacle, both psychologically and politically, was to deal evenhandedly with human-rights violations by both the Israeli and Palestinian authorities, the more so as Israel continues to control most of the Palestinian territories in the West bank and Gaza, and the struggle for Palestinian freedom and independence is far from finished.
In this context, when the protracted Israeli occupation in itself constitutes a permanent and massive violation of Palestinian human rights, some observers believe that to stress infringements upon human rights committed by the Palestinian Authority - as in reports that are given prominent display by the Israeli and world media - undermines Arafat's standing and weakens international support for the Palestinian efforts to create an independent state alongside the State of Israel. Former Knesset Member and well-known peace activist Uri Avnery argues this point forcefully in an article published by the Israeli daily Ma' ariv, on September 16, 1998. He even labels Palestinian human-rights activists, whose reports on human-rights encroachments by the Palestinian Authority are used by Israeli leaders to discredit Arafat, as a new kind of collaborators.
In response, Palestinian human-rights activist Bassem Eid claims in Ma' ariv of September 28, 1998, that "supporters of peace are not always supporters of human rights," and warns that to call Palestinians who expose human-rights transgressions by the Palestinian Authority security services "collaborators" is to target those Palestinians for reprisals. Uri Avnery does not deny that human-rights violations do take place under Palestinian self-rule, but thinks it unwise to place them in the limelight at a time when the Palestinian nation "is in the midst of a fateful struggle for its very existence." Bassem Eid admits that a conflict sometimes exists between political interests and human rights, but insists that human-rights encroachments should be made public and fought vigorously.
This is no doubt a fascinating polemic, if only because - a sign of the times - it pits an Israeli human-rights activist who is defending Arafat and the Palestinian Authority, against a Palestinian human-rights activist who is criticizing the same Authority for condoning misconduct by the Palestinian police and security services.
Addressing violations of Palestinian human rights perpetrated by Israel, Yossi WoIfson writes in this journal, p. 55 "Peace to be sure is our common dream. Peace also means compromise. No side will achieve all that it wants ... However, while national dreams may be compromised, individual human rights should not. They are not on the negotiating table. If human rights deserve to be protected in time of violent confict, how much truer it is then to protect them while establishing peace."
Ziad Abu-Zayyad, member of the Palestinian Parliament and Minister Without Portfolio, looks at transgressions of human rights by Palestinian institutions and believes that the fight should be waged simultaneously on two tracks. In the round-table discussion published in this issue of our journal on page 63, Ziad Abu-Zayyad speaks of a continuous struggle: "On the one hand, we have to struggle to liberate our land and build our state; on the other hand, we have to struggle for human rights and democracy. All this takes time and requires a huge effort. We know that it is a struggle against ourselves and it is not easy. The Prophet Muhammad said: 'The most difficult kind of jihad is the jihad against your own instincts.'"
Experience shows that, like confronting racism, the defense of human rights is a never-ending struggle. Everyday, everywhere. <


In December, I reported for Word&Way about the controversy around Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo. (my undergraduate alma mater) firing a professor for allegedly plotting with Missouri Baptist Convention leaders to oust other theology professors. Since then, a couple of key things have occurred - and I have a new article with the updates.
First, SBU held a five-hour hearing to hear the appeal of Clint Bass, who was fired in November. Both SBU and Bass have issued statements about the hearing and those are quoted in the article.
Third, some outside professors (some of which admit they do not even know Bass) wrote letters supporting him. They seem to argue his unethical behavior is okay since he was fighting for supposedly right theology (which itself seems like a problematic theology).


Here's a way to study this cold-blooded predator without putting your life in danger! Built anatomically to scale, this model has transparent parts to show internal bones and organs. Consists of 26 fully detachable parts that assemble like a puzzle. Includes illustrated guide book. WARNING: Choking Hazard - small parts. Not for children under 3 yrs. Approx. 15"x 9"x 3".


What general EH&S areas does your solution cover compared to what my organization's requirements are both now and more importantly, 5-10 years from now?
Because we have been in the industry over 3 decades, we have amassed a considerable amount of EH&S coverage. These days, there is rarely a situation where we don't have a module to cover the needs of one of our EH&S customers. Our modules cover Occupational Health and Medical Records, Industrial Hygiene and Safety plus Environment and Cradle-to-Grave Waste Management. We designed the system architecturally so that if we run into an area that we don't cover, a module can be quickly at low cost. However, our out-of-the-box forms cover everything you will need. Sometimes a simple field modification is required and we have solved that issue by letting you add fields to the form with the aforementioned point and click tool at no additional cost.


text:
Debate #2 (Oct 2015)
Debate #1 (Sep 2014)
Arts, Culture and Media
Demography & Family
Politics & Governance
Society & Identity
IPS-Nathan Lectures
Young Singaporeans Series
Recognising dementia symptoms and raising awareness
Oct 16, 2015 at 11:00 am | Hits: 3944
By Elaine Ho
Last Saturday (10 October) was World Mental Health Day. In Singapore, the first National Mental Health Week to raise awareness of mental illness and to reduce the stigma around it began in 1987.
Mental disorders can be a complex combination of both genetic and environmental or lifestyle factors. Early diagnosis and access to treatment are critical to managing the disorders. In terms of our awareness of mental illness, a recent survey showed that at least five in 10 people were able to identify the symptoms of dementia (66.3%), alcohol abuse (57.1%) and depression (55.2%).
The Mental Health Literacy study, conducted between March 2014 and March 2015 by the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), asked people about their perceptions of five common mental disorders. Besides the illnesses mentioned above, fewer people were able to identify symptoms associated with obsessive compulsive disorder (28.7%) and schizophrenia (11.5%).
While it is reassuring to know that two out of three of the 3,006 adults who participated in the IMH study were able to identify dementia occurrence, the recognition of symptoms does not necessarily imply that people understand the sickness.
Frequent misconceptions
A common misconception of dementia is that it is part of the natural ageing process. Age-related memory loss is often confused with dementia and there is a lack of clarity on when normal ageing-related changes are severe enough to indicate the possible onset of the disease.
Another common misconception is that nothing can be done to lower the risk of developing dementia. Studies have suggested that while some of the risk factors of dementia such as family history and age cannot be controlled, there are other lifestyle risk factors (such as high blood pressure, smoking, heavy alcohol consumption and high cholesterol) that are controllable.
It is worth noting that symptoms of dementia are not limited to forgetfulness and memory loss. It encompasses disturbance to higher order functioning — such as thinking, orientation, comprehension, calculation, learning capacity, language, and judgement — as well.
Recognising the symptoms
Dementia is a costly disease, with the World Alzheimer Report 2015 estimating the annual economic and societal worldwide cost at US$818 billion. Much of this can be attributed to formal and informal long-term care, medical costs, economic loss and social strain. In contrast, the amount of economic resources devoted to addressing mental illness related to dementia are severely lacking, in relation to the financial and personal impact of the disease.
Shifting demographic trends also highlight the need for greater recognition of the condition. Singapore is one of the fastest-ageing societies in the Asia-Pacific region, with one out of five people here expected to be aged 65 and above by 2030.
Currently, older adults aged 65 and above form 13.1 per cent of the population, up from 12.4 per cent in 2014. As this figure increases in the years ahead, it is likely that the number of people with dementia will correspondingly rise. The Ministry of Health estimates that there are currently 28,000 people with dementia in Singapore, and this is projected to jump to 80,000 in 2030.
Family and close friends are the first line of defence and are most likely among the first to spot warning signs. If they are able to recognise the symptoms, they can seek early intervention with the help of primary care professionals.
This can help to allay concerns, as having warning signs of dementia does not mean that someone has dementia. People with other conditions, such as depression, hormonal disorders, nutritional deficiencies and infection, may exhibit symptoms similar to dementia. Early diagnosis could lead to better management of the condition and allow people who have been diagnosed to plan for the future.
Furthermore, a lack of awareness could render the family less prepared with regards to caregiving arrangements and may increase the financial and legal vulnerability of the individual. This makes increasing awareness an even more urgent priority for society.
Doing more to raise awareness of dementia
In 2012, the World Health Organization highlighted dementia as a public health priority. In Singapore, the Health Promotion Board and voluntary welfare groups like the Alzheimer's Disease Association in Singapore have been conducting workshops on understanding dementia and training caregivers to care for those with the disease.
However, from a policy standpoint, should dementia be a larger national health priority than it is now? Doing more to raise awareness and improve general knowledge on dementia will go a long way towards optimising healthcare resources and outcomes.
To complement that effort, more research can be done to find out the extent to which the public understands dementia. What is the profile of people who are least knowledgeable of dementia? In general, studies have shown that people with lower education and income levels tend to be less informed about dementia. Does that hold true for Singapore? Are there cultural stereotypes and stigma associated with the disease? If so, what are they? While international studies have been conducted, the multicultural context of Singapore warrants a domestic perspective on this debilitating disease.
Lastly, a systematic year-round public education programme can also be implemented. This can be in the form of providing handbooks on available resources, how to prevent deterioration, and the legal preparations to make, such as appointing a Lasting Power of Attorney.
In light of an increasingly greying society, our action or inaction now will have an impact on all of us and our loved ones.
Elaine Ho is a Research Analyst at IPS Social Lab, a centre for social indicators research at the National University of Singapore. She presented a paper at the Alzheimer Europe Conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2-3 September 2015, on the interpretations and social constructions of dementia in Singapore.
Top photo from thinkstock.
Tags: Ageing Dementia Family Healthcare Mental Health
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There is your problem. Some of us KNOW what David looks like.
And it is NOT on any website.
I'm still waiting for the picture of David dressed as a Nazi.
there. It was his "STUD" photo when he was in the Marines.
So you LIED when you claimed it wasn't on any site.
the only one you sent.
appears on your site isn't on your site.
And you wonder why any claim you present is presumed to be a lie.
It's not a photo of the David Moore we know.
They are photos of the David Moore who owns that website.
OF course I was referring to the "I HATE KEN" website.
and think I'm the one who is immature?
"Quotes below have been highly altered."
that he alters posts when he replies.
This is very nice and informative post. I feel very glad to find this.
I really impressed your work.