Back in the 1970s, I listened to Kate and Anna McGarrigle’s The Dancer With Bruised Knees and I fell in love with their crystal-clear voices and complex songs. But, years later, the McGarrigles’ brand of intelligent music seemed to fall out of favor. Then, in 2010, Kate McGarrigle died of sarcoma. Tell My Sister is a three-CD set of remastered versions of the McGarrigles’ first two classic albums and a collection of previously unreleased songs. Kate McGarrigle will be celebrated in a two-night tribute at New York’s Town Hall on May 12 and May 13 with performances by Anna McGarrigle, Kate’s children Martha and Rufus Wainwright, Emmylou Harris, and others. After listening to these three wonderful CDs, I wish I could be there. GRADE: A
TRACK LIST:
1.01 Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Kiss and Say Goodbye 2:49
1.02 Kate & Anna McGarrigle: My Town 2:58
1.03 Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Blues in D 2:43
1.04 Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Heart Like a Wheel 3:09
1.05 Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Foolish You 3:02
1.06 Kate & Anna McGarrigle: (Talk to Me of) Mendocino 3:08
1.07 Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Complainte pour Ste-Catherine 2:48
1.08 Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Tell My Sister 3:38
1.09 Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Swimming Song 2:28
1.10 Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Jigsaw Puzzle of Life 2:30
1.11 Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Go Leave 3:21
1.12 Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Travelling on for Jesus 2:44
2.01 Dancer with Bruised Knees: Dancer with Bruised Knees 3:45
2.02 Dancer with Bruised Knees: Southern Boys 3:28
2.03 Dancer with Bruised Knees: No Biscuit Blues 1:41
2.04 Dancer with Bruised Knees: First Born 3:54
2.05 Dancer with Bruised Knees: Blanche Comme la Neige 3:48
2.06 Dancer with Bruised Knees: Perrine Était Servante 3:17
2.07 Dancer with Bruised Knees: Be My Baby 3:11
2.08 Dancer with Bruised Knees: Walking Song 3:35
2.09 Dancer with Bruised Knees: Naufragée du Tendre (Shipwrecked) 3:46
2.10 Dancer with Bruised Knees: Hommage à Grungie 3:53
2.11 Dancer with Bruised Knees: Kitty Come Home 4:30
2.12 Dancer with Bruised Knees: Come a Long Way 2:19
3.01 Tell My Sister: The Work Song 3:10
3.02 Tell My Sister: Come Back Baby 3:29
3.03 Tell My Sister: Jigsaw Puzzle of Life 2:28
3.04 Tell My Sister: Saratoga Summer Song 3:53
3.05 Tell My Sister: Annie 3:47
3.06 Tell My Sister: On My Way to Town 2:34
3.07 Tell My Sister: Roses Blanches 2:39
3.08 Tell My Sister: Heart Like a Wheel 2:43
3.09 Tell My Sister: Kiss and Say Goodbye 2:49
3.10 Tell My Sister: Southern Boys 2:57
3.11 Tell My Sister: Willie Moore 4:03
3.12 Tell My Sister: Oliver, Remember Me? 1:23
3.13 Tell My Sister: My Town 2:43
3.14 Tell My Sister: Blues in E 2:06
3.15 Tell My Sister: Walking Song 2:26
3.16 Tell My Sister: Tell My Sister 3:35
3.17 Tell My Sister: Over the Hill 2:36
3.18 Tell My Sister: Come a Long Way 1:53
3.19 Tell My Sister: (Talk to Me of) Mendocino 3:02
3.20 Tell My Sister: Heart Like a Wheel 2:31
3.21 Tell My Sister: (Talk to Me of) Mendocino 2:56
TELL MY SISTER By Kate & Anna McGarrigle
8 Replies
I thought I knew a lot about GOOGLE, the world’s most successful search engine. But I didn’t know GOOGLE builds their own servers. I didn’t know they laid hundreds of thousands of miles of fiber optic cable connecting their secret server farms. And I didn’t know that GOOGLE and Apple, once close business partners, are now locked in a battle that pits Apple’s iPhone against GOOGLE’s Android phones. It was interesting that GOOGLE considered buying Skype back in 2007, but decided against it because they considered Skype an antiquated technology. Yet Microsoft is now buying Skype for $8 billion. I suspect GOOGLE is laughing at that move. If you’re interested in how a couple of Stanford Ph.D. students created a world-changing technology company (and became billionaires), In the Plex shows how it all came about. Fascinating story! GRADE: A 
I found Deborah Harkness’ A Discovery of Witches a big disappointment. The book begins with an American historian, Diana Bishop, finding a bewitched book in Oxford’s Bodleian Library. The book, the object of centuries of searching by witches, demons, and vampires, reacts to Diane’s touch. So far, so good. But the story goes off the rails for me when Diana falls in love with a vampire named Matthew. The story then becomes more about their banned union rather than the magic. At 579 pages, A Discovery of Witches is way too long: 200 pages could have been cut easily. I did not have to go to Diana’s yoga classes or go through a wine-tasting every other chapter (Deborah Harkness has a wine blog). There must be a market for this kind of “witch-vampire romance” because A Discovery of Witches is moving up the Best Sellers list. But it’s not my cup of tea. GRADE: C
Nikita remains on the bubble about being renewed for next season. I’m a big fan of Maggie Q (even though the writing in this series could have been a lot better). The CW hasn’t decided whether there will be a Season Two. The plot about a rogue government agency opposed by a talented former agent resonates with me. The cast is solid. I hope this two-part Season Finale generates enough of an audience to tip the CW suits into renewing Nikita.
More details are leaking out about the operation that resulted in bin Laden’s death. The elite Navy SEALS Team Six practiced in a mock-up facility modeled on bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The operation took eight months of planning and preparation. Only when the 20-25 members of Navy SEALS Team Six were in the air headed for Abbottabad were they told their target was Osama bin Laden. Something always goes wrong on these operations. One of the helicopters lost altitude and clipped its rear rotor on one of bin Laden’s 20 foot concrete walls. The chopper was forced to land and the second helicopter (with the SEALS who were supposed to rappel down) landed, too. A fire-fight broke out and the SEALS had to fight their way up to the third floor where bin Laden was waiting. One of the SEALS shot bin Laden’s youngest wife in the leg and then shot bin Laden twice in the head. The SEALS collected intel and computers and then the helicopters took them with bin Laden’s body to USS Carl Vinson in the North Arabian Sea. More photos and details will be released. Books will be written. We’ll see some movies of this operation next year. But for now, we should all thank the brave men who succeeded in closing a chapter of our war on terror. 