Simone Dinnerstein’s Bach: A Strange Beauty will rile some Bach purists. Dinnerstein plays with verve and passion that goes against the grain of traditional Bach interpretations of these works. Dinnerstein, with the Kammerorchester Staatskapelle Berlin, play these pieces with such energy, it sounded like I was listening to this music for the first time. In the extensive liner notes, Dinnerstein explains why she isn’t interested in performing in a period performance practice style or playing this fabulous music in a more accepted fashion. Dinnerstein’s expressive playing and the superb sound of this CD completely captivated me. If you’re a Bach fan, you’ll want to listen to this wonderful music play with such panache. Take a listen below. GRADE: A
SET LIST
1. Choral “Ich ruf zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ”, BWV 639 3:40
2. Keyboard Concerto No. 5 in F Minor, BWV 1056: I. (Allegro) 3:17
3. Keyboard Concerto No. 5 in F Minor, BWV 1056: II. Largo 2:56
4. Keyboard Concerto No. 5 in F Minor, BWV 1056: III. Presto 2:48
5. Choral “Nun freut euch ihr lieben Christen”, BWV 734 2:26
6. English Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808: I. Prélude 2:53
7. English Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808: II. Allemande 5:02
8. English Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808: III. Courante 1:59
9. English Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808: IV. Sarabande 4:13
10. English Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808: V. Gavotte I/II 2:50
11. English Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808: VI. Gigue 2:20
12. Keyboard Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, BWV 1052: I. Allegro 8:00
13. Keyboard Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, BWV 1052: II. Adagio 7:16
14. Keyboard Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, BWV 1052: III. Allegro 7:13
15. Choral “Jesu, joy of man’s desiring”, BWV 147

Marc Freedman suggests that with our extended life-spans, we need to plan (and implement) plans for second and third careers. The Big Shift includes plenty of stories about successful men and women who have transitioned from one career path to another. Marc Freedman provides research which shows that if people remain engaged in their later years, they have better health and happiness than if they retired to a couch with a remote. Freedman includes lists of resources to help with the planning process and advice about how to make it happen. If you don’t want to continue working in your later years, Freedman provides contacts for volunteer projects and agencies if that is more your style. The message behind this book is “Stay Active & Engaged” if you want to stay healthy and happy. For more detail, you can listen to the NPR story below. GRADE: B

Watching a 27 year-old Bruce Springsteen and the young E-Street Band recording Darkness At the Edge of Town with commentary by all the principals makes The Promise one of the all-time great rock-&-roll documentaries. Thom Zimny carefully crafts the story of Springsteen’s legal problems that resulted in a three-year hiatus from the recording studio. Springsteen had one hit, Born to Run, and suddenly his fledgling career teetered on disaster. Along with the documentary, The Promise includes a Springsteen and E-Street Band concert with performances of “Racing in the Street,” “Gotta Get That Feeling,” “Ain’t Good Enough For You,” “The Promise,” and “Blue Christmas.” Also included is a revealing conversation with Bruce Springsteen and some fans. If you’re a Springsteen fan, you’ll love this DVD. If you’re a casual fan, you’ll enjoy the evolution of a great artist and his band. GRADE: A

Garrison Keillor single-highhandedly tries to keep poetry somewhere central to our lives. Good Poems: American Places is the just published second collection Keillor’s brought out in his quixotic quest to keep poetry relevant in our decadent times. Many of my favorite poets are included: Grace Paley, W. S. Merwin, Emily Dickinson, Robert Bly, Kenneth Rexroth, Philip Levine and a dozen others. Keillor includes poems that celebrate all parts of America. There’s even a poem entitled “City of Tonawanda Softball Championship” by Sarah Freligh. I also discovered some new poets I’ll have to read more of. One of them wrote the poem below:

NANCY DREW
By Ron Koertge

Merely pretty, she made up for it with vim.
And she got to say things like, “But, gosh,
what if these plans should fall into the wrong
hands?” And it was pretty clear she didn’t mean
plans for a party or a trip to the museum, but
something involving espionage and a Nazi or two.

In fact, the handsome exchange student turns
out to be a Fascist sympathizer. When he snatches
Nancy along with some blueprints, she knows he
has something more sinister in mind than kissing
with his mouth open.

Locked in the pantry of an abandoned farm house,
Nancy makes a radio out of a shoelace and a muffin.
Pretty soon the police will show up, and everything’s
hunky dory.

Nancy accepts their thanks, but she’s subdued.
It’s not like her to fall for a cad. Even as she plans
a short vacation to sort out her emotions, she knows
there will be a suspicious waiter, a woman in a green
off the shoulder dress, and her very jittery husband.

GRADE: A

Kirstin Wiig’s raunchy and riotous Bridesmaids shows how everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, can go wrong with wedding preparations. Kirstin Wiig plays Annie Walker, best friend of Lillian. Lillian is engaged to be married and chooses Annie to be her Maid of Honor. But Annie’s life is a disaster area: manipulative boy friends, creepy roommates, dead-end job. Everything Annie touches turns to shit (and I mean that literally when it comes to the aftermath of the Bridesmaids’ luncheon). Yes, much of the slap-stick humor is over-the-top. But, you’ll laugh at the absurd situations Annie finds herself in (mostly because she creates the chaos that engulfs the wedding preparations). GRADE: B+

Claire Danes won an Emmy playing Temple Grandin, an autistic woman who revolutionized the cattle industry. Danes captures the brilliance of Grandin’s mind as well as the frustration with the “normal” world. Director Mick Jackson cleverly uses some flashbacks to fill in the back story of Grandin’s difficult childhood. David Stathairn plays Dr. Carlock, a former NASA scientist, who teaches science at the boarding school Grandin attends. He helps develop Grandin’s scientific curiosity and urges her to go to college. Grandin’s story, if it were presented as fiction, would be too incredible to be believed. This is an astounding movie with a strong cast (Julia Ormand as Grandin’s mother, Catherine O’Hara as Grandin’s aunt who owns a cattle ranch). HBO made the Right Decision when they green-lighted this film! GRADE: A+

Graham Greene divided his output into two parts: literary novels and “entertainments.” Some readers might consider Greene’s entertainments examples of his best writing. Penguin Books’ Three Entertainments is an omnibus volume that includes A Gun for Sale (aka, This Gun For Hire), The Confidential Agent, and The Ministry of Fear. My favorite of these three novels is A Gun For Sale which deals with a contract killer who seeks revenge after a betrayal. The other two novels, about deceit and double-dealing, make great reading, too. If you haven’t read any of Graham Greene’s “entertainments” you’re missing some best suspense novels ever written.

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

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

Finally, the entire Rocky and Bullwinkle series has been released including the elusive Fifth Season. This is the complete Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends series on 18 DVDs: 91 trips in the WABAC time machine, 38 attempts to catch Snidely Whiplash, 91 Fractured Fairy Tales, and 50 bits of wisdom from Mr. Know-it-All. Special Features include: Dear Bullwinkle segments, Classic commercials and promos, Rocky & Bullwinkle saving stamp club, Many Faces of Boris Badenov, classic Cheerios commercials, June Foray interview, Moose Calls—Best of Bullwinkle Sings, and Bullwinkle puppet clips. That’s over 60 hours of viewing pleasure! Rocky and Bullwinkle fans, rejoice!