A
free day. Nothing planned, nowhere
I have to go and everything to catch up on. Yesterday, characteristically, I dove in to DustyBrine and
realized as I was winding things up that we’d reached the 260 mark. Today then, on 261 I’ll pause to
summarize what’s come before. And
note that we only have a little over 100 days to go.
Looking over the last twenty it is clear that this is the
most well-traveled period since this blog began.
May 26 & 27 in Beijing
May 28 Beijing to Shenzhen to Hong Kong
May 29 Hong Kong to Shenzhen to Beijing
May 30 Beijing
May 31 Beijing to Los Angeles.
June 1, Los Angeles to New York
June 2-4 New York
June 5 New York to San Francisco
June 6 San Francisco to Beijing
June 7 Beijing
June 8 Beijing to Shanghai
June 9 & 10 Shanghai
June 11 Shanghai to Hong Kong
June 12 Hong Kong to Guangzhou
June 13 Guangzhou to Shanghai
June 14-15 Shanghai
I am, as they say, tired just looking at it. If I think back to the fall when I
first started this effort it was all quite sedentary for a number of
reasons. Every day, working
through a routine, working out of the same home office space. It’s invigorating to hit the road
hard. You get to reconnect with
all sorts of delightful people, the photos are interesting and varied. But lo and behold, you get sick, more
than once and you’re exercise routine falls off and your back hurts from
sleeping in so many compromised beds and couches.
Content wise, I notice that when I’m on the road the
music I turn to seems to change as well.
Usually hard bop jazz from within a six-year period dominates. This time I milked four artists off an
Ethiopian music sampler I came across and then began digging in to a bushel
full of remarkable Brazilian music that a friend had suggested I feast on. Two of the jazz entries concerned
performers I was actually able to see live which was fabulous. I’ll have to make the effort to get out
and do the same here in Shanghai, before I head back home in eleven days. I don’t anticipate traveling till
then and I am truly looking forward to settling back in up at home in dusty
Beijing.
Chengyu
1. 执法犯法: zhīfǎfànfǎ: to know the law and break it (idiom);
consciously going against the rules
2. 痛心疾首： tòngxīnjíshǒu: bitter and hateful (idiom) / to grieve and lament (over sth)
3. 海纳百川: hǎinàbǎichuān:
all rivers run into the sea / use different means to obtain the same result
(idiom)
4. 登高望远: dēnggāowàngyuǎn: to stand tall and see far (idiom); taking the long and broad view /
acute foresight
5. 烽烟四起: fēngyānsìqǐ: lit. fire beacons in all four directions (idiom); the confusion of war
6. 成方破浪: chéngfēngpòlàng：to brave the wind and the billows (idiom); to have high ambitions
7:背信弃义: bèixìnqìyì： breaking faith and abandoning right (idiom); to betray / treachery /
perfidy
8. 离乡背井: líxiāngbèijǐng: to live far from home (idiom) / away from one's native place / to leave
for a foreign land
9. 战无不胜: zhànwúbùshèng: to triumph in every battle (idiom); invincible / to
succeed in every undertaking
10. 谈古论今: tángǔlùnjīn: to talk of the past and discuss the present (idiom) /
to chat freely / to discuss everything
11. 振聋发聩: zhènlóngfākuì: lit. so loud that even the deaf can hear (idiom); rousing even the
apathetic
12. 凭轼结辙：píngshìjiézhé: to drive non-stop as fast as one can (idiom)
13. 应有尽有: yīngyǒujìnyǒu: everything that should be here is here (idiom); all
one can think of is on hand / to have all one needs
14. 节衣缩食: jiéyīsuōshí: to save on food and clothing (idiom); to live
frugally
15. 合情合理: héqínghélǐ: reasonable and fair (idiom)
16. 众口铄金: zhòngkǒushuòjīn: lit. public opinion is powerful enough to melt metal (idiom) / fig.
public clamor can obscure the actual truth / mass spreading of rumors can
confuse right and wrong
17. 如火如荼：rúhuǒrútú: lit. white cogon flower like fire (idiom); fig. a mighty army like
wildfire / daunting and vigorous (momentum) / flourishing / magnificent
18. 比翼齐飞： bǐyìqífēi: to fly wing to wing (idiom) / two hearts beating as one / (of a couple)
inseparable
19. 登高望远: dēnggāowàngyuǎn: to stand tall and see far (idiom); taking the long
and broad view / acute foresight
20. 谋财害命: móucáihàimìng: to plot and kill sb for his property (idiom); to murder
for money
Music
Shared
Kenny Dorham “Autumn in
New York” from the 1957 album, “Round About Midnight At the Café”
Hank Jones “ If
I Love Again” from the 1958 album “The Talented Touch”
Billy Taylor “Foggy Day”
from the 1954 album “Billy Taylor Trio At
Town Hall”
Syd Barrett “Octopus” from the 1969 album “The Madcap Laughs”
DJ Vadim “Kill, Kill, Kill” from the 1999 album “USSR: Life From the
Other Side”
David Bowie “Major Tom” from the 1969 album “Space Oddity”
Big Star “Thirteen”, released 1972
Junior Mance, “Diane” from the 1964 album “Straight Ahead”
Billy Hart, “One for Carter” from the 1997 album “Oceans of Time”
Mark Turner, “Casa Oscurra” from the 2001 album, “Dharma Days”
Bill Evans “Re: Person I Knew” from the 1971 album “The Bill Evans
Album”
Getatchew Mekuria “Musicawi Silt” from the 2011 album “The Rough Guide
to the Music of Ethiopia”
Tiruedel Zenebe, “Gue”
from the 2011 album, “The Rough Guide to the Music of Ethiopia”
Andrew Hill, “Pumpkin” from the 1964 album “Black Fire”
Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou, “Homesickness” from the album “Ethiopiques
Volume 21” recorded 1970
Invisible System (Dan Harper) “Ambassel” from the 2011 album “Street
Clan”
Os Ipanemas “Berimbau” from the 1964 album “Os Ipanemas”
Jackson Do Pandeiro: “Casaca De Couro”, from the 1975 album “Brilhantes.”
Sandalia de Prata from
their 2006 album ” Samba Pesado”
Media
Shared
Goerge Orwell on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell
“1984” on Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four
Kenny Dorham on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Dorham
Kingsley Amis “The Old Devils” on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Devils
Kingsley Amis “Lucky Jim”
Kingsley Amis “One Fat Englishman”
Kinglsey Amis on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingsley_Amis
Hank Jones
on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Jones
Billy Taylor on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Taylor
New York Times article on a church
destroyed in Wenzhou: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/30/world/asia/church-state-clash-in-china-coalesces-around-a-toppled-spire.html?hp&_r=0
Prime Minister Abe on Japan taking
greater role in regional defense in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/31/world/asia/japan-china-abe.html?hp
China regional assertiveness in the New
York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/31/world/asia/us-sway-in-asia-is-imperiled-as-china-challenges-alliances.html?hpw&rref=world
Hugh White on China’s defense calculus: http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/2014/05/22/Explaining-Chinas-behaviour-in-the-East-and-South-China-Seas.aspx?COLLCC=1202397136&
DJ Vadim on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DJ_Vadim
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” the
movie directed and starring Ben Stiller
A.O. Scott review of “The Secret Life of
Walter Mitty” in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/25/movies/the-secret-life-of-walter-mitty-stars-ben-stiller.html
“Major Tom” a song by David Bowie on
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Tom
New York City Subway rolling stock on
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Subway_rolling_stock
Junior Mance on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junior_Mance
Junior Mance tour dates: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junior_Mance
New York Times on the 25th
Anniversary of June 4, 1989 http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/live-blogging-the-25-tiananmen-square-anniversary/?_php=true&_type=blogs&hp&_r=0
Billy Hart on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Hart
Charlie Haden on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Haden
Eddie Gomez on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Gomez
“The Rough Guide to the Music of
Ethiopia” web site: http://www.worldmusic.net/store/item/rgnet1286/
The Walias Band on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walias_Band
Getachew Mekuria on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getatchew_Mekurya
The New York Times on Tiananmen tragedy
leaders twenty-five years later: http://www.worldmusic.net/store/item/rgnet1286/
Tiruedel Zenebe “Wane Wane” on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFAHzH5v-Is
Mao Dun “Midnight”
Cheng Liangyu on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Liangyu
Maglev
protests in Shanghai: http://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/maglev-protests/
Article on Rumors from
the Global Times: http://www.ecns.cn/2014/06-11/118521.shtml
DJ Charlie’s clip of
Criolo live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXrRJ-DZmq4
Os Ipanemas on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI94V1BiAeM
Hong Kong Barristers protesting in SCMP:
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1530050/hong-kongs-barristers-deliver-stern-rebuke-beijings-white-paper
China Daily article on Japanese tailing
Chinese jets: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2014-06/12/content_17583880.htm
Seneca the Younger on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_the_Younger
Sandalia de Prata web site: http://www.sandaliadeprata.com.br/10anos/
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