We checked out Novel last night before the Hall and Oates concert. It's a great addition to the Crossroads, and I do like a basic stenciled wall sign. The decor was super cool and the food was great. We'll be back.
I guess it's kind of "East Crossroads" and that made me wonder if East Crossroads and Jazz District will merge in the next 10 years. The city is really changing--so fast. So many vintage buildings coming down or getting blown out and re-worked. There's good and bad to that.
Hall and Oates were fun, playing the wall-to-wall hits that make them an elite group. The digital graphics were super cool too. I think the drummer thought he was in Creed Hot Chili Peckers, but it was an arena show, so I guess he had to go big and phrase everything with muscle, rather than keep tasteful time like the guy in church where music like this originated.
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This is one I keep coming back to, from the Ethiopiques series. I first heard it on a Rough Guide Ethiopian music comp and it just got to me immediately. It's sounds like North African modal music merged with classical piano etudes that sort of wander, like the feeling of home, and the feeling of exile in the same moment. I don't imagine Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou chasing gigs at the bar on the corner. It's more like someone meditating on piano in the back yard on a hot summer day, and maybe the house is falling down; maybe there's not many people left in the village, but the music goes on, and it's beautiful. Her story is unique--she is an ordained nun who was a prisoner of war in the second Italian-Ethiopian war.
When I listen to this I think of my mom quite a bit, and my bucket list dream of going to Ethiopia and Northern Africa someday.
