Waldeck, Make My Day, For No Reason Other Than I Love It

 

From the album Ballroom Stories

When I first saw the video it reminded me of something else, it reminded me of this...

 From the film 'Frida'

Oh and whilst we are on the subject...



 From the film 'Easy Virtue'

Wishing you all a happy weekend.

XXX

Marciac Jazz Festival

Jazz In Marciac is a two week international jazz festival which is usually held during the first two weeks in August, in the small town of Marciac in The Gers, South West France.  Over the years some of Jazz's greatest luminaries have played at Marciac, this year's line up included, Diana Krall, Gilberto Gil, Jamie Cullum and Paco de Lucia.

Le Grand Chapiteau (Big Tent), situated in the towns rugby stadium is the main stage with two headline acts playing every evening, but in the town itself the main square houses another huge tent with a stage where acts play throughout the day for free.

We were going to go and see one of the main acts and stay over (camping) but MG's new all singing, all dancing tent which he ordered off the internet did not arrive on time, ahh shame!  Instead we went last Sunday for lunch with friends and MG and I went yesterday for the last day and the big finale in the square.

It was a brilliant atmosphere and I have tried to capture it....

Marciac is a forty five minute drive from us, the drive is beautiful, leaving the dramatic landscape of the Pyrenees and heading North into the soft rolling countryside of The Gers.

Fields of Sunflowers whizzing by.

Napoleons Trees, nearly there...

The Main Square

We found ourselves a suitable position so we could watch the world go by and order vast amounts of Rose.

Lots of people wandering about and lot's of stalls.

Get your jazz hat here!

We are still in France, these African gentlemen looked amazing, they were selling spectacular hand crafted silver jewelery from Africa and enjoyed a good haggle.

What is that silver thing sticking out of his shoulder?

 

The Armagnac stand.

What, no takers, in the heart of Armagnac?  Well it is lunchtime, perhaps later!

Champagne?

Ever wondered what the French do at a festival?  Lots of eating and drinking.

So many places to have lunch.

And of course listen to the music.

These guys were great they were playing Woody Allen type music, ragtime?  It was very upbeat and relaxing, the atmosphere was wonderful.

The French at play!

Horses

Dog's

Crusoe

Even the local Gendarmes were smiling.

At one point the heavens opened and there was a brief shower, nobody was too worried.

Ahh, a rainbow.

All in all a very good day.

Listening to FIP

Just messing around on the PC, whilst listening to France Inter Paris, I got into this radio station whilst living in Paris, they play a very eclectic, cool, mix of musical genres and it's a great way to discover interesting music, they don't have any advertising and just occasional bulletins of news, traffic and local events delivered by "Fipettes" with beautiful french voices. FIP now also broadcasts in several other major French cities, including Toulouse, Lyon, Marseilles and so forth, sadly I am out of range to pick up the station, but I can tune in anytime I want via the PC.

iPhone love and the Puppini sisters

There has been a technical revolution going on in this household over the weekend, MG took delivery of his brand new iPhone 3GS on Friday, now I don't normally get excited about gadgets but all weekend I have been playing with it and muttering "amazing, so clever, so easy to use, gosh and it does that too" even the box it came in is a thing of beauty, I am completely won over and very jealous of MG because I want one too.

We have also been listening to The Puppini Sisters, they are fab, their style is a modern take on the Andrews sisters, retro, kitch, swing and burlesque, the arrangement on their albums (Betcha Bottom Dollar and The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo) is excellent.