Pink Martini: The "little orchestra" that's bringing joy to the world in these troubled times

Pink Martini / The "little orchestra" that's inclusive, full of warmth and
represents many human experiences.

Pink Martini is an internationally acclaimed "little orchestra" from Portland, Oregon, founded by a couple of Harvard classmates, pianist Thomas Lauderdale and vocalist China Forbes, that mixes glamour and sophisticated easy-listening music. Since 1994, the band that the Washington Post once called "utterly cosmopolitan yet utterly unpretentious," have amassed an impressive repertoire of festive songs drawn from around the globe, including many timeless classics and a few rarely heard chestnuts.

A typical Pink Martini show -- and I speak from experience have seen the band perform nine times over the past decade in a variety of California settings -- is both multilingual and multicultural, and at holiday time it's also multi-denominational. Above all, it's inclusive -- full of warmth -- and represents many human experiences.

Through the energy and creativity of their music, Pink Martini brings joy to the world in these troubled times -- something which should make all of us feel grateful and appreciative.

"We're very much an American band," said Lauderdale, "but we spend a lot of time abroad and therefore, have the incredible diplomatic opportunity to represent a broader, more inclusive America... the America which remains the most heterogeneously populated country in the world... composed of people of every country, every language, every religion."

Pink Martini has performed on concert stages and with symphony orchestras throughout Europe and Asia, as well as in Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, Northern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, South America and North America. I have seen them perform both as a "little orchestra" as well as in concert with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. When his schedule allows, NPR "All Things Considered" host Ari Shapiro, also a Portland native, joins Pink Martini as a guest vocalist.

Pink Martini's 'Joy to the World'

Last Monday in Livermore, about 30 miles inland from Oakland, my wife and I saw our most recent Pink Martini show. It was part of a two-week "Joy to the World" bus tour through northern and coastal California towns, including Arcata, Davis, Monterey, Redding, and Santa Barbara.

On this night, the 12-member band delighted their audience at the Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center's 507-seat Bankhead Theater by performing from their expansive catalog of pop, jazz, classical and holiday songs that were beautifully sung in Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, German, Turkish, Armenian, Spanish, Italian, French, Romanian, Croatian, Chinese, Japanese and, oh yes, English, too. There was a nice mixture of charm, elegance and humor throughout the band's two-hour performance.

In a recent interview with the Santa Barbara Independent, co-lead vocalist Storm Large said: "Every language expresses love, pain, joy or grief, in whatever song I'm singing, in whatever language, it's just a matter of being honest in the feeling I'm expressing." This was plainly evident when Large sang the very serious Romanian folk tune "Pâna când nu te iubeam" ("Until I Loved You") as well as a long-time favorite of mine, the spine-tingling Croatian song "Eu plavu zoru" ("At Blue Dawn"), accompanied by violinist Nicholas Crosa.

Pink Martini performs their "Joy to the World" holiday
show in Livermore, California on Dec. 7.

Among the sacred and secular holiday songs which Pink Martini performed in Livermore were: "Little Drummer Boy," "We Three Kings," "A Snowglobe Christmas," "Talj, Talj," "La Vergine Degli Angeli," "O Holy Night," and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

"Christmas music is so inherently joyful for me, as well as for the audience," said Large. "People just have so many good feelings around the holidays. It's a marvelous reason to sing."

Pink Martini's unique vision can be attributed to its inclusiveness of language, culture, and religion, musically. The band wants anyone and everyone to feel welcome at its shows and, if they are so encouraged, to jump up and dance. And many did dance in Livermore. The evening was complete  with an encore performance of the band's signature tune "Brazil" in which many in the audience at Large's urging formed a conga line while others danced at their seats and in the aisles.

If you think about it, said Large, "It's really the perfect recipe for 'Peace on Earth and Good Will' we hear about so often during the holidays, but sadly have witnessed quite the opposite in the world of late."

Note ~ Hear Pink Martini's "Joy to the World: A Holiday Spectacular" that's airing this month via NPR:

http://www.npr.org/2015/12/09/458905971/pink-martinis-joy-to-the-world-a-holiday-spectacular

Love thou the rose, yet leave it on its stem

"Love thou the rose, yet leave it on its stem."
~ Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton, 19th century English poet and statesman, from A Night in Italy.

A rose is a rose is a rose ...

Being a caretaker and photographer of nine rose bushes that shine brilliantly in our backyard garden, my appreciation for roses has grown exponentially over the past 13 years we have resided in the foothills above Oakland in the San Francisco Bay Area. Roses have become an everyday part of my life.

In photographing our roses and sharing them with my friends via my Facebook page, I have gained a new appreciation for their colorful beauty and their fragrance, too. It's always about how lovely a rose smells when left on its stem.

As it happened, earlier this month while on holiday in Portland, Oregon, we spent one morning visiting the International Rose Test Garden in the City of Roses. Founded in 1917, it is the oldest official, continuously operated public rose test garden in the United States.

While the primary purpose of the International Rose Test Garden is to serve as a testing ground for new rose varieties, in the beginning, hybridists sent roses from around the world to the Portland garden for testing and to keep them safe from the destruction of the bombing that was taking place in Europe during World War I.

On the day of our visit, the sun shone brightly in the Portland sky overhead. The vista looking out from the hills where the International Rose Test Garden and its companion gardens reside was very inviting to us. Walking through the various gardens gave us an up-close view of many different hybrids of roses and a chance to study their color, form, foliage and fragrance. And, simply to admire all of the beautiful nature surrounding us.

A beautiful summer day at the Portland Rose Gardens.

Operated by the Parks and Recreation Department, Portland's Rose Gardens are open in the spring, summer and fall seasons and closed in winter from December 23 to March 12. Admission is free and photographing of the hundreds of beautiful roses is highly encouraged.

Photographs by Michael Dickens, copyright 2012. All rights reserved.

Summer is: enjoying songs in the key of life

Summer is about enjoying leisurely activity. Although the season may be winding down ~ the Labor Day holiday that signals an unofficial end to summer in the U.S. is this weekend ~ there are still plenty of sunny days and balmy evenings until autumn officially arrives. What better way to celebrate than by spinning some enjoyable tunes.

Whether you're looking to create a mood or, simply, be in the mood, here's a multicultural (think U.S., England, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden) playlist of some of my favorite music I've been exploring this summer that's worth a good listen. Hopefully, these songs not only appeal to your inner ear and hungry mind, they'll make you smile, too.

Happy listening!

Ray Charles / Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!

Ben Howard / Promise

Mark Ronson and Sean Lennon / Sail on Sailor

Grizzy Bear / Yet Again

Lianne La Havas / Is Your Love Big Enough?

Raphael Saadiq / Radio

Agnes Obel / Just So

Koop / I See A Different You

Pink Martini / City of Night

Belle & Sebastian / Another Sunny Day

On travel: In search of making friends

We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls. ~ Anaïs Nin

Grand Place / The Grote Markt in the heart of central Brussels
 is the focal point of the city.

Last Thursday, I returned home from a 12-day European holiday in which I visited Belgium, France and the Netherlands. It was my sixth visit to Europe this decade ~ the first since 2007. I am happy to say that, overall, it was a positive experience for me and my wife. There was plenty of urban adventure as well as some open spaces to enjoy, too.

Our holiday afforded us a chance to relax, release and enjoy a change of routine ~ not to mention, it reacquainted ourselves with the Euro. (I like the 2 Euro coins very much.)

The Eiffel Tour in Paris

In each of the major cities we visited ~ Brussels, Paris and Amsterdam ~ we enjoyed getting outside in the fresh, spring air and walking each day. I am happy to say that each of these cities also had efficient and affordable local mass transit systems that we availed ourselves to often in our daily journeys from A to B. Plus, it was nice to be able to take advantage of long-distance rail service, such as Thalys, which enabled us to visit Paris for a day while staying in Brussels. Imagine, all there is to see and do in the City of Lights ~ the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre ~ on both the Left and Right Bank. We only had eight hours to do it, but it was worth every minute.

Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris

Additionally, our holiday gave us an opportunity to visit and absorb some very beautiful sacred spaces such as the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral in Brussels, and the Oude Kerk (Old Church) in Amsterdam.

Each one, in its own way, was inspiring to see and to absorb its history. After all, there's many centuries of history worth learning about in each of these holy cathedrals and churches.

In Amsterdam, the ordinary bicycle was the preferred method of
transportation used by locals to navigate the city's narrow streets.

In Amsterdam, I marveled at the abundance of bicycles. They were everywhere, numbering in the thousands ~ not 10-speeds or mountain bikes, mind you, like you would normally see in the U.S. ~ just ordinary two-wheelers, most equipped with simple hand brakes, a bell, lights, a comfortable seat and a dependable padlock. The bicycle was the most common form of transportation seen navigating the narrow, cobblestone streets lining the canals of the city's centrum, greater in number than automobiles. It was a very refreshing sight to see.

Lovely and colorful Dutch tulips
 adorned the Floriade 2012
site in Venlo, Netherlands.

Another refreshing sight to see was Floriade 2012, a world horticultural event that is held once every ten years in the Netherlands ~ and the impetus for our visiting Europe now. This year's festival, which began in April and continues into August, brought us to Venlo, in the southeastern Netherlands.

I am happy to report that were many acres of lovely and colorful Dutch tulips to admire even if the weather was less than ideal on the day of our recent visit.

A Belgian waffle treat near
 the Grand Place in Brussels
was enjoyable and affordable.

Finally, we embraced the opportunity to speak a little French and Dutch in our daily interactions in restaurants and bakeries, at newsstands and in grocery markets. It's amazing the amount of kindness and goodwill that can be generated by simply knowing how to say "hello", "goodbye", "please" and "thank you" in the local language of the country you are visiting ~ especially among the French in Paris. Indeed, making an effort to speak a foreign language means all the difference in the world ~ and, it makes one's journey more enjoyable, too.

Amsterdam at night / Looking across the street
at the Concert-Gebouw from the Museumplein.

In closing, here's a thought about travel that comes from the American poet Maya Angelou. It sums up my feelings about my recent travel experience:

Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends. 


All photographs by Michael Dickens, copyright 2012. All rights reserved.