Magnatune

Magnatune is a very intriguing experiment. A combination of the Creative Commons License, some good music, and a simple online distribution scheme that minimizes marginal costs might actually make this idea viable.

The music from Magnatune that I have listened to so far seems wonderful. Indian Classical Sitar, and Bach Violin Sonatas.

May be John Buckman will turn out to be the Linus Torvalds for music. Wait and watch!

Remember Shakti: Live in Chicago

I made a quick, one-evening trip to Chicago for the Remember Shakti concert at the Chicago Theater. John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, Selva Ganesh and U. Srinivas are touring the US.

Their previous albums include "Saturday night in Bombay" and "The Believer".

It was a more typically Indian concert than I thought it would be. The string players U. Srinivas (mandolin) and John McLaughlin (guitar) were in the middle of the stage with the percussionists , Zakir Hussain (Tabla, Drums) and Selva Ganesh (Kanjira, Mridangam, Ghatam) sitting across from each other on the side. They played some tunes from the 2 albums for the first hour or so. New compositions and some "jugalbandi" playing was the remaining hour.

Nice concert.

Taxi Driver and Raging Bull

A few days back, screenwriter-director Paul Schrader visited Ann Arbor. The film and video department at the University of Michigan had arranged for guest lectures, and a special screening of 3 of his films - Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Affliction at the historic Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor.

I managed to go for the Taxi Driver and Raging Bull screenings. Both films are considered classics, defining films in the 1970s. I had them in my wishlist for a long time!

Robert De Niro plays the title role in both films. Fantastic performances - now I understand why De Niro is considered an actor of actors! His facial expressions, voice, body movements, and everything else he does on screen make you see him as the character he's playing - the lonely taxi driver, or the proud champion boxer.

Taxi Driver captures New York in all its moods. Through the lens of Travis Bickle, the Taxi Driver, Scorsese shows the audience New York as it is - raw and beautiful in its urban, ragged form. Night time New York, in the rain, with the lights reflecting off glass panels of stores, the taxi windshield and mirrors, is by itself worth a watch.

This capped a great two weeks of movie watching - I had seen Orson Welles' classic "Citizen Kane" just the week before.