Paris. Eiffel Tower. Paul Goldfinger photo. undated .This photo appeared in an ad in Spain.
By Paul Goldfinger, MD, Editor. Blogfinger.net
THE NEW BLACK EAGLE JAZZ BAND. Paris has long been a home base for jazz and jazz musicians. Many black musicians found tolerance there when Jim Crow was alive in America.
Hopefully Parisians will find a way in the future to deal with terror threats while keeping their “city of lights” alive with music, art, great food and openness. I have heard Parisians say in recent days that they will live their lives despite it all. Christmas is coming, so here we are—Silent Night:
“Zorba’s Brother”—-a plain Jane diner-style Greek restaurant on Nassau Street in Princeton. April, 2015. Paul Goldfinger photo.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor at Blogfinger.
In Princeton you expect eateries that reflect the Ivy League pedigree of the place. The fancy Nassau Inn is on Palmer Square in addition to a trendy coffee shop, a fine chocolate store and an ice cream parlor that serves their goods on the soft side. There also is a lacrosse shop and a Barbour shop that carries high-brow sporty clothes from England.
But right across from that amazing opulent campus is “Zorba’s Brother.” It wasn’t crowded but it was very appealing because of its simplicity. Music from the show Zorba played in the background.
We had Greek lemon soup and the lunch special—fish and chips. The coffee was so-so. Have the Greeks forgotten how to make coffee?
Carl Hoffman, my “date” from Mt. Tabor Way, went with me to see a photography exhibit at the Princeton University Art Museum.
We walked on the magnificent campus and took some photographs. It was a glorious morning. Those old buildings were accompanied by newly flowering trees, and it was all very lovely. Everyone there seemed well behaved and most walked on the pathways instead of on the grass. No one smoked cigarettes and no one swore.
Small clumps of visitors were taking tours, and some high school kids got to sit on the tigers in front of Nassau Hall.
I saw a student with a violin and one with a cello. So that’s how those two got in, thought I. Two students came by on skateboards. Do they have a skateboard team at Princeton? All those kids must have gold-plated extracurricular activites in their resumes.
Inside the museum, a guard warned us not to take pictures of the traveling exhibits. Then he wanted to discuss race relations in America because I was looking at videos of the 1968 Chicago riots at the Democrat convention.
Carl and I stared at the naked gorgeous Diana who was up on a pedestal shooting a bow and arrow. She was hunting. I did a 360 around her, but didn’t dwell on it. After all, this is Princeton! But the Greeks did have naughty goddesses, and Diana’s SAT’s must have been quite good, and how many applicants can hit a rabbit at 50 yards with a bow and arrow while standing on one leg?
Diana at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She has excellent form shooting on one leg. . Internet photo.
We picked up a copy of the school newspaper which had a headline that said, “U. appoints Graduate dean of diversity.” I’m not sure why only some words were capitalized. Another headline said, “Associate dean of the college for programs of access and inclusion appointed by U.”
It seems that political correctness is in the limelight at U. If any parents are planning to spend about 1/4 million bucks for their kid to go to Princeton, they might want to read that newspaper first.
Carl and I decided not to apply to the U. Naked Diana is in the museum—-outrageous!
Inishmore, Aran Islands. Ireland. 1992. By Timothy Whelan.
By Paul Goldfinger, Photo Editor at Blogfinger.net. 4/11/24
We wrote about Tim Whelan before on Blogfinger when we presented another image from his Portfolio #1. We promised to show some more of his work.
The portfolio contains images which Tim obtained and personally printed in the darkroom with great skill and sensitivity. Subsequently we will share some of what the great American photographer Paul Caponigro had to say about Tim’s work.
As noted before, I met Tim at the Maine Photographic Workshops in 1995. The class which we took was a master printer’s workshop with one of America’s most famous printers and photographers George Tice.
This photograph by Tim is reminiscent of George Tice’s book Stone Walls, Gray Skies.
Here is a link to the Blogfinger article about Tim Whelan:
Vaughan’s at 4229 Dauphine Street in New Orleans. Photo: NO Easy Travel Guide.
New Orleans. By Paul Goldfinger.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor Blogfinger.net
The fourth and final season of the HBO series Tremé finished last last month. Tremé, about the people of New Orleans post-Katrina, was a wonderful show. The New York Times just reviewed Season 4, and the link is below. The main themes included the music and musicians, food, crime, real estate wheelers and dealers, lawyers, cops and Mardi Gras parades and Indians.
Kermit Ruffins is a real life New Orleans musician who appears in the series. Many of the scenes take place in actual NO bars, restaurants and music venues. Vaughan’s is on Dauphine Street, and our selection below was recorded live by Kermit Ruffins at that restaurant. The vocalist is Kermit’s daughter Misha who is studying classical piano at the Southern University of Baton Rouge.
“Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans” has been recorded by every NO musician imaginable as well as many others from all over the world. It was first heard in a 1947 movie called “New Orleans” and was played by Louis Armstrong and sung by Billy Holiday.
Most recently it was fittingly featured on the last episode of Tremé which was called”…to miss New Orleans.” John Boutté, a Creole born jazz/gospel singer performed it over the final montage.
We lived in New York City, near Central Park, for five years in the late ’60’s-early ’70’s. As such we did a great deal of walking; especially Eileen who would do her urban explorations with two small boys in constant motion. But sometimes, in the Park, you needed to just stop and experience the beauty and, indeed, the miracle of that place. Snow was always a magical event there.
I took this photo on one of those walks. Looking back at the photo, I sometimes think that maybe Yoko Ono was standing there experiencing snow in the Park. If it were she, then I missed the chance to say hello. She and Lennon had moved into the City in 1971, but they split up for awhile after that. If Yoko is in my photo, it would have to be 1971. The couple separated in 1973.
Paris. By Paul Goldfinger, MD, Last posted in 2013 on Blogfinger.net
The Marais District in Paris is a historic part of town. Victor Hugo used to live there, but we didn’t bump into Victor when we visited. I guess I was busy trying to figure out how to go down the stairs without having to go up the stairs. French royalty liked that neighborhood including King Charles V who built his house there in 1361. Do you think he had to submit the plans to the Paris HPC?
The Rue de Rosiers in the Marais is the Jewish district. I can imagine King Charles or Victor Hugo strolling over to that neighborhood for a superior knish. After eating there, Victor probably felt less miserable than before.
There was a deli (Goldenbergs) on the Rue de Rosiers where there were a couple of bullet holes still enshrined in the front window after some terrorists shot up the area in 1981.
We had really great falafel at the Rue de R. purchased out the window of a hole-in-the-wall eatery. Sometimes, when you travel, it is the small moments that you recall most fondly.
–Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
MARY BETH PEIL From Follies New Broadway Cast Album. By Stephen Sondheim
