Paul McCartney's New Album, Electric Cars, Dinner in Paris, Putin's Painting, Rock N Roll Jan 15, 2009

Paul McCartney maintains two personas

NEW YORK - Paul McCartney keeps fame from driving him crazy by maintaining two versions of himself.

McCartney tells ABC's "The View" he separates the real Paul from the famous Paul. He says Famous Paul does the shows and Real Paul goes home and watches TV.

He extended that idea to his music. He says normally he sings at the high end of his range, but he dropped to his lower range for his new album, "Electric Arguments." He released that album under his alter ego, The Fireman.

There's only one audience where McCartney has to fight to prove he's famous: young girls. He says they know him only as the father of fashion designer Stella McCartney.

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Paul McCartney Q&A: Behind the Fireman's New Psych-Pop Gem

"Making this album seemed like improv theater"

JONATHAN COTT

After a 10-year break, Paul McCartney has revived his experimental side project, the Fireman — the name he uses for his low-key collaborations with British producer Youth. 1993's Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest and 1998's Rushes were virtually vocal-free sets of ambient techno, but the new Electric Arguments feels more like a classic McCartney record, with "Blackbird"-like ballads, tight song craft and live instrumentation. 

McCartney recently spoke with Rolling Stone about how his Fireman lyrics recall William Burroughs and the group channels the spirit of Revolver's "Tomorrow Never Knows": 

In "Sing the Changes" one of your new songs which almost sounds like an ecstatic hymn you sing: "Feel the choir, feel the thunder/Every ladder leads to heaven/Sing the praises as you're sleeping/Feel the sense of childlike wonder."

Pretty good? It's nice to hear those lyrics read back to me because it's the first time I've actually ever heard them. We had a ball making this album, and it was a great departure because it seemed more like improv theater. In the improv spirit, there are William Burroughs-type cut-ups in the lyrics. I came to "Sing the Changes,"as well as all the other songs in the album, with absolutely no concept of what the melody or lyrics would be about. So it was like writing on the spot, which I think lent an electricity to the whole sound.

It's kind of what happens when you write a song... but on speed.You've just got to think of the idea there and then: "First thought, best thought," as Allen Ginsberg said. Instead of spending the next two hours molding it, I would just step up to the mike and go [singing] "Ooohhhawowahhasingthechanges," like throwing paint at the wall, and then you just stand back and take a look at it and see whether some of it looks good.

You recorded the album at your Sussex studio what was a typical day like?

I would just come in every morning and have a groove cooking, like a cup of coffee. And then Youth and I would talk about it a little bit, or we'd talk about something else, we'd talk about, say, Andy Warhol, just to get us in the mood. And then I'd sort of wander around and say, "How about a bit of guitar, a bit of bass, a bit of drums," so you'd have a backing track.

And then, inevitably, came the words-ideas-talking-literate thing. It was fascinating to try. And one of the things I liked about it, aside from the pure excitement, was realizing that I'd been writing songs for so long that if I was going to improvise, I probably, instinctively, was going to put a slight amount of form on it. And Youth is very good, I trust him, and he'd say, "Yeah, that's it," and so I knew we'd found a chorus and then we could mold around that. And suddenly I'd have a page full of lyrics, stealing three words from a poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and then dipping into some poetry anthology that was lying about —Youth's a groovy guy and he's always got a few books in his rucksack, and I've got a few knocking around — just finding an image like "white sails" and using it as an inspirational thing.

Click on the link to read the rest of the article:RollingStone.com

Chocolate: A Food Without Borders

NPR.org, January 14, 2009 · Chocolate speaks an international language. There is no concern about accents or incorrectly structured sentences. Whether in Tokyo or Madrid, everyone understands chocolate's many culinary dialects.

I grew up in the southern United States thinking that chocolate was a treat associated exclusively with dessert. Now living in Spain, I haven't found it hard to adjust — especially to one specific traditional practice: eating chocolate the Spanish way.

Drinking chocolate, white chocolate truffles, hazelnut-chocolate muffins — the Spanish love it all. Small children, for example, snack on chocolate sandwiches, made with bread in the shape of a hot dog bun filled with chocolate paste.

Spain has taught me to eat chocolate for breakfast. The Spanish go out at night until the wee hours of the morning, and then have a cup of chocolate for breakfast on their way home, before going to sleep. 

Small cafeterias stay open throughout the night to serve straggling club-goers and early-rising tourists chocolate con churros, a breakfast or afternoon snack that involves dipping fried dough churros into a cup of warm, melted drinking chocolate. The churros are made of flour, water and butter and can be shaped into any form short strips or circles, for example. 

Everywhere from Barcelona to Marbella, I've been to churrerias (shops that only serve churros con chocolate) where paper plates are piled with coils of churros sprinkled with sugar. Because nearly all Spanish homes are equipped with small deep fryers, it's not unusual to have homemade churros for breakfast on a Sunday morning. 

Perhaps it's the experimental spirit of the Spanish in the kitchen that fuses chocolate with nearly anything that's edible. One of the country's most celebrated chefs, Ferran Adria, has been called a "moleculargastronomist" for using liquid nitrogen and calcium chloride in his cooking. He created a chocolate beef stock that caused quite a stir,but one of his most adored and simple recipes calls for toasted bread dabbed with bittersweet chocolate and sprinkled with sea salt and olive oil. It sounds odd, but why not? 

Valor, one of the longest-running and most popular brands of chocolate in Spain, has integrated into its box of bonbons unusual flavors that reflect the most important ingredients of Spanish cooking: black chocolate with olive oil and tomato; vinegar and milk chocolate; or whiskey and champagne with hazelnut paste and white chocolate. 

For me,chocolate is best in its purest and simplest forms. A single bar of chocolate with a high cocoa (or cacao) content makes perfect company while I'm working away at the computer, or when I need a late-night nibble. Over the years, I've learned to pay more attention to the label and the taste of the bars that I buy for cooking, since every brand and type will have a different effect on the final dish. 

Often,packages are labeled with a certain percentage of cocoa, which refers to the amount of cocoa bean solids in the chocolate. The rest is sugar and milk. The higher the percentage of cocoa, the more bitter the chocolate will taste. The percentage of cocoa isn't all that affects the flavor, however. Like wine, chocolates can vary greatly in taste depending on where the cocoa bean is from, its combination with other beans and how long it was roasted. 

One other attractive quality of chocolate is that it doesn't have a "peak season." It's always chocolate season.NPR

Chinese Electric Car Jolts The Competition

by Anthony Kuhn

Day to Day, January 13, 2009 · One of the car makers showing off its electric power at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit is from China. The Shenzhen-based company BYD — which stands for Build Your Dreams — has built the world's first mass-produced, plug-in hybrid car, beating both chevrolet and Toyota to the punch.

The mid size sedan is called the F3DM. The car has a gasoline engine that kicks in when a driver accelerates to more than 37 mph; up to that point, it runs completely on electricity.

The F3DM produces 160 to 180 horsepower and can travel up to 60 miles just on its lithium ion battery, after which it relies on the small gas engine. BYD claims that charging the F3'sbattery costs 75 percent less than filling up a gasoline-powered car. 

Unlike the Toyota Prius, you can charge the F3's battery from an ordinary wall socket. The problem is that it takes nine hours. Henry Li, who is in charge of BYD's automotive exports, says BYD is working with electricity companies to set up charging stations where motorists could charge a battery half-full in 10 minutes.

"It's a chicken-and-egg situation," he says. "Do you set up the charging stations first, or do you make the cars first? That's why we decided to make a plug-in hybrid car that is not reliant on charging stations, and when the battery runs out, you still have the gas engine."

Enter Warren Buffett

Metallurgist Wang Chuanfu founded BYD in 1995 and quickly built it into one of the world's top producers of batteries for cell phones and laptop computers.

Wang impressed investor Warren Buffett. In September, one of Buffet's companies purchased a 10 percent stake in BYD for $230 million.

Independent auto industry analyst Jia Xinguang explains how this might work:"Buffett has a company called Mid American Energy. They made the investment in BYD. They also have an electricity grid in the American Midwest. So that's the cooperation: BYD builds the cars, and Mid American Energy builds the charging stations."

Mid American Energy declined to be interviewed for this report.

Coming To America

BYD is still a couple of years from rolling out its cars in the United States. Li says his company is working hard on building its cars to suit American drivers' tastes.

"BYD's information technology division has been in business in the U.S. for 10 years. We understand Americans' concerns about safety and quality. So in designing this car for the U.S. market, we will certainly meet these requirements," he says.

For now, BYD will focus on China's domestic market. Priced at about $22,000 each, the cars are a bit pricey for average consumers, so BYD will first aim at government and corporate buyers. Jia says it will take time for the new technology to win acceptance.

From an environmental stand point, electric cars are not yet as green as they could be. That's because most electricity is generated by burning coal.But BYD is working on that, too. It's in the early stages of researching electric cars powered by solar energy. NPR

Rock Hall of Fame inductees include Metallica, Run-DMC                                                                                      
BY GLENN GAMBOA                                                                                                
Enter Sandmen.

Metal heroes Metallica and hip-hop pioneers Run-DMC lead the class of this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, announced yesterday at the headquarters of Fuse, which will air the ceremonies for the first time this year.

"[It shows] we are part of the big picture," Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich said of the honor. "We are a link in a chain of everyone that's come before and everyone that's come after you. I love how it all fits together."

 The diversity is evident in fellow 2009 inductees doo-wop group Little Anthony and The Imperials (who, like Run-DMC, were already inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame), guitar wiz Jeff Beck and '60s soul singer Bobby Womack. Wanda Jackson will be inducted as anearly influence and Bill Black, DJ Fontana and Spooner Oldham will be inducted as sidemen.

Metallica is in the midst of a comeback with the release of their "Death Magnetic" album and their arena tour, which stops at Nassau Coliseum later this month.
"This is just the greatest," said Womack, who was also Sam Cooke's guitarist, in a statement. "My very first thought was - I wish I could call Sam Cooke and share this moment with him. This is just about as exciting to me as being able to see Barack Obama become the first black president of the United States of America! It proves that, if you're blessed to be able to wait on what's important to you, a lot of things will change in life."

This year's ceremony will be held April 4 in Cleveland, where the actual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is based. It will be the first time the ceremony won't be at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan since 1997. It will also mark the first time tickets will be available to the public, rather than well-connected music industry insiders.

The inductees were chosen by the 600 voters of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. Artists are eligible 25 years after their first recording is released. Source

Strong British showing at Sundance

By Tom Brook
Entertainment reporter, BBC News 

Article
A record number of films from Britain will be unveiled at the10-day Sundance Film Festival, which gets underway in the Utah ski resort of Park City on Thursday. The festival, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, is hosting 12 full-length British features for the first time.
Among the movies creating an early buzz are In The Loop, a satire directed by Armando Iannucci, starring Sopranos kingpin James Gandolfini and Steve Coogan. Produced by the team behind hit BBC Four satire The Thick Of It, it's apolitical farce that follows British and American government bureaucrats in the build up to a fictional war.Another British film generating advance interest is the world premiere of An Education, starring Emma Thompson and Peter Sarsgaard. 

Writer Nick Hornby adapted the screenplay from an autobiographical essay by journalist Lynn Barber - which tells how she was seduced by an older man in 1960s London. 

British documentaries being screened at the festival include Afghan Star - which chronicles the emergence of pop culture in Afghanistan as four contestants risk their lives to sing in a music talent show. 
                                                              
A larger than life British figure, Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue, will be at the centre of The September Issue - a US-produced film which has been given the prestigious Salt Lake City Gala slot. The fly-on-the-wall documentary goes behind the scenes in the nine months leading up to the magazine's eagerly-awaited September issue.

Commenting on the strong British presence at Sundance, Claire Chapman, executive director of the UK Film Council US, says: "The number of UK films running the North American film festival circuit isa great illustration of the success of British cinema. 

"It is clear that UK films are enjoying great critical appreciation internationally and have been riding this wave over the past few years."

Star Power

The festival will open with an Australian claymation story, Mary and Max.

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Toni Collette and Barry Humphries lend their voices to this tale of a pen pal friendship between a young Australian girl and an isolated, middle-aged, obese man in New York. Although Sundance aims to shine a light on low budget independent films made outside the US studio system, plenty of big name Hollywood stars will be appearing in festival pictures.

Uma Thurman, Robin Williams, Susan Sarandon, Kevin Spacey,William Hurt, Pierce Brosnan, Billy Bob Thornton and Ashton Kutcher all have films at Sundance.

Richard Gere will be appearing in the New York cop film Brooklyn's Finest, alongside stars Ethan Hawke and Don Cheadle.Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor headline the cast of I Love You Philip Morris, which is being described as a gay prison romance. Sundance is guided in its mission by Hollywood icon Robert Redford - one of the festival's founding fathers - who continues to emphasise the festival's independent focus.

But this year independent cinema faces enormous challenges. The entire film industry has been rocked by hard times and last year's festival yielded few hits. 

Several independent film distributors have gone out of business - and the recession is really squeezing cash-starved film-makers.

The recession is also taking a toll on Park City itself. 

Bill Malone, president of the Park City Chamber of Commerce, says reservations for overnight accommodations are "probably tracking at about 8% behind where we were last year" - when some 45,000festival-goers attended.

But programmers maintain this year's slate of Sundance films is far from gloomy. Themes of social alienation have been trumped by social engagement. 

Fresh approaches

There's also talk of Sundance becoming more global.

Festival organizers describe a new generation of film-makers who are bringing original approaches to established genres. The romantic drama, for example, has undergone an overhaul.Paper Heart is a romantic hybrid: A part-documentary and part-scripted comedy starring Juno's Michael Cera. Another romance film, Peter and Vandy,  is a non-linear depiction of love in New York "with no beginning and no end".

Sundance is also highlighting the work of several activist film-makers,with works that examine a range of issues from the plight of dolphins to the dumping of toxic oil waste.In recent years Sundance has given a platform to film-makers who have delivered harsh critiques of the US military and its policies in Iraq. 

But this year, a film called Taking Chance (starring Kevin Bacon) bucks any perceived anti-military trend. 

It is a film inspired by real events about a young Marine escort officer who takes the remains of a 19-year-old soldier killed in Iraq to his family in Wyoming.

Science fiction - a genre not normally associated with independent film-making - is also making an appearance at Sundance. 

Relatively inexpensive digital technology has given low budget film-makers the opportunity to make sci-fi projects that would have only been possible within the realm of the big studios until a few years ago. Britain even has its own sci-fi entry, Moon, which stars Kevin Spacey and Sam Rockwell. Sundance will exhibit its long-standing social conscience with Earth Days, its closing night film, which traces the history of the modern environmental movement from the 1970s onwards. 

Sundance literature describes the film as inspiring and hopeful - qualities many recession-weary film-makers will be looking for in Park City over the next 10 days. 

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This I Believe Credits

Jim Haynes was born in Louisiana, ran a bookstore in Scotland, created a theater company in London, launched a newspaper in Amsterdam and taught media studies in Paris. Guests at his Sunday dinners have included Allen Ginsberg, R. Crumb and Molly Ivins.Inviting The World To Dinner

by Jim Haynes

From All Things Considered

Every week for the past 30 years, I've hosted a Sunday dinner in my home in Paris. People, including total strangers, call or e-mail to book a spot. I hold the salon in my atelier, which used to be a sculpture studio. The first 50 or 60 people who call may come, and twice that many when the weather is nice and we can overflow into the garden.Every Sunday a different friend prepares a feast. Last week it was a philosophy student from Lisbon, and next week a dear friend from London will cook.People from all corners of the world come to break bread together, to meet, to talk, connect and often become friends. All ages, nationalities, races, professions gather here, and since there is no organized seating, the opportunity for mingling couldn't be better. I love the randomness. 

I believe in introducing people to people. I have a good memory, so each week I make a point to remember everyone's name on the guest list and where they're from and what they do, so I can introduce them to each other, effortlessly. If I had my way, I would introduce everyone in the whole world to each other. People are most important in my life. Many travelers go to see things like the Tower of London, the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower and so on. I travel to see friends, even — or especially — those I've never met. In the late '80s, I edited a series of guidebooks to nine Eastern European countries and Russia. There were no sights to see, no shops or museum to visit; instead, each book contained about 1,000 short biographies of people who would be willing to welcome travelers in their cities.Hundreds of friendships evolved from these encounters, including marriages and babies.

This same can be said for my Sunday salon.At a recent dinner, a 6-year-old girl from Bosnia spent the entire evening glued to an 8-year-old boy from Estonia. Their parents were surprised, and pleased, by this immediate friendship.There is always a collection of people from all over the globe. Most of them speak English, at least as a second language. Recently a dinner featured a typical mix: a Dutch political cartoonist, a beautiful painter from Norway, a truck driver from Arizona, a bookseller from Atlanta, a newspaper editor from Sydney, students from all over, and traveling retirees.I have long believed that it is unnecessary to understand others, individuals or nationalities; one must, at the very least, simply tolerate others. Tolerance can lead to respect and,finally, to love. No one can ever really understand anyone else, but you can love them or at least accept them.Like Tom Paine, I am a world citizen. All human history is mine. My roots cover the earth.I believe we should know each other. After all, our lives are all connected.OK, now come and dine.Independently produced for All Things Considered by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman, with John Gregory and Viki Merrick.

Staffers of a Russian charity hold an oil painting by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009. The words in the painting read Putin, on top, and Ornament, on bottom.Putin painted the canvas in late December for a charity auction that exhibits works by other Russian politicians and celebrities and will beheld in St. Petersburg on Saturday, January 17. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)Photo Tools                    
Fair Foundation

Putin Makes Debut as Painter in St. Petersburg Charity Auction..
   
By Paul Abelsky

Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Outside of politics, Vladimir Putin may be best known for his manly pastimes, martial arts and fishing bare-chested in Siberia. Today the Russian prime minister revealed his artistic side.     

Putin joined a roster of celebrities who contributed paintings for a Jan. 17 charity auction to benefit two hospitals in his native St. Petersburg and to help restore a church, the municipal government said in an e-mailed statement.     

“The auction will be a test of whether the economic crisis has diminished people’s passion for good deeds,” Igor Gavryushkin, head of the foundation that’s organizing the auction, told reporters today as the painting was unveiled. The starting price for all paintings in the auction is 20,000 rubles ($628).     

Putin produced the painting in collaboration with local artist Nadezhda Anfalova, according to the organizers’ Web site.The canvas features a frost-encrusted window and the Russian letter “u,” for “uzor” (pattern), referring to the ice on the window panes.     

The pictures, each featuring a different letter, are loosely based on “Christmas Eve,” a story by Russian 19thcentury author Nikolai Gogol, and are painted on woolen cloth, a reference to another Gogol story, “The Overcoat.”     

In addition to Putin, this year’s auction offers paintings by opera diva Anna Netrebko and St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko, among others. Last year’s auction raised 20.5 million rubles ($644,000).