Francoiz Breut in Tucson

• filed under Misc.

On Wednesday an interesting looking week long festival with a long name, “From Ouest to West — Some French Friends — Nantes in Tucson” opened in Arizona.  From where I sit out Est the clear highlight is a beguiling French chanteuse named Francoiz Breut.  Although she has worked with Calexico, she rarely appears in the states and her work is not easy to find here.  I don’t speak French and can’t understand a word, and for all I know she might be singing about a loaf of bread, but in this case my ignorance is bliss and all I hear in her voice is the City of Lights. She played last night and is scheduled to play again on the 26th. 

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Searching for Carl Spidla

• filed under Music

On May 29 one of the very best music blogs, Said the Gramophone, posted a great song — blackfly-rag 

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by an artist I had never heard of before, Carl Spidla.  A quick investigation revealed Spidla had a myspace page with a few photos and several more wonderful songs on it.  And then a more thorough search revealed: nothing.  No cd for sale.  No concert dates. No biographical information, except a Montreal address.  Google alerts would periodically pop up and reveal Said the Gramophone’s original post and no more.  One of Said the Gramophone’s writers, Sean Michaels, compared Spidla to Tom Waits and Bob Dylan and I’m not sure I can improve upon that except to say that I hear a lot of what Greil Marcus called the old weird (North)America in his songs.

Over the last several months I came back to Spidla’s myspace page with some frequency, in search of his music and his secret.  Finally today, a sign:  Spidla is apparently performing this Sunday in Montreal as “Georgia’s Teeth.”  The mystery deepens!  Under ordinary circumstances I might consider a day trip for a confirmed sighting — but alas I will be in Denver for the Democratic convention.

Any further information would be welcome!

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