The WELL: inkwell.vue.429: Lewis Shiner, Dark Tangos

#40: Jon Lebkowsky (jonl) Wed 4 Jan 12 22:14

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:14:00 PST

A new Inkwell conversation is starting, but this one doesn't have to end. We want to thank Lew and Angus for the verbal tango! And we encourage you all to download Dark Tangos, read a few pages, then buy a hardcopy! [Read entire topic]

#39: David Wilson (dlwilson) Wed 4 Jan 12 18:25

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:25:00 PST

I know several Argentine people who are not enamored with tango at all.

The music was almost moriband until Piazzolla came along. You can listen to him as straight up tango or as art music.

One of my favorites is Horacio Salgan the Afro-Argentine piano player. His duets with electric guitarist Umbaldo DeLio are wonderful miminalist pieces. Plus I love to watch DeLio's droopy eyes and beagle hang dog expression while playing.

<http://www.allmusic.com/album/tango-vol-1-r202883> <http://www.allmusic.com/album/mano-brava-r687597> [Read entire topic]

#38: Lewis Shiner (lewis-shiner) Wed 4 Jan 12 18:06

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:06:00 PST

For those who might be interested, here are links to all five of the blog posts I did on my "tour," plus an interview:

http://www.lewisshiner.com/dt_blog_tour.html [Read entire topic]

#37: Lewis Shiner (lewis-shiner) Wed 4 Jan 12 18:04

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:04:00 PST

I'm going to take the easy way out on this one, and link to one of the posts I did during my blog tour for the book:

http://beatrice.com/wordpress/2011/09/07/lewis-shiner-guest-author/

This goes into the musical side of tango extensively, with some recommendations.

That said, I have to confess that I don't love tango music as much as my protagonist does. (I don't know why I feel guilty saying that, but I do.) I like it well enough, mind you, but I have friends who went completely nuts when they discovered it and want to listen to nothing else--in the car, in the kitchen, on headphones at work. That's how I felt (and still feel) about salsa, but tango never completely stole my heart in the same way. Which is one of the reasons that tango comes in third on my list of favorite dances, after salsa and Lindy Hop. [Read entire topic]

#36: Angus MacDonald (angus) Wed 4 Jan 12 14:01

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:01:00 PST

Looping back to tango: Is the music something that's enjoyable for listening, even if one isn't dancing? Are there recordings you'd recommend to a novice? [Read entire topic]

#35: Lewis Shiner (lewis-shiner) Tue 3 Jan 12 16:27

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:27:00 PST

@captward Yes, those recovered factories are a great example of rebuilding the system from the ground level. I have a friend who was in BsAs with a company that made low interest "microloans" to groups of workers who were doing that kind of recovery--a worthy cause. He is now back in the States doing a similar business, though the groups here tend to be service oriented (of course, since we don't make anything in the US anymore). Like worker owned cleaning services.

@angus Yes, there is regular garbage pickup--the cartoneros generally put everything they don't want back in the original bags and leave it for the trash collectors. [Read entire topic]

#34: From George Mokray (captward) Mon 2 Jan 12 16:13

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 16:13:00 PST

The cartoneros are one story and a still ongoing, complicated one at that. I was thinking more about the workers who took over their own closed factories during the crisis and rebuilt the businesses as cooperatives. Saw one documentary on some of the examples and know a former US union organizer who studied how it was done. From Wikipedia: "Throughout the 1990s in Argentina's southern province of Neuqu*n, drastic economic and political events occurred where the citizens ultimately rose up. Although the first shift occurred in a single factory, bosses were progressively fired throughout the province so that by 2005 the workers of the province controlled most of the factories. "In the wake of the 2001 economic crisis, about 200 Argentine companies were 'recovered' by their workers and turned into co-operatives. Prominent examples include the Brukman factory, the Hotel Bauen and FaSinPat(formerly known as Zanon). As of 2005, about 15,000 Argentine workers run recovered factories." Been to BsAs only once a few years ago and danced my clumsy tango at El Beso and Confiteria Ideal. The scale of the city is mostly around six stories or so although the newer section around Puerto Madero looks to be "modern" jewel box high rises and smells of money, new money, at least from a distance. I didn't explore there in the short time I had.

Recently read a short biography of Carlos Gavito, that elegant dancer, and found a lot there to help with how to dance [_I Wanted to Dance: Carlos Gavito: Life, passion and tango_ by Ricardo Plazaola Stuttgart, Germany: Abrazos, 2010 ISBN 978-987-24481-7-2]. Now I have to go to a practica and test out the possibilities.

I am happy to share my notes if anyone's interested.

PS: The family name is Mokray not McKray. [Read entire topic]

#33: Angus MacDonald (angus) Mon 2 Jan 12 14:08

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:08:00 PST

Yikes. With respect to the recycling, does the non-recyclable stuff just get left in the bags, and does some entity gather that for landfill or centralized compost? [Read entire topic]

#32: Lewis Shiner (lewis-shiner) Mon 2 Jan 12 10:15

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 10:15:00 PST

"Paris with palm trees" was the shorthand I'd heard, and while that makes it sound more tropical than it really is (the climate is pretty similar to that here in North Carolina), it's a pretty good description. I find the architecture in general more reminiscent of Paris than of New York, though the microcentro (central business district) does look a lot like the less glamorous parts of midtown Manhattan. Maybe the flowers and potted plants everywhere are part of what gives it the European feel.

True about the Canadian expats--the first couple of visits, we rented a room in a flat owned by French Canadians. That was a bit of strain on my brain--speaking Spanish in the street and French in the apartment. [Read entire topic]

#31: those Andropovian bongs (rik) Mon 2 Jan 12 09:59

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 09:59:00 PST

There's a big colony of Canadian expats there that expands during our winter as their friends all come down for vacations. [Read entire topic]