I have been deep under the weather with an awful cold. Burrr! It's frigid out and I have made good friends with my couch, You Tube and Hulu. In the last week I watched Bette Davis in Jezebel, Joan Crawford's A Woman's Face and Irene Dunne and Cary Grant in The Awful Truth and My Favorite Wife. Yesterday it was Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's with the amazing Audrey Hepburn wearing what has to be one of film's most timeless and iconic wardrobes created exclusively for her by Givenchy, her life-long friend.
But the most delicious watching I did was the complete first season of Steven Bochco's Murder One, a legal drama set in Los Angeles, circa 1995. Twenty-three episodes - one legal case - in three days. I was deep in it and it was really good. Daniel Benzali as defense attorney Teddy Hoffman faces off with the evil Richard Cross played by Stanley Tucci. Riveting.
A good buddy gave me an iTune gift card for Christmas. Thank you , Peter! I have been on an iTune rehabilitation diet of late. So, this was like receiving a huge box of Godiva chocolates. Yummmm! When not lost at the movies, I been on an iTunes musical exploration. A great discovery is the talented Maya Sona Jobarteh, a young Afro Brit born into one of the five great kora-playing, griot families of West Africa and the first classically trained female kora player from the Jobarteh family. The included photograph was taken by Owen Alik Shahadah, whose film 500 Years Later can be found on hulu.com. In it you can see Jobarteh playing kora.
Jobarteh is the granddaughter of the world-renowned, Amadu Bansang Jobarteh, master griot of his generation. Her cousin is the internationally celebrated kora player, Toumani Diabete. Musical visionary, Tunde Jegede, is her brother. I first became aware of him in the 90s in the film Africa I Remember, which follows his musical sojourn from England to West Africa and ultimately blending the classical music traditions of the two cultures.
Jobarteh's cd, Afro Acoustic Soul, combines a cool world music, Neo-Soul sensibility with the angelic sounds of her voice and the exquisite kora, a 21-stringed instrument from West Africa. She is FIERCE. You will want this cd in your collection and there's a new release due out this month. For more information on this exciting artist and on the kora, check out her website at:
Enjoy and stay warm
LAFF
It's been quite a while since I have written. This past week-end I was in Georgia developing a project that I will share more about in the future. But in the meantime, here is a photo of an elderly gentleman who loves his roses. He stood communing with these flowers for what seemed like an eternity before he turned to walk away. It was wonderful to see that in the midst of all the chaos and madness that has enveloped our country that one singular old man can stop and smell the roses. 
