Burt Bacharach R.I.P.

16th February 2023

On February 8th we lost another music legend, the composer Burt Bacharach.

Bacharach’s music is often categorised as ‘Easy Listening’, yet the use of Jazz-style chords, and classically-influenced arrangements elevate his songs, making him one of the highest regarded song-writers of the late Twentieth Century.

His influence is ubiquitous; film soundtracks, adverts … even Oasis used his photo on their debut LP in 1994 (it can be seen in the bottom left).

I have musician friends who play all types of styles; they would all give their eye-teeth to write a Burt Bacharach song.

I’ll end this tribute with a link to two of my favourites.

Goodbye Burt … thanks for the music.

Burt Bacharach 12th May 1928 – 8th February 2023

Please Note: All photos are taken from Google Images or free photo sites, and are used for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement or offense is intended. If I have used your photo or image, and you wish me to remove it, just ask. This site is not monetized, I run it on my own dollar. Thank you.

Jingo Harleyman on Bandcamp … and it’s all FREE !

2nd December 2022

Yesterday, before work, I finally opened a Bandcamp account for my solo project Jingo Harleyman.

I am really not tech-minded, so completing anything online is a minor victory for me. I still need to add a photo and a bio but at least I have uploaded six tracks, and hope to add more today.

The address is: https://jingoharleyman.bandcamp.com/

The music, which I recorded on various phones and iPad apps, is available to download free of charge.

The six tracks are taken from the twenty-four track project ‘Hari Karachi & the Durango 4’, the soundtrack to an underground cult film.

You may watch clips from the film on YouTube:

Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsmo9VDTZXw&ab_channel=Chadav

Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNtSgvvBLLQ&t=284s&ab_channel=Chadav

Part 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RODBAMlmg8o&t=217s&ab_channel=Chadav

Part 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC3p1ChzsUk&t=405s&ab_channel=Chadav

Meanwhile, I need to learn more about Bandcamp and make the dashboard more appealing. Any help, tips or advice will be gratefully appreciated.

Furthermore my band Butterfly Decal also need a Bandcamp page, as we have a number of tracks already completed.

I’m working with my old friend Niall Keohane in this band, and Niall’s technical expertise elevates the low-fi music; he makes it sound professional and epic !

Niall’s also a multi-instrumentalist, and regularly plays gigs and makes recordings.

In case you haven’t heard anything from Butterfly Decal (there are several videos on YouTube), here’s one from Niall, about the love affair between Jazz legend Miles Davis and French singer Juliette Greco:

Thank you all very much for your time

All the best from Sai Gon

Butterfly Decal: an introduction

18th November 2022

Niall, my musical partner in Butterfly Decal, will be hosting a radio show in the UK, and playing some of our music. He asked me to write a short introduction, so here is a brief history of Butterfly Decal.

Hello, I’m Paul. Niall and I are in a band called Butterfly Decal. Only, this band is a little different because we live several thousand miles apart; Niall’s in the UK and I’m based in Sai Gon, Viet Nam.

Thanks to modern technology, we are able to make music, create videos and upload online.

Niall and I met in the 80s, played in a few bands, played a few gigs and made a few demos but neither fame nor fortune came knocking.

However, Niall kept playing, I kept moving around yet we always stayed in touch. And we always said that one day, we would play together again. And now we are.

So the band’s name … this is a bit of an in-joke; I love jangly Rickenbackers, and I once made Niall watch ‘The One I Love’ video by R.E.M. over and over, just to see and hear the guitar, so we took the name from an R.E.M. song.

Musically, we both love Jazz and Blues, Classic 60s bands, Bowie and 80s Indie music, but we’re also looking to do something a little different, Post-Rock and Maths Rock … yes, we’re British, we call it Maths Rock. We like playing around with different time signatures, using non-traditional song structures … and mixing spoken word with music, making a musical collage.

We hope you like the track Niall’s going to play … now, I’ll say tạm biệt from Sai Gon.

Butterfly Decal: ‘Red Ribbon in Long Hair’ EP Part 2

5th July 2022

On June 12th, I blogged about the ‘release’ of our first set of recordings, a Jazz-influenced quartet of tracks called ‘Red Ribbon in Long Hair’. That blog may be accessed here: https://thaypaulsnotes.com/2022/06/12/butterfly-decal-red-ribbon-in-long-hair-ep/

I previously linked two tracks, ‘Red Ribbon: A Short Story‘ & ‘Miles et Juliette.’ Today I have the YouTube links for the two remaining instrumental tracks. The full EP listing:

1) Red Ribbon: A Short Story

2) Red Ribbon Suite

3) Swing, Princess, Swing

4) Miles et Juliette

First, track 2, ‘Red Ribbon Suite’ a piece in three distinct movements:

Photography by Niall Keohane & Paul Pacifico

Track 3 is based around a simple guitar pattern, with Niall adding piano, strings and harmonies:

All music written by Keohane & Pacifico.

Production by Niall Keohane.

Copyright ⓒ 2022

Thank you for visiting this blog page. If you like the music, we would really appreciate it if you could give us a ‘Like’, and pass on to your friends. The ‘visits’ and ‘likes’ really help new bands to get attention.

Teenage IELTS Challenge

21st June 2022

The Three Johns, a Rock band from the UK

Can a young teen class have better English than an IELTS class ? That is the challenge. Without pushing the students too far, and with realistic expectations, let’s introduce some low-frequency words (L-FW), phrases and idioms.

Furthermore, students will also be expected to speak in longer sentences, using connectives as well as a wide range of adjectives.

The subject of our current unit is very dear to my heart: music. Let’s rock !

First match the new words with the meaning

ubiquitous // over the moon // genre // extremely

kind of or type // to feel very, very happy // everywhere // an adverb that means very, very

Roll up your sleeves and practice: Fill in the gaps using the new words AND your own ideas.

Today, music is ______________ . We can hear music on our _______ and when we go to _______________.

Yoyoka, a Japanese drummer, is ____________ talented. She must ________ many hours, every day to be so skillful.

If I pass my English test with A+, I will be ___________________ . My parents will be so happy, they will _______________.

My favourite _______ of music is ____________ because it makes me feel ___________ and ____________ .

Genres (types) of music:

Jazz / rap / pop / rock / classical / electronic

Look at the photos. What genre are they ?

Why do you think so ?

Kraftwerk from Germany
T-ara from South Korea
Chloe Chua from Singapore
Miles Davis from USA
Rolling Stones from the UK
Cassper Nyovest from South Africa

Grammar exercise. Rewrite the following blog post in the Past Tense (verb 2)

EXAMPLE: Yesterday I go to school and I have a speaking test. I do very well and my parents are over the moon.

Yesterday I went to school and I had a speaking test. I did very well and my parents were over the moon.

Now … your turn

Last week I see a concert on TV. The group is Blackpink and they play for 30 minutes. They sing many songs and dance extremely well. It is so exciting I am over the moon. The next day I buy their music and decide to be a pop star too !

Watch this concert and write your own blog using Past Tense (verb 2) as well as adjectives and new words. Let me help you with the start:

This morning I watched a video from T-ara. The band … (what song did they play ? Did they all sing ? What else did they do ?

Did you like the music ? Why or why not ?

Were they alone on stage ? What did they wear ?

How did the audience feel ? Do you wish you were there ?

Please Note: All photos are taken from Google Images or free photo sites, and are used for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement or offense is intended. If I have used your photo or image, and you wish me to remove it, just ask. This site is not monetized, I run it on my own dollar. Thank you.

Butterfly Decal: ‘Red Ribbon in Long Hair’ EP

12th June 2022

A still from Niall’s Red Ribbon: A Short Story video

Butterfly Decal, the band I am in along with my dear friend Niall Keohane, are finishing the final mix on our debut EP.

The Jazz-inspired EP, entitled ‘Red Ribbon in Long Hair’, has four tracks:

1) Red Ribbon: A Short Story

2) Red Ribbon Suite

3) Swing, Princess, Swing

4) Miles et Juliette

Track 1 is a piece of first-person prose over a Jazz background and sound effects, a collage of film, music and poetry.

The video features Niall’s stunning B&W photography, (from the UK), while I add some shots from Sai Gon, Viet Nam. As the track nears the end, a theme from the next cut appears, low in the mix, leading to …

Track 2, an instrumental piece in three movements. Parts 1 and 2 share a melody but have a tempo change, whereas Part 3 leads to a melodic resolution.

Track 3, ‘Swing, Princess, Swing’, is based around a two-chord guitar structure. I’m only playing a $40 acoustic guitar here but Niall’s production makes it sound (almost) professional. Niall also adds backing vocals.

Track 4 is another story set to music. In the late 1940s, Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis travelled to Paris where he met, and fell in love with, singer Juliette Greco. As with Track 1, this cut features narrative, music and effects.

We plan, once we have enough material, to make our music available online on Bandcamp or SoundCloud, as well as posting more videos on YouTube.

The production was by Niall at his home studio in Birmingham, UK

Thank you so much for visiting this site. If you have time and interest, please view the videos and share them with your friends. The ‘Likes’ and views really help.

Jazz models, fashion and attitude

5th May 2022

A selection of photos found on web searches. No copyright infringement is intended.

adoreness.com
Model Pattie Boyd from vogue.com
Britt Ekland from outdressing.com
Image from elle.com
theatreoffashion.com
time.com
adoreness.com
itsacharminglife.com

Please Note: All photos are taken from Google Images or free photo sites, and are used for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement or offense is intended. If I have used your photo or image, and you wish me to remove it, just ask. This site is not monetized, I run it on my own dollar. Thank you.

Introducing: Butterfly Decal Ambient Blues, Jazzy Jingle-Jangle

7th January 2022

Monet’s painting of his garden at Giverny

I recently discovered this band serendipitously on YouTube, but I know very little about them.

The clip ‘Waterlilies’ I believe is from a future project, based on Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures From An Exhibition’. The video text states that this is merely a demo, and implies that a new video will uploaded at some point.

You may recognise elements of minimalism, shoegaze, ambient and even math rock. I think I can even hear a faint tambourine half-way through the track.

See what you think: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy5VPZpUGIw&t=5s&ab_channel=Chadav

Please Note: All photos are taken from Google Images or free photo sites, and are used for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement or offense is intended. If I have used your photo or image, and you wish me to remove it, just ask. This site is not monetized, I run it on my own dollar. Thank you.

Musicians we have recently lost

16th May 2020

Recently we have seen the passing of a number of musicians, some directly or indirectly as a result of COVID-19. This is a short tribute to those artists.

R.I.P.

Bill Withers (July 4th 1938 – March 30th 2020)

Remembering Bill Withers With 5 Great Live Performances | Pitchfork

Bill was a singer – songwriter, famous for such hits in the early 70s as ‘Lovely Day,’ ‘Lean on Me,’ and one of my all time favourites, ‘Ain’t no Sunshine.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CICIOJqEb5c

Lee Konitz (October 13th 1927 – April 15th 2020)

Jazz innovator Lee Konitz has died of Covid-19 at age 92 – The ...

Lee was a composer working in the Jazz field, and played alto saxophone. Famously, Lee played on ‘Birth of the Cool’ by Miles Davies in 1949, as well as on the ‘Miles Ahead’ album of 1957. In addition, Lee made dozens of albums as leader, playing alongside Gerry Mulligan, Pepper Adams & Jimmy Giuffre … to name just three.

If you wish to hear him, I’d recommend this live LP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpb-gh5-Dqs

Dave Greenfield of The Stranglers (March 29th 1949 – May 3rd 2020)

The Stranglers' keyboard player Dave Greenfield dies after testing ...

Dave was the keyboardist in the English punk band The Stranglers, whom he joined in 1975 and played with until his death. His playing can be heard on their biggest hit, ‘Golden Brown’ which reached number 2 in the charts in 1982: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-GUjA67mdc

Little Richard ( December 5th 1932 – May 9th 2020)

Little Richard, piano-pounding music icon, dies at 87

Richard Wayne Pennieman was one of the original rock ‘n’ rollers, and was a true original in his performances, his clothes and his stage presence. Little Richard is even credited with advising the Beatles, especially Paul McCartney, how to sing. This is one of his most iconic songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj059o9OwqY

Thank you all for everything.

We will miss you but never forget you xo

Adult Speaking Class, Level 2, Part 3

16th January 2020

Contents

Grammar / third conditional

Jazz Music

Listening Practice / TOEIC

Money

Speaking practice

Speaking skills

Vocabulary

Grammar: 3rd Conditional

I was very hungry but too lazy to cook, so I went out to grab a bite to eat.

I thought I’d try the new pho restaurant. 

I, obviously, ordered pho bo.

However, after I had eaten 

I saw the chef !

If I had known the chef was filthy, I wouldn’t have eaten there !

This is the 3rdconditional. 

Something that happened in the past BUT you can’t change it now.

If I had known the film was so bad, I never would have gone !

If he had bought his wife flowers, she wouldn’t have been angry at him

If they had studied English, they would have passed the test.

Listening Practice

TOEIC test:https://www.examenglish.com/TOEIC/TOEIC_listening_part3.htm#

TOEIC test: https://www.examenglish.com/TOEIC/TOEIC_listening_part4.htm

New vocabulary: accurate/ correction / administration

Money

Verbs for things you can do with money:

spend / lose / waste / save / make / invest / forge / donate / pay / worship

I go to work to …….. money.

She always ………… money to charity.

He …………. money buying property

The police caught the man who was ……….. money.

Some people think the iPhone X is a ………. of money.

King James Bible
“For the love of money is the root of all evil.”

Many people over the years have tried to buy the Mask of Tutankhamen from the Egyptian Museum, but unsurprisingly the authorities here believe it is priceless so they won’t sell it 

Ebenezer Scrooge was such a stingy man, so much so that in English, we sometimes use the word Scrooge to describe people with this characteristic (who are like this). A miser is someone who hates spending any money.

Image result for ebenezer scrooge

He spent a lot of money on what he thought was a gold watch but when he had it valued, it turned out to be worthless. 

I sometimes disagree with stall holders, so I haggle which sometimes gets the price down 

Big companies like Pepsi make a killing. They should put their prices down. I sometimes like to splash out on new clothes, but not very often 

When I was a student I didn’t have enough money to live on so I took out an overdraft at the bank. I paid it all off in the end (finally)

The men were sent to prison for forgery, that is, making counterfeit money

Speaking practice:

  1. This dialogue has a lot of expressions and phrases.

Joe Hi Bill. Why so glum ? You look down in the dumps.

Bill Oh, just worrying about money. The cost of living keeps going up …

Joe And our wages stay the same. Tell me about it. I’ve had to economise. 

Bill Same here; no more beer or Highlands coffee. I feel so stingy !

Joe I always haggle at the market now, try to get the price down. I hate being ripped off.

Bill I’m worried about paying off my overdraft. The interest alone is crippling me.

Joe We should invest in land. My friend sold some land recently and made a killing.

Bill But we’ll need money to invest in the first place. Then there’s always bills.

Joe Yes, my bike’s in the shop, so I’m having to use Grabbike and that ain’t cheap !

2. This is to practice wedding and money phrases.

Tom Congratulations ! You’re finally tying the knot and getting spliced.

Bob Yeah, it’s time to settle down. I’ve taken out a mortage and a loan for the wedding.

Tom It must be costing you an arm and a leg: catering, hall, flowers, photos, invitations.

Bob Absolutely, I’ve withdrawn all my saving and gone into the red. I hate being overdrawn; the interest is sky-high. And, not forgetting, the honeymoon.

Tom You can put down a deposit and pay later. Cheer up ! Don’t be a Scrooge

Bob That’s easy for you to say. I’m gonna be broke and in debt … until I retire !

Sentence building

Use more interesting adverbs and linking words e.g.

although / as well as / somewhat / therefore 

Rearrange these basic sentences to make more interesting ones (we use ‘one’ as a pronoun for the noun instead of repeating ourselves)

Examples:

I went to the market today. I bought fish and chicken and vegetables.

Today I bought fish, chicken as well as vegetables in the market.

Last night I stayed at home because it was raining.

It was raining last night therefore I stayed at home.

Your turn:

I saw the new action film. It was a little boring.

Peter was tired but he met his friends for a drink.

Sophie studied very hard. She passed her test.

For western people, Thailand is cheap. Vietnam is cheaper.

Speaking skills

To help you improve your speaking skills, here is a small project:

Write a short piece about something you love or adore.

Start with an introduction

Say why you like it

Maybe tell some history or an anecdote (a short, personal story)

Give some examples

End with a short conclusion

EXAMPLE:

JAZZ MUSIC

I love all types of music, but one of my favourites is Jazz. It can be exciting, or slow, but it’s always different.

Unlike other types of music, Jazz is spontaneous. This means that you never hear the same song the same way; each performance is different. 

Jazz started in New Orleans but moved up to Chicago, New York and even west to California. The first records were made in 1917 and the first true Jazz genius was Louis Armstrong. If you want to hear jazz, you should listen to his records from the 1920s.

You may know some famous Jazz artists such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane or Charlie Parker. I can recommend these musicians to you as first-rate examples of Jazz.

I hope this has made you curious about Jazz, and that you go online to listen for yourself. Who knows, maybe you too will learn to love Jazz.

Vocabulary builder

Health: http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/grammar-vocabulary/vocabulary-exercises/health

Please Note: All photos are taken from Google Images or free photo sites, and are used for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement or offense is intended. If I have used your photo or image, and you wish me to remove it, just ask. This site is not monetized, I run it on my own dollar. Thank you.