Record store day, SF film festival, zippy lasagna

A shorter "issue" this week than last -- my brain is not at its acme today. In fact, I'd even forgotten till a bit ago that a certain book came out three years ago today! Perhaps I'm not getting sufficient sleep.

A few quick notes before the links:

• If you liked last week's blog post on prayer, the follow-up, on prayer in the artistic process, was published this week.
• Tomorrow is Record Store Day! Stop by your local one for exclusive releases and, possibly, entertainment. I hear the Amoebes and Rasputin are especially good for that. Rumor even has it that some store up in the North Bay serves free beer all day! Or something.
  

Happy weekend, all! Hope it's restful and engages your senses and sense of wonder.

:: tunes ::

• I missed Maureen Dowd's recent column on Bob Dylan's shows in China, but The New Yorker has an interesting look at the subtleties of subversion and the broad range of ways an artist can critique.

• Those who've taken a close look at my CD collection know it includes a small section of Broadway soundtracks, echoed in a few volumes of my piano-book library. An enduring favorite is Cole Porter, especially his witty show Anything Goes (which I think I've actually sung from on karaoke outings, accidentals or not). To accompany a recent review of the show's Broadway revival, the New York Times has a fun slideshow/guide to some of the references in the song "You're the Top."

:: visual art & film ::

• The San Francisco International Festival starts next week! More than 100 films, showing April 21 to May 5. Works are mostly new, but a handful of older works, such as Fellini's 1960 La Dolce Vita, are included. $13/ticket ($12 for students, $11 for members).
  
• This is a little more art-history oriented, but the New York Times has an interesting look at the focus on contemporary non-Western art, vs. older forms.
  
• For some reason, that NYT article reminded me of the Anglo-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare, MBE, whose work I was fortunate enough to see on a 2009 trip to DC. It's hard to get an adequate sense online, but his work -- especially the sculptures -- is some of the most exciting and beautiful I've seen. More on him in the Times and on his 2009 New York show.
  

:: reading/food for thought ::

• Dance, Laugh, Drink. Save the Date: It’s a Ghanaian Funeral - a fascinating look at the role of these celebratory gatherings in New York's growing Ghanaian community.
• Poetry for Everyday Life: David Brooks on the metaphors of everyday speech: food for ideas, health for relationships, money for time, liquidity for money.
• Been hearing of poet Billy Collins more frequent, and then a Random House item on Twitter introduced me to his lovely poem "Marginalia." Favorite line: "anonymous men catching a ride into the future / on a vessel more lasting than themselves. "
  

:: food ::

• On a whim last night, I made lasagna with the last of this spicy, cinnamon-y spaghetti sauce recipe I tried. Delicious. (Although the sauce is pretty good on its own, too.)
• In drink news, today's Tasting Table cocktail email had a recipe using vermouth and a Washington gin I tried when I was in Seattle so, um, I'll have a bottle of Aviation pretty soon, thanks to BevMo. Samples may be available on request, should you venture up Columbia Casa way ... and we not give notice due to a housemate shortage. :S