mi sueno

It may be because the Homescribe is in her middle-age, but lately I have found myself drawn to music that I never listened to before. I have become a Tony Bennett fan, and am indeed planning a birthday trip to Seattle in September to see him live and in person.

I have also starting listening to Brazilian bossa nova music. I started with A Day in New York, by the Morelenbaum/Sakamoto Trio, and went from there, including much of the original bossa nova artists, such as Jobim and Gilberto.

Along the way, I also became a fan of the Buena Vista Social Club, which leads to my recommendation for Ibrahim Ferrer’s final album, Mi Sueno. This album was a dream of a lifetime for Ferrer, as he always wanted to sing the traditional Cuban love songs, or boleros, in addition to the more up tempo material that the Buena Vista Social Club is known for.

Ferrer died in 2005, at the age of 78, just as he was finishing the album.

Mi Sueno (My Dream) is heartbreakenly beautiful. Yes, the voice is thin and raspy, but it really makes no difference. This is as gorgeous an album of love songs as I’ve heard since Tony Bennett’s Art of Romance.

Available widely, including Amazon and iTunes.

mississippi sissy

I just finished an astonishing book, Mississippi Sissy, by Kevin Sessums. It’s the story of a gay man who grew up in rural Mississippi in the 1960s.

Besides being a gay Southerner myself, I found this memoir quite meaningful as my life and Kevin’s life nearly overlapped in Jackson, Mississippi. He mentions his work at New Stage Theatre in Jackson, where I worked as a designer for several years, though after Kevin had left for New York. I knew personally many of the people he wrote about, including Eudora Welty, one of America’s great writers.

Highly recommended.