Archive for March, 2009
March 31st, 2009 | 
Author: Jazz lovers, listen up! The line-up for the Nice Jazz Festival 2009 has just been announced. You’ll be pleased to know that the Nice Jazz Festival will be concentrating on–get this!–jazz this year. It has not always been the case but the ‘return to roots’ trend that began last year will apparently continue. The festival will still be in Nice’s Cimiez (despite certain rumblings about changing the locale because of noise complaints) and will run from July 18 to July 25. So, without further ado, here is the schedule:
Saturday 18 July : Brad Mehldau Trio, Raul Midon, Joshua Redman Trio, Tracy Chapman, Alain Clark
Sunday 19 July: Aldo Romano “Just Jazz”, Lucky Peterson, Nneka, Keziah Jones, Yodelice
Monday 20 July: Christian Vander Quartet, Joe Bonamassa, Susan Tedeschi, B.B. King, Madeleine Peyroux
Tuesday 21 July: Keith Emerson Band, Magma, Joe Jackson, Priscilla Ahn, + an artist to be announced
Wednesday 22 July: McCoy Tyner Quartet with Bill Frisell, Lisa Ekdahl, Carla Bley Big Band, James Taylor, Jake Shimabukuro
Thursday 23 July: The Derek Trucks Band, Maxime Le Forestier, Richard Galliano Quartet, Julien Doré, Gabriella Cilmi
Friday 24 July: Melody Gardot, Raphael Saadiq, Chick Corea & Gary Burton, Youssou’N Dour, Molly Johnson
Saturday 25 July: Bozilo, Sonny Rollins, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Charles Lloyd New Quartet, Gagnant du tremplin off, + an artist to be announced
Tickets are on sale from Wednesday April 1 and prices run from €29 to €49 with a supplement of €2 for buying on site.
For more information see a practical guide to the Nice Jazz Festival. To buy tickets go to the Nice Jazz Festival Site
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Once upon a time the French had a major beef with Disney, grousing about cultural imperialism and the like. No more. For the first time ever an animated 3D film by Disney has taken the prized opening ceremony slot at the Cannes Film Festival. The film is UP, an adventure story about a 78-year-old who flies to South America on balloons only to discover that he has a 9-year-old stowaway.
The film is the brainchild of John Lassetter who has directed or produced such monster hits as Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, Ratatouille and Wall-E.
UP will have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 13 and will open in the US and France soon after.
Despite the posters, demonstrations, signs and grafitti, Nice lost its bid to host the winter Olympics in 2018 in favor of Annecy. It was a huge disappointment for Mayor Christian Estrosi who has vowed to press for Nice as the site of the summer Olympics in 2024. The last time that France hosted the Olympics was 1992 in Albertville.
In March 1209 (that’s right 1209) Count Alphonse II of Provence gave the little “perched village” of Biot to the rich and powerful Knights Templar and Biot has finally got around to celebrating the matter. On March 27, 28 and 29 the whole town will turn out to commemorate this event in an exciting program that includes, pageants, costumes, reenactments and probably a lot of really good food (I’m just guessing).
The legendary and mysterious Knights Templar amassed a stupendous fortune (kind of like AIG executives) that provoked such an outpouring of greed and envy that King Philippe confiscated their entire holdings in 1312. Many of the Knights were arrested, tortured and burned at the stake. That will probably not be reenacted later this month but it should be a good time anyway.
See the Biot municipal website to get programs. Find out more about Biot here.
Not exactly in Nice but just across the Var river that separates Nice from St Laurent du Var is an ornithological reserve and protected nature park. Called the “Estuaire du Var” or “Petit Camargue”, this little piece of marshland at the Var estuary provides sanctuary to some 270 bird species!
I didn’t see quite that variety today; it was more like 270 birds. Still, the smell of fresh water and reed-lined river banks were an abrupt change from the Baie des Anges. I did spot some impressive herons grouped on a sand bar in the middle of the river at it rushed toward the sea and two enormous white swans. Cormorants, terns and gulls were also plentiful. There were a few guys there with serious lenses so I assume that there were rarer birds on site to make their investment worthwhile.
A wooden walkway runs along the banks and a half-dozen signs explain the bird life. Apparently, the reserve is on one of the major migratory routes that run from Africa to parts north. There are also nesting birds but the signs are unclear about who’s nesting and who’s travelling on.
The ornithological reserve must be in one of the world’s least welcoming places. It’s sandwiched between Cap3000, the giant shopping centre, and Terminal 2 of the Nice Airport. Planes roaring off the runway every 10 minutes seemed not to trouble the birds in the least. Nor did I see any flying into the jets to see what was going on in the engines. We have very smart birds on the French Riviera, not like those dumb Hudson twits!