Author: THE HOBBLEDEHOY

Michael Stevenson, aka Dai Bando, Johnny Foreigner, Monsieur Pas De Merde, is a blogger of French and British culture. His blogs "Pas De Merde" and "The Hobbledehoy" have been called "marvelous" by some, and "meh" by others.

Jeanne Cherhal, a great album in September!

En pleine finition de son nouvel album, qui sortira en septembre, Jeanne Cherhal a dévoilé quelques titres à notre chroniqueuse, dans l’intimité de son propre studio.

TRANSLATION GOOGLE

It makes the coffee warm up. Jeanne Cherhal receives in her studio as in her living room – that said, I have never seen her living room. The place is cozy, at the end of a dead end, in the 20th arrondissement. Away from traffic and close to Père-Lachaise. Beside other studios, music or audiovisual production. A small room that she rents all year, in which she has installed two pianos (including a Pleyel quarterback), a work table (with computer), a big speaker (which buzze a little), shelves ( design 50).

Cherhal sings as it turns out, without effect and without filter

She settles. Slightly arched. The first song of the future album is also the first one: The Year 40 . Autobiographical text for a woman born in 1978. “She enters with a smile in the year 40 …” For modesty or concern for universality, she forgot the “I” for the benefit of the third person – I do not imagine affected by the Delon syndrome. I listen to her singing, her voice so fine and so right, with light vibrato, has always had the gift of touching me instantly. Cherhal sings as we reveal ourselves, without effect and without filter. The intrinsic power of its form of expression, the song, returns to me in the face; a piece of life and truth delivered in three minutes … I think back to my own 40 years, and I do not know if I smiled. I watch his long fingers slide at the speed of light on the keyboard (what dexterity), his black sneakers do or not pressure on the Pleyel pedals. I have never been so close. Do not tell him, I’m pretty intimidated. I slip a “super” barely audible at the end of the song. Jeanne smiled. I wonder if she, too, she does not have a little chocolate.

Does his song appeal to all the women of his generation? “What is certain is that I have always felt feminist. For two years, everything has moved in society. It’s beautiful what happens. I am very happy to experience this kind of revolution. “  When she speaks, she seems both soft and resolved. Not so fragile, no doubt, that the delicacy of his body could let him think. This woman knows what she wants. In fact, I saw on Instagram that she went to record in Los Angeles … Was it necessary to raise the carbon footprint to this point? “I wanted to work with two musicians who live there. I also wanted a gospel choir and there, there is everywhere. ” Incidentally, I learn that the singer has signed alone arrangements – I will discover later, listening to the pre-CD, they are sumptuous …

“Tonight, I’ll listen to it one last time”

But for now, it’s piano-voice. Again concentrated on her keyboard, Jeanne Cherhal is preparing to play other songs. It makes me promise not to say too much about the topics it addresses … Okay, okay. I will just slip that the intelligence of his writing, definitely able to address the most unlikely subjects, has not finished me. And that the album she is about to finish will be among her most successful. On a sheet hanging on the wall, I recognize the titles of the pieces. In total, the disc will have ten. Release planned on September 20th. “This morning, I asked for some corrections on the mix, but really minimal. And tonight, I’ll listen to it one last time. Logically, I should give the green light for the whole party to mastering. “ This will be the last step before manufacturing. After, no more retouching possible. In other words, she still has work, especially pressure. We’ll have to leave it. A little last before leaving? “I’m going to make you listen to the closing title, A farewell. But I warn you: it may move you. It’s about the burial of Jacques. ”  Jacques Higelin, she adored, and me too. Not even scared, I signal to him to send the music. And I go out upset.

Continue reading “Jeanne Cherhal, a great album in September!” →

The 15 Hottest New Restaurants in Paris

Today, Eater returns to Paris to check in on the newest and buzziest dining destinations in France’s restaurant-rich capital. Once again, longtime resident and food writer Alexander Lobrano selects his picks for the unmissable openings of the past 12 months.

“This year’s most eagerly anticipated new restaurant in Paris hasn’t opened yet — Maison by Sota Atsumi, who won rave reviews for his exquisitely creative contemporary French cooking while chef at Clown Bar,” says Lobrano. “But the dining scene here is still sizzling.” He adds that Paris has never been more gastronomically cosmopolitan than it is right this minute, with menus spotlighting cuisines from around the world (Double Dragon, Ibrik Kitchen, Piero TT) like never before, while also placing renewed focus on the cooking of France’s own diverse regions, from Nice to Gascony and beyond (Baieta, Marsan).

For Paris’s essential stalwarts, head to the Paris 38, and for an even more comprehensive look at the City of Light, check out Eater’s Guide to Paris. But here now, the Eater Heatmap to Paris.

Continue at EATER: The 15 Hottest New Restaurants in Paris

Trump could target French wine with tariffs

That bottle of French wine may be getting more expensive. 

That bottle of French wine may be getting more expensive.

President Trump said Monday that he plans to “do something” about the European Union tariffs imposed on American wine, saying the U.S. pays too much to export wine to France while the U.S. imposed low tariffs to import French wine.

“France charges us a lot for the wine. And yet we charge them very little for French wine,” the president told CNBC.com, adding that California winemakers have complained to him about the EU tariffs.

“So the wineries come to me and say…’Sir, we’re paying a lot of money to put our product into France, and you’re letting’ — meaning, this country is allowing — ‘these French wines, which are great wines, but we have great wines too — allowing it to come in for nothing. It’s not fair,”’ Trump said.

Source: Trump could target French wine with tariffs

Marais and Beaubourg area guide

Galleries and good times in the heart of Gay Paree

For the last two decades the Marais (sandwiched between St-Paul and République) has been one of the hippest parts of the city, packed with modish hotels, vintage boutiques, restaurants and bars – in no small part due to its popularity with the gay crowd (this is the only part of Paris where the blokes get winked at more than the ladies). But it’s also prime territory for art lovers, with a vast concentration of art galleries (both small and important) and museums, more often than not set in aristocratic 18th-century mansions spared by Haussmann. Two of the most sumptuous hôtels particuliers, Hôtel Guénégaud and Hôtel Carnavalet, contain (respectively) the wonderful Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature (hunting museum) and fascinating Musée Carnavalet, which retraces Paris’s history. The Marais has also long been the focus of the Jewish community: amble along rue des Rosiers, rue des Ecouffes and rue Pavée (where there’s a synagogue designed by Guimard, the brain behind Paris’s iconic Métro stations) and the air fills with the scent of falafels and sizzling shawarmas, sold in their hundreds from stalwarts Chez Hanna and L’As du Fallafel.

The Marais’s western neighbour is Beaubourg, whose focal point is the Centre Pompidou modern art museum, a benchmark of inside-out high-tech design signed Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano. This is also where you’ll find the Atelier Brancusi, the sculptor’s former workshop left to the state, and moved here from the 15th. Wander north of here for two of Paris’s lesser-known gems: The first, the Gaïté Lyrique (set in Offenbach’s former theatre) is a temple to digital arts, with streams of digital installations and live electro concerts; the second is the Musée des Arts et Métiers – a fabulous science museum with early flying machines displayed in a 12th-century chapel.

Source: Marais and Beaubourg area guide – Time Out Paris