Category: Travel

Chanson Du Jour: “Viper’s Dream”

The Chanson Du Jour for 10/13/2016: Birelli Legrene’s “Viper’s Dream”

This is one of the great “reefer” songs of the many written in the ’30s and ’40s (Minnie the Moocher, If You’re a Viper, Hong Kong Blues) Viper’s Dream was composed by Fletcher Allen and made popular in 1935 by Django Reinhardt and the Quintette du Hot Club de France. In the clip below, Birelli Legrene performs the song live at a 2002 jazz festival. Legrene is one of the leading current practitioners of the jazz manouche gypsy guitar style that Django Reinhardt invented.

Speaking of reefer – travel guru Rick Steves is touring Massachusetts this week in support of the state’s referendum, Question 4, to legalize recreational marijuana. Check it out
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Valence – and other delicious French destinations you’ve probably never heard of

From the outside, France presently appears a country in crisis. On the inside, the French are eating. Simple as that. Irritations come and go, but it is the mark of a great nation to pursue its destiny regardless. In France this includes perfecting roast pigeon, finding precisely the right marriage for a Crozes-Hermitage 2011 – and, just the other week, throwing themselves bodily into the sixth national Festival of Gastronomy. Countrywide, le peuple is celebrating itself, its produce, its cooking and its ability to dine as if dining were a virtue (MORE) Valence – and other delicious French destinations you’ve probably never heard of