Listen to “The French Connection” July 20 show

By Michael Stevenson

Show #3 July 20, 2025

Tonight’s abbreviated show is only one hour, désolé pour ça. Even so, we’ll hear a classic Tin Pan Alley song performed by the legendary Maurice Chevalier; a set of music from Oscar-winning singer/composer Camille Dalmais; the sublime harmonica of Toots Thielemans, and in the middle show, the first “Rock ‘n Roll” song recorded in France.
D’accord!

WRIU FM Sundays 7 pm

THE FRENCH CONNECTION

The French Connection, hosted by Mike Stevenson, is broadcast Sundays at 7 pm from WRIU, Kingston, 90.3 FM,

Mike Stevenson

Each week on The French Connection, we will explore the wonderful varieties of French music, from the early 1920s to present day: Chanson, Jazz, Folk, Jazz Manouche and Rock n Roll.

Our show is intended for not only the Francophile, but also the music lover thus far unaware of the long and rich history of French chanson. The French Connection welcomes your comments and song suggestions for future shows.

Show #3 JULY 20, 2025 Playlist :

  1. Boris Vian “J’Suis Snob” ( 1955)
  2. Camille “Mon Petit Veux” (2002)
  3. Zaz “La Vie en Rose” (Piaf) 2013
  4. Moriarty “Isabella” (2010)
  5. Toots Thielemans “The Blacksmith Blues” (1961)
  6. Maurice Chevalier “You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me” (Fain/Kahal) 1930
  7. Noel Harrison “The Windmills of Your Mind” (Legrand/Bergman) 1968
  8. Henry Cording and his Original Rock and Roll Boys – “Rock n Roll Mops”  (1956)
    Henri Cording (aka Henri Salvador ), Vernon Sinclair (aka Boris Vian ) and Mig Bike (aka Michel Legrand )
  9. Camille “Guns of Brixton” (Simonon) 2004
  10. Camille “Le Festin” (Michael Giacchino) 2007
  11. Camille “Mi Camino” (2025)
  12. Les Baxter “The Poor People of Paris” (Monnot/Roussard) 1956

The Aperitif Tales: When Words Take to the Air

Every evening, the Coulée Verte transforms into an open-air stage with the “Contes d’Apéro”. An hour of living literature without any artifice. 

Here, there’s no need for a red curtain or spotlights. Just a stage and a few chairs for the audience. Every evening at 7 PM, the kiosk of the Théâtre National de Nice on the Coulée Verte becomes a literary stage. One evening, one century: that’s the theme set for this summer. From the 16th to the 21st century, the texts span all genres: theatre, poetry, novels, philosophy…  and to accompany it all: a non-alcoholic aperitif offered to everyone.

The opening phrase: “It is better to do than to say” and the evening begins. No set, no costumes, just the voice. Victor Hugo, Alfred de Musset, Flaubert… Lucrèce Borgia, On ne badine pas avec l’amour, Correspondence. Each reading lasts about ten minutes and flows seamlessly.

“They are very good actors, they manage to bring the texts to life. It’s a real living reading”, says Didier, visiting from Marseille. A theater enthusiast, he is discovering the Contes d’Apéro for the first time. However, he observes one detail: “It’s a shame there are only gray hairs. Not a young person in the audience.” Sitting next to him, Nicole his aunt, adds “I am a regular. This is my second time this year. It’s friendly and original. I love coming here.”

Ending with poetry and song

After a poetic interlude with Rimbaud, Baudelaire and Victor Hugo, the evening ends with a song. Everyone hums Le Temps des cerises by Yves Montand, in a wonderful collective energy. And to close the evening, a little literary quiz on themes of clever quips. Who will find the author of these fine words?

The Contes d’Apéro continue until August 3rd every evening of the week at 7 PM. Each evening, a new century, a new atmosphere but always under the open sky and with heart.

Source: The Aperitif Tales: When Words Take to the Air – Nice Premium EN

Bastille Day: How literary writings see the French Revolution

The storming of the Bastille prison on July 14, 1789, is seen as a defining event in the French Revolution. But how does the revolution affect writers, poets, painters and other creative minds?

By Mohammad Asim Siddiqui

France celebrates Bastille Day to commemorate the storming of the Bastille prison on July 14, 1789, a defining event in the French Revolution. The Bastille was originally built as a castle in Paris in the 14th century to protect the city. But it was later used as a prison and came to symbolise the brute and arbitrary powers of the king.

The historiography of the French Revolution offers varied perspectives on the events, with some celebrating its revolutionary character and others highlighting the violence that accompanied it. For instance, British historian Eric Hobsbawm in Echoes of the Marseillaise: Two Centuries Look Back on the French Revolution (1990) focuses on the positive takeaways of the Revolution – Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité (liberty, equality and fraternity), the spirit of the Enlightenment, and the overthrow of aristocracy by the middle class.

He also laments many historians’ and writers’ emphasis on the violence and destruction associated with the Revolution. Hobsbawm considers historian Simon Schama’s bestselling book Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution (1989), which highlights the violent nature of the Revolution through an engaging narrative. He sees it as part of a tradition in England established by Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities (1859), and many other popular works.

But how do Romantic poets like William Blake, William Wordsworth, and P B Shelley depict the French Revolution? Why does Albert Elmer Hancock say that the French experience “humanised” Wordsworth? Why does Jane Austen deliberately avoid discussing directly the events of the French Revolution that so disturbed her world, but incorporate many of her responses to those events in her writing? Continue reading “Bastille Day: How literary writings see the French Revolution” →