July 28, 2010

Summer is the time for flings and affairs, a season that evokes daydreams about what could have been. But if you don’t fancy yourself straying, books are an ideal way to live vicariously. You can explore all the naughty things you can’t quite bring yourself to do, fantasize about the love you long for, or, on the more serious side, plumb the pages for truths about our human capacity for ecstasy and pain.

It’s a luxury to ride the crest of a character’s emotional life, from the agony of betrayal, to passion’s joys. Here are some recent titles that take a fresh look at illicit love.

Visit the Full Article!

Fresh from a painful divorce, travel writer Maria Finn sought solace in something that made her happy: tango lessons. In her 2010 memoir, HOLD ME TIGHT & TANGO ME HOME, Finn recounts how tango slowly took over her life, until a trip to the birthplace of the dance, Buenos Aires, gave her the confidence to open her heart again. Finn discusses how she mingles memoir with history to create her non-fiction.

Listen to it here: http://www.prx.org/pieces/49109-travel-writer-maria-finn

Listen to “Tango Me Home/The Key” winning story of the Heartbreak Competition

Composed, Produced, Engineered and Performed by Marlan Barry
with Violin by Maxim Moston and Spoken Word by Ana Valle
Inspired by story “The Key” by Cherie Magnus
 

“The Key” Instrumental Version
 

Amazon Download is available Here and Itunes coming soon.

We had a great event at the new Medlock Ames Tasting Room (soon to be open). The landscape architect, Jeffery…I need to get his last name …was there to talk about how he designed the gardens–a “interpretation” of the ranch. As well, Michael Farmer of Healdsburg is starting to teach tango lessons there on Thursday nights, and he demonstrated the dance with a few different partners. Wine by Medlock Ames, pickled produce by Kenneth Rochford (GM of Medlock Ames) cured meats by Bovolo, books sold by Copperfield’s. It was a great night, and we might be able to have milongas there on the porch in the summertime! It is gorgeous, and has views of vineyards and mountains from the tasting room.

Garden Tour

Michael Farmer and English Knowles demonstrate the tango

Vineyard Views

More Tango!

I came upon this article recently. A “Tango Protest” is planned to make a statement about survellience in Tampa, Florida. It sounds like some high-tech tango.

Called Tango Panopticon 2.0, it’s the latest in a series of what artist Robert Lawrence calls “Tango Interventions.”

Lawrence, a University of South Florida associate professor, is mixing his love of the tango with his disquiet over government surveillance.

The dancers in each city will go through their paces in front of private and public surveillance cameras. In Tampa, they will be in Ybor City, which has several cameras along Seventh Avenue.

“We’re trying to reclaim the public space,” Lawrence said. “The idea is to say, ‘We know you’re watching us, now watch us do this.’”

Lawrence is working with Adriana Iamnitchi, an assistant professor in computer science and engineering. She and USF graduate student Michael Stillo created a web-based system to display the dancers in each city in real time.

Read the full article Here

This is a little painful for tango dancers to watch, but they pull off a nice cadena. And she has nice, tanguera facial expressions and a lovely decollete.

Watch video, with morbid fascination here: Pamela Anderson and Damian White

When: April 29th 7-9pm

Where: 3487 Alexander Valley Road, Healdsburg, CA.

Please join us for a Book & Garden Party and have a sneak preview of the soon-to-open Medlock Ames Tasting Room & the Alexander Valley Bar.

I am celebrating the release of my books, Hold Me Tight and Tango Me Home (Algonquin, 2010) and A Little Piece of Earth, How To Grow Your Own Food in Small Spaces (Rizzoli, 2010). The methods of sustainable gardening and agriculture at Medlock Ames Bell Mountain Ranch are cited in the gardening book as examples that urban dwellers can adapt to small spaces. On their vineyard they use only solar power and no pesticides, but they are trying all sorts of new approaches to agriculture such as allowing miniature cows and goats to wander the property to eat weeds; they’ve also installed hundreds of owl boxes so that these predators will help keep down the gopher population, and in the wooded areas they hung bat boxes to help control the insects.
And the timing of this book’s release is perfect for their newest Alexander Valley endeavor—The Medlock Ames Tasting Room & Alexander Valley Bar. They employed a dream team of eco-minded designers, and the outdoor space includes a farm-style table amidst a grove of 30 year-old olive trees and a fire pit seating area. A grid of galvanized raised beds will grow seasonal edibles for wood-fired pizzas, and fruits and herbs for use in crafting cocktails at the speakeasy bar.

So we hope you join us for wine and seasonal snacks and to see what all the buzz is about. Copperfield’s will be there with books for sale.

Book Pod is a great series of audio interviews with writers by Barbara Finkelstein. Her interview with me about “Hold Me Tight and Tango Me Home” was featured this week.

Maria Finn
Dancing out of the night
Monday, April 19, 2010

The travel and gardening writer talks about Hold Me Tight and Tango Me Home, her memoir about learning to dance tango and overcoming heartbreak.
LISTEN Dancing Out The Night

Last week a profile of the book event at the Meat Hook in Brooklyn aired on Italian television. While it was translated in to Italian, I think they called the beginner’s lesson a New York City milonga. Tango people will find this kind of funny.

To see the video, click here .