Shakira, SALE EL SOL

While there was a four-year gap between Shakira's Oral Fixation Vol. 2 and her recent She Wolf, it only took the Colombian singer a year after the latter to release Sale el Sol. This album returns Shakira to her Colombian roots, both in language and sound.

In the opposite format of She Wolf, Sale el Sol is almost exclusively in Spanish, with two English songs scattered through the album and three Spanish songs translated to English as bonus tracks at the end. As I speak virtually no Spanish, I can't comment on the lyrical contents of those songs. (The song "Islands" is a bittersweet song that's either about fidelity to a found love or a lack of adventuring after finding love -- or both.) As for the sound...

Sale el Sol has more of a reggaeton feel to the music than Shakira's other works. While there are slow ballads ("Lo Que Mas," "Antes de la Seis") and top 40-aimed tracks (the title track, "Tu Boca"), Shakira's mujsic here has a distinctly Latin feel, with bouncy piano and pulsing rhythms. (Appearances by Pitbull, El Cata and Residente don't hurt either.) The mix of these different styles works pretty well. Shakira has a distinctive voice, and it works well on all these styles of music. Sale el Sol isn't a brilliant or groundbreaking album -- but it is fun.

Overall grade: B
Reviewed by James Lynch

The Chieftains featuring Ry Cooder, San Patricio (Hear Music 2010)

Over a career spanning nearly half a century, The Chieftains have established themselves as Ireland's most internationally revered folk music group. They have used their status to sort of appoint themselves cultural ambassadors, collaborating with musicians from around the world and across many genres on their recordings. In some ways, guitarist/producer Ry Cooder's career has followed a similar pattern. Best known as the producer and co-ordinator behind Buena Vista Social Club, a celebration of the folk music of Cuba, Cooder likewise enjoys sharing the spotlight with different musicians from different cultures. Cooder's previous album Chavez Ravine touted the music of the Mexican community in Los Angeles, and his interest in Mexican music led to his current collaboration with The Chieftains, called San Patricio. The album was inspired by the story of Irish immigrant soldiers in the Mexican-American War who came to sympathize with the plight of the Mexicans struggling against the American invaders. They changed sides, for both religious and moral reasons, but were defeated along with their Mexican allies; those who survived the battles were captured and hanged as deserters.

The music on San Patricio focuses on the kind of traditional pieces that would have been familiar to the San Patricios as mid 19th century Irish immigrants, and to the Mexicans whom they aided in vain. People familiar with Chieftains albums will recognize the pattern, as Paddy Maloney (whistles and pipes), Sean Keane (fiddle), Kevin Conneff (bodhrán), Matt Molloy (flute), and Tríona Marshall (harp) accompany a small army of guest performers. Most of these guests are Mexican, although Linda Rondstat sings a song in Spanish, Ry Cooder performs an original composition, and Moya Brennan sings a song from the Irish perspective. Galician piper Carlos Núñez, a frequently recurring guest on Chieftains recordings (Galicia is a Celtic region in Spain), also makes a few appearances as well. The best cameo, though, comes from actor Liam Neeson, who recites Brendan Graham's poem "March to Battle (Across the Rio Grande)" about the ill-fated San Patricios.

It takes a rare courage to choose to be on the losing side of history, but that's essentially what the San Patricios did. Yet their cause still resonates today. Neither The Chieftains, nor Ry Cooder, nor anybody else who worked on San Patricio needs to be reminded of the conflicts which Mexicans and people of Mexican descent face in America right now, especially in the territories that were taken from Mexico without any sort of justification. So the political statement here is obvious, and greatly appreciated at least by me. As far as the music goes, it's a lot like many other Chieftains recordings -- perhaps too much so to really distinguish itself. Fans of The Chieftains will know exactly what to expect, and while this guarantees a certain level of quality, there's a lot of predictability here as well.

Overall grade: B

reviewed by Scott

Behind the scenes of the making of San Patricio.

Ozomatli, Fire Away (Mercer Street Records, 2010)

Born and bred in Los Angeles, Ozomatli have been making some pretty solid music for fifteen years now. The multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-lingual septet have mixed rock and rap with salsa and meringue, throwing in some strong political sentiments for good measure. Recently the band teamed up with veteran producer Tony Berg (Michael Penn's March and Free for All albums remain favorites of mine) for their fifth studio album Fire Away. It is their most musical and melodic album to date, without compromising their energy or attitude.

The rousing opener "Are You Ready?" alone should be sufficient for long-time fans of the band to buy the record, but Fire Away takes some interesting turns from there. "It's Only Paper" evokes the old Stax soul records, particularly the guitar playing of Steve Cropper. The 3/4 ballads "Gay Vatos in Love" and "It's Only Time" effectively capture the romantic sounds of the fifties, with the former paying lyrical tribute to the gay Latino community in Los Angeles. "And if the world can't understand, stand by your man." (The song was written as a response to Proposition 8, which I'm happy to announce was overturned as I was writing this.) Ozomatli also do a great cover of the Pogues' "Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah," making an Irish stomper sound like it was meant for them all along. The tongue-in-cheek rap song "Nadas por Free" is irresistible fun. The frenzied "Malagasy Shock" was partly inspired by singer/guitarist Raúl Pacheco's near-death experience on stage in Madagascar, and partly by the band's regular exhortations to it's audience to stop accepting what's spoon-fed to them and get up and take charge of their lives. The ambient ballad "Love Comes Down" has some uncharacteristically subtle instrumentation, but the band pull it off flawlessly.

For most of their history, Ozomatli have had a reputation for being great in concert but not quite able to match their live performance when they went inside the studio. Fire Away will go a long way to altering that perception.

Overall grade: A

reviewed by Scott

"Elysian Persuasion"

Apocalypto (2006)

I've always had a fascination with the great societies of Central America: the Mayans and the Aztecs. These were highly developed civilizations, with great cities. Their knowledge of math, astronomy, calenders, and writing was eons beyond anything the North Americans ever developed, and in some cases ahead of European and Asian civilizations. Also, the Mayan pyramids stand to this day as a testament to the vitality of these large cities.

With that context, I set out to watch Mel Gibson's Apocalypto. This director, on the one hand sets out to take authenticity to the extreme with all the dialogue in Mayan. Seriously, how the heck do you find folks that speak this language, and why? Once again, couldn't they dub in an English soundtrack for those of us that are lazy movie watchers, at least on the DVD?

Unfortunately, it gets worse. Rather than show us the great Mayan civilization, complete with architecture, and a size that would have created wonderment, we instead focus on the violence of the Mayans- for the entirety of the film, to the exclusion of everything else. Yeah, I realize that the Mayans weren't exactly into book clubs or knitting, but the only reason for the film doesn't have to be fighting and bloodshed, and not much else.

Between it all, I couldn't take it, and had to eject the DVD halfway through as there was nothing redeeming here. Even fans of Mayan civilization won't be enthralled with Apocalypto. Once again, I think I simply wanted to see a different film.

Overall Grade: Incomplete (Preliminary Grade: F+)

Reviewed by Jonas

The Hostage (2005)

Once again, I turn my attention to author WEB Griffin, the "poet laureate of the military." Having finished The Corps series, The Brotherhood of War series, and most recently, the Honor Bound series, it was time to turn my attention back to his most recent series, the Presidential Agent one. My entry into this one was less than spectacular, with By Order of the President, but after an extended hiatus of a year, I was determined to press on, and I'm glad I did.

The Hostage is a much stronger novel than its predecessor. With the background information out of the way, full force can go into the storytelling, with a few occasional side trips, such as why an American WW I General's statue is outside of a European embassy. The protagonist is again Major Charley Castillo, a first rate hero. While his role was less defined previously, he now is attached to the Department of Homeland Security under some cover division. He really is at the order of the President to get the job done, and cut through the bureaucracy. Increasingly, Castillo reminds me of Scott Harvath from the Brad Thor novels.

That said, this time out, he has his work cut out for him. A US diplomat has been murdered, and his wife taken hostage in Argentina, and the clock is ticking to find her with not . At points, there are plenty of references to places in Argentina that get referred to in other Griffin novels, so this kind of felt like going back to the old neighborhood (there's also a curious reference to an old, twin engine plane that fits the description of Lowell's from The Brotherhood of War series, but not specific enough to know if it's of any significance).

As the story unfolds, we get a glimpse into the corruption that went on during Iraq's "Oil for Food" program. In the end, while some poor Iraqis got some meager food, the administrators took more than their reasonable cut of the profits.

What we end up with is an international thriller, centered around Argentina, with multiple stops in Europe and in the United States. The prose is sharp, and this is quintessential Griffin. It still is not my favorite novel by him, but it's a big step up from the series. I'm looking forward to The Hunters, which is currently his latest book.

Overall Grade: B+

Reviewed by Jonas

Secret Honor (1999)

After reading, Honor Bound, and Blood and Honor, it was time to read Secret Honor which concludes the series, well kind of, but we'll get to that in a minute.

You may recall that the Honor Bound series, as the author refers to it, focuses around Clete Frede, and his efforts in the OSS in Argentina during WW II. Those looking for that aspect of the story do get it. We follow Frede, who has gotten Dorotea "in the family way" and needs a shotgun, no make that sooner rather than later, wedding ceremony to make things right. Money talks to the Church, and the usual year of mourning after the death of his father is waived as his family provides significant funds to the local Church. All in all, there was much description of the events leading to the wedding, so I was a surprised, and even disappointed that the ceremony itself was only briefly described.

In fact, only about half of Secret Honor takes place in Argentina. In typical WEB Griffin fashion, after getting us interested in one main character, he then focuses on another one. This time it's Peter, a decorated German officer in Argentina. After he comes under suspect after a German resupply mission goes bad, and he gets ordered back to Germany for an investigation. Interestingly, he really is an Argentinian sympathizer, and he shares his father's goal to assassinate Hitler. Apparently, at least a few German officers felt that the war was not just, saw the concentration camps for the atrocity that they were, and realized that the Axis was going to lose the war when it was all said and done. The two things they did about it were to stash money overseas (which came up in the previous novel), and to plot against their leader.

While Peter is in Germany, we do get some fascinating side trips. One is a trip to Hitler's secret bunker complex, where the decorating was all done with bomb proof cement. I've seen a History Channel segment on this, but it was great to read the author's descriptions as well. The other is a trip to the development facility of the Messerschmitt Me 262, the first jet fighter aircraft. The history of this plane is fascinating, as well as how its potential was not realized early enough during the war. Still, while this airfield makes for an intriguing pit stop, it really doesn't integrate well into the rest of the overall novel, or the series.

At the end of the novel, we kind of just stop. After several years, and no follow up, I think that we should consider the series complete. However, it just doesn't feel like it is. Perhaps the book sales were not as robust as planned, so Griffin turned his attention to more profitable projects. That said, compared to The Corps, or The Brotherhood series, the Honor Bound novels simply do not come together nearly as well as they did. While these novels are interesting, they really don't represent the author's best work. Keeping that in mind, Secret Honor is the weakest novel of the series as well.

Overall Grade: B-

Reviewed by Jonas

Cane, CBS, Season One, 2007

Probably the most anticipated show this season (I use that term carefully because I've heard that phrase on several networks, all for different shows!) is CBS' "Cane." This show is an hour long weekly drama that is a continuing series. In my view, CBS has needed a good continuing drama since "Dallas" went off in the 80's. With "The Sopranos" finally coming to an end, of some sort, the time was ripe for them to offer something to fill the void.

The plotline revolves around a Cuban family, the Duque's, that have sugar fields (hence the title), which they manufacture into rum. With our increasingly Hispanic demographic, and the success of the show "Ugly Betty, " it makes sense for the show to be so culturally rich with a Latino bent. The setting is in Southern Florida, with the clubs of South Beach, Miami already figuring into scenes. I could also picture a side trip or two into Havana, Cuba before the series concludes.

In the series opener, the family's patriarch, Pancho, played by Hector Elizondo, is told that he has six months left to live. He decides to step down from running the company to enjoy the time he has left. He has three children: Frank, Isabel, and Henry.

Frank, the eldest, wants to follow in his father's steps, and to focus on the more lucrative rum business. Unfortunately, with his playboy lifestyle, he is less than focused to run the family business.

Isabel is not directly involved in the day to day family business, but her husband, Alex Vega is. Alex is a Cuban immigrant who was brought to the states as an orphan. He is resourceful, and appears to have a Machiavellian philosophy of life, and the Tony Soprano/JR Ewing rulebook. In a surprise move, Alex is made the CEO of the company, passing over Frank. Can we see the seeds being sown for a conflict?

The youngest child is Henry. He has little interest in sugar, but much in running the family nightclub in Miami. He has more ambition than business sense, but there will be plenty of storylines as he learns the ropes of the family business. I relate him to Cousin Christopher of the Sopranos, or Bobby Ewing of Dallas.

My one criticism of the show, is that I recorded it, but on the playback, I had some issues understanding what they were saying. Maybe it was my machine, but I hope that the sound editing was good, because several of the scenes were in Spanish, or heavily accented English. It's good to get the flavor in, but I shouldn't have to struggle to understand what's going on. Then again, maybe it was my new recording device.

After watching the series opener of "Cane," I will say that I'm hooked, and this is probably the best new drama of the Fall season. I think that while the drama is formulaic, there are enough timeless themes like family and power to keep viewers engaged for at least a few seasons. I'm predicting that "Cane" will do very well in the ratings, so join in at 10 pm on CBS on Tuesdays, or online.

Preliminary Grade: B+

--Jonas

Blood and Honor (1996)

After enjoying WEB Griffin's Honor Bound, I moved on to the second novel in this series of three, Blood and Honor. This novel continues the plotline in a highly parallel fashion. Once again, it is set in 1943, in Argentina at the height of WW II. The Germans are coming to the realization that they probably are not going to win the war, and are preparing for the worst- that there will be serious reparations like at the end of the first World War. The plan is to secretly smuggle out some serious cash, and hide it for later use.

The main protagonist is Clete Frede, the almost retired Marine who has a fortune in both the US as the heir apparent to an oil fortune, and in Argentina as the heir apparent to his father's fortune which includes sizable land holdings. Once again, the Germans are sending in a supply ship to aid their Southern Atlantic submarine fleet that has menaced British and American shipping (apparently both Axis & Allies were trading with the Argentinians for wool, beef, and other staple products during the war).

While much of the storyline sounds very similar, this is a completely different novel. In a major (WARNING: Plot Spoiler!) twist, Clete's father gets assassinated very early on, giving Clete a huge inheritance, and a struggle as he delves into his father's life and gets the know the man he barely knew. Also, his girlfriend, Dorotea, announces she is pregnant. Much of the middle of the novel focuses on the pomp, circumstance, and ritual surrounding the funeral, and the planning of the wedding (an interesting point/counterpoint of life and death). It turns out that the father was also involved in planning a coup d'etat, and this comes to fruition in Blood and Honor as well (it would appear that Argentina has more regime changes than most other countries...).

Don't think that this book doesn't have any military content. Clete still works for the OSS, and is involved with planning and executing the mission of finding the disguised sub tender. To that end, he needs a plane. In typical military fashion, the hardware he wants (this) isn't available, but he gets something "just as good," (this, which you can see is a lot bigger) which ends up presenting its own set of challenges as he has no experience in the larger plane, and it's too big for the improvised dirt runway. Finally, at the end, just when I expected the sinking of the ship, this novel goes off in a Godfather direction, and goes for revenge in a matter of fact way.

This longish novel did take me a while to get through. It's also a little confusing as there are several lengthy formal names both of Spanish and German derivation that did slow me down at times (especially the German ones). It is an enjoyable break from the traditional war novel genre, yet it incorporates some of the essential elements and quite simply defies a neat category.
The prose is especially strong, with crisp details that paint a descriptive picture in a concise fashion which is one of Griffin's signature items. This author also incorporates, in italics, the individual characters thoughts that combine in both the third person, and first person point of view simultaneously, which few other authors even attempt, and even fewer successfully pull off. At times I feel like this Honor Bound Series is like reading a script for a television mini series, and I can't wait to read the conclusion, Secret Honor.

Overall Grade: B+

Reviewed by Jonas

Honor Bound (1994)

Following a brief hiatus from WEB Griffin, it was time to delve into another of his series. After all, I had finished The Corps, and The Brotherhood of War, but still didn't want to get back into the Presidential Agent series. After finishing his longest series, it was time to look at his shortest series, Honor Bound.

Honor Bound starts with a brief look at the Marines on Gaudalcanal, and even uses a character from The Corps series, Colonel Dawkins, in a cameo appearance. The connection with The Corps quickly ends, and a Marine aviator ace, Captain Clete Frede, who should be on a war bond tour gets pressed into service. The plot focuses around this Frede character, and how he ends up in the OSS, the forerunner of the CIA that is a common thread that permeates many of the Griffin novels (and also the film, The Good Shepherd).

Interestingly, this OSS had jurisdiction throughout the Western hemisphere, including Latin America. Now, while my knowledge of WW II is pretty good, I can't say I'm well versed in what went on in South America during that war. Seriously, the last time I studied Argentina and Brazil, it was high school global studies class! The author, Griffin, winters in Argentina, so he's picked up some first hand knowledge, and it clearly shines through here. Even though Argentina was officially neutral, there was a significant Nazis involvement down way south. For the plot of Honor Bound, the Germans are running submarine supply out of Argentinian waters, all on the QT- except the OSS knows.

The decision is made to send a small group of Americans to disrupt things for the Germans, without bringing the war down to Argentina. This Clete Frede is an interesting character as he is half American, and half Argentinian by descent. This reminds me of the protagonist of the Presidential agent series who also has mixed blood, and therefore uncertain allegiance.

Honor Bound successfully transports us to a far corner of the world, during a tumultuous time in world history. It is a novel less about war in the end, and more about what it takes to mount a clandestine operation in a foreign country, without getting caught. It is definitely not the standard WW II novel with the marines charging up the hill. There is a lot of culture, and place setting. This novel builds in the first 100 pages at a slow pace. Once the freight train gets moving, it is quite intriguing. I'm already working on tracking down the next novel in this series, Blood and Honor.

Overall Grade: B+

--Jonas

Ozomatli, Don't Mess With The Dragon (Concord Records, 2007)

Ozomatli, who take their name from the Aztec astrological symbol of the monkey, are a multi-ethnic, multi-genre band from Los Angeles. For nearly a decade, they have combined rock, Latin music, and hip hop with outspoken political views, and are known for the party atmosphere at their shows. Their fourth studio CD has a great edgy title in Don't Mess with the Dragon, but the band have traded in some of their bluntness for more musicality and an increased emphasis on the fun in their music. Only "Magnolia Soul," about New Orleans, reflects the left-leaning politics that the band have typically worn on their sleeve. Naturally this hasn't pleased some of their older fans, but most of the basic elements of the Ozomatli sound remain in place. In fact, the album opens with a great one-two punch of the catchy single "Can't Stop" and an aggressive rap about their hometown called "City of Angels." The rest of the album doesn't quite reach the same heights, but as usual there's a little bit of something for everybody. They rap, they salsa, they get funky, they have group sing-alongs in both English and Spanish, and they generally have a good time. Don't Mess with the Dragon clocks in at under forty minutes, but I like it when bands don't pack their CD's with too much filler material simply because the CD gives them more space to work with.

My general impression of Ozomatli over the years is that they have a great attitude and a great underlying concept, but they haven't yet translated that into a consistently great album. While Don't Mess with the Dragon continues in this vein, it has plenty of good, fun songs to make it worth a few listens.

Overall grade: B