Fête de la Musique 1999



The "Fête de la Musique" (Music Festival) is an event held since 1982 all over France, and which has since blossomed in several other countries in Western Europe and Northern America. M-Day, as you might call it, is actually the night of June 21st to June 22nd, to coincide with the advent of Spring. Recently events have tended to spread on several other days, with M-Night being the climax. The original idea was to have as many professional performers appear on stage on the same day in various cities and encourage amateurs to perform as well, on stage or on the street. The huge success can be measured by the number of performances this year : no less than 12.000 amateur and 3.000 professional shows in more than 2.000 cities great or small.

Festivities this year in Boulogne started on June 19th, with an open-air show that I attended, shirtless and barefoot of course. Here are my pics of the day, with some sounds scattered here, there and everywhere to be true to the spirit of the day. Fear nothing, all the sounds are just small amateur midi files, nothing that will waste bandwidth or saturate your RAM. And I guess you will have no problem finding where the sounds are ;-) Anyway, just in case, a complete song list is at the bottom of this page.


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Here I am, about to enter the park where the event took place, shoes on because of the heat of the moment. 37°C made walking barefoot on the hot asphalt quite painful, but the shoes went off again inside the park. I was not the only one shirtless and barefoot, as many others took advantage of a sun so bright it sometimes felt like you were diving directly into the heart of the sunrise.
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With the bright sunshine above my head and the music in my ears, it was just the perfect day to enjoy myself in the smooth and cool grass. Quite a simple program : sit back, relax and listen to the music.
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Hello it's me again, in front of the main stage where some local rock and rap bands played throughout the afternoon. Even if all were not 100% professional, everybody had fun and cheered all along what turned to be a real nice saturday in the park.
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Near the end of the afternoon, a bit red on the cheeks, but I finally managed to avoid a real sunburn. As the temperature had finally fallen to a more reasonable level, I went back home barefoot, leaving behind some wet footprints as my soles were still green and full of the grass' moisture after walking all afternoon around the park.
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And now, by popular request, here's the complete guide to my tatoo collection.


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Right arm, top to bottom : the silhouette of a wolf howling at the setting sun, and old sailing ship riding the waves, an USMC insignia, the shape of a bear's paw.

Right side of the chest : the Chinese astrological signs of Dog (my ex-boyfriend), Rat (Victor) and Pig (me), a bat and (below the nipple) a scorpio.

Left arm, top to bottom : a US Navy anchor (hidden here, but visible on other pics), the head of a wolf, a panther, the tail of diving whale. The last two are symbols of my everlasting love for Yes, the greatest rock'n'roll band ever. The panther stands for their Drama album, whose cover art features a herd of black panthers. The whale stands for their Tormato album, which includes the hit-single (back in 1978 ;-) "Don't kill the whale".

Left side of the chest : two roses (symbol of the European and French Socialist Party, and now at least you know where I stand :-) and, below the nipple, a wolf's paw.


 Songs :
Here, there and everywhere (John Lennon - Paul MacCartney), by The Beatles, from the album Revolver, 1966
Heat of the moment (John Wetton - Geoff Downes), by Asia, from the album Asia, 1982
Heart of the sunrise (Jon Anderson - Chris Squire - Bill Bruford), by Yes, from the album Fragile, 1971
Perfect day (Lou Reed), by Lou Reed, from the album Transformer, 1972
Listen to the music (Tom Johnston), by The Doobie Brothers, from the album Toulouse Street, 1972
Hello it's me (Todd Rundgren), by The Nazz, from the album Nazz, 1968
Saturday in the park (Robert Lamm), by Chicago, from the album Chicago IX, 1975
Red (Robert Fripp), by King Crimson, from the album Red, 1974
Footprints (Jon Anderson - Chris Squire - Alan White - Steve Howe), by Yes, from the album Keys to ascension 2, 1997
Tatoo (Mike Oldfield), by Mike Oldfield, from the album Tubular bells 2, 1992


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