The Ottmar Liebert Bookshop

[boris]

Anybody interested in the stuff OL talks about besides his music? I guess so... What I'd like to do here is to sum up the books he mentions. I enjoy reading but have different periods in my life where I read more and less. Sometimes I need an advice. Maybe some day some fanmenco needs the same?

Here's what I remember:

William Gibson, Pattern Recognition
Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code
Dan Brown, Angels + Demons
Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon
Neal Stephenson, ... (OL mentioned a trilogy. Quicksilver?)
Marguerite Yourcenar, Ich zähmte die Wölfin, Erinnerungen des Kaisers Hadrian (he read it in German, that's why. It's "Memories of Hadrian".)
Benvenuto Cellini + J.W. von Goethe, Leben des Benvenuto Cellini florentinischen Goldschmieds und Bildhauers (in German again)

Maybe we could open up a second section called "Travelling + Life in Santa Fe + New Mexico"? I'm sure Kiyomi could add one or two titles here.

There's a section on his web site where OL recommends books. He hasn't updated it in quite a while. A book from Brian Eno's in there. I'll look it up + edit my post.

There are two things we can do. 1) discuss some of the reading when it comes to it, 2) expand the bookshop with our own must reads related to those mentioned by OL (e.g. other books by William Gibson) respectively conerning Santa Fe and New Mexico.

A vous maintenant!

[Victor]

Hi Boris! I think it's interesting hearing OL's takes on different subjects - even what he's reading. I'm always looking for that next good book to read also. So, I'd like to see the list you found hear people comment on it. (Maybe there could be a section for Ottmar's recommended restaurants too - Kidding!)

[boris]

Victor -- why not? Remember one time he spoke of the purple cafe in ... was it Bend? Some of the places could be highly interesting to know more about, especially for those - I know I keep repeating myself - who don't have the choice of going there. Imagination is everything! Besides I'm sure that there are some fans and fanmencos who got in touch with the new mexican way of cooking by being fan of OL... (No, not true. I know one.)

Being a fan, following his blog like an addict, makes clear that OL is a man with a very broad horizon. Many interests. And he manages to make others get interested in those subjects too. Read the (temporarily turned off but found a new home) blog comments.

Another example is drawing: I'm preparing for a test at the moment + read a good deal about Picasso, an artist OL admires deeply. In the LE OL has drawn too, he also posted drawings in his blog. We fanmencos still have a lack of talking about this aspect. But it will come one day, I'm certain about that.

Architecture: Adobe + Rem Koolhaas. Worth talking about. Not yet.

Travelling: Russia. Japan. Taiwan. India. Italy. Etc. Not yet.

I always enjoyed reading. I read most of William Gibson before OL talked about him. I knew Dan Brown's Angels + Demons before but couldn't get a hand on the Da Vinci Code which wasn't published here yet. So I was keen on that book because OL talked about it. I got to know Stephenson because of OL mentioning him.

So why not find a steady home for it? If there's one place to do such a thing it's here, this forum. A pool to dive into addiction. Or, like Salman Rushdie wrote, to worship the ground beneath his feet. ;D

Highly amusing, isn't it?

[boris]

This is the link to OL's recommendations. Let's see how the thread develops + if some reorganization is needed.

www.lunanegra.com/www/ol/recommend/ol_recommend_set.htm

[Victor]

Looks like his list of recommended books is all non-fiction. Were the other books in your first post ones he had mentioned in his diary?

I'm right in the middle of "Angels and Demons" right now. Fascinating book! History in a novel always makes it much more interesting than history class ever was. I've been doing a little internet research on places in the novel - there are actually tours you can take in Rome that follow the novel. I also found a site called "Cult of Dan Brown" which is a discussion forum of his novels. Looks like you have to be a memeber to view the discussions but you can see photos of some of the art mentioned in the novels as a guest.

www.cultofdanbrown.com

Anyway, I'd be interested to hear if anybody has been to any of the restaurants OL mentioned. Let's see, there was the Purple Cafe, there was Marias in Santa Fe, and there was a place in Boulder he said they had breakfast. I can't find that post again, but if anybody remembers let me know. I get up to Boulder on occasion and would like to check it out. It's been about 7 years since I was to Santa Fe - but if I ever get back I'll be looking for Marias. Any of the Fanmencos ever been there?

[Kiyomi]

Victor -- OL mentioned some other restaurants in his CD credits, I remember. I'm not sure now which (I'm too lazy+sleepy to check, sorry, but it is 4:30 am for me!), I think they were Geronimo and Santa Cafe (or was it Pink Adobe?).

[boris]

What I meant with "purple cafe" was that there's a town were the coffee turns purple when you put milk in it... I check the blog...

EDIT: he wrote it on June 20th, 2003

The town is Hanford but he doesn't mention a certain cafe...

Speaking of the liner notes: what is Grandma's?

Victor -- exactly. These books he mentioned in his diary. OL had a time where he wrote a great deal about William Gibson. Then he couldn't stop reading the "Da Vinci Code". You can find some added pictures to this story on Dan Brown's own web site. Think he offered some for Angels + Demons also.
The last two OL explicitly read in German, so I thought why not keeping it original... ?

[Carolynn]

I believe "Grandma's" that is referred to in the liner notes is where they rent/lease their concert equipment from (lights and speakers, etc.). It's called Grandma's Music and Sound. I'm pretty sure that's it.

As for the books on the "list," I've read both "Poets and Angels" and "Da Vinci Code." Both are really great books. Quite interesting.

Restaurants -- I haven't been to Maria's yet, but it's on my list of things to do, SOON. If for no other reason than to have a really great margarita!

[Victor]

It seems like they don't keep all the posts in both the "Diary" as well as the "Journal". Like, if you look at previous days prior to what's on the main page then all the entries aren't there. Is that right or am I just blind? (I have to ask because like most men I can look in a closet for hours and not see what's right in front of my face!) Anyway, I wasn't able to find the old postings on the restaurants.

Carolynn, are you down in Ottmar's "neighborhood"? If you get over to Marias be sure and give us a review! (Man, a good margarita sounds great right about now - and it's only noon - not a good sign!)

Boris, what are the two German books on the list? Have you read them? Just curious - unfortunately I don't speak German. (Well, I know what a "Tucher" is!)

[boris]

One should be this:
The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini (Penguin Classics)
by Benvenuto Cellini, George Anthony Bull

The other:
Memoirs of Hadrian
by Marguerite Yourcenar, Grace Frick (Translator)

If you mean the post about Hanford, have you checked the right year? It's 2003.

[Carolynn]

I'm about 60 miles away from Ottmar's neighborhood. I'm in Albuquerque. I find excuses to go up there every once in awhile. There's an outlet mall on the very south end of Santa Fe that I just HAVE to go to occasionally. Dinner and a margarita after a "tough" day shopping always sounds good. But like you, Victor, a margarita sounds really good right this minute. Must be something about summer time and margaritas!

[boris]

Carolynn -- you don't need an excuse to go to SF! It looks really pretty on the pictures, so why not hanging out there!?

I knew that there are books about NF + Borrasca out there, but this is new to me (found it at amazon.com):

Opium Highlights (Guitar Recorded Versions)
by Ottmar Liebert (Recorder), Luna Negra (Recorder)

[Victor]

Actually, I was looking for the post about Boulder where OL said they had breakfast. So, it had to have been July 9, the day of the show. It looks like after the posts are off the main page then not all of them are saved (like only one for any given day). Like I say, maybe I'm looking at it wrong - maybe it's that third margarita - dunno! (Just kidding - it's been a margaritaless day here. )

[boris]

UPDATE:

Reading mentioned by OL:

Fictional:

Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code
Dan Brown, Angels + Demons
Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon
Neal Stephenson, Quicksilver (?)
William Gibson, Pattern Recognition
Marguerite Yourcenar, Memoirs of Hadrian
Benvenuto Cellini, George Anthony Bull, The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini
Isaac Asimov, [title has yet to be found]

Non-fictional:

Nick Tosches, The Last Opium Den
Robin Totten, Song of the Outcasts (introduction to Flamenco and its origins)
John Pawson, Minimum
Joachim-Ernst Berendt, The Third Ear
Roger Housden, Soul and Sensuality
Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses
Robert Jourdain, Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy
Brian Eno, A Year with Swollen Appendices - Brian Eno's Diary
Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe, Miles
Donn E. Pohren, The Art of Flamenco
Darryl Reanney, Music of the Mind
Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything
Ken Wilber, The Marriage of Sense and Soul
Douglas Rushkoff, Media Virus
Jane Bay, Precious Jewels of Tibet

Reading related to OL in whatever aspect:

Lonely Planet, Santa Fe and Taos [includes Albuquerque]

Please feel free to update!

[OL]

For Victor - best breakfast in Boulder:
Lucile's Creole Cafe, 2124 14th Street, Boulder CO 80302
Phone [phone]

For Boris: I read the Cellini autobiography and the Hadrian book in English.