Home

 

 

We know very well that itinerants, gypsies and vagabonds have a bad reputation. They steal our chickens, rape our grandmothers (who had given up hope), litter the streets of our towns (when we know very well that only WE have that right), wash our car windshields without being unionized and invent flies of an awesome simplicity and efficacy without making a penny on it…which you have to admit is shameful!

Have you ever tried the “Peute” fly, invented by gypsies and close to the heart of the legendary M. Bresson?  What fly would you take to the famous “desert island”?  Like me, I’m convinced that you would choose this ugly fly that doesn’t resemble anything. This ugly thing is so sexy and so irresistible, that trout would even take the trip with you. A real magnet for fish with it’s hackles of feathers from the duck’s breast.

One has to be a damned good fisherman to come up with a thing like that!

I’d better disclose why it is that I’m writing about this thingamajig. Last night I saw a documentary on Django Reinhardt and well… that Django, every time I hear those magical notes I regress to my youth; specifically, to the bistro next to the Clignancourt flea market where every weekend the gypsies, crazy in love with their guitars, were plugging away.

At the time I had no idea what was jazz was all about, but that music at the bistro was certainly the most beautiful thing I had ever experienced, the most moving language in the world. I hopelessly tried to understand how those two swarthy guys could run their fingers over the guitar neck with such incredible speed. And even today, the mystery still holds true… pure magic; it’s idiotic and vain to even try to understand.

And then, last night, the documentary about Django; his passion for fishing, for billiards, for boules, for cards and above all, let us not forget, for music… his only real fiancée. The great Duke Ellington understood it well and invited Django to tour America with him. In passing it’s said that Duke, after a time, had to get rid of that fantastic gypsy. But why, you might ask? Well, the answer is simple. Django was so passionate about playing cards that he often forgot about his gigs and would stay glued to the card table while Duke and the other musicians waited on stage.

Hang on a minute, you want to hear a few bars? …listen to this morsel, by chance it’s called “La pêche a la mouche” (fly-fishing )

And if the “Marseillaise” (our national anthem) leaves you cold, just listen to this version that Django and his sidekick Stephane Grappelli, created in 1945. Absolutely marvelous!

If you’re not weeping with joy after that, it’s surely because you have heart of barbed-wire.