Alexander Stuart

Lyons Lake dam a couple of days back. One of our family's favorite places. (Photo: Alexander Chow-Stuart)

Sterling Hayden and Elliott Gould discuss men's faces on the beach I sometimes wonder just why it is that I love Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye so much. I know that it's because it encompasses my love for California (especially at a time when I was still living in Britain and dreamed of living here - though living close to Malibu did nothing to diminish the film's allure). It's also because it encompasses my love of Chandler (rather obviously) and my belief that adaptations of anything should do whatever they wish, so long as they capture something of the spirit and intent of the author (and maybe even if they don't). A major factor is that it encompasses my love of the ocean - and Roger Wade/ Sterling Hayden is a kind of life model for me, with the craziness and the stick and the dog, though perhaps not the drinking or gambling or murder or suicide! But I would love a face like that and the sudden intensity and power he has, mixed wit

Wonderful piece about an album I love: My favourite album: Station to Station by David Bowie via @guardian ( The Guardian newspaper/UK) My thoughts: Bowie's version of Wild Is The Wind is very nearly the equal of Nina Simone's exquisite piece of heaven; Station To Station is a truly unique, original track that took Bowie in an entirely new direction (toward Low and Heroes); and Golden Years is just fantastic. For an astonishing and wonderfully fresh new take on Golden Years , check out Jeremy Sole's heavily reggae-influenced remix/mashup on iTunes. (My first blog post on the new iPhone app. I had to make a couple of edits on my Mac - and add the cover image.)

I remember 9/11 with the solemn grace it warrants but the media has been way too obsessed with it this week. I feel that as a nation we must move on. The personal losses are sad and irrevocable, but the US committed terrible acts (the unwarranted war against Iraq, for one) in response. If only our collective memory were solely of the candles lit around the world in the days after 9/11...and of peace.

Sade in concert in San Jose. All concert photos  Copyright  © 2011  Alexander Chow-Stuart. On Thursday evening, we saw our longtime friend Andrew Hale perform with Sade at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, in one of the most beautifully conceived and produced concert performances I have ever seen. Sade is a rare musician, in that she and the band only write, record and tour every eight to ten years, so that in a very real sense you can measure your life by her. The band's music is always fresh and always newly conceived - for their previous album, Lovers Rock , they stripped everything down musically to a minimalist sound and banished the saxophone that had been so much a part of Sade's heavily soul- and jazz-influenced style. The latest album, Soldier of Love , released in 2010, is one of the most tender, moving collections of songs yet, from the astonishingly beautiful Morning Bird , which features exquisite keyboards from Andrew, to the soulful, retro, return-