Jazzy Times

I AM FINALLY FINALLY FRENCH!

Not me. At least, not yet.

Mark Greenside has a new book coming out at the end of October!: I Am Finally, Finally French: My Accidental Life in Brittany. Mark has been a cohort in cultural crime on a webinar with me titled Demystifying the French hosted by Linda Witt of the Fédération des Alliances Françaises USA, alongside authors Janet Hulstrand and Harriet Welty Rochefort. There isn’t anything more fun to talk about than the cultural divide between the French and Americans…which is as wide as the Atlantic Ocean, if not wider.

Mark asked me to read the book and give him an opinion. Here’s what I wrote for his book jacket: “Greenside offers a humorously thoughtful, in-depth, and in-his-shoes-style experience of life in a tiny village in Brittany. You will love getting to know the textured local characters and complicated situations as well as witnessing Greenside’s most poignant and memorable moments. This is a personal look at life in La France Profonde that only such a skilled wordsmith could craft.”

If you really want to know what life in a French village is like, aside from Peter Mayle’s debacles in Provence, this is your chance to get the inside scoop. It will be officially out in October, but here’s where you can order it today…so don’t delay!

POSTCARDS FROM OUR GOLDEN YEARS

An and Jeff Scott and their little dog, Bella, moved from Naples on the southwest coast of Florida over a year ago to begin their new life in Nice! An started a hobby publishing videos on what was at the time “her” YouTube channel, Postcards From My Golden Years. Once Jeff retired from his long career as an award-winning architect, and they arrived in Nice, the channel became “their” YouTube channel. The name then changed to Postcards From Our Golden Years.

Over the years, the videos shared their journey: all of the planning, every step of the way, from purging all of their “stuff” back in the US, to packing, including the step by step instructions on how they applied for their long stay visas and Jeff’s humorous architectural drawing of the inside of a VFS office (since they weren’t allowed to take videos). The videos show how they applied for healthcare in France, figured out how to navigate public transportation, live their lives without a car and find all of the most important places as new residents in Nice plus a whole lot more. They’ve been sharing their lives and their discoveries, the good, the bad and the ugly, in a weekly vlog ever since.

For their presentation at Après-Midi last week in Nice, they talked about their moving-to-France adventure, their experiences as YouTube vloggers, and shared a special video created just for the event to tell their story.

When asked for a show of hands, about 80% of the audience (approximately 50 of our community) were already living in Nice and many had been following An and Jeff since the beginning of their adventure.

Read the full report and see the photos on our website.

Watch the entire event on our YouTube channel.

You can subscribe to their YouTube channel and join them as they continue to share their wonderful life as Expats from the USA in France: Postcards From Our Golden Years.

FIRST JAZZ FESTIVAL IN THE WORLD…IN NICE!

It was in Nice, not in America, that the first Jazz Festival in the world was born! It was 1948 when this groundbreaking event was hosted at the Nice Opéra (a venue typically reserved for classical music), as well as the now-demolished Casino Municipal de Nice on Place Masséna, which provided its Belle Époque setting for the festival.

I like to attend, even if I don’t like all the music! There was only one available night to pay my respects—Thursday of last week—so that limited the line-up of music. There are two venues: the Masséna Stage (SRO) and the Théâtre de Verdure, where there is seating if you get there early enough…and I did, managing to score a seat on the third row on the end. I had a perfect view (not that a view matters when you’re listening to music!).

Daoud was the opening act. “Daoud has established himself as a unique voice on the new French scene, where jazz, hip-hop, and electronic music intersect. Since the release of his debut album Good Boy in early 2024, he has received remarkable acclaim from audiences and critics alike. Driven by a singular approach, this ‘ugly duckling of jazz’ draws inspiration from absurdism and a sense of inadequacy to compose daring works that defy convention and appeal to both amateurs and purists alike. With his infectious stage energy, virtuosity, and modernity, we haven’t heard the last of this charismatic trumpeter.”

No offense to Daoud or his followers, but I found his music painful and not at all charismatic. (But, what do I know?)

I sat through Daoud, wincing throughout, and looked forward to hearing the Sullivan Fortner Trio from my home town of New Orleans. “A star accompanist for Cécile McLorin Salvant and the late Roy Hargrove, and with three nominations at the latest Grammy Awards, including a win in the ‘Best Jazz Performance’ category for his collaboration with Samara Joy, the American pianist is already back with a new trio album, barely a year after the groundbreaking Solo Game, which was nominated in the ‘Best Instrumental Album’ category alongside giants such as Kenny Barron and Chick Corea. With his vibrant tribute to New Orleans, the aptly named Southern Nights, which earned him the covers of Downbeat (US) and Jazz News (FR) magazines, Fortner confirms that he is THE jazz pianist of his generation.

I wanted to like him, but can’t say I was thrilled, either. At least his music wasn’t painful. I found myself applauding…at least. Am I a tough critic? Maybe.

Then, my daughter encouraged me to go hear Polo and Pan. I left my comfy seat to stand among the packed crowd at the Masséna venue. “Polo & Pan are timeless. As brilliant tastemakers, the duo invites us on a retro-futuristic musical journey, cleverly playing with codes and genres. A quick glance at the dance floor—whether it’s sold-out tours or major festivals like Coachella—and you’ll see smiles, abandon, and genuine joy on the faces around you. With a new album released last March and a completely redesigned show with new staging and lighting, our two French Touch explorers are back this summer on a European tour and at the Nice Jazz Fest on July 24, building on the global success of Caravelle and Cyclorama!”

I must be getting too old for such decibel levels and couldn’t get away from the speakers fast enough. While there was plenty more I could have stayed for, I didn’t and headed home with a box of sushi. Until next year…

DELAY?…THEY PAY

I prefer taking the train over the plane to and from Nice. It may take six hours compared to a flight of 1 hour 15 minutes, but it’s six hours in comfort, with a plug and wifi, without the hassle of security checks, from city center to city center and food bar servings that are actually edible. With a 30% Senior discount, it’s downright cheap, too. On top of it all, The SNCF is so proud of it’s punctual record that if your train is late, you’ll get a partial refund. Mine was…by more than two hours.

That means while I wasn’t thrilled about being on the train till past midnight, it wasn’t so terrible to get a 50% refund! Just visit the site to make your claim.

Compensation for TGV INOUI, TGV International or Intercités trains: Receive an online voucher if your train is more than 30 minutes late, for whatever reason. If the train is more than one hour late, you can request compensation in the form of a bank transfer.

Compensation rates for national TGV INOUI and Intercités trains:

Less than 30 minutes: No compensation
Between 30 minutes and 2 hours: 25%
Between 2 hours and 3 hours: 50%
3 hours and +: 50%

If your train is delayed between 30 minutes and 1 hour, you will receive a voucher. Between 1 hour and more than 3 hours, you will receive a voucher or bank transfer, depending on your choice.

Compensation rates for national for TGV INOUI International trains:

Less than 30 minutes: No compensation
Between 30 minutes and 2 hours: 25%
Between 2 and more than 3 hours: 50%

If your train is delayed between 30 minutes and 1 hour, you will receive a voucher. Between 1 hour and more than 3 hours, you will receive a voucher or bank transfer, depending on your choice.

Thank you, SNCF. I just saved enough for a real nice dinner out on the town!

CNBC TELLS HER STORY

“41-year-old lawyer relocated to Paris, has no plans of moving back to the U.S.: ‘It’s where I’m supposed to be in the world’”

It was just before the Covid-19 pandemic gripped the world in fear when Ariel Sanders contacted us to find her an apartment in Paris. She landed in Paris the day before France closed its borders.

“At the beginning of 2020, Sanders quit her job, gave her landlord notice, and started the process to obtain a French visa. She contacted Adrian Leeds from HGTV’s ‘House Hunters International’ to help find an apartment and flew to France for a few days while a moving company packed up her belongings and prepared to ship it all overseas.”

Read all about it in CNBC’s article published Saturday by journalist Celia Fernandez.

A la prochaine…