"Sharing" the stage with Zakir Hussain

Following our dream gig with Kehkashaan opening for the B-52's back in May, the members of Iritis have been hired back to support bollywood singers Minakshi and Simha for a couple more gigs.

One of them is at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst on November 7th. Get the event and tickets info here.

This event is organized by the Asian Arts and Culture center at UMass.
Another event they are hosting this season is an appearance by
Zakir Hussain and his Masters of Percussion.

So one *could* say that we'll be performing on the same stage as the one and only incredible virtuoso, teacher, trailblazer, innovator and master: Ustad Zakir Hussain.

Optimus Destructor

It's a good idea to take the gas nozzle out before driving off.
This little adventure cost someone (wadn't me!) $125 although
I may or may not have been somehow involved in this adventure.

There is a perfectly good explanation for this.
The driver and passenger were distracted by this brand new purchase:

Rastafar Rye at the Blue Tusk

The fantastic Blue Tusk in Syracuse, NY has some 69 great beers on tap in addition to excellent service, music and food. Definitely one of my all time favorite bars.








But this has got to be the greatest beer name and tap i've ever seen.
From Blue Point brewing in Long Island....

"Ever living, ever fearful, ever sure... JAH!" Rastafar Rye!

IRITIS Auditioning for New Lead Singer

Greetings friends,

Nita is transitioning out of Iritis to pursue her solo career.
We wish her the best of luck and tremendous success.
Currently we're still practicing together for a couple of
big bollywood private gigs with Kehkashaan and also
still recording together to finish up our album.
Stay tuned for an upcoming farewell and CD release concert.

Our search for a new lead singer has already begun.
Here is the ad:

Experienced band replacing lead singer.
Vocalist with prog-rock or international music
background and gig experience preferred.
Playing keyboards, guitar or any ethnic instrument a big plus.
Creative musical and lyrical input encouraged.
Mandatory practice 2x/week currently held in Bethesda, MD.
Gigs at least 1-2x/month.
Existing and growing repertoire of all original music:
psychedelic rock with eastern influence and elements
of world, fusion, prog and metal.
We start gigging again as soon as possible.

Please contact iritisband_ at -gmail_ d0t -com
with a recording sample.

http://www.myspace.com/iritis
http://www.reverbnation.com/iritis

Grassroots Festival, Trumansburg NY

We had a superb time at the Grassroots Festival this past weekend.

The above picture and video below are of Ayurveda.
Their prog rock fusion rocked the house and blew me away. This is the one band i really wanted to see and they far surpassed my expectations. At the end of this song the Tuvan musicians of Alash Ensemble join them for a little jam. Phenomenal:



Hey who's that in the crowd?

Another highlight for me was the easy going vibes of local faves the Sim Redmond Band and especially their new female singer's heavenly honeyed voice.

All around this was the nicest festival I've ever been to:
laid back atmosphere, all ages from rockin' grandmas to toddlers, very friendly people including! the vendors and the food was surprisingly scrumptious. Who would expect a memorable world-class felafel sandwich at a music festival!? And boy was it delicious. And you can't go wrong with samosas, Laotian! food, Cajun BBQ and made-to-order fruit juices.

They had an impressive recycling/compost set-up all over the grounds. And it was BYOB! So we gladly obliged with some Grassroots Saison Ale from Great Lakes brewing, great cans of Sly Fox Weiss and Pils, and the worthy local session beer Genesee Cream Ale.
Behold! The craft can brewing revolution is in full swing!

Vids from our B-52s opening gig with Kehkashaan

Check out the pictures!

SAVOR

a nice intimate little evening with 1,700 of my fellow beer lovers and the whole firmament of craft brewers...
For an event in only its second year, SAVOR was a resounding success again!

There were many improvements over last year's maiden event, the gorgeous National Building Museum was a much more spacious venue than last year's Mellon auditorium. Food, beer and restrooms were plentiful and the lines were never prohibitive. And when the DJ spun Welcome to Jamrock evret'ing was all-right.

Food was excellent and even included a diverse selection of superbly revelatory Wisconsin cheeses and a deservingly popular oyster bar.

Of course the $90 ticket is pretty steep, that's why we volunteered to help out at the event, which means we did not get to fully enjoy the proceedings or even try half of the offerings but we did have some nice special access...

Can't wait till next year's repeat!

First Veggies of the Year

Opening Gig for The B-52s!!!

It was one extraordinary day on May 12th 2009.
My band Iritis was hired to back up singer Minakshi
for an opening gig at the National Harbor...

...for the One and Only...


What a blast!!!







the rest of pictures from the event are posted here.


Watch the videos!

The March of The Barchan Dunes

Definitely a good album title

Martian Barchan Dunes

Arabian Barchan Dunes

Tickets to Jollity

This is the pleasing sight that greets me every time i walk by the fridge.

It announces an exciting spring season full of great concerts and events:
- top notch world fusion with Balkan Beat Box at the legendary 9:30 club, and Orange Blossom at the Lisner with its excellent acoustics;
- the best of the best in advanced jazz fusion with the one and only John McLaughlin, Chick Corea and an all star line-up at the superb Strathmore hall;
- the always fantastic annual Cheese tasting extravaganza at the National Geographic with the erudite and immensely opinionated and entertaining Steve Jenkins, the first American to be honored as a Chevalier du Taste Fromage;
- and the kick ass nordic metal assault of Opeth.

Last but not least, this spring my bandmates from IRITIS and I might also be opening for a hugely world renown band. I hope to have some actual news to share soon....

Bernard Purdie: Supremely Effortlessly Funky

Kennedy Center Millenium Stage Performance

Contradiction Dance invited us to perform on the Kennedy Center Millenium Stage with them last April.

Ahmed and I wrote a song which they choreographed. We then also performed these two other original compositions written for the occasion: "Aoutar" and "Risha".



Here is the full 1-hour long podcast of the whole dance performance.

Back from Colombia

We're back from a terrific vacation under the warm Colombian sun,
"where the only risk is wanting to stay."
This picture sums up a lot of things about our trip:


Check out our pictures or this slideshow:

Eggies in a Basket

This fast, easy and scrumptious breakfast has become a staple at home.
I usually melt a thin slice of cheddar on top for extra deliciousness.
Fresh coarsely ground pepper is a must.

'gotta love all the different names for it:
egg in a window, egg in the hole, pirate's eye, toad in the hole, Adam and Eve on a raft, bird's nest, bull's eye, cave entrance, camel's eye, eagle eye, egg castorini, egg in a blanket, egg in a frame, egg in a hat and a coat, egg in bed, egg inside of a hollowed-out piece of bread, eggy toast, eye of the beholder, gaslight eggs, hobo toast, hole-in-one, lidless eye, nest egg, o'johnnies, plus-three bullet of smiting, submarine egg, sun's drop of dew, victory egg, Rocky Mountain toast, toaster spurtals...

and my faves: yolky pokey, egg-holey-o!

I'm forever thankful to Mr. Franklin C. for cooking my friend Brett and I our first encounter with this dish many years ago.

mmmmm eggies!

Shapes and Sizes

i am related to one of them...

First batch of homemade pasta!

Dogfish Head Brewery Pilgimage

A little while back we headed out to Delaware to visit one of our favorite breweries, Dogfish Head. They were recently profiled in an excellent article about the founder Sam Calagione in New Yorker Magazine.

Their slogan is "Off Centered Beers for Off Centered People. As you can imagine, the Dogfish beers are odd, potent, unique and often delicious. They use more hops per barrel than any other brewery in the world. And they often use unorthodox ingredients in their beers such as saffron, cocoa nibs, a variety of grapes, annatto (fragrant tree seeds), chrysanthemum flowers, figs...

One of Beth's favorites DFH concoction is Heaven & Hell. It's an insane black & tan you make yourself with 18+% World Wide Stout and 20% 120 Minute IPA. It packs a punch in many different ways...yum....





A piece of brewing history!

Sir Hops Alot is the quirky brainchild of Sam Calagione.

"Typically, brewers only add hops during two points of the brewing process - once in the beginning to impart flavor and bitterness and then again at the end for aroma. Once upon a time, Sam was watching a cooking show and the chef was preparing soup. The chef on the show emphasized the importance of slowly and continuously adding the pepper throughout the cooking process. He said that continuously peppering the soup would yield better flavor than just adding it all at once.

And then a light bulb went off in Sam’s head … instead of adding the hops all at once, why not try to continuously hop the beer over a set period of time? This is how the 60 minute ale was born. The first time Sam brewed 60 Minute IPA he used an old vibrating tabletop football game that he found at a garage sale. He put the game over the brew kettle and covered the surface with hops. The little plastic football players shook and spun their way down the field, continuously distributing hops into the kettle over a 60 minute time period.

The old plastic game from the 80’s didn't last very long for the continuous hopping process. So Sam decided to build his own apparatus to do the job. The first model was SIR HOPS A LOT."

When they moved from a 50-bbl brewhouse to a 100-bbl brewhouse, Sir Hops Alot was retired and was replaced by the bigger and badder Sofa King Hoppy.

Dem nutty DogFish peeps built a monster wood tank from a crazy bullet proof Panamanian wood.

"Now nestled in the High-Gravity Cellars at our Milton, Delaware brewery are three great, big wooden tanks. Two of the 300-bbl tanks are made with White American Oak, the third is made from Palo Santo wood (that's the one in the foreground of the photo).

All three of the tanks were build on-site by our friends at Arrow Tank in Buffalo, NY. Each one holds 300-barrels of beer (that's 600 kegs or 9300 gallons). The Palo tank is for conditioning Palo Santo Marron. The oak tanks will be conditioning Immort Ale, Burton Baton, Red & White, 120 Minute IPA, World Wide Stout, Fort, and Olde School Barleywine.

Sound cool? We put together a short movie about the Palo wood tank project, click here to watch."

thirsty yet?