Mali Festival au Désert

One day i hope to make it to this annual event.
Here's a sweet slideshow of someone's journey to the festival.
And click on any of the pix below to check out the BBC's
audio slideshow of the event.

Galvanize

Q-Tip aka Kamaal Ibn John Fareed rips it up with the Chemical Brothers.

Behold the Tonguila

Bring together a Colombian and some Cuervo,
and then before d'ju know.....
Out comes the TONGUILA, menh!
On all attendees befalls a sudden hush.
Children are sent away. Women blush.
A swirl of thoughts... we're in stitches!
The party-meter cranks up a few notches.
The TONGUILA has struck, again.

Cluster F***

Marc Garlasco of Human Rights Watch: "As a comparison in the war in Iraq in 2003, the United States over three weeks dropped 2 million cluster sub-munitions. Israel in the war in Lebanon dropped 4 million in three days. It dwarfs any use of cluster bombs prior. You can take Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo and put them together and you’re not going to come close to what happened in southern Lebanon."

Song of the Day: Blood Witch

Melvins ROCK

buybuybuy

Blood Witch

RIP Alice Coltrane

Journey in Satchidananda

The Low End Quest

François and I have been looking for a new bass, something that would mesh better with our world/ethnic fusion aspirations. At first we were looking at an acoustic fretless like the Michael Kelly Dragonfly.









It comes in 4 or 5 strings and exists as a fretless...seemed perfect! It's a gorgeous instrument and the very first time we tried one we were both blown away by the warm organic acoustic fretless tone. But after doing more research and going back to hear it again it seemed rather poorly made. It buzzed, it sounded tiny and we saw a bunch of bad reviews online.

Then we found out about double stringed electric basses...
John Paul Jones uses an Alembic Series I Triple Omega 8-string in the epic Achilles Last Stand.

















Alembic made a gorgeous re-interpretation of that monster. But it's safe to assume it's a little out of our price range.

Well, the quest continues. In the meantime we can drool at the fantastic musicianship of John McLaughlin and Jonas Hellborg getting the best of both the fretted and fretless worlds with this double necked beauty.

Tones For Jones

Now here's one heck of a dream team doing a pretty radical interpretation of my favorite song off John McLaughlin's phenomenal 1994 After the Rain album which featured The Irrepressible Jazz Machine Elvin Jones in person.

John McLaughlin, Dennis Chambers and Zakir Hussain at the June 2004 Crossroads Festival in Dallas, TX:

The Ramen King

Momofuku Ando, 96, passed away this weekend in Japan.
He invented the instant noodle in 1957 after seeing long lines for fresh noodles. He founded the company Nissin, who brought us Cup Noodle and Top Ramen, spawning many imitators.

Thanks and Farewell Momo!

Iritis Set List

The Godfather Of Soul Passes On

The Heavens got one Hell of a Christmas gift this morning.
James Joseph Brown, Jr. passed away in Atlanta, he was 73.

I had the privilege of witnessing him at the outstanding
DC 9:30 club last December. The Band was stellar and
he was as consummate a showman as ever.
Here's a pix from that show:


I've been listening to him all day and checking out
YouTube vids. Found some terrific ones, enjoy.

Live at the Olympia, 1967:


On a lighter note, Eddie Murphy's classic SNL Hot Tub skit:



RIP JB

Tribal Bellydancing: Rachel Brice

Arts & Crafts Shopping with a Global Conscience

in time for the holidays

"In association with National Geographic, Novica today serves as an online arts agent for more than 1,700 artists in countries around the world. Visitors to the Novica Web site can read about the artists, explore their cultures, view photographs of their work and select from more than 8,500 handcrafted works. Novica arts and technology teams (staffing Novica offices in El Salvador, Brazil, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Thailand, Venezuela and Zimbabwe) interview each artist, photograph their artwork, post the interviews and photographs online, and handle all packing and shipping on behalf of the artist. International couriers deliver the artwork directly to customers, eliminating numerous middlemen and transferring the savings to creator and customer alike."

Indoor Soccer Fall 2006 Season Wrap-Up

We ended my 6th campaign with our Indoor Soccer team with a record of 3-2-1 (Win-Loss-Tie) in the regular season and in 4th place out of 7 teams after the play-offs.

Our last game this past monday was quite a fiasco.
3 players could not make it, 1 was serving a red card suspension, 2 players were 15 minutes late and another quit the team. We were short 2 players at kick-off so we had to forfeit the game. They then allowed us to bring on guest players for a good friendly game with no ref.

It was somewhat of a meaningless game for most since with the previous week's tie we had missed a chance to go for the top spot and this game was then only for 3rd place.

What personally troubled me greatly was the resignation of one of our players with only one more game to go in the season. I had given him very little or no playing time in many of the season's matches that had been hard fights. He got plenty of playing time for the easier games. This was particularly difficult since he is a very dear and old friend. But he was also the least experienced or solid player of our batch.

These are certainly the inevitable growing pains of a team that started rag-tagging it for fun on our office's back parking lot but which now consistently gets chances to win trophies. These are the unfortunate and grueling choices that set apart friendliness and competitiveness.

Ariel Levy. Can Ladies Go Wild Too?

She's attractive, sensual, she can really write,
and she has an affinity for sexy topics.


Do it like a pro. like Barry Bonds.


Her fine article "Dispaches from Girls Gone Wild" is as delightful to read as it is to watch those late night GGW commercials.
Yet like a delicious vitamin-enhanced gummy bear, it is also good for you with its engagingly astute examination of the pervasive societal atmosphere she calls "the Raunch Culture." Read it here.

NG POD

The National Geographic Photo Of the Day
















"A garbage truck dumps its load at a U.S. landfill. More than 70 percent of the 180 million tons of refuse Americans throw away each year ends up in landfills, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Compacted repeatedly by bulldozers, the inner recesses of landfills receive no light, air, or moisture, making biodegradation impossible. Scientists have even found hotdogs buried in 1974 still intact 15 years later."

In Memoriam. Erasmo Ramos

Orgasmo & Jorge

The crazy energetic whirlwind of a man we like to call Orgasmo has left us. Tragically and shockingly he is not physically with us any more.
A old and dear friend of my co-worker Jorge, he had diligently embraced me with his typical ebullience. Despite having only met a handful of times, he had generously invited me to his upcoming thanksgiving wedding.
I find some solace in having had the privilege of knowing him and in the certitude that wherever he is now reunited with his father, the Orgas-man is still bouncing around, getting up excitedly to tell his stories and spreading laughter around him.
My warmest thoughts go to S., their families and all of his impressively numerous friends.

A Day of Silence and Remembrance

The Quickest Way to Get it ON!

Pronto Condoms!

Halloween Be Thy Name

For the most frightfully rambunctious event of the year, about 40 courageous souls ventured up to the Wheystone mansion for a terrifyingly titillating time.

Despite many fantastic costumes of all stripes, our gracious hostess with the most was the crowd favorite. Since there were so many great characters, it could also be that the throngs were just stroking her large egos, both of them, in the hope they might be invited again next year for a repeat.

DJ Kam spun his bone-rattling tunes and my laptop finally worked properly so i was also able to lay down some grooves. There was some serious shakin' goin' on!

Check out the pix!

Munich and Lagos Trips

2006-Munich

2006-Lagos, Nigeria

You couldn't pick two more disparate destinations:
the peacefulness of orderly Germany and the bustle of the most populous West African city.

There was certainly some mayhem in the gigantic beer tents of the Bavarian Oktoberfest. Just imagine 9000 happy drunken chanting revelers under one tent hoisting huge liter mugs of delicious oktoberfest beer. And the beaches and living compounds in Lagos were islands of tranquility.

But overall I was very impressed with the serenity of Munich, even though its metropolitan area is home to 2.7 million people. There are public parks and outstanding playgrounds everywhere. Fields of fruits, vegetables and flowers have unattented deposit boxes for payment after you've helped yourself. My brother and his wife feel that time goes by slower there.

Lagos on the other hand was an exhilarating ride. With all its internet phising scams and frequent alarming mentions in the news, Nigeria has an unfairly rotten reputation. I did see naked corpses by the side of the road, just lying there, ignored. And I also found a rich vibrant culture with friendly people. I picked up some priceless old 70's LPs from the heyday of the High Life Nigerian music scene. I got to witness legendary Afro Beat founder Fela Kuti's son, Femi, proudly carry his father's torch in twice weekly concerts at his New Africa Shrine nightclub. My sister took me through the mazes of colossal markets where we haggled over wonderful pieces of art and crafts.

A dear friend just did a tour of Togo, Burkina et Bénin. And she put it simply: "Bénin was the poorest and also the one with the most liveliness."

In Nigeria, arguably the world's most corrupt country, you always have to be savvy and on your guard. Which of course wasn't too hard when i had the privilege of an armed patrol car escort in the evenings. All in all it was a memorable trip and I very much look forward to getting back there and exploring the country and the culture beyond Lagos.

Click on the pix above for some narrated photos.
The picasaweb slideshow works great.

Didgeridoo Trumps Snores

In an sound and offbeat study published in the British Medical Journal, researchers have determined that regular playing of a didgeridoo can help alleviate chronic snoring and sleep apnea.

Spurred by anecdotal evidence that rocking out the didg reduced snoring in new students of the instrument, a Swiss team of doctors successfully tested out the resounding hypothesis.

They found that since playing the didgeridoo requires a controlled breathing pattern, practicing to play it strenghens the muscles of the upper airways which control airway dilation and wall stiffening. As a result, regular playing of a didgeridoo reduced daytime sleepiness and snoring in people with moderate obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome, not to mention improving the sleep quality of their bed partners.

Time to dust mine off and didg on!

Rafting the Youghiogheny at Ohiopyle

O so very much excitement was had rafting with the gang.
Even our friend chillin' out in the back eventually got
soaked in fun too. Admire his great poise and beer
holding technique.

Going Nuts for Maine

A couple of my buds dropped everything and moved to
Maine last summer much to the general puzzlement.

I finally got up there to check on their sanity and
these pictures should amply illustrate their utter nuttiness.
















Beer in Hand, Nuts in Lake
















Crazy Happy Smiles Over St George Lake
















Insane Jesus/Buddha Clouds
















Improvised PeaNutty Bobber
















Mad Swingin' Jesus Stuff

Bob Marley Roots Rock Reggae Festival

It was a glorious sun-kissed and reggae-soaked steamy
Washington summer afternoon on Sunday, August 27th.

The superb Wolf Trap was the perfect venue for witnessing
Bunny Wailer, the only surviving reggae legend from the
original Wailers trio with Bob and Peter Tosh.

The excellent funky latin fusion band Ozomatli got everyone
grooving early before Bunny commanded the stage in a great
all white get-up. At 59 years old, he was dancing and bouncing
all over like a true elder reggae statesman.


















Stephen kept it simple and succesfully channeled his father
while Ziggy mostly tried some of his own material which
cannot possibly clear the majestic shadow of his dad's legacy.

















So here's to hoping that the famously reclusive and spiritual Bunny
will be touring solo real soon.

Roots skankin'!

The evils of government

"The evils of government are directly proportional
to the tolerance of the people."
- Frank Kent

Hot Chili Jail Break

Here's a muy caliente! story:

       Eighteen selfish Sumatran prisoners stormed out of a
prison by spraying chili water in the guards' eyes;
thus unwittingly condemning the rest of the prisonners
to forever eating bland food. Now that's a harsh sentence.
       My lunch today was enlived by a few precious drops
of some fiery chili sauce, homegrown and homemade by
a coworker's mother-in-law from Trinidad.
       No more fiery hot chili!? That's hell.

Halloween in August

Only about 2
months till
HALLOWEEN.
It's never too
early to start
organizing and
thinking about
costumes.
I think I found
mine!

After serving
up shots all
night, some
might start to
see me like
in this picture...

Meet you in Zzyzx

Founded in the Mohave desert by some wacko in the mid 40's.
That'll score ya a minimum of 84 points in scrabble!

Hamza El Din 1929 - 2006

Hamza El Din passed away a
few weeks ago.

He was a grand master of
subtlety, understatement,
and quiet intensity.

Witnessing him perform
live was a spiritual blessing
I feel immensely fortunate
to have seen him twice.

He lives on in our memories
and through his marvellous
recordings. "A Wish" is a
quintessential world music
testament.

Like Miles Davis or great bluesmen, Hamza's gift to the world
was hypnoticly heartfelt music: simple, eloquent proof that
less can be so much more.

The comfort that we'll always have his music to accompany us
helps alleviate the great sadness of his passing.

Here's to Hamza.
Let the notes speak for themselves.



Obituaries: Guardian, NYTimes

Summer Grillin'

"i loves meself some barbecue,
and don't forget that coleslaw too"

Answer to the Simmah

There once was a prankster
by the name SimSimmah.
Cobwebs ailed the poor sir
but he loved a wee snigger.




His peers he liked to diss
spewing quips of a cur.
The meat of his last slur:
scrotum elephantiasis

Photos of a grand hunk
he flashed, the gadfly.
Here lays plain my reply:
SimSinnah, eat my trunk

HP Memory Spot Chip

This itsy bitsy speck is a chip from HP which contains memory,
a modem, an antenna and also a microprocessor for kicks.

It measures 2-4mm square and currently holds up to 512k of data.
Wireless data transfert rates are up to 10 megabits/sec,
mucho faster than the current standards for Bluetooth or RFID tags.
And best of all, no battery is required since devices communicating
with the chip can provide power by induction.

A Recovery Day

It was fairly flat day today for the 18th stage of Le Tour de France.
And FLandis said it was a nice little "recovery day" for him
after his crazy victory yesterday, 5"42 ahead of anyone else.
Just a little 197km stroll at an average of 28 mph to relax the legs, ya know.

Wait for it....

Hmmmm.... 5 gallons of
homebrew slowly
fermenting and
macerating.....
That's close to 20 gallons
of beer that i loaded with
sour cherry juice, fresh
sour cherries, jars of sour
cherries and dried sour
cherries. Can you guess
the flavor? Should be
ready for bottling in a
couple months then
maybe another month
at least of maturing.
Waiting is the hardest part.

Fun with Maps

hmmm... thirsty...

Saluting a Living Legend

You can choose to click away to give the Zizou
to the foul-mouthed Materazzis or let them slide...

Jah Foreign Accent Syndrome, mon

A 60-year-old woman wakes up
after a stroke speaking with a
Jamaican accent.

After a brain injury, her
distinctive Newcastle accent has
been replaced by a mixture of
Jamaican, French Canadian and
Slovakian accents.

Dat poo' ooman, har inna wan jam mon.

"Researchers at Oxford University have found that patients
with Foreign Accent Syndrome have suffered damage to tiny
areas of the brain that affect speech.

The result is often a drawing out or clipping of the vowels that
mimic the accent of a particular country, such as Spain or France,
even though the sufferer has limited exposure to that accent.

The syndrome was first identified during World War II, when
a Norwegian woman suffered shrapnel damage to her brain.
She developed a strong German accent, which led to her being
ostracised by her community." BBC News