Thursday, August 28, 2008

a lil' S.A.T. verbal section action for ya


as you all know, i'm supporting Barack Obama for President. he speaks tonight to accept the nomination of the Democratic Party. and some of the invited bloggers had some extra tickets -- so they did this: ... IS TO...

great stuff.

Friday, August 22, 2008

I don't watch music video shows anymore...

i remember when i was young and MTV actually played music videos - i know - what a crazy concept for a channel whose name stands for MUSIC TELEVISION. Anyhow, now that the hiphop game is horrible, i don't bother watching rap city either. so i only really see videos when i occasionally blog-surf and find new treats. here are two i found today. enjoy.



Friday, August 15, 2008

the Real Live Show at Nublu




My guys, the REAL LIVE SHOW rocked it last night. Visit their myspace page to hear some of their tracks and learn how to buy their music. It's great - I promise.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

?uest @ Love



last nite i went to see ?uestlove at a club famous for hosting underground house parties - the spot is called 'Love'. perhaps they booked him for the cache of the name?... to be honest, who cares. i went to hear some tracks either i haven't heard in a while - or maybe never. he did not disappoint. from 'the show' -- to 'the fat boys are back' -- to 'hit it run' : gotta dig a nice beatbox set. and the new busta track is just plain nutty - and he played a remix of a new kelis song called 'junkie for your love' -- not sure who produced it, but i hope to find it. the roots drummer also played a nice dose of Dilla - some obscure ones, like "eve - the dilla rmx" by spacek, and 'disco' by slum village. it was hot! -- no i mean literally, it was like a sauna in there -- and very appropriately, i ran into two guys from finland (famous for their saunas). they were impressed i knew where they were from - see, i learned something while at nokia besides geek talk. ;)

Thursday, August 7, 2008

a world away - yet as close as 14th street

i remember directly following the tragedy that was SEPT 11, 2001 Union Square in NYC was, for me, the center of the grieving city. thousands of "have you see this person" posters and folks mourning both quietly and outwardly. tonight i was walking home and came to that same spot, where hundreds of people sat and stood, in a meditative chant protesting China's hosting of this year's Olympic games.

i must admit, i don't know much about what is happening in china and tibet, but i read an article in Newsweek today, at my dentist's office, that mentioned there may be protests. the writers' stance was that the protests may be counter-productive to the process of integrating our world. he mentioned that china is cracking the door to be open to new thought and idea -- but protesting their way of life will directly counteract that. there are obviously two sides to this story.

currently, i don't have enough info to formulate an opinion -- so please tell me your thoughts on this topic.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

music and dancing in the park - with special shout out to jamie lidell



Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

this afternoon i made my annual pilgrimage to central park summer stage. today giant step hosted - with gilles peterson on the decks and a host of talent on stage. i arrived a bit late for the festivities and unfortunately missed jose james, who opened. however, i was treated to a crazy performance by up-and-comer janelle monae, recently signed to bad boy, and whose album is being produced mostly by big boi from outkast. wow! she's a trip - to say the least. her whole band in 1950's tuxedos - she has a fo-hawk-afro - she crowd surfed - and threw her kicks (converse all-stars) out into the crowd following her set. after those shenanegins, a group out of brooklyn called little jackie appeared. not as high energy as janelle, and no screaming bad boy interns at the front of the stage for them, but a nice set nonetheless. gilles spun his usual wonderfully eclectic mix of soul and world jams in between the singers. he played a fabulous remix of i heard it thru the grapevine', which he skillfully mixed with marvin's original.

but the bestest part of today's performance was jamie lidell. someone had given me his first record many years ago, and to be blunt, i was unimpressed. but i'd heard that he'd put out some great stuff since then - and that his live shows were not to be missed. 'they' were right. he has a crisp voice, and a magnificent band. what takes me up two-to three notches from others, though, is his self-production during performance. he beat-boxes, adlibs, sings and squeals to literally create new tracks on the spot. (see video below) super!!! if he's in your town - do not pass go, do not collect $200, go directly to his show. he won't disappoint.

after jamie concluded, sabrina and i went to meet up with her beau, sebastian, and his friend who was also in from france. upon leaving summer stage, within 100 feet on one another, we encountered a drum circle with dancers doing their best to mimic traditional african dance -- the famous roller-dancing circle with thumping house music -- and a pack of mid-40 year olds doing double-dutch to swing tunes. only in New York. it's a helluva town.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

dad's visit




my dad has been visiting the states with his wife for the last few weeks. whenever he comes, we try to get together for dinner and events, as much as our schedules will allow. this trip - we've been out to some lovely meals at cafe deville, atlantic grill, vezzo, le colonial and buddakan -- and we got the opportunity to go to a yankee game, in this, their last season at the current stadium. (thanks, Al!!!) it was great hanging with him - especially since now that i don't travel internationally for work anymore, we see each other only once or twice a year. fun times, though - no doubt!