Новый Уренгой (a.k.a. Novii Urengoi)

A lovely little nook in the Arctic... bless Russian internal flights, especially from 2 a.m. to 7 in the morning.

(Euro) Vacation Love

Eat, Love, Pray

Etruscan Invaders

Uxuriousness..that's my favorite kind of love. Excessive love of one's wife and handsome soldiers.

I am speechless.

Miss Bavaria 2009!

Kershaw is Back!

The best reason for going out and buying Songlines this month is the live Ali Farka Toure track on the enclosed CD that was recorded in Andy Kershaw's flat in 1987 when Toure made his first trip to the UK.

Kershaw doesn't seem to be back on BBC yet, but seems to be much better off now. He chooses the playlist on the Songlines CD this month (also an unreleased Tinariwen track!) and I hope he will be back on the air soon.

I Told You All! No Mud!!!

Holy Bloc Party!

Did I mention is was d-r-y! I have been spoiled and may need to quit glasto while I am ahead considering all the mud slop I have dragged my behind through.

God bless Hober and the fact that The Boss was less important to everyone than Franz Ferdinand, who got my "holy shit, I didn't expect them to be that good" award.

This is the old lady sporting her hot pants near the rubbish bin and loos, which I think is a really nice art shot. I mean, I don't mean to say she looks trashy. Quite the opposite. Get it? This picture really is for Noam and Shelagh, who realized that these were THE hot pants for the Mrs.

Emily, this was the Joby-cam!

This is me, dancing during Lily Allen...or someone that sounded like Lily Allen. At least I know I saw Lily Allen, but it was from a far way away. She was good. Fuck You was very entertaining.

Rolling Stones next year?! That would be cruel to me.

Now we have to focus on moving and other essential elements of life. No more screwing around. Glasto is over, but there are more photos HERE at El blog de arena!

My Wellies Seem Heavy to Carry!!!

Nothing like a bit of LIGHT rain!

The forecast might not actually adhere to the 10-day predictions. Imagine that. Bridgewater again...


...but perhaps the BBC knows better and this is actually closer than Bridgewater.

Leave the Wellies at Home?

10 day forecase for Bridgewater, UK, closest city to Glastonbury...

Art’s Own Kind

Very excited to see this exhibit tomorrow, Art's Own Kind - Afrobeat and the Art of Lemi Ghariokwu, which is on at Rich Mix in London for the next month.

There's even a blog to teach me something before I go...

Why One Endures the (threat of) Mud at Glasto?

It is very simple.


In about a month on a stunningly sunny day, mark my bloody words, I will park my butt in a field in front of a massive Pyramid...this Pyramid in fact, but with fewer farm animals, less snow and only sun.


There I will watch one of my favorite Touareg rock bands.


This is really just an intro to the Eagles of Death Metal (who I actually didn't know), but it would really fuck with your brain to go from Tinariwen to Spinal Tap!!!


I am not making this up (see here)...and Spinal Tap can only be followed by something like Dizzee?!?!!


Now, just when you think it is over, the organizers go all "Woodstock" on us and resurrect Crosby, Stills and Nash.


Just when I am too overwhelmed, imagining my mother-in-law seeing CSN at Woodstock 1969, I have to duck out of Kasabian to make it to see the finale from Senegal...


Then realizing that was just the pre-finale and running at a full sprint, I dash back over to the Pyramid thingy to catch the last songs of Franz Ferdinand!


And that is just my schedule on the second day...

Honey, Our First Dance!

This news just in...well, another breaking story from Bob Boilen, anyway.

The Flaming Lips' song "Do You Realize??" is about to become Oklahoma's official rock song. Gov. Brad Henry signs that executive order April 28.

Musically Inclined

These days, I have excuses for not blogging. Between eMusic, spotify and my quickly growing iTunes, what is a boy to do? Even before this little New Yorker observation, it seemed the writing was on the wall. Music is changing!

Spotify seems too good to be true and I fully trust someone is trying to kill it. This, combined with the relatively cheap downloads on eMusic, makes me a distracted boy. What shall happen when our phones stream? I think iTunes might be dead soon. You heard it from me.

As for the New Yorker's idea that live shows will start being more expensive, allowing one to get new stuff with a concert ticket, this makes sense to me. I would pay a lot to see Nuru Kane again after last Saturday's show at Passing Clouds. Best £6 I have spent in ages and made me very happy.

Tomorrow is Oumou Sangare! Happy, happy spring.

Bill, I will fight you!

Middleton Square Squatters

Kids today.

On an Island with Baaba Maal

Via my favorite producer, who I can't really link to since he's not blogging, on myspace, facebook or other (reputable) social networking site, I heard Desert Island Disc's guest this week, Baaba Maal.

Photographed by Jonas Karlsson at the Soumbedioune Beach Fish Market, in Dakar, Senegal, on January 20, 2004.

With the exception of Noir c'est noir, I could listen to this play list for a few decades. And I hadn't heard Kaouding Cissoko, which now will greatly enhance my kora collection.

Bamako...and Samuel Bosso

Strolling through the streets of Barcelona, and what do I see? A photo exhibit of African artists entitled Bamako. (There seems to be a common theme here...) Of all the amazing images, I was most surprised by the story and work of Samuel Bosso, who has lived and worked in Bangui, Central African Republic since leaving Nigeria at the age of 10 as a result of the Biafran War. He opened his own photo shop at 13 and would send his maternal grandmother photos to let her know he was OK.

"He used scraps of film to photograph himself posing disguised and playing different roles. He sent the pictures to his family in Nigeria. For thirty years, he has been making self-portraits, which express a reflection about identify, otherness, unspeakableness, and correctness."


Little did I know he was the iconic image on the 2005 Africa Remix CD, which I own. (I need to pay better attention!)

With this photo, I wanted to say to westerners, 'Look, we had our own democracy before you came, we had our own rulers, our own presidents, but it was our ruler that you came and got rid of, and in his place, you set up your hierarchies, your systems.' It's about the things they did in the past, and the things that they continue to do. On the surface they cover it up, but beneath the surface it's the same as ever.

Great 2002 article in the Guardian.

Sorry I missed the full story when he was here...and when I was in Bangui. But never to late to learn more. This book has these images and many of the other amazing work from the show in it.

Maybe I should move to Berlin!

Oh my god. Yes, I am too old, but whoever said you don't discover new music after 30 was just plain...dumb and under 30.

Holy...shit.

Maybe I should move to Berlin!

Modeselektor, both remixes for boys and girls on myspace. Or, for more fun...don't press here!

Musical meandering...thanks to NPR and Prince

"Hearting" NPR like always, I wanted to sing thanks and praises for Bob Boilen, who I tried to befriend on Facebook, but he hasn't accepted me yet. At least I am on the NPR Community! No friends yet, however. I am a late bloomer, as most people know.

I love so many things, like the story If Abraham Lincoln Had An iPod, which makes me want to go and create Dostoyevsky's and Mandela's and Mao's iPod! I could waste a lot of time, but it would be fun!

I also love the last edition of All Songs Considered, especially the new Morrissey, Lily Allen and K'naan track. And who know Jason Schwartzman was a musician, until Bob Boilen's last show?

Finally, keeping it real, my old lady and I watched Purple Rain last night. She was a Purple Rain virgin, if you can believe that. It stirred up many memories!

First, André Cymone, "Survin in the 80s", which was certainly better than the cleverly named next album, "AC". I believe I have discovered my new look.






Then, a surprise to realize Jesse Johnson is still alive and on myspace???


Vanity was not. Nor did her acting inspire me to do anything more than download Nasty Girl, which is entirely legal since I own it, I think.


The main surprise was that Wendy and Lisa, the obvious heart and soul behind Purple Rain (according to the film) are still making music! They are also on myspace.


Such things I did not know.

An Ode to Wodka!

Lovely little piece in the paper the other day: Country, Vodka and Sour Cream. Includes some impressions of Brighton Beach as well as a general tutorial excerpt from A History of Vodka by William Pokhlebkin, which I need to get...clearly.

There are no bars for us to visit in Brighton because they are anathema to the Russian manner of drinking. Pokhlebkin, perhaps the most passionate and erudite defender of vodka consumption in recorded history, notes that "the correct role of vodka at a table drink is to accompany and to highlight exclusively Russian national dishes. Above all, vodka is the appropriate drink with meat and meat-cereal dishes, with salty and sharp-tasting dishes, and with fish." No less than the Italians or French, Russians treat drinking as part of a complete gastronomic experience, and divorcing the two would be unthinkable for anyone with a modicum of taste. But perhaps because our foods are less sensuous or readily appealing than Mediterranean cuisine ― sour cream is not so sexy, it turns out ― only the bottle lingers in the imagination.

My last jaunt to Brighton Beach had more sharp-tasting dishes than I could name!

Another Chocolate President...in Azerbaijan?

Continuing the first chocolate president thread...


...catch this story about Azerbaijan!

In the capital city of Azerbaijan, a new chocolate cake called Obama has appeared for sale, writes Day.Az.

For 15 manats (more than 600 rubles or $18.59) everyday Azerbaijanis can now purchase "Obama" and cut him into pieces to be eaten while drinking tea.

It had been previously reported that the name of the US president has become a popular brand. In honor of Obama, streets, barber shops, schools and even a grade of heroin have been renamed.

Hello iMac

And on the 9th day of January, P&M produced and iMac.

We haven't been the same since. M keeps watching Gitmo re-runs on the Daily Show and I can't even get her to leave the house, let alone allow me a few minutes to watch the new t.a.t.u video on youtube. If anyone finds us, you will know the cause of our demise.