Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and Zakir Hussein. This is a long (60+ minutes) video but gives a good feeling for what the performance last night was like. Here's a shorter clip of Sharma and Hussein. The video's not quite as good, I don't think, since you never see both of them onscreen at the same time. What's interesting, though, is that about 4 minutes in you see Zakir Hussein re-tuning one of his tablas with a small hammer, just like Sarah mentioned in her post about last night's concert.

Interesting weekend so far. Got back over to the Durham Farmer's Market yesterday AM. Picked up some goodies from Scratch (donut muffins, carnitas & hominy empanada, roasted beet & quark tart), took Jane Lane for a walk around the market while Sarah checked out the Scrap Ex fabric sale, ran into Xiane and Steve and their dog Percy. Came home and wreaked havoc on a lot of weeds in the garden. Spilled water on my iBook. Went to an art opening and subsequent after-party. Bought a new (actually refurbed) MacBook. Discovered that the iBook had dried out enough to start so I'll be able to get the unbacked up data off here. Fun fun.
Tonight we're going to see Zakir Hussein at Duke. Should be an awesome show.

Here's a couple of interesting things I found on the internets recently. Nice article from Smithsonian about Frank Driggs and his collection of early jazz photos. Some interesting anecdotes, lots of great photos. Altho Driggs comes across in the article as something of an annoying fetishist of the past (I mean, I love 30s swing but I can do that without talking smack about Coltrane). A more "out" take on jazz and photography in this article on W. Eugene Smith and his massive archive of tapes and, well, lots of other stuff from the 1960s. Fascinating, crazy stuff.

I wonder about people sometimes (okay, most of the time)... I mean, what is it that compels someone to lie about things that are both trivial and easily disproved. What I'm talking about: I get a call at work today from someone who is 2.5 hours late on their order deadline. Okay, they just got in, the buyer that was there didn't have access to their email and thus didn't see the "hey, where's yr frikkin' order" email reminder that I sent, etc. Annoying, but fine whatever, I'll get your order taken care of. But they can't leave it at that. No, that apparently doesn't leave them blameless enough so they add that I forgot to cc: the email to their boss which is another reason why they're calling me at noon-thirty with an order that was supposed to be in at 10am. Wrong! Clearly what they meant to say was their boss hasn't checked email all morning because, hell, even if I didn't remember cc-ing them, there's this thing called a Sent mail folder.
Pointless. So pointless that it wasn't even worth calling them out on their weak sauce.

But I'm happy to bitch about it here and waste a few minutes of your life you'll never get back reading it.

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 22 mar 09)

Le Pop: les Filles :: various
Boogaloo Pow-Wow: Dancefloor Rendez-vous in Young Nuyorica :: various
Marvellous Boy: Calypso from West Africa :: various
Barracuda :: Kinky
Lo Que Quiero es Fiesta :: Maraca
Unity :: Bobby Matos Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble
Neptune's Daughter :: Luminescent Orchestrii
Naranjas Sobre la Nieve :: Israel Fernandez
Pasion por la Vida :: Roger Davidson & Raul Jaurena
Picotero :: Monareta

this week's video feature: Monareta

Farhad Manjoo article from the other day on Slate with the best explanation of what I disliked so much about the Facebook re-design: they Twitterized the site. I mean, if I wanted to be on Twitter, I'd be on frikkin' Twitter.
And the article is still worth reading even though events have caught up with his point that, well, site owners will do what they want to with their redesigns and you might as well get used to them cos they're not gonna change. This just in: Facebook caves!. Victory!! (can I get that angry mob that was running across the bottom of the screen in Jon Stewart's AIG segment in here?). Well, not so much caves as agrees to take seriously users' complaints about the Twittifying of the site. Nothing has changed yet. We'll see how long it takes before some of the counter-tweaks start showing up.

Several food news items, of various varieties of oddness:
Bacon Camp is making the world safe for people who want to find new things to do with bacon.
I would call this the ultimate in baconmania but we all know that the internets are all about topping the previously ultimate. Still I am somewhat in awe of a project conceived because the Bacon Explosion was just not ambitious enough. A bit quesy, yes, but awed. (Thanks to J. for the link)
Also completely insane but aiming for a different food demographic, it's stuffalo crust pizza. Mere words cannot do justice to its disturbing epicness. Just check out the link.
Finally, how about some heirloom IPA to wash it all down?

I might have something interesting to say (okay, it's unlikely but possible) if I weren't completely gassed. Lots of digging out weeds in various parts of the yard this weekend. On the upside, we do have a brand spanking new garden bed next to the back porch now. So that's a good thing.
My bracket meanwhile has leveled off into mediocrity. Depending on how the rest of today went (I haven't checked scores on the late games yet -- see previous 'graph for mention of how I'm totally gassed at this point) I may still have my entire Elite 8 still alive. So there's that. Maybe.
Meanwhile, a new winner for Worst Vanity Plate Ever (what-the-hell-were-they-thinking subgroup): DR SLEEZY

yikes

At the end of day 1 o' Marching to Madness, my bracket was 12-4. Not great but not too shabby. Better, I could point out, than President Obama who only went 11-5. The only one that hurt a bit was VCU failing to upset UCLA, since I took a flyer on them getting thru to a rematch with Duke at the Regionals.

Oh well...

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 15 mar 09)

Le Pop: les Filles :: various
Picotero :: Monareta
Rio :: Aterciopelados
Barracuda :: Kinky
March of the Zapotec :: Beirut
Masters of Chicha, vol. 1 :: Juaneco y su Combo
Lo Que Quiero es Fiesta :: Maraca
Pasion por la Vida :: Roger Davidson & Raul Jaurena
Guitars from Agadez, vol. 2 :: Group Bombino
Neptune's Daughter :: Luminescent Orchestrii

this week's video feature: Maraca

The internets (aka the twitscape) bring some funny: Scalzi breaks it down on the SciFi Network's rebranding -- I thihk this would rise to the disaster level of New Coke or the recent Tropicana packaging if sci fi in all its forms wasn't so marginalized; and in honor of Marching to Madness, it's the Meat Bracket. My money's on bacon.

Looks like the never-ending saga of the Rachid Taha concert may have finally actually reached an endpoint. Altho there's still over a month until showtime so perhaps I'm speaking too soon. To recap... Last summer, Duke Performances announced its 08/09 schedule and the first thing that jumped out at me was Rachid Taha and Tinariwen. Maybe by the time I ordered tix, but definitely by the time I rec'd my order, Tinariwen had been removed from the bill. Visa problems? Can't say, as Duke Performances never (to my knowledge) acknowledged that there'd been any kind of change. So that was last September and no changes until today when they sent out an email announcing that the show was now Rachid Taha and Richie Havens. Seems like an odd combo to me but whatever. Shortly after that I get another email announcing that the balcony in Page will be closed for this concert and since the tix I bought last fall were in the balcony, they're going to have to move me to seats in the orchestra. And the fact that they're closing off part of the theater and I still got decent seats makes me think that tix aren't selling very well. Not enough rai fans in the Triangle? Dunno. But even w/ all the confusion and such, I'm still seriously psyched for this show.

Windmill time! Effort being made to get CNBC to do some actual serious economic reporting. Whimsical notion, is it not?
Sign their petition. Just don't tell the Stock Pickin' Chicken...

We went up to MD for the weekend to visit my friend Pru and her family. This was mostly a sit around and yakkity-yak visit as opposed to the usual watch bad movies until our eyes bleed. Topics discussed included: bad movies, pus, M. Night Shyamalamadinggong, other bad movies, William Fucking Shatner, alpha geekiness, "what is this song on my iPod?", dogs, video games, TV shows cancelled by Fox, iPhones, typewriters, food, even more bad movies.
Also got a demo of the Wii and the Legend of Zelda game from the Grrlz (Pru's daughters and, yes, it's still weird to me that her oldest will be 15 this year... damn, we're all old and shit) and also this messed up PS2 game called Persona 3 which is all anime and has some tarot content and bizarro stuff w/ shooting yrself in the head (oh and a random tranny). As I observed at the time, what we can learn from this game is that Japan is apparently a very strange place.

good times...

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 8 mar 09)

March of the Zapotec :: Beirut
Barracuda :: Kinky
Masters of Chicha, vol. 1 :: Juaneco y su Combo
Pasion por la Vida :: Roger Davidson & Raul Jaurena
Naranjas Sobre la Nieve :: Israel Fernandez
Menagerie :: Nous Non Plus
Guitars from Agadez, vol. 2 :: Group Bombino
Lo Que Quiero es Fiesta :: Maraca
Tchamantché :: Rokia Traoré
Rio :: Aterciopelados

this week's video feature: Aterciopelados

The other day I was yakking w/ someone at work and we agreed that we could both happily live out our lives without ever hearing "Stairway to Heaven" ever again. And sure enough, in best "say it three times and he will appear" fashion, there's "Stairway..." playing on one of the radios at the shop today. That really should be the musical nadir of any day, but no, an hour or so later I'm walking thru again and it's playing Billy Fucking Joel. Feh and double feh! At least I didn't get the trifecta of awful and hear anything from the Wall.

In other news, I was reminded tonight of how entertaining drunks can be in the right setting. As long as you're not trapped next to them, it can be highly amusing to hear someone doing the yelly voiced recap of exactly where their last relationship went south. Esp. when it only takes a shot and half a beer to get them to that point.
Cheap drunk nite ftw...

Tonight's movie: Sita Sings the Blues, an amazing animated take on the Ramayana by Nina Paley. Read more about it, find out about streaming, downloads, screenings and the struggle Paley had getting the film cleared so that it could be distributed (rights problems with music by 1920's singer Annette Handshaw) at the movie's website. But figure out and way and watch the movie. It's that good. And then maybe go back to the site and donate some money to Paley.

CabVolt Mondays (pt 6)

This time last week there were several inches of snow on the ground. Today, not so much. It's 81 just at the moment. And, no, I'm still not happy with this whole daylight savings time thing, thank you very much...
Can't remember where I heard this, but it was an ad (public service announcement, I guess) about ways to pay for college, stressing a number of options that did not involve high-interest student loans. Can I get an "amen" for that... Srsly, I'm glad to see some sanity being applied to the topic. I remember sitting in the Durham library sometime in the late 90s, when I was still (around 15 years after graduating) dealing with paying off my loans, and hearing a counselor blithely telling some kid that it didn't matter how much the school he was interested in would cost because there were plenty of loans available. In my head I was screaming "nooooooo!" and if I could've thought of a way of butting in on the conversation that wouldn't have made me look like a deranged person, I'd have urged the kid not to listen. Then again, if anyone had told in 1980 that I'd still be paying off college loans in 1997 I'd have thought they were nuts. Still, even though it may have taken an enormous financial meltdown to bring it about, like I said, it's nice to see some long-range thinking at work.

Last night's movie: Coraline. Wow! The book is a fave but I hadn't re-read it before seeing the film version. So watching the movie I was sorta remembering things as they happened. Amazing work by Henry Selick and his team. We did not see the 3D version (the time worked out better for the 2D version) but I don't feel like I missed anything. There were a few spots when I thought "oh, that's there for the 3D" (the Other Father's intro scene, bits of the Mouse Circus). Seems like the 3D was built into the movie pretty organically and not tacked on. Noone playing paddle ball at the screen, in other words. Good voice work throughout. Although there are some name actors in the cast, they were mostly not SO recognizable as to be distracting. I did spend a few scenes thinking "hey, that's John Hodgman" but only his first few. Anyway, just a wonderful, wonderful movie.

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 1 mar 09)

March of the Zapotec :: Beirut
the Vodoun Effect: Funk & Sato from Benin's Obscure Labels, 1972-1975 :: Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou
Rio :: Aterciopelados
Guitars from Agadez, vol. 2 :: Group Bombino
Masters of Chicha, vol. 1 :: Juaneco y su Combo
Songs of Wood & Steel :: los Cenzontles with David Hidalgo
Menagerie :: Nous Non Plus
Coba Coba :: Novalima
Aptii :: Rudresh Mahanthappa's Indo-Pak Coalition
Unity :: Bobby Matos Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble

this week's video feature: los Cenzontles w/ David Hidalgo

CabVolt Mondays (pt 5): all the way live

Adventures in cognitive dissonance (or, one of these things is not like the other):

late model Volvo + Whole Foods parking lot + McCain bumper sticker

Snow, snow!
High and low!
Wherever we go!
Let it blow!
To and fro!
Hi-de-ho!
Snow! Snow! Snow!

from "Calvin and Hobbes" by Bill Watterson

Yes, it's the late season return of Frozen White Death from Above. Perhaps. Even tho it's been pissing down rain for the last two days, they're still saying we'll switch over to the dreaded wintry mix this evening and then to all snow overnight. 2 to 6 inches is what they're saying. Like Sarah says, I'll believe when I see it.