Saw this article about the star VY Canis Majoris and how it's being examined by a new European space telescope. What was particularly cool about it was that we'd only recently seen an episode of Cosmos where Carl Sagan explained the life cycle of stars, particularly the same exact death throes of a red giant that they're currently observing from VY Canis Majoris.
And speaking of Carl Sagan, here's a fabu Cosmos/Matrix mashup that Sarah found recently
Hope all of y'all had a happy Thanksgiving. And a special salute to members of the readership who work retail. Good luck getting thru the rest of today's Shopping Madness(tm). We had to cancel our plans for the weekend at the last minute when I came down with some kind of cold. Sore throat, mostly, but also some congestion and general feeling of malaise. It seems to be clearing up -- a couple of days of lying around, doing nothing but drink tea and watch TV and take medicine seems to be helping. Seeing as how we weren't having a trad. holiday with family we decided to go all the way (this is the same impulse that lead me, some years back, to cook Thanksgiving lasagna) and had dinner at Spice & Curry which is now my go-to choice for non-buffet Indian in Durham. Awesome food: spinach pakora (maybe not the best we've ever had there but still way better than most pakoras I'm used to getting at other places), paneer dosa, and lamb pasanda (super delicious sauce which seems from the recipes I could find on the internets to be mainly yogurt, spices, ground almonds).
Sorry the following is too late to help w/ your Thanksgiving menu. There's always Xmas...
XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 22 nov 09)
Satellite City :: Noiseshaper
New York - Addis - London: the Story of Ethio Jazz, 1965-75 :: Mulatu Astatke
Singapore A-Go-Go :: various
Vagarosa :: Céu
Travelling the Face of the Globe :: Oi Va Voi
Tumbele!: Biguine, Afro & Latin Sounds from the French Caribbean 1963-74 :: various
Este Mundo :: Rupa & the April Fishes
Son de mi Tierra :: Son de Madera
Exotic on the Speaker :: Soulico
Things I Wanted to Do :: Chembo Corniel
this week's video feature: Oi Va Voi
Driving home tonight I heard an ad on the radio for a local Baptist church which touted their belief in young earth creationism. Aiya! The guy talking actually said that the age of the earth is not measured in millions of years but thousands. Okay, so I guess I have to grant that they have the right to advertise. But I'm not sure I want to support media outlets that choose to take money to air ads promoting such high-grade idiocy.
As an antidote to that, we watched a couple of episodes of Cosmos.
science!
I've seen in a couple of places on the internets (including from Ta-Nehisi Coates) that some groups are questioning Caribou Barbie's bona fides on anti-abortion issues. This should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the history of the French Revolution.
Jacobins FTW...
In other political blatheration news, there's been a lot o' screaming about some climate change e-mails. I first saw this over the weekend and I gotta admit when I saw that the list of people pushing the story (aka freaking out) included Malkin, Hot Air, etc I assumed it was a lot of sound & fury signifying nothing. Which, indeed, is what it seems to be. One might say that it's a failing to assume an argument is wrong based on who is making it. And I'd have to agree with that. On the other hand, context and history mean something. If you've demonstrated over time that you're a fucking moron, I'm probably gonna be (at least) skeptical of anything you say.
Things I do not like (part infinity + 2): Whatever idiot was using a leaf blower earlier this morning. Actually, what really gives it that special flavor of stupid is that they were only using it for about 15 min. tops. Srsly? You've got 15 min. of leaf blowing to do and 8am on a Saturday strikes you as the best time to do that? It's one thing if my dog wakes me up a 7am on a Saturday. She doesn't have a wrist watch. Or a calendar. I hold those with opposable thumbs to a slightly higher standard.
(part infinity +3): Aiya! Cut Xmas trees at the TROSA lot and at Kroger yesterday. And in case you're keeping score at home, that's almost a week before they showed up last year. And the depressing thing is, we apparently have no one to blame but ourselves. According to a story I read in the N&O yesterday, about two local radio stations going to an all Xmas music format this week (which I suppose I should give them credit for restraint, since the cable seasonal music channel has been on it since Nov. 1), both of the stations reported that they'd been getting complaints wondering why they hadn't started playing Xmas music yet.
XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 15 nov 09)
Tumbele!: Biguine, Afro & Latin Sounds from the French Caribbean 1963-74 :: various
Vagarosa :: Céu
Travelling the Face of the Globe :: Oi Va Voi
Television :: Baaba Maal
Things I Wanted to Do :: Chembo Corniel
Timba Talmud :: Roberto Rodriguez
Imidiwan : Companions :: Tinariwen
11:11 :: Rodrigo y Gabriela
African Classics :: Samba Mapangala & Virunga
Yatra (Nomadic Souls) :: Kailash Kher & Kailasa
this week's video feature: Kailash Kher & Kailasa
I'm no doubt late to the party on this but I just found a very cool Durham photo site. Lots of good stuff there, which you could guess from the name, Oh Snap! Durham.
Started watching AMC's new version of the Prisoner. Which I'm quite enjoying, even tho there seems to be a lot of opinion on the internets that it sucks. I can see some of their points altho one of the things I read, they lost me when their list of things the remake got wrong was that they should have made Six a super-spy a la Jason Bourne. Oh sure cos that's just like the original.
When we saw John Wesley Harding last week, he came out at the beginning and before introducing Daniel Wallace he corrected a bunch of mistakes in the local paper's story about the gig. Including that this was not the first time he'd ever played a show in Durham (once before back in the early 90s) and that this was not his first local show in 7 years (he did a show out at Fearrington either last year or 07).
In the spirit of correction I mentioned above, I should point out that the "3 Minute Hamlet" (below) is actually about 4:50. The music may be by Adam McNaughton but the performance is JWH (he also played it at last week's show but without the quacking bleeps at the end).
Watched the first two episodes of Latin Music USA tonight. I think it started airing on PBS stations last month, but we just started getting here a couple of weeks ago. First episode was a look at the early years of Latin music and the ways it crossed over to a more "mainstream" audience. Starting with Mario Bauza and wrapping up with Carlos Santana and including stuff on Machito, Dizzy Gillespie, 50s mambo, Tito Puente and more. Where the first episode was sprawling, the second was very tightly focused on the rise of salsa in NYC in the 60s and 70s, particularly as seen thru the Fania story. Lots of good stuff: interviews with Willie Colón, Larry Harlow, Ruben Blades. Great footage of the whole Fania crew from back in the day. If I had any criticism it's that the stuff with Jerry Masucci kinda takes over the show. Would've been nice to hear a bit more from Johnny Pacheco, particularly his take on how things went downhill on the business side. Was also sorry that they didn't get any interviews with Ray Barretto. Was very happy to see that Colón's great Xmas album, Asalto Navideño, got a mention. I think this ep. just resonated with me more cos even though I wasn't paying attention to Fania in the 70s, it's the roots of the salsa that I was hearing in the 80s. Even if I wasn't actively seeking it out, it was what was out there. Before I ever got into world music, if you'd asked me what Latin music was, I'd have said it was NYC salsa. And, of course, 70s salsa was the source of a lot of stuff I was listening to in the 80s, from Konk to Kid Creole to (of course) Ruben Blades.
Side-note: among the many things I learned from these 2 episodes is that keeping track of all the Colóns in NYC Latin music is like keeping track of the Diabates in the Malian scene.
Hey now. Awesome story outta Bawlmer about the triumph of the flamingos. I've actually been to Cafe Hon. It was back about 96 or 97 (so, before they had the controversial giant flamingo) and I went with my friend Pru and her Aunt Florence to the big hair contest. Just fabulous. Lots of hons. I don't remember if there were any drag queen hons, altho there may have been. A real slice of Charm City charm and a great memory. I think I even have some pics somewhere. I should find them and get them scanned. And we definitely need to get back to Cafe Hon next time we're in town.
good times indeed...
XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 8 nov 09)
Tumbele!: Biguine, Afro & Latin Sounds from the French Caribbean 1963-74 :: various
Timba Talmud :: Roberto Rodriguez
Adventures in Paradise :: Waitiki 7
Travelling the Face of the Globe :: Oi Va Voi
11:11 :: Rodrigo y Gabriela
African Classics :: Samba Mapangala & Virunga
Soldier's Songs: the Irish Abroad and Soldiering :: Captain Mackey's Goatskin and Stringband
Zama Zama :: Battlefield Band
Television :: Baaba Maal
Things I Wanted to Do :: Chembo Corniel
this week's video feature: Baaba Maal
The nice things about Facebook are that you can re-connect with old friends and stay in touch with folks you know who are far away. On the downside, though, all those little things you learn can include the unsavory political views of those you work with. You think WHAT?!? (And, yes, I'm sure that people have said that about me).
c'est fromage...
One of the good things about cooking a whole duck (which Sarah did today, using the smoker), other than the obvious fact that you get to eat tasty duck, is that you end up with by-products. So right now I'm rendering the fat out of the last bits o' skin. Plus I'm making stock from the carcass.
Yum.
(note: the following has nothing to do with duck)
The latest dispatch from the cutting edge of bacon technology: Bacon Attack!. If you've spent any time on the internets (and you clearly must or you'd never have ended up here), you've probably seen the original bacon burger. Well, that was merely high-concept thinking (if bacon on a burger is good, then a burger made of bacon must be better). Where Bacon Attack! excels is that they answer that question. Using science. And it turns out that, no, a burger made entirely of bacon is not very good. So they set out to make it good. And in the process also whip up some bacon fat mayonnaise and bacon-laced burger buns. Wow.
hats off, indeed.
Well, I was planning to be productive today. I even got a head-start on some garden work yesterday afternoon. Pulled out the dead tomato plants and started removing the landscape fabric between the raised beds so we can replace and remulch. It actually worked fine. Nothing had grown up thru the fabric. But the pine bark had broken down and weeds and stuff had started growing on top of the landscape fabric. We have a bunch of gravel over where the shed used to be. Thinking about digging that up and using it in the area around the raised beds.
But, then we went back to Hong Kong for dim sum. This time with Phil, Sta Salsera, S & D. It's definitely less crowded on Saturdays. A fine time was had by all but somehow when I got home the idea of doing anything useful seemed much less appealing.
Will try again tomorrow.
More stuff you've probably already seen elsewhere on the internets: Joss Whedon offers to buy the rights to the Terminator franchise. Go for the comedy, stay for the ridiculous comment war between Joss-haters and Joss-fans.
Lost track of this last week, but it's a pretty cool thing -- a piece on HuffPo about Montalto. She does a great job of capturing the place. I have such great memories of that trip. Jeez, ten years ago. In some ways it seems like it was just the other day and in others it's like a completely different life.
Related only by proximity, here's a video of the P.S. 22 Chorus. From Staten Island. Shaolin represent! Altho they're apparently something of an internets sensation, I only first heard them when their version of "Pictures of You" got posted on boing2 last week. I played this one ("Jóga" by Björk) this morning on my show. My first foray into playing youtube clips on the radio. From a DJ-ing perspective, it worked fine. I'll have to listen to find out how it sounded on the audience side.
w00t!
John Wesley Harding is playing a show In Durham. This Friday!! It's a benefit for Urban Ministries of Durham. And his first local show in something like 7 years. I think we saw his last one (at the late, lamented Go! Studios in Carrboro). Also saw him opening for Jimmie Dale Gilmore at the Cradle way back when and also a short set at the Borders in Cary (way back when that was the only Borders in the area). I'm assuming that this will either be a solo show or one of the small acoustic combo shows, like the one he did at Go. Not that there's any way I wouldn't be there.
good times...
XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 1 nov 09)
Imidiwan : Companions :: Tinariwen
Adventures in Paradise :: Waitiki 7
Television :: Baaba Maal
Zama Zama :: Battlefield Band
11:11 :: Rodrigo y Gabriela
Exotic on the Speaker :: Soulico
the Sound of Wonder! :: various
la Salida :: Dislocados
rivermudtwilight :: les Triaboliques
Rocksteady: the Roots of Reggae :: various
this week's video feature: Waitiki 7
This morning around 7.45, I was voter #35. Parking lot outside was mostly empty. No candidates electioneering, just two kids with a Common Cause petition. Quite a change from last year.
Thing I didn't expect to hear on the radio yesterday: I'm walking by one of the radios at work and it's tuned to the hot dance hits station. They're just finishing up "Open Your Heart" and the DJ (or programmable DJ-bot) comes on, does a legal ID and delivers an obvious tagline ("songs you can sing along to" or something like that). And proceeds to play "One More Time" by Daft Punk. Quoi? Did Daft Punk break mainstream and I missed it? I think that was actually more surprising to me than the rock station playing Fugazi.
Friday night we went to see Gal Costa in concert at Duke. Her first time ever in North Carolina. Amazing show. Breathtaking. Just Costa and guitarist Romero Lubambo. They had a great rappart -- lots of fun, esp. when Costa told us that Lubambo was "heavy metal" and he ripped off a few bars of "Stairway to Heaven" to illustrate.
Very much a bossa nova inspired evening. Covered a lot of the same territory as the Nascimento & Jobim Trio show from last fall. One thing that's becoming clearer to me is the way that bossa nova, and Jobim songs in particular. unite Brazilians. Okay, that's probably an overstatement. Brazil's a big country with a lot of people. But there were moments on Friday, including "A Felicidade" and "Chega de Saudade", where Costa just gestured to the crowd and about one-third of the audience sang the next lines. Got me wondering if there's any composer or artist that would get that response from an American audience. 60 years ago probably someone like Irving Berlin. All I can come up with is the Beatles.
