Oh Lord - #2
January 13, 2008 | Filed Under Main, Politics | 2 Comments
You know, this would be a great adventure… IF IT WOULD JUST START!
Last week, a holiday derailed my visa. Today - again it wasn’t ready. But it was “100% certain” tomorrow… except that suddenly everything is closed tomorrow! Why? Because President Dum-Dum arrives on his Middle East class trip. I never liked that man…
One more thing - If you think he’s embarrassing when he speaks in the U.S., it’s worse over here. To watch the Moron-In-Chief spit out his half-assed bromides, posturing and nursery rhymes to a group of men who are better at business than he can even fathom… It is depressing. Hell - he needs THEIR money, not the other way around.
Trip Tips
January 12, 2008 | Filed Under Main | No Comments
I like to walk. One of my first rules of travel is that you have to see your environment at street level. That is the only way to truly know where you are living. Cab to hotel doesn’t cut it. Hit the pavement like the locals. (I will also do this in Kuwait but for now…).
This morning, I was driven over to the Dubai Museum – which was closed until much later in the day. Having watched the route we traveled, I decided to get out anyway and wander. Just past the museum and you are in a much older area of town. It is near the “old souk” and the streets were lined with shops – mostly silk, textiles, gold and other jewelry. The streets are narrow and winding. The buildings are dilapidated and crammed together. Alleys crossed between. People lived on the second, third floors. Laundry hung outside at every window. This area might as well be a million miles from the tall glass skyscrapers and mega-malls. Folks were out walking – though not as much as you could imagine being there later in the day. Were they Indian? Pakastani? More? There are dozens of nationalities out here, but my American perceptions cannot distinguish. At the start of my walk, a line of people were filing toward the “gates” of the Temple Shiva. Further down the block is a mosque. When I’m ready (and braver), I will visit these temples.
On my walk back to hotel, I followed my second rule of travel: find a grocery store and buy something. I can’t eat out for every meal. If you can shop, you can cook. If you can cook, then you live there. Besides - I needed toothpaste.
Day Five
January 10, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 2 Comments
I tried to be a good tourist today.
First, I went to the Dubai Zoo. It is a very old zoo. Someone who lives here described it as “very generic”. The zoo had the usual beasties (a lion, a gorilla, giraffes, tigers, etc.) – all of whom lived in some serious cages with only the slightest hint of “natural habitat”. Most times not even a hint. I imagine Alcatraz is more spacious than this place. And every cage – every compartment – had its share of mice running around. Sad. The main attraction of this zoo was birds. Parrots, in particular. There had to have been over a dozen varieties of parrots. The place was nearly 30% parrot! However, there was also a raptor enclosure which was pretty impressive. On an overhang inside the enclosure, just above eye level, two amazing birds sat maybe five feet from each other. One was a good sized hawk – the type you see winging around Jersey (though the signage referred to it as a “common buzzard”). Sitting next to it – at least 3 times the size – was a vulture. HUGE creature! Had to have been over four feet tall when it stretched its neck, with a massive body and a beak that looked like it could bend steel. Amazing.
However, my FAVORITE attraction at any non-American zoo is the North American Raccoon! Yes, every foreign zoo has one. Poor bastard – from your back yard to caged exhibit. Next time you have a raccoon raiding your garbage, threaten him with prison in a foreign country.
Next, I walked over to the beach. Jumeirah Beach is spectacular. The beach is wide and clear of rocks and debris. The breeze was cool. And the water was blue blue blue. To my right, you can see ships coming into the port. Way down on the left, you can see the hotel built like a sail – Burj Al Arab. In between was calm and gorgeous. There are two pathways at the top of the beach – one for bikes and one specifically for runners. Neither was made of concrete. The bike path was a type of tarmac. The running path actually had a slight give to its surface. These are two deliberate and expensive bits on construction. With the sun out full and people swimming and kids playing – it was postcard perfect.
Enough sun and walking for this white boy. More tomorrow
Added to iPod
January 9, 2008 | Filed Under Music | 2 Comments
See – I can even do this in other countries!
Various Artists – Global Rhythm, Jan/Feb 2008 This arrived just before I left with another group of artists I have never heard before. Haven’t gone through the whole CD yet, but the Chicago Afrobeat Project and Laura Reed & Deep Pocket sounded pretty good.
Supperclub – “The Best of 15 Years” Ah, Supperclub…
Supperclub is a restaurant/club where you basically sit on beds while you are fed and entertained. There are five existing: Amsterdam, Rome, Istanbul, Bodrum and San Francisco. There are supposedly 8 more in progress including – you guessed it! – Dubai. When we first went in Amsterdam(2003?), it was the best experience of my life. Fun, sensual and excellent food. It was a full evening. An event! The second time (2006) was horrible. Service was slow and awful, it was not entertaining and the patrons were classless drunks. Total torture. A franchise spoiled? Maybe. But the music was always excellent (as I said, it was also a club) and they have been putting out CDs for a while. The classic is #3 – La Salle Neige. But this double-disc set is great as well. With discs like this (or Buddah Bar or Café del Mar), it doesn’t really matter who the artists are – as long as the tone and the groove work. And it does.
PS – For all the participants of the Christmas “covers” CD: please email me your set list. The songs didn’t come up upon transfer to the library and I didn’t have time to write them all in. NOW- I have time.
Oh Lord…
January 9, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 2 Comments
…stuck in Dubai again.
I was afraid of this. I can’t get my visa today. So I can’t fly to Kuwait tomorrow. And tomorrow is a public holiday and Friday and Saturday are the weekend, so the soonest I can MAYBE get my passport back is next Sunday.
What in the name of all that’s holy am I supposed to do for another four days??! I’ve already seen the indoor ski mountain. I don’t wear (nor can I afford) Dior, Chanel or Dolce & Gabana, so I have no need to walk around another mall. I’ve already even bought PEZ!
Sure – I can sit in Waxy’s for next rest of the week and practice my darts. But that will make going cold turkey in Kuwait much much harder…
Add to that that nothing I send to an AOL address goes through. Sheesh!
Waxy O’Connor’s
January 7, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 5 Comments
I Found An Irish Bar!!
It’s in a hotel in walking distance from my hotel - Waxy O’Connor’s. So dinner last night was a steak & kidney pie and a couple of pints.
Heaven.
They also have a dart board which I will be trying out this evening. Also had a “lovely” conversation with a British gentleman who used to be “a policeman in Rhodesia”. Needless to say, he had to tell me that America is the last hope for white people and that Obama being elected will be the end of the world as we know it. I told him Bush and his friends were as dumb as a box of rocks.
Day One
January 6, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 3 Comments
I watched dawn break over Dubai. My first real look at a Middle Eastern city. Except that it’s not a city. Dubai is more like a state – one part of the United Arab Emirates. As it has grown, designated districts or boroughs have sprung up. But when you look outside your hotel room, it is all Dubai. It is packed! There are a few tall buildings ahead, but most are boxy, 7 or 8 story structures. You also see cranes. Further out I can see the port and more cranes. Off to the left – in the water – I can see a sand structure taking shape that will be one of the new “Palms” (the Palm Deira, I believe). And yet more cranes.
When I was out later – visiting the Kuwait Embassy for my visa – I could see down the street some of the funkier skyscrapers that have been built. When they are all complete, this skyline is going to look pretty interesting. But right now, it is just building and building.
My hotel is attached to one of the large shopping centers around and I am sitting in a café there – The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. So much of outside (and what I have heard about Dubai) reminds me of Las Vegas and the Coffee Bean just adds to it. The first one I ever saw was attached the Venetian when I stayed there.
Lastly – when I say “shopping mall”, I mean one of the most beautiful and high-end and EXPENSIVE I’ve ever walked through. How high-end you ask? Well, instead of little kiosks selling t-shirts or cell phones littering the corridors, this shopping mall’s kiosks sell real estate. Crazy,huh?
Outta Here
January 4, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 1 Comment
Kuwait - here I come. My car is on its way.
See you on the dark side of the moon….
August:Osage County
January 3, 2008 | Filed Under Main, Theater | No Comments
Last Broadway show… for a while.
And this caps a fantastic year for me and Broadway that started last Christmas with Julianne Moore and The Vertical Hour. I would like to thank my Drama League membership for signing me up for all the discounts and allowing me the opportunity to go see theater. (‘Cause I can’t afford $100 per ticket and I don’t have time to stand in line at TKTS.)
August arrives in NYC via the Steppenwolf Theatre Company of Chicago. It is a new play by Tracy Letts. I haven’t seen his other plays (Killer Joe and Bug) but I heard great things about them. August is about “Family”. In particular, this one family 60 miles outside of Tulsa after the death of the patriarch. The house is on the Plains. As one character says, “Sort of a state of mind. Like the Blues. I’ve got the Plains.” And there is all the usual family baggage – secrets, lies and the awful truth. But there isn’t a stereotype in the bunch. And the show is hilarious! The lines are true and honest. They snap and spin out of the mouths of this wonderful cast with great timing and execution. I originally noticed the play because the young girl from “Californication” (Madeleine Martin) is in it – as the cute, pot smoking 14 year old granddaughter. Also, the actor who plays Grey’s father in Grey’s Anatomy is in it (Jeff Perry).
But the play belongs to the mother (Deanna Dunagan) and the eldest daughter (Amy Morton). Wow. Whether they are riffing off each other or cutting each other to pieces with words, those two filled the stage and kept this three hour play (yes – three hours) skipping along. As I said – the whole thing was laugh out loud funny. But this is NOT Steel Magnolias. Blood is shed and it is not cleaned up.
Catch it if you can. The Tony’s are going to be all over this.
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