Me and My Camel
April 30, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 12 Comments
I think I’ll call him Fred. He looks like a Fred, doesn’t he?
Another dusty day in the Q
April 27, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 6 Comments
When I woke up this morning, it looked as if a large fog bank had rolled in off the Gulf. But by the time I got down to my car and saw the fine blanket of dirt covering it, I knew it was just what we like to call “dusty”. Many days so far have been like this – to varying degrees. Today is rather thick. On the commute, I could barely see a hundred feet ahead of me. Not a day to be outside. This weather has been pretty hard on my sinuses and my eyes. Luckily, eye drops of various types are in ready supply out here. As are those white filters that go over your mouth and nose.
I’m told that this is a particularly bad season so far. There was very little rain. It has rained once in the last six months and that was about two weeks ago. Rained for all of fifteen minutes. However, it was quite a storm. The wind was crazy – almost tornado level – and the rain poured buckets. They even had hail in some places. The storm caused a good deal of damage – uprooting trees, knocking down billboards and streetlights, flooding some streets. Many car parks were damaged, where the wind and weight of the water buckled the coverings.
But that was it. Now we are quickly back to 100 degrees and dusty.
More Cassettes
April 23, 2008 | Filed Under Music | 10 Comments
Now I’ve think I’ve emptied the whole country of every decent cassette of non-Arabic music.
Black Crowes - “Amorica”
Pearl Jam - “Vitalogy”
Simon & Garfunkel - “Essential”
Cat Stevens - “Very Best of” Good collection.
Dixie Chicks - “Take The Long Way Home”
Genesis - “Lamb Lies Down On Broadway”
Kronos Quartet - “Released: 1985-1995″ The ONLY “Classical” tape in the whole country!
Sinead O’Conner - “Best of”
Bob Dylan - “Love & Theft”
Ry Cooder - “Music By” His soundtrack work.
TO THE SIBLINGS… and I know you’re out there…
I will be vacationing in Jersey in a month. So if you still own the technology, any fresh mix TAPES would be greatly appreciated. Remember - these are for my car. We are car people out here in Kuwait. Thanks.
Lapsed Catholic 2.0
April 21, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 4 Comments
Speaking of his Popeness and his recent American tour–
Last Friday, I did indeed find one of three Catholic Churches in the vicinity and I attended mass.
And it was just as dull and uninspiring as any other Catholic Church. Only this one was crowded! Packed to the walls. There were speakers outside so the overflow could follow along. There was even a nice little souvenir table in the courtyard – selling light-up crystal crosses, little statuettes and I think I could have even picked up a black velvet Jesus.
The only church I’ve been to in years where I could sense God in the rafters was Notre Dame. There - I could feel the weight of faith and a belief in something larger and greater than yourself. I used to know more churches like that (Catholic and others) – where just walking in could be uplifting. Maybe it was the history involved – like Notre Dame or the church in the center of Boston. Or maybe - by being in these places - you knew you had to step up. You had to listen a bit harder. You had to meet the message – rather than the message being pre-chewed and re-packaged for you in the most simplistic language the church can create without losing the story altogether.
I know a number of people who get a great deal by going to church. More power to them. But I think a larger portion go out of a sense of obligation. I think I saw a lot of that Friday, though of course I can’t be certain. But - to me - the church seems far more interested in illuminating a follower’s obligations rather than illuminating their faith. If I lived near Notre Dame, I’d probably be there every weekend. For now – and as always – God and I get along fine… and I have my King James with me.
Friday afternoon
April 18, 2008 | Filed Under Main | No Comments
So, I’m driving down the Gulf Street – off to find the local Catholic church (which I did). Traffic was pretty light. Suddenly, these two cars start playing cat-and-mouse with each other. One moves behind the other. Then that one switches lanes. The other double switches lanes. One moves in front, then behind. Then for a good portion of the trip, the two cars are side by side. I pull near them as they go off into a mall parking lot to see a girl in the front car and two boys in the rear.
What is this – American Graffiti?
And before you ask – yes, the girl was Muslim. She was wearing a head scarf. I hear the boys do a lot of driving by and honking, too.
Distance
April 15, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 8 Comments
When you are living across an ocean and thousands of miles from your home, this is not an email you want to wake up to:
“I just came home from 7 hours in the Monmouth Medical Center ER. And had a cat scan of my brain.”
This was from my wife, Kerry. It is 8:30 in the morning for me and now I have eight hours before anyone is awake enough to tell me what happened.
Kerry is fine. She was using our brand new vacuum cleaner (a marvel of science, I’m told) on her bedroom – which of course spurred her to other cleaning – when she was stricken by a blinding migraine headache that was worse than she has ever had before and wouldn’t stop. With no one around and the pain unbearable – she called 911. Our emergency services in town are the best and pretty soon, the house was surrounded by police, fire and medical apparatus. She couldn’t have been in better hands, though I’m sure it frightened the neighbors. Kerry said most of her seven hours were spent lying on a gurney, waiting for someone to see her and take tests. She also said that the ER was as exciting in person as you see on TV (though I guess a bit more condensed on TV). Of course, the doctors found nothing. They never do. The CAT scan was clear and the blood work should have been ready yesterday… while I was sleeping.
8AM in the States is 3PM here. So hopefully this afternoon, I will know something more. When I Skyped her last night, she seemed fine but tired.
Unfortunately, she will probably never clean her room again.
More Pictures
April 12, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 2 Comments
Set 1 and 2 of Kuwait photos are now complete - including a segment of “Photography While Driving”.
Travelin’
April 11, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 2 Comments
Been traveling this week. Stopped by to see our three offices in three days, doing training on the new software. Not really a pleasure trip – arrived at night, spent the day in the office and flew out. There is nothing like checking out of a hotel at 8AM and going into work. Hard on the wardrobe and not great for sleeping either.
Started, of course, in Dubai. Should you ever have to fly into Dubai, like me give you a hint: Dubai airport is VERY BUSY! Give yourself at least an hour from the time you get off the plane, get to Passport Control, pass Passport Control, claim your baggage and actually get into a vehicle to go to your hotel. Hell – you’re lucky if it’s only an hour. The gods, then, have been kind. Late as it was when I finally swung into my hotel (and I had not checked a bag), I still had time to go over to the Rock Bottom for my first beer in three months! Ahhhhhh…. And what goes well with beer in Dubai? KING GORILLA! Yes – my favorite local band was still rockin’ the house and getting better every day. What other band could go between Bob Marley’s “Could You Be Loved” and “Walk Like An Egyptian” without missing a beat? I wish them only the best of luck when they finally head back to Canada. They are a terrific bar band.
Next morning I checked out, worked and was driven to Abu Dhabi. It took about an hour and, once you passed all of Dubai’s billboards for all the fabulous things they will be building, there was desert. Forty-five minutes driving through scrubland. Nothing. I don’t know how the driver stayed awake. It must be brutal to do in the summer. Abu Dhabi is not as built as Dubai, but it is a city with aspirations. Say – Cleveland wanting to be Chicago. Not as garish nor as fast as Dubai, but hoping to grow. That night, I went to an “American themed” restaurant – which meant cowboys. The place was decked out like an old-time saloon and the wait staff wore jeans and denim vests. And they served meat (and beer). Around 9PM, not only did the Philippino cover band come on, but the “ladies” arrived. The guy at work who suggested this place mentioned there would be “ladies”, but I didn’t expect a swarm. By the time I left (like a half hour later), there were more women than men. Then I think the fighting started… These were predators – plain and simple. From the few I could understand, they were mainly from China. I was too exhausted to stick around and possibly be beaten into submission (some were muscular!). Maybe another time…
Get up. Check out. Work. Fly to Qatar. I didn’t see much of anything here. The office was near the airport and the hotel (though 5 star) was near the airport. So I didn’t see the city or the Al Jazeera building. But I did see more construction – more pounding out the stone and sand in a surge toward the 21st Century. Like the others. But Qatar is a bit behind them. So sprawling new hotels stand side by side with old tear down hotels. I can’t tell you more than that… except that Qatar Airways has the most spectacular First Class lounge I have ever been in! Perfectly designed, utterly gorgeous and peaceful. Great food and many cocktails available for free. I could fall asleep here and miss my flight. And not care…
Added to iPod
April 8, 2008 | Filed Under Music | 1 Comment
I AM PAINFULLY CLOSE TO 10,000 SONGS!
painfully, I tell you….
Nine Inch Nails - “Ghosts I-IV” Thanks, T. This is perfect. Not only that, but Adrian Belew is all over it.
Rod Stewart - “Every Picture Tells A Story” The only Rod album I like.
Barenaked Ladies - Just the five songs I like, including their Christmas tune Elf’s Lament
Portishead - “Dummy” A genre classic. I thought I had it already…
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - “Baby 81″ Their latest.
Klute - “The Emperors New Clothes” The latest from this drum ‘n bass DJ. I have one of his earlier pieces as well.
Bob Marley - “Exodus” Need I say more?
Gear Daddies - “Let’s Go Scare Al” I have been looking for this record for ages (all I ever had was a tape that wore out years ago). Maybe it’s because of the scary clown on the cover. If alt-country had existed in 1988, these guys would have been heroes. Had the Replacements been a bit more twangy, they would have sounded like this. Which is only natural since these guys are from Austin, Minnesota. Rocking, sad, funny and drunk - a perfect record.
Outside
April 5, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 3 Comments
I found a community theatre.
The Kuwait Little Theatre is a local, amateur theatre that has open auditions and seems pretty active. It is located south of here is the town of Ahmadi. I don’t know where that is, how to get there or how long it would take. So my mission Friday was to gather my maps and take a drive – to go outside of the city for the first time. It looked pretty simple to get there (and, indeed, it was). Just drive south on the Fahaheel Expressway. By going out early on a Friday (roughly around noon), I was certain traffic would be minimal. This way, I could take my time and check out the terrain outside of city limits.
The expressway has two sides. The “water side” is pretty built. Lots of square, flat, orange buildings – some tall, some short. No attempt at design was made as far as I could see. Very utilitarian blocks, but populated. The other side of the highway was a different story. There were long stretches between buildings. You’d see a small cluster – then nothing. You’d see a group (10-15) half-built structures – then nothing. And when I say nothing, think right outside Vegas with less vegetation. Hard scrabble. Dusty. Barren. The other side of the highway was in a constant struggle with the desert.
So, of course, I made my turnoff into THIS side of the highway to get to Ahmadi. Imagine my surprise when I pulled into a very quaint, very green little town – which a cricket/recreation field that was well-maintained and flowers blooming all over the place! (This all may have something to do with the close proximity of oil refineries and being home to the headquarters of Kuwait National Petroleum.) I followed my map from the theatre website and came to where it should have been and pulled into one of the parking lots. I couldn’t see it. Got out of the car and walked back down the street to see if I missed a turnoff. Still didn’t see it.
As I’m walking back to the car, I looked to my left and saw a low, small green building. Barely visible through the trees was a small sign saying “Kuwait Little Theatre”. Ah, theatre people! Give us a shoe box and a flashlight and we can put on a show for you! It was closed, so I didn’t go in. For all I know, that was just a rehearsal space. But you never can tell. If you’d seen some of the places I performed…
Anyhow, it was a nice ride and I’ll have to go out next week – at night(!!!) – to check out a show.
Texas
April 3, 2008 | Filed Under Music | 2 Comments
Let’s talk about summer music. I know it’s only April, but here in Kuwait it is about 80-85 in the afternoon and the dragon flies are out in the evening. So – summer.
Mother’s Heaven by Texas came out in 1991 and was all over most alterna-stations (amidst Pearl Jam and Nirvana) for a period of time. I’m guessing it was summer because this record has become a staple of my summer cruising tunes. Mother’s Heaven is a big record, with a big, bluesy roots rock sound. The drums are huge. The slide guitar ample. The production warm and deep yet moody around the edges. And the key was the gutsy vocals of Sharleen Spiteri. , alternately belting and seducing the song (and the lyrics were solid). Maybe it was too 80s U2 for the time, but songs like “Why Believe In Love”, “Beliefs” and the title track sounded great on the radio – then and now. A great American Rock release… which oddly came from a little Scottish band.
However, Texas never sounded like this again. This album yielded no singles in the UK so the record company paid for a stylist and remodeled the band. Soon, Ms. Spiteri appeared on the cover of every record in glamour shots (notice THIS cover). They pulled away from rock and headed straight for pop-R&B. [Honestly folks – there has GOT to be a moratorium on UK bands finding their inner Motown. They just sound plastic and dull.] But this strategy worked… in the UK. They had hit singles and songs on movie soundtracks. They were even mentioned by one David Brent on The Office. And Mother’s Heaven was forgotten. Not mentioned on fan sites. Not played in concert. Not a single song on any of their greatest hits records. Out of print.
A shame… because they never had this much soul again. If you see it in the cutout bin – grab it.