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May 31, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 2 Comments

After five months in a foreign country, it is great to be back home and be with my family. Everything is green and blooming and there is nothing but FRESH AIR! So, of course, as soon as I start to relax, my immune system goes on holiday. I am left to just sit on the couch like a sniffling wad of gum. So attractive and fun for the whole family.

Hopefully, this plague passes quickly enough for me to actually enjoy drinking for a while…

Added to iPod

May 28, 2008 | Filed Under Music | 2 Comments

Last one before I get home and mine the library for more….

James Carter – “Present Tense” Young jazz artist sounding alot like the classics.
Foxboro Hottubs – “Stop Drop and Roll!” Green Day in disguise. Sort of.
Iggy Pop – “Nude & Rude:Best Of” I had NO IGGY! Anywhere! Isn’t that nuts…?
Matthew Sweet – “100% Fun”
Jann Arden – “Living Under June” With her great song Insensitive.
Olive – “Extra Virgin”
Pete Townsend & Ronnie Lane – “Rough Mix” This is a classic. The best solo album Pete ever did. I still have the vinyl around at home. The songs are just really strong and stand the test of time. Get it.

And I Am Outta Here!

On The Campaign Trail

May 24, 2008 | Filed Under Main, Politics | 1 Comment

And what was the point of Hillary’s comment the other day?

“Hey – somebody could get assassinated. It happens. So, I’m still in the race.”

So is she uber-desperate or simply bat-shit crazy?

Either way: After that comment, you know she’s drinking…

Seven Days

May 21, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 4 Comments

This time next week, I will be on a British Airways flight back to New Jersey for my vacation. Depending on what terminal is functioning at Heathrow, I will be spending two weeks in the Garden State… though I don’t expect to see any gardens. I will venture to see the sights of New Jersey: beautiful downtown Elizabeth, the new NJ Hall of Fame, the soon to be demolished Jersey Freeze and numerous corrupt politicians (I hear they line the streets looking for money). I have a horde of new Garcia ties waiting for me (courtesy of Ebay) and a number of Amazon purchases to bring back. I will be drunk most days between the hours of 1PM and midnight. I will walk on the beach without wearing a face mask for the dust. I may even drop in at a council meeting and cause trouble.

Also – my whole cassette phase is over! I have iPod car devices now and it seems to be working fine (especially now that I have a spare iPod).

Seven days. And it’s a rest I sorely need.

Added to iPod

May 19, 2008 | Filed Under Music | 2 Comments

There’s not much. Between work and traveling and trying to load my upgraded iPod… I’ve been busy.

Cocteau Twins – “Milk and Kisses” Their last proper album.
Elvis Costello – “Momofuku” All right! I actually like it better than any of his records since Blood & Chocolate.
The R.E.G Project – “3” Sort of arabic/jazz/electronic. A UAE trio and very good.
Various Artists – “Sheesha Lounge” The thing about Arab music is that it is all about the beats and rhythms. Whether you understand the words or not. So it makes perfect club music. These are all Arab artists on this CD.
Scarlett Johansson – “Anywhere I Lay My Head” Of course! And it comes out tomorrow. And I will love it – I just know it! This is her record of all Tom Waits covers and it has gotten some nice notices. And Tom is touring!! But again he is only traveling briefly through the southern states. Damn! Tom never comes to Kuwait…

Saki

May 14, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 2 Comments

My favorite thing about the Kuwait Airport is The Pearl. The Pearl is the first/business class lounge (and that is what I have been allowed to travel between offices). It is spacious, quiet, comfortable – with food readily available, wi-fi for your laptops and BBC World playing on the various TV screens. But what makes this place special to me is a set of book shelves located as you enter, to the right of reception. It stands about seven feet tall with six shelves filled with paperbacks. On the bottom shelves are travel books, Arabic books and self-help. And there are the occasional Steven King, Nora Roberts and the latest “in” author (Cormac McCarthy is everywhere). However, the rest of the books are classics – SERIOUS classics. You’ve got your Shaw, your Balzac, Plato, Steinbeck and various other up-n-comers. You need the Upanishads or Taoist teachings? There they are. This is a better selection of books then I have found anywhere else in my short stay in the Middle East. And they are available to just sit and read while you are waiting or purchase. So I purchase. I’ve picked up two Italo Calvino novels, Hemingway’s Death In The Afternoon and even a copy of Hunter Thompson’s Generation Of Swine.

But my favorite purchase came just the other day on my way to Dubai. I found a collection of short stories by Saki. His real name was H.H. Munro and he wrote during the early 1900s. I have not seen his work since the eighth grade, when I bought a collection of stories from Scholastic Books in school. (Back then, Scholastic Books used to let young readers buy LITERATURE, as opposed to now where all you can get are Telli-Tubby books and Star Wars serializations. Imagine ordering a collection of H P Lovecraft – as I did then – from that company these days. Someone’s head would explode.) The Saki collection was – wrongly – placed with the horror and sci-fi books. But with stories about talking animals and werewolves, what else were they going to do? I remember two of these stories – Tobermory and Gabriel-Ernest – both of which appear in the new collection. The rest (if I read them) were certain to go right over my eighth grade head. However, they are great to read now, some thirty-five years later. He has a style that is witty, compact, satirical and sometimes more than a bit dark (right up my alley).

Small bio fact – Saki died at the age of 46 during WWI. The story goes that he was on the battlefield in France, hunkered down in a trench, and his last words were: “Put that bloody cigarette out!” Seconds later, he was shot through the head.

Chris

May 9, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 1 Comment

I don’t usually talk about my son out here. He’s a teenager and he might get… upset. But he has assured me that he does not read this page because blogs are – and I quote – “gay”. Whether he meant just homosexual or full-on nelly, he did not specify. So, let’s talk about him behind his back.

I miss him. I miss Kerry and the dog too, of course. But I miss Chris and in a number of ways. He had a performance last weekend with the dance group (yes- dance) at school. This is the second year he performed with this group. Last year he was doing Justin Timberlake moves to a pop song and was amazingly good. This year – they did a scene from “Guys & Dolls”.

And I missed it. Which may not seem like a big deal, but I don’t remember missing ANY other moment like that in his life. I was the weekend parent, so I have been with him at every basketball game, baseball game, and birthday party. His class trip to Philadelphia. I took him to his first concert (a story unto itself). We go camping – both when he was in Boy Scouts and later with friends. Every Easter (since his mom was working) we would go down to the Keansburg amusement park. I’ve taken him for really bad haircuts! We’ve gone to Broadway together and we’ve seen Tom Waits in concert. We’ve traveled by car, bus, train, plane and boat.

I think – for awhile, at least – that time might be passed. And it’s not just because I am thousands of miles away. That distance will cause me to miss camping this summer and the Warped Tour and events like the other night. But mainly… it may just be time. Time for him to not be chaperoned. To not have his parents watching him every second. Time for him to do it on his own.

And that SUCKS… for me.

Don’t get me wrong. He still pisses me off. Often. For one, he is officially taller than I am. For two… he is so unfocused. Why doesn’t he want something? You know, have a need, have a want that obsesses. For me it was theater. Others – sports or cars or music or… whatever. Something that causes you to always talk about that one thing to the point of annoyance of everyone around you. The wanting is what propels you in life. I wish desperately for him to have that want.

When I get home in a few weeks, I will see Chris graduate from high school – the end to a long, torturous ordeal for everyone. And whether he walks down the aisle or not, I’m still going to be proud. And happy to be there.

Driving In Kuwait – Part 2

May 6, 2008 | Filed Under Main | No Comments

On May 1st, it became illegal in Kuwait to drive and use a cell phone.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

yeah, it was pretty funny.

That’s sort of like making it illegal to carry a gun in a war zone. Supposedly, it’s illegal to speed and drive recklessly, too.

Added to iPod – Over 10,000!

May 4, 2008 | Filed Under Music | 1 Comment

At last! One goal accomplished. Now if I can just win the lottery…

Randy Newman – “Good Old Boys”
M83 – “Saturdays = Youth” One of my ‘soundtrack’ bands. This is their latest.
Various Artists – “Different Strokes for Different Folks” This is a Sly and the Family Stone tribute. Generally, I hate tribute records. But this one is fun – very hip-hop, with Ce-Lo, the Roots, Chuck D, Big Boi, and a bunch of others. They use samples of the originals and re-mix. You got Steve Tyler singing Higher with Sly and Joss Stone and John Legend doing Family Affair. It works.
Simon & Garfunkel – “The Essential Collection” I have the cassette in the car and you forget how many of these songs you actually know.
The Afghan Whigs – “Black Love”
Herbert Von Karajan & the Berliner Philharmoniker – “Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies No. 4, 5 & 6”
Portishead – “Third” Yeah, this is a challenging album. But I like it. At least they didn’t copy their sound from a decade ago. That’s an artist, right?