Istanbul

September 29, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 3 Comments

I’ve got a four day weekend and I decided last week to go to Istanbul. I’m heading out tomorrow. Packing as we speak.

Why Istanbul? For one because it is only three hours away. Second, I’ve been in and around the Cradle of Civilization for nine months and haven’t seen any of it. Istanbul is the bridge between Europe and Asia. Buildings are centuries old. Cultures flow in and out. Many trade routes run through Istanbul. History – I want to see history. I will be staying towards the center of town in a converted Ottoman house between the Blue Mosque and Sancta Sophia, which I have wanted to see for years. It is a massive structure built in Roman times that went from being a Christian church to a mosque and is now a museum. To be under the dome is said to be spiritually breathtaking. One writer likened Sophia to cathedrals like Notre Dame or Angkor where you feel “a nearness to things unexplained”.

I’ve only had a week to research this so I’m going in pretty blind. But that’s half the fun, right?

Besides – outside of serving alcohol, I read it might rain.(!!!!!) See you when I get back.

Added to iPod

September 26, 2008 | Filed Under Music | 6 Comments

I got a “care package” last week! Some of the folks from the office were in NYC for a conference, so my lovely wife met up with them and handed over a parcel of goodies. This parcel traveled from New Jersey to New York to Boston to Vermont and then Kuwait (not bad for a parcel). It contained: my application for an absentee ballot; the last DVD in my set of Firefly; some white and red wine yeast for my homebrew; a jar of cherry preserves and bourbon peaches home made by said lovely wife (and going right into the homebrew); and the latest issue of Global Rhythm and accompanying CD of new world music. This issue focused on music from Argentina and introduced me to a bunch of new artists, including….

Bajofondo – “Mar Dulce” This is the latest album by a collective created by Gustavo Santaolalia (Oscars for Brokeback Mountain and Babel) and Juan Campodónico. They began a sort of techno-tango fusion that has branched out to include funk, hip hop and more traditional sounds, all while maintaining the groove. Guest vocalists include Elvis Costello and Nelly Furtado. Good sounds.
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – “Raising Sand” Is that really Plant singing?
Thievery Corporation – “Radio Retaliation”
Jenny Lewis – “Acid Tongue” That she has. A must for Rilo Kiley fans.
Southside Johnny & La Bamba’s Big Band – “Grapefruit Moon” This is a lot of fun! Southside tackles Tom Waits’ tunes with the ghost of Duke Ellington over his shoulder. The song selection is great and La Bamba’s charts are near perfection. Tom even shows up on one of the songs. It is a tribute to an artist like Tom that his songs can be covered in so many fashions. Rod Stewart gave him a pop hit, Holly Cole made them jazz, Scarlett Johanssen gave them a lo-fi alternative take and now the big band. And Southside voice fits exactly. Get it.

Chump Change

September 23, 2008 | Filed Under Main, Politics | 6 Comments

That’s what $700 Billion must be these days. Something you just find under the sofa. Stuffed in that Lincoln-head cookie jar. 700 trillion pennies (?). That’s why it should only take Congress (that fast-acting entity in DC) seven days to agree to spend it. For a country whose currency is scrapping the floor, we certainly spend like drunken sailors. (The new Zimbabwe?) Of course, you and I never see that kind of dough for healthcare or education or anything else. But I’ve always been more concerned with the fortunes of the Lehman and Merrill CEOs. They are so unique and special….

But the best is a statement I found on a website from the White House Deputy Press Secretary, Tony Fratto (thanks, Terry):

“Fratto insisted that the plan was not slapped together and had been drawn up as a contingency over previous months and weeks by administration officials. He acknowledged lawmakers were getting only days to peruse it, but he said this should be enough. ”

????

They planned to take over all the banks? That’s so… un-American and un-Republican. Once again the rest of us are left in a position of having to trust these jackasses because well it is a crisis, isn’t it?

If this bill passes (which it will), life as we know it will change drastically. The only chumps left are the American people. I wouldn’t want to be president next year…

One More Week

September 21, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 1 Comment

…of Ramadan.

The end of this month long holiday has both its good and bad properties. Good because I will be able to eat lunch again, which is prohibited in the daylight hours. I will enjoy being able to eat something before I get out of work, though bad because I now have to go back to working until 6PM as opposed to the Ramadan shortened 4PM (though most everyone else got out at 2PM). It is also bad because the country will now return to Traffic Hell. Traffic Hell had been suspended since June when all the kids got out of school and everyone left the country (except for expats and the Ministry). They all returned at the beginning of September, but Ramadan hours meant no one would be driving to work anytime before nine in the morning (except those of us working). In one week, bumper-to-bumper NASCAR traffic will begin once more promptly at 7AM and end somewhere around 4AM the next day.

I need a vacation….

Wisdom

September 18, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 3 Comments

The words of the former Emir of Dubai, Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum:

“My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel,
I drive a Mercedes, my son drives a Land Rover, his son will drive a Land Rover,
but his son will ride a camel.”

Think about it….

Wall Street

September 16, 2008 | Filed Under Main, Politics | 1 Comment

wow…

And it’s not even October… As they said on Hill Street Blues – “Be careful out there.”

Say – who do you think is going to pay for all these bailouts? Could it be the “lower taxes” mantras on both sides are just so much crap at this point? How do you pay for wars, bail out major corporations, pump money into areas devastated by natural disasters AND lower taxes?

Sounds like a ponzi scheme to me…

A sign of the Apocalypse?

September 13, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 2 Comments

How do you know when there is too much junk food in the world?

When they sell Krispy Kreme donuts in a KFC.

Does that make your stomach hurt or what?

Welcome to Kuwait – where Pringles are considered a staple food.

Added to iPod

September 11, 2008 | Filed Under Music | No Comments

Nothing like being on the verge of tears for a few days. Good for the soul (I guess), though I would have been happy to do without.

So… what…

Dwight Yoakam – “Buenas Noches From A Lonely Room” and some assorted singles. But this is my favorite album of his.
Return To Forever – “Romantic Warrior” Prog-rock geek returns!
Broken Social Scene – “Soundtrack to The Tracey Fragments” Canadian movie but the Scene are always good.
Charles Mingus – “Cornell 1964” I’ve heard this live set – with the sextet – was one of his best discs.
Tricky – “Knowle West Boy” Brand new! A good set from him. Still trip-hop, but many short form pieces.

Then – Broadway. Why? Felt like it.
First, I snagged the soundtrack to Company (the original with Dean Jones). A must have for me being a HUGE Sondheim fan. Then I found a great album by Barbara Cook called “The Legends of Broadway” (must be a series). I first saw Barbara Cook in the concert performance of “Follies” in 1985 (also Sondheim). She blew me away and I found she has been doing this on Broadway, on record and in clubs for years. She was 58 in 1985 and recorded a recent concert at the Met 2 years ago. Still in amazing voice. This collection includes the songs from “Follies” as well as various other Broadway performances from the previous three decades.

and Life stumbles on…

Goodbye

September 7, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 15 Comments

Just a few hours ago, our dog Jules passed away. He was fifteen years old and his joints were giving out and today he decided it was time. He was the best and Chris has known Jules most of his life. The two puppies. I’m a wreck right now, as is the rest of the family. But they were there… and I wasn’t.

And that hurts

Conventions

September 5, 2008 | Filed Under Main, Politics | 2 Comments

First – Thank God they are over.

Second – The only bit of the Dems I watched was Obama’s speech the morning after. So I watched just McCain’s speech as well (at least up until the point where he started “My opponent will raise taxes! My opponent will increase government! My opponent will suckle terrorists!” – all that holy horseshit some are taught at birth). Up to that point, I was thinking about all the folks in his own party who screwed him over the past eight years and I thought – though I could be wrong – But I thought I saw the look of revenge in his eyes. And for a moment, that made the concept of a McCain presidency very interesting.

But then he said the word ‘choice’ and I threw my Pop Tart at the TV and turned it off. He was, of course, referring to health care and tossing aside all the uninsured and those struggling to pay insurance by offering instead ‘choice’. Choice and the Market. Let me tell you – as someone who has vetted insurance companies for small businesses for 20 years – that is the greatest lie in the Republican platform. There is no choice. For one, most employers are not allowed to offer a choice of insurance packages. Most insurers don’t like competing for dollars within a company. You have to choose one. Now some insurance companies won’t take you because you’re too big. Others because you are not big enough. Others won’t bid on your firm because they don’t like your firm’s risk assessment (too many babies, large cancer claims, maybe an AIDS case). Others will offer insurance at a low cost but with half the coverage your employees had before. And there is no telling whether the low rate is introductory and will be jacked up the following year to where you began (which happens ALL the time).

Then there are the doctors. Doctors don’t like ‘choice’ because that means more forms to file and different insurance mazes to muddle through. Most limit your ‘choice’ of insurance company by only accepting certain ones (anything else and you’re Out-Of-Network). If you work in New York, you need a company that has doctors in Connecticut and New Jersey and THAT limits your ‘choice’ down to two. And because of heavy lobbying of doctors to one side or the other, you only have ONE insurer that you can choose that will cover maybe 85% of the doctors for a 100 person firm. This – and the cost always goes up. The Market argument is bullshit.

Then Mr. McCain said, “We don’t want a bureaucracy making health decisions!” WHAT DO YOU THINK HAPPENS NOW, you old fart?! You think Doctors judge claims? Are you crazy?? One of two things occurs when you call an insurance company about a claim: a) you reach someone in India or b) you reach a person with two phones on their desk. One is for answering insurance questions and the other is for selling magazine subscriptions. Trust me – that person is making $10 an hour. They don’t care about you, they don’t care about your pain and they don’t care about your costs. Their job is dependent on NOT spending the company’s money… because that insurance companies shareholders get upset when they spend money on poor, sick people. (And they call us elitist!) McCain wouldn’t know this because he has government run healthcare – like anyone else in Congress. (Bill O’Reilly doesn’t know this because he has “people” who take care of those things for him. I don’t have “people”).

So if anyone comes up to you to talk about health care and says ‘choice’ or ‘market blah-blah’ – Deck ‘em! Anything else they may have to say will be a lie, too.

Added to iPod

September 3, 2008 | Filed Under Music | No Comments

And we have passed the 11,000 mark!!

(…the crowd shrugs…)

Sonic Youth – “Rather Ripped” Good but very quiet. Even when they let go, it seems very subdued.
Yo-Yo Ma – “Plays Ennio Morricone” With the Roma Sinfonietta. He wrote much more then the theme to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Beautiful stuff.
Mudcrutch – Self titled album by… Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers! In disguise (but not quite). Probably the best music he has done in a decade.
Nightmares On Wax – A selection of a few of their records. Electronic funk.
Army Of Anyone – Another sefl-titled. This is the “supergroup” consisting of Richard Patrick of Filter and the DeLeo Brothers from STP. All of this sounds good, but nothing was distinctive or memorable. But it sounds good, especially in a car. And instantly forgettable.
Beirut – “Gulag Orkestar” It sounds like gypsy music from the old country, but it’s really a 22 year old from Santa Fe. Interesting stuff.

Now, I have noticed that there is a proliferation of young, female singer songwriters out there lately – all vying to be the next Jewel or Amy Winehouse or Sarah McLachlin. I decided to give two of them a shot. The “reviews” I saw for Sonya Kitchell mentioned Joni Mitchell and Ella Fitgerald, so I picked up her disk “Words Came Back To Me” – her previous set from 2006… when she was 16. Oddly, her words aren’t there. The music may be fine but the lyrics pretty pedestrian. Her voice is good, but the whole thing sounds like Joss Stone doing Norah Jones songs – like Norah Jones. Too lightweight for me. THEN we come to Brandi Carlile and her album “The Story”. That’s the real deal! She’s got the pipes, the tunes, the words and more than a dollop of attitude (it didn’t hurt that T-Bone Burnett produced). The odd thing was – she didn’t sound like any of the ladies I mentioned earlier. The record reminded me more of Ryan Adam’s “Gold” with the whole pop/folk/country/rock thing flowing seamlessly together. A good pickup.

BTW – Rest in peace, Jerry Reed. Your tunes have an honored place in my childhood. What would we have done without Amos Moses?