Blossoming and fruiting
calendula
pink jasmine
loquat
++++++
Pictorial Webster’s: Inspiration to Completion from John Carrera on Vimeo.
The amount of work it takes to make a handmade book is astounding. Even more astounding is the price, $3000! Whoa, a mass-produced version is available for much cheaper. It’s cool and all, but I bet Dover has cheaper clip art.
++++++
A food activist becomes a mistaken messiah!
“I don’t think a messiah figure is going to be a terribly good
launching point for the kinds of politics I’m talking about – for
someone who has very strong anarchist sympathies, this has some fairly
deep contradictions in it.”
+++++
Oil spills are aggravating
Oil spill feared on Great Barrier Reef
“The state government has been acting like snake oil salesmen spruiking
the riches to be made from exporting LNG (liquid natural gas) and more
coal, however they fail to acknowledge the environmental harm that will
be caused both on land and sea by these industries,” Capricorn
Conservation Council spokesman Ian Herbert said.
+++++
“OC life is not the life for me”
In theory this seems good, bring back all the old punk and hardcore bands for an autism awareness. I mean, how many of the old punks were suffering from autism and didn’t know it, right? But honestly, I want to preserve my memories of the band members youthful bodies,their frenzied on-stage energy and the loud, fast music. These reunion shows are stuffed with old dudes laboring through sets while trying to relive their glory days, the songs are slower and some even try to shove long metal guitar riffs into hardcore songs. Isn’t that what we were against? I don’t want sad new memories.
Orange County Punk Rock Picnic
++++++
Turkish Ice Cream Man
When I was 17, I was an ice-cream scooper at Thrifty’s, now Rite-Aid. I quit after a month because the weird guys from the nearby Hollywood halfway houses gave me the creeps, I kept breaking the sleeves of ice-cream cones making them unusable and I also didn’t realize part of my duties was to lug heavy cases of ice-cream out of the huge storage freezer down a flight of stairs. So much for my first job.
+++++
Trails Cafe in Griffith Park has some tasty eats for an after hike respite, vegetarian stuff too. It’s a bit on the pricey side so hike with money. I had a delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a very nice lavender and vanilla cookie which I have not stopped thinking about, yum!
+++++
Learn Vegetable Gardening by the Foot
For many years I gardened using the square foot method. Initially (and subsequently, come to think of it) it’s pretty labor intensive but the rewards are high yields and less time spent thinning and wasting seeds. The soil must be double-dug due to the close spacing of plants but most gardening folks would recommend raised beds so as not to damage soil structure. I used a kitchen colander for soil sifting and two school rulers to measure my little plots.
I didn’t have a job at the time and would sometimes spend ten hours a day in the garden. Yeah, I was a little OCD. Now I’m the laziest gardener ever and my vegetable yields are representative of my work.
++++++
I saw The Runaways movie and was kinda disappointed. First off, I was a Runaways fan although I was the generation ten years later. I thought Cherry Bomb was the bomb, har har. I always wondered why none of my peers seemed interested in them. Perhaps it was because Joan Jett was already a pop sell-out by then and Weird Al Yankovic had already improved her music. I have always liked this song by Joan Jett though, maybe because it reminds me of a football chant.
Back to the movie…The production quality was cheap and not in a good, edgy way, just cheap. Like they’re supposed to be in Japan but the actors don’t look Japanese and “Tokyo” is a recognizable street in Downtown LA.
The actress Dakota Fanning who played Cherie Currie was just wide-eyed and goofy. If you see videos of Cherie Currie, she was hard, like chola hard. I mean she looked like she was 30 years old and tough. That did not come through in the movie at all. And Kirsten Stewart as Joan Jett, pfft, she’d try to do this rough thing with her voice and I wanted to laugh. It was like an after-school movie for rebellious girls but not too rebellious, you know. Ah, maybe I just compare these things to my own teenage years too much. Overall, the movie did not capture the spirit of the era nor was it evocative of something monumental as I imagined it set out to be.
+++++
Among the many t-shirt ideas I’ve had in mind to make “Los Angeles: Number One in Riots” is one of my favorites. According to this list, we’re number five and six which I think makes us number one as we are the only city listed twice. Oh yeah!
Ten of the Wildest Riots of All-Time
+++++
Celebration – New Skin
Crazy about the vocals and the organ on this song. You can hear more of them and get downloads too and this amazing music site: The Sound of Indie
+++++
one more song before the end of this long post…
I can’t believe this is Paul McCartney! Why? Because I actually like it and I dislike most anything having to do with The Beatles.
+++++
From the Daily Bleed:
April 6th is the birthday of ERICH MÜHSAM
German anarchist poet, murdered by the Nazis
An old favorite showcasing some of Mexico’s finest folk dances.
Minh Oi (My Honey) – Cam Ly
A few weeks ago, I was home sick and exploring all the new non-English HD stations. I spent a good long time flipping between Korean cooking shows, Armenian commercials and Asian soap operas. One Vietnamese soap opera in particular attracted my full attention. I was pulled in by the tropical setting, the dramatic tension and then, the characters began to sing. The instrumentation sounded traditional and the melodies were everything I could ask for in a song: complex, meandering, evocative. The singing plaintive and melancholy. Were they singing about bittersweet love, family members long gone or decisions made in a hurry resulting in dire consequences? It didn’t matter, I was entranced.
The next day I went back to work and asked one of my Vietnamese co-workers if she could recommend some “traditional” Vietnamese music. She explained that most popular artists sing both traditional and modern songs and it was difficult to just get a CD of one or the other. A few days later, she handed me a stack of CDs to try and I brought them home to listen. Unfortunately, most were the usual faux-American pop sounding mush with the requisite Mariah Carey style runs completing the effect. However, just as my co-worker said, there were a few more traditional sounding gems mixed in. One of these was Minh Oi by Cam Ly.
Just as I often do when I hear something new, I looked her up on Youtube and came across this amazing live performance of this gorgeous song. There is something in her eyes, I can’t quite define it, perhaps it’s sorrow but there is something in her expression and singing that goes way beyond what I would expect from a pop singer.
By the way, Vietnamese music benefits from a bit of musical philanthropy, a contribution of Indian musical influences in melody and rhythm have made my ears hungry for these alluring songs.
Another Cam Ly song as melancholy and gorgeous as the first…
Buồn Hát Lý Chờ Mong – Cẩm Ly (2/2)
This is the second part of a longer video (part one here) so I think I need to give some context to the on-going story in this video.
A sweet, young pregnant wife must take charge of the household because her jerky irresponsible husband blows all their money on his annoying gambling habit, a daily card game with his Donald Duck sounding friends. His friends are even jerkier and get him to bet more and more money, till there is none left. Despite raiding his wife’s pockets and her secret hiding places, he demands she give him the money she’d been saving for their soon-to-be-born baby. She’s like hell no, I’m already out in my boat everyday trying to rustle us up some food and now you’re gonna take my last pennies, uh-uh. Then his stupid friend is like be a man, get the money homes. And like the vice infested jerk he his, he smacks her and she’s like OK you gonna be like that, take the damn money. And off she goes in her little boat to a better life.
It’s hard though and she’s out in the jungle chop, chopping for her food. Then the baby comes and the little thing grows up so fast, she’s almost tall enough to reach the coconuts. So mom is still all badass and expresses her sorrow through the most beautiful songs. The little girl is happy but wonders, where’s pop?
Well, pop is fresh outta money and gets his thrill through vicarious gambling voyeurism but his swindling, no-good friends are sick of his metiche ways and shun him. Then pop, blubbering and retrospective, gets some kinda revelation. Off he wanders, like a walking palapa hut regretting his poor jerky choices in life and pining for the beautiful wife and child he left behind. Will they ever forgive him?
In a tears from heaven scene he comes across them, and the real treasures of life become very apparent. In a tense last second happy ending, his daughter accepts him with a forgiving greeting…but does his wife?
I love this song!
Giorgio Moroder-Lost Angeles
Los Angeles is in a crisis but are we lost?
Reyhan – Ahmed
So the second part of my Chalga series was gonna be on Reyhan, beautiful, beautiful Reyhan…The chola looking Gypsy/Roma singer from Bulgaria who sings in Turkish, the language of Muslim Roma in that country. Sadly, she died in 2005, in the prime of her super-stardom, the victim of a tragic auto accident. Men still weep for her on Youtube.
It’s taken me forever to write my post on Reyhan because I felt it deserved something extra special, it might be done one day…
Reyhan in her younger days
Selda – Mehmet Emmi
We all love Selda, the queen of Anatolian Rock!
Trans X-Living on Video
Stop-Wake Up
Lime-Babe Were Gonna Love Tonight
Considering the term “Chicano Oldies” is accepted and in popular use, I’d like to create a genre called “Chicano Disco.” Some favorite examples above.
In Turn the Beat Around: The Secret History of Disco, author Peter Shapiro explains how the influence of the European musicians’ love for synthesized music fundamentally changed the essence of dance music. Whereas disco used to be based on funk, live beats and real drummers bands like Kraftwerk showed there was another way to create a rhythm. The synthesizer with it’s fake handclaps, hi-hats and bass drums helped create a whole new genre of disco music: Hi-NRG.
Hi-NRG had a huge following amongst Mexicans and Chicanos in the Los Angeles area in the 1980s. It was the musical fuel for an amazing DIY scene of DJs, backyard parties and dance clubs that ruled over large sections of the city. It’s a movement that isn’t well known outside Chicano circles in Los Angeles, back then most people could not care less what was going on in our communities.
I wasn’t part of this scene but my brother was a DJ and a member of Boyz in Kontrol, one of the hundreds, if not thousands of party crews that existed at the time. The crews were responsible for organizing parties, dance contests, DJ battles and cruising (cars) spots. While punk may get a lot of credit for being a DIY scene, the disco scene of 1980s rivaled punk in it’s “let’s organize ourselves” philosophy. Unlike punk it wasn’t a political choice, the self organization was done out of sheer necessity. Our neighborhoods offered very few forms of entertainment or diversions for youth.
Towards the late 1980s, the backyard parties started attracting the attention of the authorities, and by using the excuse of minor incidents of violence, these authorities begin to systematically shutdown and target the parties. Some involved with the scene said this heavy handedness by LAPD and the sheriffs department helped to create the revival of cholos and gangs on the Eastside. During the height of the disco scene, to be a gangster or cholo was the epitome of being uncool. Kids would snicker at the site of old veteranos riding on the bus with baggy pants like some anachronistic figure of the past. The disco scene had Latino kids going from neighborhood to other neighborhoods across the city to attend parties and to battle each other on the dance floor. The rivalries that existed and any tension were quickly diffused through dancing and partying. The violence that occasionally happened at these parties was mostly due to fights over girls/boys and the usual love dramas.
When the authorities started cracking down on the party crews and cruising, the essentially were forcing teenagers with lots of energy to stay home. And who was waiting for them? The old gangs who provided them with diversionary outlets. Many of us saw this process play out in front of our eyes. I’m not saying this was the only catalyst for the upsurge in gangs but it was a significant one and gives us a few clues to how we can deal with our current gang problem. The more you try and control youth, the greater the eruption of chaos. Young people need something to do, they have a lot of energy and excitement for their new world that cannot be bottled up and funneled into a path that adults approve of. Let the kids party!
Hi-NRG is still popular among successive generations of backyard partygoers. Go to any baptism, quinceañera, wedding or birthday party on the Eastside or in the San Gabriel Valley and there will be at least one DJ set devoted to the pantheon of Chicano Disco aka Hi NRG.
Please see Pachuco 3000′s post: 30 Years of DJ Culture from East Los Angeles for further reading.
O.Children – Dead Disco Dancer
O.Children is this decade’s version of Joy Division and Bauhaus which is not to say they touch these bands in terms of musical sacredness but more that they are derivative of the gothic post-punk genre of those times. Unfortunately, they have a commonality with many current bands by being over produced and over styled. Despite these criticisms, Tobi O’Kandi’s voice is gorgeous, much richer and fuller than Ian Curtis (if you will permit me the comparison). I also have a special fondness for Tobi O’Kandi because he was previously in a band called Bono Must Die. The band was eventually compelled to change their name by the forces behind the letter U and the number 2.
Kap Bambino – Dead Lazers
Wow, Kap Bambino sure changed their look from a few years ago when I first came across them through the French electro post-happy hardcore music scene and they were all dayglo and shiny. I guess the dark times have returned to Europe too and everyone’s angry again, finally! Or perhaps, bands like Atari Teenage Riot have influenced the new crop of 20teens electro crashers. I predict ATR will be the band to emulate in this upcoming new decade.
Now is definitely the time to fight.
(By the way, doesn’t it sound like she’s singing “dead lizards in the night”?)
Anne Clark – Our Darkness (Original Version)
Many folks consider this song to be an early precursor to house, the thumping steady beat in the background was unusual for the early 80s. Unlike other songs of the dark wave genre, there is a lot of anger in this song – a relentless release of feelings that struck me the first time I heard it. It’s very manifesto-like.
A remixed house version can be found on the Felix Da Housecat album A Bugged Out Mix by Felix da Housecat.
These days I only have time for music, my only interest seems to be music. The times feel rather dark. Most of my posts for the near future will be music related. Come back in a month for other topics.
Eddie Kendricks – Girl You Need a Change of Mind
Lots of end of the year posts coming up soon. I don’t know about you but 2010 just kinda snuck up on me. I’m still surprised when people keep mentioning the “end of the decade.” Ooops, can we rewind a bit? I’m not quite ready for the new times, on the other hand, I’m so happy to say goodbye to the miserable decade behind us. My apologies to the youth who called the aughts their heyday. May you soon know a new world of pleasure and joy! Afterall, the new world is there in our hearts.
I’ll start the joy fest early with this little gem of a jam I’ve been listening to non-stop for the past few days. Another Secret Disco find. It’s the break that I love. The energy of the song slowly building up with the introduction of a earthy bassline, the tempo begins to gather steam, the falsetto gets more plaintive, the beat harder and finally releasing into a hands-in-the-air anthemic break punctuated with syncopated horns and a little bongo solo. It’s the kinda sound that inspired House music.
Here’s hoping your New Year’s Eve is filled with all kinds of boogie!
Huun Hur Tu-Tuvan Internationale
If the Exuma song was dripping with magic, this Altai shaman song by Huun Hur Tu is drenched with it.
I’ve always had a fondness for throat singing but my curiosity never took me beyond the popular albums from Mongolia. In between disco, I’ve been listening to music from Central Asia songs made by Uyghurs, music from Xianjiang and Altai and few other Asian-Turkish influenced genres from the region. There is so much more to listen to but for now, I will leave you with these clips.
Huun Huur Tu-Dangyna
Nomads sharing music? I can hear lots of Romani style in this song.
Tengri is revered as the creator of the universe and the spirit the sky in many parts of Central Asia.
