dhamba 8 live at martyrs saturday july 18th

our 10 piece global funk band dhamba 8 is doing a reunion gig at martyrs this saturday night. it's a big deal and we've been practicing for the past 2 months for it. babatunji-an original member- came all the way from hong kong, another drummer from idaho, & our genius keyboard player from madison. we haven't seen each other in many years, let alone play together. it's been nice reconnecting with everyone.

our sound is big & meant for dancing. our inspirations are africa (think fela kuti), afro-cuban, jazz & funk (james brown). we have a full horn section & 2 drum kits with percussion. and several singers.

it's kind of strange that this life & my yoga life are starting to merge. i found myself playing drums in my yoga class yesterday for a woman i met during a baptism i played at who owns a yoga studio. we did pranayama after, some yoga, meditated, and ended chanting the gayatri mantra

what's going on here?

sweet sweet roky

i spent some of my monday viewing amazing & interesting documentaries on the sundance channel . the first was an awesome docu about muhammed ali focusing on his comeback & fight in zaire called "muhammad ali, the greatest", followed by another cool one called, " the man who became king" about a sudanese refugee living in canada who is chosen to be king in his small country on the ethiopia/sudan border, "heavy metal in baghdad," which follows 2 brave VICE reporters (a GREAT free magazine) documenting asrassicauda (black scorpian)-iraq's only metal band, and finally, "you're gonna miss me," the story of roky erickson .

i was profoundly moved by this. because roky is one of the most important artists living today. he was a member of the very first psychadelic band called 13th floor elevators -a band janis joplin was supposed to play with.

let me tell you. that would not have been necessary. because roky's vocal influence was james brown. he has a BIG wonderful voice. and plays guitar like it's his last time. roky's story is sad & interesting because he has schitzophrenia. he behaves like a child, needing care & medication. his mother had taken care of him in his later years, refusing him medicine because she believes in wholistic care like yoga. as a result, roky is unable to play music. and this is a shame. because he is a genius. he is only happy and alive when playing music.
there is a happy ending. his brother gets custody care of him & now roky is touring again. he played chicago's first pitchfork festival a few years ago. so if he comes to your town, don't miss him. he is a legend.

the ledge

it's bigger than "the edge."
more expensive than a "hedge"
deeper than a "wedge"

it's THE LEDGE !!!

today is the opening of the new structure perched at the very top of the sears tower -our nation's tallest building. after watching the news about this last night, i became obsessed. so i rode my bike early this morning through silly rush hour traffic mixed with hordes of tourists, my life passing before my eyes more than once after being "kissed" by several taxis. i parked the bike and looked up at our tall boy. because i expected "the ledge" to be facing east-in the direction of our lake. i did not see it-maybe it's just too high up? the tower is about a quarter of a mile tall, it's possible those 3 little ledges, constructed from only 1.5 inches of glass, strong enough to hold a small handful of people, couldn't be seen at all. the news said they were retractable for easy cleaning, perhaps they were being polished? hmm...i thought i would wait in line and go up and stand in "the ledge." but i had a couple hours to kill, next time.

what do you mean next time?

because a little glass box that is 1,450.58 feet (442 meters) high with a 50 mile radius view is damn scary. even though it is safe, the idea of walking on that while kids jump up & down in it just kind of makes me want to vomit.

i did find the ledge , or tri-ledge, to be exact. on the west side of the building! it's hard to see in the above photo, but they are there. and i am seriously wondering why they aren't facing east so one can view the great lakes?

anyhow, this is damn unbelievable to me.

i wonder if i will ever go up there.



chicago is kind of cool. free music every day at millenium park-day & nite concerts everything from garage rock, djs & salsa to jazz & music without borders-the world program that features bands from all over the world. oumou sangare tonight (from mali), faiz ali faiz a couple weeks ago, and monday night was the feelies! on top of that, we have "taste of chicago," i actually went in between classes tuesday cause it was raining & i had some time to kill. its sometimes fun to be a tourist in your own city. through the god-awful blues bands & the horrifying food (they had at least a dozen pizza stalls, and every third person was blissfully carrying a mound of fried something or another) i tried to be objective & see the real beauty. buckingham fountain in all it's glory. and our unbelievable skyline.



chicago is architecturally legendary

"public enemies" starring johnny depp is opening today-the story of chicago gangster john dillinger filmed here. when depp was in town recently promoting the film, he gave a $4000 tip at gibson's steakhouse. nice guy.

don't forget chicago was transformed into gotham city in "the dark knight." i was in thailand when this premiered and i did not know beforehand that it was filmed in my home town. i thought, "what an awesome city!" and then, "why does this look SO familiar?" i was SO proud. because i brought half a dozen thai students with me to see this. "this is chicago! this is where i live! isn't it cool?"

i think they were impressed. well at least in MY mind they were.

and that's enough, isn't it?

dasavatharam

kamal haasan is india's greatest living actor. he's a tamil character actor who has played everything. he has acted in movies in hindi, english, tamil, kannada, malayalum, & telegu languages. a total free spirit, he is a treat to watch. i saw him explode on the screen in india with a political film called virumaandi about wars between neighborhoods over water. he enter's the screen jumping off an electric pole and on to a bull, capturing it & winning a bride.



if you like brando, you will like kamal.

during my stay in india earlier last year, i hung a huge article of kamal speaking about this new amazing film he had written. it cost a LOT of money to make it and he would play 10 roles in it. he was also bragging about it being the greatest film ever made. so naturally i was anticipating it's release.



"dasavatharam" (10 in sanskrit)-he plays 10 roles

last night i borrowed a copy of it from our asia phile friend. when the colonel asked him what he thought about it, all he could say was, "ummm, just watch it."

that's what i would have said to anyone who would have asked the same thing.

poor kamal. a genius in his own right, he tends to have too much to say. without a means to make sense of it all. and i could not make much sense out of this film. and by the end i was equally offended & delighted. since i can't offer a better review, i suggest this one and this one .

don't worry about films being bad, because often you can look at them in a different way. this could easily be filed under "cult classic," like so many of dr. kamal's films. he's a master of controversy.

i fondly remember the time i was confronted with a gaggle of indian men. their question was, "who is the greatest actor in india?" the answer, which got me an evening of american whiskey, was "kamal haasan." a proud moment for us all, they assumed i would say shahrukh khan. i love him, but he's no kamalhaasan (correct pronunciation is to make his name one word).

another time i was caught singing along to classic bollywood songs. impressed that i could sing in hindi (but not speak a lick) the real colonel invited me & 2 friends to his mansion for thali on new years eve.



knowing about indian cinema is a ticket to acceptance & respect in india. and it's my great pleasure to banter about it with them. a safer subject than politics or religion. but don't tell them they are wrong. mughal-e-azam was, in fact, released in 1960. i mean no disrespect, colonel san. but i'm afraid that you are WRONG :(


my new blog plug is from iain scott. it's great short reviews from films all over the world- 1 line review .

el parche

esteban "steve" jordan is known as the "jimi hendrix of accordian", the "accordian wizard", & best of all-"el parche," (because of his eye patch). i had the great fortune to see him at the new orleans jazz & heritage fest a dozen years ago. this was one of those rare moments when you have to scrape your jaw off the floor. steve never leaves texas, so it was a special treat. i don't even like tejano music or accordians too much, but this guy blew my mind.



i was thinking about him today after hearing that he has cancer. npr-All Things Considered, June 2, 2009 i was wondering if people knew about him. because i did not. and i will never forget that performance. and i wanted to share him on this blog so more people can know about him.

a child prodigy with a mysterious, tragic & fascinating life, watch the hour long documentary, No Rules: The Life & Music of Esteban 'Steve' Jordan , from npr's latino usa.

from wiki-

"An accomplished musician, he plays 35 different instruments.
Born in Texas to migrant farm workers and partially blinded as an infant, Jordan was unable to work in the fields. Left at home, he found friendship and guidance among the elderly. At a very young age he was introduced to music, especially the accordion. At the time, the musician Valerio Longoria followed the community of migrant farm workers and played for them in the labor camps. These circumstances brought the two together and the young Esteban mastered the instrument quickly. While he has remained close to his traditional conjunto roots, he has never limited himself musically. More than any other accordionist, Jordan pushes the diatonic accordion to its limits, both musically and physically, playing traditional conjunto, rock, jazz, salsa, zydeco and more.
Unlike many conjunto musicians, he has kept abreast of technological developments, using devices such as phase shifters, fuzzboxes, and synthesizers, and was one of the few conjunto musicians to weave styles such as fusion jazz and rock into his music. He has also recorded country, western and mambo numbers. "

baseball is the new yoga

i wasn't aware that i enjoyed boxing until i had classic boxing on most of saturday afternoon. the first fight they showed was the classic 1975 match between muhammed ali & chuck wepner -an x-marine/bartender from new jersey who tony bourdain mentions as being his favorite underdog on his show in puerto rico. at the time i did not know this fight was legendary & instrumental to sylvester stallones's career. apparently he wrote "rocky" while watching this fight.

chuck takes what seems like 100 full-on punches to all sides of his head for 15 rounds. in the 8th, he actually throws ali off balance, causing him to fall on his ass. humilited & very angry, ali beats his opponent to a pulp, cutting his eyes, getting covered in his blood...this guy, who is built like a redwood tree, never goes down. even with blood blinded eyes. wow. this man is still alive. "being a marine is harder than fighting." impressive.

and just when i thought i had seen it all, they showed the series of joe frazier vs. ali fights. and me thinks this is where rap began. i do believe muhammed ali may have invented rap. "thrilla in manilla". where ali's face turns punching bag by frazier-a pit bull in boxer shorts. i think i watched 6 fights. and enjoyed all of them. with guest commentators like james brown & red fox!

and the taunting! it's delightful.

"Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the US Bureau of Wild Life. "

{{{ouch}}}

and who knew there was so much enlightenment?

"It’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself."

and self-empowerment?

"People don't realize what they had till it's gone. Like President Kennedy - nobody like him. Like The Beatles, there will never be anything like them. Like my man, Elvis Presley - I was the Elvis of boxing.''

"It's not bragging if you can back it up." -Muhammad Ali

a couple of weeks ago i watched my first soccer match- US vs Hounduras. the US won. it was interesting. but i had issues with the constant acts of spoiled cry-babies. there's a huge difference between a man who plays soccer and one who fist fights.

and i really want to go to a minor league baseball game this summer. there are 4 in this area. i've heard they are really fun.

yesterday it felt important to me to wear my kosuke fukudome cubs shirt in honor of the cubs in the crosstown classic series which was rained out.



i think i have begun to embrace my inner sports fanatic.

i'm not sure if there's something wrong with that.

is baseball my new yoga?

watermelon, king khan & islamic gospel

i have a thing for watermelon. if i could only eat one thing, i would have to choose this fruit. the only problem is that it makes me pee constantly. yesterday i ate a whole watermelon. i often do this & wonder how bad it is. around 1000 calories for a whole 14 inch fruit, it's not bad at all. chock full of potasium, vitamin c & carbs, it's surprisingly low in sugar. and receives almost a perfect score for weight loss. how can a fruit with that much sweetness have low sugar? there's even a fair amount of protein in it-who knew? 28 grams! and very high-fiber. it's kind of a miracle food.



i use nutrition data website to figure out food information.

another lovely monday, i met with my friend who lives in the indian hood for yoga, coconuts & punjabi lunch buffet at the rock bottom price of $5.99 all-you-can-eat. and when i am in this hood, sitting on a bench with a chilly coconut watching the newest styles of salwar & hip-hop wander by, i am craving another trip to india. what is it about that place? you try to forget it, you try to hate it. it's just not possible. "c'mon, mother india! i've many countries not yet visited!" "why must i spend SO many months in your belly???"

no. i don't want to return.
i have to return to india.
no.yes.no.

yes.



i am going to get some more mileage out of my favorite wacky salwar, going to see shahrukh khan in august to "meet & greet" him at the south asian carnival




as if that is not enough excitement, this sunday is a much anticipated performance of a sufi qawwal band, faiz ali faiz .

check THIS out. and prepare to be seriously moved. i call it "islamic gospel."

wang DANG : (

i am really saddened by the news of the death of david carradine. i mean, he was "kill bill," for god's sake. suicide at age 72. one wonders how hard it could be, filming a movie in bangkok, deliciously re-discovered & put to work, his acting chops aging like fine wine.....i am sad.


only hours before, chicago's own queen of the blues koko taylor passed after having surgery. the original "wang dang doodle." her signature song, is AS popular in chicago, outside of chicago, as "sweet home chicago." i remember the first time i saw her, just turning legal at age 21 in a blues bar here in chicago. and like harry caray & studs terkel, like comisky park & the sun-times building, a piece of chicago is gone.

r.i.p.

practice. simple.

it's nice to practice yoga with a kindred soul. it tends to rub off on me, the vibrations, the intentions. and if the room is just perfect, you can't ask for anything more. i really enjoy my monday practices. it's my day off teaching and it's all about me. it starts with a lovely bike ride through ravenswood manor where all the houses look like gingerbread. this is our x-governer's hood. half an hour later, i'm almost out of my city, but very close to an array of vietnamese, korean, middle eastern & indian delicacies. i always pick up a sack of $3 banh mi vietnamese sammies on the way home.

it's been a long time since i practiced with other people. i've wanted alone time for the last few months due to major changes in my life & career. but once or twice a week, with the right kinds of people, i feel very blessed to share a space. and i find myself dedicating my practice & my teaching to guruji now. his eyes are forever burned in my memory and i can think of nothing else. because that's what he was about. the practice. and that's the only thing that really matters to me.

do your practice and all is coming. simple.

happy ending

i spent 10 hours over memorial day weekend watching the human condition directed by masaki kobayashi. this was very appropriate given it was memorial day & the entire film takes place during japan's occupation of manchuria & their demise under the russians. each part of this trilogy follows one man through his journey. the left photo is the beginning of the film, the right one is at the end. and after almost 10 hours we are not gifted with the hollywood "happy ending," which made me think a lot. cause i'm not into happy endings. i like a film to sometimes give me something more than a doggie treat. and after 10 hours many people would feel they have "earned" that happy ending. jokes on you. don't go see japanese war films if that's what you are looking for. actually, don't even expect a happy ending in most japanese films. that way you can be pleasantly surprised when one of their films end on a "feel-good" note.

this was the first memorial day that made a lot of sense to me and i fully celebrated not only through spending 3 days at the siskel film center, but also sharing a practice with other astangis in memory of guruji.


*The British film critic David Shipman described the trilogy in his 1983 book, The Story of Cinema, as "unquestionably the greatest film ever made."

李小龍 ping pong master

what can be said about bruce lee that is not already known? how can you not love him? i've always been fascinated with him & inspired by his power. i was watching a 2 hour documentary on the history channel about him, his influence on break dancing, music, of course re-defining martial art film, and the directors who pay homage such as tarantino's "kill bill" in the oh so cool & famous yellow track suit and the use of his image in advertising, such as this super awesome commercial for nokia. bruce is playing ping-pong with nunchaku (nunchuks)

r.i.p. guruji

r.i.p guruji



during conference





all photos taken by me in mysore feb & march 2005.

ice box blues

"all things break when you are broke"

universal law.

when we moved into this coach house (it's a mini house in the back of a 6 flat that we rent) it had no major appliances. i've lived without an oven for 12 years. we bought a used fridge for $100. wednesday nite i had to chip away the ice mountains that formed in my freezer to fit a gallon of stock. the next morning, we had water everywhere and that smell-that smell. the smell of a fridge dying. it has it's own "brand" of smell. i had read a lot about this issue post katrina. fridges going to corpse. dealing with them was a huge problem. people were driving their fridges in the middle of the nite & leaving them on neighbor's front lawns. result?

refrigerator wars.

retaliation? the victims would find out who did it, take the fridge & block their car with it.
some people took to burying theirs (not a good idea since new orleans is above water) and soon a garden would be growing out of the hole it sat in, resluting in accidents.

there was even an artist who, devistated after katrina & with a total lack of inspiration, collected fridge magnets & created a moving sculpture that reflected the people of new orleans.

you can read detailed chapters on the above in the book one dead in attic

and i really understand this now that my stinky rotting 30+ year old fridge is a standing corpse. luckily i'm not much into meat or dairy, so i have not lost much. all my stock : ( my cream filled frozen fruit bars, some butter & expensive cheese (although i'm sure the colonel will eat it anyways since he is completely immune to e-coli).

i want a new one. i have priced them on line. they can get very expensive, but it looks like a low end can be had for around $500.

ouch.

in our fridge research, we discovered the popularity of vintage refrigerator collectors.

i would LOVE one of these. vintage ITALIAN refrigerators!

buy local

fresh locally grown organic morel mushrooms. a rare treat. today's special at chicago green city market . support sustainable organic farmers. buy local.

saturday nite in oz

last nite was aussie night on IFC. i watched cate blanchett (probably my favorite actress) in little fish , a moving film about an x heroin addict & the repercussions of her past actions when she tries to live life clean & sober.

following was a film that i'm sure is not for everyone, but since i am used to severly violent japanese films, this was disneyland.

chopper is based on the true life story of an x-convict, best selling author (he often boasts that he can't spell, never went to school yet is a best seller) & celebrity. he's a master of pain, paranoia, deception & poetic justice. there are some hardcore scenes like him getting repeatedly stabbed by a cell mate pal & just taking it. not showing the least bit of discomfort. he is framed & turns it all around by having another cell mate cut both of his ears off to convince the prison guards he is being abused in jail. "just cut it all the way, you pussy!" this film is not for people with a low shock tollerence. in another scene he takes out his penis in a bar & waves it all over the place at his x-girlfriend he is currently pissed at & has beat up & head butted her mother.



anyhow, it's a pretty good film, but what throws this one over the top is the performance of chopper by eric bana . it was as good as de niro's role in "taxi driver." i'm a bit clueless because i've heard of this man but have never seen him in anything before. i guess he's in the new "star trek" film. i was pretty much blown away by his performance. then you go and look at photos of him and he's beautiful!



i guess he's made a handful of american films that are for the most part pretty crappy. too bad. i'm going to look for more of him in other australian films. this is a really interesting film that i highly recommend.

here's a pic of the real
mark brandon "chopper" read



eric is bad to the bone. check it out