Shot with my crappy phonecam but still worth a look. Did I mention they're wacky?
India Day 1: Good God, We're Here
Delhi, that is. As in India. Mercy. HELL of a trip to get here...hell, it took us a day-and-a-half just to get to LAX. We had about a day and a half to finish getting the house ready, didn't leave 'til rush hour, spent the night in a Days Inn where the I-5 and Highway 41 meet, and got in to LA a hearty 9 hours before we were due at the airport. We had a wierd and utterly scrumptious lunch with my Dad at a Oxacan restaurant he found in WLA/Venice...best freakin' mole north of the border.
Then it was errand frenzy for, you know, four hours, packing, re-packing, going to Longs Drugs and asking the Pharmacist's assistant's assistant which over the counter eye lube works better (instead of asking her why so few answers, so much attitude, so little bathing, and what was up with that colony of moles on her cheek?)
Then a lightning-fast dinner in Santa Monica. And Ila & Mort shlepping us to the airport three hours early so we could hurry up and wait. Then me embarassing Natacha by insiting on finishing up my yoga routine by the departure gate.
The plane trip--all two legs and 22 ours of it--were fairly uneventful. Except for my popping an Ambien and waking up 6 hours later in the next seat over. Turns out the little filippino lady sitting between me & natacha had to pee and couldn't get past me. At least that's what I was told.
Caught like 4 movies on the flight(s): Juno (made me cry), Beowolf (hair-raising yet strangely literary thrill ride), and August Rush which, as I told Natacha after viewing it, was "more like Nauseous Gush." Total cavity-inducing suckfest, but Natacha fell asleep on my shoulder ten minutes in and one thing I've learned about being a husband is sometimes it's more important to just be a pillow.
Also some fun little Tawainese TV shows, which I took some phone snaps of and will upload later. Nutty!
Then there was Delhi--meeting frenchies, dodging tuk-tuks, eating fantastic food, disparaging touts, and just soaking up being in India--but I've blown so much time
uploading my photos and writing this post so far that I need to go to bed.
Here's a few photies to keep all three of you reading this. Check the Flickr site for captions that tell more of a story.
We get up in like five hours to go on a twelve-day trip to Rajastan. Can't wait.
Photos from the trip
...to Phoenix, that is. My cousin Jaquelyne (I'm sure I spelled that wrong) Silverman got her torah on and made us all proud. Check out the pix on my Flickr site.
What's Up Matador
Matador Records. Back in my "indie is all" days...let's say 1995 or so, I was all about Matador records. Pavement, Guided By Voices, Pizzicato Five...this little NYC label had the best "Alternative" act roster out there. Hell, they even took out snarky ads in the back of Peter Bagge's HATE comics back in teh day. Then they got bought out by a huge conglomerate. I thought they'd gotten rolled up and forgotten.
Turns out they're still around, and maybe even still relevant: I discovered through Pitchfork's Forkcast that their "Intended Play" sampler, normally distributed in plastic & cardboard format to radio stations, has been released in digital form, for now-old-farts like myself to enjoy as well. Which is smart. 'Cause lord knows the radio stations I can get in my car don't play this stuff.
Which relates directly to why I named this blog "Idea Czar": To showcase new ideas, good ideas, or god forbid both. What do you do with a radio sampler when radio doesn't move indie records like it used to? Remove the "radio" (-exclusivity) from the equation and make it a sampler for everyone.
Haven't listened to it yet, but it looks like there's plenty for aged indiephiles like myself to relate to: Stephen Malkmus, Cat Power, some re-released Mission of Burma, and god forbid some new stuff to keep my decrepit music-taste synpases firing. Should be good to listen to while traveling. I'll save it for then.
Let's get it started
...To quote the legend MC Hammer, whom I saw perform at the LA Forum years ago and who put on a FANTASTIC show, thank you. I'd gotten free tickets, one of the perks of my summer internship at a major US record company. Hammer made good use of the big stage, with A ten-piece band and something like 30 singers, dancers, BACKUP dancers...with Hammer orchestrating the whole thing. It was James Brown on crack, before James Brown discovered crack. The experience was like finding salvation at the Church of Parachute Pants.
Anyway, my wife and I are in the process of planning our trip to India & Southeast Asia. LOTS to do, but the main stuff, like plane tix, innocs, and visas, is taken care of.
I'm always worried about if we're going to do it RIGHT, you know? Like, what if we plan our itinerary "wrong," or book a train ticket "wrong?" We only have so much time abroad and I want to make the most of it.
Okay, I'm only going to allow myself one paragraph of whingeing per post. Bottom line is I'm CRAZY excited to be going away and going on adventures. Yay travel!
I'm looking forward to populating this blog with trav journal entries & photos uploaded to flickr. But in leiu of that, for now, here's a video I made for PINK STEEL. It's for their song, "Converter."
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9UuaFfHagk&hl=en]