what i'm listening to right now

Check out this article from a few months ago. Here’s an excerpt:

“What we do know is that human nature--men’s and women’s--is widely variable and responsive to social structures and institutions. Either we can build structures to promote equality and foster egalitarianism, or we can continue to bolster and reward toxic forms of masculinity.

It’s long past time for a national conversation about unreflective masculinity as a public-health issue. Hyperaggression creates a world of relentless violence, from the intimate to the global--wars for domination not liberation, rape and battery, schoolyard bullying. While women are capable of violence as well, the vast majority of the world’s violent crimes is perpetrated by men.

The masculinists are right to point out that men are in trouble. But for all of men’s stoic emotional repression, they do not suffer those troubles in silence but instead visit them upon the world.”

What I’m listening to right now:

Karsh Kale, Broken English--This is Karsh Kale’s third album, and he’s definitely trying new things. His first track is overlayed with tinges of rock and hip hop, mixed with distorted south asian language vocals. It sounds HOT. Later on in the CD, he returns to what was more similar to the sound he established over the past few records. There are a few tracks that make me just jump out of my chair they’re so hot. Two tracks featuring super mellowed down beats, with a sitar soloing over the entire tracks. Shit sounds SWEEEEET!!! It's on.

I was looking for a map of New Delhi, so of course I consulted my latest buddy Google. But alas, they have satellite maps of every spot in the world, but they don’t have road maps of any major cities in India, or any other part of Asia yet. But while I was looking, I noticed that Google doesn’t show a designation for the country of Tibet. What’s up with that? In relation to Nepal, this is where Tibet lies. I wonder why Google doesn’t have it denoted. Any ideas?

What I’m listening to right now:

Pearl Jam, Ten—Ahhhh, reminiscing from my high school days, when I had hair down to my lower back, and the only thing that mattered was chillin with friends at Denny’s til 2 in the morning, or sitting on my friends’ driveways and hanging out on summer nights. Ahhh, if life were only that simple again. Worthless.

Check this. This is a prayer I’ve been getting into the habit of saying, and I looked up what it means:

Karpur gauram karunaa avataaram,
Sansaar saaram bhujgendra haaram,
Sadaa vasantam hridayaarvinde,
Bhavam Bhavaani sahitam namaami

I bow to the camphor-hued, white complexioned one (Lord Shiva),
who is the Incarnation of compassion,
Who is the very essence of life;
Who wears snakes as garlands,
whose eternal abode is in the heart of the devotee,
I bow to Him (Lord Shiva) and His consort Bhavaani (Parvati)

I read that, and something just struck a chord with me. Maybe it's what I’ve been praying for lately, or maybe it's that I’ve been thinking about God a lot lately, or maybe it's me getting more in the habit of whole-heartedly praying when I do, moreso than I have been over the past year or so. But that prayer’s beauty right there. How come when I’m thinking of ways to praise things, be it God or even my friends, I can never think of ways to express myself like that prayer does? I guess that’s why I play an instrument and I’m not a singer, words and language aren’t my strong point. Its all Microsoft Word’s fault, too, but I’ll leave that little rant-to-be for another post.

This weekend was pretty cool. Friday, checked out the Funkadesi show for a tsunami benefit. Good show, but the place was PAAAAAACKED. Everyone there was saying ‘oh, its always like this.’ But seriously, I could barely move. I was chillin with Ruby after the show, and we were talking to this girl that was talking about how she’s “an amazing bhangra dancer,” and I “should never dare compete with her.” Uh, hello? Did she know who she was talking to? I’m all about the love of the dance, so I was trying to take the whole competitive aspect out of the conversation, but she just kept going on and on about how I “had no idea”. I very well may not have any idea, but dude... I kept my mouth shut, cause I’m not all about touting my skills until it's time to actually use them. The only things I really said to her was she was talking awfully tall to someone she didn’t know very well, and she’d better sloooooow down... When I do see her in a circle sometime, my actions will speak much louder than my words ever could, so we’ll have to wait and see. In the immortal words of Dhrubajyoti: It's fucking on.

What I’m listening to right now:

Social Distortion—White Light, White Heat, White Trash —I was never a HUGE Social D fan when they were big, I think this is the only album of theirs that I own. I think before this album came out in 96, they had already taken a hiatus for like four years to do a few various solo albums, and this was their big ‘we’re back together’ album. There’s a handful of good songs on this album, but as a whole it's nothing to write home about. The opening track ‘Dear Lover’ ROCKS, and the hidden tracks is a cover Rolling Stone’s ‘Under My Thumb,’ while also ROCKS. Everything in between is decent rock/punkish with some Bad Religion sounding nuances. It's not bad.

Today’s Columbus Day, and as a proud Indian, our community needs to celebrate this auspicious day. Why? Cause Christopher Columbus sailed westward from Europe with the intention of landing in India and exploiting our people for tea and spices. He landed and initiated the takeover of what he thought was India. He brought weapons the natives had never seen, and used them to kill em off and steal their land, and he thought he was doing that to INDIA. When actually he was doing it to some island in the Carribean. He gave the Europeans a false sense of discovering India, so India could prosper without being meddled with by colonialism for another few hundred years. For this, I raise my glass to Christopher Columbus, and say ‘you fucked someone over, but it wasn’t India. Either way, thanks a lot, asshole.’

Saturday i went to a movie screening of Around the Bend, Christopher Walken’s new movie. It was a feature in the International Film Fest, and Christopher Walken was there. Some dude interviewed him before the movie. He was talking about a lot of his older, older movies, which I had never seen. And some of his more recent stuff, like the Fatboy Slim video and whatnot. He’s a character, dude. He showed up like he just walked out of bed, with his hair all stickin straight back and shit. My buddy Paul from work was with us, and he snuck out and got Christopher Walken to autograph a COWBELL, and then he gave the cowbell to me. How awesome is that?! I now own a cowbell autographed by Christopher Walken. Hell yea.

What I’m listening to right now:

Vilayat Khan and Bismillah Khan, Raagini Yamani — I just picked this CD up from Devon over the weekend. The performance is okay. Vilayat Khan plays a lot more than Bismillah Khan, and what he does play isn’t the most outstanding stuff I’ve heard him play. But regardless, I just can’t get past what a shotty recording job the producer did. It's a jugalbundi (duet) with Vilayat Khan on sitar and Bismillah Khan on shehnai, an oboe-like instrument. And the linear notes say how ‘such a recording would not be possible without modern recording technology,’ because the sitar is a much more quieter instrument than the oboe-like instrument. But the levels are still ALL OVER THE PLACE. Vilyat Khan sings in part of the performance, too, and when he sings he’s so much softer than everything else, so you have to turn it WAY up just to hear him, and when the instruments come back in turn it WAY down so you don’t blow your ears out. You can’t just sit back and listen to this CD, and that’s kinda irritating.

Friday night, I saw Alien vs. Predator with my cous. Before I explain exactly why I thought this movie sucked ass, let me set it up for you a bit. We get there an hour before the movie’s about to start, so we sat in on The Village a bit. That looked really good. Manoj (that’s the ‘M’ in ‘M. Night Shamalan.’ Where does the ‘Night’ come from? He gave that name to himself cause it ‘sounded cool.’ I degress.) Anyway, Manoj has a pretty cool way of filming suspense. There was a lot of action going on barely on the corner of the screen, letting your mind wonder what exactly what was going on. He does that shit well, and for the 20 minutes that I actually saw, I’m kind of excited to see the whole thing. But we didn’t want to ruin it, so we walked out. Then we sat in on Hero. That looked AWESOME. I was ready to sit in and just watch the rest of that, but my cousin promised his little sister he’d see that with her next weekend, so again, we walked out of a pretty good movie. Then, sigh we watched Alien vs. Predator. I didn’t have very high expectations of the movie to begin with, cause I hadn’t heard very good thing about it, and part of me wanted to let the good movies rest in history as good movies (minus the already-made lame sequels). But man, it was boring, the story was predictable, the dialogue was sooo WEAK. The characters looked like they were being reminded their lines as they were going through the scenes.

If you haven’t seen the movie and you actually give a shit about not ruining it for yourself, don’t read on.

So the premise of how Aliens and Predators actually know each other—as it was stated in a corny flashback sequence in the movie—was that there was this temple in Antactica that was basically a breeding ground for Aliens. Once every 100 years, Predators would send their amateur warriors to the temple to test their might. One or two predators would sit at the top of the temple while HORDES of aliens would climb to the top, and the Predators would kill off all of them like they were 7 year olds plowing through pixie sticks. So one or two predators were able to kill off an army of aliens without blinking, yet Arnold Schwartzenagger was able to kill one predator (with his cunning skill) by himself in the first movie? That kinda made the first predator look like a big wuss. Then one of the Predators in AVP created a bond with the main chick in the movie and took her under his wing. That was lame, he shouldn’t have given a shit about her, he’s a Predator. Early on a face grabber grabbed a predator’s face when he had his mask off (that was already screaming ‘sequel a la underworld’). Then at the end of the movie (again, stop reading if you actually give a shit about seeing this movie) that Predator died. So after the Predators defeated the mother Alien and they’re heading back onto their ship, they put the dead Predator on a hammock and put him in the bay of the ship as they take off, and they all walked away. Zoom in on the Predator’s chest and all of a sudden ‘whoa!’ an Alien that looks like a Predator pops out of his chest (sequel sequel sequel). Okay. All throughout the movie, the Predators were scanning the chests of people, and if they didn’t see aliens breeding in them, they’d let them pass and wouldn’t give a shit. Wouldn’t they have noticed an alien breeding in their comrades chest BEFORE they let him back on their ship? BEFORE they considered their mission complete? Also, this dude was dead for a while. Doesn’t the host need to be alive in order for the Alien to still breed? Can an Alien still be born after the host has died? My first thought is ‘no.’ But I might be wrong.

So yea, I’ll admit, I’m being a big movie dork and looking into the flick a little deeper than I should, and I should just sit back and enjoy it for what its worth. But the action and gore wasn’t even good enough to allow me to do that. The movie was a bore, and I sat in the theater the whole time wondering how the other kids in the theater were buying this shit. Worthless.

What I’m listening to right now:

Shahid Parves, Raag Yaman. This is the cat I’m going to be studying under for a week in September. So I went up to a Devon a week-week and a half ago and found this Japanese import in a pile of Shahid Parves CDs my uncle-buddy at Bombay Video had. And it's awesome. The way he plays with dynamics in his melodies sounds really smooth. He gets loud and really soft, and lets a single note ring out as he’s bending it like crazy, lets it sit with total silence for a moment, and they break back into it. His quality and intonation and speed has slowly been blowing me away the more I’ve been listening to this CD. I’m a fan.

So I went to this hip hop thing that took place in the second floor of an auto garage last night. That was a cool-ass place to see a hip hop show. There was a big area for breakers to break it down, there was a live hip hop band there performing for a bit, Primeridian performed, too. I’ve been hearing their names around Chicago forever, but I’ve never had a chance to see them live. They were tight, all original beats, and two dudes flowing some hot shit. And at the end of the night, the man himself Afrika Bambaataa hit the decks for two hours. It was tight, he spun some super old tracks, and some fresh takes on newer tracks, like the milkshake song, lol, that was funny. Price’s Kiss over this TIGHT beat. It was cool. Tolgar came by, Tina came by, and my boy Ranjit helped throw the event down. Crazy, this Indian b-boy bringing Afrika Bam to a garage to throw down. Apparently the show was organized to protest against a hip hop show at the vic friday night sponsored by Kool cigarette’s. I still gotta talk to some people to get a better scoop on what exactly their beef is with that, so I’ll let you know as soon as I know.

The rest of the weekend was... cheap. I’m leaving for Mexico to go to a friends wedding on Wednesday, so this weekend I kept on the downlow so I can keep my funds for the trip. Friday I chilled with Eric, had a beer at his place and just hung out. Saturday... what the hell did I do saturday? Oh yea, chilled with Tolgar, got a bite to eat with Tina and her old buddy from work Phil. Sunday went to a Capoiera class, then hit up the Bam show. It's on.

What I’m listing to right now:

manilal nag, raag jog: My boy Ajit from Michigan hooked me up with a bunch of good Indian classical CDs when I was up there last weekend, and I’ve been listening to this CD incessantly. His melodic development just sounds so sweet and serene. There’s this part of the song where he’s doing his jhala (the fastest section of an instrumental in which the melody played on the main strings is accompanied by rapid strumming of the drone-strings) where for a few beats he’ll stop hitting his drone strings altogether, play through a few dissident notes, and resolve back starting up the rapid strumming of the drone strings again, and is just sounds SWEEEEEEEEEEEEET. I’ll put a sample up on my site if I can, you gotta hear it. Or just go out and buy the CD.

This weekend was loooooooong. It was sweet.

Friday I left work a little early and went to the Cubs/Sox game. Saw the first win as they went on to SWEEP the Sox for the home series. Hell yea. Then later that night I was gonna meet up a friend at a bar with my cous, but there ended up being this huge Indian party there. Long ass line to get in for a $20 cover, and she was saying the bar was PACKED and it sucked. Laaaaaame, so we ended up just going to IHOP. Lol.

Saturday and Sunday was the Brahmin Samaj convention. That was pretty cool. These things are weird because the Brahmin Samaj as an organization should be (in my humble opinion) all about talking about and having discourses on Brahminism and Hinduism and religion in general. What God is, and what it means to be a religious person. So at a convention when Brahmins from all over the country come together, do they capitalize on the combined resources a big group like that brings? Do they talk at all about religious issues in our world today? Like religious violence, or issues for people of religious minorities, like hate crimes and how views towards religious minorities have changed since 9/11, both positively and negatively? Nope, primarily its a matrimonial meet-fest. In the city that held the first parliament of world religions, all we can do as a religious organization is worry about marrying off our children. That’s kind of irritating.

But I had that expectation going into it, I knew I wasn’t going to hear uncles talk about their ideas on God, or aunties talking about the socially growing strength of women in Hinduism, or kids talking about their ideas on where God exists and how. I knew I wasn’t going to hear any of that going into this weekend. I knew I was probably going to see a bunch of corny ice-breakers, probably a dating game, and a booze cruise. So knowing that, and putting all my irritations and negative attitude aside, I had a pretty damn fun weekend.

I met a bunch of cool people, and partied a lot. Early Saturday morning they did have ONE uncle who spoke about Brahminism, and he was awesome. But the rest of the time was ‘speed-dating’ and corny shit like that. Saturday night they had a cruise on the lake, so my boy Jay who was in town, my cousin, and the other Nikhil went over to the W, got liquored up a little, then headed to the cruise. and that was fun. Sunday night they had a cultural show, and one of Jay’s auntie friends asked him to do a bhangra for the show like a few hours before it started, and he couldn’t really do it by himself... So him and I got together a little in the parking lot to figure out our moves, but pretty much freestyled the whole thing anyway... Lol. It was cool. We didn’t have any outfits or anything either, so we scrounged through his trunk and luckily he had kurtas and lungis in his car for some reason. Why? Lol, ya got me, but I didn’t ask any questions. It never occurred to me until now. So we put some stuff together, I ended up wearing a shiny blue kurta, the same baggy khaki-type pants I was wearing all day, and my Cubs skull cap. Lol, that was pimp.

People there were DOLLED UP, guys and girls. Some of the girls changed like once before every meal it seemed like, some dudes were wearing suits and ties. And I come rolling up in baggy jeans and skull cap. My mom was giving me shit about what I was wearing all weekend, but dude, that’s who I am. If you don’t like it, at least we’ve established that now before wasting either of our time... Lol. If I were going to a wedding or a funeral, yea, of course I would have dressed up, no doubt. But since this weekend was going be all about just chilling and meeting people, that’s what I came to do. People saw me for who I am everyday. Nothing different. And it seriously weeded out a lot of bullshit for me. I ended up talking to people that were totally down to earth, not superficial, not judgemental, I met a bunch of really cool cats.

So the convention was good over all. Yea, I would have liked to learn more about Brahminism while I was up there, but I’m in the minority in that aspect. Most of the people there are seriously there to meet companions, and I gotta respect that. But either way, I had a pretty good time.

Last night I went to Green Dolphin with my sis and Tina and few friends who were still in town from the convention. That was pretty cool. Green dolphin’s a jazz club normally, but Monday nights they throw a house night there. That place is NIIIIICE, and the music was good. It was a pretty gay/lesbian crowd which I wasn’t expecting, cause I was thinking it would be more of a weekday smartbar vibe. But it was really cool nonetheless. Good music, cool crowd, good vibe. Nice.

What I’m listening to right now:

Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon. I met someone this weekend and asked them what was in their CD player right now, and it was this. Hell freakin yea, this is a great album, so I had to pop it in again. Ever play this album after the third lion roar of Wizard of Oz? Neither have I, but I heard it's freakily similar. But is that really that much of a coincidence? The attention span a viewer would have on a particular scene in a movie would probably be comparable to that of a song, and artists knowing this would probably make scenes and songs about the same length of time. So is it really all that eerie that the queues on the album roughly follow queues in the movie? I don’t know, I’d have to try it myself to see what its like. And afterwards I’ll try listening to Ride the Lighting while watching the Care Bears movie. I bet that’s freakily similar too...

So my week of not spending cash has been both successful and unsuccessful. Monday I saw Chronicles of Riddick and Dodgeball with my cousin, and he paid cause I was BROOOKE. Dodgeball was pretty damn funny, and Riddick was pretty cool. Nothing mindblowing though. Tuesday taught the bhangra class at the old town school, Wednesday I ran two miles with some buddies after work then went to my breakdancing class, and last night I worked late. So I haven’t been takin it out hardcore much this week. But on the unsuccessful side, my brakes on my car needed work and that’s running me 3c’s. Worthless.

I can’t wait to be in the city, dudes. One more month. It was supposed to be end of June, but it got pushed out til the end of July. With doing stuff in the city after 5p, I waste so much time waiting for shit when I could be eating, practicing my sitar, or SLEEPING, it just drains all the time out of my day. It currently takes me an hour to get from my desk to my front door in the burbs. As soon as I move, it’ll take me 20 minutes. DAMN, I can’t wait.

What i’m listening to right now:

Dilated Peoples, Neighborhood Watch. I just picked up the album last weekend. The more I listen to it, the more I appreciate it. I’m a little disappointed though. This is their third album. They’re first album was tight, and they second album still freakin rocks. Good beats, good rhymes. But there’s not too much of a difference from this latest album and their last. The beats are still tight, lyrically it could be better. But I wish I saw them try more shit, and change things up on me like they did from their first to their second. Either way, it still a good listen.

James Brown, 20 All-time Greatest Hits. I remember I used to put this CD on at home, plug in my bass, and rock out with every track. Lol, so I’ve been reminiscing as of late. Regardless, this album ROCKS.

Am I lame cause I like Slipknot’s new song?