comments

so i had to turn on word verification for those of you who want to comment. i'm getting hit with comment spam. sorry about that. when it goes away, i'll turn off the word verification.
thanks.
e

Central Square World's Fair

This sunday I stage managed the Central Square World's Fair and a bunch of acts performed. It was a great (if exhausting) day. I'll post the rest of of the acts in later posts. But first to Fellyko. I didn't know this guy existed 2 weeks ago, but he is sweet. Sweet guy with a sweet sound. Playing a sweet guitar given to him by Banning. wow. get up and dance!

Andy Brown Show

So I'm going to start posting pictures from the shows that I go to either for my own fun, for Calabash Music, or for Afropop Worldwide.
You can also see more info about these groups at
http://calabashmusic.com/
http://www.afropop.org/
http://www.afropop.org/events/boston/
http://globaldownloads.org/

My first post is about Andy Brown, a musician from Zimbabwe, who has had the interesting role of being FOR Mugabe's government. This despite all the horrific acts Mugabe is undertaking. But maybe it is a little too tough not to take the money, especially when you see opponents houses bulldozed, careers crushed, etc. I obviously have never been in that position, so I'll withhold judgement, and only say that he has been in an interesting position. I guess that Banning Eyre from Afropop had a great conversation with him before the show, some of which I bet will show up in his new book about Thomas Mapfumo.

america is great

. . . . . but the government ain't .

this whole katrina thing does seem to prove that America is great when you measure this country by the people who make it up. Everyone (well, almost everyone - i'll say more later) has pitched in and done something, or shown the willingness to do so. I say almost everyone, because apparently those in washington, starting with the big loser W, haven't done shit.

but out whole country: black and white; north and south; red state and blue state; Democrat and Republican; poor and not so poor; christian, jew, muslim. all have turned out with a willingness to do something and fix the situation in new orleans.

bob hebert, in the NYTimes today gets it right.
"After days of withering criticism from white and black Americans, from conservatives as well as liberals, from Republicans and Democrats, the president finally felt compelled to act, however feebly. (The chorus of criticism from nearly all quarters demanding that the president do something tells me that the nation as a whole is so much better than this administration.)"

he continues: "Mr. Bush's performance last week will rank as one of the worst ever by a president during a dire national emergency. What we witnessed, as clearly as the overwhelming agony of the city of New Orleans, was the dangerous incompetence and the staggering indifference to human suffering of the president and his administration."

he concludes: "Like a boy being prepped for a second crack at a failed exam, Mr. Bush has been meeting with his handlers to see what steps can be taken to minimize the political fallout from this latest demonstration of his ineptitude. But this is not about politics. It's about competence. And when the president is so obviously clueless about matters so obviously important, it means that the rest of us, like the people left stranded in New Orleans, are in deep, deep trouble."

and i conclude with a combination of things. first is bush's butchering of the famous phrase "fool me once". and second would be some pictures, but i can't get those right now. so here goes:

Fool me once [pictures of looters in baghdad] shame on you. Fool me twice [pictures of looters in NOLA], shame on me.

Looting in both of these cases is not about people trying to act malicious. It is about a failure of certain people to anticipate people's needs. Basic needs like food, water, electricity and medicine. And it is about people then attempting to meet those needs on their own. And in the absence of government and law and order, you get looting. So while these things could have been anticipated and alleviated or avoided, bush led us straight into the disasters that we now have to clean up and fix as best we can for the next generations.

just checking in

to see if friendster picks up my blog . . .

playlist

So we are about to launch a new feature of our website which will allow us to do playlists. I've created my first top ten list - go check it out and let me know what you think. and soon you'll be able to create your own! and read, listen and buy other people's playlists.

may day

so the snow is gone, my schedule is full, and i haven't posted in forever.
calabash is busy, though we've not been filling up the summer/fall with festivals the way we had hoped.
in any case, we've moved into a new office, and launched a new version of our website. all lots of work, and all good for the company and my state of mind.

last larium!

just took the final larium. mixed feelings about that. mixed feelings about taking the stinkin drug to begin with. just thankful that i don't go too crazy on it. none of the camp lejeune killings here, thank you very much.
so i guess that means i am back home. whether or not i want to be. no more pretending i am in africa. although i do get to go visit my folks this weekend, so maybe i can warm up a little bit when i'm at their house. sunny and 60 always. or so says my dad.

ahhhh! snow!

hiding out at home in boston. trying to dig out my car. just put in 1 hour, and i've done one side of the car. damn. too much snow and nowhere to put it. welcome back to the usa. no fun.
and just when i felt i was almost back here. getting things going again. stuffing up my schedule with too much stuff as usual. calabash, producing a couple shows, afropop, dance, the usual.
drifts up to 6 feet or more, about a solid 4 feet all around my car. insane. no one in mali would believe this stuff.

thanks for this

"If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you."

-jesus, from the gnostic gospels of thomas