I was recently added to an email list comprised of music-fiends who are obsessed with sharing music via giant file links. It’s fantastic. Yet, I usually want to lounge near a drum set in a friend’s garage while sippin’ on some Budweiser and grooving to these tunes in LA, or loungin’ in a Fort Greene, BK cafe shootin’ the shit with some peeps about why trip-hop has made my soul jiggle since 1999. Instead, I’m usually sitting in my office with my Sony headphones and rocking out by myself. This podcast is to bring you in for a second. Damn. It’s hot in here.
Tracks
Blockhead: “Carnivores Unite”
The Kooks: “Mr. Maker”
Jel: “Sweet Cream In It”
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez: “Lurking About In A Cold Sweat”
EVOL is a Los Angeles based artist who I first encountered in Berlin, Germany last year when Gabriele, store-owner of SupaLife Kiosk, mentioned him during an interview she gave me. He’s primarily a stencil artist, and a helluva good one if you peruse his site. I think he should pay Mexico City a visit.
If you haven’t noticed, the “Art Blogs” blogroll on the right blew up like Air Jordan’s over the last few days. I’ve been “researching” art blogs, artists (street artists, mainly) and designers because I don’t really feel like writing about politics, Narco-killings, devaluation of currency and/or sports. In fact, my google reader is riddled with stories of murders in Mexico, Obama’s transition team and Diego Maradona threatening to quit because he didn’t get to choose his assistant coach. Sigh. Anyone else bored as all hell with the news recently? Here’s a tune to pass the boredom.
Last week I wrote about that nifty little widget-bastard-of-a-program “Poladroid” — which I have a love/hate relationship towards — and how it allows you to turn any photograph in JPEG form into a full-fledged sepia-toned block of wonder. Well, you know what? The application is cool, but it makes images look too good. Where’s the blur? Where’s the lack of depth?
I talked about all the mula I spend every time I head down to the States and today I spent a little more on an Epson scanner that I am absolutely loving because having a stack of developed polaroids angry at you for wondering why the hell they haven’t been converted to a digital form is quite unnerving. Yes, the smog here makes me this crazy. Check out the flicks below.
I could lead you towards a Rage Against The Machine song this morning for the song of the day, or maybe some Bruce Springsteen’s “The Ghost Of Tom Joad”, or the Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man” (oddly, the last two songs have been covered by Rage), but you’re better off listening to the Ron Clark Academy. Ever heard of them?
Forecasts in Los Angeles called for rain until this evening; friends in New York City email me with accounts of wind chills blistering enough to make you quiver under layers of Burberry; Mexico City is a gloomy mess this morning with highs expected in the low 60’s and the lows expected to send Mexicanos into involuntary bouts of teeth-chattering.
At least I don’t have to see the smog today.
I’ll probably endure some ridicule for this but I’ve never listened to Marlena Shaw in my life. I can’t recall my boy “Theets” ever spinning a 45 on his record-player in Santa Barbara — a place where I first came into contact with the JB’s, John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter — but there’s a Dockers’ commercial (once again, a commercial I’ve never seen before Mexico City) playing repeatedly on networks here and the tune used is Marlena Shaw’s “California Soul.” Yes, this is when you say, “Bro, you’ve never heard this song?” No, dick. I haven’t. But I did a quick search on Hype Machine and within seconds I was uploading the mp3 onto my library. Couple this tune with Nina Simone’s “Take Care Of Business” and you’ve got yourself a bouncier step this afternoon. And just like that I’ve warmed up that much more. Good Saturday, amigos.
Protests in Mexico City are plentiful. On any given day, hoards of political organizations, non-profits, rancheros, or any equivalent to the disenfranchised will take to the streets booming boastful serenades promoting their cause.
I stumbled upon “Los Encuerados” today: a group comprised of representatives from 400 pueblos in and around Veracruz who are discontent with agrarian reform and are asking for cooperation from the government and citizens of Mexico City. Their cause is hardly novel, but their approach is.
Hundreds of naked men and women — some men wearing only underpants and women completely bare — chanted and danced on Paseo De La Reforma. Some men wore ghoulish masks, while others two-stepped in their loin-cloths and boots. Some men hung from crucifixes clinging to light posts and street signs, their bodies converted into billboards for protest.
I really thought my Halloween would be spent capturing princesses, witches and chapulins clung to their smiling parents.
I live on the border of Colonia Condesa and Roma Norte, a few blocks away from the Chapultapec metro stop. It’s an area bustling in the day and devoid of crowds at night. You can find the most amazing quesadillas drenched in Habanero sauce and dripping with the oily residuals of Oaxacan cheese at 7am. You can also find a surplus of unemployed workers rummaging down streets, ringing doorbells of strangers and pleading for work. I set off towards Roma Norte, walking along Calle Puebla until I reached Calle Cozumel because I remembered a little Cuban spot known as the Bodeguita. I veered off towards Calle Durango where I tried to enter a musical instrument shop only to have the security guard tell me I had to put my camera away and store my backpack right near the entrance of the door. Negative, vato. It’s like asking me to hand over my wad of bills to a perfect stranger for no apparent reason. Good thing I smelled some tacos de bistek (I think) down the road to distract me. Check out some pictures below.
Update: Beirut talks with Pitchfork about the project.
I’ve heard rumors of John Malkovich residing somewhere around the Col. Condesa; Anthony Bourdain brought his spit-fire insight on gastronomy to Mexico City a few weeks back; now I’m hearing news that Beirut perched his scrawny awesomeness, probably on some hilltop where his horns would reverberate throughout valleys below, in Oaxaca to record a new EP set to release as a double CD.
Come February 17 in the U.S. and February 16 in Europe, Condon’s own Pompeii Records (with an assist from Ba Da Bing!) will issue a pair of EPs from the Zachster, packaged together but spread out over separate CDs for maximum EP-ability. The first, March of the Zapotec, collects six new tracks partially recorded in Mexico recently by Beirut…
The second CD will be a five-song set under the name of his previous efforts, The Realpeople. It’s a shame the news comes almost four-months before the expected date of release because I’m usually against scouring torrents for early releases. Two questions: will there be any “Flying Club Cup” like videos filmed on the streets of Oaxaca? And are any Mexican musicians involved in the projects?
Tracklist for “March Of The Zapotec”:
01 El Zocalo
02 La Llorna
03 My Wife
04 The Akara
05 On a Bayonet
06 The Shrew
I never knew the papier-mâché creatures I see at every artisan shop in Mexico are called alebrijes. I also didn’t know Pedro Linares created them in the 1930’s when he was ill, fell into some worm-hole in his brain and traveled to a distant planet where donkeys had wings. Inspired, the man began constructing tiny figurines to illustrate to his family what he had seen and presto: psychedelic-monsters turned folk art.
Alebrijes (pronounced aleˈβɾihes) are an acid-connoisseurs worst nightmare. Double-headed preying-mantis with a dragon’s tail, a monkey’s head attached to the body of a mosquito and a lion fashioned with eight legs make up the vibrant world of alebrijes in Mexico. And until November 2nd, you can catch an outdoor art exhibit on Paseo De La Reforma made up of behemoth sculptures in Linares fashion. The sculptures are dynamic, colorful, weird and intensely abstract. My favorite was the dune buggy from hell. Check out the gallery below and allow a few seconds for each photo to load. You can also view here if my website hates you.
One problem I have with living in Mexico City is the dependence on iTunes to watch new Anthony Bourdain episodes. It really ticks me off that I have to pay $16.99 for full-length episodes (a subscription for the season), some of which are censored, when the entire world gets to watch the season for free. Sure, there’s a Travel Channel-esque outlet here showing two-year-old episodes of “No Reservations”, but I need some new Bourdain, regularly scheduled, with bloopers and Bourdain-bleeps resonating throughout my apartment like Morse-code, the likes I’ve never heard before. Because as much as I love replaying Bourdain tumble down a sand-dune in New Zealand, I need some new Bourdain for my angst-driven soul. Like listening to Joy Division to extract the raucous inside of me, Bourdain makes me want to stumble through Mexico City’s streets looking for the best damn 8am quesadilla ever.
And since I don’t get any new episodes of “No Reservations” through my cable provider, I also don’t get to watch new programs with Bourdain. “At The Table” is a one-off (Bourdain says, “maybe two or three) episode where Anthony sits down with four fellow foodies to discuss, well, I have no clue. The website says they talked about the “ethics of an $1,800 dinner, and Tony will reveal how he always, secretly hopes the waiters like him.” We all know the paisas working with Anthony like him, and if we look at his “In The Fire: NYC.” episode, the waitstaff loves him. So, is this a spoof of John Favreau’s “Dinner For Five?” But with more talk about food? Something tells me John Favreau has Bourdain beat on smoking and boozing. I’m betting Bourdain had a better meat selection.
Check out a scene from Anthony’s “London/Edinburgh” episode below. And if you caught his show that aired last week, describe the episode in the comments section below. Do it!
