A quote.

"I miss congrio. I remember when your father and I were still going out together, in Chile. One time he told me to eat congrio in a big restaurant, it was called El Rey Del Pescado. It was delicious. It was also expensive, i don't know how he could afford to take me there. We were students, and we were poor. Now we're teachers, and we're poor."

-My Mother, twenty minutes ago.

Four days later.

Sure, i could write an update. But God, i'm tired.

We're coming!

Pelo fixing something for the neighbouring office, yesterday.


Sala Parto, yesterday.


Global Stage, yesterday.


Chill-out zone, yesterday.


Main stage, 5 minutes ago.
(Michele, preparati.)

Um.

Ok, i'm back home. For fifteen minutes. Then i leave for Florence where the whole Italia Wave adventure begins. Still packing. Yesterday this blog turned four years old. Welcome to its fifth year of existence. I've got something special to celebrate, which will be online as soon as i find the files which mysteriously disappeared during my absence.
As for the sunsplash, i will try to keep this blog updated while i'm away. Which will be easier because i should be online quite a lot, but harder because i'm also supposed to be working. One thing's for sure - it's going to be fun.

Natural miscomprehensions

1. Tuesday evening, in front of Main Stage. Screaming over crowd noise.
Me: Can you believe that one week ago today i was seeing fucking Dionne Warwick live?
Him: What? You fucked Dionne Warwick??
Me: No, i saw her perform, in concert, live.
Him: Oh.

2.Friday afternoon, at the music and clothing stalls.
Peter Tosh(from a loudspeaker): Legalize it...
Me: Legalize what? Please be more specific.
Her: He said what at the beginning of the song.
Me: But i wasn't here yet! Now i'll never know!

...and a video.

Improvised traditional percussion and dance, Rototom Sunsplash, 10.07.07.
Beware: poor sound. But at least the kora can be made out a little.

Two images from Rototom

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra live in Rototom Sunsplash, 11.07.07


The book. I'm reasonably proud of this, so i guess you'll be seeing more book-related posts in the near future.

Briefly toyed with the idea of distributing Pastafarian leaflets, but that would probably get me hanged and, um, eaten.

Cheers from sunsplash land. Very quick observations since i only have 10min of internet left.
Tokyo ska paradise rocked, if that can be said about ska bands. They did ignore my requests of Rydeen, however. Dammit.
We're camping with a hammock and a swimming pool. Classy.
Today, book presentation. And meeting David Katz. Kind of nervous.
I think i'll go jump into a river to relax a bit. See you later.

Update attempt

Once again, i'm going to try to write an update while i pack my bags and prepare for Greater Things. There's quite a lot to say so i'll proceed with bulletpoints, which are instrumental in hiding the fact that none of the things we'll be talking about have any connection with each other whatsoever.

• So, what's going on? Simple, i'm leaving for four days of rest and relaxation at Rototom Sunsplash. I don't have to interview anyone, i don't have to translate anything, i just have to chillax.
• Why the Sunsplash? Well, i was invited. A former employer of mine works there and offered me free entry and stay. Of course i couldn't refuse.
• What did you do for this guy to make him display such generosity? The guy in question is Alberto Castelli and what I did is translate a book for him. Yes, that's what sort of kept me from blogging in the first four or five months of the year.
• A book? What book? The book is called Solid Foundation - An Oral History of Reggae, by David Katz. It's a great book, in that it relies on voices of the genre's authentic originators to tell it's history. The italian title is Raccontare il Reggae - La storia del reggae narrata dai suoi protagonisti, a title which may or may not have been chosen by yours truly, i can't really remember and can't be bothered to check my email archives. But we'll be hearing more about this when the book comes out.
• And when, pray tell, is it coming out? This Thursday! Alberto, David Katz and myself will be presenting it at the Sunsplash, within a series of lectures called Reggae University. Please note that my participation to the event will very probably be limited to waving my hand from the front row if and when my name is mentioned.
• Can I come? Well, sure, if you feel like buying the ticket to the Sunsplash. It's no big deal, really. I'd like it more if you just went ahead and bought the book. In italian.
• In italian? Ugh. Well yeah, in italian, although i'll be the first to tell you the english edition is closer to reality, has a richer vocabulary and the beautiful colorful expressions of the interviewees. If you buy the italian edition though, people might take notice of the bloke indicated as translator on the second page and give him more jobs. Or not, but you can let me dream in the meantime.
• So, what was it like to translate this book? It was fun, hectic, tiring and taught me to cope with my deadlines. Ok, it tried. The main thing is that for all my life i've been complaining about poorly translated books, so this was my chance to start setting things straight. I hope to have many, many more such chances. Plus working on a topic which interests me was fantastic, translating the chapters on ska and rocksteady was a ball. There are all kind of interesting tidbits in this book, such as Don Drummond's nutritional habits, how Max Romeo became a singer, and the real reason Bob Marley's so important.
• Cool! Can you tell me? Nope, buy the bloody book. Ok, i'll copypaste some of the funny bits in future posts from time to time, just to keep some hype on the publication. i'm such a sell-out.
• So, now you're going to the festival and then you'll be back home and everything's back to normal, right? Nope again. A night's rest at home on saturday, and then i'm off to Italia Wave, where i'll be working as a sort of web editor-like animal thingy. And seeing loads of bands. And delivering a brief lecture at the WaveCamp. And cheering Trabant for their main stage appearance. But we'll talk about all of those things when i'm back, i'm sort of busy packing right now and it feels like there's still a grillion things to do.
• Ok, see you later I guess. I'll be trying to update the blog with things i've seen or heard around the festival as much as possible. It's gonna be fun and i hope to share some of that fun with my readers. Reader. Whatever.

Ok, i've got about an hour before my bus to Udine leaves, so i'd better cut this nonsense out. Just have to pack the tuna, have a bite, and i'm out.
Oh, i'll have a little present when i get back. Stay tuned.

You still can't use a blog to swat a fly, but rss is a step in the right direction.

(Actually, it's Atom)
After at least two years of "yeah, i'll do it tomorrow", i finally added a link on the sidebar to this site's feed. So now you all know where to point your feedreaders and proceed to party like it's 2004. Yes, i'm also not very good at maths.

Silvia Penide

Performing Como El Agua O Como El Viento at Centro Giovanile Piero Poclen, Monfalcone.
My interview to the artist is coming soon. (i know, i know, they all are)

This really happened.

Yesterday a gypsy stopped me in the street. She wanted to know what brand of shampoo i use.
This brought me to think that i really should have a faq. If i had one i would have had a link to send her to.
So, i'm actually going to write one. Start sending in your questions.

Two-in-one

My Father, in the car:

"I was writing (...) about this thing that happened to me back when I wrote the book, History Of The Chilean Socialist Party. It was the Party's 49th anniversary so for the fiftieth there was a big celebration. Allende was in power, the party was strong, it was held in the Estadio Nacional. It wasn't full, but almost. People were going around selling my book, carrying whole baskets of it. I was sitting there in the stadium and two guys came to me, with the baskets, offering to sell me my own book. I said,
'No, sorry.'
'Why not?' They asked.
'Well, I'm one of the people who wrote the book.'
They went quiet. Then they looked at each other and went away. As they left, one of them turned to me and said,
'Nice excuse you came up with, bullshitter.'
It was the shortest and strongest critical commentary I've received in my life."

Later:

Him: "So, need anything from the supermarket?"
Me: "Actually, i think i need a new toothbrush."
Him: "Ok, possibly one with a different color from mine."
Me: "Yeah, for months i've suspected we've been using the same one."
Him: "Another thing that bothers me is, how come there's three of us at home but there are always four toothbrushes in the bathroom?"
Me: "You're right!"
Him: "I'm starting to suspect there might be someone hiding in the house. Somebody who creeps out at night when we're all sleeping and secretly washes his teeth."

Teenager's delight - a photoset on Flickr

A rite of passage of sorts. At the Large Tree on the night between 21 and 22 may, 2007.
Many pictures were taken, a selection can be found here.
Plenty more content this way cometh.
Slideshow view also recommended.

A splendid time is guaranteed for all...

Here's that announcement i'd mentioned... All readers are invited, of course. We'll make up an excuse for celebration on the way up. Over forty people are already expected, so feel free to pop by.
Tnx to Chuk@Tea for creating the flyer!

Bizarre out-of-context comic book panel of the day.

Art by Herb Trimpe and Sal Buscema, colors by Christie Scheele, words by Roy Thomas.
Original source: The Incredible Hulk N°135, 1971.

These have been making my days.

Some blogs i've been avidly reading and feeling inspired by lately. Before adding them to the sidebar(or not), i thought it would be nice to point them out to readers in their own bona fide blogpost.

I once declared i would never agree with whatever Momus says. Nowadays i find myself disagreeing with myself rather often, and perhaps consequentially Momus' Blog has been one of my favourite sources of brain food. It's currently in reruns (until september) and highlighting old posts, but still compelling. He also wrote some of my favourite Kahimi Karie songs, so when he writes, i read.

Did you know Adrian Belew is blogging? Well, he is. And he's delivering some fantastic anecdotes from playing in some of the greatest bands ever, if you'll forgive me using the superlative for the second time this month. Well, he was in King Crimson, Talking Heads, Zappa's and Bowie's bands, so i guess my opinion has some sort of foundation.

Warren Ellis is the writer of Transmetropolitan, one of my favourite comics ever. he's a very very nasty person and his blog is simply great. Don't expect much on the went-here-did-this side, it's mainly short poignant reflections and links to things done by equally deranged human beings. I'm admittedly a latecomer to this one.

I've also started reading Neil Gaiman's Journal again lately. Complete opposite, character-wise and blog-wise, from Ellis' approach but always a great read. Plus both have occasionally shared their opinions on this year's season of Doctor Who, as if i needed more reasons to read them.

A nice one to pop into from time to time:
Cozy Lummox - a designer working for Criterion Collection DVDs, with strong links to (you guessed it) the comics world. Good job.

A webcomic:
Dresden Codak - hilarious and beautifully illustrated(which justifies the slow updates), its characters include Werner Heisenberg and Tiny Carl Jung and i hope other people love it as much as i do because it deserves to become famous and its author deserves to be covered with gold coins for his efforts like Edifis in Asterix and Cleopatra.

An eye should be kept on:
nyctaper - promises to have some pretty interesting concerts available for download (i'm looking forward to the Richard Thompson gig myself), some is already online although he seems to have given quite a lot of space to that Roger Waters person i never really could get a hang of.

On the Winamp: Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians (Coldcut Remix)

Old and familiar faces 4 - Derf

Time: late january
Place: Here.

Her: Robin, can i ask you a question?
Me: (sensing danger) Sure.
Her: You always used to hang out with Fred, didn't you?
Me: Yes, that's true.
Her: (shyly) Well...why don't you hang out with him anymore?
Me: I think that would have something to do with him studying and bartending in Oxford now.
Her: Oh.

Coincidentally at the exact same time, in Oxford:
Time: Morning
Location: A pub where Derf is bartending.

Customer: I have a terrible hangover, give me a double whisky.
Derf: Are you sure that's a good idea?
Customer: No, but if i add this aspirin...

(Both are true stories. Aren't they all? Derf will, however, be returning to these lands later today -and had already been here in spring- and an interesting announcement from both of us is forthcoming.)

The webmaster loves his mother

Living room, about a month ago.

Me: What're you watching?
Her: One of those Lord Of The Rings movies.
Me: Cool, which one?
Her: I don't know, but they just killed a poor dwarf.

When Great Bands Suck

I was going to post my ultra-rare edition of Sgt. Pepper, but far be it from me to succumb to all this tacky celebration-ing. Instead, we have something fascinating in its own right, thanks to badness.

As you very well should know if you're carbon-based, one of The Greatest Bands Of All Times recently reformed, reuniting all three original members and are currently touring. You may think this is a rather common circumstance nowadays, but finding a band with all three characteristics (reunited, original members, touring) is, i assure, extremely rare. And keeping high in quality, no less. So of course it's Police we're talking about here.

Indeed, some days ago i came across a link to an Mp3 of their second live gig of 2007, in Vancouver, and promptly procured myself it in the manner that is typical of this kind of ethereal artifact.

When i first heard this recording, however, i could tell something was wrong. I didn't pay too much attention to the feeling and went on doing my stuff, thinging my things. Then i read Stewart Copeland's fascinating, hilarious and utterly sincere post - on his own forum, of all places!
(Tnx to Pelodia for pointing me there)

We crash through MESSAGE and then go strait[sic] into SYNCHRONICITY. But there is just something wrong. We just can’t get on the good foot. We shamble through the song and hit the big ending. Last night Sting did a big leap for the cut-off hit, and he makes the same move tonight, but he gets the footwork just a little bit wrong and doesn’t quite achieve lift-off. The mighty Sting momentarily looks like a petulant pansy instead of the god of rock.

-S. Copeland, on the 27 May 2007 Police concert in Vancouver.

Since it's out there anyway, this is one of the many places you may find said recording of said show. 173 Megabytes of poorly recorded rock music, played rather badly by three of the greatest musicians of the genre. Perhaps the most fascinating thing you'll hear this month. (Link courtesy of some guy in a mailing list i still tolerate receiving on an email account i hardly ever check, anyway. It probably won't last so grab it while you still can.)

You will enjoy this.
And as for that hyper-rare Sgt. Pepper version which anybody who's known me for more than a day has heard me at least mention, just wait and it'll eventually make it to these pages. As if today's offering wasn't enough.


Pictured above: first Google Images result for "police+vancouver"

Disclaimer: The webmaster is not responsible for the unauthorized recording, digitalization or uploading of this concert. I am not hosting it on my server and don't even have one as a matter of fact. It is not being used for commercial purposes nor should it be, it is merely being shared for study and analysis. It is freely available all over the internet anyway and is actually quite bad in the first place.