Syrian master of dabke and Iraqi choubi jamsOmar Souleyman will be setting the sweaty boogie-party off this Tuesday in San Francisco at the Mezzanine! Come one, come all and join the one-third of the Amoeba Music SF staff that already hold tickets to this high-impact, calorie-shedding dance party --- hope they properly packed that keyboardist this time 'round: get your tickets here!
check out this sweet vid below featuring "Leh Jani" --- the opening track from the Sublime Frequencies CD Omar Souleyman - Highway to Hassake: Folk and Pop Sounds of Syria:
With the smell of BBQs in the air this Memorial Day weekend and the kick off of the summer season that gladly brings with it the time to relax & kick back with family and friends, music steps up its role in playing a central theme in our lives. Hence this (subjective) summer song playlist culled from the literally thousands of great songs out there that celebrate summertime and just hanging out in the sunshine in the park or backyard, or at the beach.
Here are a dozen personal faves (lots of classics) from the rap and pop categories culled from over the past several decades including Len's "Steal My Sunshine" (1999), Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince's "Summertime" (1991), Raewkon's "Ice Cream" (1995), The Foo Fighters' "Barbeque Song" that they did for an MTV special (2007), Mac Dre's "California Livin'" (1992), Dove Shack's (with Warren G) "Summertime in the LBC," and dating back to 1966 with The Lovin Spoonful's summertime classic "Summer In The City."
Main Source feat Nas, Joe Fatal, & Akinyele "Live from the BBQ" (1991)
What do you get when two nerds from the same record store meet regularly to discuss all manner of music, art and general enjoyment over rum flights and multiple cocktails at San Francisco's best stocked "tiki" lounge? Hmmm, somehow I can't rememeber...
...oh right, "Ports O' Call" --- three hours of uninterrupted Exotica mixed live on the wheels of steel as a part of Amoeba's weekly, in-house "Mandala" DJ series! DJ Martin Baxter Lyman (a.k.a. Amoeba jazz-man extraordinaire, Mr. Scott Walker) and DJ Long Gone Gamelan Gong (that's me!) will be exploring the experimental themes and concepts of Polynesian infused grooves from the founding fathers of Exotica and their Tiki temple grounds to popular Hapa Haole and Surf styles, with respect to native influences inherent to and modern music influenced by the genre. So if all sounds Exotica are your thing then this Friday, February 25th, from 6 to 9pm is the best time for you to come down to Amoeba Music in San Francisco to do a little vinyl treasure hunting while we mix up some island fever inducing south seas sonic realness. Requests welcome!
Martin Denny & Si Zentner "Tiki" from Exotica Suite
It’s finally chilly in Hollywood. I mean, I still have my French windows open wide, but it’s about as cold as it ever gets, with breezes blowing from my hometown in the north, Nevada City, where loved ones are covered in white blankets of snow. (That’s a metaphor – probably very few of them have bed-sheets constructed of crystalline water ice.)
My friends in Nevada City, Jaime, Alison and Dan made a snowman. I don’t get that pleasure here. I suppose I could make a clumps-of-dying-grass-cigarette-butts-and-dog-feces man, but who has that kind of time? I have a blog to write!
Here's a picture of the snowman my friends made.
The best part will be watching him slowly melt over the next couple weeks.
My choices in music are always influenced by weather. When it’s hot city in the summertime, I’ll gravitate towards artists such as Stephen Malkmus, Thin Lizzy, or Sly & The Family Stone. If it’s a rainy day, you can bet some Siouxsie & The Banshees will be trilling from my stereo. I look out the window and see the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse trampling the Hills with all the fury of Heaven and Hell as they take the stage for a final battle in which every human soul will come to greet its eternal home in either the awesome glory of the Almighty God or the foul depths of Hell as lorded over by the king of wickedness, Satan, and more often than not I’ll play a little Burt Bacharach. Because it’s always a good time for a little Burt.
