Frenchy’s Fracas

I Am A

(Because nobody who reads my stuff or knows me personally would expect me to post this, heheh.. time for some medicinal kicking of cute lil puppies, methinks..)

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I came across BBC News’ excellent photo reportage of a part of the world I never knew existed: the African communities that have been living in India for hundreds of years.. Very interesting, you take in the info and go: “Silly me, of course!”. But you never ever thought of it - nice discovery.
More links:

• Kamat’s Potpourri: Indians of African Origin
• Habshis and Siddis - Africans and African descendants in South Asia
• The African Diaspora of the Indian Sub-continent

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Another thing I came across on the Web (thru the great and x-salted One, called Warren Ellis).

A first for me: American Network TV attacking G-Dubya for all his failures and general lack of brain juice. First we saw Horny Bill Clinton chewing a piece off of Fox Networks TV a coupla days ago. And now we get a ten minute editorial that tears Bush a new hole, wow..
Thing is: it’s the mirror image of what Fox does - a very biased rant about the stupidity and incompetence of the current president and all groveling praise for the former president. There’s no difference, but networks are lacking of any real balanced journalism and integrity.
Reactions on the Web of the pro-Bush boyz-n-girlz are scathing and the weird thing is: they accuse MSNBC of the foul deeds that they praise Fox Networks for when that network attacks the liberals. Funny, funny yet silly, silly rabbits..
Some links:

• the youtube vid, read the comments..
• Olbermann’s Special Comment: Are YOURS the actions of a true American?
• Some people on the Bush side of politics - Olbermann: Bush Administration ‘A New Type of Fascism’
• A Cyberalert from mrc.org (’Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996′ - bwahahahah!)

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Our impressions of our second day at the North Sea Jazz Festival, Rotterdam:
[Hieronymus Fox - HF; Frenchy - F]

RH Factor (Roy Hargrove)
[HF]
Couldn’t follow whatever the performance was about. The vocals weren’t that good. Mostly a ragtag set of tracks
[F]
Finally some jazz! Kept feeling the story told in most tracks ended a bit unfinished. Not impressive

Marcus Miller
[HF]
BassMaster! Great version of Miles Davis‘ Tutu. Great harmonica performance. Solid performance.
[F]
I dislike this guy, he’s way too good ;o) Also impressed by harmonica player (very, very impressed).

Erykah Badu
[HF]
Delay resulted in a shorter show (too bad). Compressed and hurried, not enough time to set up a real performance
[F]
Ultimate diva, a bit distant at the beginning, warmed up to the audience at the end. Great setup with sampler. Loved the I Want You track!

Paul Weller
[HF]
Very beautiful. Enjoyed it, sitting quietly with my eyes closed. A very restrained but personal performance
[F]
Grand old man of British music (cut your wrists if you’re thinking: BritPop). Solid performance.

Marcelo D2
[HF]
Samba hip-hop party. Great interaction with the crowd. Language barrier. Sauna temperatures at the Yukon venue
[F]
Best performance, best new personal discovery. Great artists!

Jhelisa
[HF]
Saw just a coupla minutes, too short. Nice, but didn’t seem to work with the crowd or the Yukon venue, should’ve gotten a better jazz location
[F]
Great singer, just didn’t work for me (getting a bit tired)

Kanye West
[HF]
Great setup with the live violins and harp. Nice make-up on the same performers. Not impressed enough by performance to start buying his stuff. Doesn’t click, doesn’t have it. Excellent DJ, though.
[F]
Never liked his stuff (still can’t really explain it). Funny to see the appeal this guy has: a very wide selection of people were really enjoying his performance.

Honorary Mention
The DJ at the Yukon who played in between acts. Very, very great work and prime quality selection of music!

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Our impressions of our first day at the North Sea Jazz Festival, Rotterdam:
[Hieronymus Fox - HF; Frenchy - F]

Clinic with Branford Marsalis
[HF]
Surprising, was expecting something with music, a performance, whatever. Turned out to be a Q&A session. Interesting to hear a musician’s mindset and motivations: depth, simplicity and feeling about jazz.
[F]
Damn hot in that room. Loved the down-to-earthness, funny guy!

Sergio Mendes
[HF]
A compromise between his old (true) stuff and his recent release. Best way to introduce his music to a large crowd. More substance than show.
[F]
Agreed, too bad that most people are corpselike and not really swinging to the music. Only when they played Mas Que Nada did some of the corpses start moving around a bit

Neville Brothers
[HF]
Old and seasoned warriors, authentic performers
[F]
Well.. not really impressive, just ok..

Bilal
[HF]
Crappy sound, ego show, seemed like Bilal thought he was the ultimate performer, Soul God.. Potential wasn’t used very well.
[F]
Crappy sound, check! Great voice, okay ego, okay performer, but not God’s gift to Soul

Tower of Power
[HF]
Blown away! Brilliant. Better singer than last time I saw them, adding more to the band than being annoying. Great encore.
[F]
1st time ever, excellent! 28 years in the business, that’s my age, goddammit! Incredible!

Omar
[HF]
Crappy sound, sore legs, good music, same old, same old.. Great DJ in the Yukon room.
[F]
Got used to the crappy sound, even sorer back ;o)

Leela James
[HF]
Second time around, better than the HMH show, video screens added to the charm and power of the performance.
[F]
Agreed.. tired of typing ;o)

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My frisky friend the frighteningly funky Hieronymus Fox gave me the info: just found out that that soulful band The Brand New Heavies is back in it’s most successful lineup, together again with miss N’Dea Davenport!!
Ooooooo.. now waiting for the chance to see them live again, yummy!
Review’s on its way, boyz-n-girlz..

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