Cindy, our friends Amy and Megan, and I met up at Coney Island today for some fun and relaxation by the water. Standing on the long, long ordering line at Nathan’s Famous, I spied a very strange food item among the hot dogs, fries, and burgers — Chicken Chow Mein, in both sandwich and bowl…
Nicky the Jazz Cat : jazzy kitty cuteness overload
Someone unknown benefactor left this children’s book, Nicky the Jazz Cat, at Cindy’s place a couple of weeks ago, much to our delight. It’s a fun series of photos of Nicky, the cat of photographer Carol Friedman, posing with various jazz greats, including Lionel Hampton, Lena Horn and Roy Eldridge. There’s also a companion CD…
Japanese earthquake relief concert today in SL
On July 16, 2007 an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 jolted a wide area on the west coast of Honshu Island, killing nine people, injuring more than 900 others and destroying about 780 homes. A relief effort live concert is being held, the funds collected going to the Japanese Emergency Relief Effort at furumachi…
Dinah Washington at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival
Check this amazing video of Dinah Washington singing "All of Me" at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. From the incredible documentary "Jazz on a Summer’s Day."
Italian lindy hop stars Isabella & Vincenzo (video)
Here’s a brief teaser video I did for the Yehoodi Talk Show special edition from the Herrang Dance Camp. I chat with Italian lindy hop instructors Vincenzo and Isabella. Isabella recounts a painful / hilarious story about how she broke her nose while social dancing. Head to http://www.yehoodi.com/talk if you’d like watch the entire…
Excellent article on “Who Controls the Media”
Lefty magazine Toward Freedom has a good summary of the major challenges in the media justice cause in the article "Who Controls the Media and How to Take It Back" by Megan Tady. It scans some of the most pressing problems with the media today, including: the highly concentrated ownership of mainstream media, the fight…
Apparently my friends think I don’t read enough
Yesterday I had literally five sci-fi/fantasy books offered to me by friends who thought I would like them. It’s so great having friends who know what your tastes are and loan you stuff from their collections. Last night, Frankyboy loaned me three more Lone Wolf and Cub mangas, which are so beautifully drawn and scripted…
The Concrete Jungle: a nearly perfect summer dessert
I finally got to try a "Concrete Jungle" from the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park. The delicious concoction is very dense frozen vanilla custard mixed with hot fudge, bananas and peanut butter. Thankfully, Cindy came with me, or I would have eaten an entire one, which would have knocked me out for the evening. …
“Asian Variations” free (as in beer AND rights) mix album from Taiwan!
"Asian Variations" is a free, creative-commons licensed remix album created by Taiwanese "sound jeweler" MoShang. Lots of nice gems in the mix, including some asian hip hop, trance and melodic grooves — perfect for chilling out or filling a party space with a chill vibe. "Tiu Tiu Ssu Hsiang Chi (MoShang Little DingDong Mix)" is…
Workshop on real/virtual civic spaces at Emerson College
Gene Woo blogs about a cool new course he and Eric Gordon are teaching at Emerson College this fall called "Hub2." Described as "exploring, imagining, and building civic places in real and virtual spaces" the class was inspired by a Boston initiative to spur new kinds of civic engagement. From the flyer, students in the…