Karsh Kale’s New Work Is A New Soundtrack For An Old Favorite: “Enter The Dragon”

“Bruce Lee?”

“Yeah…”, he said.

“That’s awesome.”

That’s a pretty close approximation to one of my first conversations with Karsh Kale: drummer, tabla master, producer, composer, and — at the time — my new neighbor who was introducing me to his cat. Karsh has since decamped to what I hope for his sake is a less shady building, but I still see him in the ‘hood from time to time. A few months ago, I bumped into him on the street and asked him what he was up to.

“I’m actually working on a thing for Celebrate Brooklyn — it’s a new score for Enter the Dragon and we’re going to play it along with the movie”, Karsh said.

“Bruce Lee?”, I said.

“Yeah…”

“That’s awesome.”

[Read more…]

How nations choose to cooperate to fight the spread of organized crime (or, in many cases, choose not to) can tell us a lot about our priorities as citizens of our respective countries — and as members of the larger world.

McMafia

“When Ludmila first succeeded in escaping, she was handed back to her pimp by the duty sergeant, who happened to be a client of the brothel. In response, she was beaten senseless by her “owner”. The second time she got away, she handed herself in to a police station in another part of town. As is habitual, she was charged with being an illegal immigrant and thrown into a detention center for several months as her deportation order was processed.

When she finally arrived back in Chisinau, destitute and traumatized for life, Ludmila could not return to her home, partly for reasons of shame but above all for fear of being found by her traffickers. Hers is an everyday story of life in Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Egypt, and Israel.

The day after I had spoken to Ludmila, her case worker called. “I forgot to mention,” she said, “Ludmila is now HIV-positive.” Unsurprisingly, combination therapy is not readily available in a country such as Moldova.”1

[Read more…]

  1. Glenny, M. (2008). McMafia: a journey through the global criminal underworld. pp. 109-110. New York: Knopf Books. [↩]

“Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives,” a documentary about the intertwining stories of a boy and his father. The “boy” in question is Mark Oliver Everett, more generally known as “E” — the singer from the band Eels; The father is Hugh Everett III, a quantum physicist who developed the “many-worlds” theory.

PBS’s NOVA aired a documentary last week called “Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives,” which is about the intertwining stories of a boy and his father. The “boy” in question is Mark Oliver Everett, more generally known as “E” — the singer from the band Eels; The father is Hugh Everett III, a quantum physicist who developed the “many-worlds” theory.

Today is the last day you can watch a stream of the show from PBS’s website — Click here to go to the streaming page!

And here’s a link to an article in the NY Times with some more detail if you’re interested (or if the media link has expired): Eels’ E On The PBS Documentary About His Father – NY Times

Ed Champion picks up where Dolemite left off.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz2prCERb_E
Edward Champion wrote an excellent tribute entitled RIP Rudy Ray Moore earlier this week.

A brief excerpt:

“The world is a lesser place without Rudy Ray Moore. His passing reminds us that we have a duty to push harder and crazier in these stagnant times, and to realize that the craziest artists may be unexpectedly entertaining people just as hard as they are provoking them.”

The same could be said of Ed himself.

His blog Edward Champion’s Return of the Reluctant is regular reading for me. Ed also produces a podcast called The Bat Segundo Show where he interviews artists of all stripes. Ed’s interests and interviews are provocative and engaging — and pretty much everything he puts out will make you smarter, your teeth whiter, and will generally be well worth your time.

Check him out — starting with this recent interview with Charlie Kaufman.

A way for people to “Support the Troops” with something more meaningful than just a slogan.

My friend Andi sent me an email a few days ago — she is a Production Designer for MTV Networks who had just finished working on a project called “A Night for Vets: An MTV Concert for the BRAVE”, featuring live performances by 50 Cent and Ludacris (as well as a taped performance by Kanye West).

“Basically, regardless of where you stand on the war or your political views”, she wrote, “it is important to be a part of helping to improve the lives of our vets.

I agree.

More than just a concert, this show was an event designed to promote a new “Bill of Rights for American Veterans”, or “BRAVE” for short. MTV is hosting an online petition to help returning veterans receive social services and quality health care.

Sounds like a way for people to “Support the Troops” with something more meaningful than just a slogan…although, personally, I’d also like to see if we could get Fiddy declared an honorary veteran for his many tours of duty in Queens, New York.