The Manrilla Blog | Life. Art. Religion. Culture.

Well, it is what it says.

View through the curtains

American Psycho

Junction Box

Neighbor’s Light

18th & Spring Garden

Neighborhood, Looking West

Neighborhood, Looking East

Front Steps

Bachelor Pad

Fire Wood

Back Yard Patio

Self-Portrait, Back Yard Patio

Courtyard

Self-Portrait, 16th & Vine

Center City Crossing

Crane, Broad & Pine

Family Crossing, 13th & Pine

Always struggling to make the ordinary extraordinary. See you in the ‘O-Six’. Salaams.

So in the same session as the post below, I was in Borders, in the internatinal section and also picked this one up. It features one of my favorite players of the oud, a Middle-Eastern lute, Simon Shaheen. He’s here with his group, Qantara and the two tenors, Wadi Al-Safi and Sabah Fakhri. If you’re into orchestral Arabic music, you’ll dig this disc. It’s not crappy Euro-Arab pop, but old-style, done in the vain of Umm Khaltoum or Fairuz. It’s put out on Ark21 so it should be easy to find. Also, here’s the iTunes link.

I was at Borders the other day, looking through the international section when I came across this disc: L. Subramaniam, Inde du Sud, Le Violon de l’Inde du Sud (The Violin of South India). It features Dr. L. Subramiam on the violin. I really, really love Indian music. Ragas. Kirvanis. You name it. It’s a quartet with violin, a mridangam and two tamburâs. I can say I highly recommend the disc. The sound quality’s good, too. Definitely one for low lights and a cup of chai. Here’s the Amazon link.

Finished Tom’s 1-Sheet (click image for full-size). This is what he’ll send around to music services such as iTunes and other online musical services as well as record lables and the like. Good luck, Tom! It was a fun project. Look forward to working with you again.

Kong. Should you see it? Yeah, you should. Was it good? Yeah, it was. Do I have a lot of issues with the story? Well…, yeah, I do. But you knew that already! So prepare yourself, as I analyze - KONG!!

You’ll probably wanna know some stuff about the current telling of the tale - maybe some techie stuff. First, Peter Jackson and crew are absolutely amazing. If you thought the stuff he did in LoTR was good - Kong, in my opinion’s, better. Not better from a story telling perspective but from what they can do with their computers. Andy Sirkis, the guy who played Gollum in LoTR did the body and facial movements for Kong. I guess that’s why he looks so damned good.

I found Kong to be an interesting commentary on race and forbidden love. It was interesting how at that time especially, Westerners had a fascination with the Orient and with Africa. Skull Island, the place where Kong was living, was inhabited by a bunch of dark-skinned, aboriginal people. They were savage and brutish. The partook on some kind of cannibalistic religion. They offered up sacrifices to Kong. In many ways, Skull Island was this place where white people just didn’t belong - they’re out of their element. Read more this entry »

What a difference a bed makes! I couldn’t take it anymore so I went out today and bought a bed - a new bed. And man, let me tell you, it’s worth the price. To have something that you’ll lay on, night after night, is so important. I went down to the Rockaway Bedding in South Philly near the water. Ken, the sales guy, was really nice. He gave me a $1200 bed for $460!! And while I can’t guarantee you’ll get the same kinda price or deal I’d say they’re worth a look. He was also very helpful in getting it on top of the car. Treat yourself right to a good bed. Ask for Ken - (215) 755-4250.

It’s still a work in progress - and will be for some time to come, but I was able to take another step closer to making it feel like home in here. I built a fire in my place for the first time. The maintenance guy was nice enough to come over and get it all secured and cleaned. Now I can at least sit back, relax and read in front of the fire place this winter break. Stop by if you’re in the neighborhood.

I don’t think I’ve found a piece of music by Gil Evans that I don’t like. He is perhaps most famous for his work with Miles Davis (Sketches of Spain is a classic). But he’s also done a lot of other work - good work. While listening to WXPN sometime a couple of weeks ago I came across this recording: The Individualism of Gil Evans, here released on Verve. This is also important as it is Evan’s only date as a leader in the mid 60’s. The session features such standouts as Kenny Burrell on guitar, Wayne Shorter on tenor, Phil Woods on alto, Thad and Elvin Jones on trumpet and drums respectively and Jimmy Cleveland on trombone. The CD offers nine tracks including two previously unreleased to the original Lp. My two favorites on this are Time Of The Barracudas and Las Vegas Tango. I would highly recommend this to fans of Evans as well as any one looking for a very listenable jazz album but don’t know a lot about the genre. (Amazon.com Link).