I
"The Symmetric Orchestra reflects the spirit of Mali's new democracy since 1992 - a spirit of equality, and creativity. There's a public in Mali today that loves traditional music - griot music - but not the griot milieu. With the Symmetric, they feel free to enjoy this music without obligations of tradition. And this gives us the freedom to present the tradition in new ways."
That's from the liner notes of one of the most enjoyable CDs I have bought in a while... "Boulevard De L'Independance" is the latest album by Toumani Diabaté's Symmetric Orchestra. I know much less about the realm of world music than I would like at this point, but the refreshing grooves and heartfelt vocals of this CD are just the kind of refreshers I was looking for.
The album is a fusion of traditional Malian music with new instruments, styles, and grooves. Other than that, I think you'd really have to give it a listen of your own to try and classify each song.
The music just makes me feel good. Not on a really conscious level or in a way that I can explain fully- but something more visceral. The more upbeat numbers remind me of a quick speedboat ride right off the shore of Belize into a chain of tiny islands and crystal clear water reflecting light everywhere. The slower, more soulful songs are just that. I can't help but furrow my brow as I listen to the various African languages that have no meaning to me whatsoever but still say so much. If you have a chance to give this "feel good" music a listen, I would definitely recommend it. Go on Amazon or iTunes or whatever you prefer and try to find some clips from the album. In particular, "Toumani", "Mali Sadio", and "Africa Challenge" stand out to me as representing some of the depth that this album covers.
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Something that disappoints me (it's nothing new really) is that catch-22 of good green and white tea. It seems that lots of people say they don't like green tea or white tea because it doesn't taste good. I think the problem is that high quality teas (which taste better) are more expensive- and if you don't know if you will like a tea, you don't want to spend $18 on a small tin of Gyokuro tea from Japan! I think part of the reason that I enjoy sharing tea with people so much is when I have people say that they have tried green tea and don't like it or something and then they give it a second chance. When someone offers you a free cup of tea, what's to lose? Usually, people enjoy (or have less negative feelings towards) the idea of green tea after trying the higher quality full leaf teas that I try to exclusively buy now. If you or anyone you know is willing to give tea a second chance, I am always open to sharing my collection. If you want to go out and get your own right away, might I recommend Rishi teas. I am most pleased with all of the tea that I have tried of theirs and of course, they are all organic and Fair Trade certified! If you need something that comes in a bag, check out my other favorite brand, Numi.
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Alright, onto the main thing I wanted to bring up: GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. I didn't know too much about him before, but the other day, there seemed to be a barrage of media appearances from some morning show with Matt Lauer and then on On Point with Tom Ashbrook yesterday.
Like all the other Republicans, he claims to be the only "true conservative" running for the Whitehouse... He may be more socially conservative than some of the other guys, but I think that's all up for debate and by someone who knows more about stuff than I do. What I do know is how I feel about him as a contender.
Here are some of the things that I don't agree with him on (without going into my views too much I hope)-
He is:
* Anti abortion
* Anti gay-marriage
* Supports staying in Iraq to "get the job done" (he does want to change some strategies, but he was pretty clear that he feels that if we leave, the entire region will go down)
* Feels that the healthcare system isn't as broken as we say...
Let me stop there for now. In the interview I heard, from what I got out of it at least, he was saying that the problem isn't that the system is flawed (*cough cough* privately run insurance companies used to making unnecessarily huge profits...) but that in our country, we have too much chronic illness. He directly pointed to smoking, obesity and alcoholism. Now, I'm not much in love with any of those things really, but if what he is saying is that, as president, he would work with the government to stop people from doing these things so our system would be able to deal with other people better, I am not down with that. Sure a federal smoking ban might sound good to some people, but next it could be calorie coupons or something.
"Sorry Jimmy, you can't order the 12-inch sub because you already used up all of your available Government alloted calories for the day."
I know it sounds like a long shot, but when the government starts to say, "this is dangerous to you and expensive to your neighbor, you are prohibited from this personal habit from now on" where does that stop? That's not fair for the people choosing to behave a certain way (not wearing a helmet on a motorcycle) or for the people who come along a week later who want to government to ban speakers other than personal headphones because loud music disrupts them. This is a HUGE piece of junk that could be kicked around and dissected and prodded and tinkered with for a long time, but I really didn't mean to get this far with it right now. I guess I just want people to be able to govern themselves on these issues of personal habits and ways of life and leave it at the local levels. I don't think federal government has any part in it but that's just me.
I think it is interesting that the thing I liked most about Huckabee was the same thing that made me shake my head the most: education.
The most redeeming quality of Mr. Huckabee that really got my attention was when he talked specifically about the importance of arts and music education in public schools. It's good to hear that some of the people making decisions understand the value of such programs. However, he went on to talk about education in general and completely alienated, I'm willing to bet, a lot of educators. He was talking about No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and seemed to state that the problem is not with the legislation- but with how schools and local districts are facilitating test preparation. His point seemed to be that it is the school districts fault that NCLB isn't working because they are unable to deal with it and that they choose to cut arts and music because they aren't assessed like math and reading. Well, the latter part is true in lots of areas, but how can you say it is the schools' fault that they need to focus all the funding they can get to teach students how to take tests for the government? Of course they are a little worried about looking like their students aren't making AYP because then they will be in big doodoo. Cutting extra curricular programs and arts education programs is just a part of the vain attempt by school districts across the country to keep things looking like they are going well so that they don't get shut down. Of course Mr. Huckabee cited a few random schools that are doing quite well because of NCLB (who knows if it is the actual cause of improvement) but when the majority of the schools in the country are saying "This isn't working", don't you think people in washington might think twice about this wonderful program they have set up? Nope.
He also talked about the FairTax, which to be perfectly honest, I know nothing about and I don't know enough about the way things work to really go into that, so maybe this is another issue that I might agree with him on... One of the main points of this is to repeal the 16th ammendment (authorizing income tax) in a huge tax reform effort. My buddy, Ron Paul also talks about getting rid of the IRS and fixing taxes with some stuff some call "Crazy talk" but I think we need more ideas like this in D.C.
That's from the liner notes of one of the most enjoyable CDs I have bought in a while... "Boulevard De L'Independance" is the latest album by Toumani Diabaté's Symmetric Orchestra. I know much less about the realm of world music than I would like at this point, but the refreshing grooves and heartfelt vocals of this CD are just the kind of refreshers I was looking for.
The album is a fusion of traditional Malian music with new instruments, styles, and grooves. Other than that, I think you'd really have to give it a listen of your own to try and classify each song.
The music just makes me feel good. Not on a really conscious level or in a way that I can explain fully- but something more visceral. The more upbeat numbers remind me of a quick speedboat ride right off the shore of Belize into a chain of tiny islands and crystal clear water reflecting light everywhere. The slower, more soulful songs are just that. I can't help but furrow my brow as I listen to the various African languages that have no meaning to me whatsoever but still say so much. If you have a chance to give this "feel good" music a listen, I would definitely recommend it. Go on Amazon or iTunes or whatever you prefer and try to find some clips from the album. In particular, "Toumani", "Mali Sadio", and "Africa Challenge" stand out to me as representing some of the depth that this album covers.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Something that disappoints me (it's nothing new really) is that catch-22 of good green and white tea. It seems that lots of people say they don't like green tea or white tea because it doesn't taste good. I think the problem is that high quality teas (which taste better) are more expensive- and if you don't know if you will like a tea, you don't want to spend $18 on a small tin of Gyokuro tea from Japan! I think part of the reason that I enjoy sharing tea with people so much is when I have people say that they have tried green tea and don't like it or something and then they give it a second chance. When someone offers you a free cup of tea, what's to lose? Usually, people enjoy (or have less negative feelings towards) the idea of green tea after trying the higher quality full leaf teas that I try to exclusively buy now. If you or anyone you know is willing to give tea a second chance, I am always open to sharing my collection. If you want to go out and get your own right away, might I recommend Rishi teas. I am most pleased with all of the tea that I have tried of theirs and of course, they are all organic and Fair Trade certified! If you need something that comes in a bag, check out my other favorite brand, Numi.
-------------------------------------------------------
Alright, onto the main thing I wanted to bring up: GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. I didn't know too much about him before, but the other day, there seemed to be a barrage of media appearances from some morning show with Matt Lauer and then on On Point with Tom Ashbrook yesterday.
Like all the other Republicans, he claims to be the only "true conservative" running for the Whitehouse... He may be more socially conservative than some of the other guys, but I think that's all up for debate and by someone who knows more about stuff than I do. What I do know is how I feel about him as a contender.
Here are some of the things that I don't agree with him on (without going into my views too much I hope)-
He is:
* Anti abortion
* Anti gay-marriage
* Supports staying in Iraq to "get the job done" (he does want to change some strategies, but he was pretty clear that he feels that if we leave, the entire region will go down)
* Feels that the healthcare system isn't as broken as we say...
Let me stop there for now. In the interview I heard, from what I got out of it at least, he was saying that the problem isn't that the system is flawed (*cough cough* privately run insurance companies used to making unnecessarily huge profits...) but that in our country, we have too much chronic illness. He directly pointed to smoking, obesity and alcoholism. Now, I'm not much in love with any of those things really, but if what he is saying is that, as president, he would work with the government to stop people from doing these things so our system would be able to deal with other people better, I am not down with that. Sure a federal smoking ban might sound good to some people, but next it could be calorie coupons or something.
"Sorry Jimmy, you can't order the 12-inch sub because you already used up all of your available Government alloted calories for the day."
I know it sounds like a long shot, but when the government starts to say, "this is dangerous to you and expensive to your neighbor, you are prohibited from this personal habit from now on" where does that stop? That's not fair for the people choosing to behave a certain way (not wearing a helmet on a motorcycle) or for the people who come along a week later who want to government to ban speakers other than personal headphones because loud music disrupts them. This is a HUGE piece of junk that could be kicked around and dissected and prodded and tinkered with for a long time, but I really didn't mean to get this far with it right now. I guess I just want people to be able to govern themselves on these issues of personal habits and ways of life and leave it at the local levels. I don't think federal government has any part in it but that's just me.
I think it is interesting that the thing I liked most about Huckabee was the same thing that made me shake my head the most: education.
The most redeeming quality of Mr. Huckabee that really got my attention was when he talked specifically about the importance of arts and music education in public schools. It's good to hear that some of the people making decisions understand the value of such programs. However, he went on to talk about education in general and completely alienated, I'm willing to bet, a lot of educators. He was talking about No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and seemed to state that the problem is not with the legislation- but with how schools and local districts are facilitating test preparation. His point seemed to be that it is the school districts fault that NCLB isn't working because they are unable to deal with it and that they choose to cut arts and music because they aren't assessed like math and reading. Well, the latter part is true in lots of areas, but how can you say it is the schools' fault that they need to focus all the funding they can get to teach students how to take tests for the government? Of course they are a little worried about looking like their students aren't making AYP because then they will be in big doodoo. Cutting extra curricular programs and arts education programs is just a part of the vain attempt by school districts across the country to keep things looking like they are going well so that they don't get shut down. Of course Mr. Huckabee cited a few random schools that are doing quite well because of NCLB (who knows if it is the actual cause of improvement) but when the majority of the schools in the country are saying "This isn't working", don't you think people in washington might think twice about this wonderful program they have set up? Nope.
He also talked about the FairTax, which to be perfectly honest, I know nothing about and I don't know enough about the way things work to really go into that, so maybe this is another issue that I might agree with him on... One of the main points of this is to repeal the 16th ammendment (authorizing income tax) in a huge tax reform effort. My buddy, Ron Paul also talks about getting rid of the IRS and fixing taxes with some stuff some call "Crazy talk" but I think we need more ideas like this in D.C.