Miss Ida B

Hello world
Have you seen Miss Ida B?
Hello world, yeah
Have you seen Miss Ida B?

She's a coffee colored brown
And she looked something like an Indienne

I love you, Miss Ida B, yeah
And I just can't, I just can't hardly keep it in

......................to be continued

Deliverance........

is alone well worth the price of admission.

Tonight I was in attendance in yet another Opeth concert - never has another band, apart from Iron Maiden, evoked such a string emotional response from me. I've seen them every year starting in Philadelphia from when I scrounged around for a few months to be able to afford the ticket. Their live shows are just pure destruction - they do not use any stage gimmicks, no eye candy, no lasers, no video shows on LCD screens etc but just on the strenght of their mighty music, they draw in the legions. Opeth is the fucking best!!!

Tonight's set was blistering!!! From the opening heavy (and I mean fucking heavy!) brooding "Heir Apparent" to the slower, softer "Hope Leaves" to the hypnotic, psychedelic "Closure" concluding in the staple "Deliverance", Opeth was absolutely the greatest! They played some old songs that I haven't heard them play before - "Godhead's Lament", "The Night and the Silent Water".

The mosh pits were insane - there were two roiling pits of hair, flesh and blood. I managed to survive 30 minutes in one of them but not without some collateral damage - a sore, swollen knee from when a behemoth tackled me, bringing me to the ground and a massive red purple bruise in the small of my back where someone headbutted me. I did some damage of my own too, as they always say at the end of a fight, "You should have seen the other guy!". As far as I could tell, 15 people succumbed to the insanity and intensity of the mosh pit. They were escorted away with bleeding noses and other injuries.

Opeth was absolute dynamite tonight and I was honored to have been part of this ritual.

Ek Lau.....

I can't get this song out of my head. It's been a really long time since a hindi song has made itself home in my head and refuses to leave. Find it and download it!!

As far as I can gather, this is a song from the movie "Aamir" and Amit Trivedi is the music director.

Lyrics:

Gardishon Mein Rehthi,
Rehthi Guzar Thi
Zindagi Aahein Kithni
In Mein Se Ek Hai,
Teri Meri Aakhari
Koi Ek Jaisi Apni..

Par Khuda Kheir Kar Aisaa Anjaam Kisi Rooh Ko Na De Kabi Yahaan..
Gujha Muskuratha Hai Kyun Waqth Se Pehle Kyun Chodd Chala Tera Ye Jahaan

Ek Lau Is Tharah Kyun Bhuji Mere Maula
Ek Lau Zindagi Ki Maula

[ Ek Lau Is Tarah Kyun Song Lyrics @http://www.hindilyrix.com ]

Ek Lau Is Tharah Kyun Bhuji Mere Maula
Ek Lau Zindagi Ki Maula

Dhoop Ke Ujaale Si, Puns Ki Pyaale Si, Khushiyan Mile Humko..
Zyada Manga Hai Kahaan, Sarhadein Na Ho Jahaan, Duniya Mile Humko..
Par Khudha Kheir Kar, Uske Armaan Mein Kyun Bewaja Ho Koi Kurbaan..
Gujha Muskuratha Hai Kyun Waqth Se Pehle Kyun Chodd Chala Tera Ye Jahaan

Ek Lau Is Tharah Kyun Bhuji Mere Maula
Ek Lau Zindagi Ki Maula

[ Ek Lau Is Tarah Kyun Song Lyrics @http://www.hindilyrix.com ]

Ek Lau Is Tharah Kyun Bhuji Mere Maula
Ek Lau Zindagi Ki Maula..

Ek Lau Is Tharah Kyun Bhuji Mere Maula
Ek Lau Zindagi Ki Maula

Ek Lau Is Tharah Kyun Bhuji Mere Maula
Ek Lau Zindagi Ki Maula

Ek Lau Is Tharah Kyun Bhuji Mere Maula
Ek Lau Zindagi Ki Maula

Ek Lau Is Tharah Kyun Bhuji Mere Maula
Ek Lau Zindagi Ki Maula

What do you do?

I still haven't figured out an answer to this question. The answer to life seems so much simpler.

Random thoughts for a snowy Sunday

• No one is really free of the ideological inheritance which he carries within himself as a child of a given generation. This, in essence, is his conformal "world view". What are yours?

• Do not equate unawareness with non-existence. Everyone is, at some point, guilty of this depending on the degree of their hubris on how well read they think they are on any given subject.

• If all/most of your personal heroes are iconoclasts of this or past generations, does that make you one? Isn't this self-contradictory - that you have personal icons but still consider yourself an iconoclast?
  

• When does 'belief' turn into 'faith'?

Feel free to answer any of these questions or post more of your own.

Headbanger's Paradise

I haven't gone to a concert in such a long time and have been longing, no, yearning for it off late. Each concert, for me, is a ritual - it cleanses me off all my earthly attachments for a few hours and gives me a fresh start at life's burdens for when I return. The energy of the pit can be rejuvenating, it is an out of body and mind experience for me. For a while now, the concert landscape has been a veritable desert. But, an oasis of shows have lined up for the year and have put a spring in my step.

January 16th: Cradle of Filth, Satyricon @ The Palladium, Worcester, MA
I haven't been excited about a Cradle of Filth album in a while (the last two were a little too Gothic/electronic for me) but the latest one "Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder" had me jumping on my feet all excited. It's an aural orgy of razor sharp melodies over a bed of blistering drums bound together with crunching rhythms. Harmonious guitar solos are an exciting addition to the Filth song structure. And what are Filth songs without the atmosphere and keyboards? Not to be worried, the atmosphere of haunting keys sets the tone for every song in this album. This album is not as hard edged as earlier opuses such as Dusk and Her Embrace, Midian, Cruelty and the Beast but is more than compensated for with melody.

I am a huge fan of Nordic black metal of which Satyricon are pioneers. I confess I haven't had time to listen to their latest album, The Age of Nero but their earlier albums have really struck a chord with my inner insanity. I intend to spin The Age of Nero a few times in my mp3 player before January 16th.

January 30th: AC/DC @ The FedEx Forum, Memphis
Second row floor tickets! For those about to rock, we salute you! I am so excited about this gig that words fail me.

February 22nd: B.B. King and Buddy Guy @ The House of Blues, Boston, MA
The giants of the blues together! What else can I say but "The thrill is.." ON.

March 6th: Destruction, Krisiun @ The Palladium, Worcester, MA
Thrash metal titans Destruction and fast, furious, blistering death metal maniacs Krisiun (is there something in the water down in Brazil?) are going to amp up the intensity till the insanity blows away the building rafter by rafter. I am re-considering being anywhere near the pit at this concert.

April 10th: Kreator, Exodus, Belphegor @ The Palladium, Worcester, MA
THRASH till death! That is the theme for this orgy of bone crunching riffs and supersonic solos destined to snap your neck. Whiplash is on the menu and is being force fed to everyone. You won't see me complaining!

Home.......

"When you go home it always looks the same, smells the same and feels the same. You realize that what's changed is you." -- I came across this poignant thought in the movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". There are many wonderful situations, circumstances and people that I am sure you'll connect with on an emotional level in this movie.

About home, I always feel exactly like this when I go back home - everything is exactly where it was when I left. Sure, a few things have been moved around, some things have been added and some are missing but there all mostly there and where they've always been. Yet, I feel different - an eerie feeling of being a stranger in your own home. When I used to live there, my immediate habitat had an air of my individuality. Ever since I flew the coup, even though most of the things I left behind are still there I find the essence of my past habitation and the warmth of the comfort I had in my immediate surroundings missing. Every corner of the house, every thing in the house down to the towels and sheets evoke memories of my past. But even though I sleep in the same bed that I slept in for 22 years and use sheets and pillows that I recognize from 6 years ago, I essentially live out of a suitcase (symbolic of a guy just passing through) and don't spend enough time in the house (and in the country) to make it all my own again. And this, in my opinion, makes me feel strangely unfamiliar in my own home and why my past visits have not left me with memories that evoke the same emotional response as pillows and sheets from 6 years ago - I just don't have the time to make it all my own again, to stamp my individuality on the ways of the house.

And yes, I will always call it home. It is, as they say, where the heart is.