My Cup Runneth Over.

Tonight I saw Alice in Chains at the Wiltern. It was a spectacular show. Michael Duvall is an amazing singer. I will never doubt his ability to maintain the richness of every note in AIC tracks which were perfected by Layne. Layne’s gone, but his legacy I feel is in good hands. Of course, he can never be replaced but the “new guy” is perfect. His demeanor and performance had left the crowd screaming and I can state with confidence, he has earned our respect. Kicking off the show with “Again” from the self titled third album, the show picked up pace. Every fan in the audience sang along to “Bleed the Freak”, the next track. For the first fifty minutes, Michael, Jerry, Sean and Mike enchanted us with songs that have stuck with our intellects for over fifteen years. “It ain’t like that”, “Junkhead”, “Rain when I die”…

Then a brief pause followed as we were treated to a montage of music and recordings of Layne over the years. When the lights came back on, the stage was set up for an acoustic session. The band started this section of the show with “Don’t follow”…”Got me wrong”, “Down in a hole”. Perfect.

The third part of the concert rocked with tracks like “Angry Chair” followed by “Brush Away”, “Main in the Box”. The show was seemingly going to end as they performed “Them bones” and proceeded to exit the stage. The crowd screamed for more! Jerry came back out followed by Michael, Sean and William. Then they treated us to “Rooster”, finally ending the show with “Would”….

It feels amazing to be a fan who’s loved this band for over fifteen years, and being from a place that’s over eighteen thousand miles away, the first ever concert without Layne ought to be a different experience. Notwithstanding that I’ve never seen AIC live, except on DVD. I didn’t know what to expect. But I have a lot of faith in a band that has been a savior and friend through times of personal turmoil, failures and the ever misplaced triumph. The 90’s were such. I would sing along to Layne’s soothing renditions of favorites like “Bleed the freak”, “Confusion” and “I stay away”. Yesterday was my day of reckoning. It was an opportunity to see the band that I cherish the most; live!

Tastebud Annihilation

Ladies & Gentlemen, I bill you for a Peppermint Mocha.
May the creators of this esteemed beverage live a thousand years and bask in three hundred gallons of jersey cows' milk. This right here, is the drink of champions. Man, I'm hooked. I've had a few gulps last year, but this holiday season I have been frequenting Starbucks with the renewed vigor of a walrus at sea. Even if the line is a mile long, I tend to demonstrate the patience of a 16th century fire hydrant and the enthusiasm of a turn signal light bulb. I want one! I want one!

Each time, I order a tall one with two extra shots (no whip, of course, whipped cream is for sissies) and when I'm halfway done I wish I had asked for a grande. I think I'm going to fry in hell for being this carnal. But this particular beverage right here; yes this one, gets me going like a parking violation officer who's found sixty three BMWs parked in the red zone. Go get yourself one, tell me it isn't true. Don't get it with the whip or the crystals though. It'll make you look like a overgrown schoolgirl with braided sideburns. Sip the beverage gently as the taste of chocolate swirls in your oral adapter that has longed for years of good taste; and just when you think you will knead your cheeks with both hands, this sensational taste-fest is neutralized by the calming effect of peppermint. Little explosions of mint frolic away as the beverage finds it way down your glorified esophagus. For the first two minutes, swirl it nice and gently. Yes, there you go! Doesn't it feel like you are Fidel Castro? That's it! Apart from that, indulge. And then with your arms wide open and your tongue hanging loose run face first into a wall, like I do.

Trojans Triumph. Again!

"I think we're a pretty good team right now," USC coach Pete Carroll said. "We'll play anybody, any where."

Should the Trojans (10-1) beat UCLA (6-5) at the Rose Bowl next weekend, they'll probably play top-ranked Ohio State in the BCS title game Jan. 8 in Glendale, Ariz. USC has beaten its crosstown rivals seven straight times. And now the Trojans have won five straight against Notre Dame (10-2).

--- FIGHT ON!!!!!!!!! ---

What Happens At Work?

Exhibit [A]
Aural Pundit: Here is a good example of a content, surround sounded entity basking in the glory of aural salvation. Observe closely, the upturned thumbs signifying satisfaction and total release as well as surrender to the sound induced. Rock On!

Exhibit [B]
Resident Alien: When the immigration authorities coined the term, 'alien resident', they weren't kidding. Look what we found at my desk!?!

Uncompromising Circumstances?

This afternoon we had a leftover party at the office following yesterday’s thanksgiving potluck. We ate, we talked and at the end of all, my friend Jaz said we should take the rest of the food and give it to the homeless who hang around the park on Wednesdays on account of the Farmer’s market. We walked across Main Street and set the platters on the pavement. There were several homeless people taking naps thanks to the cool afternoon weather. I proceeded to wake some of them up and tell them to eat. The first guy I woke looked very familiar. It felt like I’d known him a while ago and yet, it I couldn’t put a name to the face. I walked over, woke the others up while Jaz and Will distributed the plates and set the platters. As the others gathered around to serve themselves, I kept looking at this guy trying to recollect where I might have seen him.

Eric?” He turned around and said, “Yes?” Then it dawned upon me. I used to talk to this guy every morning when I stopped over at Starbucks to get my coffee. Those were the days when I used to ride the bus to work, alight on Santa Monica Boulevard and walk across the 3rd Street Promenade before getting to work. It was an everyday ritual. Eric and I used to talk about coffees, teas and everything under the sun! He used to work at that Starbucks, standing behind the cash register, cracking jokes and generally relieving everyone from their morning grogginess. He was just another happy guy. Until, I saw him this afternoon. He appeared to have been homeless just for a few days. There he was with sleepy eyes, three day stubble, bare feet and just a flimsy leather jacket to keep him warm. He told me that he’d been waiting for a disability check to come through for the last five to six years and eventually he had been made redundant. But ending up on the streets? Nobody deserves to end up like this. There was a flurry of words corroborating that it could be related to substance abuse or simply a choice to not work. Eric didn't look like he was smoking crack or as if he had a raging alcoholic problem. Just circumstances, I'd choose to believe. I have never felt this helpless.

The turn of events today has been something. Just this morning I had walked into that very Starbucks to satiate my craving for peppermint mocha. My eyes were searching for those two apprentices who used to work there back in the day and were more than acquaintances to me. Eric and Sari, my morning buddies. Sari was a beautiful girl, an aspiring stage actress who was in school and working part time. I would always talk to her and Eric every morning. What’s really overwhelming is just this morning while I was waiting for my order, Sari walked in and I greeted her. She looked beautiful as ever, but she didn’t work there anymore. As for me, I had assumed that the chances of seeing her or Eric again would be slim. Everyone moves on. It was just another coincidence I’d said to myself a few hours ago.

NIN LIVE! on HD-DVD & Blu-Ray.

Then My Head Fell Apart, Where Were You?

You Better Listen!

I walked green miles of jungle / I walked through yellow miles of pain

I crossed starvation's desert / Watched dead rivers swell with rain
The song of insects filled the air / Nights in cities of despair
Where killer's sons said, son beware / And all the roads from here to there
I sailed the sea of desolation / Dropped my anchor there
Plumbed the depths of isolation / Walked its length and was not scared
Went from end to end to end / And then from there I went again
The road that only this one knows / Off to nowhere here I go
Illumination comes so hard / Makes me see but leaves its scars
At times I wish that I didn't know what I know now
Thought and thought until I lost my mind
Looked and looked until I went near blind
The path is fair but so unkind
At night the highway's diesel roar / Speaks to me and tells me more
Than any book I've ever read / Or anything you ever said
With silent eyes inside / I watch myself and worlds collide
The seasons burn and crack my skin / I stay outside and live within

"Illumination"
::Rollins Band::
Thanks Mads!

Holy Sh*t!!!!

Radical, Wicked, Cosmic!

Shameful Flight Indeed

United States historian Stanley Wolpert says Lord Mountbatten erred in heeding Jawaharlal Nehru.

ISLAMABAD: American historian Stanley Wolpert has claimed that the division of Punjab and Bengal could have been avoided in 1947 had Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last British viceroy, listened to Mahatma Gandhi and Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

The scholar has courted controversy once again, finding fault with the advice rendered by Jawaharlal Nehru, Pakistan’s Daily Times newspaper said in a report from Washington, DC. In his latest book, Shameful Flight: The Last Years of the British Empire in India, Wolpert says that when Mountbatten asked Jinnah in April 1947 what he thought of then Bengal chief minister HS Suhrawardy’s proposal to create a sovereign Bengal, he expected him to be shocked by his lieutenant’s “treachery”.

But Jinnah surprised him by saying, “I should be delighted. What is the use of Bengal without Calcutta? They had much better remain united and independent; I am sure they would be on friendly terms with us.” When Mountbatten said Suhrawardy would wish Bengal to remain within the British Commonwealth, Jinnah said: “Of course, just as I indicated to you that Pakistan would wish to remain within the Commonwealth.”

Months before this supposed conversation, Suhra-wardy ignited ‘Direct Action’ in Calcutta. Thousands died in a communal carnage and Some historians have recorded that this carnage paved the way for Partition.

But Wolpert has a different conclusion: “Had Mountbatten followed the advice of Gandhi, Jinnah, or Suhra-wardy, instead of listening only to Nehru, Punjab and Bengal might have been spared the deadly horrors, and a united Bengal, with its capital in Calcutta, would have emerged instead of the impoverished Bangladesh born from its eastern half a quarter of a century later,” he says in his book.

(source: DNAIndia.com)

God Bless Your Soul

2 years have passed since you left us. We miss you.

Unke Dekhe Se

Unke dekhe se jo aa jaathi hai moonh par raunaq
Woh samajhten hain ke beemaar ka haal achcha hai

Dekhiye paate hain pushaaq buton se kya faiz
Ik barhaman ne kaha hai ke ye saal achcha hai

Humko maaloom hai jannat ki haqeeqat lekin
Dil ko khusH rakhne ko 'Ghalib' ye khayaal achcha hai...

Hallowed Be Thy Name

All Encompassing Stupidity

I sit here with my first bottle of root beer as I type this monologue. I swear to the Gods that have created Altoid sours; I have never consumed root beer before. My belly is behaving like a detergent commercial with suds bubbling in all conceivable directions as the outer layers try to absorb the fireworks in this deep chasm. I’m waiting for a render to finish. My coffee cup stares back at me blankly like an ex-girlfriend who was once upon a time a heartthrob and now has manifested as the squadron leader of team undead. Ah, the afternoon breezes outside floats across like jingles for an antibacterial soap with a really cute blonde thrown in for grease appeal. What has dish soap, antibacterial hand wash or for that matter my new Donald duck clock got to do with beautiful women? You might ask… If you haven’t yet clocked in, let me pose the question for you. While you scratch the silly, flaky scalp of your head wondering what it is, I will go on to explain a few things about life.

Life isn’t an Eskimo pie like Dennis Leary claims. It maybe so for the successful architect who walks around in Armani fatigues clutching the plans for his multi-million dollar ski resort project. For Neanderthals like you and me, life is the moment before sunrise when you wake up with your anatomical lunch bag groaning for a crumble coffee cake and finding that your pet pooch has left a pee stain on the rug that sketchily resembles the map of Mogadishu. From the point the alarm blares in your ears and you dance your way in your latent half-nakedness into the shower to fighting traffic and women on the free way, it’s just a warm up. I’m not a misogynist, but the concept of cell phone wielding women being thoroughbred drivers seems to be playing havoc with my ability to comprehend rocket science.

Now to the common folks, the carnage continues… I meet people. I like them, I love them and sometimes I want to maim them. Why such a caustic disposition, you might add? I’m no wise man. The last time I gave somebody good advice, he went home and tried to make a pet out of a plastic lobster. I don’t think he was successful. Especially when the cops arrived and slung him into the comfortable backseat of their patrol car for running around naked around the neighborhood claiming to be Archimedes. So, I tend to be middle of the road with my views. Then there are the Isaac Newtons and figs; our contemporaries who claim to know it all but can’t summarize why cats discuss economic issues with an English accent. Sometimes you may come across an individual whose intellect parallels the craftiness of a box of rubber bands and sometimes a lady who’s a heartbreaker but deserves to live with three broccoli sprouts when the world ends.

Sushi! Yummy!!!!!

Go get a life at the Light House Buffet in Santa Monica. Arizona & 2nd. Yum-mummy!