Friday, August 30, 2013

SHARQ TARONALARI Music Fest in Samarkand: Great Music & People, Too Many Babies & Police

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I guess I’m a sucker for spectacle.   I’ve been known to watch the Olympics opening ceremonies (just leave out the smoke machines, please),...
Thursday, August 22, 2013

The End is Near: Get it While the Getting’s Good…

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It had to happen sooner or later, of course, that the summer would end, and that life would resume its typical humdrum course of ‘norma...
Friday, August 16, 2013

Hollywood Babel On: Summer Winding Down? No, It’s Just Getting Hotter…

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It is the best of times; it is the worst of times.   It is Rome before the Fall.   It is the last cabaret in Berlin .   The Emperor sip...
Thursday, August 08, 2013

Hollywood Babel On: Diaspora Blues

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Days like today are what you live for if you’re a fan of world music and/or a reluctant Angeleno, hoping to justify your existence, or a...
Friday, August 02, 2013

HOLLY WOOD BABEL: Peruano, Africano, Colombiano, Angeleno… Novalima, guey

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Did you know that Peru had Africans?  If you’ve heard (of) Susana Baca, then you did; or should, anyway.  They’ve been there since the...
Friday, July 26, 2013

HOLLYWOOD BABEL: Speaking in Tongues—Ethiopian, Arabic, Castellano, Anglo

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If you saw the movie “La Bamba” many years ago, and hopefully paid attention to the Los Lobos soundtrack, then you know there’s a folk ve...
Thursday, July 18, 2013

Summer Heats Up in LA

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How’s this global warming working out for you?   If it gets any hotter, I might have to go buy some beachfront property in Point Barrow,...
Friday, July 12, 2013

VIEUX ANEW: FARKA ME 2

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“Hendrix of the Desert:” don’t you just love that name they try to hang on Vieux Farka Toure’, son of Ali, son of Ishmael and Mariam?  Ye...
Friday, June 28, 2013

Vaud and the Villains - How Do You Spell E-C-L-E-C-T-I-C?

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The last thing I had in mind when I left my apartment last Saturday was to receive some musical epiphany at LA’s   MacArthur   Park… yes...
Thursday, June 20, 2013

It's That Time Again in LA: Let the Music Flow...

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It’s that time again in LA—summer—and there’s so much good music for free that it almost makes the smog and traffic jams and lack...