Ali G Translator

i was recently told dat my blog entries is too borin - so, fa a change, i'd dig to share somethin wicked wiv yous. as some of yous may know, i ave a link to da ali g translata on my webpage, askin people to translate their emails before dey send them to me if dey dig my respect. so now, fa da first time, a colleague wiv a sense of uma translated a standard invitation to review a papa fa a magazine. in da house's an excerpt:

--
(..)
i believe dat da subject matta is within your general area of expertise and int erests and i would dig yous to serve as a reviewa fa da papa. a copy of da papa is attached at da batty of dis note.

if available, i would appreciate it if yous could review da papa and borrow me your assessment as soon as possible.
(..)
if yous cannot make dis date or is not available to do dis review, please let me know as soon as possible. if y ou is unable to do dis review, suggestions fa alternate reviewers would be mostest welcomed.
(..)
***i would appreciate it if yous ack da receipt of dis note.***


thank yous well much fa your elp wiv (..)
--

RESPECT to Ioanis Nikolaidis!

Gig announcement: 9 and 11 December

After the nice gig that we played as session opener in Treibhaus earlier this year (see this old posting for pictures and even a short video), Nina Braith invited me to join her for two more gigs, together with a keyboard player from Vienna and, once again, Matthias on bass. Thanks Nina!

The gig on 9 December is in Treibhaus at 21:00, as session opener (like last time). The gig on 11 December is going to be a little longer, in Hofgarten, starting at 22:00 and lasting until approximately 00:30. I hope to see you at one (or both :-) ) of these gigs!

How things are connected

Sometimes it's strange how things are connected in this world... here are two examples.

1) Just before going to Beijing, in this posting, I wrote about the Steve Gadd drum lick (broken doubles between hi-hat and snare) from Rickie Lee Jones' "Chuck E's in Love". You can hear it here.

Now I'm back from China. In Hongkong (a part of a private trip after working in Beijing), we went to see a jam session in a bar. People there told me that the drummer is really good ... and then, during a solo, he played exactly this lick :-) - things are connected in this world, and drummers love Steve Gadd everywhere.

2) Another strange coincidence: I'm a big fan of the new orleans keyboard player / singer Jon Cleary, and was hoping to finally see his band when I get to New Orleans again later this year (late Nov / early Dec). Turns out that he plays in Treibhaus with John Scofield (and George Porter Jr. from the Meters on bass! wow!) on 1 December... so I'll miss him because I'll be in New Orleans!

Fun in Beijing

Yes we're having some fun here... (in addition to all the hard work, of course!)

Southpark-ized

Inspired by the simpsonized picture of myself in my blog, Hansi and Sebastian (notice that his consultation hour is by appointment only! be sure to request an appointment now!) decided to manually Southpark-ize me. I guess I owe it to them to present the results here... I hate to say it, but I have to admit that they're not entirely unrealistic :)

Omnipresent China?

As my second trip to China is getting closer, just like the first time, I start noticing references to China everywhere. On TV yesterday, Bart Simpson got infected with the Chinese Panda virus. While I searched for bars in Beijing, I was coincidentally listening to "Woody and Dutch on the Slow Train to Peking" from Rickie Lee Jones' "Pirates" album (one of the most beautiful albums ever!). Is this just a coincidence, or is China really omnipresent in our lives here in Europe, and I only notice that before going there?

Since this is supposed to be a blog about drumming, let me say that Steve Gadd's drumming on Woody and Dutch is just great (this shows why I once liked brushes :-) ), and anyway nobody else could have played a better drum track for "We Belong Together" from the same album than (check out what happens after 2:20). And, speaking of Steve Gadd and Rickie Lee Jones, there can be no better example of his broken doubles between the hi-hat and snare than in the song "Chuck E's in Love" from the album named "Rickie Lee Jones". Ah, I just remembered, that one is available on Keith Cronin's great "Drum Licks from Hell" page, right here. This page is great, just like his "Drum Grooves of Doom" page. To get back to Rickie Lee Jones - I've been a big fan of hers for a very long time, but I had no idea that Tom Waits was once her lover until I visited her Wikipedia page the other day. Why didn't they record a duet album? Shame...

Hm, now that was more about drumming and music than about China, despite the title. Well that's just the spirit of this blog - "mostly drums".

Petra

Check out this picture of Petra :-) quite realistic, except for the lipstick.