Saturday, October 08, 2005

Dogs help save big cats

Coming back to NYC and jumping with relief into a yellow taxi it was 70F warm and hot in the afternoon sun . Through haze and misty clouds the city appeared , the old big graveyard on the right , the one with the factory rising above it
The trees here have not turned yet and it's still warm .
Has been raining finally overnight and today , first 2 day rain since July I heard

Warning on NYC subway bombings maybe not so important as previously thought ?
Large Earthquake in Kashmir , another in Cali
North Pole ice has had accelerated melt levels for the last 5 years now

After rding the report of the bird flu by those top scientists ,
Yesterday a report of the Bird flu in Romania
Whn I was doing soundtracks for NY Times TV between 1997 -2000 we did a NY Science Times Program on the research into the old flu that killed so many people including otherwise healthy 25 - 35 year olds . The information in the show was chilling enough
then articles in the Europe newspapers about the bird flu spreading
made the coughing passengers around us seem less benign ...

India . 67 women held in death of 'Sorcerer' after a mob killed a barber suspected of practicing black magic . Dozens more women are being sought by the authorities .
The arrests came after a mob of about 150 women from the southern village of Muddireddypalli, in Andhra Pradesh , attacked the barber'shop , beating him and locking him inside before setting the building on fire , an official said .
The villagers suspected he was practicing black magic and held him responsible for the large number of deaths in the village in the last year ...

Islamic militants kill 5 soldiers in Thailand

New Orleans pets are still being rescued , dozens of dogs daily

Dogs help save cats . To help save big cats from killing and eating livestock in Africa , they brought in guard dogs for the sheep which the cheetahs avoided , thereby saving the cats from being killed by villagers irate over lost livestock

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Amsterdam Ghent Toulouse Paris

Ghosting Amsterdam in ther rain before the gig
order soup , pancakes , Bulldogs
tromping through Dam Sq. ,
end up eating good Chinese lunch before we head bk to the Quentin Hotel
In the evening explore up and down the Red lights canals

The Ghent gig was interesting , fun in it's way . About 75 - 100 people i'd guess
The guy's doing the bar club Video came and picked us up and brought us to a small hotel on a quiet street we stayed at close to those tall old cathedrals we did our sound check , went to dinner and walked back through old medieval city .

We lagged behind the others taking video and digital photos
DJ High Priest opened us up with another sort consise mix of his beats like he always did during each show of this tour
St Micheals Bridge the Belfry
St. Baffskathedraal
St. Nicholas Church and St. Bavon Cathedrals

The Cartier Festival in Toulouse was radiant after a five hour fast train , city of red brick by the river at sunset . We did the soundcheck facing right into the hot sun , that night we heard 3000 people had been attracted to the festival ( Airborn Audio / Bi-Conicals Of The Rammellzee / Bug was on last and the crowd went nuts

Video shoot that night was handled by charismatic young woman who was interviewing everyone who finally swallows the camera to show us her tongue piercing .
The large crew and tech guys there made for THE unique lighting and sound show of the tour
In a sweep of security men the culture minister came late to the performance as we came off stage and we had to go back quick for an encore .
We did 2 encores , some improv stuff to start the first one after Ramm took his mask off and was in do rag and then right into When Hell Freezes Over by Kaos from the
Bi-Conicals Album

Nick and I evolved our end of our version of DCC's Exterior Street interplay into a great end piece /wrap with the Bladerunner synths are playing after the beats have stopped ...
Eventually the tide passed audience got quiet when soundman turned some other kind of music
As we tried to get the taxi the Fest. called for us , the security men swung into action again when the ministers were leaving the Fest.
in front of us the seemingly calm young cadets blocked traffic and stood at perimeter until after the motorcade pulled out into traffic

Paris show was also very good , a tighter range of colors lights strobe smoke ,
good fish , chicken breasts & frites dinner right in the club ( Nouveau Casino )
lots of ladies dancing upfront tonight , encores some more improv.
Time spent in area of shops the Marais ,
temporary shop down a side alley across from Muji
watery Niki de Saint Phalle sculptures by the Pompideau , loaded up on post cards
Vietnamese Thai lunch on way back to hotel
Then we did the show and the tour dates were over ...
We ended up going to a couple parties that night which was the White night in Paris when many places are open late .
there was a party in the old Communists Building but by the time we got there there was a super long line to get in but the people coming out looked good.
Next day we went to stay back to stay with friends who hipped us to the fantastic installation and soundscape at the Grand Palais , a large scale Ballardesque former World Fair structure but computer lit and with a surround sound system .
Very Bladerunner' soundtrack
Ramm and DJ High Priest checked out of the Cosmos Hotel and flew back on Mon. Oct.3