¡muy picosa!

I made some of the best salsa ever, as well as some of the hottest. Why? It wasn't my intention to, but sometimes you get a couple of jalapeños that for some reason are incredibly spicy. Just luck of the draw, really.


Anyway, despite the extreme spiciness (almost too spicy for me or Sandra to eat), it was some of the best salsa I've had. Unfortunately, I can't take credit for it, because I learned the ancient and secret recipe from Señor Louis Holguin.




















Roasting the chiles and a tomato on the comal.
Roasting gives it mucho sabor!




















Smashing everything up in the molcajete.
This salsa contained a lot of onion, cilantro, and tomatillos.
















The final product. Qué sabrosa but sooooo spicy.
Made my hair curl like Sandra's!

we keep it real on 3rd Ave. son!

I WANT THIS BEAT...

...and the laid-back attitude as well

Desert Island Discs

So I was listening to a Ricky Gervais podcast, and he was being interviewed about his Desert Island Discs. He had some good ones on the list, like Blood On The Tracks, Tea For The Tillerman, The Bends, and Space Oddity.


It's so hard to decide. There's too much funk, too much jazz to list, too much reggae, and how could you take only one Afrobeat record?? As of now, some of mine would be (in no particular order):


1. Rama Sreerama - U. Srinivas
This might be my favorite record of all time. It's so complex and yet instantly gratifying; it really is the best. It's something you can listen to over and over and still get more from it each time.

2. Chris McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath
Simply beautiful music. Perfect parts big band, free improvisation, groove, noise, and lush ballads. Amazing playing of amazing compositions and improvisations by amazing musicians.

3. Houses Of The Holy - Led Zeppelin
Maybe I should have picked Zep IV, but this one has "The Song Remains The Same." It has "The Rain Song." It has "D'yer Mak'er." It has "Over The Hills And Far Away." It has "The Ocean." Come on!


4. Music Has The Right To Children - Boards of Canada
Somehow BOC got inside my brain and made a downtempo, ambient score for a wacky night of dreams I had, using analog synthesizers and '70s cassette tapes found in somebody's attic. It's trance-inducing, but the song forms develop so subtly and deftly that you can't deny the high quality of the trip you're having.

5. Antibes '60 - Charles Mingus
Eric Dolphy. Mingus. Need I say more?

6. Nevermind - Nirvana
They just don't make rock like this any more.

7. Djabote - Doudou N'Diaye Rose
OK, so maybe this isn't one of the greatest records of all-time, but it reminds me of the best concert (aside from GYBE!) that I've ever been to, and this record reminds me of it. The CD has the same "band" (about 50 drummers...can you really call that a band?) and the same leader: Papa Doudou N'Diaye Rose. I had never seen music like that before in my life, I was on the verge of tears the whole time. It was raw. The music was so organic and connected that it seemed like it sprang up from the core of the Earth.


8. The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly - Ennio Morricone
Best score, hands down. Just the ingenious instrumentation alone makes this a desert island keeper.

9. Laya Vinyas - Trichy Sankaran
Just one Indian guy drumming. So complex, so simple. Relaxing, invigorating. To be enjoyed on so many levels. Just listen to the sounds and tones he gets from the drums, or try to keep tala and have your brain melted.

10. The Road to Kesan - Selim Sesler
The way it's recorded sounds so raw and powerful...the drums sound huge, and therefore I never tired of this record. It's inspiring in so many ways, it just makes you want to play drums, dance around, travel, enjoy life.

And I'd have to take OK Computer along with me, too.

OK, feel free to tell me all the essential records I missed...

Party's over, America!

Well I hope everyone enjoyed the 4th of July celebrations, because now the party is over. I don't just mean for the weekend, I am talking about the 60-year party we've been having since World War II. We've been top dog since 1945, and the idea of not being #1 any more is probably unthinkable to a lot of Americans. Sorry, but get over it. It's over. It's been 60 years, hope you enjoyed the ride...because now we're the very definition of complacent. Our education system and health care system is a travesty. Oil prices are at an all-time high. (You know, oil: the fossil fuel that is supplied by middle eastern nations that we're utterly dependent upon.) The dollar is tanking. The euro and pound are kicking ass.

Just a small example that made it all seem a bit more real to me: I went to buy some drum sticks. The kind of stick I like was almost completely out of stock. This was weird since they're American-made and I figured that the one thing that I could rely on in a drum shop is an abundance of sticks. (Well, that plus annoying salespeople and loud, terrible drumming.) I asked the clerk what the deal was with all the missing sticks. Apparently, because the dollar is so weak right now, drummers from Europe (especially the UK) are coming over here and buying as many sticks as they can - buying them in bulk. Then they take them all back and have a massive supply of sticks until the next time they fly over here. It's good for the UK drummer, it's good for the stick manufacturer, it's good for the drum shop, but I still need sticks, dammit!

Now, I am not saying that America is a bad place to live, not at all. I am just saying - get used to more and more things like that happening. Your Hummer SUV will be seeing its last days before too long.