Las Robertas Tour Europe (FUCKING FINALLY)

    

   I feel like I'm growing old waiting for Las Robertas to get a North American booking agent.  The fact that they don't have one is a crime.  The United States indie music community/audience should be fucking embarrassed on behalf of the main booking agencies in the US: not... doing...their...job.  Get it together, boys.

Las Robertas European Tour 2011:
25 de Mayo – Poble Espanyol, Primavera Sound, Barcelona.
26 de Mayo – Carpa Rayban, Primavera Sound, Barcelona.
27 de Mayo – Carpa Myspace PS / Parc Central de Poblenou PS, Barcelona.

1 de Junio – Nasti, Madrid (+Algodón Egipcio).
2 de Junio – Sala Matisse, Valencia (+Mujeres).
3 de Junio – Sala Subsuelo, Pamplona (+Reina Republicana).
4 de Junio – Black Bird club, Santander (+Reina Republicana).
5 Juin – Les Saint des Denis, Toulouse.
6 Juin – Le Barbarella, La Rochelle.
7 Juin – Bouille de Mome, Allaire.
10 de Junho - Clube Ferroviario, Lisboa.
11 de Junho – Amazem do Cha, Porto.
13th June - The Lexington, London w/ Echo Lake & Weird Dreams.
14th June – Acoustic Instore at FlashBack Records, London.
15th June – The Deaf Institute, Manchester.
16th June – Green Door Store, Brighton w/ La La Vasquez.
17th June - The Shacklewell Arms, London w/ Sexbeet.
18 Juni – Debaser, Stockholm.

Dunes is Playing The Till Two Club Tomorrow

   Honestly, I love Vitamin Water and if Vitamin Water straight up wrote me and asked me to mention this show because they were sponsoring it, I would have said something like, "Yeah- I love Vitamin Water and it's great of you to be sponsoring a local rock show- I'd be MORE THEN HAPPY to  mention your sponsored rock event. But Vitamin Water doesn't need to get intermediaries involved- just be Vitamin Water and set up cool shows and that's enough.  Here is a "Jambase" listing for the event if you'd like more info. (JAMBASE)

  On a wholly unrelated note I just want to say that I have no beef with Soft Pack, think that they are a great band, that their last record was really good and didn't get the attention it deserved, but that what they have is worth fighting for and they should go ahead and record another record and put it out early next year.  Maybe drop a 7" as an excuse to tour the US and remind people what a great live act they are.

Scythians

  This is a map of the situation 100 BC and you have to imagine a spreading over the 500-1000-2000 years prior.  The fact that we can now speak of a language family means that there had been separation and lack of contact between Iranian speakers and other Indo European languages before the Iranian language themselves began to spread apart.

  Understanding the waves of Indo European migration require understanding the role of the Iranian speaking folks in Central Asia in PUSHING other groups of Indo European groups OUT into places like India and Western Europe.  Although many of the Scythian speaking languages were unwritten, the ole Iranian Language Family tree has a host of them under it's "northeastern" branch:  Avestan, Bactrian, Samaritan, Soghdian and Alanian: All prominent players during the time when Germans, Greeks, Celts and Vedic groups were moving from their place of origin into their new worlds.

  So even though they ended up getting dominated by the Turks and then the Mongols, to the point where the only ethnicity they have left is the Ossetians in South Georgia, recently implicated in the mini war between Russia an Georgia when South Ossetia said they wanted to be with Russia or independent instead of being in Georgia,  the Sycthians played a HUGE role in determining who is where in todays modern world.

Urban Dictionary: Swag

Swag (Urban Dictionary)

Credit: Rap Music.

DIRTY BEACHES IN NYC: MAY 12th & 13th

GLASSLANDS GALLERY

      289 Kent Ave., between S. 1st and S. 2nd Sts., Brooklyn (No phone)—May 13: Dirty Beaches. The handsome rockabilly crooner Alex Zhang Hungtai is a wanderer, and his music reflects it. Born in Taiwan, he has lived in Honolulu, Toronto, Shanghai, New York, and Montreal. He’s currently based in Vancouver, where he’s found success with this lo-fi project. Dirty Beaches’ riveting winter performance at this two-level art space included stage diving and balcony climbing, and introduced Brooklyn audiences to “Badlands,” Hungtai’s most recent collection of songs. He returns this weekend for a set of shows amid a flood of positive press.

(NIGHT LIFE: NEW YORKER)


MERCURY LOUNGE MAY 12th:

     Within the lo-fi elegance of Dirty Beaches (a/k/a Alex Zhang Hungtai), influences range from rockabilly to garage pop to scuzzy, reverb-soaked beats. The overall vibe carries a foggy, old-fashioned aesthetic--the muffled doo-wop of "Lord Knows Best" could easily blare from a time-twisted "Twin Peaks" diner jukebox. Hungtai's both a sensitive Ponyboy Curtis who makes the girls melt with sexy love songs ("True Blue") and a rebel whose cause is to scare them with erratic, passionate Nick Cave outbursts ("Sweet 17"). His live show is emotional and compelling, and, when he pulls out a comb from his back pocket to slick back his Elvis 'do, it's facetiously funny. With Widowspeak.

(THE VILLAGE VOICE)

Early India: From The Origins to AD 1300

BOOK REVIEW
Early India: From The Origins to AD 1300
by Romila Thapar
p 2004
University of California Press

   Here is something I've learned about Indian history: It is pretty controversial to write anything about Indian History.  There is very little you can actually say or write about Indian history without angering someone who cares very passionately about the subject your are speaking or writing about.  Undoubtably, the single biggest factor in aggravating the debate on Indian historical subjects is the "Hindu Nationalism Movement." People in the US who are even aware of this phenomenon typically describe it in political terms, for example, when writing about the actions of the  BJP or "Bharatiya Janata Party" but it should surprise no one that Hindu Nationalist ideas extend directly into historical research, writing and debate.  Hindu Nationalism inspired ideas take many forms in the discussion of Early Indian History.

  First, there is the debate, now largely won, by the way, over whether the initial Vedic migration into India was an "invasion" or not.  Obviously, Hindu Nationalists would rather have it be said that there was no invasion, and many would further argue that India is the home of ALL Indo European Languages.  Well, the good news: No Aryan invasion, more like small scale migration over many years.  The bad news: There is no way that the Indo European language family originated in North West India, so call that one a draw.  Even finding a "neutral" source on this subject is difficult, but Romila Thapar does a good job of presenting the current historical facts in a non-inflammatory fashion.

   Another major area of dispute colored by Hindu Nationalism are the pre-Mughal Turkish led raids into Western India, which allegedly resulted in temple destruction and the building of a mosque over said temple location.  These disputes have resulted in back and forth terrorist activity as well as the occasional mass killing.  Here, Thapar notes that the raids seem not to have bothered the locals at the time, or rather they didn't see it as anything "out of ordinary" and that any later mosque building was done with the consent of the native community, not at the behest of an "outside" Muslim ruler.

  In addition to the controversial subjects, Thapar does a solid job bringing the reader up to date on current "hot topics" in the field of Early Indian History, like "Did the medieval Indian state formation process constitute a variation of European defined feudalism?"  She also does a remarkably thorough job of discussing the caste formation process in ancient India- I confess to say that it's complexity, even at this level of generality, somewhat escaped my comprehension, but the writing is so clear and concise that I will likely revisit her discussion in a few months.

  All in all this was a solid introduction to the field of Early Indian history- worth a read for someone seeking a foundation in the subject.

Movie Review: The Cave of Forgotten Dreams & THOR

MOVIE REVIEW
The Cave of Forgotten Dreams (3D)
d. Werner Herzog

THOR (3D)
d. Kenneth Branagh

  I look at movies the same way I look at opera. The amount of money it takes to make a movie that can actually be watched by a measurable audience is something like a million bucks or more.  The idea of "cinema" having some kind of artistic existence outside the broadest mass public audience is about as laughable as the idea of widespread "independent" opera troupes.   Don't get me wrong, I still watch movies, I just don't care about movies.

  However, the new Werner Herzog documentary, in 3D no less, merits more then just a casual mention, especially because 1) you can't go see the cave paintings that are the subject of this film 2) the 3D technology is really a revelation when it comes to showing this cave and the paintings inside.

  The back story is that these cave paintings were found in France in the mid 1990s, and they turn out to be more then twice as old as any other found cave paintings.   We're talking about 20-30 thousand years ago.  So, I'm not going to belabor why this movie is so amazing, and why you MUST see it in 3D in the limited time that it stays at the multiplex (horton plaza) but if you consider yourself a thinking human being AT ALL, you'll want to see this film.

  I also watched THOR, mostly because of my fondness for Indo European mythology and themes.  For those who don't know, THOR isn't just a Mavel Super Hero, he's also a legitimate Norse God.  In Indo European ciricles, Norse mythology is noted for being relatively uninfluenced by the stronger, earlier civilization of the Middle East (for example, Aphrodite is an "Eastern import" in Greek mythology.  So "pure" are some of the attributes of Norse mythology that were maintained into the Marvel Super Hero that this movie is based on, and certainly Branagh is a savvy enough director to integrate some of those themes into what is otherwise a throw-away prequel in an anticipated "super hero franchise."

   Because of all the back story that is attendant in Thor's status as a pre-quel to a movie franchise, some of the classic Indo European themes are in the fore-ground, particuarly the presence of the Ice Giants, the Norse equivalent to the Greek titans and the Vedic Demons.  The Ice Giants are actually depicted, demon style with black skin, something that is characteristic of the Indian/Vedic demons as well as the Iranian demons of the Avesta.   Lemme tell you, if you aren't DEEPLY interested in ice giants, this movie will bum you out because they are like half the film.

     Thor's status as the "Thunder God" is something that crosses Indo European lines: Almost every Indo European mythology has a powerful Thunder God, something to do with forming a mythology on the plains of Central Asia?

  There isn't anything else interesting to say about THOR other then the above average performance of Natalie Portman as the love interest.  Personally I just think Thor is an interesting super-hero because he is an actual mythological hero- I wish they would do more of that, "Justice League of Indo European God Figures," anyone?