Talk Amongst Yourselves


Yes, I am around still, somewhere behind the litany of politicoposts.
Been working extra hours, and it’s chewing into my usual time reserved for blogging. ๐Ÿ™ On the plus side, although I’ve been working more, it’s been a single task, which is nice from the perspective of not needing to continually refresh my memory on where I left off.
Cameron‘s holding a photo contest of sorts over on his blog. I encourage everyone to go check it out and consider participating. The due date is the end of the month, still plenty of time to go. I’m kinda curious what kinda “urban” shots he’ll get from the locals. There’s nothing in Sarasota I’d consider typically urban. (You need tall buildings for that! ๐Ÿ™‚
Last night I got out to a pickup Ultimate game; there were 29 people! You only need 14 to play, so there were a lot of people waiting on the sideline to run onto the field after every point. Line changes in Ultimate are typically self-regulated, as are the rules. It’s a real “player’s” type of sport, because so much of the game works at an individual level. Rarely are teams judged as a whole, because the core notion of spirit of the game puts responsibility in the hands of each player. Next week the UPA Club Ultimate Championships are once again being held in Sarasota, so I’m going to be volunteering to help out with that. Should be a lot of fun.
Other than that, life’s been pretty steady out here. The election atmosphere has been heating up; on the first day of early voting (a couple of days ago), there were hour-long lines to cast your ballot; last night on the way back from Ultimate I saw my first standalone (i.e. non-bumper sticker) political sign — a 4×5 foot poster for Bush on the side of a main road in Bradenton. I expect I’ll probably be seeing a LOT more for both Kerry and Bush over the next two-three weeks. The latest hubub says there are disturbing number of voters registered to vote in multiple states, enough to swing an election. Here’s the article which broke the news, published by the New York Daily News (published in August), as well as a followup done by the Tampa Tribune earlier this month. Hope that gets sorted out… can you smell the déjà vu?
Been listening to Sasha‘s Involver since Wednesday night, and let me tell you, it’s every bit as amazing as Jim said. This is unique, fascinating, curious music. It’s is a mix CD, yes, but what makes it interesting is that every track on the album was remixed by Sasha too, blurring the line between DJ and producer. It’s an exciting new direction for electronic music, and it’s already attracted a number of the bigger names in a forward-looking electronic sub-genre (known simply as “progressive”) — such as James Holden of the UK, Max Graham from Montreal, Luke Chable from Australia and of course rising star afk from a little town called Vancouver.
๐Ÿ™‚ Anyhow, I’m off, must drive 21 miles north to drop off $375-worth of fall-league player registrations for my Ultimate team. Have a great weekend, stay safe!


Comments

4 responses to “Talk Amongst Yourselves”

  1. hmmm.. everyone says that “Involver” is grrrreat… I thought it to be a Northern Exposure throwback….
    Sure it’s cool the way he came up with the idea (i.e. remixing every track), but that alone wasn’t enough for it to receive great accolades from me…

  2. Zameer, that’s because you’ve got musical ADD ๐Ÿ™‚ Of course the fact that he remixed the all tracks doesn’t automatically make it great. But the music is good too. I can’t wait to get it on a big stereo. My car just doesn’t cut it, especially for “These Days” by Petter. And the mix from that track into “What Are You To Me” by U.N.K.L.E. is very cool — These Days continues to play for pretty much the length of the track.
    “Belong” by DJ Spooky is another favorite, for its epic, deep bassline and mystical vocals. But the introspective “Burma” by Lostep has to be my favorite track on the disc — at 12 minutes long and the 8th track of ten, it’s the high point of the CD for me. I just love the glitchy melody line and stalls that come in around the 7:52 mark. I have to be careful — it seems like I’m always turning up the volume.
    Something else that adds value is that the liner notes are actually postcards, one per track, and on them Sasha talks about each track — how it made it in the mix, what his motivations were remixing it. Not something you see a lot of from DJs, and I appreciate that.

  3. No cyberwhores here

    Click photo for enlargement / Send this photo as a postcard Click photo for enlargement / Send this photo as a postcard Pretty colours! Well, where do I start? Not much all that thrilling in the Land of Julie, but…

  4. Jeff Avatar

    Well just remember to bring the CD next time there’s a meal at my place and we’ll throw it on my set.