Norlos

George Clinton interview in The Onion. A pretty good read.

My friend James was kind enough to post a couple tunes here and here. Thought the Norlosers might enjoy.

We’re getting ready for a little Soul comin’ our way in February…been a busy time. But just got back from vacation. We snorkeled in the Octupus’s garden. We also saw a couple of sea turtles, which are considered very good luck, but Mrs. Soul vetoed naming a baby “Honu“. Also nix on “Mini-Mark”, for the record.

It’s not a bad jam going for the first half, but wait for Prince’s solo about half way through the clip. Especially when someone starts trying to sing over the top of him. Never do that to such a pimped out, badass purple paisley motherfucker. Even if you are Tom Petty. And even if he is only like, 5’2″ and 105 lbs. At least he pauses every once in awhile to give Dhani Harrison what seems to be a genuinely warm smile while he proceeds to give everyone else a musical beat-down. So what if that doesn’t seem very George Harrison-like for a tribute show to George Harrison? You don’t invite Prince to a gig and then put him in a box.

I happily was given an eMusic membership for Christmas. Kind of like the K-Tel of the internet age, pickings can be a little slim for popular releases. But at 150 downloads for $25, it’s hard to beat. So I’ve been having fun looking for the good stuff. A little Akon, a little Chuck Berry, Miriam Makeba, Old 97s, and the first album released by Billy Preston. If anyone can pull off naming a debut “The Most Exciting Organ Ever” it’s him. And I’d say he more or less pulls it off.

The best part? His record label for TMEOE? VJ Records.

Almost all the signage in Abu Dhabi is in dual English/Arabic, at least in the downtown area. As with most things, you get what you pay for. So while some signs have very reasonable English translations, others seem more low budget. Either that or Arabic is less poetic than it’s given credit for. Cases in point:

- Future Kitchen Equipment Company

And my personal favorite:

-Modern Popular Restaurant

Who wouldn’t want to eat there?

Yup, I bought an iPod yesterday. After resisting the siren call lo these many years, I finally gave up when faced with another 24 hours of plane travel followed by almost a month alone in a hotel room in Abu Dhabi. I’m pretty happy with it. Welcome to the 21st century.

If you’re interested, I’m working on something like this. I was there in August for a week. I like to think there aren’t a lot of us that have been in ND in January and the Arabian peninsula in August. My personal lifetime temperature swing is now up to 155 deg. F. Surprisingly, it’s really humid there in the summer. A couple days ago the low temp was 81, with 100% humidity and fog. I didn’t even know that was possible.

Having some familiar music will be a good thing. Arab music TV gets a little tiresome, although the videos of crooning young men in dishdashas, backed by live orchestra, dancing girls, and dudes doing spin tricks with rifles is fun to watch for a surprisingly long time.

Also, the Abu Dhabi airport is way cool and very trippy as a point of entry. Kind of reminded me of something…but it was probably just the jet lag.

At the risk of jinxing KU, I pity the PSU Vikings. This is their first ever entry in the NCAA tournament, and they are, shall we say, trying to keep a stiff upper lip.

I suspect though, that the Willamette Week has a KU grad on staff to be able to name check The Wheel (and Jensen Liquor!) on 2 days notice.

This week was the last regular season game of flag football. We maintained our perfect record of 0-6, losing a heartbreaker, 26-19. We have a light or dark color scheme each week, and for complicated reasons involving an opponent’s double-header, we were both dark colors. So our team decided to wear green. I thought, “Green? I don’t have any green T-shirts.” But then I remembered one. Back in the back of the spare closet. Covered in dust and cat hair. Stephenson Hall Intermural Team. Forest Green.

What happened, you ask? I exploded for 2 touchdowns and an interception. But the best part was someone coming up to me after the game, looking at the shirt, and saying, “Hey, that shirt says ‘Shit’ on it!”

That just never gets old. I think I did ol’ Lyle a solid today.

As you know, I like to keep up on the latest musical trends. On Wednesday we headed down Hawthorne Boulevard to celebrate Mrs. Soul’s new part-time librarian job (yay!). We wandered by the Hawthorne Theatre, where a large touring band bus was parked. Looking up at the marquee, we saw that the feature act for the evening was one Rotting Christ. Milling around on the street and parking lot were a handful of gentlemen that, I believe were said Greek black metal band.

They were amiably chatting amongst themselves, smoking a few cigarettes and enjoying the lunar eclipse. I wonder why…

Note in the Wikipedia article my new new favorite music: Viking metal!

I’m a man now: I got my wizzies out! When my dentist said I had the best “enamel and tooth structure he’s ever seen” I believed him. But after he was done and said “you must have a high threshold for pain” I realized he was just telling me what I wanted to hear so I wouldn’t faint.