Check this out......

How to make a spikemytea

Ingredients: 3 parts pride 1 part courage 1 part joy

Method: Combine in a tall glass half filled with crushed ice. Add a little cocktail umbrella and a dash of curiosity

Username:

Personality cocktail
From Go-Quiz.com

Contacts

Lala commented on this blog?? Hmmm...well, if you'reading, lala, you can post up at spikemytea@gmail.com.

No work, no pay

It's been 15 days since I quit. And though I'm enjoying the freedom, there's a nagging sense of insecurity creeping up every now and then, which I guess is 'normal'.
Met up with Sujay who gave me some very valuable tips on doing your own thing. I don't really have an idea of exactly what that would be in a month's time, but I guess it doesn't entitle 15 hours of sleep in a day. Okay, okay: I shall NOT sleep so much tomorrow, come on, I was watching Back to The Future till 6 in the morning!
I'm still waiting for my drums.

Blogger's bloc

Am blogging after almost two months, so forgive me if I go a little overboard with the posting.
It's needless to talk about the workplace, so I'll skip that part. What else? The music, of course.
The first time I played In My Place with Rohan, it just felt right, you know? I always knew him to be a very chilled, cool character, and he turns out to be just that and some more. He is fun, open, and a good human being. I hope he sticks around.
As for Jarvis, I can't really help him as of now. I might be quitting myself day after or even tomorrow, so I can't promise him a job and/or money. But it sure will be a waste if he only works in Kathmandu and doesn't sing with anyone. I've told him that I'll be on for anything he wants, and now it's up to The One.
It's really nice of Devdulal to help us out though. Let's see where we can take it from here.
I like the name Lotus Bends. Good recall. Cool logo should be happening too.

Music

I have a new band. It's called Lotus Bends. And Jarvis is leaving Kolkata, for good, again. He'll be flying to Kathmandu tomorrow.
That makes it, um, three of us, stuck without a vocalist. Tilak has reason to be pissed, but I don't know why Nondon-da thought we're 'too professional' to compete in the SPE band hunt. Whatever it is, it's cool to play with Rohan. I hope he likes what he hears. We can now move on, officially.

London

(All these posts are backdated: so please excuse me. I can't seem to get the dates right).

The Guardian quote......
"The Metropolitan police confirmed 35 deaths in the three tube blasts, and two further fatalities on a double-decker bus gutted by a bomb. The London ambulance service said it had treated 45 people with serious or critical injuries, including burns and amputations, and another 300 people with minor injuries. London hospitals reported treating hundreds of wounded. Police said the overall number of wounded was as high as 700"When will we learn?

Leaving

I am gonna leave this city in another 48 hours. I'll catch that train, and be done with it. Or will I?In the univ days, I always looked forward to the journey back home, always wished for the days to pass a little faster, especially before Pujo. It's not the same this time: Ma was right, I ran out from the house on Wednesday because it would have hurt like hell to go away, leave that place, leave a home. And then the people....maan!But I guess I have to move on. Somewhere, somehow, her face keeps popping up; the sweet smiling face. Ma said she cried at the temple.

Be somebody

Never realised that a week's stay home can be so refreshing, especially with all the music that I played.
A refresher course with Kochuda, getting to SEE the band (for the first time, I wasn't forced to see Rahul's ass while the band played), jamming on Shadowchase, meeting Jarvis.......all of it was a BLAST!
Tilak had an accident yesterday: I was supposed to be the pillion, but thanks to the jogging spree, I fell asleep after a nice lunch. Seems his bike skidded as a Santro refused to let him pass, and stubborn as Mr. Majumdar is, he kept on racing at 95 kmh. Result: a broken shocker (of a bike that was taken newly serviced just the day before), a back injury (thankfully, NOT as serious as I feared) and being hospitalised. A six-week bedrest is recomended too...sigh...there goes my funk bass player.....
I landed up on Tupshi's blog by accident, on a 'media' search on blogspot....I posted too, wishing her luck...now, she didn't like it, which is okay. What I had a problem with was this fairy called Samit, posting back on MY blog with warnings...beat that! So I posted a hate comment on his..though I guess that was a little unnecessary....
Anyway, I'm gonna meet Jarvis and the guys soon, and Rahul recommended a Mizo guitar player for our yet-to-formed outfit.
The only hitch is the transfer WITHING the company to Calcutta: praying that it happens soon. Otherwise I have to head back to Bombay.
The Yamaha Stage Custom.......65 grands.....hmmmmmm

The sky is crying, just by the touch of your hand

It rained today. The first rains at any place tastes pure. I remembered the time we ran from the hostel to the park to catch the first drops: a beautiful, mad rush.
The rain carried mixed feelings: I will be heading home soon, after 8 months or so, which is an exciting thought. Meeting up old friends and being able to play are reasons to be happy. On the other hand, I realised I won't be a part of this city anymore. Thanks for all the Phish.

In tide country

Thanks to Mixie for leading me on to the The Hungry Tide. I started reading it last night while waiting up for him, came back today and bought it, and finished it up in one go: which is pretty amazing for me.
The book brought back some vivid memories.
Bishupishi was posted in Goshaba for a WHO assignment when I visited the Sunderbans with her, for the first time, probably as a 12-13-year old. I was transported back both to that time, and the more recent trips through 2002-'03. The novel brought it all rushing back.
Have you ever experienced night? ASfloat on the Raimangal on a moonless night, sitting at the bow of the steamer that was our home for three days on water, I understood a little of what a 'night' can be. It is awe-inspiring, terrifyingly, but it's also supremely beautiful. The darkness that descends on the creeks and the rivers of the Sunderbans is almost sexual. It is its own, something that can never be found in any other forest in the world. Untamed, uninhabited, untouched by civilisation. It's pure: the pull that you feel here comes from the gut. The "Tide" delivers that pull.

Things we said

Past three days since I came back have been a bit of a daze: I slipped and fell on the bathroom floor yesterday, too weak coz I almost skipped food for the last 48 hours altogether.
Took the mag's number from Dhananjay, also have an appointment fixed with Sudhir on Wednesday.
A different city, a different life. And what have I become but a sucker for experience? New sights and smells and touches and tastes.....and things we said.
Tutu called me, said she wants to talk to me about a lot of things. Was busy on the page: couldn't talk to her.
There's an old D-for Brother tune that's racing across my mind, donno why: it's called I'll Always Be With You. It's like a lullaby, you know, caresses you to sleep. I miss my room and my bed in Kolkata.

Always With Me, Always With You

Saw Satch live last nite at Bombay. Worth the three nights of no sleep, a confused head, a flat broke pocket, emotional upheavels and being COMPLETELY alone at a gig of this stature. Worth every damn second of it all.
At over three hours, this was Satch's setlist (approximately):

Up In The Sky
House of Bullets (segues into)
Cool #9
Satch Boogie
Time
Up In Flames
Always With Me, Always With You (Makes me wish I'd chosen the guitar as an instrument; live, that wish TREBLED)
Hordes of Locusts
Summer Song
(normally, this is where the intermission in Joe's gigs come up, as mrte informed sources say. There was NO intermission in this concert!)
Sleepwalk
Starry Night
Moroccan Sunset (I was thinking...."I love Manu's groove better on the record..")
Bamboo (Immediately after that comment, Jeff makes me eat my words with a hi-hat pattern that flips me over!)
Strange
Searching
Hands In The Air
Psycho Monkey (Aggression, yeah?)
Is There Love?
War
(encore)
Flying In A Blue Dream (Classics they come)
(one more encore)
Surfing With The Alien
(yet one more....)
Friends

Met Rishi at the queue. Didn't know Carnage was his band. Wanted to meet Dwight, but ultimately couldn't manage it. Also couldn't meet Mixie.

Being real

Question: How do you express care?
Answer: By being real. Being true to what I want to do in life, loving all the things that are my real company: my sticks, the hats and pedals. The smell of new brassware, oiling the hi-hat clutch and the boom arms, polishing the chrome surface. My magazines that teach me lessons and exercises, the tapes and CDs that teach me all the time. And somehow, somewhere in between, I know I made the right decision. Time heals.

Bhabishyat

Bhebey-bhebey ekta jinisher kono kinara holo na ostaaaaaad: amar bhabishyat sammandhye ami chhara shobai chintito!!! Jatteri!
'Bhalo thakte gele aj thekey thaktey hoye'

Raving

I went to see an exhibition today. Rather, to review it.
There's a difference when one goes to 'see' a display, and to see it to 'review' it. The last time I remember going to an exhibition purely for the purpose of soaking in visual pleasures was last year, sometime in March, jobless as I was, me and Dungri loitered into the Academy. There was no pressure of deadlines, no responsibility of gathering prints. Come to think of it, no sour-faced artist to encounter later.
Some of the artists I know and consider friends are more dynamic people, not afraid to bond. True, criticism has to be unbiased, where such relations should never hinder judgement. As far as art is concerned, though, it's always the work as a separate entity from the artist that seems to work for me. The writing, in turn, becomes a reflection of my honest feelings about that work, a personal reaction.
They say the trick is to find the balance between these two. I'm still trying.

bosch

"Think of mixing Fellini with David Lynch, sprinkling in a little James Joyce, and having it all put on canvas by Salvador Dali."
— Carl Linfert, Hieronymus Bosch, 1989

"The master of the monstrous... the discoverer of the unconscious."
— Carl Gustav Jung, on Hieronymus Bosch

....Get the picture?

So here's the funk......

The following lists my present collection of funk records......
The J.B.'s
Parliament
The Ohio Players
Funkadelic
Cameo
Mandrill
George Clinton
Jimmy Castor
The Brides of Funkenstein
The Fatback Band
Dyke & the Blazers
Brick
The ADC Band
Zapp
Slave
P-Funk All Stars
L.T.D.
B.T. Express
Con Funk Shun
Average White Band
Level 42

soul

Asha Puthli, Right Down There.....and Science Fiction Sessions, of course..Amazon doesn't even list her he he....
The new Johnny Lang record leapt at me from the speakers..
I wanna play deep-digging slow funk, with dollops of blues, like Robben Ford and the Blue Line. Tommy Brechtlein is just such an amazing drummer: it's unbelievable hearing him with Ford and then with Al Di Meola.
I also wanna play behind a Siedah Garette. Anyone listening?

Uberjam

Like his most famous employer Miles Davis, John Scofield has had his own classic band eras. With Bill Stewart, Marc Johnson and Joe Lovano, he used his characteristic playing and compositional skills to bring a freshness to the straight-ahead jazz quartet sound. On his 1987 Pick Hits Live, he and cohorts Dennis Chambers, Gary Grainger, and Robert Aries used a piercing intelligence to temper fusion's athletics.
His more recent funk efforts have suffered; some from the sensitive but 'grease'-deficient work of Larry Goldings and some from a general excess of politeness. Bump was an interesting foray into modern hip-hop grooves, but hitting the road in front of the jamband crowd has forged that sound and his road band into something to be reckoned with. It is no accident that Uberjam is credited to the John Scofield Band; the title tune was created by the members over three years of road dates. Far from being a pastiche, it demonstrates the cohesive unit that this group has become. Whether it is rhythm-guitar wiz Avi Bortnick adding Indian samples to Jesse Murphy's dub bass on Acidhead, or former Average White Band drummer Adam Deitch laying in the phat-ist of phat grooves, it is apparent that Scofield has come up with another classic ensemble.

Hike hai...

I wanna trek to Bhor and back......
On second thoughts, it's going to be too hot now.
Guess I'd wait for the rains to set in..