cousin isaac airlines

Seeking Sponsors for the Adventures of Agent Argyle

2011-04-20T00:40:00.000-07:00

New Igloo Multimedia Ad

2011-04-09T19:09:00.000-07:00

Tsunami

2011-03-11T09:39:00.001-08:00

Despite being startled by non-noontime air raid sirens throughout the
night and a call from my mom at 3:30 am, no major damage reported from
the Tsunami is Honolulu as far as I know.

Flattery is the best form of imitation

2011-03-09T01:17:00.001-08:00

Someone has taken my copy and paste tool for mobile phones, mobitol.com, tweaked the colors and called it a "doodle jump game".

The cool thing is that rather than just steal the code outright, they made it so that pressing any of the buttons actually takes users to my site while others have simply put it into a frame on their own site and pretended it was theirs.

I'm kind of surprised that since I built mobitol a few years ago, bloggers keep posting about it. I guess because it continues to serve a purpose- despite the fact that I got lazy and never updated it. The last time I checked it was still getting 10,000 hits or so a month, which is not much, but it's gotta be worth something.

Anybody wanna buy a doodle jump game?

Been learning Python & Django..

2011-02-24T19:03:00.000-08:00

Holy Molé Django is amazing! I love how it automatically builds an admin site and database off of a few lines of code. Yes, the whitespace thing is kind of odd, but it forces you to write clean code. So far so good!

Easier to buy downloads at Idnote.com

2011-01-24T01:39:00.000-08:00

For fans who just want to buy a track for their iPod or to use as a ringtone, it is now much easier on http://idnote.com - just hit the Buy button instead of the License button for a streamlined checkout process.

Banancy's Bakery

2011-01-17T23:55:00.000-08:00

We just so happened to be at HNL at the same time, so got to spend about half an hour with my first cousin Nancy as she was on her way to one of the other islands to visit her friend's Gabby. Turns out she's been baking vegan banana bread and has a new company with a 9 year old at the helm of the website and financials. In her own words "How cute is that?"

http://banancysbakery.com/

Brand new track

2010-11-17T19:41:00.001-08:00

I just uploaded a brand new track "ska to be right" to http://idnote.com -enjoy.

Doc Pop- more than just yo-yo genius

2010-11-16T22:33:00.000-08:00

The new album by Dr Popular Beats and Smudges at http://docpop.bandcamp.com/ -created using iPads and iPhones. Rad.

Je Suis Henri Grenouille

2010-11-09T20:07:00.000-08:00

Finally uploaded this short spoof of Goddard's Breathless to youtube.

Planet World

2010-11-03T14:13:00.001-07:00

Introducing Aussie Bob- a hack reporter spreading misinformation around the globe. http://www.youtube.com/user/cousinisaac?feature=mhum

A few new tracks:

2010-11-02T13:42:00.001-07:00

I just uploaded 3 new tracks to idnote.com : "Hawaii 5-0 dub" and two versions of "if you wanna."

2010-10-24T17:43:00.000-07:00

Just launched a new version of http://idnote.com - It now has a fully automated music licensing store and some new music. More music soon…

Video tour of our new studio in Honolulu

2010-08-31T16:16:00.001-07:00

Just moved to Honolulu about a month ago. Here is a video tour of our new place.

New Music up on Cousinisaac.com

2009-12-26T00:59:00.000-08:00

I just posted a whole bunch of unmastered rough mixes of instrumental music both new and old on my website cousinisaac.com.

"Atari Beats" is a really old album that I recorded using an Atari 540 ST computer, a couple of Roland Juno synths and an EMAX sampler. I think it is from 1996 or so.

"Idnotes" is a collection of little sketches that I created from around 2004-2009 mostly using the Electrix Repeater looping sampler and an emu rackmount synth- can't remember the model number, but it was yellow. Some of the tracks use the Novation XioSynth.

"Lo-Fi Beatbox Bus Music" is just like Idnotes, only instead of drums, I beatbox instead.

Enjoy.

The Accident

2009-03-15T19:32:00.000-07:00

Went to the gym, yesterday and had a little accident. I got a glass for some water, which as is usual, was still wet from being washed. Since I am cautious about not ingesting tap water here, I tried to shake out the glass to get most of the drops out. Seeing that the window was open, I figured I'd just chuck the water outside. Only the window was not open, just clean.

Smashed the glass on the window; blood and broken glass all over the floor and down my hand. It didn't hurt. I went to the locker room to wash my hand in the sink before going to the counter for first aid. For some reason I was willing to let tap water into my blood but not my stomach? Anyway, as soon as the water hit my hand, I felt the pain.

Went up to the counter and was told to come around to the other side. I saw some stools, went over, sat down, The next thing I remember is being woken from a blissful dream by the scent of tiger balm. "Mmm," I said. I opened my eyes and a beautiful smiling Lao woman was holding the tiger balm under my nose. I said "Khop Jai Lai Lai" (thank you very much.) and started to nod off again. Valerie said my name and I opened my eyes. I was being held up by a man and attended to by two women who bandaged my wounds, apparently without washing their hands or wearing gloves. They didn't seem to mind the blood which sent me into shock and made Valerie nauseous.

Looking down at myself, there was blood all over my shorts. I asked is that all blood? The man said "Bo pen yang." which in this case means "It doesn't matter" or "Don't worry about it." Later I realized after the blood had dried and left only a small stain, I may have peed my pants. How embarrassing.

Or it could have been sweat since I was dripping even as I laid down in one of the massage chairs in an air conditioned room while watching Rambo rescue some lady from a Burmese prison. I wondered how most South East Asians felt about Rambo. I told Valerie to finish exercising and I would just sleep here. She would have none of it, for fear I would slip into a shock induced coma. We decided to ask our friends Reg and Laura who both happen to be nurses if that was even possible. I was able to send a more or less coherent text message which Valerie thought was inscrutable. I thought I was doing pretty well.

Reg and Laura noted how poorly my wound had been bandaged and suggested I go to a clinic. The French clinic, which is supposed to be quite good was closed and the Australian one apparently only services members of the commonwealth. That left the International clinic at Mahasoot Friendship Hospiutal- the one you hear horror stories about.

It wasn't too bad- they cleaned me up but only after Valerie paid up front. The only dodgy thing was that the doctor wouldn't open up the small cut on my finger to look for any bits of glass that might still be in there. He said that if there were glass I would feel it while being bandaged and in any case, I'd know within a week because my hand would get infected if there were any glass left inside. Great.

Today, as I changed my dressing, I realized I only had a few minor cuts that I couldn't believe would send anyone into shock. But as I examined the black spot on my finger, wondering if that meant it was infected. I started to sweat again and get a stomach ache and had to sit down.

What a wuss!

JURY DUTY

2009-03-09T19:05:00.000-07:00

My friend Mike just got summoned for jury duty back in the States which reminds me of the time I did my part for jurisprudence...

The trial involved a podiatry patient who accused the doctor of assault and battery for not using a local anesthetic when clipping his in-grown toenail. Apparently the good doctor didn't warn Mr. Mackaluney (name changed to protect the incontinent) that he was proceding to snip, which caused the plaintiff to exclaim "Oh!" in pain.

Mr. Mackaluney represented himself and cross-examined the podiatrist with questions peppered with pseudo legalese- "In so much as your stated compliance with regulations regarding the alleged assault do you now or have you ever felt, in so far as your ability as a medical practitioner, for all intents and purposes..." Nobody could understand what Mr. Mackaluney was trying to ask, and the judge had to instruct him to use simpler language. When he could understand the questions, the doctor replied huffily as if his time was being wasted, which of course, it was.

The podiatrist was represented by two lawyers who asked only a few questions before moving in for the kill: "Mr. Mackaluney, in your deposition you claimed that your sister was abducted. Can you tell the jury about the abduction?" Mr. Mackaluney, unfazed, told his story about how his sister was abducted by aliens. "And how did that make you feel?"

At this point, I raised my hand and said "Excuse, me, as a member of the jury, I don't know if it is my place to object, but clearly Mr. Mackaluney hasn't proper representation and I fail to see what this line of questioning has to do with an in-grown toenail," or something to that effect. Counsel for the defendant replied that since Mr. Mackaluney had mentioned the abduction during a deposition, it was fair game. They also pointed out that the plaintiff had chosen to represent himself. Sensing their prime-time legal drama sleaze was backfiring, the defense switched tactics:

"How did you feel immediately after the doctor cut your toenail?"

"I felt better."

"In terms of percentage, How much better? 10%? 50%?"

"100%."

"100%?"

"Yes, I felt 100% better."

It took the jury all of half an hour to deliberate. In the end we voted unanimously against Mr Mackaluney. As the one who had voiced an objection, I was chosen as the chairperson and had to deliver the bad news to the poor fellow. Procedure grants the loser the right to tally the votes and he wanted to hear it from each of us. One by one we each said how we voted. How sad.

In the end, one of the jurors told the doctor that although we had voted in his favor, she had had doctors like him before, and that he ought to work on his bedside manner. Indeed.

Learning Lao

2009-03-06T02:30:00.000-08:00

So, I've been taking a Lao class twice a week. There are three of us in
the class, previously six, but one got in a severe motorbike accident,
another just stopped showing up and the third is looking for a better
teacher.

Though he is not the best instructor in the world, our guy does all
right for having been educated in a country where there are very few
books printed in his native tongue. Most textbooks are in Thai and
there is no official transliteration system but rather a hodgepodge of:

French Colonial
(S's are X's, Ch's and J's are Ti and an E after an N at the end of
the word makes the vowel long)

Royal Thai
(H's and L's are R's, which is problematic since the R sound has been outlawed for sounding too regal)

and...

Karaoke!
(All CAPS, spa ces be tween cyl a bles and no tone markers.)

Guess which one our teacher uses. When we raised concerns about the method, he simply said, you can write the transliteration however you want.

But it's not as bad as it seems- you just have to overlook the inconsistencies and go with the way things sound rather than how they are spelled. So, for example. three maps might give three different spellings of the same street (provided of course it even has a name) but they'll generally look more or less like the same word, once you know the various systems. And though the Karaoke method lacks tone markers, tones seem to be less important than one would think- context and word order provide enough clues for Lao people to understand you. Plus which, the Lao are very generous listeners, unlike say, Korean cab drivers.

The Lao also love to flatter and be flattered. So even though I can barely say that I don't speak Lao ("khoy bo wow passat lao bodai") they all laugh and say ''Jao wow pasat lao geng lai!'' - You speak Lao very well.

Ah I love this country.

Daily Minutiae

2009-02-13T19:17:00.000-08:00

It occurs to me that I have been less than forthcoming about daily life in Vientiane. So here are the minutiae of our existence that may be of interest if you have never been here before.

For the past few months it has been "cold." For a few weeks there it was cold enough to wear long pants and a jacket and if you took a tuk tuk at night, you might shiver. Mornings were chilly enough to notice that the water heaters they use in showers here don't really do the trick.

Instead of one big water heater which heats up and stores the water for the whole house, most houses here have only hot water in the shower, if at all. The water heater gets plenty hot, but only if the water pressure is quite low. So a trickle will scald you, and full force will give you goose-bumps. But, the real concern is the electricity being so close to the water. The heater has an emergency breaker if it detects a short circuit caused by you getting electrocuted, but it is not sensitive enough to save your life. Power is rarely grounded here, so we are constantly getting a little buzz from our computers and other devices, though we have not died in the shower, yet.

During the cold season, perhaps because it was windy or perhaps because it was too cold to cook outside, our neighbors hadn't been burning plastic. They are back at it again, and sometimes we wake to the fumes. Our landlady has asked them to stop, but it is a big problem throughout the country. Apparently, people use plastic bags, pieces of shoes, purses, etc to start their fires to cook their rice, because the plastic burns for a long time. The Public Service Announcements warning of brain damage are ignored, like many of the other directives from on-high.

For example, a recent article in the Vientiane times, the local newspaper, detailed the government's stance on the "Correct understanding of Valentine's day... The notice was issued to prevent fine Lao culture being affected by the influence of inappropriate forms of celebration, as setbacks have occurred in previous years.... Valentine's Day is incorrectly considered by many as a day for play, entertainment and lavish spending.... "

But I am afraid the fine Lao culture is no match for the recent setbacks. Case in point, last week, Sean Kingston performed here, sponsored by Tigo, one of the mobile phone companies. He has a popular song in Asia, perhaps in the US as well- something about "you got me suicidal..." Tigo advertised and promoted the concert heavily with billboards, posters, spam sms text messages, etc. Our neighbor who works for Tigo gave us free tickets.

Unfortunately I was too tired from a day of enjoying fine Lao Culture- drinking Beer Lao and eating fried crickets while floating down the river on restaurant boat- to attend the concert. I have decided that fried crickets aren't bad- much better than the water beetles.

Mobitol

2009-02-05T22:47:00.000-08:00

I just updated my little website mobitol. I built the site for myself because I wanted to be able to copy and paste text from websites when browsing on my Nokia e61i phone. I'm hoping other people find it useful as well.

Unlike the iPhone, Nokia phones that use the Symbian s60 operating sytem have copy and paste built in But, for some reason, users can only copy and paste text in the default web browser (Gecko) if the text is in a text-entry box of a form or is part of a link. (At least this is the case on the e61i.) So the main content of most websites was out of reach, until now.

I've now added the ability to choose whether you'd like to retreive the plain text or the html source code, whereas before I could only get the source. Users just type in a url, hit "go!" and the site's text or source is popped into a text box. Users can also open new windows, a function that is unavailable in the default settings of the browser as well.

Some things still don't work yet. If the site is built using frames, only the frameset text will be retrieved. Also, right now some of the source code like cascading style sheets and header info will appear in the plain text version. But it's a start.

If you have a Nokia phone, or any other phone for that matter, I'd be interested to hear how well or not mobitol works for you.

been a long time...

2009-01-27T00:06:00.000-08:00

It's been a long while since I have blogged. I can't say I have an excuse. It's not like I have been very busy- I guess just nothing that interesting has happened.Other than eating a bug, some snake, some fried buffalo skin and an unhatched chicken, nothing really stands out. I have probably just gotten used to things here. Like, when three albino cows wander across four lanes of traffic, hop a fence and disappear into someone's yard, it's just a random occurence, nothing to write home about. Or seeing seven year olds driving motorbikes- odd but not really newsworthy.

But let's see... since last I wrote, my mom and a number of friends have come to visit which was great. I finished the first draft of my screenplay and am now procrastinating on the re-write. And in the meantime I have created a little tiny website called mobitol for (primarily Nokia) mobile users who want to be able to open new windows and copy and paste source code from websites. I also started a little site of recommendations for couchsurfers coming to Vientiane.

Now I am throwing around the idea of opening a small bar. A bamboo bar, rattan tables and chairs, soundsystem and a case of beer lao- voila- instant tiki bar. Though at the moment this is just a daydream.

We are also thinking about getting a car. It's a big deal here because cars are so expensive. There is a huge tax to be paid and technically foreigners can't own them outright, so they have to be registered in someone else's name. It's all very dodgy. But until the rain comes in May, we've got some time to think about it.

Other than that, there is not much to tell. Spicy Mekong Penut butter has finally hit the shelves, but unless you have tasted it, you can't possibly know how insanely great it is that we can now get our grubby little paws on the stuff.

the last two pages

2008-10-28T09:05:00.000-07:00

So, I just got my new B2 business visa, and now that I have it, I can stay in Laos for a year and come and go as I please. Getting it was a bit of a story that I have reserved only for my friends and acquaintances on Facebook, most of whom I know personally. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but dealing with passport issues can be scary.

For example, I thought I wouldn't get let into Malaysia this past winter:

We were coming from Singapore and the Singapore immigration officials had told me, each time we went in and out of Singapore, that I needed to get a new passport. I thought they were just being anal. I mean, Singapore is where they used to stamp SHIT in your passport if you were a Suspected Hippie In Transit. So I just said "Thanks for the warning, and the mint," while to myself I was thinking, "What, no gum?"

So we get to Malaysia and they just kind of look at my passport and scratch their heads. The sexy but demure Muslim woman in the jersey- cotton headscarf uniform calls over the balding guy with the glasses. The guy waves for me to follow him and I go with him into a little side room. Valerie comes too.

I'm thinking maybe they are taking issue with my name because I'm a yid and Israelis aren't allowed in Malaysia. Or maybe it's just a routine customs check. I hope they don't think we have drugs. I wasn't really prepared for the whole rubber glove treatment.

But the guy just thumbs through the last two pages and shrugs his shoulders and laughs. I laugh too. Valerie just looked at me like I was crazy. He points to the empty pages and says "finished." It slowly dawned on me. He needed a bribe.

"No... not finished.. See?" I tapped the pages a little too abruptly. Valerie gave me a warning "Isaac..." The guy repeated, "Isaac- Muslim name." "Yes, Muslim name!" I said and laughed.

Picking up the passport, he laughed and said "cannot stamp- finished... see?" and handed it back to me. I looked closely. In tiny print on the sides of the last two pages it said "For additional pages only- do not emboss" or something to that effect.

"Oh! Now I understand! Oh, woops! I was wondering why they kept telling me I needed a new passport in Singapore. You see I blah blah blah..."

I carried on like this for too long until the guy just stamped my passport on the last page. What else could he do? He waved us through with a smile.

I felt like a schmuck. Valerie said "Maybe it's best in those kind of situations to just be quiet and find out what they want." She was right. But we made it into the country with smiles all around.

But now the problem was getting to the next country. I needed more pages!

So we went to the US consulate where I was told I would have to get a whole new passport. It wasn't because the passport was disheveled from living in my back pocket. Nor was it that I had handwritten on the first page ,"In case of death please donate my organs" which had prompted at least one US border guard to ask if I planned to die overseas. It was because the lamination over the photo had a tiny crack in it. So tiny.

Ten days later, my new passport arrived with an RFID chip embedded in it and pictures of the buffalo and Native Americans that were wiped out by previous generations of Americans. Having read that RFID chips are fairly insecure, I now carry my passport wrapped in tinfioil to match my proverbial tinfoil hat.

Of course, if someone wanted to copy my passport, they would have had ample opportunity when it was out of my hands for the Lao visa, as my friend Matthew recently pointed out. I hadn't thought of that. Eh, what are you gonna do?

Back in Laos!

2008-10-21T03:32:00.000-07:00

Here we are, back in Vientiane. What a relief! We stayed a few weeks at various guest houses, and got our fill of the cheap eats around town. Valerie got a job teaching and we found an apartment thanks to JC realty who are the only ones in town worth their salt. The owner, Cameron, is from Australia and quite nice despite the bad rap Aussies get on our new favorite show "Flight of the Concords" which, thankfully, we are able to watch on HBO. Did I mention how much I love TV?

Cameron picked us up to see an apartment and a house, spoke Lao with the owners and negotiated for us. We went with the apartment because it is newer and nicer and we frankly don't need a huge house. We are very pleased with our new pad- a two bedroom, two bath, two story, furnished flat for $350 a month. This is pricey for Vientiane, but not outrageous. Though we know people who rent for less than $100 and have seen some places that cheap, they aren't places we want to live.

We're also pleased because we are a five minute walk from the gym, a bike ride from Valerie's school, and a 10 minute tuk tuk ride from downtown for about $1.20 give or take. We've got the aforementioned cable, and wireless internet with speeds up to 5Mb/s. There is a mini-mart across the street and several restaurants and shops within walking distance, though these days we are almost exclusively cooking for ourselves now that we can again. In general you can get almost anything you need here though, of course, imported items may cost a bit more.

In addition to the ease of daily life, which I have come to realize is very important to me, I just feel happy here because the people all around me are happy. In general, Laos seems to be a peaceful place where people aren't afraid to smile at strangers. We really only just arrived, but so far the vibe is quite friendly. I hope it stays that way.

So here we are. Time to get back to writing the screenplay, figure out a way to get the Xiosynth fixed or buy a new sound card and start playing music again.

Back in Bangkok for... One night.

2008-10-21T02:45:00.000-07:00

Despite the PAD protests prompting Prime Minister Samak to call a state of emergency after the protesters stormed some airports, and despite my parents worrying, we had to go to Bangkok. Besides being our gateway to Laos, I still had yet to get the XIOsynth fixed. I knew exactly where in Bangkok to go- right around the corner from our guesthouse. And I figured this time I could wait a month for them to fix it. I had been going back and forth with Novation all summer via email about getting it fixed in the US and just got the run-around. So we had to go to Bangkok.

I always say we "had to" because, I guess, I really would rather avoid Bangkok. I mean I kind of enjoy the hubbub, but then there is something about the guy with no legs dragging himself down the street on his stomach, and the foul sewage smell, and the air pollution and the humidity and the crowds that I can't romanticize. It's just nasty in places and we always find ourselves in the mall to escape it, which is just as horrible, albeit air-conditioned.

So we had to go Bangkok. But I was happy because I was FINALLY going to get the XIOsynth fixed. Only, when I get home from dropping it off, the repair guy calls me and says sorry, they no longer fix nor distribute Novation products. Why? Because they can't get ahold of Novation on the phone and constantly get the run around from them, just like me. Arrgg! So I called the number they gave me for the new distributer, but am told sorry, they can only repair Novation products bought in Thailand. Double Arrggg!

The next night we boarded the overnight train for Nong Khai. We were finally going back to our new found home, Laos. Phew!

Hong Kong revisited

2008-10-21T02:00:00.000-07:00

Somehow the summer went by and we found ourselves back in Hong Kong exactly a year later. This time we stayed with couchsurfers. It's the only way to travel if you ask me. You get the inside scoop and a built in network of friends.

I love Hong Kong. For some reason, I can't help singing to the tune of some Notorious B.I.G. song, "Hong Kong Motherfucker..." over and over. It drives Valerie crazy, but when you are walking around amid the throngs of people and the lights and traffic and the double decker trolleys and it's a million degrees out, what else can you sing? You're in Hong Kong, motherfucker.

This time we had tons of veggie dim sum. It was sooooo goood. Hong Kong motherfucker!

LA

2008-10-21T01:34:00.000-07:00

There is a track by Seksu Roba called LA FREEWAY that is the perfect soundtrack for my weekend. Jerry (DJ Ziploc) rented a red Mercedes convertible sports car with GPS (necessary for LA) and drove us around at a million miles an hour with the top down. Kind of like riding a bus in India on potholed roads around thousand foot drops, sometimes you just have to let go. No matter what, if you are with Jerry, you are going to have to fun, so just relax and enjoy the fact that you are alive for the time being.

We were there for our friend Alex Baker's rock steady wedding to Kerri Guse. When Alex's groomsmen came out in wayfarer shades strutting down the aisle to T-rex, you knew it was going to be a party.

For our part, Jerry and I both wore our custom tailored suits made in Thailand: he in his all white, three-piece with matching white leather shoes. and me in my off-white linen with southern gentleman hat looking vaguely like I stepped off the plane from Panama. Joe Pfeifer, whom Jerry was staying with, crashed the party. We figured it was OK since Valerie had to attend another friend of ours' wedding in Wisconsin, and our friend Jacob couldn't make it. Joe and Alex have friends in common so hopefully Alex didn't mind. Joe DJ'd the night before at a party in the hills where there was also a reggae band whose name I forget but who kept the revelers feeling irie. The next night we went to some bar in Santa Monica and saw some band who rocked. I can't remember the names, so I must have had a good time.

Other than that, it was just good to see my cousins- especially the newest addition Cousin Joshua who is, like the previously mentioned babies, ridiculously cute.

"BUS IT! Part II"

2008-10-21T01:30:00.000-07:00

As Valerie says "A bus is a story." We had taken so many busses on our travels that it seemed only natural to take the bus up to Humboldt to see my mom rather than rent a car or fly. With gas and jet fuel prices being at an all time high, the bus seemed like the obvious choice. How bad could it be?

On the way up, the Amtrak driver, after showing up late, yelled at us for trying to board the bus without waiting in line- though the line was clearly for people putting their belongings underneath in the luggage compartment. An hour into the drive, we were already behind schedule, but the driver took an extended smoke break. At the next stop, he accidentally left someone behind whom we had to go back for. We ended up getting to Arcata a few hours late. What a yutz!

Spent a few days with my mom in Arcata, which was great. So good to see her. She took us to Rita's. Oh man, if you get a chance to go to Arcata, Rita's is some of the best Mexican food I've had.

On the way home, just to really get a whiff of the underbelly of American society, we took Greyhound. You know, you can take a chicken bus in a poorer country and have a lovely time. You might meet a toothless Gypsy popping one chocolate bon bon after another in Hungary, or be leaned on and held onto for support by ticket takers and old ladies in India, or help look after other people's kids in Laos. But nothing, nothing will prepare you for the palpable anger and unsavoriness that accompanies a ride on Greyhound.

Before you get on, you run the gauntlet of panhandlers from the rehab clinic across the street. That's OK- they're just trying to survive. Then the tattooed, Elvis-do, straight-from-a-John-Woo-film, cigarette voiced driver will explain over the PA that any shenanigans and he will not hesitate to kick you off the bus. And he will: when the guy who smokes a cigarette in the bathroom takes a break from telling all his friends on the other end of his cell phone "Yeah dude, I just got done seeing my son for the first time. No- different mother... On the ride up we totally partied in the back of the bus- someone had a joint and we busted out the vodka- she was hot but I didn't get her number..." Yep, the bus driver will righteously kick him off at the next stop even though it was "Just one puff, dude." Then the guy will plead his case with the driver and eventually be let back on to sit next to the fresh release from Pelican Bay Prison who will say it's because the driver is "one of those uppity yellows who thinks he is better than everyone." Finally the bus ride will culminate with some skanky lady calling the bus driver a "piece of shit" for yelling at everyone.

Now, contrast this with the California Shuttle bus ride I took down to LA a few weeks later to go to my friend Alex Baker's wedding. This is one of those "low-cost carrier" style bus companies where the first seats sold for any particular ride are only $5. I paid something like $19- much less than greyhound, mind you. But, the clientele are credit card holding, internet users who are less inclined to racial epithets and ad homonym attacks and more inclined to tip the driver.

Back in the US

2008-10-21T01:21:00.000-07:00

A few movies and airplane meals later, we get to New York, get attitude from the coffee lady who won't give me change so I have to buy a five dollar cup of shitty coffee to make a phone call, and then I can't work the payphone. Seems you put the money in after you dial in New York. It's been a while since I have used a payphone, but I seem to recall in California you have to put the money in first.

So after losing all my quarters I try calling the operator to get them to credit me and am put on hold for what seemed like forever. Finally, I am told that they can send me a check. After being in the air for a day and a half, I lost my shit. I start banging the handset on the payphone and then I notice the cops nearby. They didn't bat an eye, so I banged a little more. Fuck it, it felt good.

In NY we stayed with our friends Ron and Betsy and their daughter Juliet in their Chelsea artist's loft for a couple of nights and then crashed at our friend Asaf's whom we met five years ago on a train in Vietnam. Saw Medeski Martin and Wood free in Prospect Park, got to chill with Bobo, and Jason Kleinman. After being away so long, it was really good to see friends.

After a few days in NY we headed up to Valerie's parent's place in East Lime Connecticut, where Lime Disease comes from. They have a massive TV and a million channels of cable. Since I have been writing a screenplay, I now have an excuse for watching hours and hours of television- I call it "doing research." Plus, I can actually sit a full two meters from the screen and still be able to see. Fuck yeah! I love TV!

We head up with her fam to the Adirondacks where we stay in a cabin for a week with her brother and sister in law and their new baby Gavin, who like all babies, is adorable. I plopped myself down in front of the computer and didn't move for the week, just wrote. I only went on one hike and never swam in the lake. I had to make up for time lost doing "research" and anyway couldn't be bothered with the heat and mosquitoes after being in Asia for nine months.

Hopped on Amtrack, or maybe it was MTA down to Boston where we stayed with Ben and Kim and their new daughter Samantha who is also just ridiculously cute. Their old pad in NY was tiny but overlooked the Hudson. Their new place is half of a house and is so nice and comfy, but they are used to the excitment of NY so they're not quite used to being back in Boston yet. Good riddance to NY I say. I like Boston better- much more chill. Guess I'm getting old.

Finally got home to Btown, chilled with the parental units for a few weeks and saw friends. Damn it feels good to be home. I missed my friends and family.

BKK to NYC via AUH on Etihad

2008-10-21T01:17:00.000-07:00

After leaving Bangkok, unable to get the Novation XIO fixed--don't even get me started on Novation--we Flew Etihad Airlines to New York. When we changed planes in Abu Dhabi, we boarded with a group of refugees who all had UN name tags identifying them as such. It was either they (because they had never been on an airplane before?) or perhaps the uber-rich Sheiks with their five wives (because they couldn't be bothered to pick up after themselves?) who left the bathroom in shambles. I know it wasn't the group of American flight attendants flirting with a homeward-bound expat, because we were treated to their uninterrupted, inane banter for 15 hours straight. When one of the Sheik's wives called a flight attendant stupid for telling her to wear her seatbelt, that's when the flight got interesting.

Bangkok with DJ Ziploc

2008-06-03T07:30:00.000-07:00

We had to come to Bangkok early to get the Xiosynth fixed but it was
just as well because it turned out my main damie Jerry Boonstra, aka
DJ Ziploc was flying in from Koh Samui.

We spent one night at the clubs and the next at the movies with him. The club night ended at Spicy- I guess one of the few open til the wee hours. Jebus that place is crowded and dank. Valerie said it best as we elbowed our way through the sardines,"This is how people die." An old man tried to give me a backrub in the bathroom, but it's just what they do for tips I'm told. Still
though... So we left that place within five minutes- it was nasty.

The next night, Jerry suggested we see the new Indiana Jones movie. Despite his taking us to the worst club and worst movie ever, it was still fun to hang out with him. Always is.

Now, we are in Sukhothai and I just found out the shop can't fix the XIO in time to play any shows back in Bangkok, or NY for that matter. Bummer.

Maybe I can try to rent one... Now I know why they say bring two of everything.

LIVE at Martini Lounge, VTE

2008-05-16T21:48:00.001-07:00

Played a show last night at Martini Lounge in Vientiane, one of the few hip bars in town catering mostly to the expat set.

Two days before the show, the usb connection on the Xiosynth stopped working- the laptop could power the device but the driver would not see the synth. Luckily, the owner of the bar, Mark, a super cool guy from SF (of course,) introduced me to a DJ from Paris who also happened to live in the Bay Area for a time-Vincent aka Vee Kee. Vincent saved the day because he not only let me use his audio interface but also scratched 007 soundtrack samples while the French James Bond spoof OSS 117 played on the video screen in the background. The man can scratch!

The higlight of the evening- drunk, barely eighteen year old, Lao rappers on the mic and a beatboxer named Thierry from Marseilles who quite possibly puts me to shame seeing as how he has only been beatboxing for a year and already has serious skills.

If we move back here, I'll definitely have to colloborate with those guys. In the meantime, I'll post some pics soon.

BUS IT!

2008-05-06T03:35:00.000-07:00

We left our heart in Luang Prabang and caught the VIP bus to Vientiane. The difference between the VIP and the regular aircon bus being the 1/2 sized restroom for Very Important P'ing. It's situated underneath in the luggage compartment and is just like the half floor in "Being John Malkovich" as the ceiling is maybe 3 and half feet high. The looks on other passenger's faces when they saw it for the first time were priceless.

The next day we had to do a visa run to thailand, so we hopped on a local bus and headed to the friendship bridge. The bus was packed, and as I was getting on, I felt fingers twiddle on my hip. I had taken out the bus fare (only about a dollar for the both of us) and stuck it in my pocket. Sure enough, when I went to pay it was gone. Good thing that's all the pickpocket got.

As we were returning from the Thai side of the bridge (which was really just a quick peak at the duty free shops) we were about to hop on the Bus back, but didn't have Thai Baht for the ticket. The ticket taking lady was adamant- baht only. Since we were already past the emigration point, we had no way of exchanging money or getting baht from an atm. She suggested with a wave of her hand that we go back past emigration and get some Baht. The emigration guy suggested with a wave of his hand that we go forward to Laos. We were stuck in no-man's land with no Baht for the bus. Luckily the driver of the bus took pity on us and for the price of only two extra tickets, acceppted dollars. Ahh the power of bribery...

LPQ vs VTE

2008-04-26T21:33:00.001-07:00

Ostensibly we came back to Luang Prabang after Vietnam because we had some unfinished business here. We had yet to see the cave of 1000 buddhas, hadn't bathed any elephants, hadn't yet been to the waterfall. But the real reason is I think we may have landed on a place to live and we need to check into the possibilities.

Some years back my mom sold her house in Berkeley and left the Bay Area for the peace and quiet of Humboldt county. She said the rat race made her an angry person. At the time, I didn't
quite get it, but now I understand completely.

In laos, I am much happier than I have been elsewhere on our travels. I haven't been the complaining and grumpy-old-man-child that has been known to come out in places like Vietnam and India. Sure, it's hot and humid, but there is little traffic and the tuk tuk drivers and
street vendors aren't aggressive or annoying- they generally just say Sabaidee and leave it at that. The watts, traditional Laos houses on stilts, and French colonial architecture is gorgeous, and there are tropical flowers, kittens and cute little naughty children everywhwere. Luang Prabang, despite all the tourists, is a peaceful sanctuary. To get an idea check out Valerie's pics at
http://flickr.com/valmeier

Unfortunately, Luang Prabang is also a bit of a one horse town, so it's lacking in things one would want if one were to live here. We've already exhausted most of the restaraunt choices, which are tasty but limited in scope and housing is in short supply. There are a few colleges where perhaps Valerie could teach, but the real action is in Vientiane, which is still mellow, but has more going on. With all it's NGOs and embassies, there is a sizeable expat community and the infrastructure to support it. And there are four clubs I could play there vs. two here. But alas, Vientianne is just not as beautiful a city as Luang Prabang. We'll see, I'd still like to check out Berlin as well, but that's another story.

Travel tools: Nokia e61i vs Apple iPhone

2008-04-25T07:36:00.001-07:00

I've been an avid Apple user since the 1980s when I had an Apple][ with 48k of ram. At 12 years old, I wasn't very good at programming in BASIC, but I had cracks of all the games and kicked ass at Castle Wolfenstein and Lode Runner. I've got Apple street cred in spades.

So all y'all die hard Apple fans may be wondering why I am posting to my blog from a Nokia E61i and not an iPhone.

Last summer, when we were planning, I knew I needed an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink mobile for traveling- a digital swiss army knife if you will. It had to be unlocked, gsm, have a decent camera with video because I didn't want to carry a bunch of gadgets, a qwerty keyboard so I could email, a large enough screen because I am legally blind, and Wifi for internetting. GPS would have been an added bonus.

The Nokia has everything but the GPS, which can always be added later via bluetooth. It's not the end-all-be-all, but it comes close. The camera is just OK- 2Mpx and no Carl Zeiss lens like pricier models, but for quick pics and vids it suffices. There are a bunch of apps by third party developers for the phone's Symbian s60 operating system including Fring which lets one use skype via a packet data connection or wifi. There is even a web server out for s60, but I haven't tried it.

The only real downsides are the lack of a world-wide warranty which the iPhone has and a few minor software bugs. The warranty issue is HUGE, but it must be said that I've dropped this thing a million times and it still works. Despite what the geniuses at Nokia in HK tried to tell me, the only problems I've had have been with the software, although perhaps stemming from it's relatively low internal memory of 64MB. If you save too many wifi access points, you'll run out of ram and won't be able to edit them and will have to reset your phone with a special code to do so. That was a major headache to figure out, but since then I discovered I don't need to save every hotspot I use- just the ones with passwords I'd like the phone to remember.

The other issues are annoying but liveable - there is no control-z undo, and you can't copy and paste text in the browser unless it is in a text entry field. But Seeing as how the iPhone doesn't let you copy and paste at all, the Nokia wins in this regard as well.

As for the iPhone, it is sold locked and at the time I was researching phones, no one had yet cracked it. Right there was the deal breaker. Because even if I had the option of Jail-breaking at the time, why risk having Apple brick my phone?

So while I love Apple products, for my purposes the iPhone just doesn't cut it. Perhaps once Apple makes enough money off of it to cover their r&d costs, they'll be able to offer an unlocked version. Until then, despite my chagrin regarding the warranty, I'll stick with the Nokia.

Hanoi Rolls

2008-04-25T00:25:00.001-07:00

...on motorbikes whose driver's ride on the sidewalks, go the wrong way down one-way streets, and blaze through red lights and around corners. Nothing much had changed about the traffic since we were there last except there was more of it. I hadn't forgotten how bad the traffic could be, I just forgot how I would react to it.

We were in Hanoi for the month of March as Valerie decided to get her CELTA certification there. I was excited to go back to Hanoi knowing I could probably get CD's made, play some shows, etc.

I spent the first few days in vain trying to find a place to print up some CDs and check out the clubs but was unable to get much done. In fact, the traffic got me so aggravated, I'd come back to the hotel in a rage from almost getting hit several times per day. That and the constant barage of people trying to sell me stuff or give me rides on their motorbikes got under my skin. I quickly turned into the ugly tourist who gets angry at people for their cultural differences, shaking my fist at blank-eyed motorists as they barreled past, narrowly missing me by a few inches. Then a bus would blast it's horn and I'd be this close to losing it completely.

I contemplated genocide- all Vietnamese drivers must die. I contemplated suicide- if I got hit that would show them how badly they drive. I found myself biting my lip from stress each time I had to leave the hotel. My heart palpitated. I had ptsd minus the p.

I thought perhaps all the cafe sua dac was contributing to my anxiety, but a few days going without proved otherwise. It must be said, that Vietnamese ice coffee is to die for- sometimes quite literaly. Several of Valerie's class mates had already been in accidents, including one in a coma. Were it not for the fact that there are plenty of Vietnamese restaraunts in SF where you can drink the liquid crack til your brain explodes, it would almost be worth risking your life in Vietnam for the daily fix.

But thankfully we survived the traffic, and were able to come back to Laos, safe and sound in the land of everything tranquil and good.

Live at HIVE

2008-02-24T21:59:00.001-08:00

Played a show last night at HIVE in Luang Prabang, Laos with London's DJ Errol Brown of SumoBrown. Errol dropped in tracks that his friends in London had sent him that day on top of my improv.

Errol was supposed to play the night before, but his girlfriend got sick so he came the next day instead. I asked him if he could scratch, and suggested we play together. It worked out really well for having just met and we intend to work together in the future. Errol is moving to Sydney but said he could hook me up with gigs in London. So after Asia maybe we'll fly Oasis Hong Kong to London and play a few sets before heading back to the states. I'm hoping we can chill with our couchsurfer friend Laggi and Valerie's college buddy Dan Zinner in London.

(Note: Oasis Hong Kong airlines went out of business soon after this post.)

2008-02-22T00:46:00.000-08:00

People to Do, Things to Be, PLaces to Talk to

OK I've been asked by several people to blog more about our travels. Basically, we've been touring around Asia, partly to spread the gospel of Cousin Isaac and partly to look for a place to settle down for a year or so. One of our goals was to be budget conscience and not spend all our money. Another was to meet people and be social. Of course I also fully intended to play shows and promote my music...

Here is a quick take on all the places we have been so far...

Hong Kong ( Week 1: Sep 13-20, 2007)
We got to HK and spent a few hours in the airport making use of the free wifi and sipping smoothies from MIX as we braced ourselves for what we knew would be a hot, sticky, smoggy, expensive, and crowded city.

We got up the courage to leave the airport and made our way to our guesthouse in Kowloon's TST neighborhood. TST is bustling with bars and clubs, clothing and jewlery stores, cafes, etc. Mainly, one has to avoid the touts who come at you from all directions trying to get you into their tailor shops and fake handbag stores. It's like a video game trying to dodge them.

We found the guesthouse, which took up a few floors of a building that also housed a massage parlor (totally legit foot massage) and a no so legit brothel. It took us a while to figure out that it was a brothel- the first sign was when we saw a man being led by a tarted-up girl from one apartment to the next. Then there were the groups of men who would avoid eye-contact and change their mind about whether to go into a room every time they saw us in the hallway. Our room was small but it had aircon, internet, hot water and we only ever saw one cockroach. The brothel was an added bonus.

We got the Octopus Card which works on the MTR, busses, trams and ferries and rode them to all the tourist spots- the peak, the midlevel escalator, the big buddha on the hill, the ladies' street market, and wandered around various neighborhoods. Though we were hot and sticky, we were having fun being tourists.

The only major snafu happened two days into the trip: the e61i's web browser stopped working and it took me several trips to Nokia "care" centers to understand that they could not help me at all, even if I paid them. Nokia has no worldwide warranty and they cannot even refresh their phone's software outside of one's home country. So even though the phone was sold by Nokia unlocked, as a "World Phone" it cannot be repaired worldwide. Luckily, after calling customer service in the states, I was able to reset the phone using a code which finally got the browser back up. But I was incensed that I had to spend so much time figuring this out.

I had also driven Valerie crazy with all the visits to Nokia so I placated her by agreeing to hunt down veggie restaurants with her. Luckily, Chinese veg food is abundant and sometimes even excellent. Also, HK, being super westernized, we were even able to obtain Dagoba chocolate and organic Aloe Vera gel. So while we were annoyed, we were at least eating well and comforted by our western amenities.

Music-wise, before we left I had emailed several clubs but not one of them had returned any of my emails. I figured there might be a language barrier. Luckily, Kay, a couchsurfing contact got me a meeting at the Fringe Cub and we talked about doing a show sometime in the new year. I followed up after the meeting with email, but again, no reply. Perhaps email is not the preferred method of communication in HK, or maybe they just don't like my music. Who knows.

Anyway, I didn't have time to worry about it though because we were running around so much. Laggi, a twenty-something couchsurfer who works for Oasis HK airlines- (how cool is that?) took us around and hipped us to things like the mod lifestyle shop "Delay No More" which transliterated sounds like "Fuck Your Mother" in Cantonese. He proved it when he said the words in English and a few heads turned around in surprise. He also confirmed our suspicions about the brothel- the pink light was the giveaway. Yesteryear it would have been the yellow signs, some of which are still proudly displayed in the streets of Kowloon.

We went with Laggi to the horse races, lost all our money, and I believe I was mistaken for an Australian by a Aussie jockey who patted me on the back and said something which I didn't understand but took to be brotherly. That's when I got the idea for Aussie Bob- a travel show host who spouts inane bullpucky- videos to follow.

Next Up: Taiwan...

2008-02-21T03:36:00.000-08:00

People to do, Things to be, Places to talk to, part II

Taiwan (Sep 20- Oct. 1 )
A week later we were in Taipei, scheduled to stay with our couchsurfing host Yuying, a retired teacher who was great fun. She said she could pick us up from the station where the airport shuttle drops you off. All we had to do was go inside the station and call when we got in.

But by the time we got into town, it was 1 am, raining, and the bus had dropped us off by the side of the station where they were doing construction so the doors leading into the station were blocked. We found a 7-11, which was not hard since they are on every corner, and spent a good half hour trying to figure out the payphone's card system until eventually a nice man let us use his cell phone, and even gave us money for a cab. This was our introduction to the wonderful friendliness of the Taiwanese. They are so great.

We spent a few days in Taipei over which we did some walking in the hills, the usual touristy bits like the night market, a temple or two, etc. We managed to meet up with Raman Frey of Frey Norris Gallery from SF, our former roommate and Seoul Brother (Valerie and Raman had met in Seoul a few years back.) Now Raman was in Taipei on bidness, checking out the art scene after a jaunt to Beijing in which he managed to buy about a billion pounds worth of gallery catalogs- each the size of a coffee table book. How he manged to get them home I will never know.

Anyway, Raman speaks some Mandarin so Yuying taught him how to sexually harass people in Mandarin, which I forget but the translation is "I want to eat your tofu." Given that Taiwan's national dish, Cho Dofu (stinky tofu) is the nastiest, stinkiest most toilety thing you can imagine, this seems like a pretty hot pick-up line.

Here we see Valerie chowing down on some Cho Dofu.

From Taipei we headed down to Taichung, a college town of sorts and stayed in the expat-chic digs of Dane, Theresa, and Ugo who were excellent hosts. After getting drenched in a downpur, they took us to a BBQ for the moon festival where we sat on little plastic kid's stools which broke under our weight. We cooked on a tiny square grill on the sidewalk, where everyone normally parks their scooters so you usually have to walk in the street. During the moon festival, BBQing is done all over the city, while people set off illegal fireworks. Actually, even barbecuing is illegal apparently.

Later that night we drank in the park with some of the neighborhood teenagers. The leader of the gang, whose name means Fish, is in a death metal band called "Cheese." In Mandarin, it sounds like "go to hell." He'd rather sing speed metal, but his guitarist only likes death metal. Fish taught me some Spanish, having spent a year in Costa Rica living "La Vida Pura" (Pure life.)

A few days and towns later we took a narrow gauge train to Alishan, a mountain that the Japanese had logged to death during their occupation of Taiwan. They replaced most of the thousand or so year-old red Cyprus with Cherry trees. Now there are signs posted that it is an artificial forest. It is still beautiful however. As you go up the mountain you pass tea plantations where they hand pick oolong. The train passes through 3 climates- "Torrid," (Tropical?) Warm and Temperate. The "temperate" zone is nice and cool, a welcome respite from the horrible heat below. At the top it feels like being in Santa Cruz, except instead of the Redwoods, they are Red Cyprus. (There are still a few left.) Apparently, the train is one of only 3 in the world that reach the top of a mountain.

So, the big tourist attraction at Alishan is to take the train up to the top of the peak at 4:30 am and watch the sunrise. You get packed into the train with hundreds of Taiwanese tourists who seemed to come out of nowhere. Everyone pushes and shoves to get into the train even though everywhere else in Taiwan they cue up like civilized human beings. With everyone packed in, the train just sits there on the platform for twenty minutes while you get asphyxiated by the diesel exhaust even though they claim it's a steam train. By the time you reach the top of the mountain, it is already light out, though technically the sun has not risen over the peak. Tour guides scream into megaphones as the hordes snap photos. It's patently absurd.

But Alishan has it's charms. We stayed in a great little guesthouse run by a Taiwanese tea baron and his family and took a walk through the Red Cyprus along a wooden walkway that led us past little shrines and over suspension bridges and what not. If we lived in Taiwan, I'd want to live in the mountains.

After Alishan it was back to Taipei, where for some reason we decided to stay at a cheap hostel that the rough guide book recommended instead of calling Yu-ying who said we could stay with her again. Big mistake. It was nasty- the bed was a dirty foam slab on a box spring and you could just feel the bed bugs jumping on you, even though apparently there weren't actually any bedbugs. There was however a giant cockroach, so we slept with the lights on. The next night, we were supposed to stay with this guy Neo, an event planner who has toured California and Kentucky as part of a cheerleading squad, but we demurred because we had to leave for the airport very early the next day. So we left the squalor of the hostel for the relative luxury of a two and a half star hotel which was worth every penny of the NT$1200 (about $50 USD.) Except for the schtinkwasser coming out of the tap, it was grand.

All in all Taiwan wins for friendliness, food, and convenience. It feels like a cross between Japan and Vietnam in a way. There are scooters everywhere, but you can cross the street. There are vegetarian restaurants all over the place which are quite good and usually pretty cheap. It's also inexpensive and easy to get around. The best part are the people, however. Taiwanese are generally warm and friendly and are not out to rip you off. If you look lost, they will help you, even if they don't speak English. If it weren't for the humidity, I could easily see us living there and learning some Mandarin.

Next Up: Japan...

2008-02-17T20:54:00.000-08:00

Laos Now Brown Cow

OK so we got back to Singapore and I got my laptop and xiosynth, etc out of storage at Sleepy Sam's hostel where we had to crash a few nights before staying at our couchsurfer's place. Did I mention couchsurfing.com? It's social networking for travelers who stay at each other's pads for free. Brilliant.

Anyway, got the gear, chilled in Singapore a few days with some couchsurfers who Valerie talks about in her blog, wheelybag. Then headed up through Malaysia and checked out Malacca, Kuala Lumpur and Pennang before heading to Laos' Vientianne, Vang Viang and Luang Prabang. Now I am woodsheding in LP trying to get my chops up and a set together to start playing shows again.

2008-01-05T23:23:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: INDIA

I left my gear in Singapore for fear that it would get stolen or ruined in India. So for six or seven weeks I have been without my laptop or keyboard and have been only able to make music with a small hand drum I bought on the beach in Karnataka. But my trusty Nokia E61i has kept me connected to the outside world for the most part, save for a few snafus. (Just don't expect to have your U.S. bought Nokia supported by any of the numerous yet useless Nokia "care" centers in Hong Kong as there is no world wide warranty. Oddly, Nokia in India solved a problem I was having quickly and cheaply!)

In hindsight I could have brought my gear, but am glad for those few occasions on trains and buses that I was not lugging around an extra wheely-bag. Plus, Goa was not quite the rave on the beach scene I had expected since the cops have cracked down on the parties, so I didn't miss out on any opportunities to play here anyway.

Valerie and I met up with Ben Furstenberg of Epic Abridged and formerly of Extra Action Marching Band and had ourselves a time with him on the beaches of Karnataka. From there we traveled south to Kerala, ending up in Fort Cochin.

Fort Cochin, while touristy is the nicest place we have been so far. It is cleaner than the rest of India and instead of cows and stray dogs everywhere there are goats and cats- my kind of place. After eating Indian food for a month and a half, it is nice to eat western fare again.

If you want stories of our excursion to Mother India, check out Valerie's blog. Next stop: back to Singapore to get my gear which is hopefully still there! Then it's off to Malaysia and Laos.

2007-11-06T02:10:00.000-08:00

COUSIN ISAAC at the 01 CLUB in SEOUL

OK so it's been a while since I have blogged, but I have been busy. Here is proof: a shot of me playing a show at the 01 club in Seoul, South Korea. If you get a chance to go to Seoul, this is the coolest bar ever- it's kind of a cross between the Milk Bar from "A Clockwork Orange" and the Cantina from "Star Wars"- Very futuristic with an all white interiour of molded plaster in organic shapes.

2007-08-21T23:35:00.000-07:00

NEW GEAR

I am about to embark on a tour of Asia so decided to pare down my gear to jusr my laptop, the Novation XioSynth, the fragpedal gaming mouse for use as a foot controller, and a gooseneck mic. I had to damper the gooseneck with the foam filter of my vacuum cleaner because when I hit the keys, it picks up on the mic. A temporary solution, I only plan on using the gooseneck mic if no mic on a boom stand is available.

Oh, and this photo and post was uploaded from my new e61i phone which will be the basis for most of my communications from the road, so just because I love techmology doesn't mean I don't love you.

2007-05-10T15:36:00.000-07:00

Exquisite Corpstrait
This caricature was created by three different artists in a style known as Exquisite Corpse.

The paper was folded into thirds so that each artist could not see what the other artists had drown.

Rio, Mike Hales, and Doc Pop are the artists.

See the full set here.

2007-04-02T19:15:00.000-07:00

Free Cousin Isaac Ringtone

Now you can hear the synth line of "door to door" each time your phone rings. Just download the audio ringtone and then send it to your phone using this site Your phone must support the qcp file format for the ringtone to work. Most new phones do.

2006-12-11T14:09:00.000-08:00

Drown Radio aka Doctor Popular finished the Drown Radio Nerdcore remix for Door to Door and I posted it on my site cousinisaac.com. I also added an instrumental version and a remix called Door to Door salesman which sounds like a cheesy soundtrack for a commercial for a modern day Willy Loman selling vacuum cleaners. Doc Pop has a few more remixes up his sleeve and I am thinking of putting them out on a 12-inch.

2006-11-24T21:08:00.001-08:00

Hidden Gems:

Bed and Breakfasts in Ukiah, California

Ukiah is one of the many little towns along California's Highway 101 that boast historic architecture, organic restaurants, and wineries nearby. It's not a destination per se, but
my friend Alex Baker's parents have a ranch there that we sometimes visit on the fourth of July. We roll up in DJ Ziplock's white mercedez with DJ Neel N. Kizmiaz and Alex meets us at the gate of the "compound," wearing army green khakis and matching kangol, riding an ATV. This is the scene in the movie where the drug deal goes bad.

Next cut to a montage of a bunch of wacked out hipsters training as undercover Hapkido action heroes. Then night falls and everyone is sitting by the lake strumming guitars in the moonlight. Rumour has it Alex's dad was in the CIA and underneath the lake is where you'll find the evidence to support the eyewitness accounts of Wukalars roming in them thar hills.

But Alas, they are selling the place, so when that happens, when we are in Ukiah, we'll stay again at one of the two B&B's below that are both well worth the visit.

The Sanford House is a charming old (circa 1904) Victorian, walking distance from the old downtown shops, restaurants and farmer's market. The breakfast is gourmet vegetarian faire- absolutely to die for. There is a three legged cat named popoki and a couple of cute little dogs too, and the owners are very friendly.

Robinson Creek B&B and Flower Farm is another old Victorian in Ukiah's sunniest section of town that doubles as a flower farm. The breakfast is excellent and includes fresh eggs from their chicken run, and on those hot summer days, you can wander down to the ol' swimmin' hole.

2006-11-15T13:20:00.001-08:00

Music update:

I'm almost done with a project that has taken over a year- creating the background music and doing the audio editing for a couple of Meditation CDs by Donna Morrish.

Also in the works, I wrote the lyrics and melody for a song by Drown Radio (Aka Dr. Popular)
the world class champion Yo-Yo-ist slash Nerdcore hip hop beat maker. In return he is working on a remix of Door to Door. So far, the remix is sounding really good. I'll let you know when it is available.

Meanwhile I am working on licensing music for synching to visuals- i.e. movies and television. Check out the music on Idnote for a bunch of my little electronic ditties.

2006-11-15T12:58:00.000-08:00

Hidden Gems:

Focuss: Chicken Tikka Masala, in SF

Like Johnny Depp's CIA agent character in "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" I eat the same dish
at each type of restaurant I go to, only I don't kill the chef (usually.) Just as I eat Bun Thit Noung at every Vietnamese restaurant, I eat Chicken Tikka Masala at every Northern Indian / Pakistani place. Here are my faves...

Masala Indian Cuisine, San Francisco: This place has the best ambience / price / taste ratio of all the Indian places in SF. The staff are friendly, the place is clean, the food is inexpensive and not greasy. The Chicken Tikka Masala rocks. What more can one ask for?
1220 9th Avenue (415) 566-6976

Chutney Restaurant, San Francisco: The Chicken Tikka Masala here is sooo good. The place is self serve, floors are greasy and it's in the tenderloin, but the Chicken Tikka Masala is sooo good... 511 Jones Street (415) 931-5541

Tasty Curry, San Francisco: While the ambience is lacking- greasy and self serve, the food does you right and the price can't be beat. Chicken Tikka Masala is very good- a little dry and I would like more chunks of chicken, but very good none the less. 1375 9th Avenue (415) 753-5122

2006-11-11T20:47:00.000-08:00

Cousin Isaac making headlines- literally.

Kansai Time Out Magazine published a story I wrote called "The Pan in Japan" in the September 2006 issue. I just got my copy, due to slow mail service, so I guess it's old news by now.

The Article was published in the print magazine, but not online, so here is a pdf of it.

2006-09-20T12:23:00.000-07:00

HIDDEN GEMS:

Minh Tri, Sn Francisco, USA
For all of Yummy Yummy's charms, I still end up at Minh Tri more often than not because A) one of the owners is a sweet old man who is contantly laughing and making jokes and b) their Bun Thit Noung kicks ass. Word to the wise, go at night. Although the lunch specials are good, you are more likely to have Mr. Happy serve you than his evil twin Mr. Grumpy. They have names, but I have yet to learn them. I just call them "An" pronounced "On" which means older brother. 534 Irving St San Francisco, CA 94122 (415) 566-5335

The Inn at Lower Farm, Stonington CT
If you ever find yourself in Connecticut take pains to stay at this historic Inn. The Wily Wonka-esque sloping hall and doorways, the huge central fireplace, the wit and charm of the owners and the stories they tell about the witches who used to live there- all good reasons to stay the night.

Cafe De Lotus, Koyasan, Japan
Koyasan, which recently was dubbed a "World Herritage Site" by the U.N., is a town of monastic complexes, the holyland of Estoteric Buddhism in Japan. The temples are all old and beautiful and peaceful. But when you are all templed-out, go to Cafe De Lotus for Kohi and Ke-ki (coffee and cake) and check out the buddhist students from all over the world, the crazy mix-match interior and chat it up with the nutty owner Jun who is like no other Japanese person I have ever met. Constantly laughing and carrying on in her sing song voice, Jun is quite likely to forget what you ordered as she bussles about, but she is very sweet and kind and gives discounts to all the students. She used to live in Southern California, and has been to Vietnam, so you can get a vietnamese iced coffee on a hot day. tel 0735-56-1795

2006-08-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

HIDDEN GEMS

Focus Osaka:

Bread in Osaka, Japan- Home Bakery Brunnen - go to Nakazakicho on the Tanimachi line. Go out Exit 1. Inside the arcade to your right, on the opposite wall, a few doors down is the tiny bakery. Ask for the Sesame Walnut loaf- it's the best bread in the world. Don't worry, they speak English.

Nepalese food, Osaka Japan: The best "Indian" food I have tasted in the Kansai area is actually a Nepalese restaurant named Kantipur near the bakery Brunnen. It's in the same Nakazakicho mall, the one purported to be the longest in Osaka. From Nakazakicho Exit 1 on the Tanimachi line, turn right and go four short blocks into the mall and take a left. You should be able to smell the Tandori oven and you'll see a green tent of a building with a plastic entrance. The phone number is 0663-593-884.

Pizza, Osaka Japan: If you crave pizza, like I do, at the very bottom of the Namba Nankai station in the Namba City mall, at the very back is the best pizza place in Osaka. Their pizza is a true Italian thin crust pie that comes very close to pizza we've had in Italy because the family that owns the restaurant sends their son Shunsuke around the world to taste different foods and learn how to prepare them for their various restaurants. Shunsuke was educated in the US so his English is excellent and he speaks Spanish to boot. The name is La Campagna.

2006-08-22T18:23:00.000-07:00

Cousin Isaac in the news:

yahoo news

top40-charts.com

2006-08-21T21:43:00.000-07:00

HIDDEN GEMS

Bars:

Bikitan Bar, Tokyo, Japan
Truly a hidden gem this tiny little wood building nestled between highrises that house gay bars and sex shops in the heart of Shinkjuku is over a hundred years old. The name has something to do with toads, but there are lots of cats around. Get Someone who knows Japanese to help you find it:: 〒160−0022　東京都新宿区新宿２−１５−９ tel 03−3352−8317

Bed Supper Club, Bangkok, Thailand
Ok it's not so hidden, but it is cool. With it's all white interior (including white leather doors) it feels like you are walking into a dystopian movie set. The patrons of the restaurant eat while lounging in beds, and notice how the chair-table-chair configuration of the bar furniture spells the word bed when looked at from the side. Only drawback, I don't think they are licensed to allow dancing so it's strictly a lounge.

Coffee and Whiskey, Kamakura, Japan Named after the Jim Jarmusch movie "Coffee and Ciggarettes" this tiny Jazz bar is a great place to have a Suntory Whiskey and a chat with the friendly owner. I'm having trouble finding the contact info, but it's close by the main train station in Kamakura, which is a gem of town in it's own right. For now, Just ask somebody.

2006-08-21T20:41:00.000-07:00

HIDDEN GEMS

Dagoba Chocolate, Ashland, OR, US- the holy grail of chocolate if you ask me. Have you tried their chocolate chips? Holay Mole!
(OK it's not so hidden)

Bananas, Chiang Mai, Thailand- Best bananas in the whole world come from one tree at the Siamese Traders' Chinese Tea Pavillion- property of the Austrian Tea Baron Nikolaus Prachensky. The bananas are insane, as is the tea of course... Here are directions taken from chiangmai-chiangrai.com: "Siamese Traders Tea Pavilion is located near the Lanna Hospital. Drive down the Soi and turn right on Soi 2. Drive toward the ancient who tree and look for the sign with the elephant logo."

Airlines: ANA, Japan: (Also not so hidden) I know most people love Singapore Airlines, which I do too, the service and food are great. But for my yen, it's all about ANA. I have been bumped up to business class on more than one occassion, and for the price of a Y class ticket, that can't be beat. Granted, I go the extra mile for them as well: when I go to Osaka I take their SF-Tokyo-Itami route instead of another airline directly to KIX. It's actually cheaper, adds FF miles and gives you half a day to wander around the temple in the town of Narita before your flight home. No airport town can claim such beauty.

2006-08-15T23:27:00.000-07:00

CDs i'd hope to have if I crash landed on a desert island
Aimee Mann, Lost in Space
Duke Ellington Money Jungle
Mad Finder, Hit the Grass
Jimmy Cliff et al: the Harder they come
Air, Moon Safari
Beatles Rubber Soul and Revolver
Beck, Mutations

Of course, there are many more, but that's all I can think of at the moment.

2006-08-15T18:01:00.000-07:00

HIDDEN GEMS

BBQ Pork Bao aka pork bun or Butanikuman in Kobe, Japan: I am always on a search for good Pork Bao which are so easily found at any dim sum (Yamcha) joint in Chinatown, the Sunset or the Richmond distrticts in San Fran. Likewise, in Japan you have to go to China town to get the sweet kind. Don't be fooled by 551 Horai's or any convenie's nikuman- they are salty. Only the anman are sweet. The pizzaman are interesting in a fast food kinda way, but for the real deal, get yourself to kobe's chinatown and ask for "amai butanikuman."

Bun Thit Noung, San Francisco- Can you tell I am a pork eatin' yid? The best Bun (Vietnamese Vermicelli) to be had thus far (including in VietNam) is from Yummy Yummy 1015 Irving Street, (between 11th and 12th avenues), San Francisco. It's well, yummy.

Plastics- New York, NY- One bit of advice for you son- "Plastics." Canal Plastics on Canal street is plastic fantastic.

2006-08-14T20:09:00.000-07:00

HIDDEN GEMS

Hot Chocolate in Sapa, Vietnam- go to the french hotel where they teach kids the hospitality bidness. Best cup of cocoa on the planet.

Hole in the wall bar in Dubrovnik, Croatia- along the western edge of the old city is literally a hole in the wall with a sign that says "cold drinks." The name in Serbo-Croatian is Buža which I think means hole. Best damned bar in the world, run by a former eye model for Stern Magazine who was a hero in the war. Hopefully the place is still there- it's been a few years.

Bagel and Cream Cheese with Lox in Ho Chi Minh and Ha Noi, Vietnam- Cafe Au Parc and Au Lac respectively. Same owner? Perhaps not the best in the whole world, but when you are jonesing in VN for your bagel fix, these are the places to go.

BBQ chicken in San Francisco, CA: Memphis Minnies on Haight St- so good the chicken is.

more later...

2006-08-14T18:52:00.000-07:00

Apparently about a millionbillionkabillion new blogs are started each day. This is the zillion and one-th blog added to the bloggety blogosphere.
Will it be complete drivel? Or will the random thoughts of this demented fool change the world? Who knows? I'll keep you posted.