Just in time for Passover.

So I discovered Balkan Beat Box through genre similarities with Taraf de Haidouks and a common membership with the World/Inferno Friendship Society. I first saw them in Mobile, AL in March of 2007 (has it been that long?), and through them found J-Dub Records, a not-for-profit record label in New York City centered around modern interpretations of Jewish music. This album, The SoCalled Seder, is hip hop artist's SoCalled's reworking of the traditional Passover seder (as the name suggests). Guests include Trevor Dunn, Matisyahu, and Killah Priest. Enjoy it and think of fucking Moses callin' the plagues on some Egyptians. Let's get free. More after the break.

SoCalled
The SoCalled Seder: A Hip Hop Haggadah
J-Dub Records
June 21, 2005
V0 mp3

1. Pesach Zeit Featuring P Love
2. 1st Cup
3. Four Questions
4. L.M.P.G. Featuring Katie Moore and Teah
5. The 10 Plagues Featuring Bless & Killah Priest
6. Dayenu Featuring Paul Shapiro
7. 2nd Cup: Bless the Wine featuring Bless...
8. Who Knows One? Featuring David Krakauer
9. 3rd Cup: Yahu Feat. Matisyahu & Trevor Dunn
10. To the Red Sea
11. The Miriam Drum Song (Chad Gadya)
12. Passout for Passover

Check it!


Also, it's on sale for $6.99 over at J-Dub's site. Please support this awesome label and this artist by ordering this now!

Bon Voyage

So in personal news, I have been packing, eagerly awaiting my departure from scenic, just recently defrosted, Buffalo, New York. Nothing too terribly ill to say on the place. I've had many a good meal at the price of two elsewhere, learned the wonders of the regional loganberry, and it has brought me from politically interested to something far more active. Unfortunately, my life exists in the east, along the Atlantic, and through the East, the Hudson, the Delaware, and the Potomac. No more Erie or Ontario, although your Falls were quite enticing.

So the friendships and relationships that dragged me here petered out. They were given the old college try and I would never attempt to undo them. We all need a good story or two of betrayal and heartache, right? And by no fault of either party, I cannot begin to pass beyond the political and into the personal with many a friend I have here. Wonderful people, but I think that the feeling of separation is more than mutual.

As it stands, I have about a thousand phone calls to make and a few apologies to include in there. Sometimes plans do not work out as one wishes. Unfortunately, real-world circumstances dampen the fire now and again. But it looks like I will soon be traveling to the city that never sleeps, where I will be wandering among the insomniacs on a day-to-day basis.

Strange though. I escape to New York City. It has been my haven of solace and excitement. When life was troubling me, and I needed warmth in a cold, windy world, I took off to the city. There, life was beautiful. The girls were beautiful. Even... well, you follow well enough, I'm sure. Not that any of those interpretations are less true now, but I will now be forced to face reality when boarding a subway or dancing late into the night. I will no longer be crashing for the night, running off the next day to frivolous fun. I'll have a job, a rent to pay, and soon classes I must regiment myself to. My oyster will soon close tightly around me. Let's hope all goes well and I come out a pearl, yes?

Priority One, however, remains what I established one night recently while working in Albany: Cycling ride over the East River. I've been there enough at this point that I am not in the 'stars-in-your-eyes' categorization, but this has long been a desire of mine. C'mon, what a view.

Two young World/Inferno fans in flat caps sat shyly at the bar.

One of them was myself.  Franz Nicolay, the multi-instrumental, multi-banded global ambler/wine-soused rambler, decided to make a stop on his recent solo tour through snowy Buffalo, New York (my current locale) to hawk his newly published wares to a northeastern/midwestern audience.  

In attendance, I brought along a handcam to document the evening.  Not having heard any material since the Black Rose Paladins demo album, I was excited to hear his material live and personal.  I was not disappointed.

Enjoy the footage, as rough as it might be.

Footage after the break.

A great track off the new album. Would've made a kickass Inferno tune... maybe someday yet...

This one didn't make the cut to proper release but is a favorite of mine.



And here we are at this. Excuse the singing in the background, as someone so nicely mentioned.



Dipping into the reservoir of older footage I have previous to starting this.  Current material as it crops up.  I will attempt to disperse this evenly, however.

Fresh Start, Aye?

Decided to give the ol' Livejournal a rest after five years and a move. At the very least, I need a new venue for my musings, intrigues, and trave(b)logues.

There's alot of activity on the horizon for myself; new home along my lovely East Coast of the United States, upcoming musical tours, new album releases and old album discoveries. And I have long had a backlog of photographs, videos, and experiences I have wanted to put into words and have had not an appropriate forum.

And yes, of course, the personal will come alongside these posts, so do please excuse it if it becomes too much.

I hope you enjoy my Atlantic journey as much as I hope to.

Also, you can follow me on Twitter!