Concert Calendar, yeah!!!

Posted on April 29, 2008 by santosht
So finally, i am getting organized. I have made me a concert calendar so that i can keep a track of all the concerts i have been for and other important dates. 🙂 I tried my best to use the live.com calendar but to my surprise it cannot be used on spaces.live.com, and so i had to go with google calendar. 😦
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Gender Bias?

Posted on April 16, 2008 by santosht
A friend of mine recently saw a Indian few film stars shooting a movie on South Beach. One of stars was John Abraham. For those of you who dont know who he is, he is a good looking model turned actor in Bollywood. My friend likes him a lot (i guess) and so she called out his name. He waved at back at her and blew some kisses to her. They were done shooting already and were packing and getting ready to leave. I asked my friend if she spoke to him and my friend was like, i couldnt but "i just wanted to go hug him". I smiled back to her….
 
… and then i thought. What if i was at the beach and i had seen a hot actress. I said hi to her and then i’d said "i just wanted to go hug her". What would the reaction be? Would she take it cool? The point is not about her reaction, its about everybody’s reaction. Why is it cool for a girl to say that and get away and not cool for guys to do the same? Gender bias? I wonder.
 
PS: I am watching Dave Matthews play a piano right now. Wow, i dint know he played one. How cool is that?
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Life is short, play hard

Posted on April 8, 2008 by santosht
I have never played ping-pong seriously before i started working here. I felt that it was quite a boring game. Since i started playing it here, i find it to be a great refersher. I usually play to keep me active and also to refresh me, for a break.
 
Today was a typical hectic day at work. Handful meetings, few discussions, and coding – as usual. Given the fact that we have a release coming up on Friday makes things a bit more tense. To top that, Mahesh is on a vacation and i was anyways missing ping-pong. After a meeting, a team-mate of mine asked me if we can play ping pong in the evening to which i obliged.
 
At about 5.30, i pinged 4 of my team mates for a game. Most of these guys must have been great players in their days but given the fact that they havent been playing regularly, they have all become rusty. We got warmed up and started playing. It was so much fun. We kept rotating partners since we were 5 of us, yet the teams were always good and all the games were so close. The rallies were long, some of them were decided after more than 20 shots. I am sure I played some of the best rallies i have ever played, today. In 45 minutes, i was sweating like a dog and we were all smiles. So glad i bot the new paddle. 🙂 Yeah!!!
 
I guess, nothing can beat playing sports. You may work out all you want but it cannot compare to the high you get after playing. The co-ordination it takes, the team spirit, spirit of playing a game, and the joy of enjoying a game. It can be any sport. For me, its ping pong these days. Such a nice game to get a workout. You can fit a table anywhere. The games are short, insanely fast (almost always) and takes a lot of concentration. 15 minutes and u are recharged.
 
I very often feel bad for people who did not play any games when they were young. I think it makes a big difference to your attitude towards life when you grow up. If you have a chance, play a sport each time you can!
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Disaster

Posted on April 3, 2008 by santosht
All right, so i was trying to be cheap. You know the last time I got the strings on my guitar changed at American Music store in Bellevue, the stupid guys charged me extra 6-8 bucks just to put the strings on. That was insane cos i remember they telling me proudly last time around that they do that for free. Huh. And 8 bucks is a bit too much.
 
Couple of days ago, two days precisely, i snapped the high-E string of my guitar. And, so it needed to be fixed. Yesterday, i got a string winder and a cutter and tried to wind the string on my guitar.
 
First, i think i cut the string too short. Then i bent the string wrong and it was wrong. The string just wouldnt wind. Tried that for half hour and then gave up by the time, when the guitar stored were closed. 😦 Allright, i got a few more strings today and decided to complete the mission I was on. Cut the string a bit longer this time. Wound it slowly. took time to do it. Cut my finger over the 5th string, it was actually bleeding, but eventually, i wound the string. Woo. But guess what though, my celebrations did not last too long. The first bend i tried with it. It snapped!!!! Its broken again. Man, i am going to the guitar shop tmrw. 😦 What a disaster.
 
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Fitter Happier

Posted on April 2, 2008 by santosht
Off late, i think i have become an extremely boring person. 😦 I dont talk much to my family, friends. I dont hang out with them much. Hardly any concerts. Dont return phone calls, reply emails, nothing. Its starting to annoy me now. Guess its time for some revival of spirits. I am going to follow the Radiohead mantra: Fitter Happier.
 
Fitter, happier, more productive,
comfortable,
not drinking too much,
regular exercise at the gym
(3 days a week),
getting on better with your associate employee contemporaries,
at ease,
eating well
(no more microwave dinners and saturated fats),
a patient better driver,
a safer car
(baby smiling in back seat),
sleeping well
(no bad dreams),
no paranoia,
careful to all animals
(never washing spiders down the plughole),
keep in contact with old friends
(enjoy a drink now and then),
will frequently check credit at (moral) bank (hole in the wall),
favors for favors,
fond but not in love,
charity standing orders,
on Sundays ring road supermarket
(no killing moths or putting boiling water on the ants),
car wash
(also on Sundays),
no longer afraid of the dark or midday shadows
nothing so ridiculously teenage and desperate,
nothing so childish – at a better pace,
slower and more calculated,
no chance of escape,
now self-employed,
concerned (but powerless),
an empowered and informed member of society
(pragmatism not idealism),
will not cry in public,
less chance of illness,
tires that grip in the wet
(shot of baby strapped in back seat),
a good memory,
still cries at a good film,
still kisses with saliva,
no longer empty and frantic like a cat tied to a stick,
that’s driven into frozen winter shit
(the ability to laugh at weakness),
calm,
fitter,
healthier and more productive
a pig in a cage on antibiotics.
 
Hopefully, i get my sanity back soon.
 
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Songlines

Posted on March 17, 2008 by santosht
It does not get better than this. Oh, look, it just did. Even the star is out.

 
Many-a-times you are hooked to an album or an artist. It was Neil Young for me for the last few months and Tom Morello (Rage/Audioslave/Nightwatchman) before that. These days, its Derek Trucks album titled "Songlines". I just cannot get enough of that album. It just sounds better, the more i listen to it. My favourite song on that is "Sahib teri bandi" and  I wish that he would have played that song when i saw him live but he dint. Yet, the concert was awesome, one of the best. He doesnt tour here that often so i was hoping that the next time he is here, which would have been anything more than a year. And guess what… I found a DVD of "Songlines" yesterday at a used CD store. On that he has played all the songs and yeah, also "Key to the highway". 🙂 All that for less than 9 bucks. 🙂 My day was made!!
 
PS: I am a proud owner of an autographed Songlines CD.
 
Helicopter. 😉
 
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Sleep for 6 hours?

Posted on February 6, 2008 by santosht
They say, you should sleep for 8 hours every night or maybe, 6 hours everyday. Oh, come on. I dont think this is fair. I think thats too much time wasted doing nothing, i would rather do something else.
 
I often wonder where my time goes. 10-11 hours at work, say about 5-6 hrs or sleep. That leaves behind about 7-8 hours of time for urself everyday. Now, in that time you have to manage quite a few things. Eat (can take more than an hour sometimes and yes, i havent factored time to cook ;)), call friends (sometimes i am scared to call friends with whom i have to talk for hours – not that i dont like talking to em, but managing the timezones and all, its so difficult), meet friends, surf, play, watch movies, CONCERTS, coffee, pay bills, groceries, shopping, other chores, PLAY GUITAR, etc. I think thats too much for 8 hours a day. How i wish we had those 6 hrs we spend sleeping for ourselves. That sounds so cool.
 
I have often read people saying that they like to sleep. Come to think of it, i wonder how can someone really like that. Its so much time wasted. I dont have enough time on my hands to do the things i love, how can someone like to sleep? LOL, thats funny. If i was to design human beings again, i would definitly save them the sleeping time. A 15 minute power nap sounds good to me but nah, 6hrs is too much. How can i ever get this time back?
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Nuno update

Posted on January 14, 2008 by santosht
Today, Nuno Bettencourt in his email wrote "Yes… lock up your daughters and lock up your wife… Lock up your back door and run for your life. Cause once we move back in…We plan to be around for the rest of our days… God willing… how ever long that may be."
 
Can express how happy it makes me to read that! Extreme forever!! I wish they squeeze all the 24 tracks in and make a double CD. 14 is too less.
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RIP Crocodile Cafe!!

Posted on December 18, 2007 by santosht

Crocodile Cafe, the small cafe, a la CBGB for Seattle is closing down. The Showbox, THE place to go see BIG bands is bot by a big company based in LA. What does this mean to me? To us?

Crocodile will be missed forever. Crocodile was a small place, with the main floor being the size of two living rooms of a one bedroom flat put together. Imagine that and then imagine your favorite band on stage. It was an intimate affair. You could connect to the guys on the stage, talk to them and hear them talk. A place that brings the best out from of the band. Too bad that i will never get to get into that place anymore.

The Showbox, needs no introduction. Well, that’s the place where all the big bands used to play. Its not an arena. Its a small club where the likes of The Yardbirds, Ramones, Nat King Cole, Eric Clapton, Velvet Revolver, Stephen Stills, all the great Seattle grunge bands, etc, etc have played. That that place is part of Seattle music history in the biggest way. Small place again but really really nice. Although Showbox isn’t closing but is apparently its got bot. 😦 Too bad anyway. I don’t want to see another plush place where the tickets prices are sky high and the place is too formal. I don’t want to go to a big venue cos i just love the small place and i really like it there. I hope the new owners don’t continue to use the name Showbox, i really do. Their money should only allow them to buy the place and not the history of the place.

I cant believe that such a thing could have happened. I was sad yesterday about Croc news and today i heard abt Showbox. Two nasty blows to the live music in Seattle in the same week. 😦 You know what, i have never got to see RCKCNDY or Off Ramp or Fenix Underground. That’s bad. But know what’s worse, people to come will neither see RCKCNDY, Off Ramp or Fenix nor will they will never see Croc or The Showbox we know. That’s really sad.

I sound like a hippie i guess, but i couldn’t help it. RIP Croc!!

Minutes after i posted that, i found this link: http://www.johnlscott.com/propertydetail.aspx?GroupID=55809452&ListingID=31232536. I cant believe that they have put that up for a lease for that price. Heartbreaking.

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Concerts i enjoyed the most…

Posted on November 28, 2007 by santosht
I have been thinking of writting this one since ages but never got my head down and did this. But here it is now. These are shows i can see everynight, if i had a chance – the top notch. In no particular order.
 
Hariprasad Chaurasia at GS Medical College, Mumbai, ’95?
This concert was on the terrace of GS medical sometime in 95/96/97. It started late in the night, got over at around 1.30 in the night. Was simply awesome.
 
Parikrama at Mood-Indigo, Mumbai, ’95
Wow, what a concert it was. The entire concert was like a medley of classic rock. Saw this one with Girish Phadke and rest of the gang. Can’t forget Kashmir, Another Brick. Awesome.
 
Jazz Yatra, Rang Bhavan, Mumbai, ’02?
This one had best of Indias Jazz Artists. Carl Peters, Ranjit Barot, Louis Banks. Awesome. Highlight was Carl, his son and Ranjit. Awesome stuff.
 
Steve Morse and Dixie Dregs, BB King Cafe, NYC, ’05
Man, this concert was full of energy. I was on a high even after 3/4 hours after the show (no alcohol involved – it was just the music).
 
Paul Simon, Key Arena, Seattle, ’06
Happy Music and a genious vocalist. Awesome, amazing. And i had great seats too. 🙂
 
Damien Rice, Beneroya Hall, Seattle, ’07
Phew. He can bring you to tears man. Amazing show. Can never forget the unplugged version of "Cannonball". Hats off.
 
Derek Trucks Band, Tulalip Casino, Seattle, ’07
Woo man, Derek Trucks is god. The super solo on "Key to the highway".
 
Steve Vai, Moore Theater, Seattle, ’07
He can talk with his guitar. He is an absolute genious. What a show. I came back from India, left my bags home and drove to Moore theater. LOL.
 
Neil Young, WaMu Theater, Seattle, ’07
Absolute genious. Woo. I can never forget him singing "After the goldrush". Best acoustic show, the 1st set was. And he was no less with the electric guitar. Die Hard Neil Young fan forever.
 
Close but not in the list
Chris Cornell @ Paramount – Seattle ’07
The Nightwatchman @ Crocodile Cafe – Seattle ’07
Kenny G @ Puyallup – Seattle ’07
Jagjit Singh @ Mood-I – Mumbai 95?
Norah Jones @ Macaw Hall – Seattle ’07
Black Crowes @ Paramount, Seattle ’07
Velvet Revolver @ Showbox – Seattle ’07
Indian Ocean @ Neumos – Seattle ’06
Mose Allison @ Jazz Alley – Seattle ’07
 
Honestly, i wish i can hear these guys every night. Wish they could play at a local cafe every other night. 🙂 Sincere thanks for all the music guys!
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