Monday, September 25, 2006

Settling down with Lewis Black

(You have to read to the end to get to the Lewis Black part.)


Above: a pint of beer from a pub in Ithaca. Ironic message, no? To be fair, there's an ad for an Ithaca taxi company on the back. Pretty smart advertising. FYI: That glass is now in my dishwasher.

Last week, I was supposed to interview Ravi and Anoushka Shankar for three different projects - two pieces for the Post-Standard and a podcast for SU - and I was as nervous as I was excited. Unfortunately, the Shankars cancelled their show (which was scheduled for tomorrow night) because the elder Shankar has a shoulder injury. The prep time that I had spent on these three projects could've been better used for media law reading, but more than that, I was disappointed to lose the opportunity to talk with a genius like Ravi Shankar.



On the other hand, I did get to see an amazing show (photo above) two weekends ago in Ithaca. Santoor maestro Shiv Kumar Sharma played with his son Rahul and tabla player Aditya Kalyanpur (who has studied with tabla geniuses Alla Rakha and his son, Zakir Hussain.) The santoor is an ancient folk instrument that Pandit Sharma basically raised to the level of sitar on the classical front in India. It is similar to the western hammered dulcimer - the santoor is a sringed instrument that is played by hitting the strings with mallets. The tabla is a set of traditional drums that are played with the hands, not sticks.

The three men, dressed elegantly in traditional Indian kurtas and pajamas, entered the stage, humbly folding their hands together and bowing their heads towards the audience as they sat down to tune their instruments. From the first note, the performance was mesmerizing.

The musicians were having a ball, smiling and laughing as they played off each other, really showcasing their talents. Pandit Sharma seemed to hold back a little, which allowed the younger musicians to really let loose. Indian classical music is all improvised, so the effect was even more astounding when the tabla player copied exactly every fast-paced, complicated taan (a series of notes and beat patterns that are composed during the set) that the younger Sharma played.

Displaying the trademark style of his esteemed teachers, the young tabla player's hands moved skillfully and frenetically over the drums. Rahul Sharma also showed that he has inherited his father's great santoor skills with the intricate tunes that he created. There was a much-deserved standing ovation, but sadly, no encore.

I honestly hope that these guys come back to the states soon. It was such an amazing thing to see in person.

In other news, I also saw the Strokes, whose performance suffered due to a seizure-inducing light show and horrible PA system, which made for a disappointing show. Actually, I suffered more than they did... I had really been looking forward to it, because I love their albums, and I had heard that they were an amazing live band. On the other hand, they made some hilarious jokes about snotty academics, which I think most of the Cornell crowd didn't quite get. (Sorry Sumi, that's how I saw it.)

And last, but not least, I interviewed Lewis Black this afternoon. It was definitely the highlight of my week. Before the big phone call, obviously I had read as much as I could find about him, and I was surprised to learn that he's a very sweet, generous man who is just thrilled to be where he is right now. He's been around for a long time, and he's really earned his current position of fame. If you haven't seen his act, his stage persona is an angry guy who is just fed up with everyday idiocies.

I had a really pleasant conversation with him, and we bonded over both of us being single with parents who just want us to F***ing settle down already! When I told him I was a 31-year-old, single Indian woman, he guessed that my family was surely flying in suitors by the cartful. (Thank goodness, they haven't resorted to that yet.) But if Lewis Black is still being nagged by his parents to find someone to grow old with, then I am in pretty good company!

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Who says English food isn't good?


After several years of trial and error, I have finally re-created the British national dish, Chicken Tikka Masala. When I lived in London, my friend Hope and I ordered the paneer version at least once a week from the local Indian restaurant. We couldn't get enough of the creamy tomato goodness.

Now if only I could find an authentic scone recipe! Something about the water in the UK makes their scones SO MUCH BETTER than the US versions.

Two things to update: 1) Thanks to my wonderful family for providing me with a digital camera. Now I can put pics online with my posts. Which leads me to number 2) I FINALLY have internet at home! So I can post more often and bore everyone to tears on a regular basis.

Friday, September 08, 2006

The Holy Cities

It's been ages since I've posted, but I did write the following blog over the break. I just never had a chance to post till now... I'll write something more up-to-date over the weekend, but here's something to read in the meantime.

(I should note that the clown that was sitting next to me on the plane was deathly afraid to fly. So afraid that his hands were sweating so much that they were leaving water marks on his pants. Yuck. And he was talking about gravity and how just by being in the plane, we were defying certain natural laws. I don't know how many of you know this about me, but I am slightly afraid to fly as well. Once we're in the air, and I can't see down, there's no problem. But the up and down parts of the ride REALLY BOTHER ME. Anyway, I had to pop open my computer, put on my headphones and pretend to work so he would shut up. And that gave birth to the blog below.)

August 27, 2006
So I'm flying back to Rochester now after two weeks in Atlanta, Austin and Charleston. I'm thinking about my life, and how happy I am to know so many wonderful people. I really had a good time seeing everyone, and I can't believe I was fortunate enough to get everything in that I had wanted to do. I even worked a few days at CNN in the middle of travelling to all those places. My parents got the raw end of the deal, because I didn't get to spend too much time with them. Oh well, Christmas isn't that far away, I guess.

Atlanta is always fun. We celebrated Kara's big promotion and Sidebar's third anniversary. I also helped to host a baby shower for my friend Jody (ed. note: She had the baby on September 3, the best day of the year!) I caught up on celebrity gossip with Stephen, hung out with Margie and Lily and even got to see some of my VJ classmates at Lee's wine tasting party. Good stuff.

Austin is always fun, too. Family fun. But fun. I think I wrote about that and Psycho in my last post, so I'll skip the "my nieces are the most brilliant, funny and beautiful kids on the planet shpeel." (It's only a temporary escape, my friends. I'm sure they'll do something cute, and I'll be forced to tell you all about it.)

Charleston, of course, is wonderful too. I really loved living there, and even though I hated the small-towniness of it when I first arrived, it was very endearing when I left. I was fortunate to catch the last Cabaret Kiki show of the summer. And my friends, these guys were ON FIRE that night. I'd seen several shows before, in rehearsal and from backstage, and it was weird being on the audience-side this time. But it was really fun. I started to write a "review" of the show, but I realized I am far too attached to those people backstage and on-stage. I couldn't write anything other than glowing praise, and that's not really what a "critic" is supposed to do. My opinion: if you're in Charleston, GO SEE THIS SHOW. It's really delightfully entertaining and funny, and the songs are amazingly catchy. Plus Evan Bivins is about the funniest thing I've ever seen.

Carolina St. and Perry St. peeps and Julie, I miss you all so much. But what I miss most is the putanesca, the impromptu barbeques, the late-night stir-fries and the guitar-hero. (Nick, have you gotten to the end of season two YET? Season three starts really soon!)

That's all for now. We're landing soon, and the flight attendant is coming this way to make me put my tray table back up and turn off my electronic devices...