The US and EU don’t actually have much leverage with Arab dictators. Mariah Carey and Lionel Richie do. Richie was able to spring a friend from Dubai jail and Mariah Carey was paid a million dollars to sing for the Gaddafi family. Her appeal was also movied in You Don’t Mess With The Zohan, like in the somewhat prescient clip above. There wasn’t a middle east conflict at all, it was the greedy landlord. Anyways, if anyone could pick up the phone and move Arab dictators now, it would be 80s pop stars. Lionel should call Muammar now and be like, ‘Hello, is it me you’re looking for?’

There’s a three-legged dog at the top of the road, lying there with his balls out in the band-killing drizzle. I respect the three-legged functioning and I pet the filthy beast. Later, I’m telling the promoter that his band is dogshit and he’s flipping out and threatening to beat me up. I’m more worried that my girl is going to hit him. What’s sad is that the Duke Spirit is here, a band that opened for REM, and this promoter Ifham wants to replace them with a school choir and a cover band. And that band is clearing the crowd. They break into a version of Barbie Girl and people literally flee the hall clutching their ears. It is, in aesthetic terms, dogshit, but Ifham is, in between threatening to rape me, lecturing about local talent. What local talent? Aqua?

I say, the Electric Peacock Festival is today. They’re organizing a very cool live music event in Mount Lavinia with actual international DJ Roger Sanchez and bands like the Duke Spirit and Trophy Wife. Plus Sri Lanka/British BBC DJ Nihal. It should be extra cool, though it is also rather expensive at Rs. 6,500. These are actual international acts though, and not saccharine like Sean Paul or pickled like Englebert Humperdink (the usual acts we get). I’ve written about the show at The Sunday Leader, all that’s changed is that it’s no longer in Negombo it’s in Mount Lavinia, so essentially in Colombo. It should be pretty cool and it starts tonight at 6:30 PM, going on till the morning. There’s more info on their website.

Every rapper’s first album is their best, and Kanye West is perhaps no exception. His later stuff is good, great even, but, to me, he’ll never be that human I want in my ear again. The first album had him an his mother loading his belongings into a moving van. By this album, his mother is dead of botched plastic surgery and Kanye is going shallower and shallower into himself. His latest release is the 35 minute video ‘Runaway’ which is great to watch, great to present to a mass audience, and yet missing the soul that filled Kanye’s first album. It’s embedded above. I must say, it’s well worth a watch, in HD if you can. It’s no Thriller, but it is at least interesting.

My friend Nigel has been DJing a show on Kiss FM for weeks now but I have no idea how to use an FM radio. Instead he sent me a link to his podcast, which I’m enjoying very much. Music in Sri Lanka is bad for me because it’s either the same retro songs, or the same 90s songs, or the same house songs, or the same baila songs. And same, sadly, is often bad. I think the music doesn’t move on because people don’t want it to. At one wedding Nigel was DJing decent stuff and people came up and asked him to play something the old people could dance to. Which is pretty standard. But anyways, these podcasts I can listen to while I’m working and I dig it.

I’m trying to get off the Twitter/headline cyber crack and read some longer form stuff. So, today’s long read is what may be a letter from Mick Jagger discussing Keith Richard’s autobiography (review/amazon), namely the latter’s allegation that Mr. Jagger has a small penis. One money quote: “for a show in front of 60,000 people for which we are being paid some $6 or $7 million for a few hours’ work, I like to suggest to everyone that we start on time, and that we each have in place a personal plan, in whatever way suits us best, to stay conscious for the duration of the show.” Slate published the letter which was supposedly accidentally mailed to a journalist. I dunno how likely that story is, but the letter itself is well-written, funny, seemingly revealing and, as per the purpose of this blog, long.

I love Colombo bus art which consists of, basically, putting every cool thing you can think of together in Photoshop. For example, one bus I see daily on Havelock Road has an Indian Princess, ocean, lakes, suspension bridge, dragon, etc. A common theme is Sydney Opera House plus whatever else you think is awesome (unicorns, guys with swords, Big Ben, space). A local theme is the Temple Of The Tooth, the Lake, Sigiriya and other cultural items, all Photoshopped together. It is a wonderful style, one which I have done my own version of, and one which I thought unique. That, until I stumbled upon this site detailing 1990s southern rap covers, which look much the same. They basically think of all the awesome stuff they can and Photoshop it into one image. For example, gold watches, champagne, cars, jeeps and bikes, all on a table or dimensionally obscure platforming. Compelling.

Big Ears is a night of music and poetry and stuff organized by Thriloka. I say better than Open Mic because the crowd is bigger and more inclusive and because there’s more music. I suppose the better word is different, Open Mic was cool while it was. But Big Ears has the added benefit of existing. In fact, it’s tonight at the Arts Campus, 46, Horton Place, Colombo 07 (opposite Asha Central). Starts at six. I highly recommend.

I like MIA’s music, the new single XXXO is pretty good. Her politics are I think worse than wrong headed, they’re spray paint ignorant. There’s very interesting article on her in the New York Times magazine. Her musical progression has been interesting, as is the history, but the best part is the sheer absurdity of some of the quotes, the juxtaposition between here black-and-white, jingoistic politics and the reality of her life. My favorite is the one about the bread rolls.

This sounds weird. It is weird. Whenever I think Sri Lankan news has reached the pinnacle of oddity it goes one further. So, some people threw stones at a TV station for sponsoring an Akon concert. Among the many places Akon has objectified women dancing (not an issue in itself) they happened to appear for about 3 seconds near a Buddha statue. Hence, the violent response. I went to the press conference today and the Media Center For National Security (about as ominous as it sounds) is saying that it was a conflict and the TV employees were also throwing stones. From inside.