Moleskine Love

While growing up, I was the nerdy little girl who played "office" instead of "house," so it's no surprise that I now make a living playing with paper, bindings, and ink. A stationary store in any country still makes me hyperventilate, and I feel that one can never have too many pens, notebooks or nifty paper products on hand.

One of my all-time favorites: Moleskine notebooks. An utter classic, I'm partial to the small, lined, reporter-style pocket notebook for daily use, but its seems that nearly everyone I've worked with over the years in the design community has their favorite (a sampling in the image above). With an elastic band to keep the book closed, a handy pocket inside the back cover, about 30 perforated pages at the end of the text, a waterproof cover, nice paper quality, AND lines to keep me straight, it's hard to find fault with the perfect notebook.

You can now personalize your Moleskine on both cover and spine with images of your choice via custom laser engraving. Very cool.

Flickr

Check out my Flickr page via the link at right for Hong Kong photos, and others.

House Of Lords

For those of you confused like myself, my college friend Neil down in Houston has some swell posts on his always insightful blog Texas Liberal about who and what superdelegates are. Also interesting is the link he provides to the 2008 Democratic Convention Watch, where a current tally is kept on how each superdelegate plans to vote.

The New Gov

From David Paterson's Wikipedia entry:
Paterson is also a basketball player and an avid fan of the New York Mets, the New York Jets and the New York Knicks. He has been known to call in to WFAN, a major sports talk radio station in New York City.

And from the Saratoga paper:
Governor Paterson’s great grandfather on his mother’s side was a blacksmith. Like many blacks of his era, he worked with horses. He put shoes on them and one of the horses he shod was Upset. Upset delivered Man O’ War his only lifetime defeat, right here in Saratoga, in the Sanford Memorial on August 13, 1919. Upon recognizing the significance of defeating “de mostest hoss that ever wuz”; Upset’s owner, H. P. Whitney staked all of the people responsible for the horse. It was not the usual stake; he bought the trainer, the breeder and three or four stable-hands houses. One such house was for the blacksmith, Patterson’s great-grandfather.

The new house enabled Governor Paterson’s ancestors to move from, “not necessarily squalor, but certainly a giant step forward.” The brownstone was in what is now the Fort Green section of Brooklyn. It is the home where Governor Paterson returned after his birth.

Maybe he'll save OTB.

Dare I Say it?

Maybe it's not spring yet, but it's definitely NOT winter anymore either. At least my crocus don't think so. Things are just starting to peek up in the garden and unfurl their leaves. Me too. As usual, it can't come soon enough, for all better things come with the sun.

Eatin' Out - The Habitat/68/Karczma

Assorted locales in Greenpoint
Bar/nightspot number 13,14, (or is it 15??) in Greenpoint set to open soon on Manhattan btw India and Huron. And yes, Franklin Street is still poised to become "the new Bedford". Looks kind of cool on the inside, and glad they are offering some kind of food that isn't Thai.

Speaking of which, "68" has excellent food. Located at 68 Greenpoint Ave, it has the same owners but a more mature vibe than little sister bar Coco 66/Cheaters. I've eaten there twice in recent weeks and been impressed. Contemporary American, much of the food has a nice, subtle, hot pepper underkick. Goat cheese creme brulee w/beets, and the churros with two dipping sauces for dessert were delicious. And $1 oysters are offered everyday from 5-8.

Karczma is a 6-month old Polish restaurant closer up to Manhattan at 136 Greenpoint Ave. With the same owner as the place with the 2 giant knights outside on Manhattan btw Nassau/Norman, I like this one way better. "Karczma" means old country farmhouse in Polish, and the interior and food reflect this name. With waitresses dressed in traditional Polish frocks, farm-y decor, festive Polish music as the soundtrack, I really like this place. White borscht garnished with bacon and mashed potatoes comes in a bread bowl (LOVE THIS!), and the polish platter tastes as good as the food my Polish aunts made. Actually, better. Cheap, delicious, filling, w/friendly efficient staff makes me a big fan. My new go-to Polish joint.

Scott's Benefit Show

I received a play-by-play of the benefit show for Scott last night at the Highline Ballroom via text from Smitty (THANK YOU!). Sold out, with most people playing 2-3 songs, and a recorded message from Scott was played to the crowd. Very cool that people turned out in full force and raised some cash to help a brother out.

From jambands.com (may I never reference that site again):
Antibalas, Scofield, Medeski, Martin, Krasno, Evans, Laswell, The Duo and Friends Salute Scotty Hard

Last night, a number of musicians with ties to New York’s downtown music scene participated in a benefit for veteran producer Scott Harding, who was partially paralyzed after being sideswiped in a hit and run accident in February. Throughout the night, DJs Olive and Logic entertained the sold out crowd between performances, the latter DJ sporting one of Ropeadope’s new charitable “Hard Ware” t-shirts. Vernon Reid opened the evening’s festivities with a few words about his longtime friend, before joining Logic for a performance that drew in John Medeski and John Scofield for their final number. Their set segued into a short, spirited set reminiscent of MSMW tour that featured Scofield, Medeski, Club d’elf bassist Mike Rivard and Bill Martin. Immediately after, legendary dub producer/bassist Bill Laswell took the stage with a band that featured his Praxis collaborator Bernie Worrell, with whom he recently completed a series of new studio recordings.

Perhaps the evening’s most emotional moment followed, as Brian Harding led Medeski, Michael Blake and others through his brothers arrangement of Duke Ellington’s “Utopia” and offered some words on behalf of his family. Soon after, jazz keyboardist Vijay Iyer won over more than a few new ears, while Sex Mob invited out a number of musicians for its segment, including Blake, Medeski and Logic.

For many, the evening’s highlight was a powerful set featuring members of the extended Soulive and Duo families. First up, Soulive’s Eric Krasno and Neil Evans played a trio set with Krasno’s longtime musical partner Adam Deitch, before handing things over to Joe Russo, Tom Hamilton and Marco Benevento for a take on The Duo’s new song, “Hey Hey Hey.” All six musicians then took the stage together for energetic instrumental Led Zeppelin medley highlighted by “The Ocean.” Finally, an ad hoc version of Antibalas closed things out with the evening’s longest set, with omnipresent saxophonist Cochemea "Cheme" Gastelum, Medeski, Casey Benjamin, John Ellis and others sitting in before the benefit came to a close around 2 AM with a charged version of “Incitement.”

The night also featured some short interludes from the more rock-centric realm: two songs from Kevin Kendrick’s “A Big Yes…and a small no,” which features Kendrick’s former Fat Mama bandmates Joe Russo, Jonathan Goldberger and Jonti Siman and a horn section featuring Gastelum, and a stripped down version of American Babies that found both Russo and Hamilton playing acoustic guitar and Goldberger played pedal steel. Though unable to attend in person, Harding was there in spirit, offering both video and audio messages that confidently declared, “I’m going to beat this thing, so don’t be surprised if you find me standing by the way at a show in the next few months.” In total, the evening raised over $30,000. Please visit www.scottyhardtrust.com for more information on how to donate.

Donations can still be sent to:
The Scotty Hard Trust
c/o Heesok Chang
970 Kent Ave #401
Brooklyn NY 11205

Nice link here to a blog by a guy named hyphen, who put together his own downloadable mix of Scott's work as a tribute.

Unable to attend the benefit show for Scott Harding a.k.a. Scotty Hard in New York tonight, I decided to run a tribute show here myself. I admire the Crooklyn man a lot and love his contributions – as a musician and a producer - to dub, hip hop, drum & bass and New York Jazz. Here is a collection of music and productions he did, compiled in a fast, uncritical way. All the best Scotty. (Read the post below.)

1 Scotty Hard: Holy Dub
2 Scotty Hard: Pockets Fat (ft. Sensational)
3 Leon Lamont: Humanoid
4 Medeski, Martin & Wood : Shacklyn Knights
5 Scotty Hard: Lurking In The Shadows
6 Medeski, Martin & Wood: Start/Stop
7 Scotty Hard: Bubble In The Haze (ft. High Priest & Sayyid)
8 Scotty Hard: Scarab Medley Remix
9 Scotty Hard: Dark Blocks (ft. Sayyid)
10 Leon Lamont: Mockery
11 Medeski, Martin & Wood: In Case The World Changes Its Mind
12 Medeski, Martin & Wood: No Ke Ano Ahiahi
13 Scotty Hard: Who Said What (ft. King Cobra, Watah Mokk, Horus)
14 Scotty Hard: Sensi For Sale (interlude)
15 Scotty Hard: Raw Nerves

Paris, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down

This series of posts on Paris from The Morning News, written by one of their co-editor-in-chiefs are very entertaining. The guy is really good with a turn of phrase. Funny, and sometimes gorgeous stuff.

Surreal

...is speeding into China over the border from Hong Kong, making 3 stops along the way for customs/passport checks and finding yourself jammed in a van with 7 Chinese folks, all loudly talking non-stop on their cellphones while a mix of old (tar paper shacks; people on odd motorized contraptions carrying half their family and 40 pound bags of everything) and new (32 floor towers everywhere) pass by the window. The car is weaving in and out of traffic lanes, crazily honking at anything in our way, while traveling at about 75 mph, and some cars come down the wrong side of the road simply because they missed the turn. As Hong Kong turns into China, driving switches from the left to the right side of the road. I still have no idea how people can make that switch so easily. I'm terrified to drive in left-side driving countries, if only because 22 yr driving habits die hard and I'd go the wrong way straight to my death.

Remind me: How did I get here again?

(Interestingly enough, I can post to my blog, but can't read a single thing on a blogspot.com, or wordpress site from here in China. Today's lesson? One should not take the right to freedom of speech lightly.

Also: there are constant rolling power shortages because of the high demand in this part of the country for juice. We were scheduled to print tonight until 8 pm but have to shut it down 3 hours early, as the plant's backup generator cannot supply enough to support all of the presses. The government apparently calls the plant about 4 hours before this happens to tell them. This must be maddening for scheduling purposes)

Cordero, Not a Nasty Boy but...

It's baseball season again (funny how the winter flies by when you go out of town for a month) and here's a great article on why adding closer Francisco Cordero might make my Redlegs a team to care about again.