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Masala Coffee Concert

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  Packed two hour performance. Two lead vocalists, the drummer, the group lead were very impressive.  Drums were kept inside a transparent acrylic wall. The purpose is to prevent the drums' sound from leaking into the vocal mikes and overpowering the show. Sound quality is the goal. Sound isolation.  Drums was very impressive. From the perspective that there are enough singers in my friends' circles, drums stood out as something not easy to replicate.  Vocalists are the heart of the show. Instrumentalists do not come anywhere near the vocalists from the perspective of the impact they are producing on stage. So, if singing is your passion, then there is no reason to dissipate your focus.  A good percentage of the audience are here to support the group. People are not here because they are fans. They are here because they want to support a group of passionate musicians who have chosen this path of music for their livelihood, and that alignment in love for music is...
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Cape Verde vs Argentina

Second goal from Cape Verde was brilliant. Loved the way Cape Verde played.  Nice confidence. Level headed play.  I found myself vouching for them even when I am a Messi fan. These games basically reveal who you are.
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Bergman and Lynch

 I had just finished the series "Twin Peaks - Return". Stylish. David Lynch writes up his fantasies, and films it exactly as he sees it. Beautiful models, surreal situations, state of the art technology.  Switched to Bergman. The idea was to watch movies which do not have the backing of the crazy technical support that current movies have.  Just finished "Crisis" - black and white movie, made in the 50s. Excellent dialogues and narrations. Very very impressive.  The depth of the characters, and how they talk. Pure poetry in the conversations.  Dissections into psyches. Those movies have to impress with way less access to "gimmick"s.  Even while I am a big fan of Lynch, Bergman has already surpassed him even while the viewings were in the morning,  partially distracted.
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Math Genius

Thoroughly enjoyed the acoustics at IPAC event yesterday. Girish had introduced me to audiophile hobby. He had played a sample piece and asked me to observe where the violinist is, where the piano man is. That precision was there in the acoustics experience. Usually, the portion between vocals sits in my head as "background music". Instead, the instrument discernment was immediate. I could see the dark brown spectacles of the clean shaven senior violinist. The play of the beats dancing on both sides. It is no longer "background music". Jamms had sung "Thookki" from Vaazha 2. The raw confidence of the sisters! Sisters sang as two overlapping lines, and then suddenly one sound starts waving while the first one continues.  Expertise. Saw the same video on whatsapp. The magic at the hall is not there in the video.  At the mixer, I saw all kinds of graphs, and a plethora of controls, and terminologies. As the song was playing, he is continually clicking around,...
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Mike time

  Singing is an introspective activity. You lose yourself in the lyrics, in the emotions, in the notes, in the nuances, in the orchestration, in the story. Select songs that resonate with you and immerse.   However, I need an event like the IPAC singing event yesterday for me to zero in on a song, and put in concerted effort into the song.  The event is the catalyst. It gave me the permission to do the song exploration that I wanted to do anyway. I also needed to perform. As the time was ticking, I got worried about whether I will get chance to sing the second song. But if the idea was to do the exploration and immerse yourself into the song, then why does it matter whether I actually sung or not? It is not just the exploration. I wanted to have been able to sing the song including the learnings on the song that I earned through the exploration.  And I would have been disappointed if I missed the chance at the mike.  People have been kind with their gesture...
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Baklava

 It is evening time. No snacks at home. I remembered the Aval that Geethechi had sent across from India on Divya's last visit.  Frozen shredded coconut broke their tight bond in the microwave heat. Jaggery powder. Kattan chaaya from the keurig cup. No sugar in the kattan chaaya. Nostalgia.  Next day, decided to embellish more. Banana got mashed in with the same mix in with raw fingers. On different days, aval-pazham-jaggery-shredded coconut-kattan chaaya served different roles. Some days,  it was the evening tea, other days, it was the dessert after dinner, other days it was breakfast.  Nostalgia charms.
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Omar Sosa - An evening at SFJazz

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 I had recently listened to an ARR interview where he spoke about how India lacks state of the art facilities to have an excellent listening experience.  Jazz has been growing on me slowly. Robert Miles and other nominations that my audiophile hobby brings in.  I have an equally crazy daughter who loves music just as much. I decided that she will enjoy the auditory experience at SFJazz. As an Indian parent in America, I gingerly presented the idea to her and she accepted. Man, parening a teenager in the US is crazy.  AI Drive I had recently listened to Naval's talk on how AI is like a motor cycle for the mind. I have been using AI at work, and have felt it. I could hear the resonances of his talk in my experience. Niya has a negative view of AI, and how the AI is bad, and takes away from the artists.  During the drive, I shared my personal experience of how my day to day work has changed radically. She listened through all that as she had no choice. Once all my ...
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