Coming back to Life

Been inactive. Lot of Gig reviews coming round the corner. As of now, off to Blizzards of Rock at IIM-A Chaos 2012.

The Power of Vulnerability

On this day… 30 Nov 1996

I appeared on Channel V with Robert Plant

Robert Plant and I had been invited to accept an award from Channel V – India’s premier music channel – and we had won an award for longevity.

The highlight of the show were to be Los Del Rios, whose ‘Macarena’ song was a global hit at the time. Unfortunately at the last minute the duo pulled out of the trip as one of them had developed a sore throat; which was quite ironic considering they were going to mime. As it was, the chief dancer and choreographer of their video was to perform the song on her own. I believe this was the first time Channel V was doing this on an international level and now they had a bit of problem. They approached us to do something and of course we didn’t have any instruments and hadn’t rehearsed. It was suggested that we could mime Rock’n’Roll with Roger Taylor from Queen on drums (who was there to accept an award on behalf of Freddie Mercury) and a bass player from Goa.

We agreed to it and did a quick rehearsal, I felt sorry for Channel V that they’d been let down by the Macarena boys. During the rehearsals the Goan bass player was well behaved but when it came to the show he suddenly developed a dose of Saint Vitus Dance and transformed into Billy Whiz crossed with the Flash. He couldn’t stop moving throughout the song and made it even more of a pantomime than it already was. But hey we did it and it was real good to be part of this special award show which is still being aired today.

-Jimmy Page

The article was original found here

air and light and time and space

“–you know, I’ve either had a family, a job,

something has always been in the

way

but now

I’ve sold my house, I’ve found this

place, a large studio, you should see the space and

the light.

for the first time in my life I’m going to have

a place and the time to

create.”

 

no baby, if you’re going to create

you’re going to create whether you work

16 hours a day in a coal mine

or

you’re going to create in a small room with 3 children

while you’re on

welfare,

you’re going to create with part of your mind and your body blown

away,

you’re going to create blind

crippled

demented,

you’re going to create with a cat crawling up your

back while

the whole city trembles in earthquake, bombardment,

flood and fire.

 

baby, air and light and time and space

have nothing to do with it

and don’t create anything

except maybe a longer life to find

new excuses

for.

 

© Charles Bukowski

anti-feminist humor

How many feminists does it take to change a lightbulb?

Two. One to exclaim that the light-bulb has violated the socket, and the other to secretly wish that she was the socket.

——————————————————————————————————

How many feminists does it take to screw in a light bulb:
12.
One to screw it in,
one to excoriate men for creating the need for illumination,
one to blame men for inventing such a faulty means of illumination,
one to suggest the whole “screwing” bit to be too “rape-like”,
one to deconstruct the lightbulb itself as being phallic,
one to blame men for not changing the bulb,
one to blame men for trying to change the bulb instead of letting a woman do it,
one to blame men for creating a society that discourages women from changing light bulbs,
one to blame men for creating a society where women change too many light bulbs,
one to advocate that lightbulb changers should have wage parity with electricians,
one to alert the media that women are now “out-lightbulbing” men,
one to just sit there taking pictures for her blog for photo-evidence that men are unnecessary.

——————————————————————————————————-

Q-How many feminists does it take to change a lightbulb?
A-None, it’s not the lightbulb that needs changing.

——————————————————————————————————-

How do you make a radical gender feminist disappear?
Expose her to Preparation H.

How do radical gender feminists define “self-fulfilling prophecy”?
As research findings.

How do you uphold a radical gender feminist’s freedom of speech?
By taking your [-brain-] out of her mouth.

——————————————————————————————————-

Q: How many feminist presidential candidates does it take to change a light bulb?
A: It’s going to be dark for the next four years, isn’t it?

Q: How many men does it take to open a beer?
A: None. It should be open when she brings it to you.

Q: How many men does it take to fix a woman’s watch?
A: Why does she need a watch? There’s a clock on the oven!

——————————————————————————————————-

Note: I don’t have anything personal with feminism, but I am certainly against extremists. I after reading several articles and blogs I could conclude that feminism is one of those extreme (not worth) idealism.

I agree to the fact that they stand for is something that needs to be done. A good cause. But I don’t really appreciate their methodology. To be honest 8 women out of 10 who claim to be a feminists are posers.  Remaining 2 are the actual ones who have been the victim of violence and sexual harassment which led them to become a feminist.

More over so-called/self-proclaimed/poser/i-am-different-than-the-others-hence-i-m-a-feminist are apparently ones who failed to have a guy in real life. So all they’ve got left to do is to cook and rest of the time spent over internet, going through blogs and keep on blathering about being feminist. My advice to such females is, get a life-I mean start looking for a guy with a big dick, that’ll suffice your frustration !

condolences !

 

My Ding a Ling

stereotype feminists !!

I’ve been lately reading/over-viewing blogs by Indians. Mostly they’re teenage blathering and about their break-ups and such cliche stuff. Endless poems and songs containing the same stereotype you-broke-my-heart-i-am-so-sad themes. Now talking about Ladies especially.

There are certain bunch of ‘em, who have read books little more than an average person would and have “deep” knowledge about philosophical aspects of “life”. Now there are certain traits that these women/girl (preferred to be called Lady).

1. They would feel very proud to be called feminists.

2. They might claim that they are bi-sexual (or some might even claim to be strictly lesbian). I bet they’ve never had sex in their whole life, nor a lesbian make-out either.

3. They desperately follow “L word” or a TV series that nobody would’ve ever heard of. Also some hollywood actress, preferably famous, who is a lesbian and their wardrobe would be very much influenced by any of the characters of the series FO SHO !

4. They stalk 1000s of facebook profiles and keep and eye on the “books” in the info section. And then would write such books’ and authors’ names in their own profile which are not found in those 1000.

5. Mostly they follow a certain author or a book’s philosophy (which you’ve not ever heard of) and preferably a female author.

6. They would listen to weirdest music and would talk random when discussed their music taste. And it would change so frequently, yet they’d claim themselves as a sensible music lover !!

7. Mostly they’d try to portray themselves as NERDS (as shown in The Big Bang Theory), which I believe they would be, and would claim that they dig guys like sheldon cooper (provided that he should be white by skin, coz apparently there are so many such Indians, which are “non-date-able”) And they would have some mathematician from 16th century, whose theories got proven wrong years later, would be

8. They are bound to have Tumblr and/or deviantArt account in order to remain cool-er than the rest of the world. And they’d befriend with any random “guy” from the last corner of the world, but would never reply to someone from the same ethnicity.

9. Apparently, in real life, she’d not have much friends and failed to date a guy (or failed to be dated) Therefore she would prefer to be called an Individualist.

10. In order to extensive reading, she’d use English which even Brits stopped using after 16th century !

PS- This post is just for fun, I mean no offense to these females. Apparently I dig such women !

Thus spoke Nietzsche

People who are only religious understand even science as a seeking on the part of the religious feeling, just as the deaf-and-dumb do not know what music is if it is not visible movement.”

Neoism + dudeism

Just today I came across an amazing video, named Neo Lebowski.

One thing I want to make clear is that, Neoism, to me, is not the one that wiki says. Neoism to me is my own understanding and interpretation of the matrix and the characters (esp. Neo). Though the video has nothing to do with the either of the philosophies, but since I’ve come across this video, I thought, I read, I tried to connect and I found that in order to become an Ubermensch, nothing can be better than the combination of these two.

Though, It’s pretty hard for me to explain how I interpret Neoism and how I implement or see things accordingly around me. But let me try,

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” – Albert Einstein

“you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else
you were born into bondage.
Born into a prison
that you cannot smell or taste or touch.
A prison for your mind.

Unfortunately,
no one can be told
what the Matrix is.
You have to see it for yourself.”

“You’ve been living in a dream world, Neo.”

If you read these both carefully, you’ll see the connection. The reason why I posted the Einstein quote before matrix quote was to make the matrix quote more clear. Now if the quote from matrix read first and then the Einstein one, it’d give the more clarity about what actually Morpheus meant by that !

Now, on the other hand, Dudeism talks about whole new different approach. Not the opposite though. Dudeism according to wiki,

“The Dudeist belief system is essentially a modernized form of Taoism purged of all of its metaphysical and medical doctrines. Dudeism advocates and encourages the practice of “going with the flow” and “taking it easy” in the face of life’s difficulties, believing that this is the only way to live in harmony with our inner nature and the challenges of interacting with other people. It also aims to assuage feelings of inadequacy that arise in societies which place a heavy emphasis on achievement and personal fortune.Consequently, simple everyday pleasures like bathing, bowling, and hanging out with friends are seen as far preferable to the accumulation of wealth and the liberal spending of money as a means to achieve happiness and spiritual fulfillment.”

Can be explain as, as I found somewhere over the net,

“The core tenets of dudeism are generally pacifism and a sense of humbleness towards one’s achievements. Meaning, one should be happy with their lot in life and should not stress themselves out (be uptight) trying to achieve higher than they are capable. It generally models the “Dude” from the movie “The Big Lebowski” as a Buddha like figure and posits that followers should try to be more like him. I.E., meaning that we should take more pleasure in the simple things in life and try to not resist the flow our lives take.”

Now, when these two are connected with each other. There rises a whole new ideology of living life. Though it’s a bit tough to understand and even tougher to implement.

But then again, the dude abides, man !!

5 Critical Elements Of Your Band Bio

One of the fundamentals of the modern band and band web site is the Band Bio. Many bands struggle to write an effective bio.

 

5 Critical Elements Of Your Band Bio

1. Who Are You?

The most important elements to include are fundamental to any bio. You should include:

• Your band name
• Your location
• Your contact information
• A description of your music
• Your influences

First impressions really, really count. Your bio is often the first impression that people get of your band. Simply put, the first paragraph of your bio is very important.

Your first paragraph has to grab attention and hold it. It has to be interesting, informative and engaging. Don’t make huge claims about how fantastic you are, that sort of bio text does not give a good impression. In fact unrealistic or fantastic claims actually work against you as people often read it as “unrealistic”. Far better to tell them the facts in an interesting way and let them be impressed by that.

2. What is your Band Doing Currently?

You should also include some info on your current band activities. For example do you have a planned tour? Are you releasing a new album? Or busy recording towards a new album? Are you writing new material? You get the idea.

3. Background

If you include any other background information, make sure that it is relevant.

One of the most common mistakes is to include information along the lines of “Rick has been playing violin since he was 4 years old. At 7 he began learning the guitar and performed his first gig at only 9 years old. At 10…”

Uggh…..

Industry pros will just toss your bio in the trash as soon as they stop yawning.

By all means include something about your relevant musical history but be brief, keep it interesting and present it in a way that it doesn’t simply become a list!
4. Highlights and Achievements

You definitely want to list your successes. You may have had your music played on the radio, have collaborated with a musician or music producer, won a battle of the bands or similar competition. Make sure that the most attention grabbing, flattering story about your band is featured in your bio!

5. Your Band in the Press and Media

You can include press quotes in other parts of your bio, for example to help describe your band sound, or the power of your performances, but you should try and include at least one press clip in your bio.

 

General Band Bio Tips

Apart from the critical elements of your bio mentioned above there are some more general things that you should be aware of:

No Typos

If you think that a typo or two would not count against you, think again. A simple rule: NO TYPOS

Honesty

Under no circumstances make up things to enhance your bio. It will be found out, and when it is the consequences are simply that professionals will not work with you and your reputation can quickly be ruined.

I’ll say that again, don’t make stuff up!

Create More Than One Version of Your Band Bio

You should make several versions of your bio so that it suits the purpose and needs of the moment. You should create the following versions:

• Long Bio – 1 full page
• Medium Bio- 3 paragraphs
• Short Bio – 1 paragraph
• Elevator Pitch – Be able to describe your music in 30 seconds, i.e. only a couple of sentences.

The various media outlets, festivals and conferences all have different requirements. Being prepared with different versions to hand means that you can react quickly to opportunities with a minimum of stress. Writing on spec when you are presented with an opportunity will lead to sub-standard pitches, which will do you absolutely no favors.

Keep Your Band Bio Up-to-date!

When you achieve something more, get featured, play a huge gig etc make sure that you add it to your band bio

====================================

This was originally written by my friend and very talented musician John Moxey. You may see the original article HERE

Jennifer Lopez steals bollywood tune?

While surfing channels, I heard this J.Lo song “on the floor” featuring Pitbull. When I heard the tune, I sounded familiar. The tune kept on buzzing all day long and then I suddenly realized, that it’s the tune we’ve been hearing since childhood.

The links below will amuse you !!

the old bollywood song !

 

This is not where it ends, coz when I came to know that it was composed by our own Bappi da !! made me look further and found the original song !! there you go

 

who is John Galt?

It’s been just 4 chapters so far and…

 

The question have already started bugging me !!

 

Who is John Galt !?

yess, Gods visited India in ’72

One afternoon, in the winter of 1972, I got a call

from an excited Ramzan, the owner of Slip Disc, the happening discotheque and live band show place of our time. He told me that Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin were in town and are to visit the Slip Disc and perform that evening so please get there as early as I could. If only you could imagine the excitement and turmoil that took place for the next few hours in the life of this fledging young Rock singer! A hundred telephone calls later I was on my way to distant Colaba from our bungalow in Chembur and reached the Slip Disc to find it almost full. And this was a good four hours before their scheduled arrival! Good news sure travels fast and as we waited for the arrival of our Rock Icons, we prepared for their performance with a last minute check on the music equipment available. Those were the tough days of import control and we had really poor stuff that

was scrounged and smuggled with the help of relatives from abroad and rich benefactors. We were hoping that this would not mar the enthusiasm of the Rock Superstars who were used to the very best!
As the next few hours slowly crawled and H hour arrived, the Slip Disc began to burst at the seams and the crowd was getting difficult to manage, It was weird seeing a discotheque with no music playing, filled to capacity with people just waiting for the stars to arrive and the excitement levels were at danger levels. We received minute-by-minute information about the progress of their arrival from the Taj Mahal Hotel where the duo was staying. Fortunately it was just a hop skip and a jump away and Ramzan was in their room waiting to escort them to his noisy club on Bombay’s waterfront. Just as it seemed that the wait was getting unbearable, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page made their

entrance into the discotheque to the spontaneous applause of their crazy fans myself included.
The next hour was like a blur to me especially after all these years, as just too much seemed to be happening. As Robert and Jimmy were busy signing autographs for the crowd that descended on them, for a brief instance, I could not help but feel a sense of disappointment on seeing my idols in person. I had imagined a very strong male and macho presence especially from the tall Plant and their music exuded such incredible energy, yet both of them were so soft-spoken and almost effeminate in their behavior! Their apparent frail exteriors made me more aware of the thousands of misconceptions that we must have been carrying around with us. Don’t forget we did not have television at that time and we were always craving for information. We only had their music to inspire us and we were using our imagination to carve out the entire personas of our idols!
Soon these thoughts were out of my mind as it was time for the duo to perform. It had been decided that Xerxes Gobhai, the talented bass

ist from the Human Bondage and Jameel Shaikh, the drummer from my band would back them but nobody had any idea what they would perform. There was just no time to get into any details, as anything would do for us music-starved fans and before we knew it, Led Zeppelin, Bombay style were announced to the audience. Jimmy and Plant got into the groove from the word go as they launched into Rock and Roll, the hit from Led Zep 4 and the audience went wild! They followed that with an extended blues where their stay in Bombay seemed to feature a lot. Black Dog followed and before we knew it was all over. They must have been on stage for a maximum of 25 minutes and we savored every second of that. At that time, Led Zeppelin were on top of the charts and it was a great opportunity for us to see at least two of them perform live in Bombay and they were just a few feet away!
In later years, the story of the Plant/Page visit took on an unbelievable aura around it and everybody seemed to have different recollections of that night… myself included. But I guess that is what legends are made of. Today it even seems ridiculous as it to how much hysteria a couple of Rock Stars could generate! Yet this was the barometer with which you could judge the passion with which we loved our music. Please, keep the fire burning and Rock on!

Nandu Bhende

==================================================

That sounds unbelievable. And when I posted this thing on couple of my friend’s fb wall. Replies were “ZOMFG” and “Holyyy..faack”

god belongs to… !!?

V1

up on the misty mountain
I search for my soul
Emotions running free from a fountain
ready for the fall
It’s not hard for a smile to maintain
here comes the sign

Chorus
I have come for you
wake up from the slumber
I’m searching for you
among thy aerial lumbers

V2
Down on the selfish streets
I already did
deafen by high heeled strutting feet
40,000 voltage grid
roaming around for desires to meet
to satisfy the greed

Chorus
I have come for you
wake up from the slumber
I’m searching for you
among thy aerial lumbers

© Prayag Thakkar, 2011

PSLV C16 – successfully launched

It was indeed a goosebumps moment for me today morning. Although it was not the first time to see a launch vehicle going up, but it was all different feeling this time. When i went to ISRO website, I found out some amazing data which I’d like to share.

PSLV-C16, is the eighteenth flight of ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV. In this flight, the standard version of PSLV with six solid strap-on motors is used.

PSLV-C16 will place three satellites with a total payload mass of 1404 kg – RESOURCESAT-2 weighing 1206 kg, the Indo-Russian YOUTHSAT weighing 92 kg and Singapore’s X-SAT weighing 106 kg – into an 822 km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO). PSLV-C16 will be launched from the First Launch Pad (FLP) at Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota.

The major changes made in PSLV since its first launch include changes in strap-on motors ignition sequence, increase in the propellant loading of the first stage and strap-on solid propellant motors as well as the second and fourth stage liquid propellant motors, improvement in the performance of the third stage motor by optimising motor case and enhanced propellant loading and employing a carbon composite payload adapter.

PSLV has also become a more versatile vehicle for launching multiple satellites in polar SSOs as well as Low Earth Orbits (LEO) and Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). With sixteen successful launches, PSLV has emerged as the workhorse launch vehicle of ISRO and is offered for launching satellites for international customers also. During 1994-2010 period, PSLV has launched a total of 44 satellites, of which 25 satellites are from abroad and 19 are Indian satellites.

India Shine !