Walking in my shoes

Lots of people would have loved to walk in my shoes Thursday May 18^th… at Depeche Mode’s Toronto date of Touring the Angel 2005/2006 world tour.

I got the tickets a few minutes after it went on sale sometime on March, excited to see DM live… But to my big disappointment, when we were there, I realized that we had the crappiest seats ever: located on the side, at the same level as the stage, 3 rows from top. We could only see one side of the stage and therefore miss all the lights and video effects… Damn it.

There were a few empty spots in the Air Canada Center, so we were hunting for empty seats where we would sneak at the beginning of the concert… but then during the opening act, we decided to go right away to an empty section facing the stage, stay there and try to negotiate with the usher if he spots us. Ain’t got nothing to loose, let’s go…

We sit there as if we were in our seats… Everything goes smooth until an old usher, apparently of a higher rank starts talking to the ushers around the section we sat in, pointing at us and the few people sitting there. What’s going on !??

guess what…

We were kindly asked to move… DOWN TO THE FIRST ROW of the lower bowl, straight from the highest point in the arena to the lowest… No wayyy. Two sections strangely remained empty, so we were asked if we wanted to go there. You must be kidding me, of course, we do. We were still a bit far from the stage but WHO CARES !??? We were facing the stage and close enough to perfectly enjoy the show… EXCITING.

The crowd was very diverse, gray haired people to youngsters, this band has been around since the late 70s and they are still in very good shape, no matter what your age is, you will be rocked tonight.

Lights off, let the show begin…

The show starts with “Give me a pain that I am used to” introduced by very cool lights effects… The sound was perfect, the beats were so heavy that you couldn’t stay still, you had to move…

The set list was a mix of songs from the last album “playing the angel” like Give me a pain that I am used to, John the revelator, Suffer well, Precious and older big hits like Behind the wheel, Personal Jesus, Walking in my shoes, I feel you, Enjoy the silence...

The set list was really cool and the video effects changed with every song, the best intro was the one for I feel you… it was AWESOME !!!!! Dave Gahan is such a show man, he has the power to galvanize the crowd whenever he wanted… people were going crazy at each of his moves…it was really fun to be there

However, I left the show a bit disappointed. We were not full and didn’t have enough of the show. We were really enjoying it when they just left the stage after “Enjoy the silence” (a hint) to return for a very poor 3 songs encore: “shake the disease” performed by Martin Gore ballade style, photographic and then “Never let me down again” that I like a lot but it wasn’t enough to end the show. They just saluted us and left. The crowd was still there, asking for another encore for a couple of minutes until they turned on the lights... Everybody thought they will come back… they didn’t !!!!

We left the show with a taste of unfinished pleasure… There wasn’t that extra bonding with the crowd that makes shows memorable. They barely talked outside of the songs, the only things they said were the “thank yous” and the Dave Gahan’s signature “sing it” and “Come on”… They were just doing their job after all…

Some extra spices were missing, but the show was really good…

Vows are spoken
To be broken
Feelings are intense
Words are trivial
Pleasures remain
So does the pain
Words are meaningless
And forgettable

Enjoy the Silence
A.

Thursday may 18^th 2006, Toronto Air Canada Centre

Intro, A Pain That I'm Used To, A Question Of Time, Suffer Well, Precious, Walking In My Shoes, Stripped, Home, Judas, In Your Room, Nothing's Impossible, John The Revelator, I Feel You, Behind The Wheel, World In My Eyes, Personal Jesus, Enjoy The Silence
Encore
Shake The Disease, Photographic, Never Let Me Down Again

Peace and food... Part II

It seems that I was wrong in my previous post Peace and food: Apparently our culinary traditions and cultural similiarities are not that peaceful after all; tensions are arising between Greek Cypriots and Turkish about who does the Baklava belong to… is it my post that created this conflict !??? :)

According to the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet (thanks a lot Jo for the link):

Baklava tension increases; protests planned for Istanbul

"Turkish baklava producers are protesting Greek Cypriot claims that the sweet dessert is their own national creation, with support for their protest coming from State Minister and EU Chief Negotiator Ali Babacan in the EU General Secretariat. Plans for a press conference are underway for later today, and tomorrow a march in which banners proclaiming "Baklava is Turkish, we will not allow the Greek Cypriots to feed it to the world" are held is planned for Istanbul. The owner of renowned baklava producer "Haci Sayid Baklava," Halil Dincerler, had this comment on the situation: "Baklava is Turkish, what the Greek Cypriots are presenting is just a copy. We will go all the way to Brussels, and we will let the EU ministers taste real baklava."

Another comment on the international food fight was made by the President of the Baklava and Dessert Producers Foundation, Mehmet Yildirim. He said that it was time for Turkey to stand up and claim its national treasures, and recalled that the Turks had brought baklava with them all the way from Central Asia. Yildirim also said that there were documents which proved that baklava belonged rightfully to the Turks." Hurriyet

The Baklava war I started, what will be next !? kebab world war II, ozu / raki peace talks, turkish/greek/Arab coffee armed conflicts... !?

Good luck people
A.

I wish I was…

When I was in the member committee of AIESEC Tunisia, I once designed a leadership session in 2 parts for the Tunisian Leadership development Seminar. The first part was a “personal objectives” session and the second was a leadership session. The aim was to encourage AIESEC members to define their objectives in life and set their personal vision, as a first step in becoming a positive agent of change and a leader.

I am particularly proud of this session as it is an eye opening experience. A large portion of people don’t take time to think about their long term future before taking very important decisions such as choosing a degree, a university, a career, a place to settle down… The feedback from the delegates was exciting; they said it was an inspiring experience.

I started the session with Pearl Jam’s song “Wishlist” , I love this song with all its “I wish I was…” The song was complemented by a power point presentation with the song lyrics and visuals so the delegates can get the whole meaning of the lyrics (considering English is only the third language learnt in school and not that practiced in Tunisia).

Then 3 questions, one at a time. Asking the delegates to describe their life in 20 years… what they have to go through in those 20 years to get to that situation… then what they have to do now to start making their vision of their future real. They were given 15 minutes to think about each question. I was playing Pink Floyd songs while they were spread all over the plenary. In the beginning a few delegates were fooling around, thinking it was absolute bullshit… it was fun to see them submerge slowly slowly in their thoughts as the session went on… I was enjoying it.

When I did it myself, I was picturing myself at 40 years old surrounded by a beautiful family. I was successful in my career and preparing to retire in order to open a small restaurant and start writing. My ultimate goal in life is to write, I think it is the most beautiful thing: creation.

My immediate goal was to focus on a business career, thinking it was the right way to go to ensure a decent life. I had to go against what I was really interested in: literature but mainly history and geopolitics as their path was leading no where back home. As teaching or academic oriented jobs are not paid well, even after many years of studies and research… I know something about it.

So I preferred the more secure way… I don’t regret it cause’ it shaped my path so far and I could have all these experiences, meet AIESEC and learn so much about life, cultures and myself.

But what If I was in another place, another time… what would I wish to be!?

I wish I was a teacher… to help build the future generations…
I wish I was a poet… to spread love around me…
I wish I was a guitar player… to sublime people’s minds…
I wish I was a movie director… a writer… a novelist… to inspire people…
I wish I was a radio DJ… to share my love for music

…

I wish I was a neutron bomb, for once I could go off…
I wish I was a sacrifice, but somehow still lived on…
I wish I was the evidence, I wish I was the grounds…
I wish I was a messenger and all the news was good…
I wish I was the verb 'to trust' and never let you down…
I wish...
I wish...


A.

Living with war

“You can't get away from the topic of immigration nowadays. Here comes aging falsetto folk-rock singer Neil Young with a ditty in which he urges us to impeach President Bush. Sample: "Let's impeach the president for lying, / And leading our country into war; / Abusing all the power that we gave him, / And shipping all our money out the door . . ." You get the idea.

What's this got to do with immigration? Well, Neil Young is not a U.S. citizen. He's Canadian. He can't even vote. He's been in America for 40 years, and has never bothered to take out citizenship. And this interloper from the land of moose and Mounties is telling us to impeach our president! For goodness' sake. If it's not Mexican fence-jumpers trying to dictate legislation to us, it's fur trappers from the wilds of Ontario insulting our head of state. America's business is everyone's business, it seems.”

National Review
May 5, 2006
The Week
by the Editors

This hate sentiment towards Neil Young is the result of his last album "living with war" where he heavily criticizes Georges Bush, eaven calling for his impeachment.

This article perfectly echoes the neo conservator’s ideology: Xenophobic, racist and hegemonic. I liked how “the editors” described their two neighbors: Mexican fence jumpers and fur trappers from the land of moose and Mounties.

Well, indeed, America’s business is everyone’s business as long as this administration controls other countries and regions politics. The way the USA is governed clearly affects the whole world, since this administration appointed itself as the world’s police and sole governor.

Neil young, Born and raised Canadian lived 40 years in the U.S. Americans should be proud of Neil’s patriotic feelings towards the country he adopted. Instead he is kindly invited to watch and shut up:

On Fox News, host Mike Gallagher complained, "Neil Young is rich and famous because the country he's trashing made him so. Wouldn't his words carry a little more clout if he bothered to become a citizen of the country that made him rich and famous?"

Another Fox commentator, John Gibson, accused Young of disrespecting the memory of 9/11. Gibson suggested the singer take in a screening of United 93, not realizing, apparently, that Young paid tribute to the victims of that flight with his 2002 song, "Let's Roll." Toronto Star

But old Neil doesn’t really care about cons critics and it’s not really his habit to shut up. He is famous for his politically charged lyrics and his anti war activism: This is not the first time Young has disturbed the waters politically. "Ohio," a response to the killing by National Guardsmen of four Vietnam War protestors at Kent State University in 1970, was a hit for Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young that has endured as an anti-war anthem. Toronto Star

"I was waiting for someone to come along, some young singer 18 to 22 years old, to write these songs and stand up," Young told The Los Angeles Times. "I waited a long time. Then I decided that maybe the generation that has to do this is still the Sixties generation."

It is sad to hear Neil Young say that, as if the sixties generation is the only one that kept its mind free and lucid to fight for its right to express different opinions and not be submerged by main stream opinions. In this case: support our troops, support the war and if you speak against it then you’re not patriotic and do better shut up.

It is not completely true though, a few artists spoke up: Green day’s American Idiot, Pearl Jam’s world wide suicide, Life wasted, Army reserve are songs against the war in their just released album. While Ben Harper’s “Black rain” is a severe critic of the Bush administration management of Katherina’s aftermath while focusing on the war instead. A few spoke up, but not enough…

I still can’t understand how Georges W Bush got reelected, while clearly lying and misleading Americans to war on false reasons: Saddam Hussein’s Weapons of mass destruction, his ties to Al Qaeda, to 9/11 and sending troops to free the people of Irak. Intelligence reports can’t be blamed, cause’ it is clear as water that everything was planned. W is even still carrying these arguments in his speeches.

I am wondering what the quartet Bush family – Cheney – Rumsfled – Wolfowitz is preparing next. Did you hear W suggesting Jeb Bush to run for the next elections, saying he would be an excellent president!???

Everyone, not only Americans, should stick with Neil young’s plea:

"Don't need/No more lies"
"Don't need/No more lies"
"Don't need/No more lies"
"Don't need/No more lies"
"Don't need/No more lies"

A.

Given to fly

In 2001, a friend of mine from Turkey told me that he saw Pearl Jam live in Istanbul… That day, I felt so jealous, why not me!? The only big concerts I saw were Sting, Michael Jackson and… Eros Ramazotti… Pathetic

Same goes for you Angie, with all the concerts you went to: I saw Manu chao last week, oh I saw U2 yesterday and next week it’s the Roling Stones… oh I have tickets for Depeche Mode but I don’t wanna go… Grrrrrrrrrr

Yesterday the curse was broken… I saw Pearl Jam live at the Air Canada Center, home of the Toronto Raptors and the Maple leafs… and it was absolutely GREAT.

Opening starts at 7.30p.m by “My morning Jacket”, good band but the sound was so fuzzy and squeaky. I was like “NO f**ing way, that’s the sound at the ACC !?? Is it gonna be this way during PJ’s concert!???”

They play for half an hour, then lights on again, to let my fellow concert mates empty the arena to go buy their beers, pop corn, hot dogs and other Pearl Jam’s goodies at - the not so expensive after all – 30 to 50$ for a tee-shirt, 15$ for the night program and 10$ for a poster…

8.30, the crowd start cheering and calling the band out, the arena didn’t get full until that time, I was there since 7.15 pm… oups. Lights off, unleash the beast, let the show begin. The fun starts with an awesome kick off with “Severed Hand” …

As soon as they played the first note, the fans (in a synchronized move) took their lighters out. Not to accompany the song, but to light their smokes and perfume the air with an... “herbal” scent.

The atmosphere was great, the sound was great and the crowd in a total communion with the band. One of the great moments of the concert, was Eddie Vedder playing the intro of “Better Man” alone on stage with the crowd singing along, then “She lies and says she's in love with him, can't find a better man...” and the band jumps in to rock the house.

My seat was a bit far from the stage, I enjoyed it from there until the adventurous in me took the power and I sneaked out after the first set to get closer… I got very close to the stage, until an asshole usher asks me”where is your seat buddy!?” who cares where is my seat, are you in an opera show dude!? Hello, it’s a rock concert, since I am not bothering anybody and I didn’t jump any fence, leave me alone. He insists, he doesn’t even let me take a picture… so I gotta go back the stairs, but hey I found an empty seat a couple of rows up, asked about it, no body was sitting there, BINGO.

So the whole show was awesome, a nice mix of new songs from their just released album and older ones… even though I think they played too many songs from “Ten”. I particularly enjoyed “Given to fly”, “Garden, “Inside Job”, “Alive”… For me, the best moments of the concert were “Better man”, “Sad” and Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the free world” (I told you it was a great version by Pearl Jam).

I would have loved to see them play one of my all time favorites “rearview mirror” and two great songs from their album lost dogs “Alone” and “Hold on”. “Lost dogs” is a remarkable collection of unreleased songs, but unfortunately didn’t get the attention that it deserves; they only played “sad” from it.

You could feel they wanted to please their fans. BUT, what’s going on with those super expensive goodies? and the bootlegs of every show available to download for money. Where are the good old days when they were fighting Ticketmaster to reduce the concert prices?

But it is all good, I had a great night. They played for 2h30 almost non stop. They only took two short breaks after the first set and the first encore. The band was very cheerful and Eddie was toasting to the crowd with his bottle of wine. When they returned back to the stage for the second Encore, Eddie goes “People told us you shouldn’t play that long, you are playing tomorrow… I don’t care about tomorrow; I just wanna have fun tonight”.

I had fun too, thanks guys... That night, I was “A human being that was given to fly”

A.


2006-05-09 Toronto Ontario Air Canada Centre

Set 1 Severed Hand, World Wide Suicide, Life Wasted, Marker In The Sand, Given To Fly, Better Man, Even Flow, Unemployable, Garden, Sad, Corduroy, Present Tense, Daughter, Grievance, Not For You, Inside Job, Why Go
Encore 1 Do The Evolution, Jeremy, Come Back, Alive
Encore 2 Porch, Rockin' In The Free World, Yellow Ledbetter

I love this game

Fans will immediately recognize the NBA slogan, and remember the mid 90s “I love this game” NBA campaign. Well indeed, I do love this game.

Yesterday I couldn’t go to bed, even though I was extremely tired. I couldn’t sleep thinking that game 6 of the Phoenix Suns – L.A Lakers series was on air at that time. I went to bed at halftime, thinking reasonably that I should get some decent sleep after a tiring week so I can wake up fresh and go to work. The sand man didn’t come; I think he was in the Staples Center watching the game.

I love when the game goes beyond sports, when it involves passion, excitement and the players drop their “blasé” attitude and show their human side. Yesterday it was a game between humility, team spirit and sportsmanship VS egocentricity, narcissism and selfishness. It was the game of Phoenix against Kobe.

I am not summarizing the Lakers to Kobe like TV commentators and Lakers fans do, the team has great players that are full of qualities like Lamar Odom or Luke Walton who are great team players, but in this team it is indeed all about Kobe and therefore it is Kobe against Phoenix.

Yesterday was game 6 of the series in L.A’s Staples Center. The Lakers leading 3-2 after they stole game 4 with a buzzer beater by Kobe and two fumbles in crucial times by the (to be named) back to back MVP Steve Nash. It was a WIN or GO HOME game.

To add to the drama, Raja Bell, Phoenix’s defender on Kobe committed a flagrant foul on him and got ejected and suspended for game 6. Of course Kobe didn’t miss the chance to humiliate Raja, saying “I don’t know the kid, do you think I care about this kid!?” KID!??? F***ing cocky bastard. The referees don’t pay much attention to his dirty elbows thrown at R.Bell and yesterday at Leandro Barbosa, why does he get away with it!? Coz he is a star !?

Anyways, yesterday was a very tight game, Kobe was unstoppable (50 pts) while Phoenix didn’t look very inspired. Shawn Marion was invisible, as he was for all this series, weird after his monster season. Boris Diaw and Tim Thomas were quiet, and it was all about Steve Nash, Phoenix can’t win if they play this way. The only way Phoenix can win is to score, they need everybody to score starting by “the matrix” Marion.

So much drama, Phoenix is behind by 3 with 20 seconds to go, Nash spinning around with the ball with no open shot position, the suns start to panic when they miraculously find Tim Thomas for the three pointer… a beautiful fake sends Kwame Brown in the air, T.T calmly sends his missile BOUM, BUCKET, NOTHING BUT NET.

Tied at 107 with 3 seconds to go, Kobe gets the ball with Marion on him and Nash double teaming, takes the shot…. Ohhhh… aiiiiiiiiir balllllllllllllllllll.

Overtime… Diaw finally takes advantage of his match up against Smush Parker, the Suns finally run the ball, 9 pts advantage. Game over !? nooooo. Kobe scores two downtown three pointers (dunno how he gets them in). Nash gets fouled at every possession and doesn’t tremble; he makes all his free throws to send everybody back to Arizona for game 7…

“We did it for Raja” said Nash at the post game interview.

2 great games in 2 nights, the previous night I was jumping in the living room wearing a Lebron James jersey (a Reebok replica that I got at Kensington Market for 13$) when he scored his overtime buzzer beater lay up against Washington Wizards who played like champions and deserved to win it, led by a “stop me if you can” Gilbert Arenas.

I am excited like a kid again, when I was spending my late nights (consider the 6 hrs time difference with Tunisia) watching the Bulls stick together to win their first and second Three peat. I was a Bull in my living room, jumping at Paxson’s and Kerr’s threes to seal championship games.

First thing I did when I came to Canada!? I bought the 90s Dynasty Chicago Bulls DVD set, 4 double faced DVDs filled with documentaries and the essential Bulls games… yay

I really love this game

A.