a welcoming rhythm, from Guinea More...

The guy who does repairs for the company I rent my satellite dish from (who's been to our apartment a couple of times, because satellite tv is buggy, especially when you live in a place with half a dozen typhoon hits a summer) told me about a photography studio in the big mall just down the seawall from here. He said they had taken their little girl for her one-year photos (must be a milestone in... More...

Welcome to this month's installment of my drum class! In August, we learned a rhythm from Guinea called Kassa. Kassa is played to encourage farmers, during sowing and again during harvesting. In this clip, the first solo is by Kai, a woman who's a much better player than I am. : ) The second part of the clip contains my attempt. As always, this stuff is incredibly fun to learn and to play, and I r... More...

Yes, folks, I know nobody believed me when I first said it, but my bellydance group is, indeed, seen in a commercial being played on televisions across Okinawa as I write this. Check it out! www.musu-b.com/movies/wmp/dance/300.asx More...

Let’s quit being coy and start dealing with the elephant we’ve all been ignoring as it trashes the living room: Israel is a big fat bully. Technically, most of the blame for the chronic conflict in the middle east belongs to the British. During World War I, the British issued the Balfour Declaration supporting the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Since the international Zionist movemen... More...