MisterBryans

Sports Quote Of The Week

Can you imagine anything worse than dying and coming back as David Beckham's ligaments?

Cathal Kelly Toronto Star

Attention Facebookers!!

Bee, Sophie (especially you Soph) you guys are gonna love this.

Just click on this link and follow Gaston's directions. You will get a new and way improved view of your Facebook friends.

Key is to get yourself on the page that shows all the Friends. Then find the 'Online Now' words in the Show drop down menu and click on the mysterious ---- just below 'Online Now'.

Cool eh?

Tonight at Lula Lounge

It being the last long weekend of the summer, Lula is offering it's tradional Friday-night-$5.00-bucks-off-the-cover deal. And since it's me and Black Market in the house, it could be worth your while.

All you gotta do is email them at guestlist@lula.ca and then show up before 10pm.

If Benny Moré Were Alive He Would Be 88 Years Old

The upcoming show with Hilario Duran and Pedrito Calvo at Lula Lounge (September 30th) is more than just a one-off between two greats of the Cuban music business. Aside from performing the Van Van material that Pedrito Calvo helped make famous, the two will be doing a number of songs from the legendary Benny Moré, the idea being that this could serve as the basis for a more theatrical, soft-seater type presentation that could tour across the country.

Co-incidentally,(but then again, there is no such thing as a co-incidence is there?) Benny Moré's birthday was on August 24th, and Encuentros has compiled four songs from 'El Benny' preserved via YouTube for your viewing pleasure.

I'm still waiting to see this movie, which considering the amount of discusión that surrounds 'El Cantante', would make for an interesting comparison.

Speaking of Unlocked Cellphones

In order to avoid horrendous roaming charges, (something that I learned on my ill-fated trip to Miami this year) I have to 'unlock' my Nokia E62, something that is a simple procedure for many phones but not so this one. (To unlock a phone is to make it compatible with any service provider.)

I talked to one technician yesterday who said that he has done it, but it was an 'iffy' procedure in that you had three chances to send the right code to unlock the phone -and if that failed, the E62 was then 'hardlocked', meaning permanently on the FIDO network.

Does anyone know about this kind of geeky cellphone stuff? Or knows someone who knows about this kind of geeky cellphone stuff? I have a little time to figure it out before I go to Spain (Oct 25), but i would like to get this done. I'm on the FIDO network.

I love my phone:)

Unlocked iPhones Comin' Atcha

From Bits and Bites Blog

Cellphone reseller Puremobile, which has offices in southern Alberta, has partnered with 17-year-old iPhone hacker George Hotz to unlock the phone so it works on the Rogers Wireless and Fido cellular networks. Mr. Hotz, who became an international superstar after releasing a “how-to” guide for hacking the iphone from his Glen Rock, New Jersey home last week, confirmed he is working with the company on his blog. “I will be doing consulting work for … Puremobile in the the little bit of free time I have,” he wrote on Monday.

Hey, i have Fido.

Piloto!!

It's pretty confirmed now that Giraldo Piloto, one of the most legendary figures in all of Cuban timba, is coming to Toronto for two nights at Lula Lounge Nov 16 and 17.

Budgetary considerations are preventing him from bringing the whole Klimax orchestra, so I'm unclear what format he will roll out, but still, two nights at Lula Lounge with the 'Picasso of timba' (my expression) will be a memorable week-end indeed.

Let's see now, Pedrito Calvo, Yoruba Andabo, Buena Fe, La Charanga Habanera and then Giraldo Piloto......all in the space of six weeks....I'd say we are starting to get this Cuban music thing damn well organized.

Here's a bio of Piloto fyi

And I'm singing

yo tengo un jueguito que te va gustar
te meto en el cuarto
te quito la ropa, y te hago cosquillas

Un juegito de manos
e' rompezon de cuna...
un juegito de manos.

nueve nueve seis seis,  seis seis nueve nueve........

Two Years Ago

New Orleans 01/09/05

Two Years Later

Where is the U.S. government's participation in the rebuilding?

And why are volunteers practically the only ones working to reconstruct homes in communities that may never again have sewage service, garbage collection or electricity?

Eventually, the volunteers' altruism turns to bewilderment and finally to outrage. They've been hoodwinked. The stalled recovery can't be blamed on bureaucratic inertia or red tape alone. Many volunteers come to understand what I've concluded is the heartless reality: The Bush administration actually wants these neighborhoods below sea level to die on the vine.

from an article by Douglas Brinkley/Professor/Rice University

Incidentally, has anyone heard any news about Ned Sublette's project to write about the music of New Orleans?

Time To Go Back To The Record Stores

from CBC.ca

CDs are about to become a lot cheaper with an announcement by music retailer HMV that it is cutting prices.

On back catalogues from popular artists like The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Bob Marley, Metallica and U2, the cuts could be high as $10 per CD.

Effective immediately, prices will drop an average of 20 per cent, with some titles reduced as much as 33 per cent, HMV reported in a press release.

The article contains the usual quote  from the head of the association that represents multi-national record companies (CRIA) blaming file sharing for the drop in demand for the CD  - but most of us in the real world see the iPOD and iTunes (not P2P) as the ultimate CD killer.The iPOD gave the consumer the choice of how to listen to music (individuals tracks or whole CD's) and the consumers chose individual tracks,. And then iTunes came along and made buying music cheap and legal, at a $1.00 song.

Personally,I think to be able to buy classic music like Bob Marley or the Beatles etc at $12 or 13.00 per CD is a good deal, and may well attract a certain customer back into the record stores.

Georges Khayat's Yoruba Andabo Flyer

with Cristian Munoz's Photography... a wicked combination.

Click to Enlarge