A KO deck that isn't running an abundance of KO effects? A Gotham deck with Batman only at the 4-drop? What craziness is this? Let's see how it plays out! Your humble players today are myself (gdaybloke) as Miguel's HK KO, and Spud as Cliff's Knights Errant.

As always, discussion at VSRealms can be found here, and the complete bracket, complete with all decklists, can be found here.

Winning the initiative, Spud opts for Evens.

Turn One:

I recruit bupkiss. Spud, gentleman that he is, recruits diddly squat. How exciting!

HKKO: 50
Knights: 50

Turn Two:

The Doom Patrol is clearly intimidated by the might of the Kree and refusing to come out and play. Spud recruits nothing, while I respond with Roulette... who is, I'll point out, decidedly not Kree.

She does manage to burn for 2 before whacking Spud over the head with her wheel though.

HKKO: 50
Knights: 45

Turn Three:

Ah, here come the Kree. Dylon Cir represent! Not meaning to be taken as anything but fresh, Mento finally comes out to represent the Knights.

Roulette fails to burn this time; Dylon swings through Mento for a dual stun, and Roulette kicks Spud in the shins again.

HKKO: 47
Knights: 38

Turn Four:

Spud laments his hand, with three Bat Signals and nary a Gotham Knight in sight to exhaust for it. He recruits nothing. Nothing! I run a little salt into the wound with Roberto da Costa.

Roulette completely fails to burn again. Mento tries to correct her ways with an assault; she responds by giving him The Evil Eye. Flipping a team-up, Dylon reinforces the little Hellion, and then rather than risk getting Bobby stunned as well as Roulette, I opt to move on to turn 5...

HKKO: 45
Knights: 33

Turn Five:

Firestar burns onto the board, met by the steely gaze of Robotman.

Roulette, true to form, fails to burn as Firestar swings into Mento. On with the chain!

• Robotman activates to get two counters.
• Mento tosses a counter at Firestar to reduce her defense.
• Time for a Freak Out! One of Robotman's counters goes to Mento.

Enraged, Firestar embraces the new Kree ideology of Live Kree Or Die and whacks some extra breakthrough through Mento's head, before detonating for some extra burn

Roberto and Dylon make a move on Robotman, who backhands the little Sunspot in response before being borne down by the awesomeness of the Kreefire Klub.

Ever the opportunist, Roulette pulls out a hose and starts siphoning Robotman's fuel supply with Drain Essence.

HKKO: 45
Knights: 10

Turn Six:

Beast Boy breaks out of his pen, time to get rowdy... maybe Selene can soothe the savage beast boy.

Entering the combat phase, Roulette.... does diddly. Again.

Mento tries to make a move on Roulette, but Roberto somehow exerts Magnetic Force... yet it fizzled. While Mento tries to figure out what the heck just happened, Beast Boy smells Blood In The Dark and steamrolls over Roberto. Selene, just to keep things in check, exerts her own Magnetic Force on Mento.

Now, I had the exact numbers on the board to put Spud at 0 this turn... but a single pump is all if would take to turn that around, and he had a healthy hand, so I erred on the side of caution.

HKKO: 35
Knights: 10

Turn Seven:

Selene picks up the phone, and calls in a favor to Mar-Vell. Spud flashes his substitutiness recruiting a 7-Babs... and then a 7-Babs... and then a 7-Babs. 14 cards in hand going into the combat phase, when...

... Roulette does nothing again.

Selene and Roberto tag team the elephantine Beast Boy; Selene takes the hit back, but her draining of Beast Boy's vitality makes for a net 0 change to HK KO's endurance. Mar-Vell pummels Mento into the ground, followed by Roulette swinging to Spud's face.

Dylon Cir opts to hold off attacking, in case he's needed to reinforce a wheelchair assault from 7-Babs into Roulette.

Instead, Barbara smells some blood in the dark herself and, combined with the resources of Gotham Central, rolls her wheelchair most viciously over Roberto's toes.

Final score:
HK KO: 20
Knights: -12

A fun game, but missing the three of the first four drops pretty much put the Knights on the backburner. HK KO moves on to round two.

Mento is just a light extension on Firefox that you can share your links with your network friends there. Yes another Web 2.0 social tool,It's  been over a month I started useing it, It's just piece of a cake and now you can attach a screen-shot to your shared link. Join and see how easy you take screen shot with this little lovely extension.

From friends and family,
From email many, reduced to stages,
From channels with sites well annotated,

To me and ratings back,
To stay in touch - simple for me to do,
To keep sharing fun stuff with those I trust.

Siguen las buenas noticias. Concierto en el monte se enorgullece de presentar como invitado especial a Mr. Swing & the Bongo Clan. Nacen a principios de 1998, en la ciudad musical de Venezuela, Barquisimeto, tomando como base musical el SKA-JAZZ, el cual es un estilo que va desde las bases de la música jamaiquina como lo es el reggae, el ska, el mento y el rocksteady, entrelazándose al mismo tiempo con la sonoridad y libertad del jazz. La banda va desde las raíces del ska tradicional y clásico, profundizándose sobre las bases del jazz en una onda más Instrumental. Es considerada como una de las mejores bandas y más representativa del SKA-JAZZ en Latinoamérica, obteniendo una gran aceptación por parte del público nacional y extranjero. “Mr. Swing” ha tocado y compartido escena con la mayoría de las bandas más importantes de la movida musical venezolana. Entre los conciertos más resaltantes en los que han participado estan: 2 tributos a Bob Marley; Social Latín Club 1, 2 y 3; I Festival Movilnet; X Festival Internacional de la Oralidad; I Festival latinoamericano de Música Urbana; 1er Ska Party 2004 Tributo a Skatalites; Ferias de Barquisimeto, SKANKIN’ en la Concha, en donde alternaron con los padres del SKA “SKATALITES”, además en su trayectoria han logrado tocar en una buena cantidad de locales nocturnos en varias ciudades del país. En Diciembre del 2004 dos integrantes de la banda, Cesar Salas (trombón) y Andrés Mendoza (saxo), se van a países diferentes (España y USA respectivamente), a trabajar y estudiar música gracias a una oportunidad única en la vida para cada uno de ellos, les deseamos la mejor de las suertes! “Mr. Swing”, sale en busca de dos buenos músicos para tapar ese hueco que dejaron Cesar y Andrés al irse, y es así como entran a la banda el Sr. Obeed Rodríguez, trombonista profesional de gran trayectoria, al mismo tiempo que entra el Sr. Donny Vargas, para hacerse cargo del saxo alto. A mediados del 2006 entra una nueva integrante a la banda, “La Beba” a hacerse cargo de otra trompeta para darle un nuevo color al sonido de “Mr. Swing”. “Mr. Swing” tiene un disco de 7 temas “in one session” grabado en vivo, los primeros 4 temas son grabado en una sola sesión (de allí el nombre del disco) en el estudio “SONOGRABA” de Barquisimeto, y los 3 últimos en un concierto que dieron en “TOMA UNO PUB”; como referencias de este disco destacan “Andrés suelto en Hollywood” y “Swing Town”, además en la actualidad tienen un single promocional llamado “El Bar” un ska swing incluido en lo que será el 1er disco oficial de la banda. “Mr. Swing”, ha sido incluido en varios compilados Nacionales e Internacionales, en los que destacan el “SKUNK DISKAK VOL.2 INTERNATIONAL REGGAEMARTXASKA” (España), el “SKA BOX 2” (Colombia), en el “VENEZUELA SKA 2”, en el “BANANA FANZINE 5” el cual es el fanzine hablado en ingles más importante de toda Europa (República Checa), también aparecerán en el compilado “RESTO POLLO RICO 3” (Francia), y en otros compilados internacionales.

The panels were really outstanding and brought together a BUNCH of people doing really interesting work on all facets of Jamaica's music (folks like Herbie Miller, Lara Elizabeth Putnam, Louis Chude-Sokei, Marvin Sterling, Klive Walker, Amon Saba Saakana [aka Sebastian Clarke to reggae fans], Dennis Howard, Michael Veal, Carter Van Pelt and Clinton Hutton among many, many more). Roger Steffens did a few really interesting presentations about his work, as well. Complementing the academic work was a series of concerts. Lunchtime events included performances by the Alpha Boys Band, the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari, the Blue Glaze Mento Band (it's leader and banjoist Nelson Chambers is shown below, left) and a kumina group led by the fantastic young drummer and singer, Bongo Shem (below, right):

Para los que no me conocen, me presento! Soy Gabriela Reyna, me crie en Wilde (Avellaneda), una localidad ubicada a 20 minutos de la Capital Federal de Argentina y vivi alli 24 años… Ahora, ya hace 4 años q estoy viviendo en la Capital Federal, acostumbrandome a la jungla de cemento!
Soy amante de la musica Reggae y todos los subgeneros jamaiquinos, y durante estos ultimos años tambien le abri mi corazoncito a la musica Soul…
Ya hace 10 años que soy vegetariana, y para los que no crean que existen vegetarianos en Argentina, les puedo decir que realmente lo disfruto y es un verdadero placer para mi!!!
Los invito a que conozcan mi blog!
Positive Vibrations!!!
One God, One Aim, One Destiny!!

Mettendo insieme una raccolta di miei versi mi è capitata sott'occhio questa poesia dall'incontenibile attualità. Quando la scrissi un paio d'anni fa non pensavo né a quelle rosse, né a quelle bianche, tantomeno al rimpasto di italia, forza, libertà e popolo... semplicemente mi tuffavo nel piacere e nel trambusto di farle.

Cambiano il nome alle cose. Danno nuovi significati alle cose. E se le cose cambiano e non ce ne  rendiamo conto crediamo di farne una ed invece ne facciamo un'altra. E su questo l'armata del Male dispiega le sue forze più subdole.

Questi brevi versi sono un omaggio a tutte quelle cose che riusciremo a fare conservandole così, intatte, come sono.

Cose

Capitiam per caso

a volte siam robe

altre, volte, siam spose

altre, volte.

Cose, solo cose

per mani laboriose

per teste pensose

mai pose

forse rose.

Grazie un’altra dose

mi son perso, troppe cose…

Arcano Pennazzi - Mi cascano Poesie che non trattengo - Editrice "non c'è ancora..."

Tentativi di golpe casalinghi a parte, c'è il fido-fidanzato che mi gironzola per casa senza meta: un pò si mette a poltrire sul sofà davanti ad una replica di Doctor House ma, ritenendola troppo impegnativa vista l'attività cerebrale necessaria a comprendere le battute dello zoppo, decide di traslocare sulla LUXURY MASSAGE CHAIR e lì, tra un massaggio alla scapola sinistra e uno alla chiappa destra, si fa un bel sonnellino, il piccolino, ninna nanna ninna oh, questo orsacchiotto sovrappeso a chi lo do...

Dopo un pò lo persuado, con insulti di gravità crescente, che sarebbe auspicabile passare il pomeriggio a far qualcosa di costruttivo, piuttosto che continuare a russare a cappella e quindi si decide, sempre DEMOCRATICAMENTE, di mettersi ad impastare qualcosa in cucina, unico veto: niente giochetti erotici con la farina, che poi tocca sempre a me pulire...

Così, mentre io mi dedico amorevolmente a far l'impasto per una focaccia con le olive nere, vedo il fido-fidanzato mischiare improbabili ingredienti in una terrina e frullarli con il mini-piner (niente frusta elettrica, è un alternativo recidivo, il fido-fidanzato...). Non dico niente, tanto so già che continuerebbe a far di testa sua, la bestiolina, e continuo ad impastare con fare da panettiera veterana: un pò di rosmarino, un pò di origano, peperoncino, erba cipollina...pronta! Anche la poltiglia del mio creativissimo fiancè è pronta: la versa dentro uno stampo da plum-cake e la inforniamo con la focaccia, impazienti di vederli gonfiare e profumare l'aria. Problema: la poltiglia prima gorgoglia ed esce fuori dallo stampo, friggendo sulle pareti del forno, poi implode vergognosamente e si riduce ad un cracker molliccio  che puzza di uovo. Una umiliazione troppo grande, per un uomo che gode della fama di ottimo cuoco - e se ne vanta...

Dopo cena ci ritroviamo a sorbirci in stato di semi-incoscienza una puntata di Ballarò. Cirruzzo sì e addormentato sulla Magic Massage Chair. Sembra quasi un angioletto: così pacioccone, così biondo...parvenza istantaneamente svanita, quando lo sveglio per portarlo a letto e bestemmia contro il mio bacio della buonanotte: incompreso amor di sorella maggiore!

Posseduta da un inattesa ispirazione creativa, prendo fogli e pastelli e propongo al fido-fidanzato di ritrarci a vicenda. Lui accetta entusiasata, e dopo poco comprendo perchè. Schizzo il mio progetto "come io ti vedo": il suo occhio azzurrino prende la forma di una luna piena, le sue labbra sono una barca in alto mare, il suo naso è una vetta da cui osservare una nuova visuale, il suo dito indica una direzione, la nostra...scrivo una sdolcinatissima dedica e gli mostro la mia opera. Lui fa altrettanto con la sua. Solo che il ritratto del mio visino consta di un ammasso di ricci marroncini da cui sporgono un naso e un mento neo-futuristi. E nell'angolo destro in fondo al foglio c'è una freccia nera che mi indica e una scritta: YOU (H)ARE HERE.

Grazie, amore, ora io so cosa rappresento per te. GAME OVER!

[dailymotion id=12x6bSM2C1JevjyIf]

WOW is this record good.  It was good when it came out in 1975, and this reissue does NOTHING to hurt its reputation or sound.  If'n you like the dub music, then this is a must MUST have.  Featuring Tommy McCook and King Tubby, better dub you would be hard pressed to find.

In addition to some awesome music, the liner notes are by David Katz, an author whose writing I am always a fan of.  His work is just so filled with tid bits of great information.  For example, he wrote: "In 1954, Tommy travelled with guitarist Ernest Ranglin and other Jamaican musicians to Nassau, capital city of the Bahamas island chain, for an extended engagement at a club called Zanzibar.  When the Zanzibar gig ended the following year, Tommy drifted through various dance bands active on the tourist circuit, where he was frustrated by the emphbasis on calypso and rumba; no one, it seemed, was there to hear jazz, which was all that McCook was motivated to play."

I think Katz is right - no one was there to hear jazz (I mean, wasn't that one of the reasons Joe Harriott left Jamaica for England in the early 1950s?).  But I would argue that another factor that gave rise to McCook's problems in the Bahamas was that the Jamaican musicians working there in the period Katz describes were not members of the Bahamas Musicians Union.  In the mid-1950s, Bahamian musicians become vocal about their belief that the Jamaican musicians working in tourism - of which there were many - were taking away jobs. (How many sax players were there who could compete with Tommy McCook?)  In 1955, around the time McCook's engagement at Zanzibar "ended," the Bahamian Musicians Union clamped down on Jamaican musicians working in clubs like Zanzibar.  In fact, period newspaper coverage specifically lists McCook as one of several "offending" musicians.  Shortly after the fracas, many musicians (including McCook) returned to Jamaica where, as Katz so accurately put it, they "drifted" through the tourist circuit - playing calypso, rumba and the occasional mento on bandstands for tourists.  The rest, as they say, is history.  If McCook had been allowed to stay in Bahamas, we might not have had a Skatalites.  Or the Dub Station album.

By the way, those looking for a great book on dub music need look no further than Michael Veal's Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae.

It's a fabulous book that's just come out on the subject and one that any dub mixer should read.  (By the way, party people, Dub is a Weapon - fresh from a tour backing Lee Perry - is having their album release party this Saturday [June 30] at Zebulon, 258 Wythe in Williamsburg.  Go.  Enjoy.  It'll be awesome.)

dtn

One afternoon in late 2002 (November?), while I was living in Jamaica doing fieldwork on mento for my dissertation, I bumped into Colby Graham at the National Library's circulation desk.  I don't exactly remember why we started talking - maybe someone suggested we compare notes? - but I'm sure glad we did.  Colby was there that day doing some research for his magazine Vintage Boss. I'd not seen Vintage Boss before (it first appeared in May 2002 and the earliest issues were snatched up quickly by the Kingston cognoscenti), but I was struck by the work Colby was doing.  Not only was he searching down and writing about some of the most talked about and often least acknowledged people in Jamaican music history (particularly from the ska, rocksteady and reggae eras), but he seemed to be constanly scouring newspapers and photo archives in search of images that could help him chronicle and reclaim facets of Jamaica's music history from obscurity.

Much of what he's found (and continues to uncover) is astonishing, and some of it is now up on the Vintage Boss blog.  For those that grew up in Jamaica, Colby's work helps enliven the musical past.  For fans of Jamaican music around the world, his work helps contextualize - indeed, helps put faces to - the seemingly innumerable and often anonymous vintage records widely available from stores in the US, stores in Japan, and from vendors on the internet and on eBay.  I understand that there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 issues (many on their way) and a dozen interview DVDs.  These should all be more widely available in the coming months - if memory serves, I think he got a distribution deal - but if you just can't wait, back issues are sometimes available through Ernie B's.

Point is, I haven't come across many talking about Vintage Boss and this is a shame, so I want to get the word out.  In my opinion, it provides some of the finest coverage of early Jamaican music and should be required reading by anyone interested in its history.

dtn

The Beat included a couple photos in the piece, but here are a couple more that don't appear there. The first is of Stanley rehearsing with the Blue Glaze Mento Band. Stanley's the one on the far right in a baseball cap

The next is one of Alerth from when we first met in person. The photo was taken at his house and, as you might have guessed, I took the picture while he was singing.

(I took both of these photos and "borrowed" them from my own rarely updated website.)

Shifting gears from Jamaica to Trinidad (and it is a shift because I'm of the opinion that mento and calypso have little to do with one another, in general), I've been listening to an amazing box set of Trinidadian calypsos from the Bear Family company called West Indian Rhythm.

This set is unbelievable. Its 10 beautifully remastered CDs feature almost every single recording Decca Records made in Trinidad between 1938 and 1940 (talk about complete...it's missing only one record - an acetate - because there is no extant copy). On this set are not just calypsos, no no; it includes recordings of non-calypso topical songs, of dance bands, of Shango and Shouter Baptist hymns, of carnival chants, and of stick-fighter songs. It is really something to hear.

It's something to read as well. Included in the box is a glossy, meticulously researched hardcover book of liner notes with essays from Don Hill, Hollis "Chalkdust" Liverpool, John Cowley, Lise Winder, Dick Spottswood, Denis Malins-Smith and Richard Noblett (a name that should be familiar to those interested in recordings of Caribbean music). If only every reissue came with a book so well done....

My point is this: were there ever a collection of Trinidadian calypso music to be considered a "must have," this is it. If you love calypso and can afford to (I have to warn, it's kind of pricey), there is ABSOLUTELY no way you will be disappointed. Click here for more info.

(An aside: anthropologist Don Hill hipped me to this set, a gesture for which I'll be eternally grateful. Don is the consummate calypso scholar; his expertise in this area is well documented, and he's got the seminal book to prove it.)

I should also add that for those interested in calypso, clicking here will take you to a great online exhibit that compliments this set of recordings. Some of the same people responsible for this great set of CDs were involved in that website's production; on it, there's lots of goodies to see, so have a look and enjoy.

dtn

è il finale di Liar dei Queen. perchè sono un bugiardo!
spesso faccio lo scemo, bullandomi del fatto che noi uomini sappiamo mentire bene e bla bla bla. in generale dico un sacco di cazzate.
ma neanche una settimana fa ho detto una bugia gigante; tuttora mi sto comportando in maniera mendace.

ho mentito ma non le chiederò scusa.
ho mentito per il suo bene.
ho mentito un po' anche per il mio, dai... ammettilo...
ho mentito a una persona che mi conosce (o dovrebbe...) molto bene e, a quanto pare, l'ha bevuta al primo colpo.

(poi io ho bevuto tutto venerdì sera perchè ne avevo bisogno - una sorta di espiazione. ma questa è un'altra storia. sappiate solo che se uno parte con l'idea secca di ubriacarsi vuol dire che ha un problema e non che spera di divertirsi.)

comunque, dicevamo della menzogna: non è che mi senta pulito, ma che fare? è stata la cosa giusta da fare. per fortuna non devo modificare il mio comportamento tutti i giorni, ma molto meno; è una gran vantaggio, così la coscienza riusciamo a farla tacere per un po'.
almeno quando guardo allo specchio non distolgo lo sguardo - ho ancora il coraggio di guardarmi in faccia.

Wow, I mean just wow. That is the word that sums up this issue, wow. This was a very emotional read...so many great moments. Teen Titans is the best series that DC is putting out right now and I think everyone should be reading it. I feel like anything I say about this issue will be an understatement. It is just that good. The ending was kinda shocking but not unlikely, lots of people come together in the face of trajedy. I just hope to god it does not become a regular thing. I loved the scenes where the members talk to Cyborg and basically all of the other scenes in this issue too!

Teen Titans (Volume 3) #38
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Carlos Ferreria

That one page where they listed all the members of the Teen Titans in the last year with their picture, that got me so excited! I can not wait to meet each and everyone of them. This book is really making the most out of the one year gap. I love the rivalry between Wonder Girl and Ravager. The team's roster is now Wonder Girl, Robin, Cyborg, Ravager, and Kid Devil. I imagine that more members will join up as this storyline unfolds.

Teen Titans (Volume 3) #39
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Tony Daniel

I think I drooled a little bit while reading this. It was just that good. I love Miss Martian, I hope she joins the Titans full time. I hope she is not the traiter. Zatara is a brat but I still like him, don't know why. Bombshell, I don't like. She seems like such a bitch. I hope Ravager isn't the traiter. I have loved her in this book so far.

Teen Titans (Volume 3) #40
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Tony Daniel

I sure as hell am glad that Miss Martian nor Ravager is the traitor, but it the one character I hated, Bombshell! The Teen Titans kick her ass this issue too. I look forward to seeing Jericho back on the team and back alive. He may have a terrible costume, but he is a great character. Now that I think about it, the Titans seem to be always searching for Raven. Someone should tell her this time not to run off again. Great Issue. Can't wait for the next!

I really loved this issue. It single handedly got me looking for old Doom Patrol issues. This was a team I could care less about before and now I am fascinated with them. Thank you, Geoff! There were so many great moments in this issue I was drooling. The chief is a weird son of a bitch, Vox is an improvement of the Mal Duncan character, Bumblebee is as cool as ever, Negative Man (not Hush my bad) and Robotman are back as well as Elasti-Girl who has been "regrown" by the chief. Tony Daniel is quickly becoming my current favorite artist. And Geoff Johns remains as my all time favorite writer. Even with an entire superhero team guest starring in this issue, Geoff still manages to make it about the titans. We learn a secret about Kid Devil which shocked me. In about three issues I already care about the character and I wonder why he made up all the calls from Blue Devil. Geoff even manages to make me like the Brain and Monsier Mallah, I never thought that would happen. Great Issue!