Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Last week I received a package of goodies from my favorite reggae label, the Kent, England-based Pressure Sounds. They make T-shirts, too, and the one I got features the likeness of Joe Higgs. I have a rule about not wearing a band's shirt unless I've seen them in concert. Luckily, I got to see the man walk onstage years ago during a Lee “Scratch” Perry show…. Higgs gave Bob Marley his first guitar and served as Jimmy Cliff's bandleader, in addition to making some blue-collar and well-crafted early reggae and roots music on his own. Listen to “Life of Contradiction” here. Below, postcards promoting Santic. Nice. Leonard “Santic” Chin was one of the guys I interviewed way back in Giant Robot 37 for the section on Chinese-Jamaican record producers. He really explored and expanded on the funk and soul aspects of rocksteady, and was no slouch when it came to dub, either. Of course, Pressure Sounds' new release of A Harder Shade of Black is incredible. Who do I know that is cool enough to get one of these in the mail? Listen for yourself. If you really dig it, maybe I'll send one to you.
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Due to players hitting the road, guys being relocated, and perhaps even the NBA Finals, the GR softball team was short some players on Thursday night so I was asked to be a sub. It's been a while since I was asked to not bring money for next season, but I'm not big on grudges. Making the appearance even cooler, big-time pitcher PK came out of retirement to take the mound, so I was tucked away in right field against a team of pull-hitting sluggers. Not that I was avoiding the ball; I tried to position myself to back up 1B and 2B on every play. Left to right, the four GR pitchers together for the first time in ages: me (self-taught, highly unorthodox, really taxing delivery that sometimes works pretty well), Bill (current pitcher who split hurling duties with me during the first seasons including one collaborative shutout), Sean (ringer who joined GR early on because he liked the mostly undersized and Asian team's gutty attitude and backup junk-ball pitcher), PK (the high-arc master from the splinter B team). GR lost, which never feels good, but it was nice to be part of the team again and I hit pretty well. See you on the field next time the usuals can't make it.
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R.I.P. John Wooden. I got to meet Coach when I was a student at UCLA, and he was as down-to-earth and engaging as everyone says… Too good to be real.
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A while back, my friend Thy gave me a children's book called That's Why We Don't Eat Meat. She thought it might be a cool book for me (as a person who doesn't eat meat) to read to my daughter Eloise, and it is. While there are some scary moments involving factory farms, the main way author/artist Ruby Roth explains why vegans and vegetarians eat the way they do is to help foster compassion for livestock. She not only compares farm animals to pets, but shows them to be members of their own families, and illustrates how they share feelings and needs with humans. Yes, it shows the ecological benefits of eating low on the food chain, too. The verbiage is a little wordy for my two-year-old, although she likes the pictures. However, her six-year-old cousin was quite stricken by it. Check out Ruby and her book for yourself at http://www.wedonteatanimals.com/.
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We love Dehara and Yoko, and they love the Lakers. It's been a full-on love fest as we visited Staples Center (the site of last night's dismantling of the Celtics) before preparation began for tomorrow night's Dehara art show at GR2. Are you ready for the Jizo? Are you ready for Kobe to get his fifth ring? Ready or not, here they come…
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