Thursday, June 14, 2007

Bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra,


Bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra,
Originally uploaded by absxml.

These amazing pictures illustrate the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Iraq. So far, I haven't heard anyone claim responsibility for this atrocity. The madness of this war, or is it wars now, continues unabated.

I remember visiting a mosque in Touba, Senegal. This was a desparately poor area, but the people had spared no expense in building there mosque. As this is a major shrine, there much be even more reverence and feeling for this mosque. I can't imagine Muslims blowing up each other's mosques, even given the rivalry between the sects.

Thanks to the photographer, absxml on Flickr, for these pictures.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Great Old Time Folk Music


While visiting my hometown, Lewiston ME, two a week ago I attended a concert at St. Patrick's church. Then Neighbor to Neighbor concert benefited several food charities in the area. It featured a 100 voice chorus from the First Universalist Church in Rockland. Led by the super-dynamic Mimi Bornstein, the group did a great job on many spiritual and fold tunes. They got the audience involved, clapping and singing along.

The guest artist was James Durst, a traditional folk singer for all ages. He does a lot of tunes from the Weavers and leads a tribute group called Work of the Weavers. The image is from his latest CD: Internationally Unknown. I really liked his version of El Condor Pasa, a traditional Peruvian tune that Paul Simon made famous. Durst added his own words in Spanish.

St. Patrick's is a great venue for a concert. There is something in the acoustics of the old churches that really works great for voices. The concert was recorded and will be out on CD in a few weeks.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Whad' Ya Know at Penn State

I love the Whad' Ya Know Show with Michael Feldman. How he can do so much from such minimal material is amazing. I would definitely like to attend a live show some day. Unfortunately, out local station, WITF, broadcasts the show a day late. This link from the PSU news department also has a picture gallery. I have my own image of what a show is like. I guess it's similar.