Let the Rhythm Hit'em

Shopping in the Chinese mega-market on Broadway is one of the more, shall we say, interesting experiences in Elmhurst. I was there earlier buying some unsweetened soy milk (I take care of my body, you know--ha!), but decided to walk around to see if any other products were worth buying. Oh my, you bet there were! Among the usual products one would expect to see in an Asian market (dried noodles, quail eggs), I came across some decidedly more adventurous offerings: spicy bamboo shoots, black chicken (I've never seen something so strange in my life), and much to my surprise, live frogs (on sale at $4.49 per pound). I had the urge to pick one of them up, but decided against it. I might return later this week to give them names; the frog at the top of the heap looked like a "Harry."

Anyhow, I did not make any particularly brave choices, and stuck to my soy milk. But, along with that bottle of soy milk, I bought a package of vegetable spring rolls, the label of which reads like so:

No need to defrost. After the oil turns hot, fry until the bread turns golden brown. It taste good.

It taste good, indeed.

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I can't believe that I've been walking around without knowing of the existence of what doctors call a "didelphic uterus." How is it possible to be this uninformed?

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Eric B & Rakim's "Don't Sweat the Technique" sounds as fresh and alive as when it was first released in 1992. The track is, without question, a classic of hip-hop: it is sample-heavy, and loaded with Rakim's smooth vocal delivery. (One wonders how this usually rhythmic genre could have shifted, in the span of about fifteen years, from being filled with beats to one that is nearly minimalist [refer to Southern hip-hop for a bit of what I mean] in its construction.)

And speaking of music, the GMC Single of the Week is Interpol's "The Heinrich Maneuver." The track is classic Interpol; those fans who are looking for experimentation and change are advised to look elsewhere. However, the song (from the forthcoming Our Love to Admire, the band's first for Capitol) has a lot going for it, given that it has an incredibly propulsive beat and lyrics that actually make sense ("today my heart swings," for example, as opposed to "you wear those shoes like a dove").

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Like I used to say, at the end of my radio show, until next time, be safe...

Race Carded

Last night, after Gregory's fantastic reading for EARSHOT at the Lucky Cat, Laura casually mentioned that I was "too ethnic for Williamsburg." The young poetess is right, of course; I am of foreign extraction (a big holla to all my brown peoples), and nobody would ever confuse me for a hipster (tight jeans and a single tattoo notwithstanding). Anyway, her comment reminded me of a game that my little brother and I like to play whenever we attend indie-rock shows in the city: Find the Minority.

"How does one play Find the Minority, Danny," you must all be asking yourselves. Well, dear friends, it's all pretty simple: Just find someone whose coloration and hair texture suggests that the person you have spotted has inherited genes from a much lighter pool. "That game sounds like fun, Danny, but how does one win," you question. Again, it's pretty easy. Just refer to the following points system, which can be printed out for your convenience (and hidden in the pocket of your multi-colored thrift-store shirt):

Blacks = 5 points
Latinos = 3 points
Asians = 1 point
Whites with Dreadlocks = -5 points

At a recent Black Dice show (in January at the Bowery Ballroom), I scored a total of five points (two Asians plus one Latino). I probably would have scored more, but couldn't tell the ethnicity of Black Dice's former drummer, Hiram (whose skintone approximates that of export-grade cocoa), who was spotted near the front of the stage prior to the beginning of the gig.

What are your experiences at New York City rock shows? Have you ever been referred to as a "Mexican" by white punks at a Bad Religion show?

Discuss.