First time in 2 weeks I woke up at 9.

I finally used the gift vouchers from the HPS quizzes, Dhaaji made me buy his share of the coupons…so I had 1350 rupees worth of books to choose from, and in the oldest bookshop in Hyd, no less. Neat collection they have, unfortunately not all the salesmen know how to find books. Nothing upsets me more than a bookseller who doesn’t know his own collection.

Anyway, the other guys, arun and anil bought their stuff soon enough; as usual, I had trouble deciding. I mean, I have a lot of things to bear in mind…like – i shouldn’t be buying books that I get for a fraction of the price at 2nd hand stalls. Definitely not books that I would read only once and then forget.

After a long search and agonized decision-making, bought ( no, GOT) three.

Rock: A Rough Guide. Kinda like the Encyclopaedia of Rock stars ( which I already have, but with a lot more writeups, and MORE bands. Goody! )

The Count of Monte Cristo. Wordsworth Edition. I know I have read this a lot of times, and already have a version, but this one is close to my heart. If I get a chance to make a TV serial, the script will be an Indianised version of a classic, this one. :-) It has everything – loads of characters, a LONG timeline, love, betrayal, treasure, adventure, mystery, well-etched villainry….hoo hoo hoo, TRP ratings, here I come.
(afterthought: i hope Ekta Kapoor doesn’t read this and make it herself. Renamed as “Kkissa Kristo Ke Kount Kaa” :-)) )
Anyway, love this book. Good reading. Good fun. So there.
The third one is interesting. It’s part of a 4-volume work called “The Masks of God” by Joseph Campbell. It’s about mythology and the evolution of myths in civilisations….I bought book III – Occidental Mythology. Will get the other ones soon, I hope, if I like this.

More interesting was the list the owner showed me….a list of Wordsworth titles he could order for me. Includes “The Golden Bough”, the definitive book on the occult, and for a paltry 200 bucks. ( i still kick myself for letting it go by even after getting it for 80 bucks once), the Wordsworth book of Classic movies, the Wordsworth book of Sci-Fi….

The best one: he’s holding a book for me, (and I know 2fargon is gonna smile when he reads this )
“A Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Biography”.
I know, I know, sometimes I read trash too.
:-))

The AR Rahman concert at Hyd is on!

14th is the date, and Gachibowli Stadium is the place. Just found out from the organisers that tickets will start selling in 2-3 days, and prices are between 250 and 5000.

Wouldn’t it be great if all of us ( as in, people I know ) could go together??? My blanket mails have already started…

These are the cds that I bought in the past two weeks:

1. Jazz Midnight Moods ( various artists)
2. Jazz Fusion (various artists)
3. Doli Saja Ke Rakhna(ARR)
4. Taal(ARR)
5. One Two Ka Four(ARR)
6. Gaja Gamini(Bhupen Hazarika)
7. The 97 Brit Awards (2 cd set ) (Various)
9. Frontiers: Jazz,Rock and World Music (Various)
10. Sangamam/En Swasa Kartrae (ARR)
11. Daud (ARR)
12. Party Power DJ remixes ( won it in a competition :-) )
13. Confluence – Trilok Gurtu

These are the cds I got written in the past two weeks.
1. Hindustani (ARR)
2. Paul McCartney MTV unplugged – The Authorised Bootleg
3. Rod Stewart – The Best of
4. Kathak – Trilok Gurtu
5. Crazy Saints – Trilok Gurtu
6. Call of the Valley ( Shiv Kumar Sharma)
7. Reo Speedwagon – The Hits
8. Top Gun : the Soundtrack ( various)
9. Musette de Paris – (various)
10. Mrityunjaya – Agni

The ARR albums I have listened to already. Most of the stuff I have written, I have listened to at least once. Paul McCartney was brilliant. So was Kathak. Call of The Valley was boring at times, and really soothing at other points. Rod Stewart is no great shakes, but he has a good voice.

Among the cds I bought, (Party Power doesn’t count, it was lousy, it destroyed the only dance song i like, Christina Aguilera’s “Genie In A Bottle”), Frontiers was COOL! It has the first Trilok Gurtu track I listened to, “Once I Wished A Cherry Tree Upside Down”. (Yeah, that’s the name of the track. )

I remember when the first Times of India ads were coming out about Trilok Gurtu, saying what a cool percussionist he is, and none of us had heard of him back then. His cds used to come out only on German labels, and Times Music released them in India. My first cassette was “The Best of Trilok Gurtu”, with a neat red cover (bought a pirated version in Kathmandu, I was a penniless kid back then, remember?), and “I Wish..” was the first song. Maybe I didn’t appreciate the album too much then, but now it sounds great.

Nostalgia, I think, plays an important role in music-appreciation.
Was smiling all the way on the bus from Pune, with my discman playing the same song over and over again….
The Brit Awards cd has got some gems. Two tracks from the movie “Trainspotting”. A Spice Girls track ( used to be a Spice Girls fan wayyyyyyy back ) Jamiroquai. REM. Kula Shaker. Manic Street Preachers. Oasis….
Am having a great time.
(Satisfied grin)

I hate HMV/RPG/Saregama.

Those buggers have bought out Pyramid Audio, the Madras based company that used to have all the rights to ARR albums….and now, they are SO stingy in bringing out the original movie soundtracks.

I have almost ALL the cassettes. Almost all the mp3s. Now that I am employed and earning my keep, I wanted to do my bit for the economy and buy ORIGINAL cds. This way I get to relieve part of my guilt for having indulged in rampant piracy once upon a time…and also someday I would possess all the rahman albums in all possible audio formats and would sit back with a satisfied grin on my face.

But.

HMV has been massacring the entire idea of a “comprehensive” collection….
For one, they don’t bring out single movie per album cds anymore. (except maybe for ‘Rhythm’, ‘Kandukondein’, ‘Paarthale Paravasam’ and ‘Alaipayuthey ) And they are bringing out a “blockbuster” series, which has two movies per cd, with one or two songs missing from each movie :-((

Yesterday, I bought this Sangamam-En Swasa Kartrae combo, pasrt of this blockbuster series. Ok, so “Allala Kanda” was missing from Sangamam. So was the title song from ESK. Never mind, at least the rest were there. Or so I thought.

Yeah, right! Four of the other songs ended abruptly!!! Mazhai Thuli just chops off at a point, so does Muthal Murai. Margazhi Thingal doesn’t have Unnikrishnan’s final charanam. This sucks!!! What the heck are those corporate bastards at HMV think they are doing?

Well, I found out something the hard way. Piracy still rules! Beware, all ye greedy, money-mongering turds in the Music Industry. You just pissed a valued customer off original cds forever. The only way I am buying original cds from now on is when I get them 2nd hand, or in clearance sales, with 30% discount. And no, it’s not just me. I am telling EVERYONE I know to do the same.

What scares me is not the fact that I can be mean at times. It’s that I know when I am acting mean with somebody, but I continue regardless of what the other person might be feeling….and I try to give myself the excuse that “Hey, it’s just me, I can’t help it.”

I had a real great weekend , and I hope I have a great week ahead. I will not upset anyone, nor will I get heckled by anything anyone has to say.

Should I? Get worried about what other people have to say, that is. If I do, I become dependant. If I don’t, I am self-centred.