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Friday, 2PM - Left for a 90 minute drive to Manhattan that actually took 3 hours. Oh well, I love Manhattan, totally worth it. Went to my friend Carmine's place, hung out with him and my friend Melissa from Pittsburgh, aka Istanburgh. Did some jamming on the saz, learned some new songs. Awesome. Went to an Afghani restaurant, great food, slow service, extremely hot dippy stuff for the bread. Painful.

Friday, 10PM - Went to Lafayette Grill to see some bellydancing and this incredibl... read more

I brought my doumbek into work so I could go to a rehearsal tonight. So I'm sitting in my cube as my lunch break draws near and I feel the sunshine and the drum calling me. I took a walk to Rittenhouse Square with my drum and saw a guy sitting by the fountain singing and playing guitar. So I introduce myself and start playing along, following whatever he was playing. Among other things he played "Can't Stand Losing You" by Sting and "The Girl from Ipanema" We rocked the park.

Yeah, ... read more

I got my Cumbus Saz, complete with extra strings and a bunch of picks. It sounds and looks awesome. I've been playing around with some songs and I'm making progress with Uskadara, Fire Dance and another one I don't know the name of. I still call it the Kirsten solo song, it goes "d-d-dee, d-d-dee, dee dee dee dee...." and so forth. Those are technical terms, you wouldn't understand.

I'm very excited to enter the world of middle eastern melody. Maqamworld.com is one of the most user-... read more

The Mahira Tribe Hafla was awesome! The house was packed to fire-code capacity, all the performances were incredible, and I got to rock the hizzy as part of the house band! Highlights included:

- Drum workshops with Carmine, learned some new "rock star" tricks. My slap is coming along slowly but surely...but slowly, grumble, grumble...

- A near-complete reunion of the old Alia Saleem advanced class. Kirsten, you were missed. Kim did this CRAZY brazilian sort of mardi gras thing to "Rio"... read more