In this damp air is a Saturday morning
I woke late to the sound of falling rain. It's cold in Istanbul, not a harassing cold, but that nostalgic cold that reminds us of the good parts about winter. It was perfect weather to sit inside and drink coffee.
Last night was a rock concert put on by students from the school, I showed up at the 'Numb' rock bard around six PM to be greeted by many familiar faces urging me to play some music, right then, on stage. I was trembling, but I managed to mangle a few rock songs on an acoustic guitar with the support of a bassist and drummer. Then, to my great relief, the students took the stage! I was expecting much the usual Turkish rock songs I hear at live recitals, but this band was playing Guns and Roses and Metallica songs! The singer had phonetically memorized the songs and had watched enough live performances on video to know some of Axle's knee bends and thrusts and other poses. It was fantastic watching these kids rock, and they had put lots of practice into this event, it seemed a shame they were only playing for thirty people. But that just made me more nostalgic over the olden days of helping the "Beat Officers" with their shows back in Sacramento. Those venues no one seemed to care about, and those long pauses between acts setting up where the cigarette smoke and sweat overrides everything in the room.
The hours the group played at were not ideal hours for the Taksim nightlife, they played until about 9pm, but it was perfect for me and my habit of rising early.
The afternoon is just spreading out and traffic sounds make a steady din outside my open window, the damp air brings in rich earthy smells along with the smell of soaked dogs and cats who shelter behind the apartment building. I just hope my sheets can dry on the line in this air.
Last night was a rock concert put on by students from the school, I showed up at the 'Numb' rock bard around six PM to be greeted by many familiar faces urging me to play some music, right then, on stage. I was trembling, but I managed to mangle a few rock songs on an acoustic guitar with the support of a bassist and drummer. Then, to my great relief, the students took the stage! I was expecting much the usual Turkish rock songs I hear at live recitals, but this band was playing Guns and Roses and Metallica songs! The singer had phonetically memorized the songs and had watched enough live performances on video to know some of Axle's knee bends and thrusts and other poses. It was fantastic watching these kids rock, and they had put lots of practice into this event, it seemed a shame they were only playing for thirty people. But that just made me more nostalgic over the olden days of helping the "Beat Officers" with their shows back in Sacramento. Those venues no one seemed to care about, and those long pauses between acts setting up where the cigarette smoke and sweat overrides everything in the room.
The hours the group played at were not ideal hours for the Taksim nightlife, they played until about 9pm, but it was perfect for me and my habit of rising early.
The afternoon is just spreading out and traffic sounds make a steady din outside my open window, the damp air brings in rich earthy smells along with the smell of soaked dogs and cats who shelter behind the apartment building. I just hope my sheets can dry on the line in this air.
posted by Alex Gray at 15:22
1 Comments:
hmmm, sometimes i have a problem when people with really rich musical traditions in their respective countries produce either awful American teeny bop sounding bubble gum music or bad heavy metal. all composed with back beats that sound like they are from a cheap casio key board. but it seems this kind of music is so popular everywhere these days, even with little overly ambitious rap solos added in. anyway, occasionally there will be something really good, but most of it just seems like globalization of US pop/MTV culture is just screwing up everyone's musical taste. glad that guy did axle so well :)
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