spasticrobot

Vive le Tour de France!

It’s that time of the year again. The 2005 Tour de France begins on Saturday and Lance Armstrong will fight for a record breaking 7th Tour victory. Will he do it? That remains to be seen. Will it be exciting to watch? Absolutely! This year’s Tour de France may be more exciting than any other. Here’s why...

Big Chief "Tootie" Montana, R.I.P.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Big Chief "Tootie" Montana, of the Yellow Pocahontas died at the podium of a New Orleans City Council hearing last night. The hearing was about police brutality at this year's St. Joseph's Night celebration, an annual Mardi Gras Indian celebration. It's a terribly sad passing and the whole thing reads like a myth. It's really an amazing story.

Montana, 82, was at the podium, surrounded by more than a dozen other chiefs when he fell silent, then slumped to the floor. As murmurs and prayers began rising from through the standing-room-only crowd, a police captain and bystander worked furiously to revive Montana. He died a short time later at Charity Hospital.

After minutes passed without an ambulance, the crowd quickly sensed the urgency of the situation. But instead of grief or panic, the chiefs and spy boys and flag boys and queens of the assembled tribes launched into a somber rendition of "Indian Red," a slow spiritual song that is a staple at Mardi Gras Indian funerals.

As an ambulance carried Montana away, Thomas offered an impromptu prayer.

"Everybody needs to pray for the chief," Thomas said, his voice trembling. "If we're never together on anything, let us be together in praying for Tootie and his family. . . . Maybe this is the moment that can bring New Orleans together like never before."

Moments after Montana was rushed to Charity, family members, Indians, City Council members and activists gathered on the emergency room entrance ramp. When Montana's death was announced, some people wailed, some wept silently and some began chanting in the peculiar and mystical dialect of the Indians.

Thomas, who had called for the public hearing, began sobbing. "Oh my God, this is my fault," he cried. He was quickly consoled by several members of the Indian community.

It's unbelievable. I'm just so shocked and blown away by this story.

Initial Voodoo Fest Lineup Announced

The initial Voodoo Fest lineup has been announced. So far they've got 51 out of 80 total acts lined up and it's looking pretty good. I'm very excited about:

The Flaming Lips
New York Dolls
LCD Soundsystem
Handsome Boy Modelling School
Brazilian Girls
The Bravery

I'm still holding out for some of my wishlist to come through though. That list includes Beck, M.I.A., M83, Thievery Corp, Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart and Bloc Party. We'll see what happens.

Bicycle Weekend 2005

I spent this past weekend surrounded by bike culture on the Northshore. First up was the Tour de Louisiane Criteriums in downtown Covington where my friends Chris, Sonny and Dave raced in the Cat 5 race. Afterwards we headed down to the Louisiana Bicycle Festival in Abita Springs at the UCM Museum. I love that place and seeing it swarmed with hundreds of custom bike enthusiasts cannot be beaten. I've posted a gallery of photographic evidence for your pleasure.

The Dangerous Sound of Baile Funk

Coke Guns Booty Beats, a thrilling article about baile funk, the deadly sound of Rio's favelas. This passage sounds like something straight out of a William Gibson novel:

Later, Juca introduces Blender to his friend Johnny, who lives in a tiny two-room apartment in a concrete building opposite the carwash. At the top of a narrow, pitch-black staircase, Johnny has built his own studio: a secondhand computer, a microphone and an old speaker. Most baile funk records are initially recorded in places like this. Johnny has taught himself to make crude cut-and-pastes samples using basic pirated software: Songs are constructed like a sequence of jingles, with shouted lyrics above the heavy samba drum sound of the tamborzão.

Sonar

Sonar 2005 kicked off yesterday in lovely Barcelona, ES. I attended in 2001 and it was one of the greatest cultural experiences of my life. This year's lineup is pretty good and some photos are already popping up on Flickr. One of my favorite things about Flickr is the ability to watch big events unfold as they happen, anywhere in the world.

Links of Local Interest

Sunday’s Times Picayune featured a great oral history of Paul Prudhomme. I was too young to have understood the importance of K-Paul’s in the 80’s and it really blows my mind that it was the hottest restaurant in the country then. Equally mind blowing is the fact that before Prudhomme no one was using Tasso, Andouille, or Boudin in the city and that Cajun food in general was frowned upon by New Orleanians. Thank God Paul came along when he did.

The Louisiana Bike Festival is this weekend. So is the Tour de Louisiane. I’ll be attending both with various members of the bike gang.

The folks at Gambit Weekly have redesigned their site. It’s even less usable than their old one.

Reason #1,000,001 that New Yorkers are the luckiest people alive:

This weekend was the 2005 Big Apple BBQ Block Party featuring top BBQ from the top BBQ regions including Texas Hill Country, Memphis, Kansas City and North Carolina. I would love to attend this event and if I had known about it I probably would have planned my annual summer trip for this past weekend.

A note on posting frequency

Sorry about the recent lack of posts. I'm busy improving some things in my life (chiefly my health and fitness) and dealing with a slew of crazy work issues these days. I promise to start posting more regularly when things calm down.

Madrid's Molecular Gastronomy Scene

Here's a great article from Sunday's New York Times on the emerging Molecular Gastronomy scene in Madrid. I want to go to Spain again very badly.