You Can't Make Mistakes.

What’s in your ears?

I have noticed recently, as I ride the Metro nearly every day now, that people in Cairo are walking around with earphones in, listening to their iPods. This was not the case for a long time, even recently. I would often get on the Metro and have people look at me like I had just landed because I had earphones in my ears.

I suppose that I should also qualify this by reporting that it is indeed remarkably dangerous to wear earphones while walking around this city. It probably increases my risk of being run over by a car considerably. However, I have noticed that those who are relaxed enough to not pay attention to their surroundings here seem to have a very high daily survival rate. So, maybe not.

But I digress…

What I have been interested in recently is what other people are listening to in their earphones. I love having a soundtrack for the city. It makes me feel like I am a character in a movie. Not an actor playing a character in a movie, or even myself in a movie, but as though I accidentally woke up in a film, and here I am. It’s pretty cool.

Today my soundtrack was Elliot Smith, Joni Mitchell, Mika, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and then Herbie Hancock.

I like to imagine that everyone around me who is walking in time with my music can hear it also: as though they are also characters in the movie. They are better actors than the actor that acts my part, but he tries, I suppose.

I feel like I finally understand people in large cities in the United States. Most are not from there, many have earphones in whenever they are walking around. It helps to makes me feel as though I fully belong in the environment which surrounds me. I wonder if that is what the Chicagoans and New Yorkers feel like as well?

Does anyone else have a personal soundtrack? What is the credits music for your film?

Would it be so bad?

As we sit here in the Second Cup listening, ironically, to a late-nineties remix of a song entitled “Silence,” I can’t help but muse: “Would actual silence be that bad?”

It’s like there is a disease these days which makes it physically uncomfortable to sit quietly—or speak to each other in a civil way—to the point that we will listen to endless hours of the same terrible music. I thought this same thing last night as I sat at the BCA and listened to Money for Nothing (Dire Straits, 1985) for the fifteenth time of evening. It’s for some new music everywhere in Cairo. I don’t mind listening to Dire Straits once in a while. I don’t mind listening to anything once in a while, but I have low tolerance for listening to the same thing—especially if is is crap—over and over again. Whereas, everyone here—especially the expat—seems to have a high tolerance for such musical assault.

Perhaps I will start a foundation to bring new music to Cairo. I’ll get to that right after I start the “Fund to Build Footbridges over Gameat al-Dawwal al-Arabiya Street.”

Update:

As if to ice the cake, My Humps (Black Eyed Peas, 2005) just came on. Score one for Egypt.

That might have been a little provocative for a headline

So, I am sitting in a foreign-chain-franchise coffee shop right now checking my e-mail and the theme-song from “Shaft” came on. It was remixed with Arabic-sounding instruments and—oh yes— sung in Arabic. Fantastic.

I will take this any day, since the musical fare in these places is usually a heinous mix of ocarina-infused, elevator-style covers of American songs from 1980-1992 played on a loop, punctuated by the live instrumental version of “Hotel California.” Seriously. Awful.

What is with the ocarina? Worst. Instrument. Ever.

Shameless plug to follow.

You can also listen live through the magic of the internet by going to WBEZ.org.

If you haven’t been paying attention up until now, you had better start.

So this is not the post that I promised. The Friday feature is still in development phase and since I am putting the finishing touches on a paper right now, it wasn’t going to happen this weekend.

However, I am pleased to report, that my dear friend Scott Masson and the band Office are now on MTV.

That, ladies and gents, is a big leap forward for these guys. They were bound to make it, and now they are doing so.

You can see their progress by clicking on this link.

If you haven’t purchased their record, A Night at the Ritz, you can do so by clicking here.

And, if you are really up for some fun: watch the “Oh My” video on YouTube, or right here:

You can also learn more about OFFICE at their website: www.reachoffice.net.

Thanks for enjoying this along with me. I couldn’t be more proud of these folks. Raise your glass to them. Cheers.

A shameless promotional spot for a dear friend

I don’t usually write about music or movies or anything like that, but in this case I am happy to make an exception.

The up-and-coming band OFFICE has just released a new record. A Night at the Ritz sort of a wonderful review with a new spin and some new material for those of us who have known these guys for a while. I say up-and-coming, but for so many of us, this band has been a part of our regular musical landscape for years and years. This record, though, represents the best of the best from these folks. Though, we still haven’t heard my favorite song of Scott’s on a record. Maybe someday, eh Skottie? It was nice to hear “The Red and Green Bastards” and have it dedicated to me at an event that I helped to throw this past summer at which Scott and drummer extraordinaire, Erica Corniel graced us with their presence for a two-man show.

If you haven’t already bought this record, you can do so at Amazon.com by clicking here.

I’ve known Scott Masson, the bald genius behind OFFICE for a long time now. I love this guy. He is talented as all get out, has a huge heart, and never forgets about the people who love him. If anyone deserves musical fame and fortune, it’s this guy.

Let’s not forget about those around him though. Scott has always been wonderful about choosing brilliant people to work with. The crew that he has going right now is by far the best incarnation of OFFICE to date. I had the great fortune of playing in one of the first incarnations of the band: a twisted little experiment that was a load of fun. Where else would I have ever gotten the chance to play both the accordion badly and the saxophone.

Scott and OFFICE have come a long way since then, and I hope only the best for them from here on out. You can listen to samples of their music on their website and I encourage you to buy the new record, A Night at the Ritz. You won’t be sorry.