watutsi

Nisakiman - Thank you for great recollections and especially the photographs.They trigger my own memory to the smells of dust and spices and the pace of life on these narrow streets in Herat and the like. I am amazed at how well you remember everything , my memories seem" out of focus" for the most part.

Danger is something that is now being mentioned.I think the greatest danger in these days was our own naivete.The first time i ever felt threatened was walking toward The Golden Mosque in Mashad {Iran} with an "uncovered " girl.The men were getting increasingly aggressive and eventually physical.and it was down to our complete lack of understanding of where we were and what we were doing.

Another occasion , crossing the border from Iran into Afghanistan, as it was getting dark.The Afghans would not let us continue the relatively short trip to Herat and insisted we eat a meal.We assumed we were being conned into buying a meal but as it transpired they were making sure we did not set off into the darkness alone and were waiting for a number of trucks and cars to do the trip as a convoy.Less likely to be picked off by bandits.

The very rudimentary rooms and guesthouses we stayed in on the trip never had locks on the door that were still in working order and in various countries always when i was travelling with a girlfriend, the door would swing open in the middle of the night and a bunch of men would be staring into the room.This sounds absolutely terrifying now as i recount it but amazingly it never went further than that.They were obviously intrigued at the thought of seeing a foreign girl naked or more.This as an experience just blurred into everything else.We were young and invincible.

Now as i head toward my pension, i'm terrified by the thoughts of so many of the things i did back then, but so glad i can look back on it all with so few regrets.

Has anyone else seen the "No Hippies!" sign at the border when entering Thailand via Malaysia by train? It looks pretty old and lists identifying characteristics of hippies, which may get you denied entry to the kingdom (long hair, beard, sandles etc). So there must have been a lot of hippies arriving at some point, although there were a few hippyish-looking backpackers that day and I never noticed any of them getting turned away.

Great reminiscenes by the way, keep them coming.

Even in the late 60's it was difficult to get into Morocco with long hair.The usual way in was from Spain, across the Straits of Gibralter.You arrived in North Africa but you were still officially in Spain, an enclave called Ceuta.

A bunch of us got on the bus for the short ride through the border into Morocco, not really taking this "long hair rumour "that seriously.At the Moroccan checkpoint armed guards got on the bus and ordered all the western male travellers off, lined us up against a wall and preceded to go down the line yanking at our pathetic attempts to diguise our long hair.They didn't cut our hair but just sent us back where we had come from.The one guy they missed that day had the longest hair of us all,he was Scandinavian, fair skin and long blonde hair well down his back. he had put on a dress and a little mascara and was well on his way to Marrakesh, while the rest of us were still discussing the merits of cutting our hair.

A few years after my trip to India, to escape the civil war in Beirut i ended up in Southern Egypt, got a boat into Sudan at a place called Wadi Halfa and crossed The Nubian Desert to Khartoum, then down to Juba in Southern Sudan. A barge back up the Nile to the Nubian Mountains and across into Ethiopia. This trip made the "hippie trail" feel like a 5 star luxury jaunt

You seem to be lacking 3 crucial characteristics for someone setting off on a creative adventure :

1 self criticism

2 originality

3 a passionate knowledge of the heritage of film making and still photography

The short movie "Dlock" posted is probably similar in budget to your own, but it is using a "film making language ".I can not think of one scene in your movie where you used anything other than the most obvious way of setting your scenes, editing your cuts etc.

Same with your still photography.You obviously have quality cameras and lenses,but it is them that is taking the pictures,not you - 90% of your pictures have no identity of there own, they could have been taken by any of the millions of other people with exactly the same equipment.

I'm assuming you are quite young, and are hopefully at the bottom of a learning curve, but you really must go and learn what makes a good movie or photograph ,and not assume that enthusiasm will get you there.

Gil Scot Herons father played for Celtic, he was the first non white player in Scotland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F_xuIYZwlw

Well i did ask what you thought,although i did not expect to get so many replies from people struggling with a third language.The main coherent objection seems to be racism, that where you come from will some how determine some sort of hierarchical status determined by your country and the forming of ethnic cliques that will work against the outsiders.How pathetic, even for the lowest common denominator element of TV. I am not saying that would be the case but it is typical of the usual knee jerk reaction of the constant nay sayers on this forum

I feel that had this option been there from the beginning,no one would notice it, it would just be another element that helped you understand who you were communicating with.There are fascinating differences in the way english is spoken in "the english speaking countries" and often the humour and irony is better understood if you know where it is coming from.

There are a bunch of high volume posters who all seem to know each other and where they all come from but that leaves out 90% of TV.

congratulations tutsi

in the spirit of all "best of" award shows shouldn"t we also have a "worst of" poll, like "worst dressed" etc

It is a line from Wilson Pickets 1966 classic "Land of a Thousand Dances". He actually says "do the Watusi" but i heard it as Watutsi thinking it must be tenuously linked to the Central African tribe of the same name,maybe it is ,but it certainly has a better ring to it than the alternatives "The Pony" or "Mashed Potato".

In the last few minutes I've just finished 'Savages' by Don Winslow. This man rocks! None of his books that I've read so far follows a discernible formula, like so many of the 'airport book stand' writers tend to offer. This book was good enough to encourage Oliver Stone to turn it into a movie - which I have not yet seen, but very much want to.

This time he tries a very sparse and tight narrative style. It's imaginative, and you cannot help but identify with the characters. It has to do with a couple of interesting guys with very different histories and skills, who have investigated the top end of pot growing and, having become hugely successful as a result, find themselves being fingered and compromised by a Mexican cartel. The guys share a girlfriend - their mutual affection for her leading them into war with the cartel when she is kidnapped by the cartel.

I see that I have a good few others of his books to read, but if they're anywhere near as good as those I've read so far, I have lots to look forward to. I can't think of anyone to compare him with. He's that good.

I tried a couple of Terry Pratchett books, and because he's so raved about, I guess I'll have to try again to see what I might have missed, 'cos those that I did read did not do so much for me. As for Len Deighton, he's always been a good read - whatever direction he takes.

I rather like this book thread - it introduces me to lots more potential good reads. We should keep it going.

Agree with you about Don Winslow, but there are plenty of other great writers out there producing non formulaic books in a similar genre,

Any of the following writers are as good as Winslow and some are better ;

Newton Thornberg ; R J Ellorry; James Sallis; Ken Bruen; George Pelicanos; Charlie Huston ; etc. Enjoy.

It's all a matter or opinion.

And in my humble opinion they were THE best rock band by a country mile.

Yeah, and the reason I posted the original video was to inform about their being awarded the eminently prestigious Kennedy Center honors. This is an elite club of those who have contributed to American culture. [The Kennedy Center Honors is an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture]. One does not expect to find Rock bands as honorees. The few Brits who have won in the past: Paul McCartney, Peter Townsend/Roger Daltry (The Who), Julie Andrews, & Andrew Lloyd Webber. So, this is an elite club, especially for non-Americans, and as you can see, even more so for Rockers, as only the Beatles, The Who and Led Zep are represented.

So, this represents an interesting and important argument to their place in history as the arguably best rock band ever.

http://en.wikipedia....y_Center_Honors

I know its a cheap shot, but i couldn't resist it, but what has being accepted and honoured by the establishment have to do with rock n roll ?

a reasonable question...the thing is that most rock performers are just guys in levis and t-sirts with guitars that like to get drunk and rowdy...the people that 'produce' them are businessmen and their accomplishment is recognized when there are international, 'elite' accolades...

all good musicians 'sell out' to one degree or another...

t.w. like most people i really enjoy your ramblin autobiographical replies.Sometimes with a point other times not,but always saying something.However your reply this time sounds a tad too serious,like the answer one of those guys in a suit would give.The only answer to the question "what does being accepted and honoured by the establishment have to do with rock n roll" is nothing .

It's all a matter or opinion.

And in my humble opinion they were THE best rock band by a country mile.

Yeah, and the reason I posted the original video was to inform about their being awarded the eminently prestigious Kennedy Center honors. This is an elite club of those who have contributed to American culture. [The Kennedy Center Honors is an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture]. One does not expect to find Rock bands as honorees. The few Brits who have won in the past: Paul McCartney, Peter Townsend/Roger Daltry (The Who), Julie Andrews, & Andrew Lloyd Webber. So, this is an elite club, especially for non-Americans, and as you can see, even more so for Rockers, as only the Beatles, The Who and Led Zep are represented.

So, this represents an interesting and important argument to their place in history as the arguably best rock band ever.

http://en.wikipedia....y_Center_Honors

I know its a cheap shot, but i couldn't resist it, but what has being accepted and honoured by the establishment have to do with rock n roll ?

Perfect version of Summertime

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voek71m-yf8&list=FLadSHxdCY2P0-z2K36BC_yg&index=1

Perfect version of Summertime

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5fPmdCjmHc&list=FLadSHxdCY2P0-z2K36BC_yg&index=6

Well it seems that Jazz is not as popular on this forum as the OP imagined,its a pity. I am tempted to do a "Ron 19" -- "Blasts from the Past- Avante Garde Jazz from the 60's". i am sure it would be just as popular !!!!!.

I would have loved to see this guy on the same stage as Jimi Hendrix, i think they would both have appreciated playing with their equal.

Roland Kirk,Mcoy Tyner, Stanley Clarke

Sun Ra

Sorry the above post was referring to Ulysses G but the quote button did not work