SoundVault

It's gonna be Ok

2010-01-05T01:53:00.003+01:00

Spent New Years 2010 in Slab City at the yearly S.P.A.Z. new years camp out. What an amazing time! Salvation Mountain is a monumental piece of folk art, total psychadelic jesus freakout! You can see my pictures here. New Years Eve we went into the slabs proper and saw some friends and some locals perform at the New Years Eve talent show. Here is our Friend harrison belting out one with feeling- It's gonna be ok.

Monster Jesus rally

2009-02-10T19:45:00.005+01:00

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY
curse begone you will be healed
Radio commercial on Radio Yola
for christian gospel campaign
Recorded early february 2009
Yola, Nigeria.

Toilet Tissue Surprise surprise

2009-02-10T14:43:00.012+01:00

Upon closer inspection, the most highy acclaimed tissue paper I acquired at Jimeta market had more to it than just bathroom sounds. There are some deeper areas of communication going on here, with a hint of spooky fundamentalism. This one is "THE LION AND THE FAWN", and it is the more subtle of the two I picked up, so we'll start with this one.

"THE LION AND THE FAWN"
The lion had gone into a raging frenzy. A fawn saw him from the woods and said, 'Oh, we really are in trouble! Now that the lion is enraged, he will not stop at anything - and he was already more than we could bear even before he went out of his mind!'

By: Aesop's Fable

Allright, I can relate- no on wants to be around a raging lion- but this next one is where it gets spooky,

"THE SNAKE AND THE WASP"

A wasp landed on the head of a snake and began to harass him, stinging him again and again. As he was suffering from terrible pain but couldn't get rid of his enemy, the snake crawled into the road and looked for an oncoming wagon. He then put his head under the wheel as he said, 'I die together with my enemy!'

By: Aesop's Fable

whoa, they weren't holding back with that one. Toilet tissue training martyrs.
Lucki is the brand name.

Where do the Children Play

2009-01-30T16:21:00.004+01:00

Well, right next door! Here is a short sound clip of the kids playing at the school behind moms house. Every night as we cook dinner in the kitchen with no lights, we can hear the children playing. It is really nice, and makes up for the tall walls and razor wire. Listen to them play here.

Yola Street View

2009-01-30T16:06:00.009+01:00

Google maps doesn't have a street view for Lamido Zubairu Way, so if you were looking for it this is the next best thing. This is the ride from the Ten flats compound where mom lives to the AAUN campus. While people do tend to drive fast and crazy out here, this video is sped up, so we weren't going quite that fast.

Here we have the other side of Lamido Zubairu Way, going from the campus back to the compound at Ten flats where mom lives.

Toilet tissue surprise

2009-01-30T09:17:00.006+01:00

Tia was pleasantly surprised to find a gift inside the toilet tissue I got at the Jimeta market last week. A balloon! At first we were dumbfounded, why, oh why, would they give you a balloon with your toilet tissue? A free balloon with every roll, how strange. It was when I blew the balloon up to see the writing that we realized, it was not just a balloon, but a clever way to make bathroom sounds!

Whiteboard Alien

2009-01-26T12:46:00.004+01:00

Hanging out in moms office at the university I made this animation on her whiteboard, using photo booth and imovie. Enjoy!

Happiness

2009-01-23T14:30:00.003+01:00

We arrived in Yola Thursday afternoon, after a short flight from Abuja. This is a short video I took of the drive from the airport into Yola. You can hear Tia talking about seeing the Top View Pool bar band the night before in Abuja. She was quite moved by the happiness of the lead singer. I find it interesting that there is a national pride in happiness here - I read somewhere before I came that in a recent survey they discovered that Nigerians were the happiest people on earth-many of the welcome signs at the airport in Abuja had huge headlines that seemed to advertise that Happiness is a big aspect of being Nigerian- and on my recent trip to the Philippines we stayed on an island called Kalipay, which means, you guessed it- Happiness. So I am taking cue from that that the universe is trying to tell me something- and I have made it my new years resolution to live happier, and to try and promote happiness amongst my friends and neighbors. Even amidst adversity we may find true happiness within ourselves. I have seen many beautiful smiles since our arrival, and many people do seem genuinely happy. We were greeted at the airport here in Yola by Betsy, who works for AUN, and whom Tia has credited with being a main reason for actually taking the job here. Upon meeting her I could see why, as she is very upbeat and fun, very easygoing with a great sense of humor and also very happy to be here. It seems that she will be a great ally for Tia during her stay here in Yola. We have begun to meet some of the other faculty here at the University, and it seems to me that Tia will fit in well, I am happy to say.

Mister Magic

2009-01-22T09:57:00.000+01:00

I thought I would post a few more tunes from the pool bar band. Of special note is their version of the Grover Washington Jr classic, Mister Magic
which includes a drum solo when the power went out in the middle of the song. Just prior to laying down the magic they performed a lovely version of Guantanamera
Enjoy!

Top View Pool Bar Band

2009-01-21T23:24:00.000+01:00

After traveling for nearly 24 hours on 3 airplanes and 5 airports we arrived in Abuja, Nigeria. Exhausted, we were met by our contact from the American University Ibrahim Buba. A very friendly man with very nice shoes, he drove us from the airport to our hotel in Abuja, the Top View. Our flight to Yola was delayed for a day, so we stayed all day Wednesday at the hotel, eating, napping, and taking a leisurely walk around the neighborhood. Wednesday evening we caught a live band by the pool in the hotel, bass, keys, drums and vocals. They performed a variety of western hits and local high life music. I recorded some of their set, including a cover version of Karma Chamelion
and Knock on wood

Taipei airport Fun

2009-01-05T03:15:00.000+01:00

Looking into the future to see what's next.
Pictures from ChEz journey Philippines 2008.