Azam the Angel

I am Azam Ali's self proclaimed biggest fan. I have followed her career since Vas' album Sunyatta debuted in 1997. I remember hearing her ethereal voice as I listened to sample selections off of CD's at the now defunct "Natural Wonders" store. My first visual of Azam Ali was a picture of her sitting next to her fellow musician Greg Ellis. Her posture was that of a graceful shy doe; contemplative and very deep.

Azam Ali was born in Iran and moved to India around the age of four. She attended an English boarding school and was exposed to all the richness of Indian culture and music. She moved to the United States when she was a teenager and began studying music.

She sings mostly in languages I cannot understand but the emotion in her voice transcends my failure to comprehend her lyrics. The last few years she has embarked on her solo adventure and collaborated with other musicians (notably in 2005 with her project with Niyaz). She also is featured on the movie '300' soundtrack.

I hope that she'll come to Pittsburgh some day and I'll get to experience her music in concert. It would be nice to witness an angel in person!

Favorite Teas

There are many teas that get a nod at being flavorful and distinctive. Early Grey, Darjeeling, Chai are a few that come to mind when I'm thinking of relaxing and enjoying a hot cup of tea and a cookie or two, or three...

Earl Grey takes me back to my college years when I was first introduced to the pungent and full bodied tea. They say that the most powerful memory is the olfactory sensors. Sometimes a smell can enhance an already pleasant mood or stir up subconscious irritation and bad feelings. Earl takes me to a good place, a happy place of care free youthful thinking and endless time on my hands.

Darjeeling is considered the "champagne of teas" due to it's light and effervescent taste. It's certainly not your run of the mill grocery store tea (even though it is sold in grocery stores) and it conjures up images of colonial India and Victorians.

Chai is a spicy Indian tea that tastes good hot or iced and doesn't need the splash of milk to be thoroughly enjoyed. It's nice iced for hot summer days and steaming hot for cold winter nights.

Then there are the ones I didn't go into detail about like Irish breakfast tea, English tea, Green tea, flavored teas like Caramel-Vanilla etc...The list goes on...

Tea itself is enjoyable so maybe I just should proclaim that I really love tea! :)

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

I went to see Elizabeth: The Golden Age today (by myself of course) and I was not disappointed. It's very rarely that a sequel eclipses it's predecessor and I'm sure the other five people in the movie theatre were pleasantly surprised as well. Even if the movie had any bad qualities (I suspect that maybe some extremely conservative Catholics might take offense to the nuanced suggestions that King Philip and some Jesuit 'missionary' were kinda out there) I got to look at Clive Owen for over two hours. I am of course biased since Queen Elizabeth I of England is by far the most intriguing female historical figure of all time (second is Boadicea). Oh, hell! Queen Elizabeth IS the most intriguing human historical figure of all time...