just so all you shit-for-brains ignorant fools know;

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS "BAD" MUSIC! GET YOUR FUCKING HEADS OUT OF YOUR ASSES. YOUR PREFERENCES ARE NOT UNIVERSAL STANDARDS UPON WHICH YOU MAY JUDGE SOCIETY. I HAVE HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH YOU NARROWMINDED SHITS!












Whatever happened to the values of humanity
Whatever happened to the fairness in equality
Instead of spreading love we're spreading animosity
Lack of understanding, leading lives away from unity
That's the reason why sometimes I'm feeling under
Where is the love ¿

stuff that has made and still makes me high

1-a particular bent note in Charlie by the Chili Peppers
2-the solo at the end of Comfortably Numb
3-listening to the Pick of Destiny with my eyes closed
4-getting over the threshold when I run and feel that I can go on forever and run to the horizon
5-watching people move to the music I make at a gig
6-making B laugh
7-the outro of one of my band's songs
8-laughing
9-my car, sharae-faisal during the Jumma prayer time and 120kmph
10-loud music and air musicianship(take air guitar and apply to every instrument) all over my house when everybody's gone
11-Your Hand in Mine by Explosions in the Sky
12-that time of night when everyone is asleep, in and outside of your house
13-watching The Dark Knight in the theater and hearing the main theme play through 20 speakers and my heart
14-the first time I saw bullet time all those years ago in Nasr Cinema in dubai in The Matrix
15-Fear of the Dark

Beautiful dawn - I'm just chasing time again.
Thought I would die a lonely man, in endless night.
But now I'm high; running wild among all the stars above.
Sometimes it's hard to believe you remember me.

the other blojz in the world

Why is everyone so depressed? I mean, it's like everyone else has a bloj just to be mopey. I don't get it. It's not like my life is all peaches and cream, or in my case guitars and Porsches., but if I have a bloj and im going to write about something I'd eternally prefer happyness over sorrow, gloom, depression and well, general emo-ness. Everyone just has SO many problems its just SO impossible to write about anything else. Such self-importance is something I can not bring myself to feel.

I'm so darn glad He let me try it again,
'Cause my last time on earth I lived a whole world of sin.
I'm so glad that I know more than I knew then.
Gonna keep on tryin' till I reach the highest ground.

The day after Friday the 13th of February 2009.

I feel like a bull, if they could see colours. I can't get the red out of my eyes. So..much...red.


I went to Park Towers, which is a mall in karachi. THERE WAS FRICKIN RED EVERYWHERE!!! And what the hell! Why do people wear red on Vday? WHY?? Are you a heart or something?? Even dudes! I saw three, no four guys with RED button down shirts! Why oh why.

Plus Valentine's day is so ugh. All super super sweet and sugary and lovey dovey and merchandised. It was all there was on the radio, on tv, on the street, on those God forsaken forward messages, EVERYWHERE. I listen to the radio a lot and I heard Truly, Madly, Deeply four times today! And that's just me! It must have been played some 73 times!*

While I am all for spreading love and good cheer, I think we should be a bit more coherent and think about people who need to be loved. I'm not talking about your family, friends and significant others. I mean other random people. Like the poor, like orphans, like whoever isn't shown in the media on the 14th of February because nobody wants to show stuff that takes the masses' minds of sheep-mentality consumerism.

It's days like this that the majority of people are revealed to be hollow and incapable of cognitive thought. We choose to forget so that we may indulge in stuff that might somehow be memorable. Whatever the criteria for that is.


Flam!updates:

We will probably probably be entering this battle of bands deal that is going to take place on the 27th. What we were initially trying for was this gig with another new-ish band where we'd keep it small and keep it real but the event management company, also a rookie deal, decided to go all out, scrapped the original plan and went for this big-ass deathmatch scenario. I hope we win. Or at least go further than round one lol. I've been in one other battle of bands and in that we didn't progress, surprisingly tight though we were. Anyway, hope for the best, expect the worst.


Oh, ACCA exam result comes on on Monday the 16th. Sigh. I don't think this week will be pretty. Again, hope for the best and expect the worst.

Never in the wrong time or wrong place
Desecration is the smile on my face
The love I made is the shape of my space
My face my face

*dont ask me how I came up with that number. I do not know.


PS: if you read this bloj sortve regularly how about you 'follow' it? it could save your life you know..........

the Jim, bharamzzZz and hookers

I am out of shape. Not noticeably. Okay not very noticeably but yeah, look and shall see. Why you would I do not know. It is immaterial anyway. You are probably weird and will be one of the happier deaths to occur when Skynet takes over the world.

So anyway, I thought I should start running. Or jogging or whatever. I wasn't in the mood to go to a jim. I grabbed the ever-willing Aines McJaleelus and started a roughly 3km run, jog, walk and stagger, all in the same session at different points in time, routine. Everyday which then began every other day, from 7am to 8am.

I have since quit. The reason is not that I have achieved my goals, nor he his. I just got bored and dont have the necessary strength of will. To wakte up at 630am every day would mean I must sleep by a maximum of 12 midnight while I was used to staying up till 6am. So I quit. Aines will probably hate me for this.

Why didn't I join a jim? I dunno. Maybe because I didn't like the ones in the area, didn't have buddies to go with to the ones I did like in the area and also because I don't have the dough for the ones that are so amazing I could go alone. But there was a jim I used to go to a couple of years ago. This post is actually about that jim and it's instructor/administrator.


The jim in question was named Power Gym. It was across the road. I had two compadres with me, Abeer the Afridi(he is a pathan, his family used to live in Punjab and he supports the PPP which is a Sindhi political party at heart) and the Kenaan(he is not as interesting, which I think he is happy about).

We went quite regularly for a good 4 months. The instructor was a bigass Balochi dude named Fayyaz. This guy was BIG. Wait lemme see I think I have a picture of him..

Yeah so that's him. Lots of shadows in that picture but as you can see(and imagine) he was muscly, very.

So yeah he was our instructor and urged us all on intermittently. Regular jim dude duties. What was noteworthy was the stuff he did besides that. Which is the following:

Work 'n Curse:

When Fayyaz would work out he'd take off his shirt, revealing his musclyness and put on this tattered vest thingy, highlighting his musclyness further. I think he wanted to impress us. Which was quite unnecessary since the myriad of pictures in his office-cum-glass box area were sufficient to that end. Anyway, he'd start his routine with a few million stretches that covered in my opinion every possible muscle in his body. I mean, it just went on and on for a good 30mins. After that he started the real deal which ended up looking more like a vocal excercise than a ...well..other areas excercise. While doing the reps of whatever he'd scream at the top of his voice for all and sundry to witness the enthusiasm and effort the great Fayyaz was putting in. Stuff like "FUCK YOU!!", "MOTHERFUCKER!!!", "AARGH BASTARD!!", "FUCKER!!". This gave further credence to the idea that everyone learns the swearwords of a language first then the rest. It was also sufficiently jarring to us all that inevitably we ended up stopping everything and looking at him which I guess was the idea.

Bharambaazi-ing:

Now Fayyaz was a big, imposing dude. Yet he suffered from the usual big-body, small...err.. sense-of-manlihood complex that I have been told most such people suffer from. He would tell us these anecdotes exemplifying his amazingness as a god among men as often as he could.

One such incident involved him going to a Balochi wedding in Karachi. Upon his arrival he was lead to a table where there were a number of handguns and was asked to choose and fire at will. In the air ofcourse. The great Fayyaz, as you should know, obviously scoffs at such minisicule shows of power. He told the cretins that he was from the old country and in his village they had much bigger guns than these impotent excuses for firearms! Hah, I say! Hah!

And then he left. Which is what amazingly cool people like him do.

Play crappy music:

WHO THE HELL LISTENS TO KAJRA RE WHILE WORKING OUT!?!?!

Ask if we knew any hookers:

Firstly, I don't. Really. I swear. Sadl..I mean thankfully. Shareef to the core and all. Moving on! At times when Fayyaz would talk to us about the world as-we-did-not-know-it, he'd invariably end up at sex. I do not know why. Also he'd invariably end up hinting he was looking for, needed, required some form of sexual release by which im guessing he meant hookers. The conversation would go something like this:

Fayyaz: Haan yaar bas boht mehnat karni parti hai itni body k liye, din raat lage rehna parta hai blahblahblah


Me/us: Hmm waqayi Fayyaz bhai, lagraha hai....(go back to working out)

Fayyaz: Aaj kal lekin koi time lagane ko tayyaar nahin hota. Larke aaj kal k boht kharab hogaye hain. Larkiyon k peechhe bhagtey phirte hain gundey gundey kaam k chakkar mein.

Me/us: ....

Fayyaz: Ye bhi koi umar hai khud batao aap? Aap khud likhe parhe ho*, aapko bhi pata hoga ye ghalat hai. Tum logon ko tu nuqsaan hai, ye tu mujh jese logon ko chahiye hota hai. Hamare liye tu zuroori hai. Itni body honay k liye lazmi hota hai k kahin garmi nikaalein.

Me/us: ji ji bilkul...acha Fayyaz bhai chalte hain hum!


*most random people explaining stuff to me say this, I do not know whether I should take it as a compliment or not



I ended up leaving that jim, not for the above mentioned reasons, I was generally busy with exams and then too lazy to go back. Further exploits in local jims I find prohibitive though and that is because of the above mentioned stuff.

given a chance
i wanna be somebody
if for one dance
i wanna be somebody
open the door
it's gonna make you love me
facing the door
i wanna be somebody

Why there's a version 2.0

Yes I know what everybody's been talking about. WHY is there a new bloj out? What when the last one was so perfectly amazing. I know I know. This is why.



I killed the last one.


By mistake.


See I originally made a blogger account with a hotmail email address. Then blogger tells me that I need to use a google account but oh I shouldn't worry theyve made a google address with my hotmail address. Whaa?

So anyway, what began to happen was that this started messing around with my orkut activisim. I'm not sure that's the right word. Anyway, when I signed into blogger or into orkut, the other wouldn't work because it needed the other address. I got sick of the signing in and out over and over.


So I killed it.



Yes yes by mistake.

I thought the solution would be simple. Shift the blog to the google address. There's this way of exporting blogs which is how a friend moved hers to wordpress. I'd do that and I'd be home free. So I exported the blog to my PC, then onto the new account I'd made with the google address. But I wanted the same name which I couldn't use because the past version still existed. So I check and double checked and then deleted the original. Turns out I still couldn't use the originals name.


Hence it was dead.


By mistake! Because what I should've done was coauthor the blog with the new address and just not sign in with the old one. Alas this did not strike me before. Hence we are here.

A door left open
A woman walking by
A drop in the water
A look in the eye
A phone on the table
A man on your side
Oh, someone that you think that you can trust
Is just
Another way to die

the most excited blogpost ever!

By jingo! Last night was eventful indeed. I shall start from the beginning....
..
......
..



.
.
...
Okay enough of that.

Introduction

Our drummer, Owais, will be leaving in June..or maybe July. He is joining the army. Yes that is the best he could come up with. This and a particularly impressive jam with him while working on our originals led us to properly consider recording our work. Finally Saad Khaleel emailed OBA(OmarBilalAkhter) of ADP(AuntyDiscoProject) and asked him for ADVICE(advice). Being the uber-nice dude he is he apparently replied and said that this should be done on the phone and we can call him anytime and stuff. I say allegedly because well, this what Saad told me and I trust no one -_- ...

This was around the same time OBA-san wrote this post on his own blog....coincidence?...I dunno maybe..

We find out...

Then we found out that there was going to be an ADP gig at the Clifton Nandos on the 29th, a free gig. GASP! Free? ADP? Me? This has never been a good combination! For the very very few of you who are not regulars here, I would like you to recall this post!

No matter, this was Nandos(should there be an apostraphe in there?). There would be no "families only" bullshit here. We'd go and watch the show, maybe even talk to OBA and all afterwards. Though Saad had injected his usual weak spineness at this juncture by saying stuff like "dude he'll just have gotten off stage we can't go up and bug him about this stuff".To which I'd usually say something like "dude I hate you I hate you" and run off crying while I flung myself onto my hugeass four poster bed with silk sheets and red pillowcases.
.........


The day arrives

I'd discovered the day before that this was the launch of something of the other at Nandos and not just a free concert. Which made me turn into the bitchy don't-be-late person I become since I reasoned that it would start on time. So yeah, we went. Two cars; mine with Saad, me and Owais and Anes' with him and Kanwal(his fiance, oooooooooh). We got there on time, which was to be 7pm and since we were there by 642pm it was pretty cool. I didnt even drive fast. Anes had yet to arrive. We were walking in and I was all happy and relieved that there appeared to be no major obstructions to our getting in. The guy at the door asked us how many people were in our group and I told him, even remembering to make him write down Anes' name so that our buddy buds could get in hassle-free.

Deja vu

We got in and sat down on the lower level. We could hear a lot of noise coming down from the floor above us where the whole shebang was going down. At the door we'd seen a few tv people coming in and they all had gone upstairs. Logically we concluded that this wasn't where we were supposed to be. We asked the waiter when the concert was to begin and if we should go up now or later. He asked us if we had invites to which we suavely replied "uhh.....no?"*slight pause* "sir could you please step out with me". Oh crap. This was the long friday all over again! Nobody had said anything about invites! Nobody! Or had they?? Saad must've forgotten! God, I hate him! I'm going to kill him when this is done!

The guy at the door said we were supposed to get invites, we told him we were invited by email and he should ask Omar Bilal Akhtar. He was like "Bilal Akhter who?". We elaborated that he was in the band who were to play and such and such so he sent a waiter dude to call mister saleem or whoever since he didn't know enough. So we waited. Then God sent us OK(Omar Khalid) and Yasir Qureshi. ADP's drummer and darbouka man respectively. We breathed a sigh of relieft, we could get in now since they knew us we knew them blah blah. OK came over and started talking to Saad, Yasir went up to the door and was stopped by the guy so he told him he was with the band. "What band?" I heard, horror struck. Holy shit if THEY cant get in what hope do we have?? By then Saleem or whoever had showed up though and we got in along with OK and Yasir. Anes still hadn't shown up so we reminded the gate demon about him.

We're in!

We went up. There was a ginormous crowd and this lady going on and on about the Cataplana. Turns out they were introducing a new menu item. This well known chef dude from MasalaTV showed up and explained to everyone that it was a South African Portugalese dish which had rice, chicken and some vegetables in it. With a description that detailed I could taste it already. The hostess person also said that everytime anyone ordered it, the waiters would open the container in which it was served with a tada! I immediately made a mental note to NEVER order the catawhatsit.
While we were milling around aimlessly waiting for stuff to happen Anes and Kanwal showed up. Anes, as per usual, had to go the the bathroom. This only happens when we're out. I do not know why. Kanwal was stuck with us so Saad and her promptly got into a we-are-in-IBA conversation. Someone asked us why we were standing and if we needed a table. I told him we were with band and surprisingly we were made space for. How quickly times change. Then this witer lady told us to go down so that we could be served, yes there was free food! The excitement! Free music AND free food?? All was right in the world. Anes still hadn't shown up by the way. We went down, got to a table and waited.

Suddenly we heard the sound of a bass guitar and panic struck! They were going to start and we were stuck here! Nooo! No wait! Anes is up there! He doesn't know we're downstairs! He'll be himself and get lost! We'll go up and find him! And stay there and watch the show! At this point Anes showed up. Sigh. It looked like we'd have to eat.

The phood

We got a couple of caterpillars or whatever which the server opened with a very wilted "tada?". I was being my usual asinine self and trying to be funny. Then we got free chicken and free fries and free lemonade. So I shutup and tucked in. Since there was a lady present we all had to be polite and eat like civilised people and not cavemen. Sigh, what testing times we live in. But anyway, we kept at it and were done quickly enough. Then we moved upstairs with alacrity. Yeah baby, today is SAT english vocabulary usage day.

Upstairs ADP were all on stage and going through the final stages of their soundcheck. OBA came off and shook hands with me and graciously said a few words to the effect of "hey dude" to which I replied with great wit "uh...". What! He's a celebrity okay?! I was subdued into silence. Anyway he talked to Saad and Anes, asked them about the sound and all they told him the guitars weren't loud enough and so yeah that was that and then they started! Woohoo!

The show!

ADP as always, I have found amazing. They just have SO much energy. This show was no different. OBA was jumping around for all that he was worth. Ali Alam was very energetic too. OK had brought his shiny sparkly new drumkit. I was jumping and all too, singing along to every song and I more or less new the words to EVERY song. Needless to say I was very pleased with myself. They did around 10 songs i think. All their famous originals like Sultanat, Sheher ke Aansoo, Nazar, Likhta Nahin Mein etc. Ali Alam did three of his own songs which I also knew though I can't remember their titles(sorry Ali!). They did Prince's Kiss, Womanizer by britney(that was fun lol), Teenage Wasteland by The Who which was very cool of them. They were so loud and crazy that lightshades started dropping out of the ceiling! That was pretty awesome. My excitement was beginning to affect people around me like the camera man whos ear I was yelling the lyrics into and who asked me try and not shake him so much.

The awesomeness!

And just like that we were done. The show ended. People started to leave. Anes had already left since he had to drop Kanwal back home. We milled around for a bit so that we could meet the guys and stuff. I was excited by this prospect since it meant we could talk to them and also ask them about recording and general advice and what not. Though when Saad said that OBA was tired and we shouldnt bug him I was pissed enough at that to leave immediately. But he did end up going to OK and talking to him about stuff. Yasir at this point hailed me with a "hey starman" I was like whaaaaaat! He knows my secret identity! How?! He's read my bloj! Yes! This bloj! Amazingness! I asked him haltingly(didnt want to seem like a opportunistic douche) about RJing at fm91 and he said he'd introduce me to the guys then and there since they happened to have come too! All my dreams are coming true! Then Saad motioned me to come and join him as we joined OBA who was half lying on this bench, so tired he was. Ali Alam was packing up and I thought I should offer to help but alas shyness took over and I kept quiet and sat myself down next to OBA, who said "hey star dude"...WHAT!! He's read this bloj too! I should start charging you people! Ali Alam asked me for a rubber band! He recognised me by my hat from the forum show!! I was overjoyed.

Anyway we talked at length about recording, general direction we should be headed in and stuff and a few other things too. For one we are now in the running to be ADPs opening band. We were planning to ask them about this for a while now and as it turns out they were looking for somebody too and so....YAY!!! Plus I asked OBA about RJing at fm89 and he gave me some pointers on that too! Double yay!


I didn't get a chance to talk to Yasir since we left after that and the band was eating and what not and I didnt want to intrude. But nevertheless. I left a happy, happy man. Man..not boy...wow...I am getting old. Sigh. 22 next month. But no. Nothing can bring me down for now. ADPs gone to Lahore for a couple of shows. Hope they go awesomely awesomatic. We jammed today, started to work on our stuff with renewed purpose. Now we know what the immediate future may hold. Quite a few days of general down-ness have been forgotten. Washed away by the hope that the dream might just work and that one day; Saad, Anes and I will be like ADP, will be famous, will be making music.

Will be rockstars.

Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green
And the girls are pretty
Oh, won't you please take me home