alpha charlie bravo presents a day in the life of Werner Herzog.

Werner begins his day as an ordinary motorist:



Where is he off to in such a hurry? Well, he's meeting a BBC reporter for an interview:




It's been an eventful day for Werner. Now it's time to have some dinner and a little conversation:

Today's episode of "The Best of alpha charlie bravo" takes a look back at my thwarted attempt to sing the national anthem before a Chicago Rush game in 2004:

6.06.2004

2 Things:

1. Who's coming to the Gary Railcats game on August 21? There may be a few tickets up for grabs.

2. Does anyone want to go to this with me?

My social calendar: let me show you it.
Actually, I think there was a third thing. I can't remember what it was though.

Ciao.

Do you believe in the American Dream?

I wasn't sure what this question meant, so I went to Wikipedia and read the "American Dream" entry. There you will find this quote:

"The American Dream, that has lured tens of millions of all nations to our shores in the past century has not been a dream of material plenty, though that has doubtlessly counted heavily. It has been a dream of being able to grow to fullest development as a man and woman, unhampered by the barriers which had slowly been erected in the older civilizations, unrepressed by social orders which had developed for the benefit of classes rather than for the simple human being of any and every class."
-James Truslow Adams

I think that's a nice idea. Clearly, we have yet to achieve it. Race, gender and intergenerational wealth have played pivotal roles in restricting or enabling the opportunities of individuals throughout American history. Some of those restrictions have abated in contemporary society, but increasingly the interests of the individual is superseded by the interests of multi-national corporations. In short, there's a lot of work to do.

Ask me anything

http://www.formspring.me/ShamsOfTabriz

Let's see what happens.

One of the things that bothers me about this space being vacant is that the "Featured Album" tab over there hasn't changed in nearly six months. I think Owen Pallet has had quite enough face time. Since I haven't had the opportunity to feature most of the music I've been listening to in recent months, I thought I'd give you a taste here.

Artist: The Besnard Lakes
Song: Albatross
Album: The Besnard Lakes are the Roaring Night



The Besnard Lakes have great album titles. They also like to make big, sweeping epic songs. This is not one of those, however.

---

Artist: Tunng
Song: Hustle
Album: ...And Then We Saw Land



This album is... well, nice. Which is not what I was expecting from a Tunng album. Sam Genders left the band and apparently took all the dark imagery with him. Too bad.

---

Artist: Dessa
Song: Dixon's Girl
Album: A Badly Broken Code



I got a hold of this album after Sound Opinions repeatedly raved about it.

So, what are you listening to?

Apparently, today is the birthday of alpha charlie bravo. It was launched officially on February 3, 2003. I have no meaning to ascribe to this fact. However, feel free to take a look back at the first birthday celebratory extravaganza that was this post of: February 4, 2004. Hey, remember when I used to write?

2009 Album of the Year

The Podcast
[Parental Advisory]

1. Animal Collective
    Merriweather Post Pavilion
2. KiD CuDi
    Man on the Moon: The End of Day
3. The Swell Season
    Strict Joy
4. Maxwell
    BLACKsummer'snight
5. The Decemberists
    The Hazards of Love
6. Passion Pit
    Manners
7. Amadou & Mariam
    Welcome To Mali
8. The Flaming Lips
    Embryonic
9. Jay-Z
    Blueprint 3
10. Mission of Burma
     The Sound, The Speed, The Light

Honorable Mention:
Califone, All My Friends Are Funeral Singers | The Dodos, Time to Die | Skyzoo, The Salvation

Note: Ultimately, I decided not to include The Dodos' 2008 album Visiter on my 2009 list, even though it may have been the best recording I heard this past year.

The Podcast Supplemental