Robert Glasper at the Cotton Club

Eight of us went to go see The Robert Glasper Experiment at the Cotton Club on Saturday night.

I first saw him perform at the same place back in April of this year, and it was great to hear several of the songs that I knew from his third album, In My Element, which was released in 2007. But that outing was a night with The Robert Glasper Trio, and this Saturday was a very different experience indeed.

Glasper's most recent album, Double-Booked (2009), is a solid and balanced slate of songs recorded by both The Trio and The Experiment. Saturday's performance involved songs by the latter with some intriguing covers thrown in for good measure (Radiohead, no less!).

Again, seeing and hearing the songs performed live adds several new layers of meaning to what I have been listening to for the past several months. And the band's playfulness and chemistry made for a very entertaining night that had my head rocking from the very moment that drummer Chris Dave started hitting things.

Also quite memorable for me was the liberal use of vocoder and keytar by saxophonist Casey Benjamin, and the connection between bassist Derrick Hodge and Chris Dave is truly a sight to behold. The grooves and riffs underpinning the Experiment's music makes this act an experience of both discovery and deja vu for any fan of jazz and hip hop.

Robert Glasper at the Cotton Club

Grizzly Bear's "Two Weeks"

An amazing song by an amazing band. Grizzly Bear have my undivided attention at the moment.

Grizzly Bear's "Two Weeks"

Japan Booze Blind on "Japan Eats"

The Beaujolais Nouveau just hit shelves a week ago, and the reaction was pretty muted compared too years past. On the left is a photo from my local supermarket, Seiyu, where all the expensive wine was deserving of in terms of presentation was a big unused cooler with an island made from a red, felt-covered box.

There's a write-up on this phenomenon and how it pertains to Japan here, and since we're talking about alcohol anyway, let me take a moment to pimp a project that I'm working on right now.

"Japan Eats" is a new website that tries to introduce a wider audience to Japan's varied culinary and alcoholic delights. I host a show on the site called Japan Booze Blind in which blind tastings are used as an excuse for drinking alcohol early in the morning.

The site just officially went live today, so please stop by and check it out.

Japan Booze Blind on "Japan Eats"

Work Safety Issues

Saw this delivery guy doing a very delicate balancing act in order to work on some unknown problem with the light fixture at the back of the cargo bay.

Ever heard of a stepladder?

It's a little hard to tell from this photo, but he's got one of those hefty cargo straps rigged like a tightrope, and he used that in order to reach the problem area on the ceiling.

Didn't stick around long enough to see if he broke his neck on the dismount...

Work Safety Issues

The t-shirts students wear

This t-shirt appeared in one of my classes last semester. The wearer shall remain nameless, but I can confirm that he did indeed understand the subtext.

The t-shirts students wear

Ichihashi apprehended

Believe it or not, Ichihashi was caught in Osaka after someone at a ferry station called in with information on his whereabouts.

Ichihashi apprehended

Ichihashi worked for a construction company

Tatsuya Ichihashi, the suspected killer of Lindsay Ann Hawker, spent much of the last year working for a construction company in Osaka prefecture where he had a room in the outfit's dorm.

He was apparently able to fly below the radar due to alterations to his appearance that may have included plastic surgery. He is said to have often worn hats and glasses to help mask his appearance.

The Japanese nightly news is currently doing a roundup of his recent whereabouts and possible connections.

Having failed miserably at figuring out how Ichihashi could survive on the lam for so long, hopefully the police use the recent lessons learned to reassess cold cases involving other dangerous individuals that they lost track of long ago.

Ichihashi worked for a construction company

Newly released photo of Ichihashi looks nothing like him

Or that's what it sounded like when I read this in the Mainichi today:

According to investigators, the picture was taken prior to the cosmetic surgery. The man had a beard and mustache in the picture, but police intentionally erased the features in the released picture to avoid confusion.

So it would appear that the police have provided the public with a photo that won't really help the people who have seen him recently understand that they have actually glimpsed the fugitive himself, Tatsuya Ichihashi. Why? Because when they saw him he had a mustache and beard in addition to all of the cosmetic surgery that the media is currently talking about.

And it won't really help the rest of us either. If he's still sporting facial hair, then how does that doctored photo assist in his apprehension?

Or did the police hold off on releasing the photo long enough so that Ichihashi would have plenty of time to shave...?

Well, either way, I think it would be helpful if police released the original, untouched photo as well.

Newly released photo of Ichihashi looks nothing like him