from Eastern Eye
Postcards from the edge of reality – a confidential Trickbaby document
Tuesday
Ironic innit?? I met this bloke today. Actually I was checking out his crib
for potential purchase and I spotted some gold discs on the wall. It turned
out he produced some big Prog-Trippy-Rocky Blues outfit in the 70’s.
“I make music” I said.
“What sort of music?” he said. (It’s the one question I
hate because I can never answer it)
“Sort of Indian rhythms, hip-hop beats…proper songs though”
I said.
“Oh yeah – Bollywood – that’s very in” he said.
I was beginning not to like his house.
“To be honest – it’s always been very ‘in’ in
my household” I said.
Did he not realize that I was brown or was this guy that had probably spent
much of the 70’s in a kaftan on a psychedelic magic carpet leaning very
karmically East “Man”– was he denying me the opportunity
to explore and enjoy my own Asian-ness.
For your information I didn’t just jump on the “Bolly”bandwagon
– my bony ass was sat here from the beginning.
Wednesday
The Trickbaby tour bus did the dreaded M1 run to Brum to perform on the BBC’s
Desi DNA show. I played DJ on the way up with some old-school dancehall, the
new Outkaast album and a bit of Raghav (his “**it is real” –
respect to that Asian brother for kicking up a healthy, infectious East/West
cocktail. The guy can sing a mean ghazal too.
Thursday
Sat myself down with a packet of chocolate Macadamia nut cookies on Thursday
night – catching up with correspondences on the Trickbaby website. Had
ma main man Adil Ray on in the background for company. He played a re-mix
of “Sun Sahiba Sun” that I had never heard before. Wished we’d
thought of doing that one. It’s a class song and taken from that great
movie “Ram – your River’s dirty”. Let’s hope
us Brit-Brown contingent can write songs that can stand the test of time and
serve as our musical legacy like those dudes did. Having said that we’re
getting a bit of a taste for the old re-mixing ourselves – having just
sent out finished mixes of Kylie Minogue’s “Slow” and “Red
Blooded Woman” to EMI for the Far East. I’ll keep you posted on
the progress there.
Friday
Heavy week – Feet still hurting from walking round Birmingham’s
Custard Factory in ridiculously fashionable wedge heels all day Wednesday
so I went for a Reflexology session. “Do you want an Indian head massage?”
the therapist asked me
I wondered if they were very “in”.
“Hanging Around” comes out in India this week so it looks like
we’ll have to get the bus ready for the long-haul – somebody bring
air freshener and cookies – I’ll bring the tunes.
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