RESTAURANT REVIEW - HEALY MAC'S IRISH PUB

Had dinner with my wife’s family the other night at Healy Mac's Irish Pub in Greentown.   The word “pub” is a bit of a misnomer.  Yes, there’s a bar but the dining area is larger and there were more families having dinner than drinkers out for a drunken good time.  Maybe this changes on a weekend night I don’t know.  Also the front and sides of the building are open in more of a Southeast Asian style.  I liked the ambience.

We ordered three pizzas – the 4 cheese, the vegetarian, and one with ham whose name escapes me.  They were all excellent especially the 4 cheese.  All four types of cheese blended easily making for a flavor that was uniform and not at all jarring or mismatched or uneven.  In addition, they were all good size.

I have to compare this pizza with that of Michelangelo, the other fresh made pizza restaurant in Ipoh.  Michelangelo’s is good but the crust is much thinner and they make a lot of odd topping-ed pizzas which are sort of novelties.  Healy Mac’s are thicker and more composed of traditional pizza topping ingredients.  I think they are slightly tastier too.

We also ordered the lamb stew.  It’s been years since I had stew and this was perfect with tender lamb chunks that came apart easily in the mouth.  The Spaghetti Carbonara was not too fishy (a danger with pasta seafood combinations) and the Chicken Panini was also delicious.

The only negative point was the dessert.  The brownie was overcooked and dry and the raspberry sauce while tasty didn’t fit this particular dish.

How much?  Well all the dishes mentioned plus seven drinks (one alcoholic) equaled rm312. Reasonable for this type of meal

I can’t wait to go back.  I hope next time to try the beef stew  

Their website is here   http://www.healymacs.com.my/index.php

THE MOTOWN SOUND VS THE PHILADELPHIA SOUND

I was a late fan of Motown and I say, for want of a better all purpose description, a late fan of pop music made by African Americans that would eventually morph into Soul music.

This was the case because my first exposure like many was through radio and what was played was largely Motown of the 1960’s.  The Motown sound was tinny, extremely narrow and voice driven. Post Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Goin' On?”(The record that saved Motown IMO) this would grow somewhat into an organic thing with all the different instrumentation and sound the studio can offer which was Soul.  What made earlier Motown special and what I particularly liked about it aside from the talented vocalists, was the songwriting which was full of clever metaphors, sugary melodies, and middle 8’s that come out of nowhere….So different from the repetitive sex driven R & B of today.

But one could not luxuriate in the music of Motown.  It was far too anxious and jittery and thin for that.  Like Punk almost but without Punk’s greater social meaning.

The Philadelphia sound of the early 70’s on the other hand was lush, full of strings, not rushed.  The singing wasn’t as frantic but full of the sad wisdom of the heartbroken and the flip side – joyous celebration.  The songs were even more complex, the lyrics even less formulaic .

The Delfonics were the first Philadelphia sound band to make it big but The O Jays, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes and others soon eclipsed them.

My favorite band of this period was The Stylistics.  They had the best singers, the best songs, the best production.  And there were a lot of very good producers and songwriters around the scene – Gamble and Huff and Thom Bell to name two of the best and most successful.

There is a mature sadness in the Philly sound as if Motown is the teenage experience and Philly for adults.

ANSWERING LINDSAY GRAHAM

"Name one person here who's been intimidated by the Jewish lobby," Graham demanded. "Name one dumb thing we've been goaded into doing due to pressure by the Israeli or Jewish lobby."

These were the words of Senator Lindsay Graham interrogating Chuck Hagel during confirmation hearings for his nomination for Secretary of Defense. Hagel demurred but I can shed some light for Lindsay.

1.) Ignoring (and enabling or even giving) the Israeli Nuclear Program. It’s an open secret that Israel has the nuclear bomb. They have refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.  All of these should be of great concern. Not to mention Israel sharing nuclear info with Apartheid era South Africa

2.) Ignoring human rights violations against the Palestinians. Keeping the Palestinians in one big jail just like the Warsaw Ghetto. Waging war in these crowded ghettos killing women and children indiscriminately. No such thing as collateral damage to the Israeli military.

3.) In a word settlements. The US ignores their building except in meaningless bland public statements. The people in these settlements are messianic racists who conduct terrorist activities against Palestinians while the Israeli government does nothing. Israeli courts are like the courts in the deep south during segregation. One example of this was the case of the settler Nachum Korman who beat a Palestinian boy to death and served no jail time for this.

4.) Selling advanced weaponry to Israel which is in turn used extra- judiciously against women and children. Here’s some info on how much http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/04/22/us-weapons-sales-to-israel/

5.) Allowing Israel to ignore UN resolutions by vetoing anything directed at Israel no matter how heinous the crime Israel has committed. Another example - The United States under Clinton vetoed a second term for Boutrous Boutrous Ghali as Secretary General after he had the temerity to complain about Israel bombing a UN shelter in Qana, Lebanon in 1996, I believe deliberately, murdering scores of women and children.

6.) Ariel Sharon. When he became prime minister, George Bush immediately embraced him despite Sharon’s long and bloody history of murdering civilians culminating in the invasion of Lebanon in 1982 under false pretenses (The Israel Ambassador to England’s attempted assassination by the Abu Nidal terrorist group but they blamed it on Arafat and the PLO as a false pretense for invasion) leading to the Sabra Shatila refugee camp massacre wherein Sharon sat back and allowed the Lebanese Phalange to rape and butcher several thousand women and children . Basically, it would be like Germany electing Hitler after the Holocaust and America welcoming it. Sharon is/was mass murdering scumbag no better than any other genocidal madman.

7.) US loan guarantees – The break down is here (they are called loans but in fact they are actually monies that are given - no repayment takes place) http://www.muslimnews.co.uk/news/news.php?article=23750

8.) The US Liberty – Background on what happened to the Liberty. http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/ussliberty.html

The fact that the US would ignore the deaths of US servicemen some of whom were machine gunned by gunboats after their ship was sunk by Israel is craven and disgusting.

9.) Trying to force the Palestinians in 2000 into a ridiculous agreement for creation of a state which would’ve consisted of unconnected reservations with no control over their water or air or borders. No sane person would’ve agreed to this arrangement.

In regards to naming a person who has been influenced by Israel, I would say just about everybody in the United States Senate and House of Representatives not to mention presidents and their administrations! Israel plays the tune and they do the bidding like puppets otherwise money and resources will go against their re-election (and it's not Anti-Semitic to say AIPAC and other groups have a lot of resources). A truly free America means an America without Israeli control and a post-colonial world means a world without Israel, the last bastion of colonialism and an evil state built on racism and murder and theocracy.

Only one US president in recent years has ever tried to apply pressure to Israel and that was George Bush’s father. Israel needs pressure (boycotts, withholding of monies etc.) otherwise there won’t be any change in this situation which has threatened and continues to threaten the peace and security of the rest of the world

A FEW THOUGHTS ON MY BLOODY VALENTINE'S NEW RECORD

Brian Eno once said that while the Velvet Underground’s first album didn’t sell a lot of copies, everyone who heard it went off and formed a band.   I think this is ten times true for My Bloody Valentine.  Much if not all of 90 and 00’s alt guitar rock bears their imprint.

So how does one review MBV their follow-up to 1991’s LOVELESS?  22 years on and it’s impossible to catch lightning in a bottle a second time?  You can only make SGT PEPPER and ASTRAL WEEKS and NEW YORK DOLLS and THE SMITHS once.

So with the weights of posterity removed, MBV is actually a fun record.  I say “fun” because it’s a lot simpler than LOVELESS – the songs swing, are more obviously streamlined, portend nothing other than a fine pop sense not so buried under 50 plus guitars this time.

There is one annoying instrumental that is the same guitar figure repeated over and over but the rest of the songs are good especially Only Tomorrow, If I Am, and New You (which is actually funky).

So the verdict is remove the historical baggage of LOVELESS and this is an enjoyable listen in and of itself.  

MUSIC ROUND-UP - FEBRUARY 2013

 Dutch Uncles - OUT OF TOUCH IN THE WILD

 Those who thought Dutch Uncles synth and keyboard laden last record CADENZA was too much of a jump from their self-titled first record which had more of a jittery guitar based sound (like an earlier XTC perhaps) might find their new record more palatable.  The keyboards are still there as are the guitars but the addition of strings and a bigger drum sound make this a successful combination – mathematical angularity meets melodic new wave influence.

 This Town Needs Guns - 13.0.0.0.0

  It’s been a long wait for This Town Needs Guns follow-up to their debut record the excellent ANIMAL.  That record was mysterious, passionate and had guitars that shimmered like hot tar on a summer's day.  Although, there have been a number of membership changes in TTNG since then, the hypnotic guitar sound is still front and center on 13.0.0.0.0 if more carefully parceled out.  A riff here, a run there.  These songs are memorable in their own right but overall this is a more laidback variation on the first record.

 The History of Apple Pie - OUT OF VIEW

 The History of Apple Pie build their songs out of familiar materials - Pop melodies, shoegaze guitar figures, distant female vocals.  Nothing new here but this is a supremely enjoyable record largely because the pop melodies are front and center like a power pop-My Bloody Valentine – Pixies- bubblegum hybrid.

UNEMPLOYMENT MEMORIES

Been reading the reader submitted stories of unemployment, a weekly series, in Gawker http://gawker.com/unemployment/

Brought back memories of my own experiences with unemployment….Had a few periods of unemployment although the one that had the most effect on me and the longest was in the late 1990’s.

I had been terminated from a job for what I considered unlawful reasons.  An administrative law judge agreed with me and awarded me unemployment benefits and the threat of a lawsuit was enough to get my former employer to settle with me out of court (for a very small sum).

At the time I was burned out on working, had been working since I was 16.  The jobs I had were soul destroying. I am not a lazy person and always believed in working but that being said I didn’t feel depressed at being out of work for several reasons 1.) I had some resources and always found a way to pick up temporary employment to stave off homelessness and starvation 2.) I felt completely fed up with a society that demanded labor, any kind of labor, for sustenance even if the labor was not something you were interested in or good at.

I couldn’t make a living as a writer.  I accepted that but I guess I needed a break.

For me, this break which lasted from early 1997 to mid 1999 (broken up by periods of temporary employment) was ultimately a good thing.  It gave me a much needed breather from work, a mental health break so to speak.  It also gave me a healthier attitude about working when I did finally get a full time job again.  I learned not to get too emotionally invested in a job, not to try too hard in a job where you are neither going to get promotion nor a sense of self-value.

But many cannot afford this luxury.  I was fortunate in that I had a spouse who was working and did not have any children.  In addition, I’ve always believed in living slightly less than my means.  In other words, never buying something I can’t pay for and trying to maintain a surplus at the end of the month when salary is reconciled against debts.

I was poor as a young man and barely eked out a living in my early 20’s but that sort of living is a rite of passage.  Too much misery kills character but a smaller amount will build it.  I can recall sleeping in my car once or twice in between room rentals, going to Sizzler with a few friends and finding a sympathetic waitress who allowed us to share one all you can eat salad bar between us.  If you’ve been hungry, you appreciate food better.

Truth is when you have worked hard and society has encouraged the idea that in and of itself  is enough, and you find yourself down and out, unemployed, it only hits you harder like some kind of mean cosmic joke.   

I don’t have any great enlightenment to offer on this other than I think dog eat dog quasi- capitalism as practiced in the USA is evil and kills the human spirit.  I’m thinking the rest of the US is maybe also in the process of coming to this conclusion spurred on by these tough economic times and the actions of the selfish rich and Wall Street parasites.