Oaxaca Swagger

this is what you call "Oaxaca Swagger"

Check out this flyer. it says "Basta de Racismo.. Ya No?!" and at the bottom it has Urkel saying "I am ready to PIMP!"
LOL WUT?! Can someone please tell me whether this is the work of very dumb Leftists or very clever racist trolls?

"Oaxaca es Mujere"

Turmoil

This is where I'm going to DJ next week.. how perfect is this?


Yadira, the manager, is the Queen of all small, edible dogs... and my heart.

Her boyfriend is also quite an awesome fellow.

A Tlayuda with Carne Enchilada. These things are huge! I wasn't really feeling the texture of the tortilla itself- it is sort of hard and dry, but the toppings are good. A must-try in Oax.

Un Indigino Graupo. These are from the collection of an ethnographer from back in the days.

Dudes had soo much flavor at this time. Check out the hat game! Not one dude was gonna settle for having the same hat as any other. There is a lot be learned about style there.

At La Biznaga, the "fancy" restaurant. This is Chicken wrapped around plantain with a papaya mole. It was... kind of insane, acctually, but worth the experience.

A bit more humble dish, but no less appealing: Chilaquiles con Huevo

Street Art

I was at the organic farmers market tasting Mezcals from this guy, who I have it on authority has some of the best stuff in the region (I'm going to dedicate a post to Mezcal soon, I'm learning more by the day, suffice it to say that my mind is blown by this liquor), and I ran into Janelle from Portland

Who was taking a photo as well

Since I Left You

A jam for the ages, especially for drinking beers in the late afternoon sun. We had this album when I was sailing off the West coast of Australia and the girls used to "rinse the rubbish out of it".

White Animal Sound- Valentine's Day- Cafe Central- Oaxaca City

Ha ha I've got a paid gig here in Oaxaca city next week DJing at the coolest bar in Oaxaca- the Mescaleria Cafe Central. Polka Madre hooked me up with connection with the Manager, la "morena muy guapa" Princessa Yadira. I'll be playing Balkan Club remixes, Gypsy House, Cumbia and Dubstep, which may sound a bit like this:


I'll upload the flyer when it is ready. Aheuvos!

Backpackering Once Again

I'm now in the city of Oaxaca, a very lovely if very touristy place, so it's back to being a "backpacker" for me after a nearly 2 year hiatus. Nothing has changed, of course. As ever there are the beer-soaked midnight political discussions with a random assortment of international youths who are most often filled with sophormoric, idealistic, anti-American sentiments with all the depth of a Manu Chau lyric.

But here's a new one: last night I met an Isreali who didn't like Obama. That one made me want to vomit technicolor acid in both of our faces. I bought him another beer instead.

Pachecko Bowl 2009!

The Superbowl party at Raymundo's was the shit. I was surprised to learn that Mexicans actually care about Futball Americano, or at least they make a big deal about the Superbowl. Just like in the states, it's a holiday where everyone pretends to care about football for a day and eats and drinks like crazy. Luckily we were rewarded with an amazing football game. It really looked like it could go either way and both teams were playing their hearts out. Most of the guys there were supporting the Cardinals, and me and Andrew were rooting for The Steelers in honor of our Yinser freinds back home.

Chicharones. I love these things. You have to cover them in salt, lime and hot sauce and have them with beer to really appreciate them. You probably think that you don't like "pork rinds", but you are just being victimized by unconscious classism.







And here it is: the game winning catch. We were going nuts.




Afterwards we went to another legendary taco place. On the right of the photo you can see the lady rolling out cornmeal into tortillas on an antique roller and throwing them onto the flat top grill.

The tortillas come out like cornmeal crepes, and are excessively banging.

Old Geezer Riddim

Big New Riddim for 09- Old Geezer Riddim


The Vybez cut is good up front but you can skip right past the Beenie and Wayne Wonder, because the ladies are running this one: the Timberlee track which starts at 4 minutes is called "Nuh Backdoor Delivery", and you know what that's about, butt.. ladies, this is just her opinions. Everybody knows you shouldn't listen to every message in a dancehall song. Anyway the real winner on this riddim is the new girl group TNT, which starts at 5 minutes 30, which she sends out to all ladies "if ya pum pum nuh cheesy".

Hangin' with Billy Vayez

We went to Billy's family's house on an invitation to go eat Pancita. At first I thought this was some kind of cake or "little bread"- ("pan-cita¨), but no, I think the divination of the word has more to do with the "Pan" in "Pancreas". It´s guts. Stomach, liver, and intestines of a cow, cleaned and cooked slowly in a spicy tomato broth. I knew it would be rough, but I valued the invitation, so I went, along with the Finns Pekka and Tejjya. When they were ready, we dressed the Pancita with raw onion, oregano and lime. Unfortuntely they made it not as mind-meltingly spicy as they usually would, but it was still spicy enough to make you forget what you were eating. For a moment. I chewed as little as possible and washed it down with Micheladas- beer with salt lime and salsa picante. The broth was very good and I even managed to eat all the Pancita while still smiling and thanking the hosts. Pekka, though, was having a harder time. His eyes were watering and he kept looking around as if for a way out. I was like "Nigga, don´t your people eat reindeer and rotten fish?"

This young lady was there to witness the whole hilarious spectacle.

After we finished, we walked out of Billy's front door and right onto the set of a Rick Bayless PBS episode. If you don't know, Bayless is a famous chef and host of many travel documentary shows about Mexican food. Here, he was filming a segment for his show "Mexico: One Plate at a Time" at a torta stand famous (i guess) for tortas de Bacalao y Pavo in Adobo. His niece/daughter or whoever he was filming with was looking crazy right, I was trying to see if she wanted to film some outtakes with me.
In the Tepito market- Cowboys.

Tepito Market- El Santo.
Then Billy took me to his apartment, which is filled with tanks where he is breeding exotic fish, including these Pirranhas. Saludos, Billy!
MEXICO CITY, BITCH!

AL PASTOR

One more time before I leave this city for the homes of other regional specialties, I kneel at the altar of Al Pastor!

Stencil Art

Andrew's stencil art is kind of killing it...












And his luck in finding understanding girlfriends is mind boggling.

Mexican Sushi

A sushi roll, stuffed with Gouda Cheese and jalapenos, breaded and deep fried. Dip it into a jalapeno-infused soy sauce. Go ahead, you know you want to.

I Couldn't Say it to Your Face

I discovered another great song by the crazy genius Arthur Russell. How predictive of Will Oldham is this song? He even had the same style at this time:
Arthur Russell- I Couldn't Say it to your Face

Al Museo

The Modern Art Museum in Parque Chaptultapec is great. They had an expo of a great surreal/psychedelic artist named Albert Glass, an exhibit about the design style for the 1968 Mexico Olympics (Check those dresses below, so killin it, I would date a girl just for wearing one of those), Plus some Mexican classics. Highly reccomended.

Aguas Frescas, Jugos Naturales y Liquados

There's a spot in the market near Casa Kramer where you can get the most amazing fresh juice combos like Fresa, Pina y Naranja or aguas frescas like horchata and jimaica for next to nothing. A pint of fresh juice with only a bit of added sugar to suit the tastes of Mexicans will cost you 15 pesos- roughly a dollar. Sometimes I feel like such a smart bastard for coming here.

Crossover cultura

Here are some examples of inspiring cultural fusion between Mexico and the U.S.:

Pan por Los crudos

Andrew and Tanya made this down-home meal of lentil soup and toasted bread with beans and cheese, which was profoundly comforting on one of those crudo 2pm Mexico City mornings where everyone is muttering under their breath "Quiero Morir."

ANIMAL ROTO

(Broken Animal) This was a show at the Contemporary Art museum in D.F. here is the mission statement:

the best part of it is this:

Symptomatically, the the physical and spiritual ailments now fracturing contemporary society are related to the degradation of the intuitive and powerfully interconnected animal we all carry within us.

Symptomatically, the the physical and spiritual ailments now fracturing contemporary society are related to the degradation of the intuitive and powerfully interconnected animal we all carry within us.

Symptomatically, the the physical and spiritual ailments now fracturing contemporary society are related to the degradation of the intuitive and powerfully interconnected animal we all carry within us.

Homocidas Gourmet

We went and saw Marina's sister (who is also a part-time actress on telenovellas) in a play called "Homocidas Gourmet" about Frecas (yuppie) Hipsters that kill people for fun.



Here is Marina's sister Laura with her back turned to the audience, displaying what I thought was hands down the best aspect of the performance.