i’m no fan of iron maiden, but even i know that. and while on the topic, anyone else feels iron maiden’s coming down to india way too often?

for those who came in late, dna is a newspaper, and made a biggish deal about tweeting live from the maiden concert in bangalore.
not the dna networks people who did the concert.
santosh lobo, i don’t know.

nepal’s answer to bob marley: dharam gurung with his hit single gorkha soldiers.

sample lyrics, with accent:
you’re the gorkha sholdiers
you’re the ishtrong sholdiers
you’re the great warriohs
you’re the brave sholdiers
thoujands of you way preejoners
thoujands of you way eenjored
thoujands of you way meeshing
you never lose your day-ring

thanks to pg for giving me a reason to blog.

but really, 6 movies a day, including repeats? and a name that’s a rip off of two rival channels? and unnecessary censoring? and english subtitles on english films? and incorrect ones, at that?

i was watching scary movie 2 the other night, and there’s this one bit that’s a spoof on charlie’s angels. you know the bit with the prodigy’s smack my bitch up. that’s right… censored lyrical subtitles: snap my picture!

so this particular moron sent out a whole lot of mails (with all the addresses in the to: field), and even sent one to president@whitehouse.gov. and someone decided to turn the tables on him… the full story here…

anyway, it happened a day after a surprise party for sam at park baluchi, where i met up with some faces i hadn’t seen in ages. andy, pankaj, adil, gary, arpan and random others. almost everyone has moved on from the early starving rock days. except gary. but he’s still young.

the main awards ceremony was held a day later at elevate. and we were all in the vip section. posh! we even got to wear those supposedly un-tear-off-able wrist bands. and they were pouring jd on the house. being the whiskey man i am, i did not complain. hell… they even converted “half-beer” gandhi into a four-pegger. missed most of the awards on account of being a bar-prop. from what i remember, a giggly neha kapur and vir das gave out the first set of awards. with a random walk-on by zila khan. she got on stage, shook hands with the mc’s, said hi to the sound technicians, and walked off. when it was her turn to give out awards, she burst into song. sufi song. if i wasn’t drunk, i’d have laughed my ass off. she must have been on something, too.

and vir das is not funny. seriously. you don’t make himesh reshammiya jokes at a long-hair convention. we don’t get that kind of humour. and it doesn’t improve things by making seventeen jokes about him in one go.

performance-wise, pentagram blew my mind. again. parikrama did an all-original set (i think), a day after they opened for iron maiden with an all-original set. good going for them. motherjane, infinitely better than their last performance at cafe morrison. them clones… they’re consistent. bandish… well… i went out to buy cigarettes and socialize a bit.

but pentagram. fuck. they’re miles ahead of everyone else. the songs, the energy, the presence. especially the presence. that’s something bombay bands have always had over others… they look like rockstars, they act like rockstars, they get treated like rockstars. not like a bunch of bored call centre executives at their annual festival.

and the downside to the evening. two things:

• sam told me to wear a suit. i passed on the message to everyone else. bummed a coat off achint. felt like an idiot when i got there.
• i threw up when i got back. that ended my puke-free since ‘93 session. bummer.

1. things that are not cool at spa:

1. messing around with girls (unless they’re your own)
2. messing around with sound equipment
3. messing with the bands
4. acting like a prick

2. things that are cool, however:

1. getting drunk
2. getting stoned
3. enjoying yourself
4. beating up people who indulge in 1.1/2/3/4

the moron from this year’s fight at utopia was caught doing all four from section 1.

messages to people:

@ the guy who got beaten up: i have your bag, with the two books you were reading: manufacturing science and notes to myself: my struggle to become a person. you’ll really need that second book. and your air force application form… forget about that. they do drug-tests before they let you in. and your sweater… man, it stinks. i gave it away.

@ deepak/nitin/other random “punks”: you guys are not welcome. ever. the announcement i made was for you guys, and your friends. even if you come in on crutches, you will not be spared. you should know that about us. no amount of giving gurtej or me the eye would make you a hero. you guys are not kush/sumit/sarvesh… and you will never be welcome here. take a hint. and tell your friends that when they’re getting beaten up, they shouldn’t namedrop you guys. it just worsens the situation.

i know none of these guys would be around here. but if someone would be kind enough to pass on the message, everyone at spa would be very grateful.

postscript: the guy survived, he was last seen crying and running across the ring road, dodging trucks. he even gave me the metal horns on his way out. or was it the finger? i guess i’ll never know.

this post appeared in a slightly different format over at rsj.