The 3rd World Rocker

The show was a success, all my favorite people were there. I was very delighted to see some old friends arrive as well, all the way back from my PGCC days, wow. And even new comers who got to see me for the 1st time =)

We all had a blast, it was more of an intimate concert than anything else, and I had no problems with that. Friends were requesting songs, and shouting titles of material I haven’t playing in YEARS. It was so wonderful.

I even met a new friend, his name is Robert, he’s originally from Berkeley (how ironic), and he was on Michael’s mailing list. He told me “No offense, but I came to see Michael, I didn’t expect to see you, but you were a wonderful treat”..I thought that was very cool. I’m glad I could help Robert =)

So, PICTURES, w00t.
Ali brought his camera, which eats through batteries like its free. But he managed to get some very cool pictures of the night.
I have them displayed of course on my FaceBook [The Last MD Show of 2008].
Thank you to all the wonderful people who came out, and for those who watched us online (we were getting texts left and right).

Now I must prepare to go finish cleaning up the apartment, Mom & Meezo came over after breaking out fast yesterday and helped me clean and move the rest of my major things. We got back home (Oxon Hill) around 2am..I love those guys.
So today I’m going back and finish up the little things,then I’ll be meeting with Derik & Amy for dinner, then afterwards meet up with my good friend RobTom, then hopefully spend the rest of the night with Lisa.

I hand in the keys/inspection tomorrow, there is still no home for my guinea pig yet =(. Insha Allah something will come up soon.
Have a wonderful Sunday everyone.

Salaam.

Michael Berkowitz & I will be alternatively folking up the Java Mammas this Friday. w00t.
It is originally Michael’s gig, but he was kind enough to ask me to join him that night, so it became my last show before I head out.

Here is the info:
This Friday 9/26 – Show starts at 7pm
The Java Mammas
324 Main St
Reisterstown, MD 21136

I do hope that you can it, and if not, it will be broadcasted as usual at The Ash vLogs. The link is on the right side, under the BlogRoll.
Later.

Salaam.

So the TSS department throw a going away party for me.
That was very nice of them, they brought pizza & drinks. So many people came, it was so awesome. Almost every department was represented, it was so awesome. I honestly was not expecting such a large turn out, but it was so wonderful to see everyone. I think my cheeks hurt from all the smiling =D

Everyone was so kind to me, and they all wished me luck on my new journey, and encouraged me to keep in touch.
I did promise them that I would give any tech advice I can online =), so as long as they post their questions / tech problems, I will respond =)

Awesome. I will miss my MICANs, they were great.
Salaam.

So! its literally coming down to mere days before I head out west. I must say I’m starting to get some butterflies in my stomach, their more like dragonflies if you ask me.

So I’ve been trying to find the “quickest” way to communicate with everyone at once. We all know that it has been decided that this Blog will be my main source of information to all my beloved friends, but how would I let you know that there is a new blog?. I know my good friend Artum signed up for my RSS Feed (The Ash UpDates), which lets him know when ever a new blog is posted, that’s one way.

The other is through Twitter, the thing I like about Twitter is that I can actually text information, because I seriously doubt that there will be many WiFi connections in our Mid-West-iesh route. Hopefully there is, but just in case there isn’t I wanted to be able to communicate with you all. Some of you have already befriended me on there, but for those who are not on Twitter, you can still see my updates if you go to Twitter.com/ashAfied. The thing is, I have turned my phone update off, that means if you respond, to an entry I’ve entered by “text”, I will not see your response unless I check my page..but if I could check my page then I wouldn’t need to text in the first place.

So in short, Twitter will be my alternative of quick communication through the road, if I don’t have WiFi to update you in detail. I will also use it to say “Hey everyone, a new Blog post from Arizona”, and then you could come here and read it =)

Its kind of cool, and scary, of how communicated we all are. And its all due to the fact that Al Gore invented the internet =)
Have a great Tuesday everyone.
I’ll see you soon.

Salaam.

Hello all,
So as you know its Thursday 9/18, there for it is The Java Mammas open mic in Riesterstown MD.
We shall be broadcasting tonight’s open mic, if I’m not mistaken its James Sutton’s band who is the feature for the tonight. So hopefully you can make it to the shop, if not, then make sure to check out all the action online.
The Ash vLogs link is under the Blogroll section on the right –>
See you there (or online) =)

Also my good friend Huda gave me Soundgarden’s Superunknown on CD yesterday, sweeeet. I had the actual tape and wore that sucker out, so now that I have it on disc, may Allah have mercy on my mp3 player =)

Also since I’m on my 2 week countdown, I’ve decided to sell some of my stuff. Check out my post on Craig’s List, and let me know if either you or a friend might be interested in any of these.

Have a great Thursday.

Salaam.

Last night was freaking awesome, some our friends were not able to make it (Heather, Michael, Brennan, Lisa) and so many others, but Rob shot out a mass text message to all his friends and before you know it, we had people texting us back saying the can see us on the internet =).
It was so much fun, the list started off a little short, but everyone was so great.

I was lucky enough to be the featured artiest, and the crowed was SO supportive and engaging. I literally felt like a Rockstar. One of my favorite comments of the night was said to me by Uncle John, he told me that the first song I played (Blue Zahra) gave him this feeling that he was sitting in a tent in the middle of the desert playing music…that is AWESOME! Then I found out that he had actually been to Bahrain and my song kind of transcended him to his stay in the middle east.
Nice.
I had a great time last night, too bad I couldn’t share it with everyone, but that’s why we had it recorded, and everything sounds pretty good too, sweet.

Check out the whole show from The Ash vLogs link on the right.
Its the whole night, so its almost 3 hours long.
Hope you enjoy it.
Salaam.

So I wanted to remind everyone that tonight I am the featured artiest at The Java Mammas.
Rob has expressed interest in me broadcasting the whole event tonight (The Open Mic). I’m assuming this could be used in the future so that no one would ever miss an open mic ever again, since you can watch it from the comfort of you home.
Just go to The Ash vLogs link on the right under Blogroll
sweet =)

My friend Ehab did indeed give me admin access to the Jota Lounge site that he is starting. He even had me start on the forum. I create it, published it, but I can’t find it when I log in as a normal person to post in it. I still have much to learn. But its a promising start.

Well, I hope to either see you in person at the Java Mammas Open Mic tonight, or I hope you get to see me online.
Also I believe Michael Berkowitz will be there to help promote our show on Friday 9/26.

Salaam.

Oh man! I was living a lie.
I thought I was the only Sudanese who was trying to make it as a rocker. I completely forgot about the younger Sudanese generation who are here, like me.

He goes by the name of MO, and he’s on MySpace. From what I have heard on his page, he’s going more for the traditional American rock, and even some Pink Floyd-iesh tracks as well.
And on top of that, he’s already in LA.
Man!. I need to get cracking if I want to be the first Sudanese on the American Charts.
It is now, officially, ON.

Salaam.

So last night was very moody for me, the night just wouldn’t straighten up and today its very gloomy outside. Oh boy. Its going to be one of those weeks isn’t it.

Comcast is being retarded, my wireless signal is at full bar, but the internet isn’t working. It asks me to put in my “account number” or verify my address. And even when I do that it says “oh I’m running into an error you’ll have to call Comcast to help you”. What? the internet was working fine, and the cable TV is working, so I know there is signal, the modem’s lights are solid, no blinking of any kind, so why the retardation man? and I actually had to use the web for something too. Arrgh!

I was speaking with my friend Ehab, and spoke to my again about “Jota Lounge”. He wants it to be a social network for Arab artiest from around the world. He voiced interest in passing down the administrative privileges to yours truly, so I could have both access and creative rights to create Podcasts and what not to make the site approachable and hopefully a hit amongst the young ones =)
I’m starting to like this idea, it will encourage me actually upgrade my equipment once I settle in Cali to produce better quality then I can do now. Also he said he knows a Sudanese alternative musician in LA (think Pink Floyd) wholly cheeseburgers batman. Can you imagine if the two of us actually joined forces? sweet mama jama, it will rock =)

I actually took a look at the recording that I did from last Saturday’s show, and the audio was horrid. The problem is 2 things:
#1- My equipment are very basic for “my” needs, but not mass broadcasting.
#2- The website isn’t set up in a way that will allow me to actually “check” the audio. It has to be done by another computer, because if I refresh the page on the shame machine, it keeps looping back with feedback. Hopefully I will figure something out, so wish me luck with that.

So there are 2 Ash Shows now. w00t.
Thursday (9/11): I am the featured artiest at the Java Mammas open mic.
Friday (9/26): Michael Berkowitz (award winning folk songwriter) had asked me to play a show with him at the Java Mammas.
Both shows will be broadcast-ed of course, and I’ll make sure to post reminders.

Believe it or not, I’ve actually started packing. I think I will be able to fit everything I “need” into on giant gym bag. I have the books I want to keep, some of my gadgets, my HP laptop…I think I’m almost done. I’m going to take a couple of sweaters just in case. A friend of mine needs extra clothes to make a prototype of an Islamic male attire, that is both fashionable and functional. So I’ll end up giving her most of the clothes to help her with that project.

Wow. I really kept busy last night.
Hopefully I’ll be able to finish up Friday and not need the 2nd bag my mother is offering.
Well. Lets hope today will be better Insha Allah (god willing)

Take care my good friends.
Salaam.