The Syncretist International » prague

Bach and Dvořák @ Dvořák Hall

stellar magnet — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:50:24 +0000

I heard some Bach and Dvořák performed at the Rudolfinum’s Dvořák Hall. It was delightful. The hall was quite exquisite as well. This is my first classical music sort of concert. Funny how lots of people totally dress up really fancy like — I was wearing jeans and a hoodie. My roommate treated me as a thanks for computer help throughout the week. I have to admit that near the end of the performance I was kind of falling asleep … what can you do! But there were some moments that had my full attention as well. Long day… Oh yeah, they do encores at these types of concerts as well, in case you were wonderin’.

J. S. BACH: Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B flat major BWV 1051
J. S. BACH: Concerto in D major for three violins and orchestra BWV 1064
A. DVOŘÁK: Silent Woods for cello and orchestra op. 68
A. DVOŘÁK: String Quintet in G major op. 77 (arrangement)

Czech Chamber Orchestra
violin Jana Vlachová, Dana Vlachová, Maria Ericsson Vlach
cello Mikael Ericsson
rehearsed by Jana Vlachová

Praguing Along The Water

stellar magnet — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:49:29 +0000

Various shots of Prague with the Vltava river.

Letna Park

stellar magnet — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:47:12 +0000

Letna Park is marvelous. It’s high up and overlooks the city center. Most of the people hang out at the beer garden…. what else, what else… it’s just chill and kind of the daily place to hang out.

April 7th in Prague

stellar magnet — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:39:42 +0000

Wandered around Old Town, satiated my hunger with another plate of bulgar risotto from Lehká Hlava, enjoyed the sunshine in Letna Park, attended an art opening, walked along the water (kinda) and then winded down the evening with a classical music concert and some pasta (both treated to me by my roommate as a thanks for helping him with computer problems). A good day, I’d say!

Blind Eye on Sunday

stellar magnet — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:51:45 +0000

Sooo I showed up to Blind Eye around 9:30pm on Sunday night and the bartender didn’t know anything about a DJ coming, but I explained to him my deal. Later on the owner was there for a second so it was all good. I managed to get three couchsurfers + three of their friends to come, so that’s six people that I brought– I feel good about that! Otherwise I guess at the best point of the night there were like 15-20 people in the bar. I got a maximum of 4 people dancing. Requests that I fulfilled: Blue Öyster Cult, The Clash, The Sex Pistols, Queen, Nirvana, and Led Zeppelin. Unfulfilled requests: System of a Down (never!), The Doors, Cream. The crowd generally had good taste. This girl gave me a shot of something that tasted like Goldschlagger. When I played the Ramones this guy came up to me and pointed to his Ramones shirt and was happy. I had a lot of fun and DJing made me happy. No pictures though…. just picture a mostly empty bar and me behind a DJ booth playing songs off my laptop and a cute bartender dude. Oh yeah at one point in the night these two cops came in and showed us all this picture of a man, apparently a murderer. They were looking for him. None of us had spotted this murderer. I have never witnessed police searching the streets for a murderer and showing a picture until now.

Persian Picnic in Prague

stellar magnet — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 23:19:42 +0000

So over the past couple of weeks I had been messaging this couchsurfer Djali, who is 1/4 Persian and 3/4 Czech, about getting together and cooking some Persian food. Since the weather started to get nice we decided on a picnic. So we had the picnic on Saturday! It was a success. I cooked the Persian things (Kookoo Sabzi and Adas Polo) and Djali made some meat. We had the picnic on this hill in Djali’s neighborhood. There were many bottles of wine, including a bottle from Russian River that our friend David brought! See video of David below, talking about how to bring cool wine to a picnic. He’s French. Our picnic was quite international: we had a person from Portugal, Germany, Russia, France, Czech Republic and three Americans (one of unknown origins, one of Greek nationality and one of Iranian nationality – me). After the picnic we crammed six people into an elevator to Djali’s apt. and we got stuck. Paul, the artist, and Petr, this couchsurfer from Moscow, figured out a way to get us out though… after being in there for like 5-10 minutes. Good job guys!

Prague Walks, Tea, Hookah & Wine

stellar magnet — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 23:03:54 +0000

On Friday I walked from my neighborhood of Kobylisy to the city center, which was about 6.5 km. It was a really nice and sunny day! On my way to the center I passed by this fair, so I went in to explore it — I found the scariest ride and rode that. It did the truck with making me fear for my life when the thing spun me to the top (see picture below). After the fair I went to a tea-house and met up with a group of couchsurfers. Post tea-house we headed to a hookah place/restaurant and the five of us had some soup and more tea and apple hookah. There was a belly dancer. Post hookah place, there was three of us remaining and we went to a beer garden first and then had drinks at Blind Eye this kinda rocker bar owned by an American expat. It was nice. I talked to the owner and asked him if I could DJ for free on Sunday and he said sure (they usually don’t have DJs on Sundays). Time to get some mp3s together, whoo!

Dinner at Lehka Hlava

stellar magnet — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:10:08 +0000

Oh man, I had the most amazing dinner last night at this restaurant called Lehka Hlava. I went there with my new friend Paul or Art Zog (you could see him pictured in the crammed metro photo in the previous post). He’s friends of an SF friend and an awesome artist in residence here in Prague. Anyway so we went to this restaurant and it was fantastic. He ordered these couscous-feta croquettes and I had a bulgar-tempeh pilaf sort of thing. So delicious. The restaurant was decorated interestingly, there was a starry ceiling and the tables where like lamp-tables.

Prague: Film Fest & Public Transporation

stellar magnet — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 13:35:20 +0000

I have been in Prague for over a week now and haven’t seen much of the city, because I have been going to Village Cinemas almost everyday for the Febio Fest. It’s ending on Friday but I’m not going to the cinemas anymore! I’ve had enough. The movies I ended up seeing and my ratings based on 4 stars are: Mysterious Skin (****), Dear Wendy(**), Wendy & Lucy (***), Adoration (****), It’s All About Love (***), Plastic City (*), Vegas: Based on a True Story (***), More (**), Encarnación (**), The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1 (***), Nightmare Detective (****). Best soundtrack = Mysterious Skin (lots of Slowdive songs and original music composed by Harold Budd & Robin Guthrie). I saw one director: Amir Naderi — he spoke a little bit before & after his Vegas: Based on a True Story film. Nightmare Detective is a great Japanese horror film. The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1 is written by Lars Von Trier and is satire on Danish film school.

The public transportation in Prague is pretty great. The underground stops running around 12-1am but there are buses & street trams that run all night and the signage/way-finding is pretty great. At every bus stop & tram stop there is also a schedule. The night buses & trams seem to come every 30 minutes. Right around the time when the metro stops running in the center of town, the trams are crowded as fuck though! But after a few stops it kind of clears a little. Luckily I am staying near where one of the trams terminates so I haven’t had to take one cab, but it does take about an hour to get home. They also use one of those honorary ticket systems here like in most of Europe, and I can’t say that I have been purchasing too many tickets.

Merzbow in Prague

stellar magnet — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 09:12:15 +0000

I saw Merzbow last night – a totally bone rattling experience. I recorded a video and I was just looking at it now and there’s no point in sharing it with anyone since it sounds like shit! But i have some pictures… basically yeah he is up there with two laptops and occasionally he plays this thing that looks like a guitar without the arm. Lots of noise (duh), really loud, and this thumping sound in the background most of the night. He played for about an hour, the end was the best, with the strobey lights shining on him… my camera had run out of batteries at that point, because i recorded a bunch of worthless video… I shoulda known better. My ears were ringing afterwards. The venue was nice — the Archa Theatre.