Tuesday, July 30, 2013

New Podcast Episode: Ten For Tuesday Episode 36

This episode had to be changed after a problem last week with one of my music files and it delayed me getting it done for reasons I describe in the podcast. If you don't like music from different genres, decades and languages then you won't like this episode at all. Artists from Peru, Argentina, Spain, Philippines, the U.K. and the U.S. are all featured. It's got old music, it's got new music, it's got good music. Now I just hope I get it out in time.



Dave Edmunds - Me And The Boys
Au Pairs - Come Again
La Oreja De Van Gogh - Soledad
Grupo Fantasma - Hijo
The Forthrights - Lord I Pray
Put3ska - Moonstomp Tonight
The Big Six - Groovy Geezer
Souldier Of Fortune - Payaso
Pedro Suarez Vertiz - Los Globos Del Cielo
Los Autenticos Decadentes - La Guitarra

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

It's Storming Outside

I was sitting at my desk in the bowels of the hospital tonight when the lights started dimming. Suddenly the power flicked off and came back on. As I attempted to restart my computer I could hear the fire doors in the hallway closing themselves over and over. That was my indicator that there was a major storm brewing outside. Then came the call from my wife informing me of how bad it was outside as she implored me to wait until it blew over before coming home. I assured her I would and then clocked out and stepped outside to assess the situation for myself.

It was bad, really bad. From the entrance of the parking garage to where I was standing was at least one hundred and fifty feet but I could clearly see the wind fiercely blowing rain a good forty feet inside. That was enough to make the decision for me. I pulled my truck around to where I could observe what was happening and so here I sit waiting for it to die down enough for me to drive home.

Nature is funny that way. A storm can brew up seemingly from out of nowhere and catch you unawares if you let it. Here in Oklahoma we suffer from tornadoes and severe thunder storms. In Lima, Peru where I just spent three weeks they have earthquakes (as well as regular power and water outages). I'm sure wherever you are Mother Nature does something potentially nasty or at least bothersome. It's the way things are in life. You just have to learn to ride it out as best you can and wait for your chance to get to safer ground. I think it's time for me to try it now.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Saturday, July 20, 2013

The Name Says It All



We  were in the bus station in Pisco, Peru when I decided to step outside and see if I could find someplace where I could get a snack and some change. Across the street was this sign over a beauty salon and I had to take a picture of it. You see, in Peru regular business owners don't let little things like copyright infringement worry them too much. They'll use famous peoples faces or names or logos without giving it a second thought. I mean realistically is Facebook going to send lawyers to Pisco and look for this shop in order to give them a cease and desist order and then hang around to verify that it is followed? I think not.

The funny thing is that Christian (the boyfriend of my wife's cousin Melissa) had gone out of the station as well and when he got back he showed me a picture he had taken on his phone of this very same sign. I guess great minds think alike. A great site to find these kinds of photos and other funny things is www.perufail.com and I believe this shop was featured there several years ago. As long as you keep your eyes open you can see funny things like this a lot. Now as to the question of whether or not using a prominent face, name or logo will help your unassociated business increase its clientele, well, who knows if it's effective or not, but I'm sure it doesn't hurt.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

New Podcast Episode: Ten For Tuesday 35



www.tenfortuesday.podomatic.com

It's been a while. I originally had this episode all but put together before experiencing software difficulties. Then I went on vacation to Peru for three weeks. Really. So after returning I finally got around to trying to figure out what was wrong and get the episode out. While I never did find out what was wrong I was able to replace a song and re-record my spoken part and voile, ten more nuggets of sonic splendidness are now available for your listening pleasure. You're welcome.

Bob Mould - Star Machine
Rat City Riot - Highway Hymns
The Nods - Ray Gun Sally
Barbara Y Los Rotos Del Rock - Tu No Sabes Quien Soy
Blondie - Mother
The Slackers - Bin Waitin
The Urge - All Washed Up
Robbie Robertson - Showdown At Big Sky
The James Hunter Six - Minute By Minute
The Generators - City Of Angels

Ten For Tuesday is a podcast dedicated to playing the music I couldn’t find anywhere else. The music I like varies from style to style, genre to genre and era to era. You will hear punk, ska, rock, Americana, metal, country, rockabilly and more from all over the world. It doesn’t matter if it’s a major label or indie as long as I like it then it gets played. The motto is Less Talk More Music which means you won’t hear me waxing poetic for fifteen minutes between songs. At TFT it’s all about the music…..and me of course.

Email: tenfortuesday@gmail.com   Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Urinating In Paracas, Peru

 

I saw this sign in the bathroom of the right on the beach restaurant we went to in Paracas, Peru after we had taken a boat trip to the Isle de Ballestas. The thing that stood out to me was that if the owners or manager or whoever felt the need to put this sign up there was a reason and that reason could only be an ongoing problem with people urinating on the floor. I mean, you don't put up a sign like this in order to prevent something that isn't already occurring.

The food was great and the restaurant was nice so I can't think of too many reasons why they would have this kind of problem. Unless of course some patrons were consuming so many cervezas that they found themselves unable to aim accurately when it counted. Since it's a place where you get many tourists, both national and international, it wouldn't surprise me if that's the case.

At any rate I found the sign amusing enough that I took the picture, alright I took two pictures but this one was the best.  I won't comment on whether my aim was steady or not back in the days that I used to drink. I'll leave that to the imagination.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Back In The States!!!!


After three weeks (wish it had been longer) I'm finally back in the States. What better time than now to start writing about my trip to Peru? Actually when I planned this whole thing out I envisioned myself blogging and podcasting while I was down there. Didn't happen that way. One thing I learned about life in Peru is that plans are always just that, plans. Things change from day to day, hour to hour and even minute to minute. Just because someone says they'll do something with you doesn't mean it will happen. You have to learn to be fluid and ready to adapt to the ever changing situations that present themselves.

Some of the things I wanted to do the most never came close to happening but that's okay. While I didn't get to go to Marcahuasi (I need to get in better shape) I did go to Ica and rode in a giant dune buggie and even sandboarded at Hucachina, well sort of. Our driver gave us the boards and instructed us to lay down on them and go down the dunes. I guess it's safer that way. I also took a boat (with about 40 other people) and went to the Isla Ballestas in Paracas. I even went to Ticlio which is 4,818 meters high and very cold. All this was done from a revolving cast of family, friends and boy/girlfriends.

Of course I'm disappointed about some of the things I didn't get around to but I guess there's always the next time. This time I got to live everyday life with my wife's family. I road in taxis, the electric train, combis both big and small, buses and even a mototaxi. The train would have been on this list as well but we couldn't wait around in Matucana to see if one showed up or not. My wife was pleasantly surprised that I was able to take the combi by myself to pick up our son from school (he went for a month) and then adjust on the fly and take a different one back when good old number 21 didn't stop to pick us up. Given my limited knowledge if the Spanish language I'd say I did okay for myself.

Next time I hope to make a few things happen and venture out more on my own. That means I need to make a serious effort to speak more Spanish. Unless of course we move there, then immersion will take care of that for me.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.