Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra - Again ...

After my first visit to the JPO, 2 weeks ago; I was hooked. Hooked enough to be contemplating a "season" ticket for the next season, starting in August. This time around, it was a Russian evening once again, with a young American pianist Pallavi Mahidhara, as the soloist.

The first short piece was the overture to Glinka's Russlan and Ludmilla Opera followed by Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No 2 in C Minor a very impressive musical piece, and Mahidhara's performance was brilliant, richly deserving the standing ovation at the end. The last piece, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 4 in F Minor was really a celebration of what an orchestra is all about - a lot of different musical instruments combining with perfect timing. Particularly humourous for me, were the guys standing up to play the triangle and cymbals (after sitting down for about 90% of the piece).

Wonderboom

Wonderboom are old hands on the rock scene in South Africa. With numerous hits, and a long time on the South African scene; they are one of the most professional bands - and their gigs show it. They have their own crew, mixing was perfect and guitars and equipment were all set up before the gig. But most of all, the band has chracters and great on stage performance - from the drunk and essentric drummer (Danny), the subdued lead guitarist, Martin to a very energetic bass guitarist, Wade and great vocalist in Cito - they combine well, and give a great show.

Back 2 Basix is a strange venue in many respects - it used to be a house - and so it feels quite intimate. But despite the great band, the crowd was quite small - about 30 to 40 - and not the 100 odd expected (as per the barman). But despite the small crowd, it was a rocking show, and definitely one of the best rock shows I have been to in Jo'burg.

Security and Liberty

According to the Mail and Guardian, the founder of Auto and General (a South African short term insurance company) has offered the government R1 Billion to fund a new approach to crime fighting.

Essentially his plan is to provide a lot more technology tools - satellites, helicopter patrols, computers etc. While the motivation is certainly noble, as is the business motivation (less crime leads to less theft leading to less payouts for A&G), two questions need to be asked.

1) Is funding the main cause of South Africa's, so far, unsuccessful battle against crime. And,

2) Are high tech solutions such as satelites and CCTV cameras worth it.

On the first question - I don't think money itself is an issue. The South African police need better pay, better training, more motivation, better tools. I somehow doubt R1 billion is what the government has been missing and thus could not implement. That said, every little bit helps.

In terms of high tech solutions, I am reminded of the quote:
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." --- Benjamin Franklin
that is often brought up in privacy papers (and in Civ 4). There is always a trade-off between security and indiviual liberty. The tighter the security controls, the less individual liberty and vice-versa. It would be good for the police to all have computer systems that can efficiently capture reports (crime, accidents etc) and provide correlation of different crimes in terms of time and location. However, linking police solutions to high end monitoring solutions such as CCTV cameras with facial recognition would start to erode liberty that South Africa struggled to achieve.

Ultimately, the root causes of crime in South Africa, including the lack-lusture justice system need to be addressed. Better policing will help, but not necessary solve the problem.

Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra

I don't know the technicalities and the jargon of music - especially classical music. However, I really like listening to classical music - it is very different to rock, metal, jazz and hip=hop - there is a certain grandeur and complexity that is just not present in most modern music. There is also a certain air of "class" - performers are all dressed up and the audience is all dressed up in smart/formal wear. And although most of the audience is old grey haired pensioners, there are more than a few young people.

I came across the listing of the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra by chance - and the lineu-up of russian composers was intriguing (not that I recognised any of the names). The first piece - Overture to Prince Igor (Alexander Borodin) - was comparatively short, and an excellent warm-up to the rest of the concert. The second piece, Piano Concerto No 3 in C Major (Sergei Prokofiev) featured Japanese soloist Ayano Shimada, and had a amazing conclusion. While the first parts were seemingly simple, the latter parts featured amazingly complex musical performance - both from the soloist and the supporting orchestra. The last piece was my favourite for the evening - Scheherazade, Opus 35 (Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov) - a trully grand masterpiece involving a mix of a number of differenct musical instruments and sounds.

Apart from the music - two other thoughts: watching the conductor do his thing is quite a lot of fun and the guy who plays the cymbals had impecable timing, but looked quite bored most of the time. I am still not sure why the conductor is so valued, but his direction of various performers was quite amusing to watch.

Orchestral music is amazing in its complexity - the number of different parts and the timing of the various actors. I am really keen to go again - esp in two weeks time for the last concert of the current season featuring a few more Russian composers, only this time I know of them :)

ITWeb Security Summit

I have been to many conferences, but this is the first time I have been to an industry only focussed conference. Apart from the product placements, the key difference between academic and industry conferences is in the level of detail and the practical application of the knowledge. In academic conferences, there is real in-depth knowledge and discussions while most presentations at industry seem to be at the glossy level - and stop just as things were getting really interesting. Conversely, the practicality of issues dealt with at this conference was much more tangible than that at academic conferences.

There were some great talks in the past three days - Phil Zimmerman's keynote on VoIP security, Tyler Moore's talk on economics of security, Fransisco Artes' talk on security of MMO games and really interesting talk by "The Grugq" on why there are criminal hackers.

What was ultimately annoying, was the short time spans of some of the really interesting technical talks (20 minutes) - hardly much time to discuss complex topics such as internet telescopes, privacy from data correlation across multiple online sources or even seemingly simpler topics such as security of IPv6.

I was also involved in a "pubcast" (which has yet to be released) - seemingly out of the blue. And I won a bottle of French Champagne at a product launch - although lost out on the Russian vodka, personalised golf clubs, the portable hard-drives, blackberries and numerous other lucky draws from vendors.

Melodic Mayhem @ Tempo's

Although I have known about Tempo's since I have been in Gauteng, I have only gone there a few times. Tempos frequently organises "festivals" comprising of a lineup of a number of bands - although whether there is a theme to the bands is questionable. While the festival started early in the afternoon, I only went through in the evening, so I did not catch all the acts. This post only covers the notable bands IMO. I was quite surprised at the small crowd, and most of them were family and friends of the bands.

By far the best band of the evening was Soul Picnic. They are a new band, playing largely "old school" rock - similar to Perez in a way, and despite the small, non-interactive crowd - they put on a great show. Their songs are great, and their combination of different musical styles is a good breath of fresh air. I am definitely keen to see them again.

Only Forever and Holly and the Woods were the best supported bands of the evening - although, it was a pity that most of the supporters only pitched up during the performance, and left soon after. Only Forever had a dynamic performance on the stage, although I thought they were rather ordinary musically. Holly and the Woods do not feature any band member called Holly, but their lead singer Melissa is not exactly the stereotypical rock star wannabe. She does have a great voice, and a great collection of songs. Furthermore, the combination of cover songs by bands such as Skunk Anansie and their own made a great lineup. Of the two, I definitely found Holly and the Woods more entertaining.

Autumn Sun was the band I was really interested in seeing. While the music was definitely interesting (the keyboard element of the bands makes it more symphonic - but it has not really translated into the performance itself), the mixing was horrible. I would really like to see them again, and hopefully with better mixing.

World Superbike Championship

The 6th round of World Superbike Championship for 2009 took place this weekend in Kyalami. I am not a big fan of Superbikes, and apart from Moto GP I don't really follow any bike racing (I follow Moto GP mainly through weekly columns in the Autosport Magazine). And apart from Max Biaggi and Carlos Checa, I haven't heard of most of the riders. That said, bike racing is usually very exciting with lots of action (both crashes and passing). And it was not disappointing - lots of passing, a few crashes (especially the big one in front of my grandstand) and great racing. The event was dominated by the Ducatti team though, with 1-2 finish in the both races.





The event was very well organised - park and ride facilities worked very well (esp in placement - one was 15 minutes walk from my flat) and very good crowd co-ordination and information booths etc. There was also other entertainment dotted around the circuit - from live music (though the "biker gang" musicians playing cover songs weren't that good) to a small amusement park for kids. The one thing to complain about however is the lack of food facilities - queue lines were usually over 1 hour in waiting time, and there was very little variety. While I can understand alcohol sales being controlled - there should have been more people selling cooldrinks and water. For a full day event, I think these are crucial components for a sucessful event.



My other gripe was the small viewing screens and the limited number of them. Kyalami is an oddly shaped circuit, and viewing screens are essential to follow the race. That said, the race commentary was excellent, and did not require a radio.

Jazz at the Lincoln Centre Presents ...

The Lincoln Centre is one of the major cultural patrons in New York, and hosts all the "high" culture events like operas, ballet and Shakespeare performances. Together with the US government, their Jazz foundatin takes prominent Jazz musicians to other parts of the world. At the Bassline last night (and for that matter tonight) the program presented two artists.

I like Jazz, but I don't really follow it. I have been to a few Jazz gigs at Kennedy's in Cape Town - but nothing seriously. There were not that many options last night on the live music front, so decided to see what it was like.

Salim Washington is a saxophonist and was supported by a number of South African band members - playing a number of fairly long Jazz numbers. The music was quite somber, almost blues-like, and the collaboration with the band members was quite impressive. He is due to perform in Durban and Grahamstown Arts Festival in the next few weeks.

Helen Sung is a pianist, and was supported by her own band. The music was far more lively, and a lot more varied - including jazz interwoven with poetry. It was a really impressive performance and very entertaining. She will be playing at the Baxter next week, with the UCT Big Band.

So overall, it was definitely a good idea to go to the Jazz ... should go more often in fact.

Reasons to take business trips to South Africa

From Alex Cartoon, Telegraph UK

IPL: KKR vs DD

So, I finally went to an IPL game. Incidentally, it was also the first game I watched start to finish. It was an impromptu decision, so had to buy tickets from a scalper at inflated prices. Although the cricket itself was not the great (a lot of bad shot selection for KKR, some really bad fielding, and not that great bowling from some pace bowlers), it was really an amazing atmosphere and very entertaining. It's not just the cricket - but the whole package of the cheerleaders, music, live bands (Prime Circle for today) and the fireworks. It is a very well packaged, entertainment show - and the ground was packed by people of all ages: from babies to grannies.

It was also a smooth operation from the organisers, police etc - well controlled and this definitely bodes well for the football later. One point of concern though - could there not be more park and ride areas? It is a lot easier to have safe parking away from the ground and then a bus/shuttle to the ground than trying to navigate car guards along the streets!

Sharkcage

My first visit to the Shark cage in Durban (ABSA Stadium, formerly known as Kingspark) was a bit underwhelming. The rugby was rather patchy, with handling errors galore. And despite the limited choices in getting a ticket, the stadium was not at all full ... and the atmosphere could not be compared to a full Newlands for example.

It is however very easy to see how the stadium can be overwhelming - the stands are very steep and even down a few rows, there is a feeling of being in the spotlight, surrounded by people - I wonder how the players feel.

Hopefully, next time I go there, the stadium will be full, and the game will be a lot better.

Oh, the new stadium for 2010 next door is quite stunning!

So, what do you think of the elections?

The shuttle driver, Steve, from the airport this evening was particularly chatty, and he asked me the question after passing the first big elections poster (Vote for Hope, Vote for Cope) on the R24. When I answered, that I was surprised that there was a substantial number (about 23%) of registered voters who did not vote - we ended up with a very lively, and interesting discussion.

Steve was not suprised with the lack of turnout - in fact he could name a number of areas that apparently had low turnouts. The reason is apparently, a large number of people did not want to vote - because the past governments did not deliver services they expected. Apparently, in Alexandra people refused to vote because they did not get (free) houses. The driver was not very impressed with this - his view was that people cannot expect to get the government to do something if the people themselves do not participate. This also brought up other topics - the gravy train and corruption with the issuing of housing construction tenders (the winning bidders prefer to buy new cars and chase women instead of building houses and paying their workers), his own long wait on the waiting list for housing (he still does not have one) and what he are the focus areas for the new government (1. education 2. safety 3. health 4. housing) and even a stimulating discussion on job creation (basic idea: why does the government not have a system in place to suport people with ideas for new businesses? answer: they do - but it clearly is not as accessible ...).

We did not discuss who we voted for - but I think almost everyone really wants the same thing ... who we think can effectively deliver is another matter entirely.

-----------
Conversation with taxi drivers from Hamburg and Amsterdam.

One Person, One Vote - The Great Equaliser

Leading up to the elections, I think Zapiro got the gist of my voting conundrum - and Madam and Eve surmarised the opposition position beautifully.





I am still registered to vote in Mowbray (Cape Town). During the voter registration weekends for these elections, I was out of town on all these occasions. And I was too lazy to go and find out where the local electoral office was to reregister after the registration weekends.

This did have one great benefit - it meant that I was not necessarily tied down to a particular voting station - and could actually cast my vote anywhere. After seeing the long lines near my home, I drove to Centurion - initially to buy a book I wanted. There was also a voting station nearby, so decided to cast my vote there. After 2 hours (and finished 220 pages of my 300 page book) I got to actually cast my vote. I must say, I was quite impressed with the efficiency - it did not take 2 hours because the officials were slow; it was slow because there were many people. The process was smooth, and despite the long lines - people from all walks of life - the old money, the new money, the maid, the shop cashier, the taxi driver, the old and the young - were all patiently in the queue. One man did try to charm his way to the front, but was sent packing - by everyone.

I remember 1994 and the long lines then. The lines were not longer this time round - but people seemed to be just as keen.

Death Valley Blues Band and LA Cobra

I have been to a few gigs since I came back from my holiday, but last nights gig at Roxy was one of the liveliest I have been to. Much of that can be ascribed to the Death Valley Blues Band, who certainly don't play sad blues - but rather a combination of Ska, Rock, Metal and Blues. A really impressive combination, and some really great songs.

LA Cobra, describe themselves as "glam rockers" styling their music and looks after 80's bands like Guns n Roses (complete with the whiney voice). Unfortunatley, both lyrically and musically, I don't think they really make the cut.

The crap part was the sound mixing - absolutely terrible. There was another band (Havoc Vultures), but the sound mixing had degenerated even further (maybe it had to do something with it being behind the bad) and decided to head home. But, I would really like to see the Death Valley Blues Band again.

Cassette, Gang of Instrumentals and an Art Auction

After seeing the advertised musical lineup for the Johannesburg Easter Festival (the rebranded Rand Show), I was quite pissed off that I did not bother to check it out earlier. Great bands/Artists such as Karen Zoid, Chris Chameleon, Watershed, Loyiso and Arno Carstens had already played. So Saturday's Rock/Adult Contemporary line-up was very enticing.

The exhibition space is massive and extremely varied - showing everything from mops to houses. One can not only buy a house, but also furnish it, equip it will all the gadgets and electronics that you can think of and everything in between. But the only thing that really grabbed my attention was an art auction (apparently not the only one in the exhibition). While certainly not a Sotheby's or anything really special - there were some amazing painting that were being sold at quite low prices.

It was quite fun to watch, and then I ended up buying a few myself ... although most of the auction was bought up by gallery owners/managers. Talking to them, I learnt that most of the art on display in galleries are bought at auctions and then sold at 100% mark up. On that basis, apparently I had a few good deals. But then, I bought on the basis of that looks nice and nothing else :)

As for the music, Cassette are an amazing band; and Gang of Instrumentals, with the combination of Afro-pop and Rock are really amazing live act. I would like to watch either again.

Very busy ... and a new toy

So the plan of backdating posts never worked out ... after a few days of doing not much at work, I have been plunged into a very busy cycle ... with long days, and even some weekends. So, I did not have time to write backdated posts; and I have decided not to bother.

In the meantime, I finally bought myself a new PC; primarily geared for gaming and multimedia use. It has been a long time coming; I first thought of buying one around June last year, but postponed that to buy a car - but I finally took the plunge.

So once again, I have a fairly bleeding age machine - some very good components (first time I have actually bought a separate powersupply for example), quad core Phenom II processor (the i7 was way too expensive, and bang for bucks, the Phenom II delivers); and for the first time - windows as my main OS (I am considering installing Linux - but seeing that I want to primarily use this to play games and watch movies etc. not sure of that path yet).

Installing Vista is a pain, installing Vista 64 is a bigger pain. Microsoft definitely has the stupidest OS installation system - I have installed numerous flavours of Linux, Free BSD and even OS X - and nothing comes close to the stupidity and unusability of Vista - seemingly the most advanced OS Microsoft has to offer commercially (there is Windows Server 2008 I suppose in contention). For starters, Vista installation takes an age to actually start up ... but there is no real feedback - no twirling cursor or even product ads - just a blank screen with the cursor. Secondly, modern Linux installations manage to show an installation screen with the highest possible resolution - Microsoft can only show 800x600 even if the default drivers for my graphics card can actually do much migher resolutions. And then there is the bug (IMO at least) that has been caried out since Windows 95 - first it asks you for your location setting, and then it asks you for the timezone ... surely the default timezones should correspond to at least somewhere in the location you have chosen previously?

I have installed every windows consumer operating system, as well as windows 3.x; I have installed Windows 2000 and Windows 2003; and Vista is by far the worst installation of the lot. As for the OS itself - so far it is quite stable and seems to work nicely. Aero is overrated - and I don't really like the new look; but I suppose I will get used to it (or revert to classic). And maybe, if I have some time, I will try to expoeriment in installing OS X Leopard ... I do have the installation disks afterall.


New "study" desk


The glow of cooling fans in the dark

A lot of back dated posts on their way ...

I am back in SA, and a lot of backdated posts with pics will follow in the course of this week.

Update: Finished the Mozambique chapter ...

Crossing the Border - First Attempt

After a long drive on a surprisingly good road (one map labelled the road as "extreme potholes" - but this was obviously fixed) through some different scenery of the Mozambican mountains (Mount Gorongosa); it was theoretiacally a short drive to the Malawian border from the overnight stop just outside Caia. Take a 60 Km gravel road to Villa Senna, cross the famous 2.7 Km railway bridge across the Zambezi, and then another 60 odd Km to the border. What could possibly go wrong ... after all the locals and the guide books confirmed the route!

Arriving at the bridge, we found that it was closed for repairs - and had been for a while. The engineer suggested we go back to Caia, cross the Zambezi with the ferry, and then drive the longer way round. Not too much of a detour - just anout 100 Km of dirt road after crossing the Zambezi.

Crossing the Zambezi proved to be easy, but long affair. After confirming directions at the petrol station, we arrived at the ferry port to find out that the captains were out to lunch between 12pm and 2pm. The time was 12h10 ...

Queue at the ferry

The ferry crossing itself was interesting - except the driver, everyone else was squeezed in like sardines behind the load of trucks and cars. Once across, we drove through some very interesting scenery to arrive at Chipanga, on the Shire River, just after 6pm. There is apparently a ferry that crosses this stretch of river - but when we asked the locals about the ferry, we were offered a canoe ...




There was a ferry moored on the riverbank - but it seemed that it has not run for a long time. Thus we decided to take the even longer road around to Malawi via the Milange border post, through 200 Km of dirt road. We spent the night camped at the parking lot of an "exclusive" lodge - which charged rip off prices for the use of their parking lot and bathroom.

Inhassorro

After 2 days at a (very hot) beach in Linga Linga, it was decided to make a final stop at Inhassorro before continuing inland. Inhassorro, about 50Km north (as the crow flies) of Vilankulos, is the last regular South African stop in Mozambique - and very well known for fishing trips. So inevitably, we stumbled across a bunch of South African guys on a big fishing trip - they had 2 boats, a trailer full of alcohol and obviously some free time :)

But for me, the really interesting part was the local fishermen. They take a massive net out to sea using boats and then in a large, communal effort bring the net in. It is a long haul, and the going seems very tough; but the joy of catching fish and the impromptu celebration was amazing to watch. It was not a massive catch; but definitely sustainable and definitely will get them money.

Linga Linga?

Lonely Planet describes it as paradise because it is so difficult to get to. When we asked for directions, we were told that the easy road was no longer available - as it was washed away in a flood. The ravages of storms are clearly apparent, when we drove through the alternate route - as can be seen by the bent palm trees.


And the road to Linga Linga was difficult - and tested quite a few functionalities/capabilities of the Land Rover. A long, sandy 4x4 track, and frequent stops to ask "Linga Linga" managed to get us there, but giving real directions is still difficult. Tobias' drivign skills were trully impressive - and I doubt the route would be possible with either amatuers driving or with a non 4x4 off road vehicle.



But it was well worth the pain to get there. It is really paradise; and although there is a barebones backpackers, in the form of a village hut; we decided to just camp for free on the beach (and for most of the time, we had our own private beach).

But the paradise will not last long. I had cell-phone reception, and to add to that, there are already two resorts; with a 5 star hotel in the planning. So it was well worth going while it is still possible.