Entries by AlanPaul
Unrest and beauty in Sichuan, China’s Wild West
I have a real soft space in my heart for Western China. It’s a beautiful place filled with fascinating people — many of them Tibetan. Though outside the border of Tibet, much of northern Yunnan and western Sichuan are on the Tibetan plateau and populated by many Tibetans. (Parts of other provinces are also on […]
Butch Trucks loves Big in China
I had a pleasant surprise a couple of months ago when I randomly received an email from the Allman Brothers manager saying that drummer Butch Trucks wanted to chat with me — he had read Big in China and was really fascinated by it. This led to several, continuing conversations with Butch and the quote below. […]
Are pink ribbons evil?
The headline above is intentionally confrontational and I don’t really think pink ribbons are evil. I believe there has almost certainly been at least one very positive outcome from all of this, which is that women going through chemo or other treatments feel more comfortable not having to hide any of it. But I have always […]
God Shammgod and basketball in Taiyuan, China
Today is the release date of Jim Yardley’s Brave Dragons: A Chinese Basketball Team, an American Coach, and Two Cultures Clashing, a book I have been thoroughly enjoying. Jim, the Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times Bureau Chief, was a friend and neighbor in Beijing and I would certainly be interested in any book he wrote, but Brave […]
Surprise CD pick: Jaimoe’s Jassz Band. WSJ and Guitar World interviews with Jaimoe and Jr. Mack.
I spoke with Allman Bros drummer Jaimoe about his great solo album and his band’s gig tonight in NYC for the WSJ Speakeasy blog. This was really a pleasure because I really enjoyed the album, Renaissance Man, far more than I anticipated. I don’t know why I was so surprised that the debut release by Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band […]
Jamming with Mark Karan – “Got Love”
In honor of last night’s totally fab Ratdog concert broadcast live from Bob Weir’s TRI Studio, I uploaded another tune from my completely fun night playing with Ratdog guitarist Mark Karan. The song is the Woodie Alan original “Got Love If You Want It.” The scene is the Big in China San Fran book launch at the […]