Johnney Clegg

The fine city of Damascus has decided to take upon the role of the "cultural capital" of the Middle East with a renewed effort! Starting this week there will be a nightly show at the citadel in the old city, shows featuring bands from around the world. Last night Alden got his grove on at the kick-off show, featuring South African sensation Johnny "The White Zulu" Clegg. (For those of you unfamiliar with Johnny Clegg's work, he was huge in the late 80's and early 90's, and he still knows how to party...) The concert was a blast, with several thousand young peoples, predominantly ex-pats, crowding the citadel. Good times.

The citadel is a pretty odd place- it is right smack in the heart of downtown in the old city- but it isn't open to the public yet. Damascus opened it up for concerts only recently, and until the mid 80's it was still used as a prison. Amazingly cruel place for a prison, in Alden's opinion, as it is right next to the huge souq. It is probably on par with Alcatraz, where prisoners could still hear the sound of girls laughing when the wind was right. Being locked up while listening to the shopping crowds would not be enjoyable. (Alden, for one, laughs with joy each time he consumes Bakdash icecream in the souq)

Side note: Alden really, really, wants to try some of the blackberry juice that is sold by the guys in the souq, dressed up in traditional Turkish-ish garb with the giant brass juice thing on their back. But he hasn't. The juice is ice cold, and it would be so very delicious, but it is ice cold because of the ice in it... And Alden is not so keen on consuming too much public source water. But man, it looks so good. Good job Alden, for showing such good restraint.

Alden's been taking it easy the past few days with some low-key sight seeing and shopping excursions. Of note: Azem Palace. Alden really likes the old city Damascus house styles, and he plans on having a central courtyard with a fountain some day.

Tonight, Alden will be back at the Citadel for another concert, and then early tomorrow morning he will head up to the most north-west corner of Syria for some beach action. Then to Aleppo, where he plans on staying at "The Baron Hotel," which has a framed bar bill of T.E. Lawrence at the bar. Excellent.

And now, today's random thoughts:

Alden loves the tourists in Washington D.C. Really, he does! (You know the types: running around in fanny-packs, jean shorts, and wearing the amazing things one can purchase from the street vendors: pink CIA sweat-shirt or the "FBI witness protection, 'you don't know me'" t-shirt.) Alden has always thought that tourists walk like crazy people. They will all of a sudden stop walking in the middle of the sidewalk or crosswalk, with no regard for other human life, blocking the flow of human traffic, to stare at something shiney. (Alden makes a game of this when he goes on runs on the mall, "tourist dodge.") When Alden is abroad, and often lost, he always makes a point of not stopping in the middle of the flow of humanity to read his out-of-date Lonely Planet (which just screams "mug me!"). Well, and Alden confirmed the following observation with several Damascus-dwelling Americans: Syrians walk like tourists.

Alden, at 6 foot 2, sort of towers over the swarming packs of devout little old ladies that go the mosques near his house. And if he isn't paying extremely close attention, he will crash into an Abaya wearing grandmother who has stopped right in front of him while Alden was looking for some Shwarma or Orange & Carrot juice. So far, Alden hasn't knocked anyone to the ground, but there have been many close-calls.

Final thought: Such a sham.

The traditional Arabic term Bilad al-Sham (Arabic: بلاد الشام , also transliterated bilad-ush-sham etc.) is a name for the whole Levant or "Greater Syria" region that today contains Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, and the Palestinian territories. (Ok, that was entirely taken from Wikipedia.)

So the term "Sham" is used everywhere in Syria. There are lots of horrible little cars, made in Syria out of Iranian parts, called "Sham." And Syria is starting up a low-cost airline, called "Sham Air." Tragic, but using "Sham" in a car, or airline, name doesn't make it very appealing. Tragic indeed.