A date with The Narcicyst

It is really quite amazing that it took less than one month for me to stop writing in this blog. I suppose I have always had problems sticking to a deadline or attempting to schedule anything for myself and maintain, I have never exercised, never studied, never even worked regularly. So perhaps it should not be such a surprise. Also I was never one to write regularly, I spend a lot of time reflecting on the past its true, but I never really seem to write things down. I could never get in the habit of recording things as they took place or even soon after they took place. All of those experiences and events are usually relegated not to a piece of paper or to the series of tubes known as the internet but rather to various nooks and crannies in my brain to be relived in the time I spend maybe on rainy days, maybe on sleepless nights, or maybe on the "el" when I sit to reflect on the past with my free moments. However this post is not about that, it is about what I have been doing since my last post. Recent spurts of dear friends in and out of my apartment have kept my weekends buzzing along at a steady and durable pace. Weekends have no place for boredom as I occupy myself attempting to host those I care about. Through this I have been able to discover many new places as well, such as Indio's an amazing vegan/vegetarian friendly mexican restaurant, Al-Hambra they waaaaaaaaaaay too over the top Arabic club filled with expensive alcohol, sleezy arab men, and very very very scary looking belly dancers, and through it all became closer to the owners of the local Arabic restaurant. This weekend started with a concert hosted by IMAN (inner city muslim action network) which was fairly decent. The artists were much better than I expected, also to my disbelief there were folks dancing, children mostly but adults as well, getting down as artists graced the stage with music ranging from Hip hop to spoken word to jazz. The night was a commemoration for El Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz aka Malcolm X and the final artist to perform was the one and only Jamal Abdul Narcel aka Narcy the Narcicyst aka Narcel X aka the dopest Arab hip-hop artist this side of the Atlantic hands down. He tore it up as he opened his set with "Vietnam" having the entire audience singing along with him "Two Hundred fifty six Vietcong captured". His set progressed as he performed new songs and a spoken word piece. He then performed his hit single "Phatwa" having the entire audience moving along with him left and right while he sang "C-I A-F B-I Enter and spy.." I had pushed my way to the front with Manal who I had just met literally an hour early, we sat at the foot of the stage her with her fancy Cannon camera and me with my camera-phone snapping away and singing along to every lyric I knew. As he combed the crowd he noticed I was singing along to Phatwa and pointed and smiled...perhaps I am simply star struck but shit we shared a moment. Afterwards I went up to him to say hey and tell him how much I appreciate his music, Manal took our picture and then we switched places as it was her turn. The woman who came from Kufar Kara just two weeks prior, listening to a concert in her third or even fourth language made sure she had pictures with Narcy to prove it. Afterwards we met up with a coworker of mine and her friend at a hookah lounge. White peach out of a maya QT hookah with coconut natural charcoals, never harsh, perfect amount of flavor and smoke, no pull on the hose. Through the bottles of beer and glasses of wine that ensued we did the only thing arabs do...argue politics. Civil argument gave way to shouting and pounding on tables as we struggled through the dark smokey room to see each others faces through our shouts in arabic. Of course the problems of communism vs nationalism would not be settled that night but we argued as if they would. No problem left unaddressed, no situation critiqued, no theory left untouched. And once the red faced cursing and shouting was done we all looked at each other, laughed, hugged and said our goodbyes agreeing to meet again saturday night. Saturday night was full of indian music, and arabic club and getting to know friends better than I ever imagined. After a modest 4 hours of sleep we all went out to the Nile resturaunt for some breakfast followed by drawn out arguing of those who had to leave trying to turn down my pleas that they should stay longer. In the end all had left by 5:00 and I was able to retire to my quiet house. Sometimes it seems quiet is what would be wanted or needed after an eventful weekend where only 10 hours were slept in two days. But the reality is all I want is more partying, more fun, more arguments, more time with friends. Some friends will never be repeated in 1,000 years, no matter how many folks I meet in Chicago no one can replace those who I already have. Well I suppose everyone needs a break after a week like that and perhaps I should take this chance to finish "Footnotes in Gaza" and catch up on some shut eye. Weekends like this are ones that are few and far between but oh so wonderful. Sometimes life really can be good...considering. Work tomorrow morning, perhaps I will post some pictures from the weekend.

-محمد-