I bought a new, actually not-crap keyboard and mouse with my tax refund money and I finally, after years of using nothing but the basic keyboards that were included with the computer, ironically enough as I’m – we’re, probably – quite a bit of a typist. Speaking of typing, I’ve obviously never experienced the difference between an ordinary, $20 keyboard and a high-end one and wow! A lot of nicer keyboards are oriented towards gaming and hack off the num pad altogether; the one I got (Razer Huntsman Pro, actually a pretty high-end one, bought because I have a fetish for paper and writing instruments like typewriters, is full-length.

But if you’ve never experienced the difference between a nubs and a money keyboard, it’s pretty amazing. What it can best be compared to is watching football in HD for the first time (we’ve all done that, right?) As I look at it, I’m not sure if this is wireless or not. It certainly didn’t come charged; I had to plug it in. No big deal if it’s not; given I’ve been using wired keyboards my whole life it’s literally no difference. I can’t even think of a situation I’d want to use the keyboard away from the computer. I sort of wanted it because it might be useful someday – I never thought I’d be using the Wi-Fi with my motherboard until I rearranged the room.

Try it sometime..

…

I discovered this album recently and although it’s admittedly a bit of a grower – the lyrics are in Arabic and it’s not just “appropriative” crossover (I’m not trying trying to be PC but that’s the best way to describe it, more on the Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass side of crossover. This is pretty musically legit as such things go., They were formed in the mid ’60s by an Israeli and a couple of Lebanese immigrants, and put together by the fourth guy in the band to marry psychedelic rock with Middle Eastern music). If you have a certain expectation upon hearing that, it’ll probably be contradicted as this is the real stuff, not “there’s a place in France where the naked ladies dance”, so it can sound kind of rough-sledding Bartok musicological at first. The lead singer sounds like Homer Simpson.

But it’s worth listening to a few times and really letting it into you. Here are a couple of standouts:

Treea Pethya?si=V4YTi_PlKKxz03HQ

Wala Dai?si=1Hzpyi4ouMB3S62S

The inevitable. It’s a good song, but it’s included because of the popularity of the Dick Dale instrumental. I’m also including a 1962 recording by Chubby CHecker.

?si=AKmRk_VmyGd6WxXm?si=beRdNrO8ziP79c42?si=o_NYx5PaxAMSbzA1

As I mentioned, the band was formed in 1967 and released this album. I think two weeks later the first bombs dropped in the Six Days’ War and anything Arabian or Middle Eastern was suddenly as toxic as on September 12. Like Yes’ Magnification, a strong album doomed by its times.