Ethio Lunch
Today I had lunch at the Ethiopian Cottage with Brian Ritchie and his son Silas. Brian is Shakuhachi master, and has musical connections in Japan, so I’ve asked him to connect me with a teacher to study either Shamisen or Koto when I visit Japan in October/November. Silas is pretty heavy into his musical projects. He is a singer-songwriter-guitarist, and is also deeply interested in electronic music. We compared some notes, and agreed that Winter is a great time to get recording done. Brian thinks the most efficient way to record music is to have a rehearsed band go into the studios and record the songs live. I would tend to agree, but the manner in which I’m approaching my own record is different. I’m very anal about it, and I’m painstakingly constructing the songs from ground up. When I’m done, and ready to perform the songs, I will pick the right musicians to play them.
Lunch was good, and was quite different from my initial experience with the Ethiopian Cottage. We had gone on February 14th (Valentine’s Day), and we didn’t get served for over 2 hours, and people who had been there a short amount of time and threatened to leave got served before us. The lamb was undercooked, and we simply found it detestable. However, I’ve regained my faith in the restaurant. The food was amazing, and the service was reasonable.