A black stripe is seen on an advertising panel in Amman, on Saturday June 27, 2009, promoting the upcoming concert that Michael Jackson was supposed to have performed in London. Associated Press
- Also, check out this funeral posting in Swefieh. Here as well.

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Thank God it’s Thursday. Here’s another pre-weekend feel-good post.
a cap·pel·la (adv): Without instrumental accompaniment.

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Before John Mayer ever released his first album, Room For Squares, I was a fan. And as he continued to grow as an artist I continued to grow as a fan. From his pop-rock, acoustic-driven, radio-friendly hits that made him famous, to the matured blues-rock, electric-driven creative sounds that have turned him into a modern-day […]

Despite all the pre-game drama, it looks like the Jordan Festival is well under way. Last night I went to the Diana Krall concert up at the Citadel, which is, by the way, an absolutely amazing place for a concert. Surrounded by all that is Amman. City lights. Wedding fireworks somewhere in the distance. Perfect […]

Hanna Gargour and Mia Rose pretty much butcher one of my favorite songs; but, on the bright side, the message remains in tact.

h/t: farah

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They’re calling it Coldplay’s “experimental” album. To me, Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends, is somewhere between U2’s Joshua Tree and what The Killer’s did on Sam’s Town. Yes; it’s a strange combination. Viva la Vida (Spanish for “Long Live Life!”) takes its name from a painting by 20th century Mexican artist […]

I haven’t heard an Alanis Morissette album the whole way through for a very long time, and it has been a few years since her last production. Flavors of Entanglement, her seventh studio album, sees her approaching a near-reinvention of herself. Her powerful, poetic lyrics - that are in themselves an entanglement of quirky mannerisms […]

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It’s been a long time since the Counting Crows, one of my favorite bands, has put out a studio album. Every Crow’s album is a mood swinger, from their folksy debut with August & Everything After, to its aggressive rock follow up, Recovering the Satellites, the laid back This Desert Life and the pop-friendly Hard […]

I haven’t posted a playlist in a while so here’s a lengthy one that includes all the music I’ve been listening to in the past couple of weeks. In addition to Jack Johnson’s Sleep Through The Static and the bowl-full of awesomeness that is the Once soundtrack (Falling Slowly, When Your Minds Made Up, Say […]

Once in awhile a movie comes along that can be truly aspiring. In the pool of big budget Hollywood musicals that have come out in the past few years, whether its Chicago or Dreamgirls or even the better odds of last year’s Todd Sweeney and August Rush, it’s almost difficult to imagine a musical without […]

With his latest album, Sleep Through The Static, Jack Johnson proves he can still make solid zen-like, beach-side, laid-back tunes that can either put you to sleep or have you sing along. It is certainly not as great as the milestone of In Between Dreams, and some of the best songs on Sleep actually sound […]

Say - John Mayer | Must I wait for Mayer to finally release another song before I can hear good music again? “Say” was written as a single for the upcoming Rob Reiner picture “The Bucket List”, where two old men from different backgrounds come together to complete a things-to-do-before-i-die kind of list. The official […]

I know the Black Iris has been on a political bend lately, which I suppose was unavoidable. So I offer this playlist as compensation for all the torture. Some of these tracks are ones I’ve discovered recently, while others are old gems I’ve been rediscovering. On a personal note, it should be noted that I’ve […]

From Amman’s sister city, the Trio Chicago and Friends played a lengthy program that included Bernstein and Ellington at the Cultural Center last night. It was a great show. And now, A little bit of Porter to lighten the mood…

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Last night the Amman Symphony Orchestra performed its first concert for the 2007-2008 season. Josep Vincent of Spain was the guest conductor with 22 year-old piano virtuoso, Lulu Yang of China on piano. The concert was pretty phenomenal as it was my first time seeing the Amman Symphony Orchestra play. My favorite pieces included the […]