Full of sensual chords and jazzy rhythms virtually unheard on any contemporary record, Sweetback’s 1996 self-titled album took me on an aural adventure through time and space during my very early days of travel. Comprised of the UK-based backing musicians for Sade, without the cosmic songstress herself, Sweetback elevated multicultural, ambient sounds to 30,000 feet […]
Global Juke Joint: Sweetback Read More
In Venezuela, the Médanos de Coro fan across the northern coast of Falcón state like a scarf in a perpetual breeze. Rippling, undulating, incessantly moving waves of sand rise and fall with the crest and trough of every dune. Grains of sand sparkle in the tropical sun as the expanse of tan and beige and
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One of the things I love about flying foreign carriers is the little bits of culture that you get to experience on the airline. With SAS, which connects the three Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden to the rest of the world, you get a very Nordic combination of friendliness and efficiency that make
“I don’t care where we go. I don’t care what we do. I don’t care, pretty baby, Just take me with u.” Ever since Prince first whisked Apollonia off on his motorcycle to get purified in the waters of Lake Minnetonka in the 1984 rock film Purple Rain, The Artist has been an unlikely source
Travel, Inspired by Prince Read More
In the filtered sunlight of the bus window, the little boy’s straight, yellow hair streamed from the top of his head like a sparkler. He peeked over at me, again, and this time, I gave him the most sour grimace I could muster. “What are you looking at?” I thought, again, but didn’t say because
“TheCanJam isn’t just a musical group, it’s really the spirit of the music. What the music does for people.” Germaine Thomas, American chanteuse and long-time resident of Stockholm is one of the featured performers of TheCanJam, a musical experience inspired and nurtured by magician and performing artist Christiano Can. “Performing with the Jam puts you in
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Read Cash Money in Havana — Part One. The Malecón lines the northern shore of Havana, holding back the waters of the Florida Straits about as effectively as it holds back dreamers from taking to those waters in rickety vessels bound for the Sunshine State. Before night falls, families with children, elderly couples, and tourists stroll
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Once, I ran out of money in Cuba. It was 2009, and I had returned to Havana after two previous trips with the purpose of experiencing the place before Fidel Castro officially kicked the bucket and KFC brought in theirs. Alas, I had miscalculated my finances, as friends and family can attest that I am
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One of the major joys of international travel, for me, is to take what I call an exotic flight. For some people, that might be the short hop from Honolulu to Hilo or Madrid to Barcelona. True, those destinations can be exotic for people who aren’t from those climate or cultural zones, but my type
My Most Exotic Flights Read More
The beauty of Stockholm is most vivid in the city’s quiet interstices: the shush of an electric blue pendeltåg as it shoots down the railroad track and into a tunnel, the muted hum of designer baby stroller wheels on concrete, the hush of smoke wafting from a cup of coffee caressed in slender, pale fingers.
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