New York Samba and the Jihadi Jew

Jennie took this frantic beaded Samba photo. I want panties like that!

Jennie, Jessie and I went to the New York celebration of Carnaval last night at a club in my neighborhood. I had little interest in the whole Brazilian fetish-scene, partially because I haven't been and partially because so many white men can't stop talking about it... but Jennie convinced me to go and taught me Samba beforehand. Its easy to go from Salsa to Samba, a simple three step to a 4-4 beat. There are no rules to the dance. The live Batucada band is what made Jennie and Jessie come down from Boston.

The party was great. Really hot and sweaty. Hundreds of beautiful women, everyone smiling and dancing. Lots of blonde men lurking in corners eating up the Brazilian girls with their eyes, wishing they had rhythm. We noticed one guy -- a Jihadi type, with a long beard and a yellow Brazilian shirt. He and I started chatting, and I found out his name is Mohammad Cohen -- he's a Brazilian-Egyptian Jew from Canada getting a Phd in Math at Carnegie Mellon. We talked about honor and rhythm. He had good rhythm and told me my hips were "just right." I was into him because he studied math.

I find Brazilian pop music and samba to be sort of messy. The dancing is chaotic with lots of energy, but made me crave a little more order. Jennie and I danced with this amazing 60 year old woman and she wore us out. I didn't want to admit that a woman in her 60's could out dance me, so I kept going despite the fatigue. She gave up when the dj put on Baile Funk.

The high point of my night was having several people mistake me for a Brazilian girl. I think it was the dancing and the wild hair. I'll take it.

In other news, Jessie is starting a radio show once a week on WMBR.org radio broadcasting from M.I.T. His show is called "the inter-continental" but be very effected when you pronounce the words "inter" and "continental." He gave us a preview of some of the tracks he may be playing, like Inuit Hip Hop from Greenland that uses Whale call samples (!) and Japanese nationalist hip hop. So listen up! You won't be disappointed.