Drummer George “Buddy” Miles died yesterday at age 60.

My friend Barry Goldberg found Buddy in 1967 and brought him into Electric Flag, the short-lived “supergroup” that included Michael Bloomfield and Nick Gravenites. After the Flag broke up, Buddy became the drummer in Jimi Hendrix’ Band of Gypsies. Following that, he formed the Buddy Miles Express and had a global hit with “Them Changes.” Buddy had another hit of sorts when he sang lead vocals for the claymation “California Raisins.” He also toured and recorded with Carlos Santana.

I met him once around 1973 or 1975, when the Electric Flag were doing a reunion tour and appeared at NYC’s Bottom Line club. I went backstage after the show and was first struck by how freaking huge he was. And then by how nice he was.

Buddy is one of those journeymen who may never have achieved superstardom but whose contributions definitely pushed the art forward.

One would think I have little right to complain these days, what with Bjork, Carlos Santana, Maroon 5 and Ornette Coleman all gracing our stages shortly.

But did you know that this week in New York City, Nueva York, the Big Apple, the City So Nice They Named It Twice, Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood have been sharing a stage at Madison Square Garden for three shows? They played 4 of the 6 songs from the Blind Faith album as well as healthy chunks of each others’ hits.

The funny thing is, this guy at Huffington Post has some major complaints about the ticket pricing and pricing for “refreshments” at the show. $250 top ticket price. Bottle of water $4.25. I suppose if I was still living in New York, I’d share those complaints. But living here, all’s I wants to stay to dis guy is “shut the fuck up, at least you had that concert and got to see it.”

“Mommy. what’s the definition of ‘irony’?”

SCMP: “A proposed incinerator in Tuen Mun … is facing opposition from Shenzhen over concerns that it will aggravate air pollution…”

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Went for my first acupuncture session today. Now I know why they call it acuPUNCTURE because they actually puncture you.

(rim shot)

Exactly how accurate is, I cannot say. There are no lasers involved. The guy just feels around and then jams a pin into your flesh. Speaking as someone who has six tattoos, trust me, it fucking hurts anyway.

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Question of the day …. if you are a Hong Kong blogger and you have a list of links on your blog and for one of those links you put a person’s real name rather than the name of his blog as the link, how would you like others to link to you?

Last night, dinner at Tai Ji, the Shanghai place that has opened on the 4th floor about Joe Banana and Bulldog. Tai Ji was formerly in Causeway Bay. I’m told by a friend who works in the area that this is the new Northern Chinese place of choice for local people who work in the area – first because the previous place of choice had too many roaches skittering around and second because that previous place has an all-Northern Chinese staff while Tai Ji has an all-Cantonese staff.

There were three of us and I think we had 8 dishes. This is not a formal place with an expensive (or expansive) menu, but there is an English menu and a wide variety of small dishes. The xiao long bau was about as good as I’ve had anywhere – very thin wrapping, very nice soup inside. Deep fried spare ribs. A prawn dish. A tofu dish. A soup with vegetable dumplings and some chicken and herbs. Dan dan mian. Can’t recall the rest now. All of it tasty, all inexpensive, and a very friendly staff. I will go back.

Today, three movers coming over to sort through the ton of stuff I’ve got and give estimates on the move. I’ve discovered another use for Google Earth – zoomed in on the house I’m moving to so I can show the movers how they get from the carpark area in the village to the front door of the house.

(To answer some of the previous comments on the moving topic, I’m not sure how long it takes to get from there to Central. I don’t work in Central so that’s not an issue for me. I can say that – with no traffic – I can get to Sai Kung town in 5 minutes, my girlfriend’s place in about 10 minutes and my commute to the office should be about 30-40 minutes depending on traffic. Although there are dogs in the village and they do bark when they see strangers, I’ve been there at night and it’s quiet enough. As opposed to right now – I’ve had six months of daily pile drivers from three nearby construction sites.)

Tomorrow is the day that I try acupuncture to see if I can quit smoking, having previously tried hypnosis and the Allan Carr method with no success.

Jimmy Kimmel responds to Sarah Silverman. With Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt, Robin Williams, Cameron Diaz, seemingly everyone who has ever appeared on his show ….

A movie I’d like to see but I think the DVD will be out long before this ever plays in an HK movie theatre

I’m told … a story in a local Chinese newspaper on Sunday about a man who spent HK$18 million (roughly US$2.3 million) at auction to get the license plate “18″. The man isn’t famous, merely someone who owns factories in China where he likely pays his workers the equivalent of US$100 per month. The kicker to the story? His car is a HK$300,000 Mini Cooper. No word on how much this man donated to charity last year.

I’m told … people sitting around in dai pai dongs and cha chan tengs are gossiping endlessly about Edison and the women in the photos. Stories overheard in these places include the one about a certain billionaire sharing a three-way with Joey Yung and her mother. And the one about a certain billionaire shoving a loaf of French bread into one of Gillian’s orifices (not her mouth) and her needing to go to the hospital afterwards to get all the crumbly bits removed. (I emphasize – these are stories overheard in restaurants only.)

Hmmmm …. some commenters seem to think that by posting a specific name I am letting myself in for trouble. Even though I would think that I am beneath that person’s notice. But no need to bring the wrath of the emperor down on little old me, so I’ve made some edits to the preceding paragraph.

You may enjoy this mash-up from Saturday Night Live. New show on the Food Network – I Drink Your Milkshake, hosted by Daniel Plainview, with his son HW and with special guest Anton Chigurh. If you didn’t see There Will Be Blood or No Country For Old Men, this won’t make a lot of sense to you.

(click on images for larger versions)

With all my self-induced craziness over the apartment hunt, forgot to mention that my new BC column is up, this one is Oscar predictions, in about 12 hours we’ll know how well I did or didn’t do.

Briefly noted ….

Michelin guide gave more stars to restaurants in Tokyo than New York and Paris combined; Japanese say they picked the wrong places and gaijin aren’t qualified to rate Japanese food.

Ralph Nader is running for president again. Sigh.

Some members of my family photo-blogging their trip to Antarctica.

Good article from Canadian newspaper on why Sony and Blu-ray won and why it probably doesn’t matter.

Maxim magazine publishes a review of a new album – except the reviewer never bothered to listen to the album.

In 2001, the heads of the oil companies held a secret meeting with VP Cheney and lied about it ever since.

A true giant, Teo Macero, died at age 82. Macero “assembled” some of Miles Davis’ most influential albums via a unique approach to cut-and-paste. He also produced the seminal Take Five by Dave Brubeck.

and some other stuff that I forgot to bookmark and it’s too late for me to start digging back for it now so …..

For those who are wondering why I have been obsessing so much over my upcoming move and this one particular place ….

For the past four years I’ve lived in a great flat in Mid-Levels. Old low rise building which means thick walls, good layout, high ceilings. And that rarity in Hong Kong – a considerate landlord who has responded quickly in those rare times when I’ve had a problem in the flat.

But for the past four years, the only view from my flat been the car park in the building next door.

Beginning next month, and for the next two years, this will be my view when I wake up in the morning, when I come home from work at night, and when I’m sitting around at home on the weekends:

Enough said?