Unique Hype is a lifestyle instagram account that sells and trades in deadstock sneakers and streetwear. The account belongs to Mohsen, a Kuwaiti student currently residing in LA who wants to remain anonymous which is why I’m only sharing his first name. I found out about him around a year ago when he first started, back then he had less than 2,000 followers and today its over 20,000. Mohsen is a sneakerhead who is in the business of deadstock sneakers and streetwear, which basically means sold out items that you can no longer find in retail (like Yeezys). I personally source my own sneakers but sometimes I get stuck and thats when I contact Mohsen who usually can source them for me, like I’m currently looking for size US11 SoleBox UltraBOOST and he’s trying to find me a pair.
I asked Mohsen how he started and turns out it was out of necessity. Growing up he was always into sneakers and when he moved to the States to study, he started lining up outside shops whenever there were any big releases. But with big releases and limited quantity, once its your turn and they don’t have your size, you end up picking up any size available. And thats what Mohsen ended up doing, he’d line up for hours and then end up with a pair that weren’t his size, so he set up @uniquehypekw to start selling those pairs. Overtime the more he lined up the more connections he made and the more he bought, sold or traded. He started meeting people in line, like other resellers or kids who just stood in line to make a quick $30 or $40 selling the pairs. So Mohsen started making deals with these kids, instead of standing in line himself, he’d get in touch with these kids, offer to give them their cut if they’d buy the sneakers for him. He also started dealing with the other resellers and every now and then one would call him up whenever they needed to unload on a large batch of items. So one guy would call him up and be like hey, I’ve got 10 pairs of Yeezy 350’s if you want them, and Mohsen would have to agree to buy all 10 at an agreed price. The more he did it, the more popular he became as a seller and the more connections he made.
I personally find all this really fascinating obviously since I’m into sneakers but Mohsen has also saved me a lot of headache. Friends and strangers contact me all the time asking me how they could get a pair Yeezys and instead of me trying to find a pair for them or show them how to go about finding stuff, I just send them over to him. I’m actually waiting on my pair of OG NMD’s which he’ll be delivering to me later tonight. So if you’re ever looking to grab a pair of difficult to find sneakers or even sold out clothing like Supreme, Anti Social Social Club or whatever, try him out. He’s also willing to buy or trade with you in case you’ve got something he wants. [@uniquehypekw]
The new album of Fabrice is called Back to Roots, and it’s centering and sober, bold and passionate. I met Fabrice a few years back and knew him from his various projects, but his recent work hit a note as if he had made a new home for himself. This home was not necessarily an actual location, but like it could be found in his art creation. He went full circle, and his work shows it. In Back to Roots Fabrice features cool guests and plays with his take on a form of modern Reggae. His work has hints of Jazz with RnB, plus production stylistics of Hip Hop. In some of his songs he brings in the Middle East influence through the oud and nay, tributing to being in Kuwait. If you like Stephen Marley’s music, you will love his. It is a great body of work which you should download and buy.
Now for those that have read my past blog posts and criticized it being too long: this sentence right here is the point where you can stop reading. If you want to know what makes strong art, keep on reading, as I am about to tell you the story people go through that in return makes powerful work.
Listen to the album here:
This is a story about an expat rebuilding his life all over again. Some expats come to Kuwait for money, others come for the adventure. In Fabrice’s case, he journeyed here to heal.
A little before Fabrice moved to Kuwait he was a full-time musician in France performing as much as he could as an artist and as a bass man for other artists. Fabrice was making what any driven artist could financially make at that time to sustain himself. It was then that his life took a turn with a series of painful events that he could never foresee. His girlfriend was diagnosed with a brain disease and passed away in almost no time. His job was to perform, so he had to keep on playing music in this time of grief. It was hard, but he was committed and he also had to pay his rent. Shortly after that, a close friend was assaulted in a bizarre crime, making Fabrice question his own security and surroundings. Lastly, he was a victim of hate crime, and that was the final drop that put him over the edge. I knew a bit about that situation because he wrote a song about it called ‘Sorry’ which has had heavy radio play on 99.7fm this year. It was part of his previous album. If anyone knows Fabrice they know that he is quite a tall man at over 1.85 and is not someone you would want to attack without thinking twice. But in his song ‘Sorry’ he apologizes to the guys that stabbed him from breaking their noses. I know, crazy! Back to the story, after the hate crime Fabrice had had enough. He went online, looked for work options outside of France, and found a position in Kuwait. In a matter of 2 weeks he sold, gave away and donated all his possessions. He moved to Kuwait with a laptop, his clothes, and a guitar.
Four years later today, Fabrice teaches French to lawyers, doctors, diplomats and many other people in Kuwait. He met his wife here, had a baby boy and created a beautiful family. As I get to listen to his album while in his studio, I look around at all the things that he also built here. He has come a long way from the events in France; I can hear it on this new album.
Sitting in his studio, I listen to his bold lyrics and as he writes about how he supports love and life. Becoming a father made him prioritize concepts of value, and being grateful for the good and straightforward things like in the song Fruits Bread and Tea. His concept of fame and music changed too. His idea of what is popular and what is important was thrown out the window making a song of 6 minutes long just because he felt like it. I find it very smart, very fresh, and yet very mature. Take your time to enjoy it like I did. [iTunes Link]
After all the painful things that happened to him in France, Fabrice felt that he could not be happy or could not grief in Paris. That he was living in a place that had become foreign. When he moved to Kuwait, he explained this to me and until today I will never forget what he said, “I landed in Kuwait, and I looked around at the people and the desert, and felt how music and art are pained here. I knew inside of me that Kuwait and I had been grieving our past. I felt like here, in Kuwait, I could try to heal and be myself in grief, and so I know that right now, in this time and place, Amin, this is my home.”
Home is where your heart can heal.
Peace, Love and Music.
Post by Amin FARI Are you a musician looking to perform? On the flipside, are you a host looking for musicians to book? Or maybe you’ve just got an awesome idea you’d like to share? Get in touch [email protected] / Instagram: @xxmrfarixx
In my previous articles (“My coffee is cold” and “This coffee is too expensive”), I touched base on how temperature affects your perception of flavour as well as pointing out that coffee is in fact under–priced. Today I’ll be taking all of you avid coffee drinkers a little bit deeper by answering a simple question: “What constitutes a good cup of coffee?”
Coffee seems to be a simple thing – but I can assure you that there is a whole lot happening behind the scenes that many are unaware of. To try and keep you, the readers, enthralled; I will divide this segment into the following:
• What makes a one coffee bean better than the rest
• What sets baristas apart
• How can I tell if my coffee was good?
What makes one coffee bean better than the rest:
Plants are funny things, temperamental at the best times. Now, I am no botanist, but I have had my fair share of veggie patches as well as a once glorious Bonsai collection in the past.
Let us begin with the anatomy of the coffee tree. The coffee “bean” as we all call it is in fact a seed. This seed is no different to other plants’ seeds in that it is responsible for the plants reproduction. Plants do a wonderful thing when they are stressed due to lack of rainfall or thin air as a result of high altitudes or other stressful situations. Plants, when under certain stressors put extra energy into producing more, stronger seeds. The reason for this is that is the mother plant wants their offspring to be stronger and healthier with a better chance of survival, perhaps for them to even flourish. This touching act that is written into the DNA of the plant ends up benefitting the ever consuming human -it results in a mother plant putting extra energy into its fruits and seeds which results in a better coffee experience for us. This phenomenon is not exclusive to coffee – it has long been observed in grapes. Another thing that helps is biodiversity. As with all plants, the higher the biodiversity, the more effective pollination occurs which also results in better fruits.
So we now know that weather conditions can affect the coffee and that some of the best coffee is grown at high altitudes. There is also a trend in bean flavours that shows the higher the coffee is grown, the fruitier and more floral the taste will be. Of course, this is not a hard and fast rule. Many other factors can contribute to the flavour of coffee, i.e. What sub-varietal is the plant? What was the processing method?
I want to highlight the importance of processing. This is the method whereby the seeds are removed from the cherry and dried. It is crucial to the quality of the bean that utmost care is taken at this step to avoid rot, leaching of flavours and the removal of defects.
So you are looking for a tree grown on the correct slope (sunlight) in a biodiverse area that is high enough above sea level and also processed correctly. Not asking for much, right? If a bean doesn’t tick all the boxes, it won’t taste good.
What sets baristas apart?
A good barista has attention to detail that is borderline OCD. The reason for this is that when you are working with the temperatures and pressures they do, it is easy to ruin a cup of coffee by extracting for 1 second too long or too short. Making sure the coffee grind size is not too coarse or too fine, they need to be consistent with tamping (packing the coffee into the portafilter) and rinsing the machine’s groupheads etc..
There is so much going on that the barista needs to pay careful attention using all of their senses during each step of making the coffee, or you’ll be left quite literally with a bitter taste in your mouth.
They are on the frontline of the early morning assault on tiredness. Getting up before you do to ready the shop – calibrating machines before you’ve even had your first stretch! These champions of coffee use all their senses for each cup to ensure a great end product for you. I am forever grateful for them.
How can I tell if my coffee is good?
This is probably the simplest topic I will discuss. Your coffee is good if you enjoyed it. Sometimes it’s just a matter of taste – and tastes differ. Sometimes you want more, you what to strike a conversation or bask in the ambience of the store. It all boils down to your enjoyment. If you enjoyed it, then it was good!
Keep sipping!
Post by Grant Mouton Self–proclaimed coffee guru, coffee education addict, SCAA/SCAE accredited.
Brand manager at % Arabica.
Back before the iPod came out and Apple became popular, there was an Apple store located across the street from Salhiya. As a teenager I used to walk by the store and dream about owning a Power Mac which I thought back then was one of the hottest looking computers on the market. Fast forward around a decade later and that Apple store was abandoned. I ended up taking some photos of it in that abandoned state and published them online as part of my Miskan project. The photos got picked up by the likes of Engadget and Gizmodo since the store was like a time capsule. After my 15 seconds of fame that was it.. until this week.
Somehow the photos have started making their rounds around the internet again, they first got posted on reddit and then the popular YouTuber EverythingApplePro who has like 3 million subscribers shared the photos in his latest video. Gotta love the internet. My pictures make it in his video above at the 2:10 mark but you can check out all the photos I had taken back then [Here]
I eventually ended up getting the vinyl ‘Think Different’ campaign banners that are in the photos. I still have them tucked away in my closet and from what I’ve been able to gather, they’re now worth a nice penny or two.
With all the media hype over the elections on the streets of Kuwait and all the rage over president-elect Trump, I thought I’d take a crack at being a devious politician, too. With each one of the candidates making promising ideas and creating alliances for votes, I thought about sharing with you what I would promise if I were to run for office (in terms of music). I’ve been working in the Music industry since 2002, and feel like I’m at the very least, credible enough to have an opinion. So, if I were to run for the head of Culture & Arts to get my shot at the oval office, my campaign slogan would be: “We are going to bring back music and we are going to build a wall around it”. Even though it sounds outlandish and vague, unlike my other candidates, I am going to show you my plan.
First thing I would do in Office is to locate or create, a credible Art Fund that was financially generous when it came to experimenting with new ideas, like having musicians play at airports on arrival? Sure, why not. This Art Fund, think of it like a Bank, would see itself as the stimulus towards creating a music culture. Art Funds are not a new concept, there are plenty all over the world, but unlike them I would outsource media and events creation to third party companies. Because this is where Art Funds go bad. “But, why Amin?” you might ask, “Why not just keep it all in-house?” Because Art Funds often underestimate the amount of work and field experience that goes into properly executing Public Relations and Event Production. For example, the head secretary should not work as the ticket seller and host on the mic, too. Not outsourcing is usually what determines where an event falls on the fine line between what I like to call “small firework shows” (successful, fun events that bring in crowds, but don’t really go anywhere past that point) and symbolic strategic shows that are impactful or open to stimulate the economic growth of an industry. So, yes, outsource PR and Event Production to third party companies, and throw in a Talent Agency to collaborate with the PR and Event Production companies, and let the Art Fund focus on curating and investing in the Arts.
Since its starting off as a very slow news week, I figured I’d post a list of my favorite podcasts to keep things moving. So here are my favorite podcasts in alphabetical order:
Car Talk
This is a show where two car mechanics get calls from people asking for car advice. A caller for example would call in and tell them my car is making a screeching sound when going down hill what could it be? And the two car mechanics try to figure out what the problem might be and give them advice on it. It’s a fun show if you’re into cars and I enjoy always trying to figure out the car issue myself and I have to say, I’m generally pretty good at it.
Chequered Flag Formula 1
There are only two sports I enjoy watching, Formula 1 and UFC and this single podcast fulfills all my F1 needs. It’s by the BBC and every race tends to have two podcasts per race, a preview of the race and then a review of it. The episodes are short and the hosts are fantastic but sadly, yesterday was the last F1 race of the season (and what an intense race it was) so this podcast is going to be dormant until the next season starts again.
Kill Tony(pictured on top)
By far my favorite podcast of the bunch. Kill Tony is a comedy show run by the comedian Tony Hinchcliffe. In the show, Tony randomly selects a name of an audience member from a hat (the audience members are young striving comedians) and they have to come up and do a stand up set for 60 seconds in front of Tony and his guests. Although many of the stand ups aren’t that funny, the show is ridiculously funny since Tony and his guests (who are popular comedians) roast the stand ups. Super funny stuff, like I laugh out loud while driving funny.
The Joe Rogan Experience
JRE I think was the first podcast I ever started listening to. Joe Rogan is a standup comedian (his new special is great), an actor (remember NewsRadio?), ex host of the Fear Factor, a UFC commentator and an ex Taekwondo champion. Like his life, his show covers various topics and so each episode he invites an interesting guest where they talk about different things. If you’re a UFC fan, Joe also hosts “Fight Companions” where he invites some friends over and they all sit and watch the UFC fights together while podcasting live.
The MMA Beat
The MMA Beat is my favorite MMA show. On the show they discuss all the current MMA related news and give their opinions on them. The show is usually composted of four journalists including my two favorites, Ariel Helwani and Luke Thomas.
The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani
This is probably the most popular MMA show, it comes out once a week and usually features interviews with fighters who are currently in the news or have a fight coming up or just had one.
I use the Overcast app to listen to my podcasts. Two things I like about it, the first is that it works with my CarPlay head unit, the second is that I can set how many seconds I want the seek back and seek forward buttons to be. So I have it set to go back 15 seconds when I click the rewind button and skip forward 60 seconds when I click the forward button.
Two Kuwaiti teen brothers living in Vienna, Hussain Al Qallaf (13) and Thunayan Al Qallaf (15) preformed with their band “Diverse Trio” on the popular Austrian show, Got Talent (Die Große Chance De Chöre). They even went as far as making it to the semi finals.
You can check out a couple of videos below, the first one is of their audition tape and when they perform the song ‘It Will Rain’ by Bruno Mars in round 1 of the show.
The second video below is of them performing ‘Im not the only one’ by Sam Smith during the semi finals.
You can also check out their bio on the Got Talent website [Here] (its in German)
As someone with almost a decade in the industry I can safely say that even your most expensive cup of coffee is, in fact, under-priced. For those of you who managed to attend the screening of “a Film about Coffee” at the Contemporary Art Platform in Shuwaikh last week, you might have noticed that this subject was briefly talked about.
So why is there this rift in thoughts? Why is it that coffee producers and coffee consumers disagree with the pricing of coffee? On the one hand we have the people in the coffee supply chain feeling short-changed and on the other the consumers feel that their cup of joe is costing far too much.
*Disclaimer: I am a part of the specialty coffee community, and you will see that the article is heavily in favor of this industry. I have however been as factual as possible, enjoy!*
First things first, we need to realize that there are three different types of coffee at three very different price points. It’s a concept we all know and understand with restaurants, but not with coffee. We can liken coffee stores to three different tiers of restaurants:
– Quick service restaurants (Global franchises; no trained chef) $
– Casual dining restaurants (More focus put on quality of ingredients, store aesthetics; entry level chef, mainly cooks) $$
– Fine dining (Utmost attention to details; traceable, high quality ingredients; well-trained chefs) $$$
To try and simplify, I will refer to the first two tiers as commodity coffee from hereon. So in coffee you have the same thing. The modern 3rd wave (or specialty) coffee can be thought of as “Fine dining coffee”. For this you pay a premium, but it is not just a greater mark up.
Labour
In commodity coffee the baristas are site trained according to the company’s standards and not recognized by the Specialty Coffee Association. Whereas in the 3rd wave stores, you will have at the very least one employee who has not only travelled the world to attend courses and seminars, but also constantly learns through online platforms to stay at the cutting edge of coffee knowledge – all to ensure a better coffee experience for you! Now one can certainly see that a more highly skilled barista bears a greater cost to company than an entry level barista.
Green Bean Sourcing
Just as quick service restaurants (QSR) constantly seek to drive the cost prices of the raw materials down, so too do commodity coffee shops. It is no secret that the giants in the industry use anywhere between 25-40% of Robusta coffee beans to make up their blends. But, so what if they use Robusta? Well it is a very cheap, low quality variety of coffee that has zero pleasurable flavor traits to it and is very bitter. I recently attended a course in Copenhagen where we trialled the use of the highest quality Robusta. During a blind tasting (I thought I was taste testing Arabica beans) I noted on my scoresheet that a particular bean was defective, i.e. not good enough to serve. Turns out said bean was in fact some high quality Robusta. This variety is more than likely the reason why the majority of people think of coffee as bitter. On top of that, the Arabica beans that commodity coffee shops do use is considered to be low grade, again it is cheap and has no desirable flavors. To put some numbers to it, Robusta retails for $1-$3/kg, whereas high quality, specialty Arabica coffee can retail anywhere between $25-$300/kg
These high prices are justified though. Specialty coffee is comprised of picked, sorted and processed coffee and is held to a much higher standard. Commodity coffee is grown on flat land and the process is almost fully mechanized. The reason that mechanization doesn’t work with coffee is because not all of the beans ripen at the same time and unripe coffee (unripe anything, really) simply does not taste as good.
Equipment
What if I told you that most commodity coffee chains don’t even have an espresso machine? Well, it’s the truth! Most of these commodity coffee giants have a “pseudo-espresso” machine which, again, is as automated as possible and yet they are serving you espresso based drinks! The reasons behind this are simple. Making a good espresso and steaming milk correctly is very difficult with incredibly small margins for error. I can assure you it will take months of practice just to learn to steam the milk correctly. Latte art? Forget about it! This is a craft that needs constant upkeep and at least a year behind a machine to become remotely good.
Recipes
Commodity coffee shops will only use 6-8g of coffee when preparing a regular size coffee. In contrast, specialty coffee shops will use between 16-22g for the same size coffee. This is really important – specialty coffee uses at least double of an already more expensive raw material to prep your coffee, and yet we don’t charge twice or three times the price!
Economies of Scale
This is a pretty basic concept, but those who haven’t taken economics 101 it boils down to this: A company purchasing over 100,000 tonnes of coffee per year has much more leverage to negotiate prices than a company only buying 1-2 tonnes of coffee. This means that even if specialty coffee shops were to use the exact same low quality coffee beans as the larger coffee companies, the cost price would still be higher for those specialty stores.
When all things are considered, I hope you come to the same conclusion that I do, and that is: Specialty coffee is in fact under-priced, hence great value for money and commodity coffee actually has very high profit margins for a substandard product. The other thing you can consider is from a social responsibility point of view: Specialty coffee pays people in the supply chain, commodity coffee pays large corporations and favors mechanization; This in turn leads to higher rates of unemployment in developing areas (yes, I did just guilt trip you into buying specialty coffee!).
Keep sipping!
Post by Grant Mouton Self–proclaimed coffee guru, coffee education addict, SCAA/SCAE accredited.
Brand manager at % Arabica.
Shakshooka, the nomadic farmers market is coming back again this year. If you are a passionate person who likes making things from scratch, are crafty and a foodie then they’re looking for someone like you. The food has to be handmade by you, nothing processed, no nutella, no lotus, no cookies and no cupcakes.
To be part of the Shashooka market contact Mimi on [email protected]
Remember a couple of weeks ago when we talked about the different ways musicians can earn a living making music? Well, while I was researching for that piece, I did a little digging on radio in Kuwait, trying to get a better understanding of how it works. Aside from the fact that very little information is actually out there, I did come to find some interesting facts, but I feel like if I just tell you the story about my own experience with 99.7, it’ll make for a better picture. But first, let me give you some background.
On April 20, 2016, I released my EP album, Plastic Desert Roots. Unlike my earlier works, the focus of this album was on the “heavier” social aspects of my world, something I had tried to stay away from in the past, but I’d been living and performing in Kuwait long enough to feel like it was time – I needed to voice some of the things I was going through. With that, it was only natural for me to want to tap into the reggae genre, where, under the mentorship of Fabrice Mareau, who produced the album, I had access to amazing knowledge from someone who’d been in the industry far longer than I.
“Peace in the Middle East”, “Stay for The Night” and “Pull Over”, three of the titles off of Plastic Desert Roots, all tackle issues that, for the most part, we all have had to deal with to some degree. In “Pull Over”, I basically talk about what it’s like to be me whenever I’m at a tafteesh, (Police checkpoint), or when randomly getting pulled over by cops – long-haired, fedora-wearing Amin, who’s Arabic is not perfect. So, you could say the song is a little… charged, and given the tightening of security measures around the country and the general crackdown on expats from the police department, I was lighting a flame way to close to this gas tank of an issue. But In the song, I don’t curse, and I made sure to give the song enough space so as not to offend anyone – mostly PG-13. So let’s start painting this picture.
As I drove up to the 99.7FM studio on that 4.20 day, I thought; this does not look at all like what I had expected, I might be a little over my head. I was actually taken aback by all of it, because like many of you, I’m used to a more, let’s say, “Western” approach, where the radio station looks more like a 5 star hotel lobby than a military training facility. But, if you’ve ever actually, physically, visited the station, you’ll realize that you’re entering some sort of a military compound – barricades, machine guns and all. At the gate, I needed to present my Civil ID, some other paperwork that had been requested of me (and not copies of it on my phone, physical hard copies of my documents), my car had to undergo a security check, (kind of like the ones at the bigger hotel chains in Kuwait but way more intimidating), all to ensure that I was a “welcomed” visitor. Once deemed friendly, I was allowed passage.
I was now driving past the gate with but one thought in my head; “Pull Over” is one of the songs I was about to premier on 99.7FM. But, instead of being naïve and trying to compare outwards, I remembered that one of the things I’d dug up on radio was that the history of radio itself actually comes from a military background. During the times of WWI and WWII, the radio served as a medium to share mass information with the general public so it made sense why there was a need to keep it protected. In our not-so-distant history, when Iraqi forces first made their way into Kuwait, TV and radio were the first things they took over. It’s the modern day version of “Capture the flag”. Ok, I assure you this is the only historical reference I’ll be making in this post. So, back to my visit of the 99.7 studio, at that moment I realized that dealing with the radio of a country, a government or public entity, is not something to play with – it actually has the potential to be extremely dangerous, and I was starting to doubt “Pull Over” was going to make it on the air.
When I made it to the studio, I sat with the host, someone who knows my album, had really taken the time to listen to it, and had interesting questions to ask – we did a general talk-through of how the show would play out, went through the album, I told her a little bit about each song and was really looking forward to her presenting my work. We went on air and everything seemed to be going great; we were getting callers engaging with the show, my WhatsApp was firing up with messages from friends, and I had almost entirely forgotten that I was doing all that from inside a military facility in Kuwait.
After the radio break, up next was; “Pull Over”. Now, getting down to the lyrics of the song, I do make a statement with respect to cops, saying in not so many words, “cops take advantage of their position of power”, because, the way I see it, custodians of the law are honest, or should be honest, but that is too often not the case. With a line like, “some cops stop a car to ask a girl out”, I was in essence singing not-so-sweet songs about one government entity of Kuwait, to another government entity of Kuwait. I was feeling the sweat of the predicament. And, when it came time to play the song, the host, with experience on how to navigate these situations, found an angle from which to present the song, maintaining the integrity of its message, without being offensive, to the public or the government. And that is what good hosts do. I got on the air and simply introduced the song as; “‘Pull Over’, and some of the realities of living in Kuwait.” I did not use the words “cops”, I did not say this is “my” experience – I left it wide open. But, without her guidance, I’m sure I would’ve pissed someone off.
or
So, you see, the image that 99.7 projects of themselves, through the music they play, the hosts they employ, and even some of the topics they discuss, can be quite confusing. And, if you’re thinking; they play all kinds of music from the States, a lot of which promotes, even celebrates, controversial, oftentimes taboo behavior in our culture, (and they don’t always catch censorship-worthy lyrics), you’d be right. But that’s the thing. That just let’s you know the obstacles they must continuously face to be able to bring you that from inside that institution. So when you think, why aren’t there more stations? Why is radio so restricted? Why can’t it be more liberal? Or sometimes, simply; why? This is why. And with that, I want to set some things straight, specifically about the hosts.
Many of the most common criticisms of radio hosts lie somewhere between; “these guys aren’t fit to host a radio show”, (and the list of reasons why varies), and “these guys are too restricted”. What I want to say is; with that type of establishment, and that kind of power, it makes complete sense that there is no tolerance for “malpractice”. The fact that the radio also announces prayer times, and not by simply announcing them either, but by broadcasting the athaan, and has regularly scheduled news broadcasts throughout the day that address issues of high-ranking government officials of Kuwait, is testament to the fact that being a host on a radio that shares these ideals, is a matter much more serious than simply entertaining their listeners. Because of that, I’ve actually grown to appreciate what the guys at 99.7RKFM do a lot differently than I did. Here’s another thing, when on the air, contrary to what some might’ve heard, there really isn’t much room for censorship, I’ve been on some of their shows, I know. There really isn’t some miracle technology to magically reset time. The only thing at their disposal is the 5-second delay in broadcasting (because they’re not actually live to the second), which, through this one “chopper” button on their counter, can be used to rewind, well, 5 seconds of time. But after 5 seconds, whatever goes out there, is pretty much out there. That’s a lot of pressure. And, if you think about it, quite a lot of power. And remember, this is a public entity, designed for mass communication, and, as a side “favor”, if you will, does us this luxury of playing cool hip music. But at its core, it’s only meant to ensure that the public receives correct information. So, as listeners, looking to ease our way through morning rush-hour with some good tunes, we take for granted how high the stakes are for these guys. Yes, they come across neutral, or “vanilla”, but when 5 seconds of what can be considered a controversial opinion has the potential to not only get you fired, but have you staring down a loaded legal situation with the government of a country, you’d probably opt for vanilla, too.
On that note, I’d like to show some overdue gratitude to those hosts, past or present, because, even though you might be listening to their show, not enjoying their vibe, those people are doing a job that is the equivalent to walking a tight rope, with a conditional safety net of the “5 Second Rule”, all while trying to entertain their audience. Do you know how many times I’ve said something, just a simple slip of the tongue, over dinner, that I wish I could take back? Something the repercussions of which were huge, and we’re talking a dinner of no more than 10 people. Now imagine that dinner table was the entire country of Kuwait, and that slip of the tongue was heard by every single person tuning in, all at the same time. It carries a different weight. Take a moment to think about that, and I hope that you come to see them differently, too.
Now, because there is actual information I’d like to share, here are some of the things I found while researching this topic. There are currently 9, maybe 10 radio stations in Kuwait; one of which is an independent US military station, another, 88.8FM, a private station, the former director of which, before the recent purchase, had his beginnings with the 99.7 team, and of course, 99.7 – so essentially, we’re talking about the same vibes. So, let’s see what opportunities this new purchase of 88.8 will present. In the meantime, be nice to our hosts, it’s a tough job.
Does anyone know any secrets of what went down with 88.8FM? We’re looking for more info for our upcoming posts.
Love, Music and Peace
Amin FARI
Post by Amin FARI Are you a musician looking to perform? On the flipside, are you a host looking for musicians to book? Or maybe you’ve just got an awesome idea you’d like to share? Get in touch [email protected] / Instagram: @xxmrfarixx
According to my lawyer I can’t mention the name of the supermarket. I also had to mute out the audio in the video since the guy recording mentions the name so I replaced the audio with music that sounds like something out of a Nintendo game.
On a side note is it bad that I am more upset with the fact that I can no longer find Haribo gummy bears, Dove Men+Care Antiperspirant or Sensodyne Extra Fresh Toothpaste at the branch I frequent more than I care about this rat?
Also just got the following response from the supermarket:
Hello Mark,
****** is aware of what is being circulated and is investigating it, as ****** takes pest control very seriously and deals with the best and most reliable pest control companies in Kuwait, making sure all hygiene standard are exceeded. Our Operations team, in coordination with our Pest company, has done a full and detailed check of the store and no issues were found till date. (Noting that Prior to the video being circulated in a day, the store had gone through the normal scheduled deep clean exercise with no issues found)
What do you get when you put the guys from Radiohead in a gahwa, in Salmiya, watching the old Star Wars movies, drinking guava nectar instead of tea? This could take a while, but for the sake of this post, I’ll give you the answer; Galaxy Juice. That’s exactly the feeling I get when I listen to their new release single “Allokation” off of their new album Timenesia which will be released Nov 1st .
Back to my opening question, can you see it? I mean, how does one make Galaxy Juice? Aren’t you just a little bit curious? I was. So I paid them a little visit.
Before Timenasia, there was Crystal Dunes. The story of the making of Crystal Dunes is one that plays right into last week’s post, where I talked about the difficulties artists face in trying to “make it” in the music industry in Kuwait. When Crystal Dunes was made, naturally, these guys wanted to print copies – to sell, to give out, to use as coasters or whatever else – you get the idea. But when they approached record companies here, they were told they could only print a minimum of 1000 copies. At the time, the band didn’t feel like they had the kind of demand that would require that quantity and tried to negotiate them down to about half that, but even then, the prices they were getting were obnoxious. So, the next logical step; print it outside of Kuwait – to the U.S. they went. There, they found a printing company that kept their overheads nice and low, where they were able to print 100 copies. Perfect.
Back in Kuwait, when their order arrived, and as Mohammad Al Owaisi, (Drums & Synthesizers), tells it; he’d receive online notifications that his “package has arrived” but is being… you guessed it, “held at customs”. This “hold” starts feeling more like a “keep”, and so, he heads to the Customs Department at the airport. Now, before they could get into the details of “what’s the hold up?” they first had to locate this package. And so the search begins for this box, in a room full of other boxes, in a back office in the back of this office – they never find it. They hand him a note that basically states; because of the contents of the shipment, the package has been sent for inspection, please follow up with the Office of the Ministry of Information. Still on airport premises, he makes his way to the temporary “chinko” structure that is the Office of the Ministry of Information, far out into the horizon, off the path. As he stood in a room full of more boxes waiting to talk to someone, his eye catches his box. Finally! And, as though the universe and the stars were finally aligning, a man appeared from the back. They spend a couple of minutes talking about the box, the contents of the box, the quantity of the contents of the box, the motives behind the contents of the box, all the while Mohammad trying to explain that these CD’s are for distribution purposes only, and not intended for sale. Nevertheless, it’s a no go. With one copy of Crystal Dunes in hand, he’s redirected to the Ministry of Information HQ in Shuwaikh.
Day 2, Ministry of Information HQ. Like a sad song on replay, Mohammad goes through the saga of explaining; we’re a band, we make music, we wanted to share our music, we like CD’s, we wanted to give people CD’s. “So, is it just music, or do you sing?” the lady asks. “We sing”. “Yeah, we’re going to need to see those lyrics. Can you email them to me?” Mohammad goes home and emails her the lyrics.
Day 3, Ministry of Information HQ. He heads right back to the same lady, the only released copy of Crystal Dunes still in its plastic wrapper sits on her desk, unopened. The lyrics pass the censorship requirements. It’s a go! But, not until he is made to sign a memorandum of understanding, (ta3ahud), somewhere between an apology and a promise to never do that again ie. bring in products with the intent to sell or distribute. Approval letter signed and stamped, he heads back to the customs office at the airport, ready to finally take his babies home.
But, back to the ta3ahud for a minute. I’d understand if their only concern were that of a commercial nature, but they seem to also have a problem with just plain distribution. Why is that? Is it because they’re afraid that with enough of a following, a band has the potential to create propaganda? Or, maybe they don’t want to bring outside competition inside Kuwait’s market? I mean, let’s face it, Kuwait loves to play Monopoly. But, wait, this gets tragically better. Turns out, ALL members of Galaxy Juice are Kuwaiti citizens, all working government jobs and in essence, these Kuwaiti artists made a project in Kuwait, and tried to promote it, also in Kuwait, by giving it away, and couldn’t. In their own hometown, they couldn’t. I wondered if maybe their music had been more “Kuwaiti”, if that would’ve cut the number of hoops they would’ve had to jump through; that their music being difficult to categorize made it so it required all that extra screening. And so I investigated.
Band Members
Salem Al Salem – Lead Vocals, Guitar (Job-Accountant)
Mohammad Al Owaisi – Drums, synthesizers (Job-Mechanical Engineer)
Abdula Asem: Bass (Job-Marine Biologist)
Bader Al Salem: Drum machines, Sampler
In listening to their work, I found many elements of Kuwaiti music – an alternative rock vibe that seamlessly goes into a rhythm, or a clap, or a scale which would immediately be recognized as Arabic, or even specifically Kuwaiti. In their live show from last spring of this year at Shaheed park, they stopped mid-song to go into a full on traditional Kuwaiti clapping session, Sharbeka. So, clearly, their work is a fusion, but what I’m more interested in is, are they innovating? Are they on the brink of innovation? That begs the question, when does one know when a band is doing Kuwaiti Rock? Or, Arab Rock? When or where are the lines? Do these lines exist? Or is it up to us to create them? Listen to it and tell me what you think. You could be thinking, well, Amin, Rock is Rock. My answer to that is, there was a time when there was American Rock n’ Roll, and British Rock n’ Roll, and although distinct in their sound, they were still considered Rock n’ Roll. It’s not like British Rock had distinct British hymns or maritime stories incorporated in it, it just had a different take on an American Rock n’ Roll. Over time, and with the gaining popularity of the likes of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, British and American Rock n’ Roll meshed into one. But, there was a time when there was a division, and it was a division by geographical location. So, back to Kuwait and the possibility of music innovation, how would we recognize it? How would we recognize the emergence of Kuwaiti Rock? If it’s even possible. I know that in this coming season, many artists will be experimenting with Arabic, even Kuwaiti elements in their music, and the lines are going to start to get even more blurry. Do we call it “Kuwaiti Pop Music”? But it’s not. Do we call it “Kuwaiti Urban Music”? What are the rules? I’m sure an Ethnomusicologist could answer this quite simply, but I think we’re at a time where the lines are already blurry for artists trying to incorporate some of their roots into their work. Here is a specific part of Crystal Dunes where you can see a clear integration.
When I listen to Galaxy Juice it makes me think; are they making music for our time? There album is called Timenesia, and is somehow of the past, the future, of here and of other places. It’s like they’re this Rock group, experimenting with music of somewhere that is not of here, almost like they’re playing for outer space. With a name like Galaxy Juice, it all makes sense.
Post by Amin FARI Are you a musician looking to perform? On the flipside, are you a host looking for musicians to book? Or maybe you’ve just got an awesome idea you’d like to share? Get in touch [email protected] / Instagram: @xxmrfarixx
I know it has been a while since I posted my answers publicly, but I am still reading your questions and responding to your emails. I really do enjoy interacting with you and I feel so grateful that I am able to help people by making law simple and more accessible. So thank you.
I recently had a question by a reader which and I thought I would answer here. I rewrote the question to make it easier for everyone to understand but the gist of it is the same.
Question: So I had an argument with my manager, and now he is saying that business isn’t that great so I am going to be fired. So I ask him for a 3 month notice period as its my right and he refuses, says he will discuss it with his lawyer.
1) Do I get my 3 month salary for the notice period on a monthly basis or all in one payment after transferring my residency to another company?
Usually when you are terminated because of “restructuring” then they either ask you to stay three months and work, and if so you get paid each month separately. Or they pay you three months in bulk although the law didn’t specify when you should be paid, there are things to be careful about.
First be very careful about signing any documents, although illegal, it is common practice in Kuwait for companies to refuse to transfer your papers unless you sign a document stating that you no longer have any monetary rights with their employer i.e. they have received all the money owed to them. This prevents employees from filing lawsuits in the future asking for their notice period, termination indemnity, etc
Second if your boss asks you not to come in to work for the next three months but will continue to pay you, ASK FOR IT IN WRITING. Some employers will verbally ask their employees not to come in and then file an absconding case against them.
Always ask your employer to hand you a resignation letter in writing which includes the reason of termination.
2) If I leave after 3 months I’d have completed 21 months in the company, do I get my indemnity or leave balance?
Yes you are entitled to termination indemnity. If the employer terminated the employee or the contract ended, the employee is entitled to his full termination indemnity which is calculated as 15 days per year (adducing you are in the private sector and you receive a monthly payment). How do you calculate the 15 days?
You divide your salary by 26 days, and then times the number by 15 days for the first year. Then times that number by 1.75 because you worked 3 quarters of a year for the additional 9 months that you worked. I know calculating termination indemnity can be difficult so I will write a separate post for that next week.
Feel free to email me [email protected] with any legal questions. I do not have the capacity to answer everyone for free (but I try), and I am happy to announce that I am currently working with a great team and therefore we are able to reply back to all emails with a reasonable time frame.
Post by Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel The legal opinions expressed in this post are those of the author Fajer. Opinions expressed by Mark or any other writer on mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com are those of the individual’s and in no way reflect Fajer’s opinion.
A few hours ago Kuwait Airways launched a new identity that included a face lifted logo, updated crew uniforms, a brand new aircraft livery, updated website and new flight routes.
Kuwait Airways were at Boeing in Seattle to collect their first 777-300ER aircraft in which these changes are making their debut on. The event was broadcasted live on their twitter account and you could rewatch the event on Periscope by clicking [Here] The new plane is expected to have it’s first flight on November 7th, 2016.
I’m going to hold back my detailed opinion on the new identity until it is properly launched and I’ve seen all their material, but right now I’ll just say that the new identity feels dated already.
As most of you know by now, my obsession du jour is currently coffee, specifically lattes. I just started having them for the first time around 2 months back and I’ve been hooked ever since. Like everything I obsess over, I start really getting into, reading as much as I can and watching endless hours of videos until I know the subject inside out, and thats what I have been doing with coffee machines. Arabica had already passed me a small coffee machine to play around with, the Delonghi Magnifica S but I quickly grew out of it and wanted more. So I started doing a lot of research and had finally decided on the Breville Dual Boiler unit with the Smart Grinder Pro. Just to clear something up quickly, Breville is called Sage in the UK so the machine is listed on Amazon UK as the Sage Dual Boiler not Breville.
The reason I decided on the Breville Dual Boiler is because it would allow me to pull my espresso shot while at the same time I can steam the milk. That option was important for me since it would save me a lot of time and was a closer experience to the professional coffee machines. You would think pulling shots and steaming at the same time would be a common feature with these machines but they actually aren’t except in the higher end models. Coffee and steam both require different temperatures, so with single boiler units, you either pull your espresso shot first, then wait for the boiler to heat up to a higher temp so you can steam your milk or the other way around, you steam your milk and then wait for the water to cool down before pulling your espresso shot. With dual boiler units, one boiler is set at the correct temp for coffee, the other for steam and you can perform both tasks at the same time.
After finally deciding on my machine, I placed the order on Amazon UK and then posted the article on the blog on how you could order expensive appliances from Amazon UK and end up paying less than the listed UK price and get it shipped to your doorstep here in Kuwait. That night, like every night for the past few weeks I was watching random videos on youtube on coffee machines and I came across a video review of the Breville Oracle. I was a bit surprised because I thought the unit I was getting was there top of the line model but the Oracle was even a step above mine. The Dual Boiler didn’t have a built in coffee grinder so I was ordering the Smart Grinder Pro along with the unit but the Oracle had one built in. There was another Breville model that had a built in grinder called the Breville Express, but that unit had a single boiler and I didn’t know there was a dual boiler also with a built in grinder.
But the Oracle not only had a grinder and a dual boiler, but it also had a feature I hadn’t seen on any other machine during my research, it not only ground the beans, but it also filled up the portafilter with the correct amount of coffee and then tamped it (check the video I shot above). But that wasn’t the only trick up its sleeve, the Oracle also automatically steamed the milk for you but unlike most automatic steamers, the Oracle allowed you to set the temperature of the milk and generated micro-foams so you could create latte art. So I quickly headed to Amazon to check the price and it was around KD500 shipped to Kuwait, around KD100 more than the cost of the Dual Boiler and Smart Grinder Pro units I had ordered. The KD400 I was paying for my items was already more than I wanted to spend on an obsession I’ll probably be bored of in a months time, so I wasn’t going to pay even more for the Oracle.
Randomly, the next day, I get an email from my classified section. Every time someone posts an item for sale, I get an email informing me what the item is so I can make sure people aren’t selling anything inappropriate. The email I got that afternoon was informing me that someone was selling the Oracle in my classified section, it was in like new condition and he was asking KD250 for it. Right away I got in touch with the guy and asked him if he’d let it go for KD200, he agreed and I headed over 30 minutes later and picked up the machine. The guy turned out to be a reader of my blog and after reading about how you could order appliances from Amazon UK, had ordered his 6th coffee machine. Since he wasn’t using the Oracle, he decided to sell it which is how I ended up with the unit. Such a strange coincidence.
I’ve now had the Oracle for close to a week and I’m just so in love with it. Setting up the machine was fairly easy to do, the most important aspect you need to get right is dialing in how fine you want your beans to be ground. There are 65 levels to choose from but selecting the correct level is fairly easy with a bit of trial and error. With every espresso pull you should get around 20-25ml of espresso, if you get more than that you need to grind your beans finer, if you get less than that you need to grind your beans coarser. Once you set that the first time, as long as you continue to use the same beans you’ll get a consistent espresso pull every single time. I’m using the Arabica Blend of beans from Arabica and the coffee I’ve been producing is as good as the coffee I would get at their shop. I even stole a few empty cups from them so I could compare the volume I was making to theirs and I’ve basically nailed it now. I also experimented with 6 different kinds of milk before settling on the full fat Lactofree milk from Almarai. The steamer in the Oracle is so ridiculously good, I have the temperature set at 60 degrees which is when the milk is at its sweetest point and combined with the Lactofree milk I end up with such a deliciously sweet tasting milk. I’ve even been steaming milk for my hot chocolate and god damn the hot chocolates I am making are coming out so good.
Over the past week I’ve made a whole variety of coffees for friends from Americanos, Cappucinos, Lattes to straight up espresso shots, and everyone just thought it was the best shit ever. And it’s all because of the machine and the beans. Although I am physically at the machine making the coffee, I’m really not doing much, it’s the machine that is really doing all the work for me while making it look like I’m the amazing barista. I also don’t really have anything negative thing to say about the machine. I kinda wish I had more space on top of the machine for all my cups but thats a minor quibble. The machine also does go through a lot of coffee beans. 500 grams of beans make around 22 cups of coffee give or take. The Arabica Blend of beans I get is KD10 for 500 grams which means every espresso pull costs me around 450 fils. A liter of milk is 450 fils so add around 150 fils and each latte I make costs me roughly 600 fils. At Arabica it costs KD1.850 for a similar sized latte so I’m saving KD1.250 per cup when I make it at home. Since I paid only KD200 for my machine and I have 3 lattes a day, that means I’ll recoup the cost of the machine in less than 2 months time. Not a bad deal at all. Cleaning the machine is fairly easy, I’ve developed a routine I perform at the end of the night and it just takes around 5 minutes which is a small price to pay for great consistent coffee.
As you can tell from this post I love this machine and I can’t recommend it enough. I really wanted to dig into even more details about what makes this machine special but it would be too long of a post and I’d bore 90% of you talking about little things nobody really cares about. Instead if you want to find out even more about the machine then I’d recommend you watch [This Video] on Youtube, they give a great rundown of the machines features. I then suggest you head to Amazon UK and order one since this really is the only coffee machine you ever need [Link]
