It’s been 42 days since my last log. When I have nothing to say, that’s when I have all the time in the world to log. When so many things happen, I never have the time to sit and type. Sit tight, it’s gonna be a long log.

One of the many inspirational experiences I had was taking the interns to protest infront of the Sudan embassy against the genocide that is taking place at this moment, though the news gives little to no coverage. We joined the African-American community in protest for a week. There were a series of planned arrests to bring attention to the issue, which I have never seen before. The first day, Congressman Rangal (ron the right in the photo) walked onto the embassy property, stood infront of the entrance and minutes later was escorted by the police and taken to prison. The next day, a priest did the same, the next day, another Congressman, and so on. Of everything we did this summer, this really brought all our work into perspective. As long as genocide goes without recognition, the rest of the world is open field for similar crimes to go unpunished.

The Schiff Amendment was another great moment for the interns, some say a highlight of the summer. In the middle of the summer, Schiff decided to introduce an amendment to the Foreign Aid Bill restricting Turkey from using US Aid on lobby efforts against H.Res.193 and S.Res.164 commemorating all genocide on the Anniversary of the Genocide Convention. The amendment passed as I mentioned before and late at night after hundreds of phone calls, the interns and jumped out of their seats in excitement. As amazing this experience was, Hastert placed a statement on the front page of his website blasting the amendment and stating that he will do everything he can to prevent it from going anywhere. Bitter-sweet, but still a step forward.

On the social front, I drove them all up to NY for a weekend and the city actually appeared to be beautiful for the first time to me. The next weekend, a few of us went to Baltimore and caught an Orioles game with field box seats… see the view for yourself.

Later that day we met up with the rest of the group in Annapolis for all-you-can-eat crabs… not just the legs, the full crabs. Mmmmmmm. So good. After 3 hours of devouring crab, we strolled over to an Armenian owned café with homemade ice cream. Ok, the place was closed, we RAN like we never ran before. We just made it and had the best ice cream ever! And now the interns are now all gone except for one from France. Serious withdrawal. It gets awfully quiet when an office goes from 15 to 5 suddenly.

Of course these are just a few of many things that happened this summer, but this is already getting long and I haven’t gotten to Armenstock yet.

ARMENSTOCK!!!! I drove up with my little French connection last Friday to Massachusetts. The music began Saturday morning. I came fully prepared for a whole day of music. You can find all the info on their website, but I’m going to talk about my favorite parts of the day. Obviously, all the acts were impressive and I maintain that any one of those performers would have been a worthy show on their own. But the 7 together made it a special event never done before in this area. I had never seen Cascade Folk Trio, which was a nice surprise. The female vocalist in that group has such a powerful presence on stage and some serious vocal chords on her. Great performance. It was wonderful to see Gor and Aaron (banjo player) together again, and of course, with John Berberian was the icing on the cake.



The styles of music were so diverse to the point where this community may not have appreciated it on the level that it truly was. Some of these musicians are very new to the old New England community, but still I think they were welcomed. Events like this expose Diasporan Armenians to music they otherwise would never hear. While some may not have enjoyed all of it, they enjoyed some, and others discovered new styles of music that they now love. I told you this was going to be long.

Throughout the day, there were booths set up in the true spirit of Woodstock. The sponsor was “Discover Armenian” which is an interactive program that teaches you to speak Armenian at all levels. What an amazing product and the booth was just as impressive. They had rows of laptops ready for a demonstration and people were constantly sitting and experimenting. Of course, the whole focus of the day was the election of John Kerry, so the Kerry Campaign people had a booth set up, the ANCA also had a booth with all our sorts of stuff, including a postcard campaign directed to Armenians in swing states showing them how Kerry and Bush stand on Armenian issues so that they can make an educated vote on at least our issues. And then there was the food… mmmm losh kebab.

And I was saving the best for last. The signature moment of the day was a performance by Arto Tuncboyajian. He went solo this time and was indescribable. Through his interaction with the crowd, he made the show unique and I just don’t even know how to put it into words. I just recommend everyone take an opportunity to see him perform when it presents itself to you… but go with an open mind and you will appreciate it so much more. Afterwords, a few of us spent the night in conversation with Arto and he really brings a perspective to life that comes through in his music.



So after all that, I’m back in DC. But the summer isn’t over yet. This weekend is AYF Olympics in Chicago… enough said. But the best part of my summer is still to come, though it’s in high competition with the interns… Armenia. I leave just days after I get back from Chicago and I’m there for 3 weeks. I just booked my ticket, have no plans for while I’m there just yet, but I have a feeling things will just happen… as they always do. The reason for the trip is a photography mission, but also just to find my sanity again.

I am absolutely crazy about this album I recently purchased from CD Baby. www.cdbaby.com/cd/mariamm/ . I think I met her in Armenia sometime in 2002, but, can't exactly remember where. She mentioned something about an album she was thinking of doing. Much to my surprise, I was browsing my favorite online music store when I came across her album and purchased it a few weeks back. I let it sit in my "listen" pile and then my wife and I cracked it open and played it on the way to my friend Antovk's wedding last weekend. I won't give away any details, but, it reminds me of the first time I heard Gor in Armenia.

If anyone knows how to get in touch with her, I want to see if she can make it to Armenstock here in Boston to perform. Please email me at pomegranatemusic@hotmail.com if anyone knows where she is based out of.

Leaving for Armenia on August 29th and heading straight for Shushi. I will be in Yerevan one day max. Yes Lena Majarian, I will definately be in Armenia.

Peace.

There is a very funny update to our cartoon at www.armenstock.com. Check it out.

Just got back from a great weekend in Tarrytown, NY. A close friend of mine just got married and the wedding was fantastic. Best of luck to Antovk and Ani Pidedjian.

As my wife and I were driving back from the wedding, we stopped off in New Haven, CT to check out the new Ikea store. I've always wondered about this iconic company and now this was my first time there. I usually try to stay away from panting customers who have a crazed look in their eye when shopping at a new store. By the end of the day, I had the same look and ended up eating Swedish meatballs in their little cafateria totally sucked into this facsinating store. Ikea is Sweden's greatest gift to the U.S.