I'm now located in Richmond, CA. You bay area oudis can now come over to get your oud fixed up. U2 or email richard@droud.com for directions.
Here's some pics of the shop, with a view of the back yard, often visited by flocks of birds, including ruby throat humming birds right outside the
window!
Also my latest version string spreader. The stir sticks are from Starbucks....
Alfaraby - 8-11-2012 at 11:11 AM
Mabrouk ! Congratulations Richard dear ! Is it going to be warmer here ? Is CA weather good for ouds ?
There's a saying that says : changing places changes luck, so good luck in the new place.
Do I see Mahmoud Safi's oud of Damascus 1950's on the bench, or what ?
Yours indeed
AlfarabySasha - 8-11-2012 at 11:56 AM
Welcome to California!Giorgioud - 8-11-2012 at 12:42 PM
"changing places changes luck"
good luck, I hope......tomorrow I am moving to London, I could use some good luck there for sure........
Good luck Dr. Oud btw, may the change of location make prosper your activity and be a meeting place for oudists all over CA and beyond.......Dr. Oud - 8-18-2012 at 12:26 PM
I has been very good so far. I'm sharing a house with an old friend, musician and woodwind maker, Hector Bezanis. We're consolidating tools in the
shop and are getting along great. He's playing Arabic ney now, after years playing guida, zurna and mizwiz, with a trip to Cairo to study the felaheen
music there.
I've joined an Arabic music ensemble called Aswat < http://zawaya.org/site/ >. There's a party tonight and a picnic next month. Rehearsals and workshops start next month.
I've had a Persian ney lesson with Mohamed Nejad, very excellent player and teacher. Last night I went to a benefit concert for the Iranian
earthquake victims with several local Iranian musicians (master level every one), at a Persian cultural center about a mile from my house. I met a
superb santur player there living in my neighborhood. This Saturday is another concert with an ensemble of traditional musicians, 2 from iran, the
drummer lives in the bay area.
The oud on the bench is a 1957 George Hana Nahhat, being restored for a client in L.A.BaniYazid - 8-18-2012 at 01:18 PM
I hope that your shop will always be prosperous.Sasha - 8-18-2012 at 11:17 PM
It sounds like your move was a fortuitous one, musically!
Nejad is quite a character, isn't he? Alfaraby - 8-24-2012 at 01:01 PM
The oud on the bench is a 1957 George Hana Nahhat, being restored for a client in L.A.
Just look at this 1957 Mahmoud Safi !
Aren't they look alike ? compare & see !
Something is missing here, is it not ?
A hearsay says Safi used to work for GHN at Fuad Abdallah Alsalka's workshop !
Who knows !
Yours indeed
Alfaraby
fernandraynaud - 8-25-2012 at 12:29 AM
Yes, welcome. We're practically neighbors. It sounds like you know a lot of people here already. Maybe you can post some of these events ahead of time
for us less connected Bay Area oudies?
BTW, Pastime Hardware on San Pablo across from the El Cerrito Plaza is a great resource. They used to have old timers working there who knew
everything, that's no longer the case, but their stock is still great. And you must visit Ifshin Violins also next to the Plaza, the most elegant and
truly beautiful bowed instrument facility I've ever seen. It's stunning. Colin Shipman is a good man there, he just did some work on my viola da
gamba.
Dr. Oud - 8-28-2012 at 07:57 PM
I've been to Pastime maybe 12 times in the past 2 weeks. It is a great hw store indeed. They now have cute girls running the registers in addition to
the oldtimers in the back.
coming events:
Photo & Ceramic exhibit w/ ney & kanun music, Fri Sept 7, Ruby's Clay Studio, SF
Cremora violin exhibition @ Ifshin's, now 'til Sept 18
Omar Souleman w/ Aswat Lite, Tue, Sep 4, 8:30 @ Yoshi's, Oakland
Aswat concert Oct 28, venue tbd. fernandraynaud - 8-28-2012 at 10:06 PM
The real old timers in the back I'm afraid are dead, or re-sourced. A few years ago it wasn't "Ace Pastime" it was just the one and only Pastime
Hardware. Open late, with a staff of tinkerers that knew how to build anything. Dramatic changes occurred, in fact there was something like a strike
as I recall. The cheaper younger guys they have now are just guys. No depth. You used to walk in there with a vague idea of how to do your project,
and they'd huddle around you like mad watchmakers, calling over Joe from plumbing and Larry from woods, and, like building a cathedral, within an hour
they'd have fleshed out all the necessary details, and you'd be walking out with the unexpected least costly solution in a bag, and a grin on your
face. It was worth paying more for the parts to have such a team on-call. Too bad. But like you say, it's still a very fine hardware store, and the
chittering-chatting girls up front can be entertaining.
And isn't Ifshin's a gorgeous facility? It's not the persian carpets, the old glass cases, the private playing rooms to check out an instrument in.
It's the look and aroma of deep polished wood on all sides that does it for me.
Thanks for the Events! Please keep posting events. If others learn of something interesting in the Bay Area, maybe we should pass it on to you.
Thanks! bulerias1981 - 8-31-2012 at 08:53 PM
Wow Richard.. you're living the life now!
New location and many new doors opening up. Life always has suprises.
Anyway, congrats on the move and good luck there. Seems like a lovely place.
