Big Bunny's Girl of the Month: Leah Dizon

This month's feature is Leah Dizon. Leah started out as a car model and now she's some sort of pop music singer in Japan. How that happened is anyone's guess because she's not Japanese. According to Wikipedia she was born in Las Vegas and is of French, Filipino and Chinese heritage. The next couple of pictures are of when she was still a youngster (but legal) and working the car show circuit, the others are a little more recent.

Musical Selections

I had a chance to listen Miles Davis' The Complete In A Silent Way box set. This is a 3 CD set, which includes the original release in the title as well as some other stuff. For example, there are a few songs that appeared on Filles de Kilimanjaro, which I believe is the first Miles Davis release after the Second Great Quintet period. My favourite piece in the set is on the first CD called "Two Faced". Its a really long instrumental that got really subdued solos laid over top some deep bass lines and this spaced out mellow Rhodes electric piano background. Overall, the whole box set is really smooth and mellow. There is a slightly uptempo number that I'm not really into, but the rest of it is awesome. A few some summers ago one of the frat houses across the street used to play it quite a bit (the original release, not the box set). Sometimes you can find good taste in the most unexpected places. Anyway, it goes without saying that this is a classic.

I followed that up on the same day with DJ Mitsu the Beats compilation Another Roses. Only a Japanese guy could think of putting together a tribute to the Fender Rhodes electric piano. This is the actually the sequel to the first installment, which was called 28 roses. Basically, this is '70s soul jazz. Some of it is quite good, but there a few cheesy songs with vocals. I could probably do without them. If you take out the vocal songs this is actually pretty good. It would be kind of loungy, but in a good way. I think you could play this at a dinner party or cocktail party -- although there are a few tracks that have a real '70s porn soundtrack sound. The prequel is actually supposed to be a lot better than this, but I haven't added it to my collection yet.

Along the same lines I checked out a compilation called Blue Note Revisited. This is a set of remixes of old blue note releases by some prominent DJs and producers. Some examples of the contributors include, among others, DJ Cam, J Dilla and Madlib. Again its mostly a 70s soul jazz sound, with hip hop baselines and drum tracks. These remixes, or a lot, of them have an acid jazz sound to them. Again there are some cheesy vocal tracks. But there are some pretty solid compositions on here. My favourite would have to be the reworking of Grant Green's "A Time to Remember" by someone called Osunlade, who I never heard of before.

I checked out Herbie Hancock's Dedication. This is just him unaccompanied. It was only released in Japan in the mid-70s. Half acoustic, half electronic/electric. I think this is the only thing I've listened to by Herbie Hancock that I don't like. I would have to say its like a Keith Jarrett album.

I continued to nibble on John Coltrane's Complete Prestige Box Set. No complaints.

I got my hands on an advance copy of Madlib's Beat Konducta Volume 3-4, it comes out next week some time. This has got an indian/south east asian feel to it -- both in the samples of the vocal snippets and the music. All of that is laid on top of his drum patterns and bass lines. It's a bunch of short compositions, 1-2 minutes in length -- J Dilla Donuts-style (or like his brother's recent release). I really liked this. It's got a bit of a different sound to it compared to most of what's out three today, but it's really listenable.


The Trojan Upsetter Box set is the mellowest thing I listened to this week. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the Upsetters, they are noteworthy because they were Lee Perry's house band. So there are lot of Lee Perry Tacks on it, as well as other reggae notables who recorded with the Upsetters, e.g., Bob Marley, Augustus Pablo, along with more obscure names. These aren't dubs though, so there have a little more lift to them because of the vocals. Still pretty chilled out though.

Dinner at the Foxley

Went on Tuesday night. The place was still kind of empty when we got there at about 7:00, but there was a big rush of people showing up just after we got there. The place is kind of small, it sits about 30 or 35 and maybe 40 if you count the seats at the bar. They don't take reservations. You're probably OK if you show early, but expect a bit of a wait if you get there later.

The place is on the small side, its pretty narrow. The ceilings are really high -- 12 -14 feet, which is nice. The brick on the left wall is exposed and i guess its got some sort of varnish or maybe a sealer on it because it has a bit of sheen. Most of the tables are are on the left wall. They have a few "elevated tables" along the wall as well. The right wall has a small banquette, that has seating for 6, maybe 8 if everyone knows each other. The place has got a decent hardwood floor. It's a medium stain, looks like oak. Similar to what they have at Jamie Kennedy Gardiner. The furniture isn't much to speak of. I don't think the chef/owner had any big time financial backers, so I think he's making do with what he could get. Still the place looks a lot better than most of the stuff you see on Restaurant Make Over.

The crowd is definitely on the younger side. There was a table of five girls beside us, 2 of which were definitely in the higher reaches of the hotness scale and two were quite acceptable (pleasant to look at and adequately breasted). There were some couples and a few parties of three. There was only one old couple in the place. I don't think that this place gets much of the older crowd because it is a little on the loud side. Might be because its on the small side, so the sound just gets amplified. They play alternative/indie rock, but its kind of in the background because the chatter is louder. The place has a lot of energy to it and an inviting vibe to it.

The service is decent and casual. We were kind of uncertain about how much food to order, so we asked our waitress for a little help in terms of guiding the number of dishes. She told us, that she would let us know if we ordered too much. We also had a few questions on the dishes and she effectively answered the questions we had for her. The plates come pretty quick and in twos. The chef brought out our last dish, he even gave us new little plates -- so we could savour the full flavours of the last meat dish we had, without contaminating it with some of the earlier orders.

They have fairly big selection of wines, with quite a few whites on the list. There also have a bunch of premium/imported beer around (cans and bottles). I'm sure quite a few people will go for the wine. My advice would be to skip the wine and drink beer, which is what I did. The dishes on the menu use a lot of spices on it, e.g., hot chillies as well as the more fragrant and flavourful kind. Once you get the spices in your mouth after you start eating its really going to change the taste of the wine. So while the wine will start out OK, its going to be a different story once you start eating. On the other hand, beer is always going to taste the same. Beer also has the added benefit of cleansing your palate, particularly if you have something with a lot of heat.

It's a tapas style place, but the servings are a little on the larger size. The fish and vegetarian dishes are a little smaller and lighter, while the meat dishes are larger and more filling. The menu is ordered with the vegetarian and fish dishes at the top, while the meat dishes are at the bottom. There are quite a few selections to pick from. I would probably guess that there are something like 20-30 dishes to pick from.

I've heard this place described as Asian inspired Portuguese food. I don't see that at all. To me there are strong overtones of Thai cooking on the menu. They give you chop sticks, no forks in the place settings. While there is a lot of seafood, I didn't see any Portuguese style seafood food here (grilled sardines or salted cod). I haven't really explored the menu that deeply, so I can't offer a better description than to say that the menu is really eclectic. I'm not sure how much of the menu is seasonal, so whether it would change it in the winter (always a good sign). My educated guess, given what i've seen, is that it will because the chef is really into what he's doing.

We ordered 5 dishes:

• a shrimp and mango salad
• a new zealand tarakihi ceviche
• a vegetarian spring roll
• a lamb and duck (prosciutto) dumpling
• a beef cheek curry, with coconut scented steamed rice

I like all of the dishes we had. One of things you notice right away with the lighter things is how fresh the food is and also how fragrant it is. The new zealand tarakihi ceviche was especially noteworthy, it had a nice salsa/fruit accompaniment. There were 4 portions of the spring roll and it came with a really hot dipping sauce. I didn't mind the heat so much, but others might. Note that the spring rolls are not like the ones you get at the $6 Thai lunch place. The spring rolls are not deep fried nor are they doughy. I'm not sure what the wrapping was, but it was like raw vegetables or something. The lamb and duck dumplings were also another highlight. I really like the blend of the lamb and duck -- two rich meats. They brought five dumplings, plus a dipping sauce. I wouldn't have minded getting another dish. The beef cheek curry was also really good (this to me is more french than Portuguese, but i guess they're a lot of uneducated reviewers out there). There were something like 5 big chunks of cheek. I emptied the curry juice onto my steamed rice after I got through my share of the dish. Really tasty. I think 5 dishes is a decent meal in terms of quantity for two people.

They don't have a big selection of deserts and it looks like they vary from night to night. They had a rice pudding when on the night I went. I didn't try it, although I was kind of tempted.

The price point is relatively reasonable. The 5 dishes, a beer and a glass of sparkling rose when for about $90 and change with the tip.

Overall, I really liked the place. With so many shitty resto lounges opening up in the city its nice to go to place with a bit of a soul to it that serves really good food. The bill refers to the place as the "Foxley Bistro and Bar". If this is the future of the bistro in this city, then they should bring the future to the present. The chef really cares about the food, which you can tell by the quality of the ingredients he uses and the fact that he works the room too. I'd say the place is comparable to Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar in terms of the quality of the food and the energy in the room. This place is a solid 2 bunny restaurant.


Rating: 2 Bunnies

Notes on the Bunny Rating System:

• 0 or no Bunnies, it's a waste of time; don't go.
• 1 Bunny, the place is worth checking out.
• 2 Bunnies, you should go out of your way to check out the place; the food is really good and the place is cool.
• 3 Bunnies, you absolutely have to go there; the food is exceptional and the place is really cool

Musical Selections

I listened to a lot of really interesting music this week. Here are the highlights.

Young Holt Unlimited Plays Super Fly I had no idea who they are, but i saw the title and i was interested. Basically, its most of the super fly sound track. It's a little different than Curtis Mayfield's version, but pretty close in spirit. If I would have to describe it, its probably got more new orleans feel to it (i'm guessing these guys are from the south) -- so it doesn't have the hard edge that the original does. It's still pretty decent.

Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. This has to be my favourite hip hop album of all time. I just play this one from end to end. Although its a Raekwon solo effort, Ghostface Killah plays a prominent role on it. The production is by the RZA and he didn't go cheap on the beats or anything. The other members of the Wu Tang appear on a few tracks. What I like about this is that there is a sweeping narrative about dealing cocaine running through the whole album. This is hardcore at its finest. A definite must listen. An epic hip hop album.

For a change of pace how about Herbie Hancock's soundtrack for Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up. I fell asleep in front of the TV a few weeks ago and woke up to see that Blow-Up was playing on TCM. The movie has a pretty good soundtrack. Herbie did most of it, that is the jazz stuff on it. The Yardbirds also have a tune on it. I guess this would be from the Jeff Beck era, but according to Wikipedia both Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page appear on the track, which is called Stroll On" but has a riff that's similar to "Smokestack Lightning" -- not there's anything wrong with the riff. But getting back to Herbie, its a little different than his solo work with Blue Note from around the same period. This stuff is probably a little more atmospheric, which I guess it has to be because it is a soundtrack. There's no real overall sound to it -- some of the tracks are slow jazz, while some have a real 60s groove to them. However, one thing that you see throughout is that the bass lines feature really prominently. If you remember Deelite's "Groove is in the Heart" with that really cool base line, well the song they sampled is on this sound track ("Bring Down the Birds"). Overall, this is a really cool (and very rate) album that is worth checking out.

For the mellow selection, King Tubby Herb Dub- Collie Dub. King Tubby produces really good dub. His dub style is a lot slower and heavier than others. This is a really good selection of dubs. A few of the tracks of this one made it on to my super heavy dub play list.

Keith Jarrett

I have a hard time understanding pop culture's fascination with Keith Jarrett. Just last night in one of the reruns of the Sopranos, Tony Soprano's soon to be deceased cousin Tony B. makes a reference to playing Keith Jarrett music in his massage parlor. If his intention was to get some elevator music, I think it would be a good choice.

I make this statement after numerous attempts of trying to listen his over-indulgent and spineless music. Don't get me wrong, I acknowledge his pedigree (a former sideman for Miles Davis) and his obvious technical skills. But basically the guy plays limp noodle music. One of the first Keith Jarrett CDs I ever bought was the horrible Melody and You or some shit title like that. I listened it to once and then sold it to a used CD shop. (Keith Jarrett CDs get good prices at used CD shops, in case you're wondering). This summer I decided to give him another chance and acquired some of his work from the '70s. Basically, his limp noodle music is not a recent evolution, but something that has characterized his career even in the 1970s. I mean some may refer to the great Köln concert as an example of his whatever. Pure self-indulgence, right down to using the German name for what is referred to as Cologne in English.

Even the album cover is self-indulgent:
See how he's concentrating at the piano, while he feels what he's playing.

The bottomline is that Keith Jarrett is basically the Kenny G. of the piano.

In contrast, lets look at a mostly forgotten jazz musician. Pharaoh Sanders, who was once a sideman for John Coltrane (and some say even influenced him heavily, although there was no doubt a reciprocal influence as well -- I've never read any similar statements about Keith Jarrett and Miles Davis):
This guy grew up in the South, and his name was actually Farrell until he met Sun Ra -- who suggested that he change his name to Pharaoh. While he definitely leans more heavily to the avante garde, his music is till quite listenable. His work in the early '70s clearly is his best. In fact, not only is his music better than the stuff Keith Jarrett calls music, but he's also got more style and he's got the hardcore motherfucker look going on.

The Pharaoh is no Kenny G.

Musical Selections

I got a chance to listen to a lot of stuff this week.

Common's Finding Forever, which is out now, was something I really enjoyed. His stuff isn't as thugged out as most rappers, but then he's no noodle either. I think he's positioned himself just right. Kanye West produced it (or most of it) so its got a really unified sound. I'd pick up the instrumentals from the album, because they would be of interest in their own right. Kanye along drops some guest verses as well. I thought his last release Be was really good, I'd have to say that I like this a little more. Overall, I'd have to say this is one of the best new releases so far this year.

In a more instrumental vein, there's Blockhead's Uncle Tony's Coloring Book. For those of you who aren't familiar with Blockhead, he's a DJ -- and a very good one. I'd have to say that he's at the caliber of DJ Shadow, or perhaps even better. I have a few of his other releases and I like them. This one is at least as good as the other ones, although the vibe is a lot different. I think a lot of hip hop producers get stuck in a rut because they have to have a sound. Blockhead is different. Each of the tracks on the album is different, but its not like the album feels really disjointed. I might be because he mixes styles and genres within each of the tracks, so you have a little of this and that on each track so somehow they all have a link to each other -- even though they're different. If that makes any sense? (Just listen to this and you'll see what I mean.) Take nyc bounce, it kind of starts of with something like a short french horn loop and then you get the drums coming in with this driving bass line. The french horn loop then continues to appear. There are a few vocal snippets in there as well. Parts of it have a psychedelic fuzz rock feel, but then there's almost an '80s feel to part of it . All this is sampled and programmed and the guy really has it going on. After listening to this album, you can imagine how big his record collection must be, because he knows a lot of music. I highly recommend this one.

Also in an instrumental mode, there's Oh No's Dr. No's Oxperiment. Oh No is Madlib's little brother, so he comes from a good gene pool musically. While Blockhead's album is more like full length compositions (3-5 minutes), Oh No's album is a collection of shorter pieces (1-2 minutes). In a way, its kind of similar in format to J Dilla's Donuts, although the vibe is a lot different. I have some of the other stuff Oh No has released and I never really warmed to him. However, this release is really good. I was really impressed. He would be better off if he dumped the guest rappers and only worked on instrumental albums like this from now on. Overall, this has a real eastern flavour to the sound. There a lot of hints of '70s soul/funk to it. I'd recommend this one as well.

It's unfortunate that the white man has almost completely associated reggae with Bob Marley's Legend compilation, but shit happens i guess. My reggae collection is a lot deeper and richer. This week I pulled out something I haven't listened to in a while, Jacob Miller Who Say Jah No Dread . This is kind of slow and mellow, it would be deep roots reggae for those that are familiar with the terms. It alternates songs and the dub versions. My favourite is Baby I Love You So, which also has Augustus Pablo appearing on it. The dub version, by King Tubby, is brilliant. This is a great album. It's too bad that most people don't know about this sort of stuff. I'd like to get an Jacob Miller or an Augustus Pablo t-shirt, but I don't think that they would even think of making one because no one really knows who they or the other great reggae guys are. Oh well, ....

I've been nibbling on John Coltrane's Prestige Box Set. This is a huge collection -- 15 CDs. Really good listening, a little on the mellow side. I also listened John Coltrane's A Love Supreme. This is just like a wow album for me. The structure of it; the background rhythm work; McCoy Tyner's piano playing; the chanting of a love supreme; and, the 'Trane's playing. I thought of this one this week when I was checking out the Supreme website. In their random section, they used to have a short skateboarding movie set to the first track on a love supreme. Those guys have really good taste. (Maybe the supreme guys will put out an augustus pablo t-shirt.)

While we're on the supreme line, I didn't get through the whole album but I kind of got into the Beatnut's Supa Supreme off of Stone Crazy. Even the instrumental is really cool. These guys really knew how to put together beats. Another really cool instrumental off that album is Finger Smoke.

Recent pickup: short sleeve shirt

This is another summer sale pickup. I like the pattern, see below for the detail. The little detroit tiger d above the pocket comes off -- it wasn't stitched on too tight.

Bad Event Ads

These are all high resolution pictures, so please click on them if you want a better look at the details.


This ad got my attention. It's like for one of these latino day events. You know i would've figured that latino guys would in general have access to hot chicks, but apparently this might not be the case. Seeing this ad I wouldn't be running out to this event. I mean it really sends the wrong message about what you'll get at the event. Unless of course your into latina chicks with big guts.

Take a closer look at the picture. Her belly is like huge. I mean they really try to hide it with the angle, but you can still tell pretty easily that she has a big tire in the middle. I think they also try to distract you with the James Bond girl pose, but you can pretty much tell there is a lot of junk at front.

I do have some interactions with latino guys and my generally sense is that they are into hot chicks, so this is really confusing. I guess there could've been a shortage of funds in the budget to pay for a model or the guy picking the model was into fat chicks.
They put these ads all over the city. Here's one that was on the boarded up window of a mexican buffet.


In contrast, look at this ad. Now this is what you call good advertising.
The text and images provide all the information you need.

Random Picture

Recent Pickup: Military Shirt

I picked this up last week on the last weekend of the Holt Renfrew summer sale. I spotted this earlier, but it was kind of pricey so I held off until the price became somewhat reasonable. I like the mini-lapel near the collar. The olive green gives it a bit of a gangsta look, even though its pretty refined looking. Its cut pretty slim. This is a 15.5/39 and I don't swim in it.

I really like the details on the sleeves.

The pockets are little smaller and not as square as the typically military shirt pocket, but they are still functional. Also note that the pockets are considerably large than those on the military shirts typically worn by douche bags, examples would include the Fillipa K and Junk De Luxe offerings.
These are all high resolution pictures, so click on them if you want to see the details.

Recent Pickup: Sneakers

Basically loading up on chuck taylors. The white pair is pretty basic.

I got another pair of Junya Watanable chuck taylors. This pair is in the black check. These were 50% off, so they were just like $7 more than the white ones. I like the blue check pattern better, but I wanted these just for completeness.