Ali Nejad

Internationally-known poker commentator Ali Nejad shows all his cards when it comes to revealing the songs that help keep him calm at the table and give him a fresh perspective on life. He has a taste for deeply personal music – whether its R&B or a singer songwriter. Ali is the voice of “Poker After Dark” on NBC and ESPN’s “World Series of Poker” and is a Friend of Full Tilt Poker.

More info: www.olivernejad.com

www.pokerafterdark.com

Tracks

1. Telepopmusik - Breathe

2. Mary J Blige - Be Happy

3. Jimmy Eat World - 23

4. Damien Rice - The Blower's Daughter

5. U2 - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

Transcript

Raul Campos: Hey, it's Raul Campos here from KCRW and I'm here with Ali Nejad, the internationally-known poker commentator who adds color to NBC's Poker After Dark and ESPN's World Series of Poker, among others. We’re going to be playing tunes and excerpts of the songs that have inspired him over the years as part of KCRW's Guest DJ Project. Ali, what did you bring in for us today and how're you doing?

AN: I actually didn't know about the band, but I head the song from the commercial. One of the really cool things is that commercials, and the music that they're putting on them now, has become really, really cool and avant garde, so I heard this song and I was instantly drawn to it. It just had such a smooth melody, such a relaxing kind of vibe about it, and then when they're talking about ‘just breathe’… I mean, it seems really simple and it's got the repetitive lyrics and what not, there's not a lot of verses in the cut, right?

AN: Mary, wow. I remember the cut "Real Love," way back in the day when I was in high school and it was just really awesome. That's when she came on the map for me and I kind of went back through a lot of her archives because she is a very soulful artist and she's also one who sings about her life. She's gone through a lot of different stuff and you can feel when an artist has brought something personal to the table in a cut, that sort of, that emotion and that passion to what they do. So I'm a big fan of that and this particular song is just another real simple thing, right? We went from "Breath," to "Be Happy," it's like two simple commands right?

AN: This next band is an emo band, or at least they were when they first started out. Obviously everyone makes it big and then they sort of get tweaked in whatever direction their label wants them to go in, but I still have a lot of love for them and I was introduced to them while I was going to college at Berkeley. This particular band, I loved a lot of what they did. Their first album was called "Clarity," and then they went on to have an album called "Bleed American," and then "Futures." If you don't know who I'm talking about already, it's Jimmy Eat World

AN: Well, I heard this song for the first time when I was watching a movie, probably one of my favorite movies around, “Closer,” with Julia Roberts, Clive Owen and Natalie Portman. That was a rough movie to get through, but if you've had your share of tumultuous relationships or ups and downs in life when it comes to the opposite sex, it's definitely one that'll grip you. It was such a splash of cold water. I think that on many occasions, you know, let's face it, we're not all good all the time and we don't want to admit it, but we've all made our mistakes. We've all done things that we aren't proud of and this really went deep into that, sort of , being in a manipulative S.O.B. and not being completely forthcoming or honest in a situation.

AN: Even just the nature of the cut, it just makes you more upbeat, it makes you smile, even though what they're singing for … its kind of like you wish they would have found what they're looking for.