Sunday, May 20, 2007

A series of firsts



K'Naan, Damian & Stephen Marley

So it's been that long since I last blogged eh? As the subject tips off, a series of firsts in the last couple of months. Last Tuesday, J & KS, K and myself had the privilege to check the K'Naan, Damian and Stephen Marley Show at the Phoenix. Man, I gotta tell you, I've always liked reggae music, but never really been to a show.

One word: wicked. Check this out, its like a jam, they'll start a track and stop before hitting the 1st chorus, then reset it to the start. I mean, these fools were cutting, but with a live band! That's the other thing, these cats are straight up musicians. When I was watching Stephen I wanted to check the tempo cuz I always known some of the chords, but the hardest thing with reggae whenever I tried to play was the unusual tempo. Hmmm, still struggling with it, but the show was an eye opener and maybe one day I can keep apr oper rythm on those tracks.

Another cool thing was they had a guy up on stage who did nothing the whole show but wave the Jamaican flag. That WAS SOME COOL SHIT! I mean, thats something that can stir up pride, got me hyped, kinda wished the Filipino flag was up in there.

Anyway, performers were wicked cool, they did everything with a live band. K'naan on his drum is a fiend. Damian is Damian. The thing with Damian is this uncanny ablity to get the crowd hyped. But for me, the biggest trip was watching Stephen Marley.

If you've ever heard Stephen, except being a little raspier, of the Marley children, he sounds the most like Bob. In addition to his own stuff, Stephen was up there covering Bob. Even in the mannerisms, Stephen would be so into the song, he would grab his face etc. A lot of us never had the opportunity to see Bob, except in old movies. As J put it, watching Stephen brought back some of that Bob-in-the-long-sleeve-denim-shirt vibe. Incredible. Probably as close to seeing Bob live as possible in this day and age.

All in all, an incredible experience. I felt fortunate to have been there. Crowd was all about positivity, there was no drama, no bullshit. It was cool to just be on the same plane as everyone else just feeling it. Case in point, you shoulda seen K. She was dancing and totally feeling it, man it was really cool, I would turn once in a while just to see her, look at her...hehe I coulda watched that chick move all night. Actually felt at peace, 1st time in a long time...Oh, just in case, cop that Stephen Marley album, fresh out!

Hamilton

Though not quite as exciting as the last topic, keeping with the theme of firsts, as part of my job I got to go to court in the Hammer. Mind you, it was for a simple set date, so I didn't stay long but made a couple of observations. From what I saw, I gotta say the downtown core looks pretty cool. Little small, cozy, but its still got everything. If there was a good enough reason I could definitely check the Hammer out again. But...really...Hamilton residents...what's the deal with the one-way streets?!?

Maybe I'm out of line here, but that just seems completely retarded. Making a fucking turn is like I dunno. Its like you gotta plan out every turn you're gonna make. In my travels, there are only two other cities that I've been to that do things this way: DC and Portland. The Hammer is fortunately not as bad as those two, but then again, I drove there for a couple of hours. I need a first hand account people! hollar at me

Square One

In 3 and a half years in TO, believe it or not, I have never been to Square One. So one Saturday, or was it a Sunday, can't remember, but I drove down to see it. Really had nothing to buy, just wanted to see it because it was apparently this huge mall. As Flava Flav put it, don't believe the hype. What's the big friggin deal with this mall? It's not even that big. Metrotown puts this shithole to shame. B-town can ya hear me?!?! lol

Pacific Mall

Malls and firsts. My friend S did take me to Pacific Mall during law school, so this isn't technically a first. However, I'll make it a 1st* In that, this was the 1st* time I drove down to the mall myself. I just had to pick up a couple things, wanted to check out phones, buy an ipod charger for the car, air freshener for car, food etc. Anyway, to those of you that know me, have probably heard me do this wicked Chinese-person-FOB voice.

I mean, it's a somewhat (and by somewhat, I mean blatantly) racist. But it is damn funny. As I was walking up and down the aisles of Pacific Mall, I was literally biting my lips trying not to unleash "the voice." It didn't help matters that I recalled Russell Peters' famous "be a man, do the right thing," schtick was inspired by Pacific Mall....aaaaaaaaarghhhhhhh can't....keeep...it...in...

Drive to NY

Finally, the last topic I'll touch on was the drive down to NYC over Easter. Very cool. Actually, this is another tainted first. Back in the 80's growing up a scrub in the LIC, QB moms did drive the family up to Toronto, so I have seen these haunts before. It was just real nostalgic to remember the familiar places. The rest stops, Roy Rogers chicken (YEAH!) passing through PA and the rest of it. And considering M (from the office) and her friend S were driving, I can't pull of a Pacific Mall exception here either. But...it does foreshadow something else...ticket in hand, I am hitting NYC this summer on Randall's for the Rock the Bells SHOW!! That time, it's all pac behind the wheel. Cannot wait, got J going with S and her husband. PLUS, which is pretty tight, O from "dude, you hit me" fame is rolling too.

Gonna be a good summer, check you all later.

Where was I?

So I looked at this blog recently. Has it really been since February that I wrote in this thing? Wow, been really neglecting it.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

The Magic of Marketing

My two new favorite commercials:

1) Crazy Nico-derm patch stewardess flipping out

i dont know what it is, but the crazy, hyperactive, manic depressant chick going through withdrawal thing is sooo freaking sexy to me.

2) Old Guard, new guard, and Cadillacs

Two Cadillacs pull into a parking lot at the same time. 1st group gets out and its four young guys. 2nd group = same thing except theyre in their early 40's to 50's.

Intense staredown. Looks like they're gonna fight.

Old Guard: "I see you're driving a Cadillac."

New Guard: "I see you too are driving a Cadillac"

Old Guard: (PRICELESS) "Welcone to the world of gentlemen...gentlemen (as he gives a gesture of aproval to the entire group)

The use of the word gentlemen twice! Oh man...thats freaking awesome.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

The Furious One has a softer side...

I guess older folks remember the days of mixtapes...(now I suppose it's burned CDs or iTunes playlists). But one of the hallmarks of puppy love was making a mixtape. I mean, when you liked a girl, and you couldn't afford flowers or somehing fancy, it was just a way to tell her how you feel I guess if you had some CDs or tapes or something...I know I used to do stuf like this back in the day. I haven't in a while and with Valentine's Day coming up ...well, it's ok to feel nostalgic about when love used to feel purer back in the day.


So if I were to make a mixtape for that girl today, this is how it'd go:


"Charlene" - Anthony Hamilton
"Higher" - D'angelo
"Freak n' U" - Jodeci
"Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)" - The Beach Boys
"Common Man" - David Ruffin
"Wherever, Whenever, Whatever" - Maxwell
"April Showers" - Dru Hill
"I Love You" - Faith Evans
"Someone to Love You" - Ruff Endz
"Kung OK Lang Sayo" - Truefaith
"I've Just Seen a Face" - The Beatles
"U Luv" - J Dilla
"Stay the Night" Mariah Carey
"There For You" - Damian Marley
"No Me Ames" - Marc Anthony & J-lo
"Miss U" - The Notorious B.I.G.
"Time Will Reveal"- Janelle Monae
"Dosed" - The Red Hot Chili Peppers
"Santaria" - Sublime
"So High" - John Legend
"Afternoon Delight" - Starland Vocal Band
"Stand by my Woman" - Lenny Kravitz
"Reflection" - Prince
"Nothing Even Matters" - Lauryn Hill & D'angelo


Yeah...its sappy...oh well...

Sunday, January 14, 2007

now a contributor

Check out buddy's blog

www.hockeyjones.blogspot.com

I posted a couple times over there. Ain't hard to tell, my posts are the ones that provide Edu-tainment.

small talk in the tri-cities

Talk about ice breakers. I was at a bar with a couple buddies watching the Ortiz/Lidell fight which ended a bit early. Nothing much to do so O, me and Film School Guy decide to catch a flick. I had never met Film School Guy before this night, but apparently he was a friend of O's from work.

So we watch the movie, its pretty late and if you know anything about Vancouver, public transit is pretty much nonexistent after 11PM. Seeing as we were a little out of the way, O volunteered me to drive his friend home. Not really a big deal, I sure didn't want this guy to get stranded.

So, we're just shooting the shit on the way back from Apocalypto when Film School Guy drops this question:

"when does a boy become a man?"

O answers something, I personally stay out of it....Film School Guy: "that was the answer I expected."

"what would the world be like without religion?"

dude, easy (what the hell kind of conversation is this?!?)...So then after dropping O off i'm stuck with Film School Guy. At this point I'm completely terrified he's gonna snap. There's an uncomfortable silence till I'm on the highway and all of a sudden Film Guy says:

"what's your sign, Pisces or Libra?"

"Aries"

FSG flips out! "Dammit!. This always happens! Every single time!"

I mean, FSG just goes nuts, he's upset with himself and I ask him what's wrong.

He responded that he was thinking Aries and he needs to trust his instincts more or some shit but at that point I was just flooring it so I could drop this wackjob off ASAP.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Da Mystery of Chessboxin'




Happy New Year!




I was back in BC for the holidays and it was nice to see old friends and reminisce about the old days despite the rain and all that. That being said, I want to pass along one of my favorite stories when I was hanging with my boys.

One night, me, O and P were just hanging out. This is a nice little park on the Fraser River with barbecues, basketball courts, and you can hear the tug boats chug by towing timber or whatever the cargo of the day is. Anyway, we were just hanging out and for some reason talking boxing. The usual you know, how great Roy Jones Jr. really was etc. So the next logical step from a discussion about boxing is to actually do a little sparing yourself, right?


So O and P start boxing, and when you're a little wasted, I have to admit, it looked really cool. We weren't black belts or anything, but me, O and P all have a little fight background and P still had a speed bag in his basement, so I again reiterate that it was really cool. These guys weren't trying to hurt each other, just some basic shadow boxing.


P was using his reach advantage to try and back up the shorter O with some stiff arm jabs so O all of a sudden makes a move. He bobs under a couple of P's jabs but then O makes a fatal error.


Instead of ducking low and protecting his face and work the body he decides to aim high exposing his face then...BAM!


P just nails him right between the eyes!


"Dude, you hit me!"


"I didn't mean to man"


"You fucking hit me!"


"You walked right into it, I didn't expect you to lead with your head"


After a couple laughs, they made up and we booked it a bit later.


The next night....


Me, P and O are hanging out again and decide to pull over to have a puff. This was an ok spot too, just hanging out on a pedestrian overpass chilling. So I don't know exactly how it happened but O and I started shadow boxing with each other.


As opposed to the previous fight, O wasn't using his reach advantage over me to back me up. Instead, after some stand up exchanges he decides to rush me low. So I pulled out a little Rumble in the Jungle and rope-a-doped him for a while. Then, instead of ducking low and protecting his face and work the body he decides to aim high exposing his face then...BAM!


I nailed him right between the eyes...in the same spot!


"Dude, you hit me!"


"I didn't mean to man"


"You fucking hit me!"


"You walked right into it, I didn't expect you to lead with your head"


HAHAHAHA different people, same results. O was super pissed man. He still gets mad at me for telling this story to this day. But you know, its really funny...