Thursday, October 8, 2009

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

The ongoing tragedy of Shyne


"is it fair, is it equal, is it just, is it right?"


Damn. Moses Michael Levy, aka Jamal Barrow aka Shyne Po, was all set to be released from prison yesterday. The internet was going nuts. "What were people tweetin?" Well, Fabulous declared it a "hood holiday, Wale just pointing out the beatuy of the day, so on and so forth. But then, at the 11th hour, the government pulled some evil, sadistic bullshit on him.

Something wasn't right. When a guy like Shyne Po--a dude whose been given the short end of the legal stick (pause) for the last ten years-- gets out, you know he's out. But all day, he was "about" to be released. What do they just let people out whenever they get around to it? Didn't make any sense.

At the end of the day, center of the world time, the story broke, Shyne got let out, just to be handed over to Federal immigration officials. And he's going to be deported to Belize by the end of the week. It's just not right. They been fucking with him for the last ten years. A ridiculously overblown prison sentence after a trial decided by public opinion, an absurd ruling stripping him of all proceeds from his second album based on New York's Son of Sam law, many, many promised release dates the government continually pushed back, a two and half year probation period effectually ruining any chance of continuing his career as a musician, and now this. He's seen the legal system in a way no white man ever would, and the way we'd all like to think no black man has since 1970.

This is bullshit. Everything about it is bullshit. Racist, extreme, and just unfair bullshit. The poor guy's been locked up for ten years, ten years, he went in at the height of his career, and now right when he gets his first breath of fresh air, we kick him out of the country to send him back to Belize, his birth country but far from his home,

Go here and email the governor of NY, tell him this is bullshit. According to Shyne's family, they've reached out to Patterson, and he's trying to pull strings, but it's a federal matter and his hands are tied. I don't know how Slick Rick's case was any different, but apparently it was.

And to think I was all set to roll out the red carpet, posting all types of crazy Shyne joints. What a shame.

Monday, October 5, 2009

On Favre.

Very briefly:

I am shocked and awed by what I heard on the airwaves earlier today. It's one thing to want Favre to do alright, but it's another thing entirely to root for him and his team against your own team. In fact, this action effectively makes you not a fan. I heard a woman (clearly overweight) say "I don't care, after all he's done for us, it will be alright if they beat us tonight." First of all, you are not us. Us does not include fat women who want to loose. Us are winners. Us stays winning. But most importantly, us wants to win. Always. Come on, let's get a little backbone here. This is Wisconsin, we're generous, caring, lovely people, but come on, we're not talking Minnesota nice.

So here it is 34-27 Packers with Favre playing the full game, or 41 to 3 Packers, with Favre suffering various injuries after his second snap.

Let me end with a word for word quote form a different caller.
"I'm hoping our line, and I don't care who Charlie, I'm hoping one of em' gets a nice clean hit on Favre and breaks whatever bones in his body he can."
"Oh come on, don't say that."
"Why? I said, 'clean hit.'"

Friday, October 2, 2009

A short mix of soul songs that are druggy



Download here

This whole thing started when I discovered track three of this mix, Sweet Thang, on a cd I've had for years. It was deep in the CD and it was one of those great joints you've never heard and then suddenly randomly hear and think "oh shit, I could have been listening to that for years now." What a song. Great guitar work.


Track 1: Till you get enough
Drug related moment: DUDE, the horns don't even come in till two minutes in the song. Holy shit. And they kinda pierce at your ear, it's not smooth man, it ATTACKS YOU.
Track 2: Jealous Guy
Drug Related Moment: Fuck, that electric piano is melting in my brain. And it sounds like he's singing in a small room, that's so big. Or a big room, but it's really small and intimate.
Track 3: Sweet Thang
Drug Related Moment: Whooooooa. The organ and the guitar. It's like a blues slide thing, but it's not a blues song. Holy shit. Holy shit, these singers in the background singing "sweet thang" they sound like an angel. No, three angels, but like one angel who sings so nice it's like the voice of three angels.
Track 4: I Get Lifted
Drug related moment: He gets lifted bro!!
Track 5: Be Thankful For What You Got
Drug Related Moment: Dude I am fucking thankful for this song man. Thankful as hell. It's soooo smooth. It's not even like a knife in butter, it's like those clocks on the walls at grade school, remember? Remember how the second hand just tuuurrrrns. It just keeps on turning with time, never stopping. So damn smooth. Wait, what is that, a fucking vibraphone? Oh man, it's like echoing in my whole body every time he hits it with the mallet. it's a mallet right?
Track 6: Angel Dust
Drug Related Moment: These women, they are like the angels from earlier. Is that why it's called angel dust, cause it's like angel women are singing the chorus. Ohhh, there's a flute! (no homo)
Track 7: Ain't There Something Money Can't Buy
Drug Related Moment: Green Power! Money Money Money! These guys are hilarious. And the live vibe, you know, I kinda feel like I'm there when they played it. Nooo, it's more like they're here. Dude, wouldn't that be awesome, I'd be like "dude step away from that upright bass and play some Mario Kart with us." But you know these guys are super serious about there music so it would just be like a private concert scenario.
Track 8: Stone Junkie
Drug Related Moment: They way the audience laughs when Curtis starts singing is so cool, cause you know they are all like "Oh man Curtis is about to make some great music right now," and sometimes all you can do is laugh. But listen to the way he sings the chorus, oh its so beautiful. And this guy plays the guitar so well, and he can play it so soft. How do you play something so quietly?
Track 9: Summer Madness
Drug Related Moment: Are you fucking kidding me? When the keyboard gets going, you know the part, when it gets super intense, it's like a bunch of colors, like different layers of different colors just washing over you. I wish there was better percussion so I could play my tambora along with.
Track 10: It's Gonna Be Alright
Drug Related Moment: This shit is wack. Who put it on my mix?

Chicago Looses Again.



The Chicago Reader can bite it. I don't know what about being a good liberal forces you to come out against a little bit of international recognition. I understand it's a lot of money, and yeah, the money is better spent elsewhere, but, hey, every time money is spent it's always money better spent elsewhere. So that argument doesn't get anywhere with me.

The benefits of hosting the Olympics far outweigh any political argument against such a thing. This isn't an issue or politics or principal, it's an issue of hometown pride, or in my case, regional pride. And let's get to that, regional pride. The Olympics was not a Chicago only thing.

The great city of Milwaukee was ready to roll out the red carpet, spruce up our city, build a high speed rail from here to Madison and down to Chicago, build new affordable housing, make nice old existing housing, do a bunch of shit at the lakefront. Our great, heroic mayor said today Olympics or no Olympics, we're gonna go ahead and do this anyway. See in Milwaukee, we stay winning, it doesn't matter what they do down south.

And speaking of loosing, let's take a look at some of these photos.


What is she gonna do with her three day weekend?


Look at him, it's like this is the first disappointment of his life. Does he not follow the Cubs?