Pride: The Kick-Off BBQ

With this weekend being Pride, the week couldn't finish off any other way than with a Thursday night BBQ hosted by T and Xena to start off the weekend festivities. After spending a few hours at home trying to mentally prepare myself for what is going to be a very long weekend, I head up to the city around 10.

The usual crew is in full swing, with a large bar set-up and jello shots on top of it. It's getting so that the usual crew is so large that naming everyone in a list seems superfluous...Now, the weirdest thing happens...never before at one of these parties have I heard a neighbor complain. Not even when I stood three steps down from their landing and spent twenty minutes throwing up on their stairs did they have a problem. But all of a sudden, mid evening on Thursday, not only do the neighbors complain, but the cops show up....

Now, for a group in their mid-twenties, who haven't worried about police since the day they graduated from high school, it's an amusing sight when everyone gets into the apartment and goes silent like we're all about to get busted. An excellent and amusing part of the evening occurs when Nah's friend Yoko shows up...she's drinking, smoking, the full 9, and we're all having a very pleasant evening out on the front sidewalk. With the weekend looking like it is ahead of us, most people are trying not to go all out for the kick-off bbq, and as it's time to go, I'm getting ready to leave when Yoko goes, "Are you sure you're ok to drive?"

Now, no offense to her, but I never drive unless I'm sure I'm ok to, I say, ya, I'm cool....she takes about two steps down the sidewalk in the other direction and loses her stomach all over a poor tree by the curb. It's amusing to see someone so concerned about you that they completely forget how trashed they are. Either that, or it was some extreme projection, thinking that I was sick because of how she was feeling.

At any rate, the amount of inebriation is a perfect table-setter for the rest of the weekend to come...no sense in coming into work hammered on Friday unable to get ready for Friday night, right? Here are a few pics from the BBQ, along with video of the most quiet Pride Kick-Off BBQ ever...don't worry, it was only like that for five minutes or so before the music went back up and it was time to go.

June iPod Update

{For complete music related posts, visit .Evolving.Music}

For last month's "What I'm Hearing," click here.

The June iPod update around here has 97 tracks, not including the IndieFeed Hip-Hop tracks, and there is some most excellent music on it. I continued to collect some Indie and Alt-Rock sounds, while also traveling overseas to get some new pixie pop. Let's see what we've got in the June iPod update.

Young Knives, Superabundance: This is a younger band out of Britain that has been releasing music since 2005, but have only recently begun to garner the type of attention and press that would keep their feet dry in a hop across the pond. This album is only their second full length and brings to the table the geek style sound of Say Hi To Your Mom while infusing it with the energy of The Fashion or Tokyo Police Club. Their choruses are catchy without being disgustingly unforgettable. Solid bass work over rollicking drums tie together the British accent on the vocals and the melody guitar parts sometimes accented by string work. This group continues the wave of impressive Brit Rock Pop/Alternative music that has been landing on our shores recently. Don't Sleep On: "Up All Night," "Turn Tail," "Swimming with the Fishes."

Lykke Li, Little Bit - EP: When I read that this was just a small release, backed by the production assistance of Bjorn Yettling of Peter Bjorn and John, I got pretty excited. The basement pop, lo-fi sounds brought out on Writer's Block left me wanting more, and they showed excellent judgment and intelligence in crafting a pop-sensible album without turning the hooks into radio refrains that would lead someone to suicide when they couldn't forget them in morning traffic. Swedish singer Lykke Li has a gentle and soft style, reminiscent recently of pop darlings Feist and Sia. The pixie voice, simple backings and airy production produce four excellent tracks here. The full album came out last month stateside...now I can only hope that they release it on iTunes soon. Don't Sleep On: The entire EP...it's only 4 tracks, and they're all beautiful.

For the rest of this article, click here.

Marriage? An Institution?

This post has me riled up, so it'll take the place of your usual 10 Things to Think About on a Friday.

Lately the talk in the media and our society about gay marriage has been growing louder as more and more same-sex couples desire equal rights with straight humans, and more and more of these straight idiots are trying to stop them. While this post happens to come the same weekend as Gay Pride up in San Francisco, it was actually not prompted by that, but by an episode of 30 Days I watched last night.

For those that haven't seen it, 30 Days is the brainchild of Morgan Spurlock, who spent 30 days in Super Size Me eating nothing but McDonald's. Following the success of the movie, FX gave him a program where for 30 days, an individual with strong beliefs on a topic goes to live the life of someone completely opposed to that belief. This season has seen an ex-NFL player live for 30 days in a wheelchair, an avid hunter live with a PETA activist family, and in the most recent episode, sent a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to live with a gay couple who had adopted children.

One of the amazing portions of this show is watching someone come around to a new point of view through their experience with someone they wouldn't normally talk to. And in almost every episode I've seen, there is a change of heart and understanding from both parties. The hunter spent 14 of his 30 days rolling his eyes at the idea that animals should be cared for, and then spent the next 16 changing his mind upon seeing how the cows were treated at the slaughter house farm.

Well, last night, I saw for the first time a completely close-minded individual make both herself and her religion look idiotic. One thing I find it important to note here is that whatever religion someone believes in, regardless of how "true" they think it is, was not created by the "god" that they worship. The Muslim faith was not created by Allah, Catholicism was not created by God. No matter what the supreme being of a particular faith happens to be, the basic fact is that religions are man-made.

The Bible, the Qu'ran, the Torah, these books didn't just magically appear from the sky. A hand didn't reach down and give these to us. They were written. And as much as people believe in and pray to their version of "god" these days, I have yet to see any of those "gods" write a book in a physical format for mass distribution, or actually make themselves manifest in any physical or known form whatsoever. This means then that these holy books are written by man...yep, I hate to break it to you, but plain old infallible man wrote what hundreds of million of people worldwide subscribe to as the words of god.

A little strange to think that if someone came out with a book now and said, "God spoke to me, this book is his word and vision," that person would be committed to an asylum or laughed at incessently, but thousands of years ago, it sounded like a great idea and picked up steam. I find it highly amusing that we teach Greek and Roman mythology in schools as history, yet don't have the broader intelligence to realize that there's not much difference between God and Zeus or Poseidon or Allah. They're all man-made constructs to help shape understanding of the hard to understand world around us and create moral frameworks for large populations of society.

In the end, religion, from how it was created, to how it was spread, to the beliefs associated with it, is about large scale control over other people and the desire to convert a disparate segment of the world's population to an alternate, and in the mind of the converting party's perspective, better point of view. We see this in all religions in various forms throughout history...the Crusades, the conversion of Indigenous North and South Americans following the "discovery" of the "New World," Mormon missionaries today, and most recently, the attempt by the religious right wing to curtail, limit or ban gay marriage.

Back to 30 Days....last night, I watched as a staunch Mormon went to live with a gay couple who had adopted children. Unfortunately for her, she was the least open minded person I have ever seen on the show, and worse, she was one of those people who think that they are taking other perspectives into consideration, even as they make comments that make it incredibly and painfully obvious that they aren't willing to consider anything else at all. After some very nice words and friendly overtures at the beginning of her stay with this family, she immediately and without hesitation started attacking their way of life and their choices. Now, if someone wants to do this kind of attacking, that's fine. But the problem with this woman was that anytime anyone around her stood up for the opposite point of view, she felt that they were attacking her (nevermind the fact that she launched these attacks herself), and immediately got more enraged and accused those around her of not considering her point of view.

The gay couple was surprisingly calm about all this. In trying to explain to her that they didn't oppose her right to live how she wanted, they attempted to point out that she was entitled to her opinion about gay marriage, but to actively work against it was to step on their rights as human beings. What I've noticed in most very religious people I've come across is that it doesn't matter if other portions of society are content to let them live how they want to live. The religious perspective of the right wing is not "live and let live," it is a perspective that if anyone does something that disagrees with their values, their rights are being infringed on, and they are more than justified in infringing the rights of others in order to create a world and society that fits their personal view.

To simplify...the gay couple only felt this woman was infringing on their rights if she actively tried to stop them from marrying or adopting, whereas the woman felt that just by existing, the gay couple and their adopted children were infringing her rights to not have gay marriage, refusing to see that her right begins and ends with her personal belief and does not extend to other peoples' lives.

There is a huge difference in perception here, and it's an important argument to consider when you live in a society that touts "freedom." Obviously, some freedoms are going to step on other people, so you need to have boundaries....the "freedom" to murder infringes on someone's freedom to live for example. But the argument that a couple being allowed to marry and adopt children is infringing on your rights, when your objection is based in a religion (that, let's not forget, is supposed to be kept separate from the state), is a horribly flawed argument that fails to recognize its own illogical premise that an established moral value should be imposed even on those that do not subscribe to it. The gay couple isn't trying to make this woman a lesbian, nor are they trying to tell her not to raise her children Morman, but the woman is trying to tell the gay couple that their union is not valid and that because of her personal beliefs, they shouldn't be allowed to have kids.

Before I get involved with the main point of this post, an examination of the popular idea of the "Institution of Marriage," I want to take a step back here and look at discrimination and the role that it has played in our history and culture. Unfortunately, the role has been a large and ugly one. People have historically discriminated based on gender, religion, and race. While the awareness and attempt at changing gender and racial discrimination has taken large strides, it is still far from perfect, and the current clashes between various religious factions show that as a global population, the divide continues to grow and the discrimination continues to evolve as differences in people are derided rather than celebrated.

However, historically we have found that looking back on past discriminations, we realize how small-minded and incredibly wrong they were. Slavery, the subsequent civil rights movement and the lingering racism that exists today is a great example of a mindset that never needed to exist, drastically needed to be changed, yet even with positive motion, here we are 150 years later living with the after-effects. For thousands of years, the female gender has faced discrimination in various forms, only in the last century obtained the right to vote in our country, and while we're slowly moving away from that mindstate, in various forms humans continue to come up with new ways to discriminate against other people, failing to recognize that there are rights and desires outside of the mainstream that deserve equal rights. Currently, the largest portion of discrimination in our country is aimed at the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender community, and a large portion of this discrimination is attempted to be justified by its proponents by religion.

I've long said that there is absolutely no basis for discrimination against gays and lesbians. There are two trains of thought on homosexuality...one thought is that it is naturally occurring and can't be controlled by someone being born anymore than they can control their race or the color of their skin....it's just who you are and how you're born. If this is the case (which I believe it to be), then the demographic deserves to be free of discrimination just like those other birthrights of gender and ethnicity. Opponents argue that homosexuality is a choice. While I've not met any gay or lesbian people that felt they had any choice in the matter of their sexuality, any more than a straight person feels that they could choose to be gay, this argument also offers no basis for discrimination as it is a personal choice, much like religion, and if that is their choice, they deserve equal protection under the law. I strongly believe that this extends to marriage and all the rights associated with it.

And here's what got me writing about this topic to begin with...in her argument against gay marriage and adoption, she charged, as so many arguing against these topics today do, that the ability of gay and lesbian people to join hands in marriage would somehow "destroy the Institution of Marriage." I got to thinking about how often you hear that phrase, "Institution of Marriage" thrown around like this marriage establishment is in some way sacred and above evolution. People against gay marriage, and particularly the religious right, as well as our dear village idiot of a President consistently make comments that they are trying to protect the "Institution of Marriage" by opposing gay marriage, that somehow this sacred bond of "man and woman" need not be revamped. Well, let's take a look at this institution....

First off, originally, marriage was a basic form of ownership for a man over his wife. In most cultures, he was allowed to beat her if he wanted (with some societies curtailing the types of objects he could beat her with), and could in most ways treat her as personal property. Marriages in some cultures were often (and sometimes today still are) arranged without any consent by the parties being married, and then further progressed to a state of economic union with dowries and basic purchase contracts that transferred ownership of some property or valuable object in return for the bride or groom. At some points in history, notably in Ancient Rome, gay marriage was allowed before it was outlawed. In certain cultures, polygamy was acceptable, usually for procreation practices or simply the male gender's assertion that they deserved more pleasure than the female gender.

With the advance of the church came the stricter rules that adopted policies of officially recognizing the unions in both law and religion, and were at this point further whittled down to the commonly held "man and woman" view of marriage that proliferates today. Jumping forward a few centuries to our current American society, this definition has become problematic, but more so than just for the simple reason that men and women want to have same-sex marriages. The problem is that the government has instilled a set of rights that come with marriage in order to protect the happy couple. If marriage were just a thing, just a ring, then the practice of keeping it between a man and a woman would be foolish. But as marriage is more than just a ring, as it is spousal support, health benefits, tax benefits, custodial rights over kids and a whole host of other protections, including validation in the eyes of the wider population, the practice of keeping it between a man and a woman becomes criminal and discriminatory.

So when people start talking about the "Institution of Marriage" like it's some sacred, unalterable thing, I have to laugh. Marriage throughout history has undergone numerous transitions and transformations, religiously, as well as socially. What was once more about ownership, convenience and money slowly transformed into something based on love and mutual desire. What was at one point more of a socially recognized contract has become now a government recognized entity with protections. While the people fighting gay marriage in our country may feel that marriage is a holy and spiritual thing that has always been the man/woman union with protections that it is now, this fails to take into consideration that marriage throughout history has been whatever the culture, society and participants of the time needed, required and respected.

And now, our society, regardless of the close-minded discrimination that still exists in some people, needs to recognize that it is time for a change. It is time to put an end to discrimination in general, and especially the discrimination against the homo/bi sexual communities. We have an ever growing population that deserve equal rights and protections, and need to have their right to love, security and the partner of their choice recognized. Our country's puritan idea of what marriage should legally be takes us further and further from what marriage should represent.

Marriage should represent union, acceptance, love and the pursuit of a better life together, regardless of the gender of the participants. It should form the jumping off point for a better society where people work together and mutually respect differing points of view. But when an entire subsegment of the population is denied these rights, and done so out of hateful discrimination, it pushes us all back. It forms in the next generation the idea that somehow certain people CAN be worth less than others. It forms in the minds of current adults that discrimination, or the repression of a group of people is somehow ok. It creates a set of circumstances that perpetuates intolerance, which is in all its forms detrimental to the health of a nation.

Maybe marriage is an institution, in that it has been around and established for thousands of years. But it's not an institution in the way that gay marriage opponents represent...a narrowly defined box that has always been the same. Marriage has constantly changed over the centuries as populations, religions and cultures change. And now, it's time for that institution to take another leap.

Immortal Technique: The 3rd World

{For all music related posts, please see .Evolving.Music}

Well, I've been talking for months now about the upcoming Immortal Technique CD, and have dedicated a number of posts to the subject matter. Yesterday, the album came out and we now have a full review. I'm thankful to say that the album lives up to the considerable expectations.

We've previously reviewed the original press release cuts from this album. You can read the initial review here.

You can read Evolving Music's exclusive interview with Immortal Technique here.

The hype and expectations surrounding the release of Immortal Technique's new album have been extreme. Suffice it to say that upon the release of some of the demo tracks last month, that hype grew, and the feeling surrounding the album was that it was going to be an excellent addition to Tech's discography, as well as provide an extreme jumping off point for underground hip-hop and global awareness. Upon listening to this album a few times all the way through, I can say that its strength and vision match the hype.

The album kicks off with the "Death March Intro," a dark and forceful pounding beat backing a vicious 2 minute verse. Where other rappers are content to put a brief intro at the beginning of the album, a skit is standard, Immortal Technique hammers the first track to set the stage for what's to come. The intro is followed up by "That's What It Is" which utilizes explosion-like bass sounds in the background and scratching throughout. Tech on here spits about the current state of things within the hip-hop industry and world at large. He rips fake vegetarians and Aryans and talks about his growth as an artist both in content and sound. This moves into "Golpe de Estado," a slow, trudging beat that utilizes the parade march song from Godfather II as Tech, Temperamento and Veneno lace the track with verses in Spanish. While I can't understand much of what's said in this song, the beat and the forcefulness of the lyrics make it enjoyable.

"Harlem Renaissance" showcases the initial strength mentioned in the original album review...Tech's ability to stay on point and keep his flow tight over music that sounds unconventional on a Tech album. It also shows the type of boost in production evident throughout the album. The moving beat, hand claps and overlaid strings take a small bit of the bite out of Tech's flow, and to good effect. The song's backing is musically inspiring, and Tech over the top finds just the right balance between his more relaxed flow and the battle tenor he takes into other tracks.

This is followed by what I view as the weakest track on the album, "Lick Shots," and amazingly, it's not because it's a bad track. The verses, with guest spots from Chino XL and Crooked.I are incredibly solid. The only problem with the track is the repetitive nature of the chorus and the fact that it sounds too fake for Tech. The chanting of "Lick Shots for the Revolution" is tiresome by the end of the track, but again, this weakness only further accentuates how strong the verses are. On other tracks it's easy for Tech to overshadow his guest stars, but here their verses are just as strong and make for a track that's great to listen to even if the chorus falls short.

The first beats of "The 3rd World," while retaining the ragga-street melody style of tracks like "Peruvian Cocaine," employs a thump and kick beat that's harder and more fleshed out than Tech listeners are used to hearing. His mastery of lyrics, both in how he fuses lines and words together while never losing sight of his content, is again in full display here with lines like, "from where the bombs that they used to drop on Vietnam/Still has children born deformed 8 months before they're born."

This is followed by "Hollywood Drive By" which utilizes a much more mainstream musical backing to accentuate Tech's flow about blowing up the traditional industry. This is a great example of the irony and intelligence Immortal Technique employs. It'd be easy to rap about taking over the industry and taking down the major labels in typical fashion, but by lacing the stronger than industry standard lyrics over a West Coast style backing that you'd find on the radio, Tech brings to your attention that it doesn't matter how bouncy the beat is if you're not rapping intelligently over it. On the advance tracks I was sent, one of them was a radio edit of a freestyle Tech had done a few years ago called "Watch Out." Amazingly, even though it was an edited version, I absolutely loved the song. Here, "Watch Out" gets a revamped sound. Some of the lyrics have been tweaked, but more importantly, the flow has been re-recorded and sounds incredibly sharp over a beat that samples from the Apocalypse sounding symphony from the central battle scene in Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith. The combination makes this track fire and perhaps my favorite on the disc.

For the rest of this post, follow this link to the full review.

Slow But Steady

It wasn't the most memorable weekend on record, nor one where I partied very hard, but it was definitely an enjoyable way to ease myself back into the world after two solid weeks of moving. Friday night, Sis came into town with a friend, who immediately destroyed my new apartment by walking (the guy is 6'3") into my dining room lamp and breaking it. Luckily for me, the guy had some sort of technological know-how and was able to purchase and install a replacement before he left.

After finding out that Hessica's flight was delayed and she wasn't going to be able to go out with us, we decide to make an evening out of it at the new place, testing the outdoor patio for its Beirut capabilities...verdict is in, and it's good. Gavroche, myself, Jarles made up of a very grumpy Glace, Sis and Hessica have a good time, passing out late.

Early the next morning, Sis and I are off to Pop's to celebrate Father's Day with him and KTC. We're having a fine time until KTC pulls a pass-out move that has us afraid for her life. Non-responsive and out of it, I'm thinking of ways to disappear before the cops show up and start asking questions when she snaps out of it and complains of being too warm. Ya, that's bad, put on a cold washcloth.

After this, we head over and meet up with Loesche, Gavroche, Jarles, Da, Walsh, Draa, Monique and her friend at Gavroche's parents' place where they are out of town and have left us to amuse ourselves by the pool, which is done with quite a few js, a mini-keg that Walsh brought and numerous shots of vodka. Deciding I need time to get ready for my evening plans, I go home in order to nap, shower, change and get to the city. Upon awaking from my nap, I'm hot, sweaty and a bit nauseous. I figure the shower will fix that, get out, roll up and fix a drink for the road. Everything is on track at this point, but the car drink just isn't sitting well for me. The plan is to meet up with Za and McButter for a housewarming party, then head over to the Marina to meet Glass's birthday crawl crew. The night does not go as planned.

Upon meeting up with Za and McButter, no sooner am I ten steps out of my car towards hers than I get the mimosas, vodka and Mr. Pickle's of the day in reverse. I then spend the entire housewarming party trying to rally myself into a going out mode without the luxury of more alcohol. When we leave the party and I'm still not right, the two of them decide to call it a night and I head home. Very exciting stuff, I know.

I'll digress for a moment here about the mall....I went to the mall yesterday, not looking for anything specific. What I found was a crazy number of bed/bath product stores. I counted 4 different body lotion/soap type stores, and that's not even including the section within other stores like Victoria's Secret and Macy's. I wonder just how many bodies there are to wash out there, and how many different varieties and brands of vanilla body cream one could actually need...I mean, this is 1 mall with 4 stores selling the same products....am I missing something here?

As boring as this post was about a non-spectacular weekend, up next is Pride...

10 Things to Think About on a Friday

I don't know why I get to this post at the end of every week and want to start it with, "What a crazy week," or something along those lines, but I guess it's because all of them are! This week, we completed the move to the new apartment, and I spent time going to a baseball game, playing ultimate, going running with Coach and E and trying to do all of it while leaving some time to unpack. I'm happy to say I'm almost there. As I gear up to celebrate a belated Father's Day, get out to BBQ in the sunshine and get excited for Pride next week, I give you 10 things to ponder on your way to your Friday night.

1) Well the new legislation on wiretapping doesn't make me feel much safer, but at least it's a start.
2) If there is ice on Mars, and people can live there, are you going to be making the move?
3) I thought sex ed was doing its job. But if a bunch of high school girls think it's cool to get pregnant and make an agreement to all do so, I guess the message isn't getting across.
4) I'm sorry, but if my door is ajar, I've probably left it that way for a reason. Would you want cops coming into your house to wake you up?
5) I'm glad this guy apologized, but really, why are you talking about someone you don't even know?
6) The way this is shaping up, the air in China for the Olympic games might be only twice as bad as the air in Los Angeles.
7) Wow. This one is AWESOME....How do you begin to explain someone why you were going down on his wife when he came home from work? This girl does a pretty good job...realizing that CL links come down after a week, I'm going to copy and paste the entire post here....

I was the girl your wife was going down on when you came home - w4m

---

Reply to: pers-726200477@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-06-20, 1:52AM PDT


I don't know where else to post this. It seems like the most logical place. So, here we go:

Me: intelligent, fun and stunning bisexual that has always kinda been around since I am the younger sister of the best friend.

her: breathtakingly beautiful bisexual... your wife....

YOU: tall, funny, big-brother type who walked in on your wife going down on me when you came home from a long night.

I would like to first off apologize for my reaction to you walking in. If I had known for sure that it was just you, I wouldn't have been so quick to cover up all my goodies. I am smart enough to realize that if your wife has been tasting it, it is only fair that you get to see it.

Second, I would like to explain why there was no hand of welcome extended out to you:

1. I was supposed to have left to pick my brother up about 20 minutes before you walked in.(What can I say? I was sidetracked...)

2. you had a friend waiting for you in the livingroom.

3. you looked like you wanted to punch me in the face.

Under normal circumstances I would have simply asked you if you wanted to join in.... to be honest, reason 2 wouldn't have stopped me, reason 1 was just a minor setback, and well.... reason 3 was the real deal-breaker on that one. Reason 3 explains why I quickly put on my pants, grabbed my purse, and left the house without saying goodbye to you.

So, ok, things have cooled down a bit. Me and you are back to our normal retardedly witty banter, and since then me and your wife haven't done anything.... ok well.... we have had a few make-out sessions, and I may or may not have had my hand down her pants the other night.... but there has been no sex. (not for my lack of teasing-slash-trying... but I mean... you have seen your wife, and you know how awesome she is~can you really blame me?)

I know she has been with other girls in the past, and it never bothered you before. But maybe it was because this time it was at home, and maybe it was because this time it was with me, and there are real feelings there, and it isn't just about the sex....

But I promise I am not trying to steal her away. I don't even want to make you fully share~our work schedules are as such that I can be with her while you are at work, and you don't have to miss any time with her at all!!!

So please, please, please, PLEASE give her permission to be with me again. (....and again and again and again...) because, well... it is SO hard to find a girl[or guy]with the same dating goals and ideals as me, and me and her have this connection that is just like.... well I can't even explain it.

And sweetheart, I *PROMISE* that the next time you walk in on us, I won't cover anything up. I will give you a great display of myself&my goodies,then look you straight in the eye, and ask you why your clothes are still on. Yeah, it may be a little awkward since I have always had little sister status, but I think once you get in the mix of things you will forget all about my relatives. 8) Is medical marijuana helping the use of pot among teenagers drop? Studies would seem to indicate it...
9) Immortal Technique's new album comes out on Tuesday. Check out his interview here.
10) I think Facebook should institute a new policy...if you attempt to add someone you don't know as a friend before sending them a message, that person is allowed to change one aspect of your profile.

Have a great weekend and be good to each other.

Immortal Technique Interview, Part 3

{for complete music related posts, see .Evolving.Music}

This week we have posted two parts of our exclusive interview with Immortal Technique. In these interviews Tech has discussed his method for writing music, the effort it takes to self-produce an album, his views on global politics and current events, and insight into the creation of his upcoming album, The 3rd World. In this final segment, Tech talks about music revenue, the remix culture and the upcoming Presidential election.

For Part 1, click here.

For Part 2, click here.

AC: Going off of that in terms of revenue and economy, there has been a lot of talk of internet piracy hurting the income of musicians. In “Obnoxious,” you advocate people to “burn it off the fucking internet and bump it outside,” so you obviously don’t feel that piracy is hurting you. What do you think the difference is between the reality of what musicians make from song and album sales on iTunes, and what the record industry wants consumers to believe they make in order to discourage music piracy?

IT: I definitely would like people to purchase The 3rd World in stores and purchase it online, but I think it was more of a way for me to express my frustration with the music industry. I can’t believe they have the audacity to call anybody else a thief. As much money as they steal from artists, as much as they don’t have a health care program for any of their artists, and I look at stuff like that and I’m disgusted. They go to these conferences and tell kids, “How can you steal a record?” I’m like really?

AC: They’re stealing from their own artists.

IT: How come you steal from your own artists? How come you’re selling the masters of your own stuff to be bootlegged in order to generate a buzz in the hood. You’re doing it to yourself and then you want to blame other people? You Godless piece of shit. How dare you try to take the moral high ground with the rest of the society by claiming that someone else is a thief? Really? What about all the Black artists who R&B and Soul were based on, whose masters were bought up in a fucking fixed contract? How about all the people who never got the money that they deserved because someone else slapped their name on a fucking recording, who didn’t have anything to actually do with the process of making this music, or didn’t participate in any of the song writing? How about all the publishing that you owe people? That’s tantamount to reparations that you owe the Latino and African-American communities. So before they talk about stealing money, they should realize that when you point the finger at somebody, there’s three fingers pointing right back at you.

Besides all that, I think that even though it‘s a great thing to be able to download music, there’s bad things to it too. Like when you don’t want a record to leak yet and then it does. So it’s not like I think downloading is great all the time. I definitely don’t want my record to be leaked before it’s ready to be leaked, cause it might not be the correct version of the song, or I might have wanted to change something to complete my artistic vision. But I think also that what needs to be said is that it’s not downloading that’s killing the music. It’s the fact that a whole bunch of people who don’t know shit about music are in charge of a music department. Like I’m glad that you went to the Wharton Business School, I’m glad that you know how to market a record, but that doesn’t mean you know shit about music. Unfortunately, that’s the problem with Hip-Hop, that’s the problem with our culture. We have a whole bunch of people who have no connection to our culture dictating everything for us. We’ve given a valid opinion to people who are not connected to us, over us.

AC: In the musical aspects of your recordings, how much control do you feel it’s necessary to have? Would you be in support of remix work as long as it didn’t distort your artistic message?

IT: I don’t know, remix work is touchy. I understand people sampling a track or something, but being able to take all of your work and re-do it and release the project and not give you a cut off anything, that’s different. You want to take a song and burn it off the internet, that’s fine. But if you’re burning my music off the internet and then selling it, that’s a whole different type of fraud. That’s not just regular fraud, that’s a violation. That’s some shit that’s going to get your IP address tracked down and beat the fuck up. If you follow my tour with a fucking camera and then try to release a DVD of all my shows, and you’re trying to charge people for it, you know what, I’m not even going to let the law handle you, I’m going to handle you motherfucker.

And I think that this is the point that I’m trying to make…it’s acceptable for people who can’t afford your music or can’t find it in the record stores, which was the issue with Revolutionary Vol. 2 to do that, but I always felt like it didn’t effect me as much because the people that really believed in my work and really believed in my music, they were the same people that were willing to go to the record store after they heard it and try to find the album, or they downloaded it and said, “You know what, I really like this so I’m going to support it.”

AC: Politically and philosophically, you’re the most in depth rapper when it comes to discussing important issues. But a lot of them, racism, poverty, crime, terrorism, religion, breakdown in the educational system, corruption within the political system, these are all tied together, so it becomes like a ball of string. Where do you start unraveling?

To see what Immortal Technique had to say about these global issues and the upcoming Presidential election, follow this link to Part 3 on Evolving Music.

New Neighbors

It's only been a few days since we moved into the new apartment, but already I've met most of the neighbors. We've got Dean and his wife living with their little son Joey (a very friendly toddler), a mother and daughter (who laughs at me because she's caught me singing out loud a few times), Toya, an elderly woman who has been living there for 18 years, and Grace and Chris, a young married couple who we've seen walking to downtown with keg cups of beer. Surprisingly, I haven't yet met the person who parks next to me in the garage.

After ultimate last night, Coach and E call me up and ask me to go running with them over at the 7 Mile. I oblige, and I'm even feeling friendly enough that I actually join them on stage for a rousing rendition of "Paul Revere." After the bar closes and kicks us out, we stand outside where I get to hear some serious HIStory from these two about their days. After this, I head home and pull into my driveway shortly before 3 am.

Imagine my surprise as I pull into the garage and see a man sticking up out of the Mazda Miyata that parks next to me. And as I pull in and look at him, I see that he has completely passed out in his car. Sitting up, garage parked, passed out. I park and close the garage door, which is apparently pretty loud because it wakes him up and he looks around in a moment of confused stupor. I get out of the car, introduce myself, he mumbles a few words and staggers drunk as hell into his apartment, making a line that would resemble the flight path of a hummingbird. Good show friend, good show.

Good-Bye, 3E

So it might seem strange to say a public farewell to an apartment, but to me, it seems completely normal. Not just because I blog about things in general, but because of the large role my home played in my life, and, to some extent, the lives of others.

3E was a crazy place. 1400 square feet of downright comfort and mayhem in one. It was not only the first place I lived after graduating college, it was also both the first apartment I paid for on my own, and the first living situation I shared with a girlfriend. For the first year and a half or so, it provided sanctuary, and eventually really cheap rent as the gf and I lived in one room and sublet the second. This practice gave me the phenomenal exposure to such great people as JMill, Irish Genius, and KP. It was also the home to many many HBO nights.

When that relationship ended, the fact that a move wasn't necessary and my home remained the same made things wonderfully easy. HBO nights, movies, and the move-in of both Hessica and Glace kept the apartment a hub of activity. A tradition of major sporting events was also a hallmark of 3E. Turning the apartment into "stadium style" seating was the norm as we enjoyed multiple Super Bowls, a USC/UCLA game or two, the World Cup championship, and many others with festive groups.

In the final months, 3E was the launching pad for a great deal of debauchery for Hessica and I. After setting up a Beirut table in the dining room, it became standard practice both as a pre-party tool, and an occasional weekday stab at fending off boredom.

For the four years I lived there, 3E saw great parties, exciting sporting events, wonderful memories, and an influx of a vast and diverse group of friends and family. All that came there remarked on how large, spacious and comfortable it was, and all that left were invited to return. So for those of you that have a memory of 3E, as it was when we called it home, raise a glass up. But don't be sad. The new apartment is a reincarnation both in style and space, with a better location and no locked front door. So cheers to 3E....it served us well.

Immortal Technique Interview, Part 2

{for complete music related posts, see .Evolving.Music}

On Monday I posted part 1 of my interview from last week with Immortal Technique. In it, he touched on his method of writing music and creating albums, his inspiration, his time in prison and his previous work with DJ Green Lantern. In part 2 of this interview, Tech talks more about his upcoming release The 3rd World (due out June 24th), capitalism, the foreign policies of the US and perception of Third World countries. Check back Friday for the third and final installment of this interview.

AC: It’s my understanding that the title of this album, The 3rd World, is also a metaphor that looks at the recording industry as being almost US Imperialistic-like, and the underground scene being more of a 3rd world country, is that correct?

IT: Absolutely. And even in the way we’re presented, they present the underground as some little backwards ass place where nothing really gets done, the same way they say, “the only way that some of these 3rd world countries can be efficient, the only way you dark people can have any sort of success is to privatize everything. Privatize your water, your communications, your transportation industries, sell us your diamonds, sell us the rights to your oil.” And that’s what the industry does when it comes in to deal with another artist. “In order for you to get on, what you have to do is change your image, take the political content out of your music, change the way we market you, sell us your masters, sell us your publishing, sign a 360 deal where we get a huge percentage of your merch and your fucking shows.” And I’ve always looked at that as utter ridiculousness, and I can’t accept stuff like that.

In the same way that that’s done to our people overseas, that’s done to us here. And we’re not any more efficient than anyone else. We think that because of the technological advances of our society that that makes us morally superior and more civilized than anybody else? America still has election fraud just like West Africa; we just had that in 2000. We still assassinate our own presidents; we just did that what, 35, 40 years ago? And after that, Bobby Kennedy? And we’ve had political assassinations after that. We have a high murder rate, we’re a gun culture, we’re no better than anybody else. We’ve definitely funded horribly authoritarian regimes, and then we sort of step away from that.

I look at the example of El Salvador, where we put 1.8 billion dollars a year into a Civil War to fund paramilitary death squads. And because we’re not physically on the ground doing it, we step away from that as if we had nothing to do with the repercussions of it and the horrible human rights abuses, the torture, rape and murder that even ended up claiming the life of an Archbishop of the Catholic church simply because he was telling the troops that were funded by American money and the CIA that it was un-Christian to oppress their own people. And it was un-Christian to commit political genocide against people who thought differently from them. And that it was the will of God and Jesus Christ to show mercy to the poor and to realize how corporations were exploiting people. That’s not Christian Socialism, fucking idiot, that’s Christianity, that’s the spirit of Jesus Christ.

If I come into a room and you’re having a debate with somebody, and I give you a set of kitchen knives, or I give you a gun, and I leave the room and I say, “Handle your business,” and lock the door behind me, just because I’m not in the same room as you when you do what you need to do, or when you do what I put you up to do so I can gain the benefit of you controlling that room economically, that doesn’t alleviate me from the moral responsibility of what has happened there. And I think that that’s something that the American empire will have to admit or it will destroy it in the long run, because truth crushed will always come to light. I’m afraid that Leo Strauss, father of Neoconservatism, was deathly wrong. It wasn’t that Liberalism failed. It was that America became schizophrenic, because on the one hand it claimed to be the bastion of freedom and democracy, and on the other hand, it was a racist police state for Black people and it was spreading its own brand of Imperialism to the rest of the world, just like Russia was. What Russia did to Eastern Europe and Asia was the same thing that America was doing to West African and all of Latin America and the Caribbean. So where’s our moral high ground? Didn’t we do deals with the Taliban before? You want to find excuses for all of this, that’s fine, but you’re just lying to yourself. These aren’t conspiracy theories, these are real life issues. We created the Saddam Husseins, we created Manuel Noriega, because we needed people like that.

AC: Now tying that back into the labels of the underground, what do you think the underground labels need to do, both separately and together, need to do in order to create the kind of backlash needed to change the current industry structure?

IT: Really just make music that has soul. Make music that you want to. I know that there is a trend to just make music that’s radio friendly, this one’s for the radio, this one’s for the bitches, quote unquote. I just make music and then after the album is done, I say to myself, “ok, what can I see playing on the radio? What is more for the streets?” Whereas other people tailor their music for this or that, or they’re like, “Oh, yo, this isn’t a really dope song, these aren't really great lyrics, but this would probably make a really hot ringtone.” Like, at that point, what the fuck are you really doing?

AC: That leads me to an interesting question. Lately, I don’t know if you’ve been reading about it, but there’s been a few really well publicized stabs at independently releasing albums for free on the internet by Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails. Do you think those releases were an important step in the way the industry is changing, or does the fact that both of these groups were already well established and wealthy enough to release an album for free make it more of a publicity stunt than anything else?

To see what Tech thought about the Radiohead and Nine Inch Nail method, as well as the rest of part 2, follow this link.

"Down in Front"

So when I thought I was taking Za to the baseball game last night, she ended up taking me, in a major way. On the way to the stadium she lets me know that through her work she has managed to score some most excellent seats, courtesy of Larry Baer. Now, I've sat bleachers, view reserve, lower reserve, I've even made it into the Diamond Suite. I'm happy to say that my tour of the Giants' ballpark is now complete as I've sat in the best seats in the house.

So close you can hear the players spit...so close that you can yell at the players and be fairly certain that they've heard you...so close that I thought a foul ball that came my way was going to take my head off.

Of course, it's fun when one of the owners walks down the row and shakes your hand too...

Immortal Technique Interview, Part 1

{for complete music related posts, see .Evolving.Music}

Immortal Technique has been on the scene, steadily gaining in influence and word of mouth for several years now. His first two albums, Revolutionary Vol. 1 and Revolutionary Vol. 2 redefined what rap music could be by not just mentioning public and political issues, but by intelligently, eloquently and powerfully incorporating them into a coherent message meant to spur action in the listener.

On this blog, we've previously reviewed an Immortal Technique show, as well as given many readers a first glimpse of Tech's highly anticipated new album with DJ Green Lantern, The 3rd World. Last week I had the opportunity to speak with Immortal Technique and ask him a few questions. Due to the length of the conversation, and in preparation for the June 24th release of The 3rd World, I'll be posting this interview in 3 parts, because how else can you tackle posting an interview where you talk about everything from writing rap lyrics to local politics in over 9 pages? Check back later this week for parts 2 and 3 of the interview with Immortal Technique.

AC: I want to start first by talking about your music in general, then I want to talk about The 3rd World release and the recording industry specifically, and then I’m going to ask you a few questions about your ideologies, political philosophies and views on some of the current global issues.

One of the strongest things about your music is that you remain independent, and you’re honest and unfiltered. On your first two albums, you incorporated a wide variety of styles from songs like “Caught in the Hustle,” which has a very South American sound to “Freedom of Speech” that borrows from Pinocchio. You also routinely include lyrics in Spanish. On The 3rd World track that I’ve heard, “Golpe de Estado,” has Spanish lyrics over a Godfather song. What’s your process in terms of writing your lyrics, and finding the music for them when it comes to your Peruvian birth, Harlem upbringing, and subsequent global experiences?

IT: I think that all of these things bring themselves together in a crux of cultural diversity. I’m from New York City, which is very different from the rest of America I must say. Anyone who is reading this who is in New York, or anyone who is reading this from a place in San Francisco or a place in LA, they have to realize that these large cities are very different than what the rest of America looks like.

Due to the fact that we have so much influence from other places that even Hip-Hop itself comes from the fact that Kool Herc brought all these records back from Jamaica and started spinning different things, and the African drum influence comes from so many different cultures and we have so many different people to thank for the advancement of this type of music. And I think that that being the case, it’s just another example of diversity for me about the music that I make.

AC: In your online postings and your blogs and song lyrics, you have a vast knowledge of social, economic and political issues and you cover a lot of topics almost all at once. Then at other times, the battle aspect of your rapping background comes out more. When you’re writing your lyrics, how do you approach dissecting a topic that you want to talk about and forming the structure of the message that you’re trying to get out?

IT: It really depends. There are some songs that have taken me, for example, two or three years to write. Something like “Dance with the Devil.” Then there’s a song like “Bin Laden” that took me one night to write. I wrote “Point of No Return” in a week, I wrote “Caught in the Hustle” in an afternoon. So I think that it just depends on how inspired I am. And not just how inspired I am by a track or if one takes longer to write, it doesn’t mean I’m less inspired by the subject matter or by the effect it’s had on my life, but more in how I’m inspired about conveying that message. Because something may be a little more delicate in terms of the way I want to analyze it in my mind, say, listen, this is surgical precision that I need in order to get this subject across because it deals with something so serious. Not that stuff that I write very quickly doesn’t deal with something serious, but maybe it’s a more natural flow and it’s more like, alright, I just feel this right now, so worse comes to worse, I come and edit the lyrics later. Sometimes I edit them, sometimes I don’t. So it depends a lot on the conceptuality of the record, that’s usually what it starts with.

In the past, when I was in prison, I just wrote lyrics that were based on what I felt and what I was seeing around me and what I was seeing going on in the world even though I wasn’t there, and how I felt about that. And how I felt about being a slave. The reality about me being released and saying to myself, “Hey, I’m actually free,” and all the different levels of freedom I felt. Because when I was incarcerated, I felt like I was trapped. Then, when the CO’s threw me in the hole and 23/1 where I’m in a restricted housing unit and I only get to leave my cell for half an hour a day, you know then I think I’m even more trapped. I get out of that and think I’m free, then I get out of prison and I think I’m free but I’m still on parole, then I get off parole and think I’m free, but I still can’t get a regular paying job because of my criminal record, and I can’t get into Canada because they won’t let me in there because of my criminal record.

So there are lots of degrees to the way I perceive things, and I guess the change in my life and the way that I conduct myself, and my maturing process, not just my voice getting a little deeper and raspier because of the 100-150 shows I do a year, but all these factors coupled with the evolution of my flow and how I decided to make music has definitely changed the way I do songs now. Whereas in the past, I might have wrote verses first and then found a beat, now it’s more about constructing a concept, then maybe getting a hook together, and then structuring lyrics that really cement the subject matter into one perfect unison.

AC: It’s one thing to be on an independent label, and then it’s another thing, like you, to have complete control over your lyrics, your music and your message. Could you talk a bit about the beginning to end process that you have to personally go through to create an album where everything on it is yours?
{to see what Immortal Technique had to say, see the full post on Evolving Music}

10 Things to Think About on a Friday

Stressful. That's what moving is. Especially when you've lived in one place for 4 years, gotten comfortable with the space and surroundings, and are very very bad at throwing things away. In packing and readying boxes to move, I have found some of the following: an instruction manual to a radar detector that broke and was thrown away a year and a half ago, my cell phone contract from my freshman year of college, my college graduation announcements (or rather, what was left of them), two old cell phones, and several electronic gadgets that either no longer have a power cord, or the power cord is present and the gadget is missing. For some reason, I had decided to keep these lonely halves of nothingness.

So while I get ready to spend the next two days lugging my belongings from an old home to a new one, I give you 10 things to think about as you get closer to a weekend that is sure to be more fun than mine.

1) I don't know about you, but personally, had I been mauled by a tiger, I don't think I'd be interested in bringing four new tiger cubs to my house.
2) I hope this time the idea of humans all being equal and deserving equal rights and protections actually sticks.
3) I'm currently thinking of ways to decorate the new apartment. I'm thinking something like the hydroponics at Epcot Center might be cool...
4) You may have read my rant about Kobe Bryant a few weeks ago, and my similar vitriol surrounding the Lakers. Well now they can add "biggest blown lead in modern Finals history" to their resume. How sweet....go Celts!
5) When someone is given some serious physical talent, and then pisses it all away (much like his older brother), you have to be sad right? Or do you just curse them for being ridiculously idiotic?
6) I think the idea of The Office spin-off is great. Now we can only hope that the rumors of Karen making it back on are true.
7) Considering I have an mp3 of Jay-Z which alternates him rapping and then the original raps that he stole the lines from, this kind of lawsuit doesn't surprise me all that much.
8) What color are you thinking of painting your future baby's room?
9) Let this be a lesson to you...if you're a teacher, don't strip in front of your class.
10) I don't know what I find more amusing here...the fact that Britney going to Las Vegas is considered news, or the fact that Kevin Federline is being honored as "Father of the Year."

Up next....Immortal Technique Interview!

Rockin' Out

Friday night brought about Coach G's birthday party, which we celebrated at his place in Brisbane with some traditional Filipino food and a healthy dosage of Rock Band. I've tried Guitar Hero before (I suck pretty badly), and this was my first time trying Rock Band. I'll say that my drumming skills are on par with a very untalented 6 year old, my bass and guitar work, now that I'm actually getting the hang of the game play, is getting better, and the singing, for someone like me, is actually manageable. I played, had a good time, and didn't feel like a complete moron while doing so.

Following that, we manage to get the married couple to come out on the town with us as we go to meet up with a bachelorette party that is doing their thing at Bourbon and Branch in the city. Jarles, D and others are all in attendance. Following this, the couple, who's never been to the crepe stand, gets the lovely treat of feasting on them before I drive them back to Brisbane.

The highlight of the evening, of course, is when EdeJ's mom decides to give Rock Band a try. Here she is below, playing the drums, and then singing Nirvana's "In Bloom." Stay tuned for news about the pending move...

10 Things to Think About on a Friday

So the apartment hunt continues on this end, with very little real success other than to put Hessica and I at odds with each other. Not that that'll last long, but it's still frustrating, and the idea of being moved into a new place in three weeks is decidedly daunting. Nevertheless, the show must go on, so here's 10 things you can think about while I'm thinking about where I'm going to live.

1) For starters, why does everyone care about what celebrity is dating who? Do they think their relationship is any more interesting or less fucked up than the stars?
2) How many projects can a musician be working on at the same time? For Prefuse 73's Herren, it appears to be a lot...
3) The Iraqis would like to restrict US troop movement in their country. Looks like they have something in common with Obama. And the rest of the non-Bush hypnotized US.
4) And in a reminder as to why we even have US troops over there, how about this?
5) If you're a human, you go for unnecessary plastic surgery. If you're an animal, you need someone to design something to help you eat.
6) Well, if these two can get along, there's hope for us all...
7) The speculation about Apple's upcoming iPhone announcement continues to grow.
8) And has even inspired some very creative journalism to identify the location of the new iPhone.
9) If Bill Clinton hooked up with Monica Lewinsky, wouldn't that make Gina Gershon just a bit out of his range?
10) With the new Futurama movie coming out on the 24th, it's time to reacquaint yourselves with the rest of the cast...

Enjoy your weekend people!

Saintly

A few months ago, I let you all know about the tremendous sandwich from Mr. Pickle's called the "Hang Loose." Well, I have a new one now, and it's incredible. We'll call it Saint A's.

First, you start with #19, The Saint. Then, you substitute the chicken for turkey, and add Baja sauce. I like mine without the vegetables (lettuce, pickles, peppers), but to each their own.

Saint A's: Turkey, bacon, melted cheese, mayo, mustard, pesto, tomato, onions, honey mustard and baja sauce on a soft dutch crunch roll. You know you want one.

Unionizing the Street

Friday night, Hessica and I head out to Gravity for a brief hello at Vic's bday party. I've got Illinois with me and we stop in to pre-party with ChengJ and Foster. When we walk in, ChengJ, who thought I was coming up by myself, is surprised to be caught by us shirtless playing Guitar Hero. We party there for a bit and then leave. Maurod picks us up, with his side view mirror suspiciously held on with masking tape, and gets us there in a spliffy (my new term describing a quick j...spliff, jiffy, spliffy!)

Upon getting to Gravity, we're told there's a 5 dollar cover per person. I try to explain to the nice man at the door that our friend has reserved the upstairs bar and the idea of a cover is bullshit. Bouncer starts to get in our face, and I'm stubbornly deciding that I'd rather get out of line and go home than pay this scum bag 5 bucks to get in when we've rented the upstairs room. He starts to push back and about 5 sentences into our conversation, I think he realizes he's not going to win with me, and I'm not just going to fork money over to him for the hell of it. He tells us we can all get in for 5 bucks. We take the deal, fork over 5 bucks and head upstairs.

It's standard drinking and partying here, so nothing much to write about. Unless, of course, you include "the punch." Midway through the evening I decide that I'm going to tickle Hessica in the middle of the bar. She, faded, starts flailing around. As she flails around, she swings on me, and in her hand is her wallet with a metal clasp on it, and "whack!" it nails me right on the upper lip. I spend the next 15 minutes holding a napkin to my lip as I bleed all over the place. This cut on my lip becomes the jumping off point for numerous jokes about Hessica and I boxing and/or cage fighting. We get home around 1 am after spending some time at City, and I get to wake up at 5:30 to take Illinois back to the airport.

Whether or not it's actually healthy, Hessica and I have developed an ability and a system that allows us to start a day drinking at 11am and finish at the bars at 2am. This has been noted in some of the more prolific writings here concerning the Golf outings and a few other examples of all day drinking. Well, staring at the Union Street fair this weekend, we knew it was once again that magical time we like to call "go time." Or, as we say in our apartment, it's "time to go hard." We get up around 10 on Saturday morning and get to Nini's at 11 where we start our day with breakfast and mimosas. It only takes Hessica three sips of her mimosa to declare herself drunk again, and I'm feeling pretty healthy when I finish mine and we kill a j on the way to the city. Once there, I stop at the Love Shack before we make the cross city trek to the Marina. I've got cans of rockstar and a water bottle of vodka in tow, which will help alleviate any need to pay for drinks throughout the day. That, and a can of rockstar doesn't scream "this is an alcoholic beverage" to police quite like the red cup does.

Unfortunately, the only place I can find to park is on Vallejo and it's in a metered parking spot (1 hour, up to 6pm). We trek over to Union Street and meet there with old middle/high school friends BShap and MZip, with B hosting the pre-party. It's a chill group of people (although, you can't help but laugh at one girl who is so antsy to leave she wants to leave before everyone else has finished their booze, and a married couple wearing matching yet different colored polo shirts with their collars up. I wonder if this is the yuppie wonderland I've wandered into.) We catch up for a while and when it's time to leave, we've been there for about an hour and I decide I'm going to check on the meter. Another hour and we're off again.

We go from here over to meet ChengJ and Foster at ChengJ's place, and they're both just barely up and still recovering from the evening before. Hessica and I are on our fourth drink. They finish lunch, Hessica and I mix another "to go," and we head to a party where we're told that we need to have Hessica with us (a female) as the price of admission. We get there and it's a super sweet place with a ravine in the backyard. About 25 people, none of whom I know, are out on the back deck playing Beirut and listening to music. It's a good scene and I get a few peoples' heads in the clouds before Hessica and I decide to take off and meet up with some of her friends.

But not before going back to the car to check the meter. The meter is expired and the sidewalk has been marked with chalk right in front of the front bumper of the car, a reminder to the meter maid that this is where the car is. I proceed to feed the meter, move the car back two feet and douse the chalk with water (which doesn't really work) before leaving again. I've resigned myself to getting a ticket at this point, but figure I'll try to prolong the magic as long as possible. We start off towards Union Street, but a peaceful oasis in the middle of the Marina greets us on our journey and we stop in to have a quick moment of peace at the Sherman/School. I find the gates are open so Hessica and I creep inside to find a delightful sitting area next to a waterfall. The yard is also built deep enough into the ground that no one on the street level passing by can see us.

After this magical moment, we head on to the street fair where we meet up with Hessica's friend J, as well as Glass and her new friend Trapeze. Hessica points out to me while waiting in line for the bathroom that if I cut, a queue of women will physically assault me in the bad way, so we wait a bit longer. While waiting, I run into KP, my former roommate of sorts, who has decided to move to Kansas for a guy she's in love with. All I'm saying is that if you're going to get me to move to one of the fly-over states, it's going to take a lot more than a few months in a relationship!

Following this, even though we've been on Union street for probably less than an hour, we (by which I mean myself, Hessica, Glass and Trapeze) head over to Marc and JK's place where a regular high school/middle school reunion is in progress over a backyard BBQ. Hessica and I are still working our way slowly to the bottom of the water bottle and flask we've brought, but she's almost comatose in a chair, drinking a Corona. I call this her "recharge" period. We've got Rae, Al, ChengJ, Page, Sutton and more there with Marc on the grill making bomb burgers and JK preparing some unbelievably good crab cakes. The weather, in addition to a sweet fire pit, lets us stay outside well into the evening until Gavroche shows up.

We roll some more over a few games of Wii bowling before we decide to meet up with E over at the I. Hessica takes a ride home (we had been drinking 12 hours at that point), and Gavroche, myself, ChengJ and Foster head over to North Beach. From here, I remember basically a few points of the rest of the evening....taking out my camera to take a picture of E, almost getting myself thrown out in the process (cameras not allowed in this bar!), drinking at least two more drinks, where the tendress, Dagmar, is actively trying to finish me off, and deciding at 2 am that I was going to leave and head back over to the Marina. But would I take a cab for such a thing? My logic at the time is that the city is no more than 7 miles square, so that walk can't be that long, it's free, and I have my iPod, so let's walk. The rest of the evening is spent walking from Broadway in North Beach to Union Street in the Marina, a walk spent mostly dancing, skipping and singing. At one point a group of people in a car ask me for directions before telling me that I should, "get out of the street." They mean this for my safety, not because I'm actually in the street.

On the way back, I swing by my car. No ticket.

Movies of May (11)

The summer months seem to be getting more and more busy, with evenings used to be spent at home on the couch watching movies spent now out and about enjoying the smell of BBQ in the air and the taste of margaritas on the tongue. Booom! Anyways, I got most of the movie watching done this month in Iowa and at the Lake, so here we go...

1: Bender's Big Score, Cocalero
2: Iron Man
4: Grandma's Boy, Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
6: Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle
9: Big Lebowski
22: Big Lebowski
24: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
25: Juno
Everyone get ready.....soon to come for the movies...the new Futurama, The Dark Knight.