Maximum Wisdom

Times Standard: the price of hip hop intellectuals

2008-11-11T06:39:52Z

The price of hip hop intellectuals
Times Standard, October 30, 2008

In 1931 the brutal soviet dictator Joseph Stalin convinced writer/intellectual Maxim Gorky to “return to become Stalin’s literary ornament” as written by Simon Sebag Montefiore in his recent book Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar.
It turned out authors and poets were relatively inexpensive. A mansion, a pair of vacation homes, the rights to his publishing monies, and a driver were all it took to lure the founder of “socialist realism” from Italian exile back to the Soviet Union, where Gorky became a mouthpiece for a bureaucratic machine that murdered and displaced millions.
I wonder what the price would be for most hip hop “stars” these days? Would a down-on-his-luck Flavor Flav be as willing to rap for a dictator as he is to embarrass himself on a reality television show?
In the money-driven world consumption and wealth have only become more important since 1931. The MTV/BET fashion amplification engine seems to be bumping 250 dollar jeans and cocaine as icons of glamour which lays hip hop in precisely the place Gorky was for Stalin: cover.
Hip hop conversations about politics are important. Far beyond the rappers who plug for Obama, (and the tiny handful who have advocated for McCain) we need to consider the long-term consequences for so-called political hip hop that acts as a cover for political scheming.
NWA star Eazy-E dropped $2500 for a fundraiser dinner with George W. Bush in 1991, an antic he described as a publicity stunt. Regardless of who got used in that exchange: George W. Bush, or Eazy-E, the desire for publicity with no thought to the discussion the sound bite pushed off the stage is a logical extension of Gorky’s greed.
In 2008 country music stars and rappers face off in a corporate chain store version of the presidential debates – and some second tier emcees have advocated for McCain precisely because it is the kind of tantalizing entertainment/reporting that will get their names in the paper.
In the presidential election coverage, pundits have enjoyed picking on rappers who have advocated for Barack Obama, and musicians have made quick work producing political themed songs (the best of which, in my opinion, is reggae star Cocoa Tea’s “Barack Obama”), but they are shallow versions of the political capacity of hip hop.
As a medium of discussion, the least valuable conversation in hip hop is who people are going to vote for. I’d rather hear emcees debate about the war in Iraq, economic crisis, and women’s issues – but heck; I’d rather hear the candidates discuss those issues.
As the economy tightens and wealth pools in the hands of a few, the price of a struggling hip hop musician will certainly go down. Given the success rate hip hop musicians is one-in-a-million, and that those on the top amplify their consumptive success by name-dropping “necessary” labels of fashionable clothes and expensive cars, we shouldn’t be surprised to see more hip hop musicians working for well-paying oppressors in the future. The only question will be at what price?

Ink: Humboldt Superhero

2008-08-07T15:51:22Z

Times Standard, August 1, 2008
Humboldt is thick with musical talent. One of the casualties of the proliferation of rappers in this area is that some voices get overlooked. When Dirty Rat producer GMG handed me a CD-R labeled Humanoids from the Deep, it joined a fairly large pile of new music, but it only took one play to stand out.

The Humanoid emcee’s Ink and the Broke Superhero were not only musically talented, but they were clever with the rhymes. As Ink says on “emcee for life,” “If it’s a war of words, I hit you with a triple letter score.” The Humanoids from the Deep mixed the political with the humorous, and created just plain old great hip hop.

Ink is a Humboldt musician – and I was honestly curious about his background. I called him up and got a few words from the emcee on his collaboration with Fortuna’s Dirty Rats, (appropriately called Dirty Humanoids) and a little history.

A California native, Ink’s musical history begins with what he calls the “golden age” of west coast rap. “Between ‘90 and ‘92, when it exploded, really good stuff came out. Being focused was key, the videos, and magazines had real hip hop. There wasn’t really alternative pop rap. The real hip hop cats were getting all the publicity. And that’s where we learned our style.”
When questioned about his own turn to write rhymes, he explains: “I started messing around in the late eighties maybe. Goin’ at it hard and, putting it together by at least 1990, and then I took a long break in-between. There were years where I still wrote, here and there, but wasn’t doing anything as far as making music.”

San Jose friends became musical allies when a bass player created some beats for Ink and he joined the Broke Superhero to make Humanoids from the Deep. Ink makes clear that his move to Humboldt was the catalyst for an on-again-off-again musical project to become an album.

“It’s a good place to make music. I had no idea, when I first got here. I wasn’t sure that there was a hip hop scene. Running into Gabe, (GMG), discovering some cats trying to do some real hip hop. To find cats so close to where I was staying. There is more shows and underground stuff than I would have thought here. It’s real cool.”

The collaborations with the Dirty Rats have culminated in the Dirty Humanoids record which Ink promises should be out “within a couple of weeks.” “Every Rat is on it. The nucleus is me, GMG and Stir Fry Willie. My homie, the Broke Super Hero came out and he recorded two or three tracks. My friend Hochii came up and did a few tracks, and soon we had enough for an album.”

Whether rhyming about work blues on “Now,” or cracking sly comic book references, Ink’s couplets are fresh. When asked about his style, he remarks that his lyrics are: “digestible, understandable – not watered down, but I want to have a point. I like the fun stuff, the parties, but usually when I’m rhyming I’m at least trying to express myself. It’s not really haphazard.”

The creativity obviously flows out of Ink – he is cooking up a second solo album. “It’s pretty far along. More than half of the beats are lined up. A lot of GMG beats, and a few Sonny Wong beats, and a few from my homies back home.”

Since I first heard the Humanoids from the Deep I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Ink a few times on the microphone and his live show are intense. Most recently his tour on the stage at Franco’s birthday party was explosive. Kudos to an area emcee whose energy and output raise the bar for Humboldt hip hop.

In other hip hop news, August 15 welcomes a nice all-day hip hop festival Outlaws and Angels at the Southern Humboldt Park in Garberville. Headliner is Everlast – former emcee/instigator of House of Pain, whose post-heart attack solo work is surprisingly deep. Lets hope for some tracks off “Eat at Whitey’s.”

Mystic, the Moonshine Bandits, LCA, the Resonators, and a handful of other local artists will be on hand to make sure that the stage stays bumping. Expect a friendly independent-minded festival out in the sun. Beer garden (for grown ups) and food vending will round the day festival experience. Get tickets early.

If hip hop is based in youth culture, then the all-ages Placebo collective is an important component to keeping authentic expression alive in the area. Sunday saw wonderful show with the increasingly savage Eureka-based Revocateurs, whose punk rock break-beat style goaded the crowd into motion.

But it was Eugene’s Scrap Yard Swag offered a folk/punk combination of accordion/guitar/drums/bass/violin that motivated much ruckus. No one else might think so, but I think that a dozen Eureka punks moshing to an accordion is the most hip hop thing I’ve seen in a few years. Check out the Placebo.net for upcoming opportunities for all-ages anarchist circle-pit redemption.

Thanks to all the promoters and organizers who put on all-ages shows, roller derby bouts, rap music festival, or anything thoughtfully provocative.

North Coast Journal Reggae on the River 2008

2008-08-07T15:46:57Z

Show review
North Coast Journal August 1, 2008

In front of an adoring crowd, Culture’s lead singer Kenyatta Hill dedicated his performance at Reggae on the River to his deceased father, the roots star Joseph Hill. The senior Hill helped found the band and penned such esteemed roots classics as “two sevens clash” and “zion gate.”

Gigantic shoes to fill, but Kenyatta not only sounds extremely good on the smoothed out roots tunes, but leads the crowd in ecstatic dance steps – arms flailing and dreads leaping around his face. He growls, chants and in-between songs uses his microphone elicits creepy horror effects via the echo-box while he injects energy into the sun blasted crowd.

Culture have been reggae festival headliners for more than thirty years – the conscious choice when it comes to roots reggae. I saw a lot of old reggae festival t-shirts – sure indicators that some attendees had probably seen the band a few times. Long-time reggae fan or first time festival-goer; everyone seemed pretty impressed with this performance.

Of course, the festival space is simply gorgeous. Nestled into a grassy river bank with a stage caressing the roots of a grove of redwood trees, no matter where you stand at Benbow, you can probably see the river, redwoods, and the mountains. The Mateel made sure that the sound was absolutely bumping this year, and even knee deep in the river, hundreds of yards away from the stage, I could feel the bass of New Zealand rockers Katchafire pounding in my chest.
Katchafire gave wonderful energy to the crowd and lured in many a dancer. The Benbow stage is intimate – no significant barrier between the performers and the crowd, and both Katchafire and Warrior King tapped hands and connected with the writhing crowd.

This festival was youth friendly, and kids of all ages joined the dancing masses and ran pell-mell through the crowds. Despite the minor risk that a wayward arm might knock someone over, the presence of kids seemed to deter some of the most blatant of festival debauchery.
In fact, the whole event was downright friendly. Loads of people patiently waiting for foot traffic to work itself out, or offering for someone to go ahead of them, suggested that the crowd was in attendance for fun, rather than frenzy. Adults casually drank beer in a tent which offered a pretty good view of the stage. Families napped on blankets and relaxed in lounge chairs in the shade.

A long line of vendors and food merchants trailed the river bank. Food venders were likely to be community groups who get a budget boost through some festival vending. Add a few dozen clothes vendors, offering almost anything one could wear in tie-dye, camouflage, or hipster black and chrome. Loads of reggae-inspired marketing was in evidence. I decided to buy some raffle tickets for a quilt to benefit a local school instead of a Bob Marley thong.

Heartfelt liberal politics were in effect. Encouragements to recycle, and pleas for Obama were punctuated by an eloquent explanation of the devastation of dams on the Klamath river. The organizers kept the show moving, and there were barely gaps between bands long enough for much speaking – most of the day was filled with music.

The Wailing Souls closed the show with a seasoned performance. Bass nudging the crowd left and right, and crystal clear percussion gave motivation to get down as the sunset cooled the crowd.

Reggae on the River was a return to the relaxed festivals of yesteryear. Benbow is a beautiful space, and when you add inspired musicians, a generous crowd, and a great sound system you get some good times. Congratulations to the Mateel Community Center for a wonderful community-oriented and extremely fun event.

North Coast Journal: The Delta Nationals: All over the map

2008-08-07T15:43:10Z

CD review
North Coast Journal August 7, 2008

The Delta Nationals are a talented quartet of local blues-rooted musicians whose second album, All over the map emerged this year. As the title suggests, the album is a diverse collection of toe-tapping music authored by the band members. The Delta Nationals have created a wonderful boogie sound on this album which should resonate with most dancers, enliven almost any dinner party, and even elicit nostalgia in the stubborn-minded.

From the slow-dance masterpiece “Everlasting” to the Texas swing of “Lonesome Cowboy,” the Delta Nationals never abandon the dancers. All over the map is a showcase of the music they love, with the Delta Nationals crafting their own versions of Bossa Nova, country, surf, and blues songs.

Steve Irwin plays guitar for the band and marks his country-tinged recordings with crystal clear riffs and slick notes. He contributes a distinctive twang to the “Last logger leaving town” and provides the heart of the surf aesthetic to “Camel Rock” their musical tribute to the local surf spot.

Dave Ryan’s keyboard work strolls through “That Bossa Nova thing,” and he fills in the sound for the band in some critical spots throughout the album. His potent piano anchors the blues song “She’s good to me.”

Drummer Paul Demark, doesn’t seem rushed – a rare condition in a percussionist. Even the most talented drummers seem to speed up, arriving suddenly, painstakingly, on point, often a little early. Demark is the rarest of drummers whose sound seems to flow out of his kit with little effort and maximum grace.

Listen to “Everlasting,”on All Over the Map. The beat is so fluid it positively oozes across the recording. Similar patience shows itself through the half dozen other styles emerging from his drumsticks.

Matching DeMark, is Ross Rowley, the bass player who keeps it all together, style after style. One clear highlight is the enjoyable “Up from New Orleans” which offers Ross a chance to share some healthy blues lines and swinging vocals. The rhythm section of Ross and DeMark charges together and fills every song on the record from rip-roaring two-step to stuttered blues.

All over the map is a local incarnation of the flexible dance bands of yore – the troubadours who could entertain whatever kind of audience came through the door. Humboldt should be honored to host this kind of talent, and when you see the Delta Nationals playing next at a beer hall or grange, lace up your shoes and head for the dance floor, it is sure to be crowded. Maxwell Schnurer

Crabs vs. Steelheads Wednesday July 2 North Coast Journal

2008-07-10T20:42:13Z

The Humboldt Crabs bested the Humboldt Steelheads in both games of the doubleheader on Wednesday night. Despite the losses, the Steelheads are shaping up to be a strong baseball team – made up of local college students; the team is full of scrap and quickness.

There were more than a thousand appreciative fans glad for the Steelheads last minute substitution for the Marin Merchants. This is also an excellent year for the Crab roster and the teams played good fast baseball. Of course, in Crab Stadium the baseball game is only part of the experience.

The oozing melee of youth, parades of the fashion-savvy, voguing on top of crushed peanut shells, the old friends, and of course the Crabgrass Band. When I brag to out-of-area people about the Crabs, I usually start with the band.

The band has four flutes, a tuba, great percussion, horns galore, and they play awesome tunes. From Steve Miller, “Oye Como Va” to the closing Black Sabbath number, the Crabgrass Band always adds flavor to the games.

After the last Steelheads/Crabs extra innings showdown, I decided to cheer for the Steelheads. My reasoning is that the Steelheads actually live here; they have roots and a commitment to this place. I still support the Crabs, just not when they play the Steelheads. Upon hearing that the local players had stepped up to make sure baseball went down on Wednesday night, I was motivated to buy a Steelheads cap and started hollering for them.

I usually sit in the ‘loud section’ between the band and the beer. And I like to cheer. Live sports are all about participation and interaction in ways that can seldom happen when a television is involved.

I come by my volume honestly – my mother is a skilled heckler who loves baseball with a passion. We’ve been to a few major league games together, and I studied her ability to add wry commentary at full volume and join into every collective cheer. We have very different memories of a mother’s day game at Yankee stadium where I believe she was reprimanded by the usher for her pointed commentary, something I’m quite proud of – she, unsurprisingly, denies this ever took place.

A few tips for those of you who yearn to join the cheering masses. One: always accept any cue from the band. If they play the quick horn blasts, get ready to yell “charge,” if they want you to sing along with “Sweet Caroline” then just grimace and start singing.

Two: anyone drunk or inspired enough to stand up and initiate a cheer should get support. There are some limitations – you might not want to encourage these kinds of wayward community spiritual expressions if they are blocking your view, or happen during every batter.

Three: don’t join in with insulting or insipid cheers. I think the level of meanness for college age baseball players should stop at “whatsamatta with number (insert number of player to be jeered)? He’s a bum!” Remember that whatever not-so-clever cruelty that might be shouted from the stands is likely to get reproduced in little league games up-and-down the North Coast.

Four: use the seating and stadium itself as an instrument. The thumping of hundreds of feet on the bleachers can make a mighty noise. Collective cheering has the possibility for cathartic, even magical moments if we all got louder together.

All of these guidelines left me in a pickle when cheering for the Steelheads. Without a lot of support, I settled in for pro-Steelhead yelps in the brief openings afforded me.

Late in the second game, I began getting more boisterous. As the Crab fans would yell: “lets go Crabbies,” I would yell “Steeeeeelheads,” in the pause. This caused my friend Eric, girded in his Crabs t-shirt to put me in a mild chokehold knocking my barbecue corn nuts to the quagmire below the stands. Regardless of community sentiment (which was clearly for the Crabs), I diligently yelled for the Steelheads through both games.
Baseball is a beautiful sport, the patient smoothness of hits, thwack of balls dead-eyed into mitts, and the bursts of drama as players meet briefly at bases. But it is we, the fans, who clap and yell in synergy with the action on the field that make the games alive.
- Maxwell Schnurer, North Coast Journal July 10, 2008.

Subtle obscenity: Art in a time of war

2008-07-10T20:39:42Z

Maxwell Schnurer, Times Standard July 3, 2008

The Coup’s Boots Riley is an incendiary poet – a Maya Angelou level verbal antagonist. Teamed with with Pam the Funkstress, a DJ/Producer who makes some of the funkiest tunes in all of hip hop, The Coup have made five albums of politically charged hip hop. This week Boots Riley was pulled off a Virginia festival stage and charged with “abusive language,” putting an end to the set.
Riley immediately pointed out the racist and gentrification dimensions of the prosecution in a statement on The Coup’s myspace page. The statement partially reads: “Obviously, since no one has been charged with this in 26 years, profanity IS tolerated. The statement they are making is that the culture and the people they feel I represent won't be tolerated.”

I don’t know if it was selective persecution, but the choice to blatantly violate the free speech of a poet seems to depend on the message they speak. Riley’s case reminds us to consider the changing condo dynamics of places like Newport Beach (and Arcata) and the function of quality of life complaints to make sure nothing disturbing enters the sanitized public air.

In an era of war, we ought to be used to this. Michael Franti and Spearhead have been under federal surveillance – a fact they discovered when an emcee’s mother was visited by federal agents in 2003 and flashed their full Spearhead dossier. Dead Prez got rounded up and charged during a New York video shoot by police, the outcome was a $50,000 settlement to the band for wrongful arrest.

I don’t doubt that there are some obscene hip hop tunes – in fact I consider most of the corporate rap music to be obscene. But the choice to arrest activist/musicians isn’t about what they say, but a not-so-subtle threat to the hip hop community.

In the world where hip hop messages aren’t welcome, but the diamond-studded walking advertising are everywhere, we need to consider the history of musicians who get invited to dinner but only to play in their modern-day minstrel uniform. The brilliant drummer Jab’O Starks, who provided the backbeat for James Brown among many others, remembers the rules of segregation that said to musicians of color that they were welcome to perform, but not to eat. He describes the experience in the Wax Poetics anthology volume one:

“There was the times you couldn’t go into the department store and try anything on. Either you took it and left, or you didn’t get it. If you were in town for a Black club owner you played that job but they would book you for a White club too. You went and played, then you left and came back. You didn’t mingle.”

I think that the modern incarnation of this is welcoming rap stars to fame, so long as they fulfill some of the most ignorant elements of public fame. Hip hop are the art forms that emerged from young peoples expression of exclusion. These days hip hop is pulled in two diametrically opposed directions – the corporate mass media success story and the underground, limited distribution, authentic expression pathway.

The result is a dual-channel mass-media process that pumps out destructive crap music and at the exact time arrests the conscious musicians. If you wanted to know more about hip hop music or culture, then the pre-packaged blueprints of cultural expectations will push you to believe that cable television can show you real hip hop.

Smaller acts struggle to balance authentic music making with the acknowledgment that hip hop has traditions, language and formats. A good example of the balance between these two impulses is talented local Hiway, who’s new album Wayhi Certified has just dropped in Humboldt.
Underground and hungry, Hiway has a good series of verses that talk about his struggles and difficulties. He is beat-savvy, and able to discern which tunes will fit his rhymes. “Take a look at life,” is a sparse hyphy-leaning creeping tune that gives a chance for him to match his point of view with space noises and hand claps. “Dine and Dash” is a tune suggesting that breaking out of a diner becomes an extended metaphor for getting one over on the rap game. It is a good album from an artist whose fight comes through clear in his verses.

Boots Riley rhymes on “My favorite mutiny,” I spit street stories 'til I taste the pavement/ Tryin' to stay out the pen while we face enslavement.” Finding real hip hop means looking beyond the representations that you can see on T.V.. Real hip hop artists, like The Coup, Dead Prez, and Immortal Technique are saying stuff that is so unsettling that they face arrests for it. The least we can do is to listen to what they are saying.

Destination digging

2008-07-05T19:13:57Z

Am I desperate? Am I willing to jump at any record because it is cheap and I have new storage space? Am I just a loser who wants to consume, but doesn’t have cash and is channeling all his energy into records to numb a wack life?

Quite possibly. But f** it. I like records.

Friday morning and I’m up looking at the paper waiting for Elena to wake up. With some soothing words, and a promise of some breakfast and we are out the door to an estate sale in Cutten. A whole house for sale, almost a creepy perspective on this short time we get on the earth.

A box of records to document a person’s musical loves and guilty pleasures – I pick through, and find some treats.

Runt – Todd Rundgren
Pink Floyd – atom heart mother
Rod McKuen – Lonesome Cities
Moody Blues – go now, on the threshold of a dream, seventh sojourn
Doors, 13, LA Woman (cool cover)
Dave Brubeck in Europe (with a Japanese back cover, including price in Yen, with a paper English cover pasted over it. )

Saturday morning and I’m out the two-wheeling it through a foggy Eureka morning. Nice chats with folks who don’t have records. They are happy to talk about their favorite LPs, the LPs I just missed, and how many elvis record’s their uncle ernie had. Finally, a family sale with six LPs in a box with some toys. Surprisingly, given that the covers have been run over by a lawn mower, the discs are almost unplayed.

Fleetwood Mac Rumours and Fleetwood Mac. (I’ve been borrowing Elision’s copy of Rumours).
Patsy Cline’s greatest hits
Waylon Jennings Only Daddy that’ll walk the line
Supremes more hits

Note the country records. Waylon isn’t just for the bargain bins – I spent probably twenty hours this week listening to Waylon Jennings records.

At a tiny sale, a guy doesn’t have any records, but he wants to sell me a record player. I’m not convinced. I’ve got three record players at home, and now one in my office. But he makes me the greatest deal, and it is a rad machine. Straight out of my fourth grade classroom, this thing is encased in hard plastic, has a speaker, additional speaker outlets, microphone input (karaoke!), and the original needle. For a pocket full of quarters, I agree to take it.

Now, to get it home on my bicycle. For a dozen blocks I just do it like the training sessions in the Shaw Brother’s kung fu classic Master Killer – straight out one handed and controlling the bike with the other hand. Sliding through traffic, and grinning like a fool, I manage to wrangle the thang home. Plugged in, it not only works, but has a fat warm sound – just like fourth grade. And it plays 78s!

Two weeks ago I hit a spot which has become a perma-sale, and scored a flute LP. I saw their ad for the 3rd week in a row and figured I’d skip it. But since I was riding a block away, I figured I’d drop by. Good thing. New records, and a sassy box of 45s. With covers.

The digging nightmare isn’t to find nothing, but to find what you realllllly want, but it is trashed. 45s (or 7”s for my punk rock brethren) are notoriously damaged. More than records, people seemed to treat 45s like coasters and children’s toys. So finding a big pile still in sleeves was kinda cool. The 20 for a dollar price helped me too.

Paul simon – slip sliding away, and something so right
The cars – why can’t I have you (cool instrumental)
Elvis Costello – I want to be loved.
Gloria Gaynor – Strive and I am what I am
Cheap Trick – Saturday at midnight
Adam Ant – Puss n’ Boots. (I have the adam ant records and cassettes I bought when they first came out. Dude rocked, had a great fashion sense, and played a sound that lasts!)
Herbie Hancock – Hardrock (short version) Best known as the cousin to the tune that popularized the scratch, this is a fantastic uprocking hip hop savvy track (it is well sampled) from Sound System. Bill Laswell put his two cents and groove into this track.
Herbie Hancock – Metal Beat. Just awesome, and clean as a whistle.
Freur – Doot Woot. I had no idea with this record, but after the song title is a zodiac sign, and instead of a band listed, it says “mixed by john Hudson” – two good signs. When I got it home, it is a distorted disco ringer. Yeah!
Herb Alpert – Red Hot x2 I spent a good fifteen minutes just looping up this dance monster. Fun for the summer time.
Raiders – Birds of a feather – uptempo boogie single that has jump.
Gregory Hines – That girl wants to dance with me. Don’t sleep, produced by Luther Vandross, and it still plays well.
Bangles – going down to Liverpool
Bad English – when I see you smile. (this was a terrible decision. It is rare that I feel bitter about spending a nickel on something . . . )
Cheap trick – up the creek (damn! With the a cappella introduction. Call ‘em dinosaurs, diss em to the nth degree, I don’t care. But this is a tune I remember dancing to at a high school dance and still holds up for the rock)
Bangles – hero takes a fall
The monte Stephens band – who’s gonna stand up (native American rights country twang)
Spandau Ballet – Lifeline (ahhh perhaps a bad decision)
Simon & garfunkle – wake up little Susie

Remember Waylon? A couple sales later when I ask the elderly gentleman if he has any records, he says he gave them away a couple sales ago, adding, “you wouldn’t want ‘em anyway, they were all classic country.”

Feeling feisty, I reply with a large grin: “How do you know what I’m looking for? I got Waylon and Patsy in my backpack! You wanna argue about Bob Wills, or Merle Haggard?”

He pauses & looks at me. “You look like one of them fellers who just wants to make noise.”

Well I sure do like noise, but I know where that noise came from. There ain’t no Black Sabbath without Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys.

We have a pleasant chat about old country, and I ride away. A few blocks away I find producer/star GMG, and we chat a few. Then Mischief Mic (now Michael 33 I think) and I cross bike paths. Daps and I can’t stand not to show off my new finds.

When it comes to full-price, these days I’m thinking latin Jazz and breakbeat soul/flute. So I pull a little wiggling and dealing pull in four new heaters from the stores.

Eddie Palmieri – Sing Sing Imagine one of the greatest bandleaders getting live in Sing Sing with Harlem River Drive and some dub poetry?. Gotta have it.
Willie Colon – El Juicio
Donald Byrd – Blackbyrd
Cyamande - Cyamande

All four records are stunners. Hands down, heart breaking stunners. ‘nuff said.

Tuesday afternoon and most of my digging dreams are out of my mind when Elena and I make a quick run to old town and I see mounds, literally thousands of records stacked up outside a funky antique mall.

I’ve dug there before – and found some gems like a clean Axelrod produced Lou Rawls. But they want to make money from people, and often pull the beatles records and try to sell them for twenty bucks. In this case, they just bought a huge supply (looks like a closeout record store or a thrift store hoarder) and want to deal cheaply and in bulk.

I Pass a few hundred mantovani, Christmas dreck, and captain and tenille records and I find a clean copy of Pharoah Sanders’ Deaf Dumb and Blind. All it takes is one good find, and it’s on. The dust flies, but after moving stuff around and an hour or two . . .

Getz and Gilberto – what a nice record!
Chico Hamilton, Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan – crown-tastic!
Kenny Burrell – Guitar Forms
Charlie Byrd – Brazilian Byrd
Little Women and Daddy Longlegs – spoken word stylo
A sealed copy of “music for your plants” – on the back it has the control group where they played rock music and killed the plants next to the thriving plants who got this record . . . too funny.
Poetry of Pat Parker and Judy Grahn – this makes doubles of this badass lesbian poetry record.
Hank Williams Life story – orange LP with a Japanese cover?
Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee sing Hank Williams
Tommy - The Who
Wes Montgomery – Moving Wes
Gregorian Chants (Holler!)
Radio Club spoken word classics. A record of classic radio innovation? Hmmmm

I’m trying not to be rude, but I’m only about half way through the thousands of records when they want to close.

“What time do you open tomorrow?”
“Ten thirty, yeah, around ten thirty.”

10: 47 a.m. and I’m back in the stacks. Results?

Songs and sounds of the Orient – this is a japan airlines promo and includes a spoken word tour of hot spots of Asia.
Jimmy Buffet living and dying in 3/4ths time.
Tina Turner – break every rule (I just watched thunderdome the other day . . . )
German Beer drinking music
Isaac Hayes – Hot buttered soul
Soundtrack to anywhich way you can (this is the followup to Clint Eastwood and his primate co-star. Duet with Ray Charles and Clint called “Beers to you.” Eat your heart out stir fry willie.
Holy Bible – in country verse by the Statler brothers
Koto music of Japan
Good Housekeeping record – plan for reducing. Spoken word exercise/recipe/calorie counter record from the sixties.
Transcendental Meditation – How to and Q & A . . .
Hawaii Fire Goddess – actually pretty authentic and sassy cover
Jimmy Smith – Mojo Working (this was one of the big money LPs that the proprietor had picked out, but I worked it into the pile for part of my final deal).
Monk big band in concert
George Benson – Weekend in LA (Funkier than you might thing)
Ray Charles – doing his thing
Ramsey Lewis – The in crowd (doubles of this standard)
Brubeck – at storyville 1954 volume 2 – 10” record . . . just ill sound
Laurindo Almeida – Guitar from Ipenema (this is Almeida rocking some rad Brazilian compositions from some of my new faves – very good and loungy)
Melodic Stan Getz
J Geils – Love Stinks
Stan Freberg – Madison Avenue Werewolf – a comedy routine that is pretty cheesy, but worth cutting up over mediocre flip-mode instrumentals.
Charlie Byrd – Latin Impressions
OC Smith – Hickory Holler Revisited (produced by HB Barnum)
Sandy Nelson – Drumming up a storm. The first track on the second side would fill up a sampler.

Whew, I check out, stash the LPs, and check the neighborhood thrift store.
Find and exercise LP and Italian press Zamfir.

Friday finds me repeating my old tricks. With the promise of some breakfast Elena covers a couple of tag sales with me.

Second tag sale, and I notice a jukebox as we stroll up. I find the old guts of the jukebox – 45s – buried in a moldy room with a creepy horror-movie style antique dentists chair. Many are sleeved, and even a few doubles.

Staple Singers – love comes in all colors
First class – both sides of the story
Simon and garfunkle – Cecelia
Albert Hammond – Brand new day
Pointer sisters – How long
Ray Stevens – Misty
Earth Wind and Fire – Singasong (kicking instrumental side)
Joe Stampley – Love’s through my veins
Van Halen – You really got me/Atomic Punk. Late last night while people were shooting off fireworks, I was cutting up two copies of Atomic Punk – looping the hell out of the guitar breakdown. So good. I gotta practice mixing one 33 rpm record w/ one 45 rpm.
Pendergrast – Close the door
O’Jays – This time
Harold Melvin and the Blue notes – wake up every book
Roberta Flack closer I get to you.

Saturday morning and I feel flush with records and broke. I spend some time contemplating not going out, but the lure of a beautiful bike ride get’s me up.

I head to Cutten, mostly for the relaxing ride – and find a nice tag sale. When I ask about records, the guy says hold on, and they start bringing out piles. On the back of his first load, I can see a giveaway – the Pablo Ocean Cruise Lines compliations. These damn records hinder every dig, and they seem to show up in droves. I’m pretty sure this is a bust, but I’ll look anyway.

Whoops. Turns out the man is a blues aficionado.

Brubeck Q – last set at Newport
Oscar Peterson Trio – With respect to Nat
John Mayall – Diary of a band
Leadbelly – take this hammer
Grover Washington Jr – Winelight and Come Morning
Stevie Wonder – Songs in the key of life (doubles, or maybe even triples of this)
Butterfield Blues band – sometimes I just feel like smiling
Lightning Hopkins – the blues
Michael Jackson – Thriller
Jimmy Cliff – Live in concert
BB King – Live at the Regal and the Jungle
Hubert Laws – Land of Passion, Live at Carnegie Hall, and Romeo and Juliet (Flute maestro Laws is a star who I’ve been hunting for a while. The first thing I put on when I got home)
Mississippi John Hurt – Best of and Immortal
Bluesway classic blues volume 1
Charley Musselwhite – Stone blues
Miles Davis – you are under arrest
John Lee Hooker – Free chicken and Beer
Taj Majal – Happy to be just like I am
Rober Cray – Strong persuader
Climax blues band – Tightly knit
Fathers and Sons – Chess Blues anthology
Rolling Stones – Big hits
Edgar Winter – White Trash (this is more funky than you might guess.)
Memphis slim – Born with the blues
The Quintet – VSOP
Muddy at the wolf
Crusaders – southern comfort
Jeff Lorber Fusion _ water sign and Wizard Island (fusion trillllllll)
Stanley Turrentine – Betcha
Bill Evans – Montreaux II
MC Hammer – U Can’t touch this
JJ Cale Troubadour
Canned Heat – vintage
Ray Charles – a man and his soul
Neil Young and the Bluenotes
Leon Redbone – on the track
Jean Luc Ponty – Imaginary voyage and live
Beatles – help
Frijid Pink – first lp
TRex – the slider
Shape of the land soundtrack
Darol Anger/Barbara Higbie Quintet
Ry Cooder – Crossroads soundtrack
Prince – batman soundtrack

I make a pile of must have, and a pile of would like (you can guess which ones were in which pile), and wander over to talk price. The guy gives me a generous deal, and then tosses in all my ‘would like’ records too.

No way I’m riding these home, so he get’s one of the folks at the tag sale to drive the records to my house. Dang.

Thank you Eureka for the wonderful record collections and willingness to share!

Summer solstice diggin'

2008-06-21T22:04:50Z

Summer Solstice Diggin’

I’m under a fairly strict policy of fiscal austerity, so selecting the few full price LPs that I can afford is a grueling task. I agonized over purchasing the reissue of Cal Tjader’s Soul Sauce LP from Dusty Groove. I put it in my digital shopping cart. Then I took it out. Repeat cycle and add google searches, and frustration, only to finally decide against the album.

I was hipped to Tjader by Larry Grogan, who runs the absolutely fundamental blog Funky 16 Corners. Of Swedish descent, the vibraphonist made cosmic latin jazz like no one else. I found an LP of his live work at People’s records in Arcata and it has been in heavy rotation at my house.

Contrast my greedy record desire with the relatively slim pickings of the Humboldt tag sales this season, and you have some beautiful bike rides with an empty backpack. Last weekend I rode my bike to fourteen tag sales and found four records. Two nice flute LPs and some seventies Humboldt country folk LPs.

So imagine my surprise when I strolled up to the fourth tag sale this morning and spotted Soul Sauce on the top of a pile of Lps being fondled by a middle-aged couple. Catching my breath, I chatted with the tag sale proprietress until the folks finished looking.

It drives me nuts when people rush up in the piles of records hoping to ‘race me to the good ones!’ Crass greedy suckers. I’m happy to wait until folks finish, and I like chatting with people who sell records because they usually have cool stories to go with their LPs.

My heart sank when I saw the fondler pick up a Brubeck Lp and the a Tjader record, but I tried to keep perspective. Finally, they split, and I got to dig. I zoned out once the records were in front of me, and I was pleasantly surprised to see what they had left me.

Cal Tjader Soul Sauce, Breeze from the East
Dave Brubeck Quartet – LP w/ Tjader!, countdown, and time out.
Antonio Carlos Jobim – Wave (Trying to get myself psyched to get on my bike this morning I was reading a wax poetics article about brazilian tunes and ran across this Bossa Nova star and bang, twelve blocks later I find his epochal album).
Leo Kotke – Armadillo LP
Les McCann Beaux J. Pooboo – this record is nuts. So funky, and so live – I guess the Reverend Beaux J. Pooboo was Les McCann’s zany alter ego. One of the first things I put on when I got my piles of LPs home.
Mamas and Papas – Papas and Mamas
Bad Company – Run with the pack
Janis Joplin – Pearl (doubles for this blues beat album)
Allman Bros – Eat a Peach
Xavier Cugat – Best of
Joe & Eddie
Mason William – Phonograph LP

I’m shaving my pile down & preparing for negotiations, when they bring back the Tjader record “several shades of jade” and the Brubeck LP. I guess the previous purchaser wouldn’t pay two buck a piece for them. Well I certainly did.

I had to ride home to drop off the albums and then rode out again. A few sales later, I hit a gigantic pile of country stuff. I was sorely tempted by two 7” record cases filled with classic country 7”s, but the seller was firm, and wanted a bit much for ‘em. Instead I filled up on fifty cent LPs.

Billy Joel – Glass Houses
Lou Rawls – When you hear lou, you’ve heard it all
Aretha Franklin 7” respect
Jerry Reed 7”
Diana Ross – touch me in the Am
Dolly parton & Sylvester Stallone – Rhinestone (hell yeah!)
5th dimension – loves lines, angles and rhymes, age of Aquarius, and the magic garden
Dionne Warwick – The Dionne Warwick story
Waylon Jennings – I’ve always been crazy, Dreaming my dreams, and greatest hits (If you ain’t hip on Waylon Jennings, then you’d better get some learn on. Guitar star, total heartfelt poet. Good shit.)
Donna Summer Live
Charles Vicks – Does Disco (seems to be a relatively small DIY disco project?)
Gertrude Stein – reads Gertrude Stein (one of two spoken word LPs I bought today . . .usually I’m the spoken word hound)
Thomas Dolby – Flat Earth

Twenty blocks away I discover another huge pile at a tag sale. These folks had some varied records, but some neat scores. The ‘five for a buck’ helped me to get a little more exploratory.

Ramsey Lewis – Movie LP and The in crowd
Terry Gibbs – El Nutto (this vibes LP is off the hook!)
Jon Faddis – Good N Plenty
Atlantic Jazz Mainstream
MJQ – Blues at Carnegie hall
Coltrane live at birdland
Milt Jackson – born free
Cannonbal Adderly – Bossa Noval LP
Sonny Criss – Saturday Morning
Bob Dylan – first LP
Apache –
Sunny Ade – Master guitarist
Vincent Capretta 12” (the cover of this LP has a handsome man covered with pink lace. Looks like obscure queer disco heaven. I notice that someone loved the track enough to put doubles in there. Can’t be terrible for the price? We’ll see. What sold me was that it was produced by James Mtume, Miles Davis percussionist deity).
Bigg Ocean Mobb – the only hip hop 12” in the pile?
Pretenders first LP
Gloria Gaynor – Never Say Goodbye
Jamal – Christian spoken word picture disc . . . in a heartbeat. I hope this is bad. Really bad.
Tom Paxton – Up and up
Hair – Ray Bloch
Animal House LP – again, someone was kind enough to provide two copies of this right next to each other in the pile. Thank you.
Olatunji – Flaming Drums (this looks rad.)
The Carnival – The carnival
New Riders of the Purple Sage – Brujo
Django Rinehard – Parisian Swim
Bessie Smith – World’s greatest blues singer
Simon & Garfunkle – the graduate (doubles for the hippy parties)

More than enough to keep me busy. I’m excited about all the cool jazz options. Thanks Eureka! You rock.

Connect the dots, follow the arrows: Humboldt Hip Hop

2008-06-06T18:50:08Z

By Maxwell Schnurer, Times Standard June 5, 2008

Hip hop is commonly defined by the four elements (dancing, djing, graffiti writing, and emceeing), but it entails a whole host of other knowledge. Comic books, cinema, fashion, and of course location are crucial in understanding this cultural movement. Thinking about the geography of Humboldt Hip Hop can be a valuable way to consider this movement.

I rode my bike to The Works, Eureka’s fine independent record store on a sunny Sunday morning and discovered DJ/emcee/Dirty Rat Stir Fry Willie crouched over the record bins at a time many people would be in church. Willie is a charming, ecstatic, often costumed performer whose DJ nights featuring rock, soul and hip hop offer a chance to see this kinetic artist show off his musical inspirations. We shared words on disguises, records, motivations and spoke of our places in the universe.

Stir Fry Willie a handful of his fellow Dirty Rats rep Fortuna, while I honor the fair city of Eureka – which I consider the center of hip hop culture on the north coast. Affordable, accessible, and complete with the semi-regular drama of cities ten times its size, the stories of hip hop bubble through the record stores, clubs and streets of this beautiful city.

A few blocks away from the record store, I am dazzled by the art on the alley wall of the Accident Gallery, a crucial local performance/gallery space. It’s worth noting that the alleys of several local businesses have become dizzying optic-stimulating art spaces. One business contacted me with the tale that they’ve added large full-color art pieces to their outside wall largely to deter low-quality writing on their walls. The outside writers deserve kudos for sharing their visions with the citizenry and the idiot who has been writing on trees deserves 100% shame.

Among other cross currents that blow through the Accident Gallery have been the recent spate of slam poetry contests run by the feminist and verbally-savvy crew A Reason To Listen. After some cut-throat preliminaries, the Humboldt Slam Team is now final and prepared to represent the lost coast in the world of stage poetry performance. Carved out of the competition, the newly inaugurated Slam team consists of: Vanessa Pike, Brad Wilson, Mischief Mic, and Lorena Boswell. The Humboldt team will travel to the national championship in Madison Wisconsin in August.

Backwoods star Garth Culti-Vader had an accident recently with some injuries. His recovery period was spent crouched over a computer editing his first film. Titled: Chronic TV: Humboldt Hip Hop Volume 1, the movie shows Garth rocking a handful of live shows, a new song from Sub Sab emcee Elision, a video from producer emcee Myster DL and some high-speed, dank-inspired editing.

Accompanying Myster DL into the Universal Balance Productions Studios, I ran into Massagana vocalist and emcee Ishi Dube. Ishi has been performing and rocking hard for 2008 bringing conscious reggae and repping his location to audience at a moment’s notice.

Myster DL was in the studio to work on a couple of tunes, and it was rad to see producer/guitarist Piet “Demolition” Dalmolian lay down some guitar solos and tweak the pro tools. DL is a behind-the-scenes kind of musician, whose catalogue of tracks is rich with underground stars. With some time spent soaking up the sounds in Miami, his albums are catchy and kicking. Check out his recent album The Storm, and his first local mix tape Humboldt County Stories hosted by Onyx emcee Sonny Seeza.

I cadged an invitation to see Dirty Rats GMG and Stir Fry Willie do some MPC damage in their Fortuna, Dirty Rats lair. Watching a beat evolve from vinyl to chopped loop under the talented fingers of GMG was a real honor. As I exited Stir Fry Willie laced me with some of the Dirty Rats back catalogue, including the 2004 album the Plague, and a copy of his ultra-rare first album Piss in the Crisper. Pass the verses or ride in hearses.

Humboldt State’s Poetry is Not a Luxury collective have been hosting a series of politically charged open-performance spaces, including contributions by Watts Prophet Amde Hamilton and Anarchist Black Panther Ashanti Alston.

L.C.A., or Lower Class Alcoholics have been opening shows all over Humboldt, including for the recent Devin the Dude stop. They’ll be touring around California in June supporting their album Bottom of the bottle, concluding in Eureka with a star-studded Red Fox Tavern show Friday June 13^th with Himp C, the Resonators, and the Republican Duck Hunters.

Local bass player and Opti-Pop emcee, J the Sarge has a new project with Freestyle Fellowship star Myka 9 called Magic Heart Genies – the debut video is out on the internet and the sound is quick and slippery – check it out and get the album when it drops this summer.

Subliminal Sabotage emcee MCP has released his long-anticipated solo album I’m in love with death. The release is worth the wait – featuring keyboards masterfully played by B Swizlo, contributions from many of the Subliminal Sabotage/Nucleus musicians carving out a a smooth plate for MCP’s whisky tortured dark vocals.

Humboldt Rocker Reckless Rex organized and hosted a B-Boy dance battle last month and dancers swarmed to fight for the thousand dollar top prize in a two-on-two breakdancing battle which was captured by global stars the Break Disciples -- RoxRite and Kid David. Claiming the victory in the popping battle was JHits who will be coming back through town to teach some workshops with Rex this weekend. Check the workshops June 12 at 8pm and June 15 at 6pm in the old creamery building in Arcata.

Respect the geography, and keep the music and culture moving forward ‘til next time.

Rocky Horror event to support film festival

2008-05-22T15:24:43Z

It might be the perfect Arcata valentine event. Rocky Horror Picture Show is renowned for it’s horny aliens, catchy song and dance numbers, and of course, heavy audience involvement. This year, the Humboldt Film Festival and Psychotic Cabaret present a midnight showing of the cult film at the HSU studio theatre, complete with props and guaranteed chaos.

The film is a 1975 homage to early horror movies and presents many of the traditional cinema themes of sex and terror in a witty and subversive way that has made the film legions of dedicated fans. It is also a film with a lot of audience participation. At midnight showings, fans will sing along, add in their own puns after character lines, and use a collection of funky props (dry toast, for example, is traditionally tossed when the mysterious doctor Frank-n-Furter proposes a wedding toast).

Audiences are invited to come in costume (the more dedicated may perform on stage under the film, copying the voices and inflection with studied focus), but props will be provided by the film festival staff.

The event is a fund raiser for the Humboldt Film Festival, now in it’s 41st year of supporting non-profit independent film makers. Mark your calendars; the film festival happens March 24-30 of this year. Films are being accepted through the end of this weekend, and more information can be found on their website (http://www.humboldt.edu/~filmfest/).

Last year, the Rocky Horror fundraiser sold out and a second show was necessary. The same thing will likely happen this year, so get your tickets early (they are on sale at the Works in Arcata, and join the extravaganza.

When: February 14
Where: Humboldt State University Studio Theatre, Theatre Arts building 115
How much: five dollars

Maxwell Schnurer, Times Standard, February 14, 2008

Mad Professor: Dub Eureka

2008-05-22T15:20:04Z

Dub is a music that relies on absence. Dub, in the most magical incarnation, comes from the productive mind of a selector who will cut out parts of the tracks to a reggae tune remixing and manipulating the components of the tracks. As channels fade in and out, and bass thunders alone, suddenly to be layered with drums or haunting keyboards, an echoing sound of familiarity and longing is born.

The Mad Professor is one of the world’s greatest dub masterminds. Guyana-born, moved to England when he was 13, the Mad Professor embodies the connection between the African diaspora and dub. A music born from the refuse of the recording industry, dub creates new sounds out of components of music, made most often by the children of African slaves, themselves now refused.

In love with electronics, a young Professor found sonic healing in circuits and plugged into music as a teenage transplant to England. He helped to record some of the greatest classics as expatriate Jamaican superstars fled the former British colonial island and reggae sounds blossomed. Horace Andy, U-Roy, Scientist, Mikey Dread and of course the mystical Lee “Scratch” Perry recorded with the Mad Professor.

Black power meant self-sufficiency for the Mad Professor, and so a few decades ago he founded Ariwa, a black-owned label and recording studio – hand-built by the Professor himself. Ariwa is a Yoruban word that means communication, and through his label and studio, the Mad Professor developed the tools for sharing ideas of liberation through the rearticulating of sounds.

The model was laid down by King Tubby who tweaked sounds to make noises out of the ordinary. As technology evolved, the Mad Professor took the idea and drew out the sounds to their extreme in his series of albums called Dub me Crazy. Animal noises, extra-planetary squeals, echoed beyond comprehension and glued together with bass and drums, his sound became the example against which all dub was held.

In his Black Liberation Dub series the Mad Professor hoped to communicate some musical arguments about racism. In an interview with Nice Up, the Professor explained his motivation for this series: “Just to remind people that, well yeah, we went through this slavery period and you know, some might be free but some are not free and some don't want to be free, and some could never be free, you know . . .”

In 1997 I was inspired when I first heard the Mad Professor live at the mixing boards during the Vermont Reggae Festival. Driving an Ariwa soundsystem that included Sister Carol and Macka B and anchored by the backing band Black Steel, the Mad Professor added sound effects, horns, played tracks backward, added reverb and distorted every sound that emerged. Standing on a hill in Hardwick Vermont, the earth shuddered with the bass and from somewhere came a distant laugh through the overpowered soundsystem.

The Mad Professor will be performing on Saturday March 29 at Eureka’s Red Fox Tavern.

Maxwell Schnurer, Times Standard March 27, 2008.

Africa Bambaataa 2008 and beyond

2008-05-22T15:17:02Z

The master of records, Africa Bambaataa arrives in Humboldt for a performance on Saturday February 23. Bambaataa is a famed DJ, the founder of the hip-hop collective the Universal Zulu Nation, and a sound innovator.

Bambaataa has always been a leader and an organizer. Initially he created networks and friendships in the South Bronx with the Black Spades organization. Afrocentric and strategic, Bambaataa the street revolutionary evolved into something never before seen. In the late seventies he began to re-articulate the discipline and structures of the street organization to be a hip hop army.

It isn’t as trite as putting down guns to pick up instruments – Africa Bambaataa’s vision of the Universal Zulu Nation was a forward reaching collective who not provided a means for poor youth to look out for each other, but also to nurture community talent with the honest aspiration to create a new world.

The result: Bambaataa’s Universal Zulu Nation has helped to develop the skills of an incredible number of hip hop’s elite, not to mention helping to articulate the hip hop arts as we know it. Here is a short list of some of his collaborators: Cowboy (Grandmaster Flash’s famed emcee), Afrika Islam (Ice-T’s DJ/producer among many others), turntable innovator Jazzy Jay, hip radio DJ Red Alert, emcee Mr. Biggs, DJ Zambu, and Busy Bee. Oh yeah, don’t forget the legions of graffiti writers, and dancers who found their place in the universe with a nod of encouragement from the head of Africa Bambaataa.

Of course, each one of the young folks Bam shared stage time with that developed into a superstar stayed true to the Universal Zulu Nation – ‘each one teach one’ ideology – they, in turn, mentored new generations of hip hop stars.

Bambaataa is a radical DJ who is famous for his diverse palette of records. The record, the beat, is at the forefront of a Universal Zulu party, surgically cut, but researched by Bambaataa to be something startling. Equally likely to use a nursery rhyme, a classic rock track, or a punk anthem to rock a crowd – the only think you can be sure of at a Bam party is that you’ll be surprised by what he’ll play and you will move your rear end.

At outdoor jams in the housing projects of the South Bronx and soundsystem battles in New York high schools, Bambattaa’s soundsystem, and his Zulu collaborators, built traditions that last to this day. In the crucible of gritty competition, Bambaataa’s black power, mytho-poetic collaborations, bizarre record selections, and great sound made him a champion, not to mention a legend.

It can’t have hurt that wherever he plugged in, hundreds of Universal Zulu Nation folks rolled with him. His academy produced legions of breakdancers who specialized in popping or power moves on the floor, every one trained Bruce Lee hard to defeat any challengers. The people who carried Bam’s crates were often legendary DJs in their own rights, waiting for their chance to show off their skills. Graffiti writers, the street propagandists of the highest order, schooled youngsters on letter styles. You better believe emcees practice before they grabbed the microphone at Bam’s party.

The next phase of Africa Bambaataa’s career was his stint as a DJ at a series of downtown New York clubs that helped to expand the audience of hip hop. At clubs like the Roxy, Bambaataa and his DJs, played funk anthems, backwards records and of course cut everything down to the absolute best parts of the records – the breaks – showing artists like the Beastie Boys, the Clash, and Luscious Jackson, who were in the audience, the blueprint to sell millions.

More takeover than crossover, financially advantaged audiences flocked to buy graffiti art, learn to breakdance, and hear this ‘new’ sound at the clubs. Zulu showcases were tantalizing experiences, ushering in collaborations between painters, dancers, and of course, the thumping DJ.

Around this time Bambaataa, a notorious record fiend, discovered the techno electronic drum sounds of Kraftwerk, and their introduction to his set encouraged him to put together his own electric band. The result was ‘Planet Rock,’ the hip hop classic by Africa Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force. “Planet Rock” exploded with the then-unheard, up-tempo, electro-hip hop sound. In a single stroke, Bambaataa forced open the popular conceptions of hip hop and introduced his sound to the largest audience it had ever known.

Not many artists are at the inception and popularization of a social movement. Bambaataa can legitimately claim to have created whole segments of the art form known as hip hop, and also to have spread the music with his courageous approach to music. If you add the Universal Zulu Nation, and all the innovation that came from Africa Bambaataa’s musical progeny, then you truly are talking about one person changing the world in their lifetime.

And he isn’t done yet. Bambaataa has bypassed much of the fame and consumption of commercial hip hop for living a life of musical revolution. An engine of creation, he helps to spark imagination and shatter conventions around the world as a global Zulu ambassador. His Humboldt visit is a rare chance to be in contact with the living heart of this music.

Joining Bambaataa will be the founder of the Northstar chapter of the Universal Zulu Nation, DJ/organizer Madplanet from Sacramento. DJ Red will showcase the Humboldt turntable skills, and the Humboldt Rockers will present the finest in breakdancing.

If you’ve every enjoyed hip hop culture in music, dance, screen, language, fashion, or in any other way, you owe Africa Bambaataa hearty thanks. Come to Mazottis and pay your dues to this hip hop legend, and of course get your mind blown by a thirty plus year turntable veteran.
- Maxwell Schnurer, Times Standard February 21, 2008

Activist poet Jared Paul in Eureka (Times Standard)

2008-05-22T15:11:38Z

Jared Paul is one part community activist and one part blistering spoken word performer. Unlike many of his peers, as he becomes more successful in the world of competitive poetry, he hasn’t given up his organizing work. He brings his punk-rock poetry to the Accident Gallery on Saturday April 26.

Jared Paul resides and bicycles in Providence Rhode Island, where he organizes protests, practices journalism, and coaches the local youth poetry slam teams. His politics and community engagement are not only laudable, but also seem to contribute his long-term perspective on poetry.

It doesn’t seem to matter what the music is behind Jared Paul, he drops political verses. On his tune: “ABCs for Roger,” Paul borrows from the handed down alphabet songs to give a lecture on veganism, police, and colonialism through his poem a cappella. He rocks a hip-hop beat to express his straight-edge politics on “dead sober, and fronts what sounds like a punk band for some tunes.

On his myspace page he documents advancing to the final round of the Individual World Poetry Slam Finals in 2006 and 2007 and a handful of other slam poetry awards. But he also provides links to activist groups, and documents his protest/organizing schedule calling on folks to join anti-war demonstrations and to vote for Obama.

Jared Paul is a stunning performer – staring audiences in the eyes and calling for conscious responses to injustice. His talent at sharing complex ideas through verse should not be missed.

In the era of hip hop, it is impossible to lament that young people don’t like poetry. Humboldt is representative of a national upswing in interest in lyrical performance through rhyme, and at the center of our local scene have been poetry slam organizers Vanessa Pike-Vrtiak and Therese Keslin-Fitzmaurice, also known as A Reason to Listen.

Together they have organized and nurtured much of the local slam poetry scene. Their commitment to youth and justice are clear, whether they are on the stage with former Green-party presidential hopeful Jared Ball, or sharing poems at Humboldt State’s Take Back the Night.

Pike-Vrtiak and Keslin-Fitzmaurice are organizing a youth poetry spoken word showcase the Friday before Jared Paul’s performance. Join A Reason to Listen at the Accident Gallery on Friday for the youth showcase, to see the best of the region, and on Saturday to see Jared Paul.

(Times Standard, April 24, 2008)

Potluck: Grinding Toward Stardom

2007-11-03T05:03:12Z

Times Standard 10/25/07

Grinding. It is the unspoken part of being an up and coming hip hop artist. Print up full color posters and coordinate in-store visits. Make sure the CDs are in stores and drop by the local radio for some drops. 2007 means you have to keep in mind podcasts, and never forget myspace. Potluck have been working hard to become well-known musicians, but this week the Humboldt hip hop stars will get a chance to show off when they open for Snoop Dogg at the Muni in Eureka.

Potluck are out to make a living at hip hop. They have a deep understanding of the game because they got to watch some underground kings make their moves. Kansas City’s Tech N9ne was the first independent ruler to give a nod to 1Ton and Underrated when he tapped the Humboldt rappers to open for him on a national tour.

“Tech was the first one to give a chance – sheerly based on ability, not even ticket sales. Most acts put together a national tour on who can sell the most tickets. Tech took us to spots where there wasn’t one person who knew about Potluck. He helped us to get a lot of fans” explains emcee 1Ton.

The relationship continues today – Underrated and 1Ton talked during a rare break of their 41 date tour with Tech N9ne – their fourth such collaboration. “After 13 shows nine have sold out” says 1Ton.

During a quick break in the action, Tech N9ne takes the show to Alaska, and Potluck are headed home for a day off and the show with Snoop Dogg. Snoop at the Muni is big news for Eureka, but the chance to share the stage with major label rap stars is nothing new for 1Ton and Underrated.

“We opened for Lloyd Banks, Too $hort, E-40,” says 1Ton. “We’ve done a lot of shows with a lot of major label acts but I can tell my grandma and she’ll know who Snoop is.”

Back in the day you could find Potluck at house parties and clubs all over the county, especially NOFX’s El Jefe’s nightclub where they met during a DJ tryout. Underrated was a local DJ who graduated from Arcata High and went to Humboldt State, 1Ton came from San Diego with deep crates. After finding musical synergy, the pair created Potluck and started performing.

It all started with Humboldt County High a homegrown album that they created, marketed and sold by themselves. And sold. And sold. 1Ton breaks down the beginning of the group:

“When we started making music, we didn’t think about it as a career. All those times we DJed . . . we’d get paid, we knew if you were good enough for people to come into the club, you had to get paid, but we never approached it like a business. For the first CD [Humboldt County High] we got a thousand copies made because we were tired of making copies for friends. We wanted to sell a hundred. Next thing you knew, it was getting played on the radio. Number one requested for two months on the local stations. We sold ten thousand copies and that was the first time we thought we might have something.”

For the weed-savvy youth of Humboldt County, Potluck created anthems that really did speak to the experiences – simultaneously expressing their disaffection and having a great time. They released “Tha Lost Koast Kollective” a compilation that showcased the band mixing it up with underground artists from Redway to Red Hook. A year later they relased “Harvest Time,” another weed drenched album with contributions from E-40 and the now familiar collaborator Tech N9ne.

Regional musical champions, it could be argued that the band outgrew their options in Humboldt County. 1Ton is quick to point out how excited the band is to perform in their own back yard. “Given how our schedule’s been and our need to take care of business, we have had limited shows in Humboldt. To get a chance to come back and do a show as big as Snoop Dogg is cool. To be able to thank all your fans, all the people supported us. . . . it’s great.”

These relentless musicians are pushing hard to get to the next level. They’ve released their fourth major album “Straight Outta Humboldt” on the Kottonmouth King’s label Suburban Noize and graduated to some big time distribution. 2006 found the duo performing more than 150 shows in support of their album and new label.

After their tour finished with Tech N9ne, Potluck plans to return to the studio to work on a “supergroup” of ganja-loving musicians. Dubbed the Kannibis Kartel, the project consists of the Kottonmouth Kings, Potluck and Cypress Hill rhyming about their favorite substance. Potluck promises that the record will be released early in 2008.

Tonight’s Snoop Dogg show only has two acts on the bill – one a global superstar whose impact on popular culture will be felt for generations – the other a hungry pair of hard touring musicians, Humboldt’s finest. Many will go to hear Snoop Dogg, but expect Potluck to shine on the stage and give everything they’ve got to this hometo

Drinking for the children: Wine and Ale Gala benefits preschool

2007-11-03T05:02:27Z

Drinking for the children: Wine and Ale Gala benefits preschool
Times Standard 11/1/07

On Saturday November third the Woodside Preschool hosts their 34th annual Wine and Ale Tasting Gala. The event is a traditional seasonal fundraiser for a local non-profit parent cooperative preschool and offers a tantalizing evening.

Coinciding with Eureka’s Arts Alive, the event will showcase local brewers and vintners. In this case visitors will get a chance to sample more than ten different artisan brews and wine. Keeping the event local, the organizers promise tasty regional finger food – chocolates, Henry’s Olives and Cypress Grove cheese to balance out the flavors of the beverage.

Silent auctions and a “Dutch Lottery” offer a chance to come home from the food and drink gala with some goodies. Local businesses have donated gifts and gift certificates for the event – don’t miss your chance to win!

Musical guests Brian Powell and Matt Brunner from Wrangletown will keep toes tapping with their bluegrass shimmy.

The Woodside Preschool is the oldest preschool operating in Eureka with a dedicated core of parent volunteers. The school is run by a hired director, who is also a teacher, and a board of directors made up of parents. Much of the classroom work is done by parent volunteers. The school is intended to encourage parent participation to build a solid and healthy foundation for young people and strong community relations.

The school maintains a teacher-student ratio of 1:5; thanks to their healthy dose of volunteers, and is able to encourage student-centered learning opportunities.

Tickets are available at the door for $25, and available pre-sale for $20. For tickets call 445-9132. This event is only for people over twenty-one years of age.

The Wine and Ale Tasting Gala is an enjoyable and regional-friendly event. The Woodside Preschool is a worthy cause. Activate your taste buds, quaff some great drinks and support this Gala with your presence.

Homo Expo preview

2007-10-04T19:57:30Z

'Homo Expo' breaks down stereotypes, race and gender
Maxwell Schnurer/For the Times-Standard
Article Launched: 10/04/2007 04:30:30 AM PDT

Much of the televised presentation of gays and lesbians focuses on assimilation and cheap stereotypes. The Humboldt State University Theatre Department offers a counterweight in the form of tonight's "Homo Expo: a Queer Theatre Extravaganza."

While the issues presented are more complex than your average sitcom, the four monologues and a play presented also offer a solid range of humor coupled with insightful observations about sexuality and the intricacies of modern queer identity.

The selections are intentional discussion points chosen by the director Jean O'Hara, also a teacher at Humboldt State. O'Hara said she chose the monologues from modern queer writers to help showcase a more diverse series of representations.

"I'm tired of the image of the gay man who is an alcoholic and suicidal. That perception of the gay community that it is 'a hard life to be gay' -- that's not the feeling I get from the queer community. It's not a hard life, it's an amazing life. It's beautiful. It's so nice to be outside the social norms that confine straight people."

O'Hara said the monologues were the most difficult because "a.) I have a lot of new actors and doing a monologue is

much more challenging and b.) I've had to figure out how these monologues relate to each other. I've intertwined them, usually there is a break, but . . . I have to show how these characters connect and relate."
Taking some risks might make this theater piece more important. O'Hara stresses the value of everyone viewing the performances. Because the show is based on personal monologues from living queer writers -- some black, some bisexual, some Asian, some Jewish, some transgender -- they cover a lot of ground.

"This is good for folks who are not necessarily in the queer community -- putting aside their misconceptions, their narrow view of what it means to be gay, or a drag queen for instance," O'Hara said.

The "Homo Expo" is an attempt to remedy the mostly token inclusion of queer culture into mainstream culture by explicitly showing some different images. Famed trans-activist/author Kate Bornstein's play "Hidden: A Gender," is directed by O'Hara to become a circus in order to explicitly reframe the perception that queer folk are seen as circus freaks.

Denise Uyuhara's "Hello (Sex) Kitty: Mad Asian Bitch on Wheels," one of the show's monologues, offers a rare public discussion of bisexuality. O'Hara said she had to seek out this play in order to find a representation of bisexuality.

"It was really hard to find a theater piece that dealt with it, but I found one."

Implicit in all of the pieces in the show is an understanding that each person's identity is unique. O'Hara raises the question of the intersecting nature of identities: "It is different to be queer and African-American. What challenges do you face?" The director's choice to include three queer artists of color is an attempt to help audiences understand the experience of queers who are also people of color.

The actors are Humboldt State Students who have been working on their performances for more than a month. This has been a real education for the students who have been asked to draw on their own life experiences to help present characters that aren't characterizations. O'Hara described motivating students to create nuanced performances saying they often "feel invisible for other reasons -- that is the challenge with actors -- how does your human story connect with their human story."

The subject matter in the monologues and the play in the "Homo Expo" are valuable questions about the human experience. Family, sexuality, race, class and gender are all up for grabs every night that the show runs.

In the battle for representation of queer culture, most of what you'll see on television will affirm stereotypes and encourage a simplistic understanding of queer life. In our local community, a rebel director and a band of courageous actors will reframe the discussion, taking a leap of faith that audiences will appreciate -- the presentation of dense, complex queerness. Accept their invitation and come see this show.

"Homo Expo: A Queer Extravaganza" runs Oct. 4 through 6 and 11 through 13 at 7:30 p.m. in HSU's Gist Hall Theatre. The show is suggested for mature audiences and costs $10 ($8 for students and seniors).

Maxwell Schnurer is a frequent contributor to Northern Lights. Contact him at northernlights@times-standard.com

If you go:

What: "Homo Expo: A Queer Extravaganza"

Where: HSU's Gist Hall Theatre

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday Oct. 4 through Sunday Oct. 6 and Oct. 11 through 13

letter to the editor on the Eureka Zoo

2007-10-04T19:54:50Z

I'm a critic of the zoo. tomorrow night the rich people in my area will get together to get drunk at the zoo. Seems bad for animals and the people. So I wrote a letter to the editor that was published in Thursday October 4's Times Standard. Here is my letter

On Friday, Oct. 5, Humboldt's elite will gather for a Zootini, a black-tie party at the Sequoia Park Zoo with drinks and gourmet food at a cost of $100 per person. An event created for rich people to get drunk around kidnapped animals seems inherently cruel and in terrible taste.

The Sequoia Park Zoo is one of the smallest in North America, and offers a shallow view of a few captive animals taken out of their habitats and thrust into a public venue. There are dozens of wonderful cruelty-free alternatives for families to experience the natural world in this area that the zoo can be an easy skip. Consider hiking the Samoa Dunes or visiting the Natural History Museum as easy alternatives.

And there are lots of great local environmental causes that could use the money that is going to the zoo. To all the donors who are putting on your tuxedos and gowns to have a cocktail to cruelty: stop, and consider sharing your money with another cause. The Sequoia Park Zoo has been open for 100 years, and I believe that is long enough for a cruel and a counter-educational institution to exist.

Maxwell Schnurer

Eureka

Article on Toots and the maytals

2007-10-04T19:54:00Z

Ah a player like Toots comes through and I gotta write about him. Ska, roots music and soul. Here is my article for the ol' times standard.

Visit the soul church with Toots and the Maytals
Maxwell Schnurer/For the Times-Standard
Article Launched: 10/04/2007 04:27:19 AM PDT
Before the advent of television traveling revival preachers were the epitome of entertainment. A good revival preacher had that perfect combination of folksy wisdom, heartfelt thunder and of course was able to perform a good show night after night.

Years after television swept through the nation, you could still find good preachers, almost anachronisms, holding court under tents saving souls and performing their hearts out.

Toots Hibbert and the Maytals are like those holdover preachers -- they are touring hard in 2007 despite having formed in 1962. They are still bringing electric performances to stages and exposing audiences to the sacred music of roots reggae that kept audiences spell-bound for years.

Toots and the Maytals have outlasted almost all of the other contemporary founders of reggae music. Along with Bob Marley, Toots and his gospel-tinged vocal work first found public acceptance as part of Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd's Studio One label. Along with Raleigh Gordon and Jerry Matthias, Fredrick "Toots" Hibbert made smooth and successful soul music.

The evolution of the sound to uptempo ska meant that the band had to jump to producer extraordinaire Prince Buster. With Buster, the band

helped to articulate the roots elements of ska and together they produced hot tunes like "Dog War." A quick stint with Byron Lee gave the Maytals a serious hit with "Bam Bam" in 1966.
As fame rushed in Toots was busted for cannabis (he still claims his innocence) and was incarcerated for 18 months.

Returning to the stage after his time in jail, Toots seemed to embody the new consciousness of righteousness sweeping Jamaica. Many artists were embracing Rastafarianism, and Toots and crew found a means of expressing their anger in their hit "54-46 (that's my number)" a stunning ska song that gave Toots a chance to proclaim his innocence to the entire world.

Many credit Toots with popularizing the term reggae, having recorded the first song -- "do the reggay" -- that used the expression. In Toot's articulation it meant "raggedy everyday things." Whatever you called it, Jamaican music evolved to create downbeat reggae in the early 1970s and the Maytals were right in the thick of things once again.

"Pressure drop" is one of the most famous contributions of this era, which finds a place on the soundtrack to "The Harder they Come." It is one of the great vocal tracks of all time -- Toots explodes with the squeals and grunts -- as if he wants more from his voice than it can physically give him.

The 1973 epic album "Funky Kingston" finds the band in epic form leaning on their gospel foundations and ska upbringing to create a fully expressive song of ghetto funk. From the prickly guitar on "Time tough" to the sizzling breakdowns on "Funky Kingston," the album gave Toots and the Maytals global superstar status.

Like Bob Marley before him, Toots got an international recording contract from Island Records in 1975 and he took his band on the road and toured the world. He never slowed down -- pausing only briefly to record albums. Pass the Pipe was recorded in 1978, Just like that recorded in 1980 and Knock Out in 1982.

Each album created a series of regional or national hits, but the stress of performances and recording caused the band to break up in the middle of the 1980s. Toots continued to perform and record, including a fantastic tribute album of Memphis soul label Stax-Volt recorded in 1988.

In the '90s Toots reformed the Maytals with a mix of original Maytal members and a few global players. Carl Harvey is a guitarist who himself led the Canadian funk revolution with his Toronto eight-person crew Crack of Dawn. Both Paul Douglas (drums) and crack bass player Jackie Jackson played with Toots since the 1970s. These days Toots is harmonizing and sharing the vocal duties with his daughter Leba Hibbert. The band that will back him on Friday is an evolution of years of performance and should make Eureka shine.

Come to reggae church and get a dose of the veteran musicians, a living history lesson and deeply motivational boogie that comes with any show by Toots and the Maytals.

Maxwell Schnurer is a frequent contributor to Northern Lights. Contact him at northernlights@times-standard.com

Two articles out today

2007-09-13T19:51:52Z

Hey party people!

I have two articles released today. One is a cover story on Humboldt hip hop. The other one is a preview of the DJ shadow, Cut Chemist show at HSU in the ol' Times Standard.

Enjoy friends!

Twista and Dr. Israel articles

2007-05-10T21:13:42Z

Hey folks -- I wrote two short essays for the Times Standard. One article on high-speed Chicago emcee Twista, and one on Dr. Israel and his Dreadtone International Soundsystem.

The times standard has some pop-up ads on these pages, so have your browser on defend!

Articles on Mika Sun and Slamfest

2007-05-03T15:33:32Z

I've had another pair of articles in our local paper, the Times Standard. Today they published an article on local hip hop star Mika Sun. Two weeks ago, they published my preview (now a review?) of Slamfest, HSU's annual sustainability and music fest. I appologize for the cheap banner ads if one comes up when you click a link. I'll copy and past the text soon so it won't happen.

Bitch show preview

2007-04-18T23:52:08Z

I started writing for the local newspaper. First essay was a review of feminist badass Bitch.

Stay free all you rascals!

January 29 and Feb 4 Humboldt hip hop mix tapes

2007-02-05T20:51:27Z

Last week I went ghostface all the way. The superstar from the Wu-Tang and Theodore Unit has always been a talented emcee. But I think his albums Fishscale and the recently released More Fish are freaking brilliant.

So I put together an NC-17 style mix called BEST OF THE GHOST for the Nu-Jacks crew.
1. Ghostface From The Pretty Toney Album is a necessity. I think Ghostface is the best emcee alive on a fast loping beat. He can kill those up driven funk beats. This leans toward disco, but the rhyme is incredible. The don.
2. Shakey Dog From Fishscale, a prequel to a Biggie Smalls tune with the great gangsta storytelling style.
3. Tush (Featuring Missy Elliott) The Pretty Toney Album. Um so nasty, so good. How can you doubt Missy & Timbaland on the beats and hook with Ghost on the flow. One of the reasons this mix came w/ an NC-17 warning.
4. Poisonous Darts From Ironman. This old school nasty track was a must.
5. Grew Up Hard With Trife Da God on More Fish. Slower soulful tune about poverty and class struggle.
6. Beat The Clock From The Pretty Toney Album. Holy smokes this is a great song. He just floats across the horns and strings. Killer.
7. Be Easy Ghostface Killah & Trife Da God Fishscale. Cranking it up now. I figured they’d want one of the hits from Fishscale. Too quick.
8. Run (Featuring Jadakiss) From The Pretty Toney Album, I think this is a great example of the homoeroticism in hip hop. In the break between verses Jadakiss explains to Ghost “I might have to take my shirt off kid. . . .” It is also one of the greatest descriptive pieces of poetry as they talk about running from cops.
9. Criminology Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. It was on Raekwon’s album that I first saw the brilliance of Tony Starks. So I chose this classic. I imagine Ghost waiting to get on for his verse and just stunning everybody.
10. Daytona 500 Ghostface Killah Ironman. From the first solo album – hungry and fast. Class and crime. The best emcee to rhyme about parquet floors.
11. Biscuits (Featuring Trife). Good ghost. Better Trife!
12. Glaciers Of Ice Raekwon Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. Production by the RZA, verses by Raekwon and Ghostface. Frozen.
13. Guns n' Razors From More Fish scorching over a track from MF DOOM.
14. Wu-Gambinos Raekwon RZA Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. Um classic Wu-tang trouble. Great ghostface verse.
15. The Mask (ft. Ghostface) DangerDoom The Mouse & The Mask. DOOM and Ghostface explaining why they wear the masks. Hip hop history players.

This week I was inspired to make a mix by a Lauryn Hill song. I was hiking the Dunes on Sunday with the headphones on. I was walking through the desert-like zones and suddenly the song “Every Ghetto, Every City” came on. It made me think about growing up and playing outside. Walking around everywhere and messing with everything I could find. I was inspired to run up the tallest dune I would fine and kung-fu kick my way down in full ninja style.

Since the weather has turned warmer here a bit, and it seems like bike riding, popsicle, playing outdoors I figured I’d gather my hip hop soundtrack. I call it CHILDLIKE INNOCENCE.

1. Candyland Part 1 by Soul Position From 8 Million Stories. The emcee from Soul Position, Blueprint just rhymes about his childhood pop culture in one phrase lines in alphabetical order. 80 percent hit me. A-team, batman, bugs bunny, ghostbusters, giantor, Johnny quest . . .
2. Every Ghetto, Every City by Lauryn Hill from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. What a great uptempo track about having fun as a kid. Just awesome.
3. Youthful Expression A Tribe Called Quest People's Instinctive Travels And Paths Of Rhythm. Perhaps it is just that my childhood starred this Tribe Called Quest album, but I love this tune and this band.
4. Some miscellaneous song about childhood by Atmosphere. I don’t know where I got this song, but I really like it. Slug explains that as a kid he rode around on a dirt bike, “before your kool-aide got diluted with goldenseal.”
5. Children's Story by Mos Def & Talib Kweli Black Star. This is a send-up of the Slick Rick song about pop-star beat jackers. Funny and child-like.
6. Children Play With Earth by Arrested Development on 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days In The Life Of... This tune is a good interlude for childlike reflection.
7. Joy by Talib Kweli Feat. Mos Def With a beat by Ayatollah and some great rhymes about becoming a father, this song is heartfelt.
8. Children's Story by Slick Rick. If I’m gonna put the copy on, I should put the original on, right? A few summers ago, Mark Swier and I went to the hip hop education summit in New Jersey. At the park jam afterwards we got to see Slick Rick, a first for me. A moment only chilled by the discovery of a smashed window and missing stereo at Mark’s ride.
9. Brooklyn Public Part 1 by J – Live on The Hear After. I love J-Live and this tune is a great tribute to the public school where he is a teacher.
10. 10 Fingers, 10 Toes, 10 lbs, 10 oz Zion I & The Grouch Are... Heroes In The City Of Dope. This album is so good. This song is such a great discussion of what it means for him to have a kid.
11. Wear Clean Draws by The Coup Party Music. Elena complains that whenever she enters the room I’m playing this song. It is true that it seems to come up a lot. But it is a great feminist tribute to Boot’s daughter.
12. I Left My Wallet In El Segundo A Tribe Called Quest on People's Instinctive Travels And Paths Of Rhythm. The roadtrip . . . a classic part of lost youth.
13. Hey! MF DOOM Operation Doomsday. This track uses a Scooby Do sample and the sound of the old Scooby cartoon to build the beat. Over it DOOM talks about his childhood through a few layers of metaphors. I watched a lot of Scooby do as a kid.
14. Whip You With A Strap Ghostface Killah Fishscale. Perhaps not fully within the theme of “childhood innocence,” this tune describes Ghostface getting whipped by his mom for not going to bed.
15. The Now - Mr. Lif from I Phantom. Also in the dark end of our mix theme, this song is a great El-P beat with gives Lif a chance to break down the failings of parents. I had a lot more in this vein, but decided to pull out before I put El-P’s “Stepfather Factory” on this mix.
16. Young Godz (Featuring Young Justice, Young Dirty & Young Lord) on Lord Jamar’s The 5% Album. How about Lord Jamar, Old Dirty Bastard and the GZA’s son’s rhyming on a track. Average age 13. Yeah!
17. Daddy Loves you by Stic.Man & Young Noble on Soldier 2 Soldier. On the difficulties of raising a revolutionary child.
18. Candyland Part 2. Soul Position. The outro extreme.

For all the musicians and fans – stay free.

KRS-ONE, ISE LYFE, MR FUNK, DJ CHICO, HIP HOP BEYOND BEATS AND RHYMES, J THE SARGE, DJ FAT JACK . .

2007-01-31T06:20:12Z

KRS-ONE will be speaking at Humboldt State University in Natural Resources 101 on Wednesday January 31 at 5pm. This event is free or low cost. Sponsored by the Nu-Jacks hip hop collective.

Thursday February 1 kicks off Humboldt State’s Black Liberation month with hip hop radical Ise Lyfe for FREE in the Kate Buchanan Room at 7pm.

Thursday February 1 KEET-TV is showing Byron Hurt’s fantastic documentary Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes at 7pm. After the viewing, I will be moderating a discussion about the film. The event is free. At the Morris Graves museum in Eureka.

Tuesday February 6 the Nu-Jacks kick off their first cipher hosted by Mr. Funk with DJ Chico on the turntables. Big Pete’s Pizzeria in Arcata. 7pm. I suspect a lot of talent will be in the audience, plus they have two kinds of vegan pizza! This is going to be a weekly cipher on Tuesdays, so get ready for the impact!

Friday February 9th, the Nu-Jacks host local superstar J the Sarge and DJ Fat Jack in the Kate Buchanan Room. This event is $3.00 and begins at 9pm. The event marks the celebration of J the Sarge’s new album “Head Music.” I’m pretty excited to hear DJ Fat Jack spin. The sound behind much of the Project Blowed folks and a nuts producer – it should be hot.

More to come folks . . . stay tuned for the hip hop union, Amde Hamilton, Dirty Rats, NAC-ONE, dance workshop, DJ workshop and much much more more.

Weekly mixtape: Elite volume 8

2007-01-27T16:51:42Z

For the last year or so, I’ve made a mixtape every week to share with friends and members of the Nu-Jacks, our hip hop collective. Usually I just make a few copies and give them to the first few people to show up to meetings.

I love mix tapes – there is something awesome about someone who crafts a whole album out of great tunes for a few people. Since sixth grade I’ve taken mix tapes seriously and since they usually come out from what I’m listening to, I figured it isn’t a bad thing to write about.

So here is Elite volume 8, the latest in a series of up-tempo, dance-friendly rocking hip hop tunes. I try to include a little conscious music, but generally it is my favorite tunes of the moment without much thought of content.

Dead Prez – D.O.W.N. – this tune, about getting organized and playing your position, is one of my favorite DP records. And since the mix was given out at the first Nu-Jacks meeting I figured it was a nice spot to start.

Aesop Rock – Boombox – Great rhyme, fantastic cadence and that great drum track. I think blockhead made this song and it is just dance-o-riffic.

Dirty Rats – Heavy Weights – Humboldt hip hop baby. You come to the woods thinking you’re slick, you just might run into some cats who can MAKE MUSIC. From the opening chords of a distorted symphony Franco runs the chorus. Sonny Wong runs roughshod with his rhymes.

Asheru & Blueblack – Theme music – a little intellectual interlude from these east coast folks with a tinkling piano foundation that offers a chance for Ash & Blue to get sick on the rhymes. The various electronic players in our house tell me that I’ve played this tune more than eighty times in the last year. I like it.

Take, Hold, Fire – Mr Lif. This is a track from Mr. Lif’s most recent album Mo’ Mega. I have slept on this album a bit, but this track jumps out. Featuring El-P and Aesop Rock, they each build their rhyme on the words “take,” “hold,” or “fire.” The result is a dense and amazing rhymefest. I keep rewinding this track to decipher more smart poetry.

Revolution – Potluck. Local hip hop stars featuring a deep verse (in tone and intellectual quality) from Chali 2na. High speed and picture perfect rhymes from 1 Ton & underrated. Not actually political, but quite clever.

North Koast Rider – Subliminal Sabotage. Featuring Elision and Mika Sun, this track is a classic of Humboldt hip hop. Available on BSwizlo’s NYCA mixtape, this track is a good example of riding the beat for stardom. Strings and snaps for all the riders out there.

Lester Hayes – Maroons. From their deeply under-appreciated album Ambush, the maroons are a funky funky funky quannum project that just bumps. Give it a chance and it will move you.

What we are – Potluck and Tech N9ne. This is a hit . . . just a great dancing moving head-nodding tune. Tongue-twisting moves by the emcees, a tight chorus, Tech N9ne getting ill. From their latest album . . . “Straight outta Humboldt.”

High Plains Drifter – Beastie Boys. I had a moment of nostalgia. It wasn’t until I was listening to it a couple of days after making the mix that I remembered the lines about smacking the “Delhi” with a bag of ice. Oops. Still a great Dust Brothers creation.

Champion – Main Flow. Elision put me on Main Flow and I owe him a debt of gratitude. Main Flow is, in fact, the champ, I just didn’t know it before this. In case it wasn’t enough Killah Priest on the track?!?!

We Won’t Stop – Dirty Rats. Whoa, what a great tune! I love this guitar loop and the sweet moves by Stir Fry Willie. Kush has the banger verse on this track and bends the beats to fit his needs. Also from the new album spitshine.

Priceless – Soul Position. Ohio represent! RJD2 and Blueprint from their most recent album. This track has a little sexism, but is generally a rant against consumerism. And great beats.
Hip-Hop – Dead Prez. Well, why not go classic if you are building a hip hop army?

Midnight – Ice T. Got to be fifteen years old now and twice as good as most “gangsta” rhymes, this monster from Ice-T is brilliant. Thirty minutes of a shoot out condensed to a few 16-bar verses. No other emcee could do this one.

Follow my lead – One Man Army. The “general subliminal,” comes correct on this track. The drop into this song always gets me out of my chair and up moving. “If you don’t know the time, it’s time to act NOW!”

Da Superfriends – Vast Aire and MF DOOM. This is the first repeat on the Elite mixtapes, but I justified it because one time I put it on for DOOM’s verse, this time it was for Vast's. Whatever. It’s a freaking great track and not enough people have it in their lives.

Trigger – the Grouch and Zion I. I can’t yell enough about the album “Heroes in the City of Dope”. Almost every hip hop head who walks into my office gets a dose of my favorite tracks from the Grouch & Zion I. This track uses the foundation of the clash song “Guns of Brixton” to rock about rude boys and gunplay. Flow like vegan margarine.

So that’s the scene. Props to all the singers and players, especially the folks who are making music while the bills pile up. Keep the dream alive.