On To The Next One

As the year 2010 grinds to a halt, we are entering a new decade in this would-be futuristic millenium. Its reflection time, by reflect i mean to observe the image projected on the surface of on object that masks what lies beneath. The picture you paint on the outside is best when it matches the walls of the interior. Coated with self preservation. I have experienced new levels of everything this year and I dont feel its necessary to reflect on the many hard lessons I learned. There are keloidal scars where the fangs pierced my flesh, The venom was dispursed and it didnt kill me, I developed a resistance. Strength isnt always about how much it takes to knock you down, sometimes its about how quick you get back up. After hopping to my feet, I will now bury my spite and flip through my extensive library of photos and literature to remember the good times from twenty-ten. Sun rays will illuminate the better days while the date-stamps make me suspect that someone is speeding up the hands on the clock. As the pace picks up, I cant help but feel that there is less margin for error. And even though I dont agree with always playing it safe, I will play it smarter. I am building a new team and choosing my partners wisely. Its a race to the finish... because thats a good place to end.

January 1st will be the official restart for the world that surrounds us, but the chapters in my life dont align with the calendar. So I will keep doing what I do best, progress. I dont do New Years Resolutions, if a new beginning is in order, tomorrow is just as good a day as any. Wisdom isnt measured in units of time, it is gauged by depth of experience.

It will be whatever kind of year you want it to be.

We Once Brewed Our Own

The answer is at the bottom of that bottle.
When you get there apologize to my inhibitions.
Tell them I'll text them sorry in the morning.
I gaze upon the foamy pit that supposedly holds the solution to this equation that has lurked in the hallways since march...
It follows me into the bedroom and now, the office.
This brew was designed to make you care less and better yet, forget.
I now realize the solution to my biggest problem is cleverly poised
as this voluptuous fragile creature.
I handled it with care, aware of the volatility
when it breaks you will get cut
It also comes in green and clear.
Green for the envy it will undoubtedly inflict
clear for the transparency of its intent.
It's labeled with the appropriate warnings,
but other that the surgeon generals shallow concern and an aesthetically pleasing label,
there's is not much more to gather about its origin or even it's fate.
In an expected act of selfishness, she climbs into my veins
and injects a few moments of utter euphoria,
influences me to do things I swore I would never do,
then decides her work has been done.
Another one down.
She collects her things and exits in an opposite fashion of her arrival.
I wake up the next morning feeling destroyed by the liquid that flows through her glass veins.
Everything hurts and I always tell myself I'll never do that again.

Giving Thanks

This year has probably been one of the toughest of my post-adolescent adult life. It was plagued with loss early on with the passing of my uncle. It was the closest death has gotten to my heart. The year continued to dish out small powerful punches with tiny fists and manicured fingernails. It pushed my limits to the point of putting my character in question for many people, myself included. I struggled a lot this year. I struggled with me, I struggled with her, I struggled with "us", or the thought of a nonexistent "us". As a result of these struggles, i feel like I finally learn to accept the things in my life I cannot change. I think i learned to let the rope go when my hands begin to bleed.

This holiday in its purest form is a time to show appreciation. What originally was simple appreciation that over the previous 8 months, the earth did what it was created to do. The sun shined, rain fell, and life grew and people were able to survive. In the complexity of today, we have adapted our appreciation to include the many facets of our modern existence. This year, my main appreciation was taken back a few centuries. I first and foremost appreciate my freedom and ill leave that right there. I also appreciate the opportunities I earned this year. I appreciate my friends and my ability to recognize the real ones. I appreciate the effort that people make when they dont need to. I appreciate words and their power to bring the people who truly understand them closer. Lastly, I appreciate the few people who have never let me down. I love you.

Im 5800 miles from all my closest people. Yet, I felt close enough to know that my name passed through your mind, and for at least a few seconds you were thinking about me.

Everything Happens For A Reason

When a situation is out of a persons control, they have few choices, one of them is to step back and leave it to fate. Can fate be used as a scapegoat, swallowing up responsibility for future actions? That depends on how you view the mysterious power of said fate. I believe that fate circumnavigates human intervention. If a person has a hand in an event, it may temporarily alter a path, it may be that kick-ass shortcut that spits you out at the head of the race, or it may be that side alley hiding a militia of armed children and you're all out of bubble gum. Either way, when you get back on track, you're gonna be exactly where you were supposed to be. I also think fate can be dynamic, you're always gonna be presented with forks in the road, you'll try to choose intelligently, sometimes you'll pick that sketchy side road and your choice might dramatically change your life and alter your fate. The canvas will eventually be complete, who controls what gets painted in?

Rock the bells

For someone who is infatuated with the hip-hop culture, there isn't really an event that can hold a candle to the annual Rock the Bells festival, and for someone who enjoys basking in cultural diversity, nowhere in the world compares to New York City. When you combine these two ingredients, you get quite the stimulation for all your senses.

It was three or four years ago when I first heard about RTB. In 2007 they stopped in Hawaii. Rage Against the Machine headlined and were backed up by the Wu-Tang clan and Cypress Hill. The rest of lineup sported really good names like Nas, Mos Def, Talib, Immortal Technique, and more. But if I recall correctly, the reason I didn't attend was because a lot of the artists were excluded from the Hawaii leg of the tour. Hawaii always gets ripped off... In 2008, one of the best groups of all time, A Tribe Called Quest headlined the show, and of course Hawaii wasn't included in that pyrex-sized bowl of awesome.

When we moved to Boston in March, Jenn and I kept a close eye on the RTB website. When they posted the lineup for 2010, I almost soiled myself when I saw Tribe in the lineup. The fact that it was in New York was the icing on that would-be chocolate cake...

We departed Boston on a Greyhound bus at 2am friday, caught some z's that were occasionally interrupted by some kids who were attending the concert and too hopped up on Mountain Dew to sleep. We checked into our chinatown hotel hella early, im set on the notion that it was Jenns asian superpowers that got us the room 7 hours before early check-in.

We headed to Pier 11 at 10am to begin what would become our weekend of waiting in really long lines. This is my only complaint about the entire weekend. The security staff for the event were a bunch of unorganized gorillas who determined that their money was better spent printing matching blue polo shirts with "event staff" silkscreened on the back than employing a security coordinator. The security barriers looked to be set up by a dude who had just finished playing Ms. Pacman and decided to recreate level 14 in real life. There looked to be multiple lines but no directions as to what they were for. I knew VIPs had dibs on the first ferry and i wanted to make sure we got everything we were promised for 200 bucks a ticket, yah red carpet and all... After a few rounds of switching back and forth they finally got the lines straghtened out. My lower body was then thoroughly patted down by a female guard (yo, you cant hide a gun there!), and my bag breifly inspected for contraband. They apparently missed the 4 pound, 80-200mm behemoth lens i smuggled in. Then we loaded up on the ferry and headed to governors island.

We landed on the island and got hit with a line to get into the venue that rivaled H1 Westbound traffic at 5 PM, or anytime anyone has a flat tire for that matter... We survived a second bag check and pat down while we stood in separate lines that were clearly depicted with gender assignments. And by clear I mean as clear as mud.

Finally were in! Where's my fucking red carpet!!! We were allowed a 50 foot walk at our own pace until we were forced yet again into single file formation to obtain our VIP credentials. Now we have been issued everything short of cattle brandings to prove our superior attendee status; wristbands, lanyards, and tickets. Now were really in!! wait is that another line to get our memorabilia shit? yep. Backpack, t-shirt, posters, drink tickets... Im gonna use those drink tickets stat. The VIP area was outfitted with three bars, some food stands, and an air conditioned circus tent that was a saving grace on a 90 degree cloudless day.

Cold beers engulfed in warm hands, we circled the grounds and checked out the vendor booths. We watched some people make fools out of themselves trying to cover Ice Cubes' Today Was A Good Day in a tent for Def Jams' Rapstar game. We hele'd over to Immortal Techniques booth while he was there reppin his gear. Jenn copped a shirt that he was cool enough to sign for us. We then stole a small chinese fortune of stickers from the LRG booth then circled back to find a good spot to Catch the beginning of what was looking to be a good night. I said tonights gonna be a good good niiiight. (black eyed peas reference?? umm okay)

Slick Ricks melodic articulate flow set off the event, amongst other things like the endless string of blunts that were being passed around all day. Add to the mix a very absent police and security prescence that contributed to the completely chill vibe that I was definately not expecting at a Hip-Hop concert. I dont recall seeing a single fight the whole day, even as the booze flowed, keg after keg sucked dry, and people packed into the crowd as it got reaaal crunk. I was suprised that people actually made space if you were trying to get out of the crowd, and amazed that noone gave you shit for trying to move forward. I'm always that dude trying to get all up in the crowd and try to get near the stage, and im accustomed to brushing off stink-eyes and people holding their spot in the crowd as if i were encroaching on their prime real estate. It was like chillin with a bunch of hippies disguised in Nikes and New Eras. Unreal vibe...

It wasnt for a few hours that i realized that there was a second stage at the opposite end of the grounds where the Paid Dues tour was and all the underground acts were performing. We jetted over there in time to catch Brother Ali but realize we missed Jedi Mind Tricks and Immortal Technique... Bummer. Then we made a quick stop at the B-boy circle and Freestyle battle stage. They were in between rounds so everyone was kinda just chillin. It was time to get back to the main stage for Lauryn Hill.

The energy really started pulsing through the crowd during Lauryn Hill's set. Her voice sounded pretty coarse, probably from the previous show, but she brought that spine tingling noise anyway. She actually brought more than that, she brought all 7 of her children on stage during "To Zion". To top it all off, she had with her an entourage of A-list celebrities that she paraded at the end of her set. There was Chris Rock, a very pregnant Alicia Keys, a very lucky Swizz Beats, Mary J. Blige, Jigga Jay-Z and Wifey Beyonce, and John Legend with some random model chick.

Between sets they gave everyone a 30 minute break for refills and bladder draining, by this time our VIP bathrooms had a line just like the general ones. But the line for the bars was still quick. Phew!

Next up, A Tribe Called Quest. The primary reason we came to the concert. The reason i waited in countless lines without complaint. We made our way back to the crowd which was A LOT bigger than a few hours earlier. I actually didnt even realize until i raised my camera high and snapped a few pics that it was an eternal sea of people behind me. Tribes comes out and they definitely set the energy level to a new high on the island. Q-tip has this stage prescence that is almost indescribable. At one point he beatboxed while he rhymed what seemed to be an exclusive verse for the show, which led into Bonita Applebaum. Their feel good sound feels a million times better live. A world class performance from a world class group. There wasnt 18 people yelling inaudbile words into the mics at the same time *cough* Wu-Tang *cough*. Phife and Q-tip had the back and forth routine perfected complete with some dance moves that had the crowd going bananas. It was about 8:30 pm and i had been on my feet for 9 hours in the sun drinking. A few minutes earlier, i was tired as hell but it was as if the speakers were emitting raw voltage that had me soo damn amped i forgot all about my aching legs. Q-tip even jumped off stage and mixed it up in the crowd. Then they brought out Busta Rhymes. He looks like hes been eating well, about 6 meals a day well, but he matched Q-Tips energy and added another great dynamic to their performance. When they rounded out their set, we inched our way back into VIP and I literally had to lay down. We found ourselves an area to lay out and absorb what i can only describe as stupendous.

Next up was Wu-Tang then to be followed by Snoop. Dont get me wrong, I like Wu-Tang and Snoop Dogg, but to be honest, I was there for Tribe and the rest was just a bonus. and at that point I actually cared more about beating a 10,000 person line for the ferry back to Manhattan than hearing the izzles shizzle. I made it a point to stick around until Wu did C.R.E.A.M. but then we bounced.

We were in a state of euphoria on the walk back to the pier. There was minimal conversation, some property theft (copped a plastic LRG sign spiked in the grass), and lots of short exclamations along the lines of; "that was amazing" and "jesus christ".

We finished our night off with some grindz in Little Italy. Some Maitre d type cat sucked us in to a cafe with an offer of some free Sangria with our dinner. Sold! By now, my 10 hour contact high had guided me in the direction of some veal piccatta and this restaurant was definately on point. After dinner, our attempt to get a cab on a Saturday night was a moot point and we ended up walking back to chinatown hotel where I layed awake as long as I possibly could reflecting on the days events and how I now understand how this city gained its reputation among one of the best destinations in the world. People move here and never leave and the more I visit, the more I know why. New York is in a constant battle to upstage and outshine itself. It will make you love it and it will have it no other way...

Click the image below to go to the full set on Flickr

Nest

These birds seem to have it all figured out. When you find yourself in that blissful moment, in a place that you know you will serve as the set for a future nostalgic reminisce, dont just wash it away with a flurry of beers and cocktails. Nest in it. Enjoy yourself. The days are passing by too quickly. Time flies is the cliche and the only thing you can do is fold up your wings, get comfortable, and sit the fuck down. I could live forever in the good times.

Track marks

Our destination is dictated by the redundant placement of planks under iron workhorses. I have one track on my mind but I'm not one-track minded. Were changing course in our lives which once resembled this timeless method of transportation. Now were on the same track, same direction with no collision warning and no missing section. Inside voices as the earbuds combat excess noises. Save the screams for bad dreams and I'll wake you when we get there.