Random Thoughts: April 1st, 2010

Me, as Dre, at Winnipeg's Dre Day celebration at The Lo Pub – February 9th, 2010

The ties have been severed.

• R.I.P. My Use of MySpace (2005 - 2010) My description of the screencap above on Flickr:
  

  I'm sure these get read rarely, if at all. Incendiary cartoonist Nick Gazin recently referred to MySpace as "the abandoned stripmall of the internet" in his Vice column.
  I'd say that's rather apt.
  I should've left ages ago.

• I won't read anything more heart-touching than this all week. Peter de Sève's blog post, dedicated to his late pit bull, Darla. So sweet.
  
  
• The End of Mass Appeal Mondays. There was an incident outside The Lo Pub on Monday that resulted in 4 people stabbed. What happened was isolated from the performance inside, which was a part of Mass Appeal Mondays, a weekly night dedicated to rap, which gave both up-and-comers and established performers a chance to shine.
  My man Cass, Mass Appeal's head honcho, voluntarily ended the weekly event. The Lo is a fine establishment*, and he didn't want them to continue getting the negative rub due to what went down.
  
  I'm saddened by the loss of the event, but I fully recognize that it's time to reflect upon what happened and regroup. The folks that dismiss rap music and hip-hop culture in general are skeetin' on themselves with glee at the moment, and that's just fine. They have their place in this world, and as far as I'm concerned, they only justify hip-hop's existence. For every negative stroke, there will always be something positive happening that will have those same people vexed and perplexed.
  
  
• Best Sunday Ever. On the 28th, I spent a good chunk of the day at The Graffiti Gallery, participating in the Art Break program with artist Paul Butler and graphic designer/hip-hop pioneer Cey Adams. I'll post my iPhone photos of the event shortly. This was something I needed. I stepped out of my zone, and I loved it. I need to do more of this.
  After Art Break, I jetted on down to Silver City Polo Park to watch Wrestlemania XXVI, the first PPV I've watched since...Wrestlemania X-Seven. Wrestling on a giant screen, a ton of junk food, and rabid fans that accentuated the entire experience. Classic.
  
  
• LB Kerfuffle. If you're a follower of Little Brother's Phonte Coleman on Twitter (and why wouldn't you be?), you were probably shocked to see this post directed to his former partner, 9th Wonder, as much as I was. To fully clear the air, Phonte took to Vimeo.
  In the end, all I could say was "wow", as I was truly unaware as to how acrimonious the split between Phonte, Big Pooh (on this side) and 9th (on that side over there).
  Pooh took the opportunity to make a statement, too.
  
  
• Zero 2 Illo 12 Week Challenge. Read all about it here. I'm participating, and I'm really looking forward to it all. There's a lot I'm unaware of as far as what's gonna go down, but that's part of what's exciting about it, and I like Jonathan's spirit and attitude (especially ever since I heard his EFII interview). My bio, along with those of the other participants, can be found here.
  
  *The bar staff is really cool. I heartily recommend the poutine. Oh yeah, Drop The Needle is a damn good time, too.