Random Thoughts: February 28th, 2012

Whether you like it or not, Wendy's and the adjacent Tim Hortons location are you best options for lunch on
King Edward Street. Taken while employed at Farm Business Communications.

• Mr. Uncertain: So, I'm un(der)employed again. I was at Farm Business Communications for most of the month, subbing for a gentleman on paternity leave, and he was set to return yesterday, making Friday my last day. I'm definitely thankful for my brief stay there, as it was educational, kept me financially stable, and I got to work with my old friends Steve and Jenelle.
  I'm kinda where I was last year. Not sure where I'm gonna go, or what I'm gonna do. I've been given the tools to move forward, but I'm feeling rather grounded. Trying to stay positive (and failing at it).
  
  
• Pinky's Laundromat: I've gone off at length about how magnificent John Smith's second solo album is, and now, you can check it out for your own damn self via Bandcamp. Please do enjoy.
  
  
• Container of Great: My pal Albertine dropped her video game art and culture 'zine – Heart Container – last week, and it's a great read. It made me think about my relationship with gaming, which seems both deep and distant at the same time. I'm beginning to think I should write my thoughts down regarding this. It also made me nostalgic, and I'm think I should cop one of these as soon as things are better.
  You really oughta pick up a copy, not only because it's good, but because the proceeds go to Child's Play.
  
  
• A Possibly Unpopular Opinion: I'm listening to this Erick Sermon mixtape, and it reeks of you-kids-get-off-my-lawn syndrome. I've got nothing but love for E-Double, but when you start dissing skinny jeans and the use of "swag", I stop listening.
  
  
• New Flickr Layout: The way you and I view Flickr is about to change, and I have to admit that I'm kinda stoked. I've been using it for almost seven years, and it's still a daily digital hangout spot after all this time. Unlike a lot of people that piss and moan about changes to their virtual clubhouses, I welcome it. I roll around in it like a pig in filth. Okay, not really, but I do roll with the punches. It's the Internet, people. You don't like one spot, go to another.
  
  
• Two Years on Tumblr: Yeah, I can't believe it either. Here's how I marked the occasion.
  
  
• These Dreams, man. A recent episode of Sound Opinions got me thinking about songs associated with first love. This definitely wasn't my first crush, but it's probably the first time I can put music and affection for someone together: late spring, 1985, at some roller rink – probably Wheelies. It was a Winnipeg school patrol outing. I was horrible at skating, and I remember taking a tumble on the carpet surrounding the rink that would've killed or paralyzed the 37-year-old me. As I held my head in agony like a kicker that missed a field goal, I saw HER. Giggling at me. Not in a mean way, but giggling. The HER in question was this petite blond from Wolseley School that caught my eye earlier in the day.
  I was all about making girls laugh, so I did my best to laugh along, even though the pain was kicking my ass. What was playing during this moment? "These Dreams", by Heart. I'm not gonna lie to you; I still feel a lilt in my stomach when I hear that song coming from a nearby radio, or in a supermarket.
  Hey...can we talk about the video for a second? All I really want to point out is that drummer Benny Carmassi utilized his fleeting moments of screen time to the fullest by being as hammy as possible. I love it! He shines at the 1:45 mark, also at 2:14 and 2:30. Classic.

We're Effin' With a Bunch of Videos!

Rod sets up the blueprint melêé. July 9, 2010.

Initially, I had this set up as a "Random Things" blog post with a ton of videos, but since Yy's new clip dropped today, I figured I should change it up. Last summer (Holy shit! Time flies), I was asked to participate in the filming of Yy's "Who's Effin' With Me" by mcenroe himself, and I was more than happy to be involved. It's no secret that Peanuts & Corn is one of my favorite labels, and that the roster are all homies of mine. This was a lot of fun to do, and it shows in the vid. Thanks, Rod! Check it out!

Go here for the rest of the rest of the shots I took that night. Yy's Tape It Back Together is out now, and you can get it at the P & C site, or on iTunes.

Here's a crapload of other videos I hope you'll enjoy!

Yy's "I Got That Treason"

The Demographic's "Reducer"

The Lytics' "Last Bit (Lovely Words)"

Wab Kinew's "Good Boy" (feat. Troy Westwood & Lorenzo)

Speed Dial 7's "Poker Faces II" (feat. Pip Skid & Nomad)

Pip Skid's "I Never Knew"

Pip Skid's "Tens of Dollars"

Pip Skid's "Tens of Dollars" (WFG/SNA version)

Nestor Wynrush's "Enida Watts"

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but I know folks that make really good music. I'm in a sharing mood.

Random Thoughts: October 20th, 2010

The Wrestling Ring, by fellow Flickr user Podknox. Used under a CC Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

• Three ropes, fool. I can't tell you how pissed off I get when I see illustrated depictions of wrestling rings with two or four ropes, and I do believe I saw two examples recently.* It really speaks to the importance of having reference around, and a simple Google image search should kill any doubts you may have. Now, having said this, you now have free reign to call me out on the next thing I fuck up graphically. However, there's a chance I actually did my research, so the error can be chalked up to ineptitude.
  So, get it straight, chump: three ropes = wrestling ring, four ropes = boxing ring.
  Two ropes? I seriously don't know what the hell that is.
  
  
• Lack of Francais. I was listening to A Propos on Saturday, remembering the time I made my elementary school French teacher cry.
  No, I'm not boasting. It's one of the many regrets I have.
  She overheard me expressing my frustrations with learning the language, and how I didn't plan on taking it in high school. She lost it. My imposing sixth grade teacher (he's the tall Belgian in the photo Jeope is holding) made damn sure I apologized to her in front of everybody the following day. If I remember correctly, I did take French in junior high, but didn't for the latter years.
  Years later, I can say searching for female nudity on CBWFT during my youth cultivated an appreciation of French cinema**, even though I have to read the subtitles, which I don't really mind. It'd be cool to understand it a little more beyond the handful of words I know, though. Sometimes, I think it'd be dope to try and re-learn it, but I'm still trying to remember all of the Japanese stuff I've forgotten.
  
  
• Don't sleep on Winnipeg. There's a lot of good shit coming through before the end of the year, rap-wise. You already know mcenroe dropped a tight EP. You should also be aware that Yy's new full-length will be coming in December. And via the good folks at Marathon of Dope:
  
  
  • The Gumshoe Strut's Too Long In The Tooth will be available November 2nd. He had a release show on the 15th of this month, compete with physical copies of the EP, and I can tell you that it's very good. It's about being broke down and ragged, so I can totally relate. For the moment, check out this dope video he shot for "On The Move". Man, I love that beat!
  • Birdapres' got some raw shit for ya. This sounds serious, y'all. Of course, I'd expect nothing else from Bird. I'm stoked!
  • John Smith's collab with producer Murdock, It's True Because It Rhymes, is finally seeing the light of day. I've been bugging both of them for so long about this album's release date, that the interlude I appeared on ended up being a cruel joke, so it got dropped.*** All of that doesn't matter, because people need to hear this shit. For the moment, read homie's bio and stay tuned.
  
  That's a tidy, jam-packed list that'll keep tongues wagging throughout 2011. Don't front.
   
• Covered/Repaneled. Covered: Classic/not-so-classic comic covers re-imagined. Repaneled: Same concept as Covered, except individual panels get the treatment. Both rule very hard.

*I won't link to them, because I'm classy. And, uh...I can't remember where I saw them.
**Playtime is one of my favorite films. There's no nudity in it.

Random Thoughts: September 16th, 2010

Inspiration station, before and after. Photos taken July 11/14, 2010.

• A Synopsis. Been busy. Work has been a mix of frustration and tiny victories. I'd elaborate, but that'd be really fucking boring (and the last thing I want to do is incriminate myself). Baby room-wise, things are coming together, in addition to making the rest of the house comfy. I've posted progress pics of my workspace's transformation here. I have to admit...I've really been pissed at myself ever since I discovered my drawing desk is actually backward. Seems I need to spend more time at it! Fuck. On a related note, Veronica Hebard has a dope workspace. Natural light, cool trinkets, stuff on the walls...I've got everything except that last one.
  
  
• Afflicted with Tumblritis. Currently, a lot of my writing takes place at my other blog, Mr. Lorde Should Be Drawing – that is if you can call it writing. Via the power of reblogging, I often find myself making sure folks know who certain artists and models are, because I'm all about attribution, and a lot of folks using Tumblr are not. Being older than your average Tumblr user, I feel like an iconoclast swimming against a wave of entitlement. As maddening as that sounds, I really do enjoy it. It's the immediacy of it all, I guess. In the three or so hours it takes me to write a simple Blogger-based post, I can say a whole more with a video or photo and a few explanatory lines in Tumblrland. I'm not ready to drop The Place Where Al Dwells yet, but some things might have to change. I think I'm one of those things.
  
  
• Speaking of blogs... Did I mention my wife started one? She's off to a great start. For the record, she feels the same way I do about some of the parenthood advice we received a while ago. My missive wasn't unilateral.
  
  
• An End to the Whingeing. In an earlier draft of this entry, I was going to continue bitching in the style of the aforementioned blog post, but I think it's time to dead that. Instead, I'd like to shout-out the folks who gave me solid, real, down-to-earth advice when Sarah and I announced that we were expecting. I'm eternally grateful.
  
  
• John Smith's "I'm Rollerblading!" I was just re-listening to Blunderbus, or "In Transit" and got to the controversial "I'm Rollerblading!" (apparently, skating diehards weren't too fond of this joint), and I wondered when ESPN decided to drop inline skating from the X Games. According to Wikipedia and other sources, 2005 was the year. I was wondering why I hadn't heard Arlo Eisenberg's name for a while.
  This Kids In The Hall sketch was inspiration for that track, by the way.
  
  
• All Things Garage-y. About a week ago, I finished reading Eric Davidson's We Never Learn, and it was truly a joy to flip through. Even though I had only reached the 33rd page, I decided to give the book a healthy nod via Tumblr reblog last month.
  
  
• Masticators! I started a food blog with my homies Evan and Mark last month. I don't think I'll ever run out of things to write. I think I'm gonna whip up a couple of post drafts as soon as I'm done with this. They've been stewin' in the noggin a little too long. In the meantime, holler at us via Twitter.

Among The Decade's Best

Gritty goodness.

Last month, I was asked by Stylus editor Jenny Henkelman to write about my favorite local rap release of the decade (hey, y'all can yell in my ear all you want about how the decade will actually end when 2011 hits...life's too short to care about that). Without hesitation, I told her that it was John Smith's Pinky's Laundromat, and I'd be happy to write about it. For those of you that aren't near enough to the city to pick up a copy of the December/January issue, here's what I jotted down:

The best MCs have the ability to tell a vivid story. In John Smith's Pinky's Laundromat, you get 13 of those, touching upon themes like sex, drugs, violence, hard times and love. There aren't enough good rap concept albums, and Smitty ties the affair together via his interactions with the patrons of the titular laundromat. Unlike many rap album skits, there's no need to skip these, as they never cease to be entertaining, and they're breezy enough to not wear out their welcome.

For me, this album marks where Smitty found his voice and true rhythm. Where he'd previously cram a lot of info one line, here he paces himself and weaves compelling tales about crackhead pot dealers ("Taxicab Confessions"), aggressive short-order cooks ("Iron Chef") and less-than-lovely lovers ("Bumpin' Uglies"), all within the confines of this fine city, particularly the North End. My favorite track: "Bible Belt Babylon", a moody ode to Peg City on par with Nas' "N.Y. State of Mind". It's that dope.

Not only is this a great lyrical achievement for Smitty, but unending kudos also goes to mcenroe – the album's producer – for providing the gritty sonic landscape.

Up-and-coming rappers should aspire to make something this good.

You can purchase Pinky's from Peanuts and Corn directly, Phonographique, eMusic, or iTunes (if you're a Canuck, you can see the five-star review I gave it, where I also compared "Bible Belt Babylon" to "Streets of New York". I still stand by that).

Three Options

Tonight, I have three options for entertainment: Bonnie "Prince" Billy at the Pyramid, DJ Babu at Hi-Fi, and 48 Heures at the Lo.

• I'm only slightly familiar with Will Oldham's work, as I saw his records in the "indie" section of Musiplex (where I worked oh-so-long ago), and occasionally heard him on Brave New Waves. If I were to go, it'd only because I thought his appearance in the Zach Galifianakis' version of "Can't Tell Me Nothin'" was brilliant, as was the entire video.
  And if I were to go, I'd be the only black person there. You'd think I'd be used to that by now.
• Babu fucking rules. However, at the Hi-Fi Club, I have a feeling that I'll be hanging with folks that don't know who he is.
• 48 Heures is a straight-up rap and drinking party. The name? John Smith wanted to see if they could do a show with only two days of promotion. And of course, there's this.

Fuck it...rap wins. Peace.

John Smith's "30 @ 30"

Smitty picking a tune for karaoke at Hooligan's on the 29th.

My homie Joe (aka John Smith) turned 30 a few days ago, and he made this here list. With his permission, I'm sharing it with you (just as he typed it, plus some type formatting), as I think it's too good for just the Facebook and Break Bread Board universes. This is some clear – and a little bit humorous at times – thinking. I wish I had my head together like this 3.95 years ago.

Hey yall.

1. Thanks for the Xmas/Berfday/Season's greetings.
2. Getting older does not necessarily mean getting wiser.
3. My New Year's resolution is to become a gladiator.
4. mcenroe is in town and we are recording a new album.
5. mcenroe is in town and we're playing at the Lo Pub on Saturday, January 3rd.
6. I did not make enough rap this last year. I think you all know why.
7. No girlfriends in 2009. Only wives.
8. I will be touring with Hunnicutt and Co-Op in February, if you out west, fuck with us.
9. This album with Murdock, Its True Because It Rhymes, will be out soon, I promise.
10. If you didn't listen to The Roots, Rising Down, then you missed out. Same goes for the Killer Mike and Roddy Bailey records.
11. I stays loyal to TUB and my homie Kevin. Why wouldn't I?
12. PNC STILL makes records.
13. Break Bread is STILL the crew. DFA.*
14. Recently I figured out that you can't change people. No matter how hard you try. Ever.
15. Take number 14 and remember it when you hanging out with me.
16. I love my mother more than any person in the world. I hope you feel the same way about yours. People who don't are usually awful.
17. If your moms is a terrible person or you didn't know her, sorry for numero 16. That was a broad generalization.
18. BROAD generalization. Puns rule.
19. This one's for the ladies. Stop letting the gay dudes who run "fashion" tell you you're supposed to be skinny like pubescent boys. You are beautiful. And if you live in Winipeg its practical for you to have a likkle warmth on you.
20. Also for the ladies. Put a likkle warmth on me. I'm cold.
21. Again, for the ladies, do you wanna listen to the Isley Brothers while we warm up?
22. I'm thinking about getting a tattoo. The word Discipline, on my wrist. Yay or nay? I'ma let yall decide.
23. I made new, real friends in 2008. That rarely happens. I love you guys. The old ones, too.
24. Me, Pip, and Skratch Bastid are gonna make a new record this year. Guess what? its gonna be about beer and being poor. Again.
25. Beer and being poor made me the man I am today. And I'm thankful all the time for not growing up to be a sniveling, bitchmade, softbatch dependent.
26. Except when the rent's late and and I'm buying two double cheeseburgers from Rotten Ronnie.
27. One for now. One for later.
28. Apologizing is the closest thing to divinity. If I have ever wronged or slighted you holler. You'll get yours.
29. Every night at 11:11 I wish for the same things: fame, fortune, a long life, and love. Unless i'm wildin. Then just love.
30. I have become the best man I can be. Now I have to work on being a better person.

Love.
Joe.

Word 'em up.

* Don't Fuck Around.

B.T.S. (Buy That Shit!!!)

Yo...the previously mentioned Double Bacon Genius Burger mixtape by John Smith is now available in the Peanuts and Corn online store. If you ain't livin' in Peg City, you no longer have an excuse to not have one. Get busy!

The Double Bacon Genius Burger: Smithtape Vol. 2

A one night job for my man, emcee John Smith. The hand-lettered treatment is partially inspired by Haze's work on the Beasties' Check Your Head (those liner notes blew my mind back then). As I write this, Smitty is on tour with Co-op and Hunnicutt, and he should have these with him.
Photo by Kevin Trotsky, logo/mask designed by me (based on a quick sketch by Smitty himself).