Friday, January 7, 2011

"do you have any david bowie?"




will loose ends do? had a real boss time at the tiki bar last week. the one-and-only scotty hard literally rolled through w/ some pals and it was great to catch up w/ an old friend... around 1 am a small group of good looking kids stopped by for a nightcap. though it's more of a cocktail lounge vibe, i was stoked to see 2 of the girls in the party dancing away to the sounds. after a few minutes, one of them sauntered up to the decks and asked where i was from? "toronto..." i said. "toronto? well you better step it up!" she wasn't joking and started demanding requests. i pointed over to my flight case and small box of 7"s thinking that there's no way i brought what she wants to hear—unfortunately for her, i have yet to master my iTunes impersonation. "do you have any david bowie?" "damn, sorry no, but i hope you've been enjoying what i've been playing. i'll do my best to make it nice..." after another separate request from the same girl i took a different approach, "i'd love to hear that too, but don't be afraid to go outside of your comfort zone and listen to something new..."

this mini-episode made me think of a larger issue in today's western society, something i've thought about quite a bit over the last 10 years or so... sense of entitlement. w/ the open availability of technology and free-flowing streams of culture, there's a disturbing underside that seems to be brushed aside. since everything is free and instantly accessible today via the net, downloading, etc... we (almost) always get what we want. great for the most part, but i believe that it breeds a spoiled and quickly dissatisfied nature. of course, this is a total first-world "problem," but i sense that a lot of people feel it's their birthright to have every cultural whim and fancy catered to at every moment and f@ck anyone or thing that doesn't comply. while accessible technology and social networking devices make us feel that we're all DJs, all artists, all curators, it's easy to forget that there's still hard work involved behind the scenes, and yes, something usually more involved than clicking away at a keyboard and paying your internet bill each month. though some folks would rather us be, we are not computers (yet)...

so here's a BIG cheer for mystery, to those who take the time to dig deeper, and those who don't give it all away (for free)... to loving longer, paying dues with a little old-fashioned elbow grease, and most importantly... world peace!!!

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

rap city





wow, the stunt man just sent this over to me and it got me thinking...

hmm, remember (hopefully you do!!!) when much music's mandate seemed to have education in the mix? here's a sample of the first episode of rap city (hosted by the incredible michael williams). peep the boss intro and red alert interview. damn, he's breaking it down! gotta say though, watching this clip makes me a little angry and sad—looking back to a time when canadian music television really broke it down for the young viewers instead of finding progressively disturbing ways of selling more and more manufactured pop product.  i know we have other valuable resources for information today (if you can sort through the e-quagmire) and perhaps the youth of 2011 will wax poetic about what's happening right now just as i am, but rap city was the type of intelligent and soulful content/programming that literally changed lives... RIP

january 22, 2011

























scumbuzz presents
needles//pins 7" release party
w/ slow learners and yung mums
plus wild zero DJs and jesse taylor
the astoria - 10 pm

PS - needles//pins have a blog now (dope!!!)
http://www.needlesxpins.tumblr.com/

Sunday, January 2, 2011

1777 frances

2011 (freestyle #2)...

oktwodaysintimeforaginbutmyresolutiontoldmeiwasn'tsupposedtodrinkit'sfeltlikeafullmoont
husfarmessagesfromthestarswhenispitapostlikethis...listeningtonewbetawavextheyleadthew
aywithsoundsslayliketheyshouldsosickofpeopletracingandretracingtheblueprintwhichiswhati
'dprobablydoanywaysodon'tletanyoneknowbutbacktothepeoplethelovelypeoplewhydoifeelt
hatthebalanceisoffneedtolistentomoredepechemodeandgetthebalancerightnofighttakeitbackt
akeitbacktonighti'mbakingscallopedtatersforahamdinneryesthehamdinnerdayslikedaysofoldw
henfolkshadyouoverforhamdinnersoigottathankdarandbigchanandallthebesttoy'allin2011...