Over at our favorite public radio station, KCRW, they have a nice thing going with their “5ive Things” lists. Recently, they posted this: 5ive best beards in music. Honestly, I would have picked a different starting five. For one, leaving both ?uestlove and Rick Rubin on the bench shows a strong bias against hip hop which is almost inexcusable. However, one thing I will say is that this beard lineup could not only do pretty well in a beard challenge, but they could also beat the current Golden State Warriors starting lineup in a game of basketball (and the beard team includes a dead heroin addict)
If there’s anything that will make you want to go off the grid and join a cult of bearded troubadour forest creatures, it’s watching the Warriors play basketball, followed by some post-game color commentary by Gary St. Jean (BTW - is it me, or does St. Jean look like Santa Claus with no beard?) At the end of tonight’s debacle against the Sacramento Kings, the only thing that could calm me down was listening to Iron and Wine. I think of Sam Beam walking by a stream in some uninhabited woodland catching butterflies on his finger and everything’s right in the world again. So, now that we’ve established that writing about Warriors basketball is about as worthwhile as drinking a bottle of Simple Green just to see what will happen, you, good readers, can expect more beard-related posts. Beard up and enjoy. Happy Monday!
With March (now April) madness in full mayhem, and all the jostling for playoff position in the NBA it’s easy to loose sight of other contentious cultural rivalries. Like the top beards of rock for instance.
The above is a nice video round up. I’m glad they DQed ZZ Top and it was nice to see local metal man James Hetfield squeak in at #4. My only gripe is that Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy didn’t make the cut – his woolly man moss is folk-rock legend.
As I go about my day sometimes I stumble upon images that, at the time, I think could lead to an FTB post. It doesn’t always work out. Given that I have a lot of this randomness in reserve, I thought it might be nice to share a few of my favorites. Oh, if you have any thoughts about something interesting or cleaver to write for these, please be my guest. The comment box is yours.
In no particularly order.
Enjoy, Gd.
Number 1: Barak Obama RUN DC t-shirt. Straight pimpin’.
I stayed clear of Twitter for a solid couple years after I found out about it. Of course, back then, I can’t say that my life was all that interesting - certainly not worth blogging about, not even “micro-blogging” about. My life wasn’t even “micro-interesting.”
However, NBA Players such as Steve Nash, Chris Bosh and Baron Davis have more follower-worthy lives than most of us, so I guess once I finally arrived on Twitter, I shouldn’t have been surprised to find these dudes on there. After all, these are the most social media, tech savvy, fan-connected players in the league. But for all the rest of you NBA Players out there who are not yet breaking off some tweats, I’ve listed Five good reasons why you need to get down with Twitter.
Five good reasons why NBA players should Twitter:
1. Damage Control: What better way to quickly squash a rumor or let your girl know that obviously you weren’t out with nobody else because you Twittered from the airport at exactly 1:38 AM.
2. Shameless Self Promotion: Needs no explanation.
3. Vegas Baby Vegas: It’s nice every once in a while to give a little real-time, locker room heads-up to your friends in Sin City.
4. Do It For The Kids: The kids are going crazy for this Twittle thing!
5. 140 Characters Is All You Need: Ballers are busy people. Have you ever tried to fit two radio interviews into a day of going to practice then um, you know, doing stuff, and then playing a game that night? Well, it’s not easy. So, being short and sweet is the best way to stay connected to your fans.
Recently, MTV opened up their vaults to the public, via the Internets. This was big. But it took me a couple of weeks to notice (or for them to add) the embed codes that could bring the love directly to the FTB. Now that we’ve got ‘em, let’s waste some of the valuable workday. Here are five primo vids from the last decade, plus or minus a few years. We’ve got ‘Pac going all “Road Warrior.” We’ve got Michel Gondry doing the Foo Fighters proper. Missy gets her freak on. Gnarls Barkley traverses the decades. And the White Stripes are remade in Lego. Watch. Vote. Be inspired. Go back to work.
5. RZA, “Digi Snacks”: Alright, the RZA isn’t really rocking the full beard these days (though he has in the past), but, c’mon, it’s The RZA. The album drops on June 26th, NBA draft day. I take that as an omen that this draft will be good for the Warriors. If only the Warriors had the branding sensibilities of the Wu Tang Clan. Imagine instead of “Thunder” and those weak-ass pizza hurling dudes, we had some kind of elite fighting force of Shaolin monks? And our logo? Look no further than The Wu for a far superior use of the letter W in logo form. They have their own wu-shaped “Wucontroller” for the Playstation for Chrissakes!
4. The Black Keys, “Attack and Release”: Akron Ohio’s The Black Keys are a 1/2 bearded duo, however Danger Mouse produced their new record, and so I’m counting his beard to give them majority beard status. I recommend checking out their video for the song “Strange Times.” It involves Laser Tag. If I was a kid and I saw some freaky bearded man coming at me in one of those black-lit Laser Tag mazes, I’d piss myself. Game over.
3. Fleet Foxes, “Fleet Foxes”: I don’t know much about Fleet Foxes other than that they’re from Seattle and they have beards. I also know I like their name, Fleet Foxes. It makes me realize what a dumb-ass tradition English Fox Hunting is, and how one day I hope foxes everywhere get their revenge. As for the music, it reminds me of the summer I spent with Luke Walton playing bongos to old Joni Mitchell records, and just being free.
2. The Roots, “Rising Down”: I think Rick Rubin and Questlove need to have a “beard-off” for most iconic beard in hip hop. Rick’s beard was way more bad-ass when he was in NY producing hip hop and metal bands. When he moved to LA and became a tofu-eating, meditating, Neil Diamond-producing record executive, it kind of lost it’s power for me. So that’s why I’m voting for Questlove in said beard-off. Plus his afro is as equally iconic. The balding Rubin can’t play on both ends of the court, ya dig?
1. My Morning Jacket, “Evil Urges”: Don’t be deceived by the evolving sound of this band nor shifting hair length of lead singer Jim James. His beard has remained surprisingly consistent over the years. With a boyish face, James looks like a young Civil War soldier before his innocence has been slashed away by the scythe of war. For the full summer experience, go to Thrifty and rent a convertible PT Cruiser and drive to Ukiah listening to the song “I’m Amazed” on repeat. You’ll feel like Luke Walton the first time he took mushrooms with his dad in ‘78.
Ah, the Bay. Unparalleled natural beauty, internationally renowned culinary establishments, great sports, fine museums and our wonderfully moderate Mediterranean climate. That, coupled with a rich history in alternative cultural movements, it’s no wonder that many of the most progressive-minded and generally interesting people make the Bay Area their home base.
Including some legitimate A-list celebrities. It was hard to pick my top 5 (with beards mind you). But here we go:
5. Danny Glover.
His tremendous politics and activism more then make-up for Lethal Weapon 4.
4. Robin Williams.
Academy Award-, six-time Golden Globe-, two-time Screen Actors Guild Award- and Grammy Award-winning actor and comedian. Oh, and did I mention the voice of the Genie in Aladdin?
3. Steve Jobs.
Behind both Apple AND Pixar’s success. Two of the most influential and iconic brands of the decade (this message sent from my iPhone).
2. Sean Penn.
Aka, The Hippie Crip. What can I say, Penn hits the trifecta. This dude is an absolutely stunning actor, a passionate activist for social justice causes and he’s a bearded Warriors fan.
1. Francisco Ford Coppola.
Aka, The Godfather. Film Director, Producer, Restaurateur and Wine Maker. All that, and I’ve never seen the man without a full-ass beard.
Gd.
Make the jump for a couple runners-up. Read More »
Back when FTB’s core constituency were just idealistic mini-ballers, we started a nonprofit. Not just any nonprofit, a bunch of us collectively known as FFAAT threw big-ass hip-hop clubs and folded the money into youth-education programs. We totally had the club part dialed. And back then, hip-hop still scared promoters, so we got some pretty big names to perform. Even stacked a little bit of cabbage. The problem was with the youth-education programs. We got a few things to work, but we didn’t know enough about working the system to make the kind of change that could stick.
Fortunately, in the years since, we’ve gotten pretty good at the doing the Internet thing. And we’ve also done some volunteering, some designing, some writing and some actual in-the-trenches, direct-service work too. We’re still not that much better at making the change that we want to see stick, but now we know the people who can. And sometimes, we’ll even do some of the hard work. I have personally driven a van-load of homeless kids to the beach for the day, with KMEL blasting and Cheetos flying. I have documented the work of adult victims of childhood abuse fighting to end the cycle of violence. Meschery got grimy at McClymonds High School with the BUMP Records subsidiary of BAVC and Lil’ B. made their website. Dolin has thrown down good logos for good programs for years. I even did a day of food prep at the SF Food Bank. And most recently, I worked on a site redesign for Roots of Peace, a Bay Area-based group working remove landmines in Angola, Afghanistan and Croatia.
Since this is the end of the holiday season, and I’m sitting here rubbing a belly full of ham, I figured now might be a good time to do something to put more ham in more bellies. Better still, the groups listed below—with one noteworthy exception—are ones that we’ve worked with in the Bay Area, groups that are putting it down for real. You’ll even get to deduct donations made before December 31st on your 2007 income taxes. So if all those nieces and nephews didn’t torch your bankroll, here are five great organizations that will put your extra loot to work. The sixth belongs to our beardsake himself, in partnership with Magic Johnson and Paul Pierce. Get some tickets to their charity game and tell me if Snoop can still hoop if you ain’t feeling one or more of the first five.
And if you’re still with me, thanks for reading this far. I have been truly blessed this year. In so many different ways, not the least of which has been the ol’ FTB. So, thank you for being part of this here family. And whether you are looking for some good karma or some good tax relief, any of the links below will help you get it done.
I need some help finding my game shoes. I thought the community at large might be able to help identify something suitable to rock with my throwback. What’s the call?
1. Warriors NBA Superstars shell toes.
A classic choice with little downside, but I’m not clear on how I feel about the reptilian finish.
2. Custom Warriors ecko unltd.
Sneaker freakish fo’ sho. But Marc kinda’ bugged me with that Barry Bonds 756 ball asterisking stunt.
3. Samurai warrior kicks by Puma.
Inspired by the folding Tatami-do armor of the Ashigiro warriors the foot soldiers of the Japanese Samurai.
4.Custom Warriors Nike Airs.
Look like these may have been hand painted by Thunder. “A” for effort, but, watch and learn.
5. Brown gator especial.
J. Rich, sorry, but I just can’t go there with ya.
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