This shopkeeper is apparently not acting alone in his promotional zeal regarding today’s visit by U.S. President Barack Obama. As Obama is scheduled to deliver one of the most important speeches to the Islamic world ever given by a U.S. leader, having vendors like this guy around can’t hurt.
Depending on how this speech is regarded, it could prove to be one of the most significant milestones in international diplomatic history. Or not. But either way, it will prove to be an interesting moment to observe and discuss. Let’s rap about it in the comments after the speech drops.
Turman
PS. The original King Tut arrives at San Francisco’s DeYoung Museum on the 27th of the June for those who like their Tutankhamun old-school style. And no, I don’t know if they spell it differently in Cairo or if dude just got his engraving a little twisted.
PPS. Game one tonight! Woot!
PPPS. Make the jump for an excerpt from the speech and a link to the full text. Read More »
Even though FTB’s Meschery actually works for the arm of PBS that is airing Baron Davis and Stacy Peralta’s documentary, local programming still calls the shots sometimes. Thus, while much of the nation enjoys Crips and Bloods: Made in America, we in the Bay Area have to wait until May 27th.
But fear not. With minimal finagling, we are able to offer up something to hold you over. Baron and company have done a fine job of promoting the film down to recruiting an all-star lineup of hip-hop heavies to record a mixtape as an homage to the film. And here’s the link. You’ve got your Snoop, your Weezy, The Game, Kurupt, Raekwon, Freeway, and others. That’s why we’re here. The film will air soon enough. The beats are here today.
From SFist.com: grainy camera-phone shot of Dave Chappelle, on Market Street in San Francisco a couple of days ago.
Dave Chappelle. He pretty much held the title belt for funniest man on the planet for a cool couple of years. And then he dropped into an epic, self-imposed exile that few if any could comprehend, much less understand. But this week he showed up in the Bay Area. And last night he dropped an epic four and a half hour set in Oakland. FTB was there. I was there.
The Dalai Lama was in Berkeley on the same day. I watched as his motorcade sped up University Avenue with all of the ironic security posturing any visiting royal would command. Meanwhile, some hours later in downtown Oakland, Dave Chappelle announced that he had taken BART to the gig. And in some circles his arrival probably carries at least as much weight as the arrival of a religious leader, so great is his gravitational pull. Yet, I can believe him when he said he took BART to his own show. Because of what else he had to say. And to whom he was talking.
When he left that epic $40 million dollars on the table in his negotiations with Comedy Central and decided to go underground, I always had my own suspicions as to why. Last night, he offered a rare glimpse into this decision.
First, he was performing at a venue that was opening for the first time in its renewed form. Formerly called “Sweet Jimmie’s,” the spot was known for its pure Oaklandish-ness and pimptastic improbability. Now, it is reborn as Oakland Town Hall, a perfect forum for a public hearing and confessional. But why were tickets only available through Twitter and then passed out in a bizarre, circuitous ritual? Why an unknown, unopened venue? Because. This is how Dave Chappelle plans to reclaim himself with his core constituency. To hell with the Eddie Murphy plan and the blockbuster films. He took his ten milly from Comedy Central and that’s enough. From here on out it’s about reclaiming his authenticity. And that starts at root level. On the bare, close-cropped stage of the old Sweet Jimmie’s. Starting at eleven thirty and ending at four. Telling stories to his disciples. Revealing just as much as this particular audience deserved. Bridging the gap from Saturday night to Sunday morning. When the dawn broke as I got home, I realized where I had been.
Even those of us who are old enough, can scarcely remember a time when Michael Jordan’s Bulls didn’t seem to win every time they wanted to. And with the Warriors rendered irrelevant and sitting through an off day, this Easter Sunday’s roster of random games came off as rather lackluster. Dude, as Thanksgiving is to football, so should Easter be to hoops. My screen saw the NBA’s spate getting dissed in favor of the Masters golf tournament.
I can’t say I didn’t try, but after a few minutes of blowouts, I was longing for some vintage Marv Albert and the old-school John Tesh-penned NBA on NBC theme song to punctuate the egg hunting and cooking and eating. Instead, I settled for a venerable and rewarding high-def telecast of Miguel Angel Cabrera’s ongoing and unlikely rise from caddy to fat man challenging Tiger for most likeable challenger to the golfing aristocracy.
And so it was. Then I hit up YouTube with the keywords “NBA Easter” and realized what should have been. Feel the warm breezes of a distant spring, where Jordan ruled and Bird’s back still functioned. Where those opening notes from the theme song would throw you back on the couch with their urgency, and you’d watch because you couldn’t afford to miss something like this. Where the resurrection of Larry Legend would eclipse the egg dying. And you’d ate the ham cold. Because double overtime called and you picked up the line.
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’.
What Jon Stewart did to Jim Cramer and CNBC, Berkeley author Michael Lewis has done to the entire nation of Iceland in his latest article for Vanity Fair magazine. One good thing to come out of the financial crisis is the entertainment offered up in watching people, companies, and now entire countries getting put on Global Economic Downturn Blast. In the case of Iceland, not only does Lewis portray Icelanders (well actually just Icelandic men) as inbred, naive, sexist, pushy, and reckless fisherman who had no business thinking they could get into the business of investment banking, but he also outed them as believers in elves. Yes, those elves. Mutha-f-ing Ice Elves! Apparently, in Iceland, they’re called “the hidden people.” Maybe they’re “hidden” because they don’t, you know, exist. Just like all that money the Icelanders invested.
With their banking industry eviscerated and world fishing stocks low, Icelanders are now staking their future on novelty winter wear. I’ve written about the Beard Cap before on this blog back when it was an emerging market, but now it’s gone mainstream, and beard hats are the new US fashion craze. One company “Beard Head” sells four different flavor of beard hat, “Pirate,” “Grandpa,” “Lumberjack,” and “Viking,” and they have a snowboard promotional tie-in. The beard hat phenomena is not a bubble according to many economists. Said one, “Basically, as long as Icelanders don’t sell each other beard hats for five billion dollars, the beard hat economy will remain stable.” So, if you feel sorry for the people of Iceland (and after reading Michael Lewis’s article, it’s hard to imagine you would) go out and buy a beard hat. It might be the only thing keeping their economy afloat. Those Bjork action figures aren’t quite selling like they used to.
Is this the same guy that dated Tara Reid? Seriously, Carson Daly appears to be genuinely engaged in a smart conversation. It helps that he’s interviewing an extremely smart dude, Stacy Peralta, who is something of a legend for most Southern California white boys of a certain age - the definition of an OG for anyone that ever put two feet on a skateboard. So Carson, no doubt, knew he had to bring his A Game and in this case, he played up to his competition. Peralta still had to school Daly, but Daly held his own, even dropping “J. Edgar Hoover” on the crowd.
Yes, most of the questions to Peralta regarding the Boom Dizzle-produced documentary that he directed, “Crips and Bloods: Made In America,” weren’t deep, but from a guy whose show is called “Last Call” we can’t expect the conversation to go all Cornel West on us. I mean, c’mon, Joey Fatone was the guest a few nights before. At least we got an honest conversation about racism and violence in this country from two white dudes on a mainstream talk show. That doesn’t happen enough. Kudos to Carson and the Crips and Bloods: Made in America team for making it happen!
One of the most arresting images that surfaced during the 2008 presidential election was created by agit-pop artist, Ron English. The Jersey City street artist known for his Illegal Billboards, was commissioned by San Francisco-based UpperPlaygroud to create a design for their Obama series.
Hell yes! Hell to the Y to the E to the S! I didn’t watch one minute of the NBA All-Star festivities because I spent all weekend watching this clip of Joaquin Phoenix on Letterman. Has silence ever been more awkward? The pause more pregnant? And, you know, it really does get better each time you watch it. After about view 20, you will really start to “hear” J.P. You know, like, what he’s really saying. By the 78th time, you will see the fairy hedgehogs appear in the NY backdrop behind Letterman. At some point, I think I saw little Nate Robinson in his green Knicks Jersey run out from underneath Joaquin’s beard and dunk a hard boiled egg into Letterman’s coffee cup. If you turn down the sound and start playing the clip at the exact same time with Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping,” dude, I’m not even going to tell you what happens. You’re just going to have to try it. Tonight I was going to attempt to watch the clip in reverse, but to be honest, I’m a little nervous that I might not be ready for it yet. Baby steps man.
I’m thankful to J.P. for going on Letterman for so many reasons, and they’re not all metaphysical. For one, I have recently been a bit worried that beards were starting to get “trendy.” I mean, there are more celebrities and athletes out there growing beards, and more media outlets (like ours truly) contributing to the hype. But, man oh man, if Joaquin Phoenix didn’t just make thousands of poseurs go shave their beards off after that. Seriously, J.P. did as much for making beards scary again as did Manson in ‘69 - absolute movement killer right there. Yep, admit it, if you saw Joaquin Phoenix at the BART Station, you would probably move a little further down the platform to make sure you don’t end up on the same car as him. Love it. Now, just can’t wait for the hip hop album to drop. As Dave said, “we all want to be there,” but most of us will probably want to keep our distance.
