Fine-art Friday bonus: Phil Collins cover on a Paris subway? Yessir.
Gospel septet from the NYC? In Paris? On the subway? Yep. I say it’s fine art. Naturally Seven.
Turman
At the Kezizzle. Fo’ shizzle.
Since opening in 1925, Kezar Stadium has been home field for a plethora of local schools, including Santa Clara, USF and, St. Mary’s. It was also home to BOTH the 49ers (from 1946 to 1970) and, yes, the Raiders (for their inaugural season in 1960).
It’s been a featured location in Dirty Harry films and a concert pavilion for musical legends, such as Led Zeppelin, Tower of Power and the Grateful Dead. To name a few.
Recently, the Kez has served home to the Dragons, our very own MML team (Major League Lacrosse), the Golden Gate Women’s Soccer League and the beloved “Turkey Bowl” (the high school football city championship).
Now, this rich and storied venue, on the edge of Golden Gate Park, will play host to The Professor, Escalade, Go Get It, and the rest of the AND1’s Mixtape tour posse.
When: Friday, June 27th at 7:00 PM
Where: Kezar Pavilion, 755 Stanyan St
Tickets: $10 at the door or at and1.com.
Some of the Key-Czar Players:
Fig. A. The 1956 East-West Shrine Game
Fig. B. The Robert Planet, sportin’ extra tight jeans.
Fig. C. The Street-Ballers, fool.
Gd.
PS. Thanks to Wikipedia for historic facts assist.
2008 NBA Draft Preview: In search of a Hyphy Basketball IQ.
When the Lakers were casting for their “It’s A Small World” international roster, they ineptly left out a representative from the Nation of Thizzlam, and now look who’s ghostriding WW2 amphibious transport vehicles in a victory parade. The Celtics are world champions. The Celtics have a high percentage of East Bay personnel on their team. Therefore, more East Bay means more success. But I challenge any NBA team to take such a syllogism to it’s logical Hyphy conclusion. If you have just one dude on your team with highlighted dreads and a mouth full of gold, I’d say that’s the equivalent of three Leon Powes.
In this year’s draft, any team that wants to get a huge vertical leap on the rest of the league, might want to consider McClymond’s Damon Powell. Sure he’s only a High School junior and should probably stay in Mr. Sneed’s class another year, but damn, this kid’s going to be a beast. I mean, if he can dunk over four teenagers, he can definitely smash on Pau Gasol. Check out the above video of Powell dominating this year’s Sac vs. Bay Dunk Contest. Powell pretty much dumps on all these cats, including UCLA-bound, 408 reppin’ Drew Gordon.
Of course, I would be remiss to not point out the risks in drafting East Bay-centric - you might get J. Kidd, but you might also end up with J.R. Rider. The key with the Oakland intangible is you want to make sure your recruit is doin’ too much on the court and not off. Going 18 Dummy needs to be strictly reserved to the hardwood - Hyphy Basketball 101.
M. Meschery
Got $9.99 on it? New album from Mike Meezy available now.
FTB’s own Michael Marshall, aka Mike Meezy, is a name you might not know. What you do know is his voice. With his voice gracing both the seminal hip-hop soul progenitor, “Rumors,” and the smoketastic “I Got 5 on It,” Mike is a true Bay Area original.
Ordinarily, this is where I’d drop his full bio, but the song pretty much speaks for itself. What I can do is let you know that it’s available on iTunes for those who’ve got a (very reasonable) $9.99 on it. I can also speak to the breadth and depth of the effort, which as a whole seems to create a sort of new genre. I’m at a loss to name it, but it certainly seems to be a natural extension of his career to date. Hip-hop soul is growing up. And as he has been doing since day one, Michael Marshall is helping to chart the course.
Daniel Turman
Make the jump to buy it now. Read More »
If you follow urban music trends, please put on some Depends.
Before clicking below.
Searching for something to hate on: Lakers vs. Jazz.
Found it.
I know it’s not “Hater Tuesday” today, but I was overcome by the spirit. The whole Lakers/Jazz thing going on over on TNT stirred something in me. I was still at a loss as to who I would prefer to see emerge, and with the game momentarily preempted (at least on this television, tonight), I started searching for my lesser-of-two-evils option online. Now tied and in the fourth I have settled on a Strychnine martini over a Hemlock quesadilla. Go powder blue. I guess.
At least until Kirilenko’s dance-crew video surfaces in time for game six.
Turman
PS. Thanks to the ever-vigilant Rod Benson and his endless reservoir of Boom-Tho-Ness for bringing this microphone malfeasance (back) to my attention. I’m sure I saw this before, or at least knew about it, but my subconscious brain (ever the smarter one) had painlessly removed all recollection. And Tyra. Lord. With America’s Next Top Model momentarily interrupting the Lakers/Jazz game earlier for reasons better left unspecified, you have overrun my evening of hoops appreciation on multiple fronts. Congratulations. You. Have. Become. America’s. Next. Top. NBA. Interruption. And I ain’t forgot that you once dated C-Webb either. Make the jump for my brief ANTM recap. Read More »
FTB goes on a journey into sound.
Tonight the FTB Crew will be at Tha Club! Okay, not a club really, but more like the Berkeley version of a club - La Pena Cultural Center. Where we will, in fact, be getting our culture on. Now that The Warriors season is over, we must turn our attention to the other areas of East Bay Culture that we have neglected while waxing philosophical about really important things like the trade value of Mikael Pietrus.
In the past year, while our collective heads have been under a rock (round and leather), we have missed the rumblings of a new hip hop movement in the Bay - and no, it ain’t Hyphy. In fact, it’s post-Hyphy, and even, dare I say it, post-hip hop. Groups like Zion-I, Trackademics, and now League 510, who just released their single “To The Beat” on iTunes, have all turned to other less obvious musical forms to influence Town-based rap. I always like checking bands’ Myspace pages to see how they label themselves. In this case, “New Wave,” “Soul,” “Techno,” “Pop,” along with “Hip Hop,” have all been used as additional ingredients to kick it up a notch, Emeril-style.
Nas said hip hop was dead, and it wasn’t just a gimmick to sell records, it was the truth. Now we have to deal with that reality. So, you can either be that dude at the barbecue listening to “The Chronic” and talking about the good ol’ days like this and like that and like this and uh, or you can embrace the new. Either way, as long as someone’s still creepin’ to the mic like a phantom, it’s all to the G right?
Who: Ise Lyfe, The League, Dom Jones, Bracy and ID, and BUMP Records
Where: La Pena Cultural Center
When: May 2, 2008 - Doors @ 9pm
Why: If you don’t know, now you know
M. Meschery
BWUH for the Ws.
The East Bay is long. The East Bay is wide. It houses many local bands in its depths. Here at FTB, we have given many a shout-out to the beard-toting musicians of these lands. But now more than ever, it’s BWUH time.
BWUH is many things. BWUH is a statement. Like, as in, “bwuh?” It’s also a feeling. It’s a thought. It’s a loss for words. It’s really an endlessly useful expression. BWUH is also a band comprised of three guys that are Bay raised and loving it. Andrew, Jason and Matt may hail from Walnut Creek, but they now call Oakland home and their love for the Ws runs deep.
So, maybe it’s a sign that they have a show scheduled on one of the more important game nights. The BWUH vibes will be running high tonight as the Ws take on the Clips. I mean who didn’t say, “bwuh” at least once the during Thursday’s game. Tonight, hopefully we will have less game-related “bwuh” and more music-related BWUH: they will be rocking it at the Oakland establishment, the Stork Club.
Check them out tonight if you’re feeling a bit “bwuh?” after another tough loss. Or, if you’re feeling all “bwuh!” after a crucial victory.
Lil’ B.
PS. Where’s the BWUH song about the Warriors? Hello?!
The Eleventh Hour is upon us. Plus, Def Leppard and Tim McGraw ruin The NBA (and my Sunday).
I knew something wasn’t right this morning when I turned on my TV to see Def Leppard singing a song with Tim McGraw as a part of the ABC pre-game show. Who’s f-ing idea was this? The NBA? ABC? Someone’s on notice for that s#@t! Such musical cow plop wasn’t even close to being appropriate, other than the fact that the one-armed drummer from Def Leppard could have beaten the Warriors today. So, to wash the rancid taste out of my mouth, I needed a few extra-spicy Bloody Marys at T-Rex where the FTB crew watched the game and subsequently drowned its sorrows (besides the anesthetizing beverages a rare Beardedbarman appearance was the highlight).
If I were to pick a more apropos pre-game joint, I might choose this cut off of DEL Tha Funkee Homosapien’s new album Eleventh Hour, called “Workin’ it.” Sure, it wouldn’t have appealed to the “Nascar Dad-meets-40 year old chick in acid wash demographic,” but do we really want that crowd at NBA games anyway? I guess if we want fans to start chanting “Show Us Your Tits!” instead of “De-Fense!”
Nope. I want Del on mushrooms for my half-game entertainment. This is Del’s first release in hella-long and it’s nice. At first I thought the chorus was a little lackluster, but then I found myself singing it at the grocery store later on. I didn’t know the lyrics so I was just freestylin’ “Workin’ it, Merckin’ it. If I had a pickle I’d be gherkin it.” And you know what, my grocery store freestyle would have been better than Def Leppard and Tim McGraw. Now, if they teamed up Def Leppard and Mos Def and came out with a project called “Mos Def Leppard” I could get down with that. That’s something Del would appreciate too.
Okay Dubs fans, let’s forget today ever happened - the music, the game, all of it. Now, it really is the eleventh hour, so beard up already. Time’s runnin’ out.
M. Meschery
The Soulja Boy is officially done.
This seals it. The Soulja Boy dance is officially played out beyond all recognition. When the Filipino men’s prison that brought the world their highly viral “Thriller” remake Cranks That en masse, you can be sure that the jam and the dance are worn down to the threads as far as urban authenticity goes.
And what happened to prison as rehabilitation. These cats are learning to dance well enough, but is there a library in this joint? Some college courses? Therapy? I sure need some after the second half of the vid, what with the Hammer homage. All I know is that I sure as hell won’t spray any graffiti pieces next time I’m chillin’ in Cebu City.
Turman