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Random Facts About Touring #1
1. There are people who have to tour all year long, just so they can afford to live where they do for a few months out the year. Obviously, this depends on where you live and how expensive it is, but the irony can’t be ignored. Having to be gone all the time just to be able to be home a little bit of the time is a fucked up situation.
2. The best time for touring is the Fall and the Spring. In general, summer (except big festivals) and winter are to be avoided. The holiday season isn’t that great either. But the fall and spring are where it’s at.
This is why it’s all worth it
There are times when everybody has moments of self-doubt. Lord knows I’ve had mine.
But it seems like every time that self-doubt starts to get the best of me I’m brought back to reality by the people that have allowed me to do this in the first place–the fans. Whether it’s one person or a room full of people, the result is the same–you are humbled and reminded why you go through what you do–because you love doing it, and because the people who support you give you the encouragement to continue.
Well, this weekends show at the Hip-Hoppers Holiday event in St. Louis was another one of those moments when I was reminded why it’s all worth it:
Why does this exist?
I was in the grocery store today, picking up the normal stuff (eggs, bread, milk, etc.) when I came across this. It’s called Pickled Rope Bolonga.
I beg of you…please explain this ungodly creation to me…I’m still trying to wrap my brain around it.
Why does this exist?
Electric Purgatory – Tour Edition Artwork
To continue with the theme of getting ready for tour, one decision I didn’t have a difficult time making was to bring a Greenhouse CD with me. Actually, I did have a hard time choosing between volume one and volume two, but then I decided to make it a double-cd and bring both–problem solved. As an opener on a tour like this they give you a set amount of merch you can bring (only x amount of t-shirts and only x amount of CDs), so you have to be very selective about it and bring what you think makes the most sense. In the past i had brought the Iron & Niacin and Vitamins & Minerals CDs, but this time around I’ve decided to make a special 2-CD version of the Electric Purgatory CDs, with completely different artwork and everything. I got a copy of the artwork last night and I think the graphic designer did an amazing job so I wanted to post the artwork:
[nggallery id=13]
If you’ve got some time check out my dude’s design blog TheDigitalArmory. He’s a good dude and does really good work.
Word is Blog
I Need Your Endorsement
It just dawned on me that people don’t use the word endorse enough. We talk about what we like or dislike, what we do or don’t do, but we never say the word endorse. The only people who really use it are politicians and business leaders. I think I’m gonna bring the word endorse back to the people. Probably not in a song, but definitely in my everyday conversations.
“What do you think about my Earrings, Al?“
“I don’t endorse those. Put on a different pair”
That kinda shit.
It’s safe to say that using the word endorse makes you sound real official, like you really put some thought into your decision, when you probably didn’t. That’s why I like endorse.
Another Kind of Genius
I was talking to this cat the other day about music. This cat is also a musician. Not that my opinion matters, but I’ve never thought he was particularly talented–at least not to the point where I think he’ll make a career out of music or a big impact. Everything he’s done has been kind of average, and the response to everything he’s done to this point has been average or below average.
Anways, during this conversation I started thinking to myself, “damn, why am I always getting wrapped up in these conversations?” At first I didn’t have an answer. Maybe I was in the wrong place at the wrong time? Maybe I’m just a nice guy? Then it dawned on me that I always end up talking with him about his music, even when I had no absolutely desire to talk to him about his music.
I was taken aback.
Help me decide on these t-shirt designs: please vote
While I don’t typically get nervous on stage, I do experience a decent amount of anxiety about going on the road, which I’m set to do in 3 weeks. Most of this anxiety revolves around being as prepared as possible for everything. Making sure your stuff at home is handled (grass cut, mail held, bills paid, etc.), and the other part is making sure you’ve got merch to sell (CDs,t-shirts, etc). To be honest I’m always kind of uneasy about the t-shirt part of it. I’m no graphic designer and I don’t pretend to know what people respond to or want to see. It goes without saying that while I do have a good amount of creative ideas, I feel much more comfortable about all things music-related.
At any rate, I have been working with a graphic designer on several designs; some for tour and some that will be sold exclusively on this site when I reopen the webstore in a couple weeks. Instead of trying to guess what everybody likes, it seems to make more sense to just ask you all directly. So, here’s five t-shirt designs. Have look and let me know what your favorite three are. You can vote for three of the five. This will help me a great deal, so thanks in advance for your help.
Camu Tao – King of Hearts Release/Listening Party
Tonight in Columbus, OH the life and music of Camu Tao will be celebrated at Skullys. If you live in Columbus, you should try to make at out as this is a very worthy cause and event. Here’s a description:
Join us Monday, August 16th to help celebrate the long awaited release of Camu Tao’s(RIP) solo album “KING OF HEARTS”. The night will be hosted by EL-P (Def Jux/Company Flow) who will be playing the album in it’s entirety starting at midnight (*album will also be for purchase). In addition, there will be early dj sets courtesy of Dj Carol, True Skillz, Pos2, Detox, Drastic & Scheme
We will be asking for a $5 suggested donation fo…r this event. ALL PROCEEDS will be going to the James Cancer Hospital.
Hope to see everybody out.
Mike Tyson on Mel Gibson, Love, & MMA
As many of you know, Mike Tyson is one of my favorite personalities in the world of sports and entertainment. If he were on Facebook, I would send him a friend request. If he were on Twitter, I would follow him. It’s that deep. Well, as a fan of MMA I stumbled on this new Mike Tyson interview where he talks about his favorite fighters in Mixed Martial Arts, his opinion on love, and gives his thoughts on the many meltdowns of Mel Gibson. At one point Tyson says “and to think, I almost looked up to him…he could’ve been my guru“. It’s hilarious and worth a listen.
Mo Better Blues
For some reason I’ve been thinking it was a day earlier than it was all week and I just realized that today is Friday. So here’s some Friday music. The song is called “Mo Better Blues” by Branford Marsalis. It’s the theme song to the classic flick Mo Better Blues by Spike Lee. This is the kinda song that feels good to throw on after you get off work and you’re ready to take your mind elsewhere. Enjoy!
http://www.divshare.com/download/12259429-4cb
Have a good weekend!
To Drink or Not To Drink Part Two: My Regrets
In a few days it will be almost 3 months since I decided to try to stop drinking.
A lot of people have asked me if I’m ever going to drink again. I always have a hard time answering that. Mostly because sobriety is a day-to-day thing. Drinking was a day-to-day thing as well. The problem wasn’t that I actually put drinking on the agenda, it was that I never put anything else worthy of my time on the agenda, so it was an easy victory for drinking. So I’m not going to sit here and say that I will never drink again. That would be self-righteous and complete bullshit. But what i will say is that the bad taste in my mouth is still very fresh, and that makes it very difficult for me to consider it right now. So in my attempts to make sure I never forget why I stopped drinking in the first place I’ve found it helpful to write down all the things I regret. I figure if I write them down, then they become real, and if they’re real then I have to account for them.
Some of my regrets are small things that I don’t think anybody ever got too bent out of shape about, and others are things that definitely didn’t go over too well. But regardless of the results I still have a certain level of guilt about all of them. So here is my list of regrets:
Classic Video: Xzibit “What you see is what you get”
Just like a lot of cats that came up when i did, I’ve got a lot of nostalgia about it. Not necessarily on some everything was better back then type of shit, because technically I think there are better rappers out right now–but when I think back to how dope and creative hip-hop music videos used to be, it’s hard to not think that current videos have taken a step backwards. You would think that since the cost of technology has decreased that we would see an increase in creativity, which may be the case in terms of output, but I’m personally having a hard time finding the same level of creativity that was around in 90s hip-hop videos.
Case in point, Xzibit “What you see is what you get”. It’s a shame that a lot of younger people only know Xzibit as the man from the Pimp My Ride show, because at one point dude was a very serious and credible hip-hop artist, with two really good albums under his belt. What You See is What You Get was the first single from his sophomore album, and boy did he come out swinging. The video is probably one of the best hip-hop videos of all time, and it was shot 12 years ago. The biggest testament to it’s impact is how many times newer artists have tried to copy it lately (i.e. J-Cole twice), yet the original is still more creative and better executed. And let’s not forgoet, the song is dope.
Video & Directors Notes after the jump:
Poll: Song Lyrics
The other night I had a conversation with a cat about artists and song lyrics, and how few hip-hop guys have their lyrics available anymore. This is especially noticeable in this day and age where album packaging isn’t as important anymore. Artists used to put time into making sure that the lyrics were printed inside the record sleeve or the cd insert, but nowadays that’s hardly the case. Part of me wonders if this is caused by the popularity of downloading music and artists and labels giving up, or if the downloading is because the people see that the artists and labels gave up and find less value in the packaging?Either way, I’m not sure. But what the conversation made me think about was adding my own lyrics to this site, and if that’s something that people want to see or care about it. My initial response was that as a fan i don’t necessarily go looking for lyrics but I’m always curious to read them, but then I realized that I have actually searched for the lyrics to songs by bands i really like in the past, and if I did it then maybe it could be a cool thing to add to this site.
So let me know whats up. Depending on the responses I might try to make it happen:
[poll id=”5″]
Thanks for your input!
Kanye West “Power” video clip
Whether you like Kanye’s music or not doesn’t matter. What matters is that the dude has an eye for art and this video is amazing. Will replace this with the full-length one soon as I find it on youtube.
Good googly-moogly. Can’t remember the last time i rewinded a music video multiple times. For some reason I doubt this is even supposed to be on youtube yet, so I’m gonna enjoy it for the moment.
EDIT: I knew i recognized this style of video from something somebody posted on their facebook page a while ago, and did some research. The creators name is Marco Brambilla. He has a piece called “Civilization” that I saw that will fuck with your head as well. Peep it after the jump
Weightless Recordings website relaunch
Hello Friends. As many of you know, I run an imprint called Weightless Recordings. We recently redesigned our website and are relaunching it today. Please stop by and check out our artists and releases. If you were familiar with the old site then this definitely looks different, but we believe it will allow us to update it much easier and provide more useful information on our releases and artists (myself, Illogic, Greenhouse, Envelope, Zero Star, DJ Raregroove, etc.).
Thanks for your support!