Tangents, updates and whatnot.
God bless anybody who has a blog and keeps it going. Especially if your blog in one of the many many things you have to keep going. On top of updating blog, upcoming shows, our day jobs, our other side jobs, and the spending of quality time with friends and family that often happens at the end of the day, although it’s always claimed at the top of the priority list. I say this of course in light of the fact that this blog doesn’t get updated not as often as we’d like, and that’s with two of us writing. I’d like to blame it one the broken computer and lack of working camera, but that’s just an excuse. As writers, we should be devoted to this blog, regardless of technological difficulties. But I’d also like to remind you that we’re new to this, so bear with us. I'm never really sure how many people actually read this until I come across the occasional fan who tells me they read it all the time or worse, that letter that asks "how come you haven’t written anything lately?" With that being said, I’ll make this one an extra long blog and hope it makes up for the past week. I have to warn you first, it kind of a tangent. If you’re into short blogs, now is the time to train your eyes to skim.
I’ll start with an intro about intros. This here is my friend Nick. He runs a streetwear brand, Twelvebar, as well as a blog twelvebar.com/astorytotell(which I am also featured on btw) and recently discusses the intros of songs and how they serve as perfect precursors for the rest of the other instruments to join in and follow. I think the same can be said of blogs, as Nick’s blog are enjoyable and always has a great intro. You see, a blog still counts as writing and therefore, like music, is considered a body of work. And a body of work should to have, well, body, supported by a worthy intro that leads readers to. a conclusion, a story to tell. Sorry, but name drops grouped with pictures that aren’t even worth the look (not to mention worth a thousand words) aren’t exactly the distraction we seek in our internet browsing. It’s hard to find blogs these days that are really worth "subscribing" to, you know the ones that you can consistently check up on and the material is worth the read, even if there aren’t major announcements. I’m saying this to anyone who may not understand blogs or why we write about what seems like random things.
The purpose of a blog is simple, it’s a public journal. The "public" part is because whoever the author is has gained such a following in whatever previous work they’ve done before that a blog becomes necessary to let followers/supporters/fans know what’s going on. For some people, the blog is medium for updates, a display of schedule that boasts about how busy they are and the upcoming projects they’re working on. And sometimes that’s all that needed to be said. Then, there’s the "journal" part, the part that means that it’s also personal, therefore you can talk about whatever the hell you want, even if it’s not pertaining to the original thing that created the need for a blog in the first place. Which is why even though we are poets, we can ramble on about other things like Flava Flav episodes, stalker status-like crushes on MC/Producers (Cool Calm Pete is actually Korean, not Chinese like I had previously thought). There are things going on in our lives besides "poetry" that we’d like to talk about. We are humans, we are complex. We are consistently changing our minds on what we feel is particularly interesting or important today. But we are also poets, we draw our inspirations from what’s around us. How we process our creative efforts remains the same, it's how we outlet it that's different.
Politics influence current events, which in turn influences music; music in turn, influences fashion, and so on and so forth. Going back to Nick, I asked him why he named his brand Twelvebar, and he told me that music influences everything, and in music the measurement is always in twelve bars. It makes so much sense. Remember when fashion magazines used to just be fashion magazines? Now they’re lifestyle magazines, and they cover everything from make-up to food to religion . Models who used to be the only ones to grace the covers now share the spotlight with actresses and singers, because it was obvious that we didn’t want to read about somebody we didn’t have very much going on except a pretty face. We’re no longer the monotonous human beings we used to be.
Blogging is also an important tool because communication is the basis for everything that happens. We get our info as a result of communication. We get our inspiration as a result of communication. We get everything done as a result of communication. Sometimes when things coincide, we say that the world is small, but honestly it’s just connected through communication. I mention this because I have to mention another friend, Vaughn, who also writes his own blog, words2herbsmag.com.
In this mirror self-portrait, Vaughn is holding up a copy of Prequel, of which he is also a staff writer. Vaughn is a new friend, I "met" him just a little while ago (I say "met" because he lives in Cali, on the west coast so we haven’t physically met, but we talk all the time via the interweb) although he knew of me from before because he saw the Def Poetry episode that Michelle and I were on. See, connection through communication. Vaughn recently wrote a list of creative folks who inspire him and he put Yellow Rage 4th in his order, talking about our work with Beau Sia and even compared us to Mobb Deep. The funny thing is that he also put www.dorkmag.com, the magazine that I write for, 5th on the list, and made note of that coincidence. Yep, more communication connections. I’m sure if he’s changed it since I saw it last week but originally he wrote my name as Catzuella, my alter ego. Haha, can't escape that Freudian slip.
Well I just wanted to throw that "intro" in there because you, the reader, our fans and firm supporters, keep us connected. So now the moment you’ve been waiting for... Updates!!!
The show at the Asian Arts Initiative was awesome, and we were so glad to be apart of an amazing line up and remember performing in that space for the very last time. Thanks to Phil, Taiyo, Regir, Omar, Florence and everybody who came out. Unfortunately, neither me nor Michelle could take any pictures (unless she secretly has and is waiting to upload them a month later, just kidding M) and because the house was so packed, all of our friends' pictures came out kinda blurry, so you’ll just have to depend on my words to paint the pictures. Asian’s Misbehavin’, made up by Dan Kim, Anula Shetty and Michelle did such an amazing job curating the show with absolutely no tech run-throughs. The highlight of the show was the finale skit, Joy Cock Club in which Regie and Omar play bickering mother and daughter over bukkake. Oh did they have me in the corner in a hyena-like hyperventilating after-laugh. In case you have never seen it, it’s one the very things my writing can do no justice for but if I could try to describe it it’s a spoof of the Joy Luck Club based on porn. If you don’t know what bukkake is, you’re gonna have to look that up, buddy.
The only pictures I managed to dig up are from going out after the show, you know, the afterparty...
It’s obvious the ladies love Taiyo. No, seriously, I’ve gotten so many questions about who the acoustic soul singer was. The funniest thing I heard all night was that Taiyo was married and had a kid. Yep, somebody confused him for Dennis from I was Born With Two Tongues/Typical Cats.
This here is DJ Phillee Blunt and he never likes to make nice faces when he's pictured with me. Phil is our resident show DJ and he's also a member of the Ill Vibe Collective. If you ever see their name on a flyer, you should go to their events. Real classic stuff.
Next week, we join our long time no see buddy Giles Li coming all the way from Beantown for Sulu Series in Brooklyn.
Yes, he is also another smooth and acoustic poet. Sorry ladies, he’s married. But you can probably come see Taiyo because he’ll be there with Regie, who both run the Series every first Sunday of the month. Peep the flyer:
Yes, that's is Mr. Sulu from Star Trek. A+ for you if you already knew that.
Last but not least I have to give a shout out to my best friend Anwar who turns 25 today. Happy Birthday Homie. Tonight he's having a 90's theme party to celebrate. I’m going as Mary J. Blige and he's going as Biggie. I wonder if anybody will show up in finger waves.
C-
I’ll start with an intro about intros. This here is my friend Nick. He runs a streetwear brand, Twelvebar, as well as a blog twelvebar.com/astorytotell(which I am also featured on btw) and recently discusses the intros of songs and how they serve as perfect precursors for the rest of the other instruments to join in and follow. I think the same can be said of blogs, as Nick’s blog are enjoyable and always has a great intro. You see, a blog still counts as writing and therefore, like music, is considered a body of work. And a body of work should to have, well, body, supported by a worthy intro that leads readers to. a conclusion, a story to tell. Sorry, but name drops grouped with pictures that aren’t even worth the look (not to mention worth a thousand words) aren’t exactly the distraction we seek in our internet browsing. It’s hard to find blogs these days that are really worth "subscribing" to, you know the ones that you can consistently check up on and the material is worth the read, even if there aren’t major announcements. I’m saying this to anyone who may not understand blogs or why we write about what seems like random things.
The purpose of a blog is simple, it’s a public journal. The "public" part is because whoever the author is has gained such a following in whatever previous work they’ve done before that a blog becomes necessary to let followers/supporters/fans know what’s going on. For some people, the blog is medium for updates, a display of schedule that boasts about how busy they are and the upcoming projects they’re working on. And sometimes that’s all that needed to be said. Then, there’s the "journal" part, the part that means that it’s also personal, therefore you can talk about whatever the hell you want, even if it’s not pertaining to the original thing that created the need for a blog in the first place. Which is why even though we are poets, we can ramble on about other things like Flava Flav episodes, stalker status-like crushes on MC/Producers (Cool Calm Pete is actually Korean, not Chinese like I had previously thought). There are things going on in our lives besides "poetry" that we’d like to talk about. We are humans, we are complex. We are consistently changing our minds on what we feel is particularly interesting or important today. But we are also poets, we draw our inspirations from what’s around us. How we process our creative efforts remains the same, it's how we outlet it that's different.
Politics influence current events, which in turn influences music; music in turn, influences fashion, and so on and so forth. Going back to Nick, I asked him why he named his brand Twelvebar, and he told me that music influences everything, and in music the measurement is always in twelve bars. It makes so much sense. Remember when fashion magazines used to just be fashion magazines? Now they’re lifestyle magazines, and they cover everything from make-up to food to religion . Models who used to be the only ones to grace the covers now share the spotlight with actresses and singers, because it was obvious that we didn’t want to read about somebody we didn’t have very much going on except a pretty face. We’re no longer the monotonous human beings we used to be.
Blogging is also an important tool because communication is the basis for everything that happens. We get our info as a result of communication. We get our inspiration as a result of communication. We get everything done as a result of communication. Sometimes when things coincide, we say that the world is small, but honestly it’s just connected through communication. I mention this because I have to mention another friend, Vaughn, who also writes his own blog, words2herbsmag.com.
In this mirror self-portrait, Vaughn is holding up a copy of Prequel, of which he is also a staff writer. Vaughn is a new friend, I "met" him just a little while ago (I say "met" because he lives in Cali, on the west coast so we haven’t physically met, but we talk all the time via the interweb) although he knew of me from before because he saw the Def Poetry episode that Michelle and I were on. See, connection through communication. Vaughn recently wrote a list of creative folks who inspire him and he put Yellow Rage 4th in his order, talking about our work with Beau Sia and even compared us to Mobb Deep. The funny thing is that he also put www.dorkmag.com, the magazine that I write for, 5th on the list, and made note of that coincidence. Yep, more communication connections. I’m sure if he’s changed it since I saw it last week but originally he wrote my name as Catzuella, my alter ego. Haha, can't escape that Freudian slip.
Well I just wanted to throw that "intro" in there because you, the reader, our fans and firm supporters, keep us connected. So now the moment you’ve been waiting for... Updates!!!
The show at the Asian Arts Initiative was awesome, and we were so glad to be apart of an amazing line up and remember performing in that space for the very last time. Thanks to Phil, Taiyo, Regir, Omar, Florence and everybody who came out. Unfortunately, neither me nor Michelle could take any pictures (unless she secretly has and is waiting to upload them a month later, just kidding M) and because the house was so packed, all of our friends' pictures came out kinda blurry, so you’ll just have to depend on my words to paint the pictures. Asian’s Misbehavin’, made up by Dan Kim, Anula Shetty and Michelle did such an amazing job curating the show with absolutely no tech run-throughs. The highlight of the show was the finale skit, Joy Cock Club in which Regie and Omar play bickering mother and daughter over bukkake. Oh did they have me in the corner in a hyena-like hyperventilating after-laugh. In case you have never seen it, it’s one the very things my writing can do no justice for but if I could try to describe it it’s a spoof of the Joy Luck Club based on porn. If you don’t know what bukkake is, you’re gonna have to look that up, buddy.
The only pictures I managed to dig up are from going out after the show, you know, the afterparty...
It’s obvious the ladies love Taiyo. No, seriously, I’ve gotten so many questions about who the acoustic soul singer was. The funniest thing I heard all night was that Taiyo was married and had a kid. Yep, somebody confused him for Dennis from I was Born With Two Tongues/Typical Cats.
This here is DJ Phillee Blunt and he never likes to make nice faces when he's pictured with me. Phil is our resident show DJ and he's also a member of the Ill Vibe Collective. If you ever see their name on a flyer, you should go to their events. Real classic stuff.
Next week, we join our long time no see buddy Giles Li coming all the way from Beantown for Sulu Series in Brooklyn.
Yes, he is also another smooth and acoustic poet. Sorry ladies, he’s married. But you can probably come see Taiyo because he’ll be there with Regie, who both run the Series every first Sunday of the month. Peep the flyer:
Yes, that's is Mr. Sulu from Star Trek. A+ for you if you already knew that.
Last but not least I have to give a shout out to my best friend Anwar who turns 25 today. Happy Birthday Homie. Tonight he's having a 90's theme party to celebrate. I’m going as Mary J. Blige and he's going as Biggie. I wonder if anybody will show up in finger waves.
C-
posted by Yellow Rage at
10/29/2006 11:51:00 PM
