keep the beat...

a gang of photos from the prefuse 73 show. click here and here to check 'em out.

-just got back from toronto. had an awesome few days. spent some good time with sarah biking around, eating chicken roti and checking stuff out. saw my homie ill seer getting his church on (nice preachin' bro!). popped through the history-making manifesto festival, where we caught the "live mix-tape," which was dope as shit. maestro! king lou! michie mee! shit, the list goes on... ran into a boatload of old friends, acquaintances, and many familiar faces from my old days running around in toronto's hip-hop scene. saw the homie big click, my former running-mate from my universal days. good to see shad k. up on that outdoor stage, holding it down with some of toronto's finest. and props to my man rod skimmins, another london vet, for producing the show. good work man! here's a little video of the final bow. must've been like 20 emcees on that stage. dan-e-o. choclair. abdominal. eternia. tara chase. brass munk. dope shit.

-monday night we went to hear stephen lewis speak at u of t. this is the second time i've heard this man speak this year, and, i'm telling you, i broke down into tears from some of the things he was talking about. things are happening in the world. things that are being done to people in this world. it's unbelievable. it's enough to make a self-obsessed "artist" like myself take my head out of my own ass for a few minutes and realize that are other PEOPLE in this world who are actually suffering. i want to do something. i'm not sure where to start. any suggestions? a few months ago a friend of mine sent me a link to a job that was posted for war child canada. some sort of music liaison or something. might have been perfect for me. i want to find something INVOLVED. i want to pull my head out of the sand (or, as i said before, my own ass) and contribute. to embrace the world, not hide from it. not hide behind my "art" as an excuse for my non-engagement with my life and the world i live in...

-have you seen eastern promises? see it. fucking rad. i will be in a movie with viggo mortensen one day.

-and, i had no idea that these guys were still around...

-that's it for now my dears. i am off to new york tomorrow, if things go according to plan. i somehow managed to lose my passport this week, so, hopefully i won't have any problems crossing the border (the government websites say i should be fine with my birth certificate, but, you never know...). off to the knitting factory on saturday night to play a show with schoolly d., r.a. the rugged man, and cx kidtronik. hopefully i'll have wonderful stories and photos to share. wish me luck.

kiss kiss,
ryan