happy heineken...

i don't recall ever being much a new-years-resolution type of person. i maybe had the odd idea of something i wanted to do, but i doubt i ever wrote it down. for some reason, with this year closing in on its end, i've been making a little mental list for the last week or two. what do i want to achieve? who do i want to be? what have i been doing wrong? so, i decided to write it out. a few things i'd like to take care of in 2009. on my way, from misery to happiness. uh huh, uh huh...

1. become a vegetarian. maybe. not sure about this one. i'm considering it. we'll see.
2. yoga. every day. seriously. namaste.
3. write more. make more art. fuck, this is my resolution on a weekly basis. seriously ryan, pick up that fucking pen you fuck. (and act. this things scares me the most. therefore, i gotta do it.)
4. drink less. or just switch from beer to red wine. and avoid whisky. at all costs. unless it's in front of you. but seriously, can i maybe go a month and see how i feel?
5. give something to the world. volunteer. help an old lady carry her groceries. care about something more than my own little whims and yens. be like wu-tang, for the children.
6. chip away at my debt. there's an unpaid student loan out there somewhere with my name on it. ready. aim. fire. fuck.
7. learn. read books. maybe take some classes. french? archery? history? literature? just get that brain working out. magazine articles don't count.
8. quit smoking. for real this time. i cry myself to sleep at least once a week over this addiction. allen carr, if you're up there, help me out man! (third time's the charm, right?)
9. quit coffee. again. green tea, here we come! anti-oxidants! yay!
10. travel more. in the last year and a half i've gone to germany, czech republic, france, and switzerland. this year, i've got my sights set on the uk, dubai, and vietnam and cambodia.

okay, that's what i got so far. we'll see how i do. what have you got going on?

beautiful band remix...

so a while back i'm talking to tim (recordface) and i'm all wasted and saying stupid shit like "dude, i think people slept on "beautiful," it's like the forgotten song on our album and shit, we should do a remix, blah blah blah..." and then a few weeks later he sends me this. the band man!

hip-hop holiday songs...

my man dj hullewud sent me this link for a little collection of hip-hop holiday songs he threw together. throw this on after christmas dinner while you sip your bailey's by the fire. enjoy.

tracks:

Audio Two - A Christmas Rhyme
Cold Chillin' Juice Crew - Cold Chillin' Christmas
Surf M.C.'s - A Surf M.C. New Year
Derek B - Chillin' With Santa
Run-DMC - Christmas In Hollis
King Sun-D Moet - Christmas In The City
Run-DMC - Christmas Is
Kurtis Blow - Christmas Rappin'
Dana Dane - Dana Dane Is Coming To Town
Spyder-D - Ghetto Santa
Disco 4 - He's Santa Claus
Sweet Tee - Let The Jingle Bells Rock
Eazy-E - Merry Muthafuckin' Xmas
Run-DMC,Mase,Puff Daddy, Snoop, Salt'N Pepa, Onyx, Keith Murray - Santa Baby
Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, Daz - Santa Claus Goest Straight To The Ghetto
Treacherous Three - Santa's Rap
Showboys - That's What I Want For Christmas

don't stop the movement...

song of the day, sun. dec. 7. 2008...

this is the first in what may or may not become a daily thing for me.
but, i listen to a ton of music, and i always want to share. so, a "song of the day," why not? it makes sense. anyway, here's the first one...

the roots - here i come.

my man sean from rakehellrow put me on to this song. pure energy. when we were shooting sheepsh*t, it became the theme song for the cast and crew. whenever our energy started to lag, we'd throw on this song and get right back into the vibe. it's undeniable. listen to it three times in a row and you'll know exactly what i'm mean...

the only on king...

congrats to my friends jason and paul - their restaurant, the only on king, was listed in enroute magazine's top ten new restaurants of 2008. if you haven't already, check them out. if you don't live in london, it is well worth the drive.

The Only on King
172 King St.
London, 519-936-2064
theonlyonking.ca

Considering all of the foie gras and caviar, lobster and oysters that are consumed on this trip, you may be surprised to know that the single best dish of the year may well be the simple vegetable salad at this former dairy in London, Ontario. If the kitchen can do this much with a salad, imagine what it can do with vitello tonnato (the classic Italian preparation of braised veal in a tuna sauce) or braised beef cheek (which shows up alongside fingerling potatoes and Cheshire blue cheese in its superb rendition of poutine). Chefs Paul Harding and Jason Schubert, local lads and childhood friends, source out the best products – ranging from Far Ben Farms lamb to Mario Pingue’s antipasti and Field Gate Organics ham – to bring a sophisticated sensibility to their hometown.

the fifth element...

all i want for christmas is a devin the dude skate deck. check out soundclash skateboards. they got decks from awol one, acey, ab rude, living legends, more. my man submass in paris had the 2mex one when i was just over there. dope shit...

nneka...

nneka. wow.
watch this video.
myspace. serious...

[thanks dougal for sending me the link.]

the poppy family...

"In the late summer of 1969 the Canadian record buying public chose to endorse The Poppy Family by establishing `Which Way You Goin' Billy?' as the biggest Canadian hit ever. `Billy' successfully climbed to the No.1 spot on all radio stations across Canada. Having watched The Poppy Family from Vancouver, British Columbia, evolve as a recording group has been a satisfying and rewarding experience. The constant creative growth, both musically and lyrically, within the group is evident in the album `Which way you goin' Billy?'. The versatility of the group, from Terry Jacks' meaningfull writing, to his wife Susan's beautiful and emotion packed voice allow them to explore avenues of musical expression hitherto uncharted. All the while The Poppy Family retain their own sound so unique to themselves". (Fraser Jamieson, President London Records, Canada - Nov 17th 1969).

download.

like it was 1980...

supertoke 3...

d-ray presents supertoke 3.
download.

france in my pants...

in toulouse, france, right now. off to switzerland soon. germany too. life is good...

thu. oct. 16 - paris, france @ twenty one club (w/ thesis sahib & zoen)
fri. oct. 17 - amiens, france @ ring ding (w/ thesis sahib & zoen)
sat. oct. 18 - tours, france @ donald's pub (w/ thesis sahib & zoen)
sun. oct. 19 - paris, france @ twenty one club (w/ thesis sahib, zoen, 2mex & riddlore)
wed. oct. 22 - bordeaux, france @ el inca (w/ thesis sahib, zoen & heliodrome)
fri. oct. 24 - toulouse, france @ le mediatheque (w/ thesis sahib & zoen)
thu. oct. 30 - munich, germany @ zerwirk (w/ thesis sahib & zoen)
fri. oct. 31 - bern, switzerland @ raum (w/ thesis sahib & zoen)
sat. nov. 1 - fraunfeld, switzerland @ kaff (w/ thesis sahib & zoen)
sun. nov. 2 - winterthur, switzerland @ gisi (w/ thesis sahib & zoen)

supertoke 3...

my boys are having an album release party in london on nov. 1st. peep it...

holy fuck my feet hurt...

i walked from bayfield to grand bend yesterday. on the beach. it took seven hours. it was awesome...

towel...

i don't know where my towel is...

zzz...

i'm going to sleep, for once in my life...

vag...

i'm thinking about becoming a vegetarian again, after five years of being back on the meat...

hey mister, spare some heart...?

well, i blogged about it yesterday, and shot my man ebanks a little email to let him know...

he fired me back one that looked a bit like this...

"wow!! dude you rock! thank you for the big-up / support! dude when you reach back to t.o! holla 1.

j e
416 ***.****

PS. there a link to ski's performance at manifesto 2k8.
i didn't have my camera =, but my homeboy recorded it for moi...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R02yGDvp_xc

soon."

so yeah man, glad you got it - and i'm gonna peep that link, - always wanna show the love when i can, and, like i said, living out here in the sticks, if it wasn't for getting emails from cats like yourself, i really would have no idea what the fuck was going in this music world that i seem to have abandoned not so long ago... [maybe i can find my way back in when i get back? we'll see about that...]

apparently my man jon jon also stumbled across that little blogbit, and hit me with a quick little what's happening...

"wat it do Fritz?, yup yup Spare Hearts!

cheers/yo"

so, ebanks is down with it, jon jon is down with it, and you know i'm down with it, so, i guess at this point, if you're not already down with it, you have no choice left but to slide down the page to that last post, find the download links, and get yourself down with it...

cool? we done for tonight?

yeah. we're done.

[until somebody slides me that link for the album...]

[i already told you, i got it on hold at the record store, i'm gonna buy that shit, but i wanna HEAR it NOW...]

thanks.

spare hearts...

thank the heavens for email. living in bayfield for the last six months - population 700 - i am so far out of the loop i don't even remember what it feels like to be plugged in anymore. but every once in a while i get a little email from somebody telling me about something i want to know about. today, my man jason ebanks sent me the link for the video, above, that you hopefully just watched. (if you haven't clicked play yet, go ahead, i'll wait...) see? yeah, i know. dope shit. this dude does some cool videos. and shawn? well, shit, i'm only on my third coffee so i can't quite find the words at the moment. i didn't even know he had a new album coming out. that's how far out of the loop i am. and - if you're a regular reader of my rants - as you know, i am a HUGE fan of his earlier ep. i've been waiting for some new shit. so now, this is on my list (along with raphael saadiq's 'the way i see it') the next time i find myself in a city with a record store. (but in the meantime, if anyone has a free download link, it would be much appreciated. shawn, i promise i'll buy that shit. it's just that, well, this little town i'm living in doesn't have a record store...)



also, i gotta say, the cover is KILLER. the lettering is wicked, the broken glass collage deal, the photo in the reflection, the whole thing, but ESPECIALLY the "worn vinyl cover" effect... man, for record collectors like me, that is on some "holy shit how come nobody thought of that yet?!" shit. (keep an eye out, i guarantee that you will see that effect popping up in other designs. shit, i might even bite it for my next record cover, i'm not even gonna lie to you...)

anyway, here are two tracks i found from the album...

one on one.
keep them at bay.

and if you have no idea what i'm talking about, check out the ep...

the soft society.

live at the bbq...

seems like a whole little wave of nostalgia for toronto's hip-hop history has been building up over the last couple of years, what with year two of manifesto just taking place in the last week, the live at the bbq parties bringing back the - i hate to say old school - veteran toronto emcees and deejays, and a number of blogs popping up with old radio shows, concert flyers, twelve inches, and whatnot. i'm not going to pretend i was there back in the ron nelson/concert hall/jonbronski days - i moved to toronto in september of '96 - but i am feeling a bit nostalgic as well, even though it was a bit of a different era when i got there. coming from london, ontario, hitting planet mars on a regular basis, i had never seen anything quite like it. crazy energy. there is a ton of stuff popping up from back in the days, i guess "digging" now means googling things or following links from one blog to the next, not getting your fingers dirty like it used to, but it's still all good. there's a ton of good stuff to check out. i'm moving back to the t-deezy pretty soon, and i feel good about it. i'm proud of the people i know there who have been holding it down for the longest. i'll see y'all soon...

love, war, and the ghost of whitey ford...

everlast's new album, love, war, and the ghost of whitey ford, is out today. i just snagged a download from here, but i'll be buying it as soon as i find myself back in a city with an actual record store. a couple of links for you... everlast's myspace, interview, website.

black cab sessions...

my buddy jamie just sent me this link to check out: black cab sessions. pretty cool.

here's a sample...

skate...

check out a couple of my homeboys from london on the skate tip...

the last day of summer...

the fifth day of september. the summer is over. waking up on the tuesday after labour day, you could feel it. tangibly. the air was different. brought to mind a line from george jung (the guy who the movie blow was about), something to the effect of "it's the last day of summer, and i'm alone in the cold." something like that. a mild melancholy. a little bit of depression sinks in. is it really over? yup. amazing how you can go from summer to fall in an instant. in one sleep. i rode my bike around all day, searching for little bits of summer that might remain. the air. the water. people. me. all different. is it like this every year? it is, i'm told. my first (and only?) summer living here. small town. lake village. different life. it goes so fast. work. work. work. work. sleep. sleep. sleep. sleep. make more excuses and then go back to work. even the temperature changes in a day. amazing. maybe it knows. maybe they all do. an experience it's been. would i do it again? not sure. maybe. ask me again in eight months. am i glad i did it once? definitely. now i know. toronto. back there soon. a few weeks. it'll be different. the same. it's been a few years. four. five. not sure. montreal. london. and here. wow. time flies. i'll see you soon...

halifax...

here's a little video of these two cats getting into it during a little rap battle situation...