Mafia Melodies.

So somebody decided to post every Pen & Pixel album cover ever. Aside from setting a trend that would lead hip hop graphic design, especially in the south, P&P created some straight up hilarity. Take 6-one's thong or Lootchasers' A Million Ain't Enough (wonder how they did with a few hundred each). From Weezy to Keke, from Flex to Rascal (grown as man?), if you got a "Lil" in front of your name, odds are good you were on one of these covers.

In other news, I can haz G1? So Android appears to be the truth, and since, I'm stranded on my own personal Death Row, I figured I may as well drop this piece of crap Sidekick ID and do it big soon. That said, in true T-Mobile fashion, they made the phone dorky, with a curved form that no one seems to like much. Dilemmas. Just Blaze needs to weigh in on it.

Well, it's bowling night, and I'm about to raise up, but before I go, I want to leave you with one of my favorite songs off an album with a Pen & Pixel cover:

Chop Steak writes the great American novel.

That's right. As of November 1st, I'm officially in a cave trying to write a 50,000 word novel. I've always wanted to try this, and with relatively little to do in November this year, I think this is it. Anyone wanting to join me, head to nanowrimo.org, and let's rock. Add me as a buddy, username "chopsteak". Also, if any of y'all want to cross promote via blog or whatever, holler. And on that note, goodnight.

Carpet and sponge mops are not friends.

Cleaning that shit was hard, yo.

That said, I'm pretty certain that the next time somebody walks into my bedroom, the first thought that comes to mind will not be "Did somebody run thru here vomiting?"

I'm sending this to the Resolve carpet cleaner company. Hopefully they'll use it as ad copy.

So, I'm officially declaring my spot clean from the flu incident. I know you were all concerned.

In other news, score another one for teen beauty queens!

According to CNN, Miss Teen Louisiana lost her crown due to an arrest that stemmed from walking out on a restaurant tab, and possession of marijuana. She was arrested when she returned to the restaurant to claim her pocketbook, which contained the weed.

I'll say this again, because it bears repeating.

She walked out on her tab.

And left her pocketbook.

In which she was carrying weed.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am no hardened criminal. I do not advocate drug use, nor walking out on tabs. BUT. If you must, please please please do not be stupid enough to leave a bag full of ID and controlled substances behind, let alone go back for it.

People wonder what's wrong with this country.

Sheesh.

Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff on sampling.

Jacked from nodfactor, this is a little snippet of an interview with legendary soul music producers, Gamble & Huff. They masterminded The Philadelphia Sound record label, and produced records for some of the most respected artists of the 70's and early 80's, names such as Teddy Pendergrass, The Spinners, Phyllis Hyman, The Stylistics, and others.

They talk here about their views on hip hop and R&B producers sampling their tracks, and have a positive outlook toward it. Speaking as someone who has chopped up some of their tracks, I'm glad to hear that they welcome artists bringing new vision to their classic ideas.

Guess I should get off my ass and go make a beat...

Adventures in Crate Digging: Urbie Green - The Fox

I found this at Antone's yesterday for $4.99. It's unlikely I would've given it a second look, but for the fact that I happened to notice the CTI logo in the lower right corner. My copy was a white label copy, in pretty good shape. The record was dusty, but a quick listen didn't reveal any skips, and the cover looks fine.

The trombone is not a sexy instrument. Take it from someone who played it in the fourth grade band. It can't create the acrobatics of wild John Coltrane runs or the piercing tones of a Freddie Hubbard trumpet solo. The need to move the slide back and forth over a long distance to change the pitch makes it much more ponderous than other wind instruments to play, and its smooth tone makes it difficult to sound anything but cool and relaxed. In the ego-driven and virtuoso-heavy world of jazz, then, it is no surprise that trombones do not show up much in the post-big band era. Enter Urbie Green, born in Alabama in 1926. He had a string of albums dating back to the 1950's, and continued recording into the late 1990's.

The album is a 1976 release produced by Creed Taylor, the second of Green's two CTI records in the mid-70's. It's a mixture of mid-tempo disco-influenced tracks, haunting sparse pieces, and dirtier funk numbers. The ensemble varied on the tracks, but it usually included 6 or 8 members, mostly standard rhythm instruments, with the odd soprano sax, yazz flute, or harmonica player thrown in. There is a lot of 70's studio magic used to good effect by Taylor, but the instrumentation itself is all acoustic.

I wouldn't call any of these tracks standouts in the CTI catalog, mainly due to a lack of interesting solos. Green is clearly talented at his instrument, but superimposing 1950's west coast jazz riffs on top of 70's groove-based jazz has limited mileage. It definitely has some sample potential, but it's destined for laid back sounding tracks. The amorphous tracks with no percussion have a few little runs that could make for a decent Black Milk-sounding beat. It wasn't a bad use of $5, but I didn't feel like I'd found anything earth shattering either. From a listening perspective, though, it's worth a spin if you happen to find one in a bin near you.

I'm an hour late on tonight's musical selection, but fuggit.

Choppa here with all the news that's fit to print at 4 AM on Sunday morning.

First of all, Colt McCoy is a Texas legend. And the rest of the gang ain't too shabby either. Kudos to Mack and the boys for handily dispatching Missouri 56-31 at DKR. It's looking like we might have a for real-for real championship run on our hands, provided we can survive the rest of Big XII play this year.

In other play-with-your-balls news, get your shit together, D-Rays. Celtics and Sox in one year. Eff that.

Turning now to the literary department, I picked up a couple books at half price today: Dracula, which I've already started, and The Milagro Beanfield War, which apparently no good New Mexican should be without. Dracula is decent, 70 pages in. It's told in the form of journals and letters back and forth between the main characters, which is an interesting multiple POV take, but a lot of the content seems very superfluous, and until somebody's getting imprisoned by vampires or double crossed by gypsies, it's tough to figure out where he's going with this. It's a good pre-Halloween read though.

And on a cigar note, I smoked half of an Olivia Serie V churchill this afternoon while reading. Spicy smoke, with a nice body to it. Draw was a little difficult, but my cutter didn't fit all the way around the cap, so that may have been the problem. Good first half, but I had to put it out because the game was about to start, and when I came back to smoke the rest, it was mad chilly outside, so I gave up pretty quickly. I dislike temperatures below 60.

And on that note, goodnight, Ned.

Joe the plumber should come fix my toilet.

The flapper is a little loose (that's what she said), and I have to jiggle the handle more often than I ought. That said, I had to wake up way too early this morning, and more or less dozed my way thru the final presidential debate. Sounds like McCain made a little headway though. Bleh.

Anyway, I'm fackin' tired, so that's more or less where this one ends.

Oh, and look out white people.

Wearing a lovely jacket from the Karl Malone collection,

available at K-Mart, TJ Maxx, Rite Aid, and other fine retailers, Charles Barkley appeared on Larry King Live this evening. He dropped some of his trademark folksy, if awkwardly-worded wisdom, but the star of the show was definitely his jacket. It looked like something Gene Autry might have gone roping doggies in before breaking into a heartwarming song. It was navy blue with shiny accents in a giant paisley pattern. Fringes sold separately. I wish I had a picture of this fine garment, but the google is not my friend this evening.

In news no less hideous, apparently alcohol shrinks your brain. Oh wait. That's mostly just women. Phew. Pass the scotch.

Dallas Cowboys management decided to increase locker room confusion today by trading for another Roy Williams. This is great news for the team, if only they had a quarterback. When asked to comment on the story, rapper Cam'ron said, "Pause...no Romo." He then proceeded to push his purple-trimmed shopping cart down Lennox Ave in Harlem.

This is the laziest blog entry in history.

It's not even an entry. Just a link to an article I wrote. On someone else's blog.

You waited seven months for this shit.

Here
.

Saturdays...Saturdays...

It's a lovely day in Austin TX. I seriously feel like just going to Mozart's or some place and wasting the whole afternoon. My apartment is a mess though =(. L-Boog is in town. That always spells...interesting. SOUTHERN SOUL should be back early this week. Holla at me if you want a copy. I got them pre-orders, guhl.

And on that note...

IN-HOUSE NET!!!

Enjoy your weekend, kids.

I'm on some vintage senior year of college ish right now.

11:48 PM on Wednesday night, and I have 28 mins to go before my wash is ready to move to the dryer. Why, you ask, am I starting laundry at this ungodly hour? Did I have a major, time-consuming project all night? Was I in the company of good friends and beautiful women? No. I'm doing it now because Daniel Day Lewis ain't got shit on me (ol' ten years between movies ass muh fuh). It was ready to go at about 9:30, but somehow, between searching for jobs online (please, lawd), and bullshitting on IM...not so much. But, these clothes must get cleaned, and if I gotta stay up till 2 to do it...welp...

In other news, the new Erykah is nice. Real nice. Full review to follow sometime soon.

I'm gonna pass out though before these clothes get clean. I'm too old for this shit.

*Taps Mic* Is this thing on?

WELP...

One year later, I think I'm gonna try to resurrect this piece of crap. I don't have tons of news right now, other than Mike & Ike's shows in Houston and San Marcos this weekend, but I'll be back with more. We've got SXSW coming up, SOUTHERN SOUL at the duplicators (more details on that soon), and the newest 2020 mixtape, MILK & DONUTS, available now. Holla at me or soul2020@gmail.com to get a copy. I'll try to update this sometime in the next year.

Holla.

RIP Nate Dogg (1995 - 2007)

Its the end of an era. My African Fat-Tail Gecko, Nate Dogg, passed away yesterday. He was 11.

Quiet, but a good friend to those who knew him, Nate was always laid back and easy-going. I got him when I was in elementary school, and its kinda weird that he's not there to snatch wax worms out of my hand anymore.

He is preceded in death by his baby's mom, Oprah (1998-2000). I hope the two of them are getting crunk somewhere in gecko heaven (Need a little gecko heaven...).

I have no immediate plans to get a new gecko, but I may, eventually. I'll be lucky if he lives as long and happy a life as this fool though. Godspeed, Nate.

As his epitaph, I'll use the line I found written on a post-it note stuck on his cage by my then-girlfriend:

"All the true gangstas know, Nate ain't never love no hoe..."

Art museum events make me feel tall.

Went to this open house at the Blanton Museum on the UT campus Thursday night. Between making loud, wildly uneducated observations on works of art and trolling for art hoes, it was a fun night.

Abe and I were there to see Abe's boss, Terrance, DJ'ing. Before him was this octet of frail looking white people playing a series of samba songs that all sounded the same. It looked like a band from a Wes Anderson movie: The Max Fischer Eight. Terrance looked like he was contemplating suicide while he waited for their set to finish.

Meanwhile, I was walking around, noticing that these events always bring out Austin's entire community of sub-five-foot-six males. I rarely feel tall, but I was parading my statuesque five feet, eight and a (very pronounced) half inches all through that bitch.

As we left, Terrance handed us copies of his mixtape, an almost illogical blend of old school hip hop and Brazillian dance music that sounds like it came out of the City of God soundtrack. The shoutouts are ridiculously loud and he used some sort of "Charlie Brown's Teacher" setting on his reverb plugin. That said, it's still in my car stereo....

So Silky is coming back to Austin...

If you don't know who Silky is, or why this is important enough to come back after like 4 months of blogging inactivity, you really need to find out.

Anyway, like Murda Ma$e, I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome myself back. Will I be updating more frequently? You sure hope so.

But I'm all growed up now...

...as Weezy would say.

But yeah. 8 AM tomorrow, I report for my new job at Dell. I'll be back to give y'all a full status report tomorrow, but until then, be safe, and don't do anything I wouldn't do.

Dolla Dolla Coin, Y'all!

Ever wonder what happened to those goofy ass dollar coins that the government makes like 50 of every ten years or so before realizing what an idiotic idea it is? Well, your man has found them. In post office stamp vending machines. I put in my 10 dollar bill for a $7.80 book of stamps, and lo and behold, two of these strange oversized quarters clunked down into the change tray. I even got two different ones: the Susan B. Anthony model, in which Ms. Anthony appears to be trying to cut thru a stone wall using nothing but her eyes, and the newer, golder Sacagawea dollar, which honors Lewis & Clark's baby mama or something. Obviously, there is only one thing left to do: Find someone I hate enough to pay with these things. Muahahaha!


God I'm lame.

Insomnia is bad.

It's worse if you normally go to bed at 3 or 4. 7:37 AM and I couldn't be further from sleepy.

Anyway, my loss of sleep is your gain, since you get to read my sleep-deprived thoughts. And who doesn't want THAT?

So, the weekend recap is as follows:

You already got the skinny on Friday night last time, so I'll pick up with Saturday, when I travelled basically everywhere in the Austin metro area. Met up with Enrique and some ppl at Applebee's up north, but I missed the turn, and basically ended up in Georgetown, and then had to get off at Exit 250B, which doesn't give you any information about what road you're going to...250B: the exit to nowhere. Anyway, after that we went to Baby A's and downtown (happy birthday Billy) and your man got rather drunk.

Fast forward to Sunday night...downtown again...caught some of that Antone's show. Nice job to Zeale and Phran and Pikhasso and urrbody else. Otherwise, pretty uneventful.

Yesterday I pretty much slept and made a remix for the forthcoming Southern Soul album that came out pretty tight. Aaaand that's it.

I think I might go hit the gym or something. Then again, I'm starting to get tired. *sigh*

God I suck at this blog thing.

Three times a week? Pssssh.

Well, I'm gonna try to catch up on a few things in a blog update super post, so we'll see how this goes.

Rakim @ Emos
This was tight. I've been fortunate to see quite a few hip hop legends perform live in the last couple years, and I'm definitely happy to add the God MC to my list. He definitely had a veteran command of the mic, and rocked the crowd without even seeming to strain his voice. The crowd was a little dead for the opening acts, but apparently they were saving their energy, because things loosened up when Rakim took the stage. It was a hot, sticky night, but with the help of $3 bud lights, everybody fought thru it.

Global opened up for him, and was kind enough to feature Ike, along with Mike, Poise, and Rochelle during his set. There was a lot of good energy on stage, notably from Mike, who was apparently getting his "Mic Flow the Psycho" on.


Happy Birthday to Meeeeee
Yes, your man Steak turned 23 this Wednesday. The big deuce-trey. One step closer to...um..cheap car insurance. Chea.

Enrique and Dina went out with me to celebrate, and we ended up having one of those fantastic voyage nights thru south Austin that ended in all manner of debauchery. Yadda yadda yadda...I got home at 8:30 the next morning and slept till 2. In any case, thanks to all involved.

Don't Mess With Notebooks
So the DVD drive in my laptop went out, and being the technical genius that I am, I decided to replace it myself. File that under "bad idea".

I've messed with desktops before, but notebooks are on a whole nother level. It was sorta like I imagine defusing a bomb would be. Everything you do feels like it could completely destroy something. And apparently something I did actually did destroy something, namely my keyboard. I've got another keyboard, so I just plugged it in, but lappy has now ceased to function as a laptop...I gotta lug a keyboard everywhere with it. It's now just a small, slow desktop.

GOD I NEED A NEW COMPUTER

On the plus side, however, the new drive works magnificently.


Upcoming Projects
So I'm told I still make music, and we've got a few things coming up that you need in your life:

• "Southern Soul", a remix album produced by myself, Alpha, and possibly Checho, although I haven't heard that he wants to be involved in it. It's gonna be remixes of commercially successful southern hip hop tracks, 2020-fied. Because lord knows we need to work with SOMETHING marketable. (jokes!)
  
• "Steaks is High vol. 1", my own EP, featuring a lot of the goons I work with on the mic, and maybe a new face or two. Spring 2007.
• Poise's album...I'm supposedly sending a beat or two his way. His tracks on myspace are that hotness.
• Soul2020: The Blog. As if I can keep a blog up to date, lol. But yeah, as part of our upcoming website re-launch, Abe has asked moi to help capture the Soul2020 experience in words. Y'all been warned.
• I've started covering the local hip hop scene for Austin Sound, too. Check for album reviews, show previews, and lord knows what else there.
  

The Wrap Up
Sooo yea. Hope that covered everything. Life is kinda odd right now...but give it a couple of weeks and I'll be gainfully employed and busy as hell. In the meantime, however, I leave y'all with this, which is apparently the new-new dance craze. Move over shoulder lean, hello sleeper hold.

Happy labor day, fools.

Calvin got a job!

It's a thin line between fries and shakes.

Pending a background check and drug test, I've got a fulltime gig selling compooters to small biz for Dell. Looks like a pretty good opportunity, and ideally my days of Hill Country Fare mac & cheese will soon be behind me. For all those who've asked, a quick read thru the benefits handout didn't mention anything about an employee discount, so it appears that the only hookup I'll be getting will be with that cute chick in cubicle 5. Holla!

Other news:

• We're shooting the video for Ike's new group which may or may not have a name yet. It's an issue they should really address. Assuming I'm featured, I'll do my best to look sexy for you. *wink*
• Recent events haven't left me much time for music, but I hope to get back to it after the weekend, when things have calmed down.
• Saw SoaP last night. Brilliant. Just brilliant.
• RIP Nikki, aka 3rd I of OKP. Her passing was terrible news and I wish the best to all who knew her.
• You now have one week till the Baby J Birthday Extravaganza. Be prepared.