pretty ok weekend. davis sux



i was never one to think that sacramento is a fast paced town, but this weekend i headed over to the college town of davis an d al lll ll uuuuuvvvv a ssssss ss su uuu uuuu dennn nnn timmmme came to a halt. i was playing a show at cafe roma but got hungry, so i headed over to some Mediterranean food place across the street. i was the only person in the place. i mean, there wasn't even any workers visible, just a sign that said "ring bell for service". so i rang the bell. some sedated looking girl came out and just looked at me. i said "FALAFEL!!!" and she rung me up and took my name, didn't tell me the total, but i could see it was $4 and something cents so i handed her a five. there was a TV in the back of the dining area, and as she was getting change she looked up at the TV and went into a trance, mouth open and still getting my change out of the register, not even looking at it. i just laughed and sat down and waited for my food...and waited...still being the only person in the place. about 20 minutes later, she came out, looked at the food order ticked and called "LEON!!!!?!?!?" and there i was. as i was leaving to go watch some of the other bands play across the street, suresh, a bandmate of mine came into the restaurant. i warned him about the slowness, but he stayed there anyway.

chris and mike, my other bandmates, had a similar taco bell story.

friday i finally watched rushmore again with my sister.

sunday we went to play with marbles (my niece)
ate food at caballo blanco, which rules by the way (many veggie items!)
watched tripple X (it was either that or "from justin the kelly")
got the beatles anthology DVD set (for a great discount)

come see munia with dressy bessy and maybe gusto at capital gargage on 10/8!

np - the juan maclean "by the time i get to venus"

it's the end of the week as we know it...



and i feel fine.

yesterday i went down to tonevendor to get the new DFA compilation, only to find they were sold out. even lauren, their hired hand knew that would happen. come on dan. when something like that comes out, you need to order a bazillion copies!

i did wind up walking out with the new Souljazz Records compilation "Miami Sound" and the Secret Shine CD. both are fantastic (and probably better than the cd i originally went in to get).

the first track on Miami Sound blew me away (Funkadelic Sound by Little Beaver). it's the track BDP sampled for "i'm still #1" (and i think 3rd bass used the beat on a song from their first album - if you are into hip hop trivia). i never heard the original track, so now my soul can rest at ease.

i was reading an article in MOJO magazine about the golden era of hip hop. they pretty much stated truth in that it all began with "raising hell" and ended with "the chronic" (no dis to dr dre, but mainstream hip hop went into the toilet starting from that album). i would have to agree. hip hop in those days was all about sampling rare grooves and bringing them back to life while creating new lyrical styles to rhyme over them. it was all about innovation. the sample laws and all the lawsuits that followed are pretty much what killed the art. somehow i can see a similarity between the sampling lawsuits back then and the RIAA lawsuits going around now.

just for the record, if it weren’t for Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, Run DMC, BDP, EPMD, Eric B & Rakim, Biz Markie, De La Soul, Black Sheep, A Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers, NWA and yes, even 2 Live Crew, i would have never gotten into:

James Brown
Funkadelic
Led Zeppelin
the JBs
Jimmy Hendrix
Stevie Wonder
Bill Withers
Miles Davis
Milt Jackson
Kraftwerk
Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band
Lou Donaldson
The Winstons
Pucho & The Latin Soul Brothers
Melvin Bliss
Bob James
Rufus Thomas

and yes

The Association

the list goes on and on and on and on...

OSD Original Snoop Dog



fah shizzle yo. i gizzled the lizzle zizzle bozizzle sizzle on e bizzle for less than half the prizzle.

is it me, or does snoop dogg speak sounds like some sort of bastardization version of Yiddish?

now the band munia i play in is playing two shows on saturday: one in davis at cafe roma, and one in sacramento at the distillery (with the 4 - eyes). that's rad cuz our practice space is literally across the street, i only gots to wheel my stuff back across 21st street when i am done. tight!

i made a "links" page to other blogs of people i know and people i like. i need to add more someday.


check it out yo!

np: "OG Original Gangster" - Ice T