Category: where?

Holiday.

I had a 4 day (unpaid šŸ˜¦ ) weekend, so I took a sort of mini holiday (that’s vacation to ‘Mercia). I had a lovely thanksgiving (more like Lovesgiving). But it was really a phenominal 4 days. A sign of the future, in many ways. Something to strive for, work at, look forward to. Many sacrifices must be made. And I will make them. But the time, well, it was just perfect.


**i was gonna use Styles P “Holiday” but Madonna was much more appropriate for a number of reasons šŸ˜‰

RIP Capital STEEZ. a king among men


Read this piece on The Fader bout STEEZ. It’s incredible. Eye opening. We’ll never have the answers we want but it certainly provides more closure to some and answers a few questions. RIP STEEZ

now were a month short from the one year anniversary of his passing but this is still important.

Now I dug STEEZ verses on Joey shit. But I just left it at that. Until SHE told me to check his tape. AmeriKKKan Korruption. And WOW. after that Joey didn’t even exist to me anymore. Cuz in Pro Era I knew STEEZ was THAT dude. I was disappointed when I got Reloaded cuz I had thought it was ALL new songs. But at least we got 7. And when the group tape dropped his verse on Like Water was magical. I IMMEDIATELY cut STEEZ verse into a ringtone (one I still have). Then a couple days later on I’m graveyard and I see the tweets. “The End” then I see Joey’s tweeters. And that’s it. No REAL answers about anything until that article. STEEZ, you are missed.

Last night. Yeezus

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So bang. Itā€™s kinda rainy and things arenā€™t timing well. So we miss the Yeezus pop up shop. Sad faces. But itā€™s cool cuz we got plenty of time to make it to the actual show. So we get downtown with the quickness. Post up by The Melt. Grilled cheese food truck. Devoured the good poison they bequeathed upon us in exchange for our legal tender. Enta da stage. We got some pretty good seats. We right on time. Merch lines were STUPID! Sorry pals I was tryna get merch for. More sad faces.

Kendrick is set to begin. Now, I have seen Mr Lamar at least 10 times. Iā€™m over it. But Teddy has yet to see him perform a full solo set. Opening for the gawd Yeezus was not gonna be the best place to see him. And it wasnā€™t. At this point heā€™s exclusively performing the vastly overrated Good Kid MAAD City record. So all the grade A classic shit weā€™ve come to Love is resting in performance peace (at least for this tour). He still performed the hell out of the songs though. Iā€™ll give him that. He put on for the set.

Intermission. We decide to post up and talk shit. Iā€™d like to note before Yeezusā€™ appearance I requested aloud to the gods that Kanye do a concert performing ALL his records. And said I want to hear Thru The Wire and see the ā€œjesus danceā€ā€¦.

Yeezus has arrived. Now before we go any further he performed for almost 2 fucking hours!!!! Unheard of!! So my replay of the setlist is gonna be hella off and hella all over the place, cuz for realsies he was all over the place and it was magical.

He had white hoes parading around in body suits that made em look nakey. He had a moving platform. He had a mountain with pyrotechnics. He had white jesus. He had bedazzled gimp/luchador masks. He had ALL THE ENERGY OF THE SUN PUMPING THRU HIS VEINS. How he does this thing night in and night out is amazing. At some point he performed all of Yeezus. Little here. Little there. Black skinhead, new slaves, I am a god . . . they all sounded beautiful. Then he went into a GOOD music/feature set. Songs like Mercy, Clique, Nwords In Paris, I Donā€™t Like And for the strangest yet ever so delightful reason he did (way too) Cold. I was too excited for that. Then back into the Yeezus performance. The theatre of the performance was ok. It didnā€™t matter really. But it helped transition , I guess. When he finally dropped Blood On The Leaves??!?!?! I think I lost it. Not like the white hoes in front of us, cuz they had the no rhythm dancing to even the transition music all stupid wild like game on smash, though. He did a couple other Yeezus songs and then pow he does Coldest Winter instead of Hey Mama. I. Am. Not. Mad! I believe he did another set of old songs. It might have been at this point he did Thru The Wire and my life is complete. The gawds had my back. And what does he follow with? JESUS WALKS! No jesus dance tho. =\ Thatā€™s how it all went. Yeezus to the old shit. He was giving me the concert I had hoped for in the future but right in front of my eyes!! He did diamonds from Sierra Leone remix into rihannaā€™s diamonds remix. KILLER! He did Runaway and it was amazing! He did Lost in the World. He did Street Lights (and I beamed the biggest smile and almost cried. Almost) before all this he did Canā€™t Tell Me Nothin. He did Flashing Lights. He did Stronger. Some of the renditions he did were slightly different from the originals and it was very refreshing. Kinda tweaked them to fit the vibe of the entire show. SMART. Good Life. Heartless. Power. All Of The Lights. It was all there for us to enjoy. The new the old the classic. He gave us the most spectacular of presentations. He IS a god. No doubt. Oh yeah, his Hold My Liquor? I LOVED that shit. It didnā€™t differ from any other songs he performed off Yeezus, but I just appreciated it more. After all of this? And so much Iā€™m leaving out, HE CLOSED WITH BOUND 2!! A little odd of a choice to close with but not really. Kind of PERFECT! No Uncle Charlie ā€œLast Nameā€ Wilson, but still AFUCKINGMAZING. And poetic being the live performance of the song on Fallon is what led to me even wanting and getting tickets to see this shit. Yeezus wasnā€™t at all like that Fallon performance. And Iā€™m thankful for this. Kanye is a true master of his craft and treated us to something more special than I couldā€™ve ever imagined. Thank you (based god)

Tiny Hearts. Bootleg Theatre.

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Saw them Tiny Hearts last night!!!

So Twinkie Lady made an appearance last night. She so mysterious. You never know when she gon pop up. Then BAM! She there. I got there early cuz I wanted to see SkinTown and let me tell you. BEST. DECISION. EVER. it’s like synth pop/r&b. it’s great. The chick can SANG! Her sexy dance moves need a little work. Although, she was doing the tootsie roll during her cover of a super pop rock song, so she’s the most perfect human being to ever walk the earth. She performed her heart out for like 15 people and I hope nothing but success for them. SkinTown fo lyfes

Then them Tiny Hearts took the stage and there was now like 30 people there. I fully expected this. I don’t the other group members rep before they formed this indie trio. But Waajeed (the producer/DJ/some b/g vocals of the group) is a legendary producer from Detroit. Still, they barely have 1000 followers on tweeter and a 4 song EP. They’ll just keep getting bigger. Ok. The performance. AWESOME! That DeDe can sang too. And the third guy, who’s name I forgot, was killin his use of the vocorder. Centerfold sounded better live, which I did not expect one bit. I like all 4 songs offered on the EP but let’s be real “Stay” is far and away the best and could be huge if given the proper shine. So when they did “Stay”? OMG based god. It was lovely. Waajeed’s vocals on the song set it off and then I blacked out. I remember this fog overtaking us and flying in the stars. Did they drug us? Maybe. Or maybe the music was just heavenly. Either or. They only did like 6-7 songs. That’s all they probably have. And they were all delightful. These are the best shows. Then the artists blow up and shows with 500+ people feel way less intimate (Cept The xx <3). It was beautiful.

PS. Now will they mail me the fuckin VINYL I ordered? Geez.

Chromatics x The xx. Hollywood Bowl.

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Enter: Hollywood Bowl. Parking? Make right, make left, BAM! Parked. Easy peasy. Cut a shit ton of people, tickets scanned. CUTSIES! Find seats. Damn good! Had the middle ground seats. Like maybe at the edge of the 1/3rd portion of the venue. At maybe a 45angle facing stage right (our left, DUH!). We missed the openers Austra. I COULD NOT CARE LESS! I was so happy to see them on the bill. Meant we could be a little late and still see the 2 gawdly groups I came to see. And just like that IT WAS TIME!

Chromatics came out playing one of their instrumental joints, Tick Of The Clock I believe, then out walks Ruth and shit is about to get so fuckin real! Music stops, she grabs the guitar AND THEY START PLAYING ā€œLADYā€! Ruth is a murderer on guitar, btw. And Johnny is an evil master on the keys. Playing ever key and effect so perfectly. How do you play effects PERFECTLY live? Sick bastard. Then song numero deux, KILL FOR LOVE! Are you kidding me? Back to back? You guys are nuts. Start out the set with, perhaps, the 2 best songs from the Kill For Love album. Sickos. Then they made it a trifecta with Cherry. MOTHER FUCKING CHERRY! The single for which I has been waiting for the cherry red vinyl to drop for what seems like a year(itā€™s STILL ā€œcoming soonā€ sad faces). 3 songs into the set and I have heard the top 3 songs on my list and holy shit I could just die right now. They an amazing 45 minute set. I wouldā€™ve literally just went for them. I mean looking for their live show is how I even found out they were doing the Hollywood Bowl with The FUCKING xx holy balls

We got a little break while we waited for The xx to set the stage up. And I realized who reminded me of Chromatics. DWNTWN!!!! I saw DWNTWN when they opened for the gawds Body Language (did I do a Body Language recap?!?!?! Jesus Christ Iā€™ll write one later, for realsies this time.) But yeah, theyā€™re different bands with a different sounds but there are a lot of similar elements. Like theyā€™re both Synth Pop, DUH.

The xx takeover, the breaks over, NIGGA! Nigga. And BANG! WE. ARE. ROLLIN! Jamie xx starts playing. Oliver and Romy walk out. They set the stage on FIRE! And they begin with TRY!! And it sounds absolutely incredible!! All night there was just something special about every song. Whether played at a slower tempo, or faster. Or improvised a few chords. Sang the song just a tad bit different. I mean ever so slightly difference. There was just a true magic, and beauty to what they were doing. I soaked in every little bit that I could. And a few times Romy and, mostly, Oliver talked to us. Thanked us. Even said he ā€œdoubly thankedā€ us because we missed the Breaking Bad finale to be there, anytime pal *wink & gun*. It was so genuine. We were all best friends. Every last one of us, for one night of amazingness, BEST FRIENDS! Romy is an absolute BEAST on the guitar. Like SHIT DAMN MUTHAFUCKER! FICTION< REUNION!!! ISLANDS!!! VCR!!! And then they did it. Night Time. Bliss. Pure, absolute, unfiltered. Where was Ms Benes** to be by my side? I decided that THAT was gonna be my favorite part of the night. Little did I know the best was still to come and I had absolutely no choice in the matter, for The xx were our gracious hosts and we their guests, left with no choice. They did a version of Crystalised that was beyond perfect. It makes perfect look like a dead baby. Thatā€™s how PERFECT it was. Then you think it might be cooling off but no. SUNSET comes on and itā€™s endearing that you wanna slit your wrists to let all the joy from your body out into the physical world. Yet and still! They go even more crazy. They start playing Swept Away and the magic is in the air. You can literally see the magic shooting for their instruments into the air. BUT ONLY THEY DONā€™T SING SWEPT AWAY THEY SING SHELTER OVER THE SWEPT AWAY MUSIC SWEET FANCY MOSES! Then for the 2nd verse they chill and slow the quicker tempo Shelter and start to play the actual version and Jesus F Christ I think Romy grew angel wings. They played a straight forward version of Heart Skipped A Beat. And by straight forward I mean they lit all of our faces on fire. One by one. 3rd degree burns and skin grafts, well worth it. At this point they walk off the stage. Then they dropped the curtain and BANGFUCKINGBANG Thereā€™s a god damn 30 piece orchestra (the Hollywood Bowl orchestra). We now know there will be an encore and itā€™s gonna be the best thing any human being has ever witnessed since the beginning of time. Sure enough they walk back out and immediately begin playing the Intro (the first album). And itā€™s just fucking unbelievable. Itā€™s just 2 minutes of instrumental insanity on the album. But this? THIS?! With a full orchestra and Jamie and Romy and Oliver all playing live? It was the promised land and they were our saviors. Then OF FUCKING COURSE they did Together (from the Gatsby soundtrack). AND WOOOOOOOO! Was it remarkable. Memorizing. They kept finding new ways to captivate us. Those xx fellows, just perfection they are. To close the show? Angels. Perfect. Beautiful. Amazing. Spiritual. Religious. Magical. Enchanting. I was completely overcome. I almost shed a thug tear or 2. Almost. My eyes was like naw bro you a thug we CAINT do that. It was the stuff of legends. Iā€™ll never forget what The xx gave me on this magical evening. Thank you.

**remember that time Jerry and Elaine made rules and got to sexing? Oh. . .

Drafts

“Never stop writing“. I still do. These are pieces of works. Mostly unfinished. But here’s a small glimpse for those of you who have enjoyed my work. I haven’t fed you recently. There are things to come.

ā€œIf a writer falls in love with you, you can never die.ā€
I’ve seen this a countless number of times. But it’s true. I never thought that meeting you would make you immortal but it has. The only thing about us that will last forever….

Then you wonder have I really let it go? Or have i just convinced myself I have and I’m gonna breakdown again any day now.

Us stupid hopeless romantics. We’re just that, hopeless. Or so full of hope that were hopeless in the eyes of others. So stupid to still believe that one day we will still finally decide to make it work.

We talked about us. And Love
Us & Love. They are one and the same. Well they were… Still are

I say this to say “we were always perfect in moments”. Seems the everLAsting Love we share(d) will only live infinitely in those moments. So now I press on with only the memories left. Searching for the piece to fill the void that only you fit.

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