S-Curl Accident

I've made it clear that I'm a big Ricky Williams supporter. I like him because he doesn't fit the stereotypical mold of today's ego-driven, arogant, invulnerable pro-athelete. The average modern day pro-athelete is a very alienating figure, and the more I learn about him the more I hate pro-sports and the people inside of it. But Ricky is different, the more I learn about him the more I like him and the more faith I have in sport and the ability to learn life lessons from it.
He's a pretty remarkable guy if you take the time to listen to what he's got to say. Basically, he's a star football player who doesn't want to be defined in 'dumb jock' perameters. He wants to explore deeper into himself. He just wants to be free to find his true self. So in this search for himself he walked away from millions and the structured life of the NFL. He then started a new life studying hollistic medicine. At the end of the day he wanted to learn more about himself and be free. The reason why I admire him is because most of us don't have the courage to walk away from our dreary lives and pursue introspection and freedom. This is precisely what he did and the NFL screwed him.
For deserting his team, he was ordered to pay $8.6 million dollars, he then came back and was a model citizen. He earned the respect of his coach and teammates (the very people who he deserted). He even won the good guy award- awarded to the player most co-operative with the media. He was tested more than any pro-athelete (randomly 10 times a month), and passed all the tests during the season. As soon as the season ended he failed a drug test for a drug other then marajuana. Hollistic medicine uses alot of alternative medicines and herbs. It is rumoured that something that he took unknowingly was on the banned substance list. He appealed the league's decision to suspend him for the 2006 season and he lost the appeal. His coach fully supports him.
Personally I think something is fishy, I mean if he really took something to jeopardize his career, the coach wouldn't stand up for him. I think that the NFL (No Fun League) is trying to stick it to Ricky and show him what happens when you don't tow the line. When he walked away he basically told the league: "I don't need you anymore" and that offended a lot of people. Someone wanted revenge. Which is a shame because the NFL, and professional sports in general, needs more guys like Ricky.
I hate how Ricky is being portrayed in the media. Almost everything I've read about him has portrayed him as a selfish burnout. He's become a punch line for wannabe comedic hacks. To me he's pretty courageous, and I'm rooting for him. I don't know if he will be succesfull in the NFL again, but I think he's got a chance at happiness if he continues to follow what he thinks is right for him.


Here's an interview that he did when he left the game (before he made his comeback).
Ricky Williams-60 Minutes Interview video (14 mins)

This post sucks. I have nothing to say. And no time to type. I need my laptop back immediately. Here's what I'm listening to these days.

Bloc Party- 2 More Years (MSTRKRFT remix)
The Strokes-Vision of Division
Ghostface-Charlie Brown
MF Doom-Live from Planet X (Full Album)

next monday i promise it will get better.

My one weakness is sneakers. I'm addicted to buying new kicks. There is nothing better than a crispy pair of new shoes. LowTops, High Tops, Leather, Patent Leather, Canvas, Nubuck....All styles, all brands, all colours...I could go on for days.
On the right is a pic of my new Ben Sherman's. On the left is a pic that I stumbled across. Absolutely terrible. It made me feel queasy. I could write a long sermon straight from the church of self-righteousness about globalization and its casualties. I could write a million words on the juxtaposition of the two pictures. However I think that these two pictures speak for themself. If a picture is worth a thousand words, there's two thousand.

Check back on Monday where I'll post some new music. I'll have a little something for everyone.

I've been listening to the new Streets record for about 2 weeks now and I'm just not sure about it. It didn't grab me immediately upon first listen like the first 2 records, so it could be a grower. Or it could be a collosall dissapointment.
For me, the first two Streets records are classics because I can relate to the stories that Skinner is telling. The first two albums are about being young and shiftless, excessive drinking, degenerate gambling, missadventures with the opposite sex, being broke, and constantly taking L's. Whereas this new album is about dating a popstar- and watching her smoke crack, being strung out on coke, trashing hotel rooms, running a record label and dealing with fame. Aside from being strung out on coke, I can't really relate to much of what he's saying. That was a joke by the way (....wow.... tough crowd). The album covers really tell the story: leaning on a Rolls Royce vs. leaning on a bus shelter.
But I really can't fault Skinner for his success, the reason I like his songs so much is that he is brutally honest and completely vulnerable. He just talks about what's going on in his life. After selling 3 million records I guess he can't rap about not-having-money-for-rent-because-he-bought-new-trainers anymore. But that whole 'every-man' underdog persona was part of his cache and some of the appeal is lost.
I dunno, I think that Skinner has stepped up his production game since he's not using a laptop in his bedroom and probably has an entire studio to work with now; but some of the beats are way too 'pop' (ie: when you wasn't famous). And the choruses have way too much 'sing-songing' going on. I know that its fun to sing when you are tone def, but Skinner over did it on this record. There are some highlights, though 'We Never went to Church" is a ballad a la "Dry your Eyes" in which he talks about losing his father. It shows that the Streets can still be emotional without being sappy, since the listener can relate to the theme of loss. I'll give it 6/10 which is pretty low since i gave the first two 9.5 and 8.5, respectively. If you want to hear recent material from the Streets that is alng the same lines of the first 2 records checkout The Mitchell Brothers- A Breath of Fresh Attire. Skinner produced all the beats on it and appears on half of the tracks.

The Streets-'Never Went to Church'
Mitchell Brothers-'Excuse My Brother'

edit: Although, the genius of this record is that by airing out all of his 'rock-star cliche' transgressions, Skinner has circumvented the tabloids from writting stories about him. Its not a controversy if Skinner talked about it in the song lyrics.

Today in the mail, I got the new Esquire with Dave Chappelle on the cover. Unlike last month's Blender cover story which Chappelle didn't pose for (they photoshopped it), this article gave everybody a better insight as to what Chappelle is going through. The great thing about the article is that for the most part it is Chappelle in his own words telling what is going on with him and his thoughts on the intersection between art and commerce.
I liked reading about it because it showed that Chappelle has more depth to his personality than the buffoon that some people take him for. He is serious about his craft and his art, and wants to be free to make his art without corporate interference (..ahem....Viacom) but most importantly without sacrificing artisitic crdeibility or creative control.
He seems somewhat uneasy with the environment in hollywood. The article talks about him feeling kinda of out of place at Prince's post Grammy party (no, Prince didn't beat him and Charlie Murphy in a game of pickup basketball). But the most important thing that comes across to me is that Dave Chappelle is a very talented, intelligent down-to-earth guy with strong principles and he's gonna do things on his own terms. And the guy is fucking hillarious. When asked what he want's to do next his answer was "I want to SPIT HOT FIRE!!!" He wants to get back to doing stand up which is his frist true love. And he mentions that it gives him more time to spend with his fam. I'm definately rooting for Chappelle on this one since he refuses to play the industry Sambo. The article he says how the only movie-role he was being offered was Soul Plane and he turned down the role numerous time. Instead he put out Block Party, and that was the most fun I think I've ever had in a theatre. Another great thing about this article is that Dave says that he doesn't want to look like a victim, he takes some responsibility for the way things broke down. But its sad that it had to come to this. Comedy Central had said that they are going to put out the season 3 sketches (which do look pretty funny) sometime in July. I hope they don't since Dave left the show for a reason. Plus they will probably further alienate Chappelle if they do.
If you can find it, get Chapelle's interview on Inside the Actor's Studio with James Lipton. It is an awesome, hillarious interview and Chappelle comes across like a true genuis in it. Above all it underscores how seriously Chappelle takes his art. You realize that his craft, and the message contained in it is the most important thing to him. Chappelle's example of walking away from his show is a good example of when keepin' it real goes right.

Simpler Times: A younger (18 or 19), and broker Dave- check out the Cross Colors, very early 90's.

For a while there I stopped reading Time magazine because it was a sensationalist news rag that didn't advance the discourse on politics, but rather added to the superficial nature of politics. On second thought, they are still sensationalist and still write superficial, pseudo-intellectual articles. In fact, I try to avoid Time when I can, but its hard when your parents get a subscription.(Note to self: move out of parents house ASAP). Anyways, I was flipping through the current issue and read an interesting book excerpt from Joe Klein's new book 'Politics Lost'. The excerpt talked about an issue that I've shooting around in my head latetly; that politics (election campaigning in particular) are becoming less and less about ideas and more and more about marketing.
Klein argues that it is the consultants, focus groups and marketing gurus who package the message and tailor it precisely for a target demographic. All of this makerting has ruined politics. Amidst all of this advertising and marketing, the ideas and the message get diluted into a bland 'porridge-like substance' with no real flavour or politically-nutritional value.
This is kinda what I was trying to get at in my first post about democracy. Democracy means that participation through representation, but election campaigns have now become less about ideas and more about advertising a politcal product. That's not democracy. I don't wanna participate in an advertising campaign, and I'm not buying what they are selling me. This is why when I do watch TV, I channel-surf. Advertising is fake, whereas ideas are real. I want to be able to explore ideas. The truth is that democracy means participation through representation, so the best way have your ideas represented is through active participation in civil society. Its one area in the political arena that the marketing gurus haven't taken over yet.

After a few posts, I'm starting to get the hang of this. After reading my last post (written after a friends birthday party) I realized a few things: 1)my grammar sucks 2) my writting skills are shoddy at best 3)I shouldn't post when I'm drunk. Alcohol is like truth serum, but I don't have time to bullshit on this blog, so the drunk post reads like my alter ego: 'Angry Black.'
With that said on mondays I'm gonna try and post some new music thatI happen to be listening to at the particular time. Here's today's edition:

Busta Rhymes ft. Swizz- New York Shit
Busta against all odds is finding a way to stay relevant (after 2 very weak albums). Although this songs is really like a 5 minute musical interlude, this beat is crazy. (big up to reg)

Biggie Smalls and Frank Sinatra-Nasty Boy/FOr Every Woman There's a Man Mashup
I never got around to hearing that Biggie Duets album (because it was most likely a disaster filled with recycled verses). And this track isn't that new, but this 'Blue Eyes meets Bed-Stuy' mashup album is disgustingly good and I know its new for most of y'all so check it out and enjoy.

um, I promise Mondays will be better than this once my laptop situation with SONY gets sorted. Until then my new music game will be on the IR.

First off I wanna make it clear that this incarnation of the Canadian goverenment doesn't represent me or my values, principles or my morals (not that the last one did either). 3 cheers for democracy!!! (BTW feel free to throw your middle fingers up at any time) Great, now that we got that out of the way I can get on with this post. I'm gonna speak on the issue of censorship. The other day I heard that our exceptionally qualified minister of the environment, Rona Ambrose decided to stop a governmental scientist from speaking about his new FICTIONAL novel on climate change. Censorship for the most part is ridiculous, especially when the whole point of literature is to advance the discourse on issues that affect us all. If Ms. Ambrose is worried about us confusing truth with fiction, she should give us a little bit more credit, and realize that this book is an artistic (original) way of expressing the seriousness of climate change. And she should realize that the truth is stranger then fiction. First off: climate change is a reality. Second off: fresh water reserves will be a major natural resource that WE WILL HAVE TO DEFEND AS CANADIANS in the not to distant future.
I don't care who you voted for in the last election, but I want everybody to think about the Canada that you want to live in. Do you wanna live in a Canada where your ministers tell you what you can and can't talk about or listen to? Or do you wanna be free to explore your ideas about what might happen in the future? After all, this is yours and my future (and our children's future). No matter how bleak it may be, let's not sweep it under the rug. Let's talk about it and make a change right now.

here are a couple of songs that articulate how I feel about this issue: enjoy

Bad Religion-Truth is Stranger than Fiction
Mos Def-New World Water

Darfur, Sudan: genocide and ethnic cleansing are a stark reality. After WWII and the Jewish hollocaust, the international community stood up as one and said NEVER AGAIN. But today in Sudan, the international community are silent and doing nothing to stop the Jajaweed militia from persecuting the Black African Sudanese.
Somewhere between 70,000-350,000 people have died in this genocide. Now I know what you are asking: how in the hell are you gonna have a range between 280,000 people that have died? Can't we narrow that number down a bit? Well the problem is that the media aren't covering this story so nobody really has any clue. The ethnic cleanising that is taking place is so blatant: at least 2 million people have been displaced from their homes and women are been raped mercilesly as the rebels are using rape as a weapon. And many are dying a slow painful death from starvation. The Sudanese government are complicit in the genocide as they have refused a UN humanitarian chief entry into Darfur or the capital.
Either way it is a saddening tragedy and the media are also complicit for not adequately reporting on whats going on. The UN are complicit for not taking action in Darfur. The developped, industrialized nations of the world (that means you Canada) are complicit for attempting to pass the buck to an underfunded, undertrained and underprepared African Union force. Remember the world community stood up as one and said NEVER AGAIN. That statement applies to Africans as well not just Europeans.

10/4/06

This Monday, Yeah Yeah Yeahs rolled though the Kool Haus and performed tracks from their sophmore album 'Show Your Bones'. I've never seen YYYs before but Karen O and co. didn't dissapoint. She was intense and clearly having a lot of fun onstage. Whether spraying out her beer everywhere fountain-style , trying to eat her mic during 'Art Star' or wearing a half a disco ball as a hat; the show was great. The opening band were the anti-YYYs, Blood on the Wall were a greasy-haired stained-T-Shirt-wearing garage rock band who were actually pretty good.
YYYs have added a 4th member, Imaad Waasif, who played acoustic guitar for all the new songs. Although Karen gets all the attention (and deservedly so), you gotta give the drummer some. Brian Chase is an amazing drummer who fuses jazz style syncopation with the necessary hard rock crash and fills. The highlight for me was during Art Star when Nick's guitar shorted out on him during the soft part and he just kept the distortion going. It was definately a fun, high energy show. Here's the setlist:

Gold Lion/Honeybear/Black tongue/Fancy/Phenomena/Mysteries/Cheated Hearts/Dudley/The Sweets/Y Control/Miles Away/Turn Into/
Encores:Maps/Warrior/Tick/Art Star/Modern Romance/Date With The Night

Detroit Hip Hop lost another son this week when Proof was tragically gunned down in a Detroit night club. Another young brother is victim to the gun violence that has plagued the black community. Gun violence is a huge problem in the community. Too many mothers are losing sons and babies losing fathers. A change has to be made because too many lives are being ruined.
I always liked Proof, I thought that aside from Em, he was the only one in D12 with skills. My earliest introduction to Proof was in 2000 when I got this 7 minute freestyle with him and Em ripping it. It was hillarious and you can tell that it was just two good friends having fun on the mic, enjoying a cipher together. Its awesome. I am sharing that song with y'all here today.

Big Proof and Eminem-7 minute freestyle

R.I.P. Proof

Here's the scenario: A 6-year old's mother collapses and is unconcious. The young boy, realizing that something is seriously wrong, calls 911. The 911 dispatcher tells the kid to stop playing around on the phone and refuses to send an ambulance. The boy calls back and the dispatcher ignores his pleas again. The woman dies. Had 911 sent an ambulance the woman would have lived and the boy wouldn't have lost his mother. I read this in the paper on Monday and thought it was fucking ridiculous. I wonder whether if Robert Turner were calling from Auburn Hills or a predominantly white suburb in Detroit, the dispatcher would have been so insistant on refusing to sending help. 911 has been known to be very reluctant to enter black neighbourhoods. Here's a Public Enemy song that speaks on the issue.

Public Enemy-911 is a Joke

Welcome to S-Curl Accident. This is my blog, I'm using it to invite all of you into my world of politics, music and sports. I've got a lot to say and this blog is definately gonna be my forum to say it. Stay tuned....