True Urban Legends

check the latest Lyrical Lounge offering for Shotgun Reviews here:
http://www.shotgunreviews.com/2007/10/25/eternia-the-e-peat/

 comes in the form of a keys player (and also from seeing a local one really play and say that he's happy) but reading an older issue of wax poetics, bigup k for providing), i came across this man's story. harry whitaker makes me wanna stalk people on myspace and stuff. the quote that made it for me? "money is no problem, it's about how you want to make the money." and voila the whole raison d'etre of this here blog, the whole premise of a true urban legend as artistic ones that live on and to do what they love and love what they do.

i find it interesting that this lil' one is making quite the comeback as a marketing vessel, i forgot to blog about it when i saw the white girls in cheong sam handing them out in vancouver in hopes of promoting Survivor China or some other nonsense, but this past weekend, when Motorola Razr had people out in yellowface (thanks Alaska for the term) handing them out on st.cat's, i had to say something here. the cookies, which were chocolate dipped, were served in a tiny takeout box (which i collected to make a mobile after i covered them in images from old prison calendars) and the "fortune" inside read: "confucious says...buy a razr phone" or some other nonsense. the cookies themselves are a cultural d/evolutionary measure, as north american chinese restaurants had to adapt their cuisine to cater to more cock-asian tastes, and that included a "dessert" and thus, the cookie. but i'm pretty sure confucious never called for this. it's like the people who sit and beg on the street with signs that read: "karma, fifty cents". it just don't work like that, man. see? this is why reverse-racism doesn't exist, because racist is as racist does, in any direction. one day before i abdicate to toronto, i will have to get together with the hipless boy and make the mis-fortune cookies that we wanted to do (and/or do the miss fortune cookie pageant that we wanted to do) which include smashing the cookies in their individually wrapped wrongness and write our own fortunes to stick on the front of the package.

it was raining last tuesday, pouring, actually, so i decided to duck into the movies and see this one. it was set in seattle and raining in the movie too, and drug addiction was one of the topics covered, so of course it was filmed in vancouver, and made me feel like i was going home. i actually really liked this one, though i maintain that halle berry is still a not-so-dynamic actress and should really cut her hair (take the weave out). benecio, on the other hand, is great. he will probably get an oscar for this one, because when you play a heroin addict, you get an oscar. the movie is supposed to be about grieving, but it turns out being about dealing and living and moving on. it's uncomfortable but healing is. it's cathartic, but healing is. it's beauty-full, but healing is.

i'll love you till i die. this week, i'm bumpin' new-ish will.i.am (i got it from my mama!) and less new-ish krs-one (bigup the library once again)-the Life album. an interesting point came up in a recent interview with Eternia (check the Lyrical Lounge at www.shotgunreviews.com soon for that one) and that was the difference between selling out and wanting money, which is growing up and seeing the need to go to the dentist. common didn't sell out with the gap ad, because that's who he is. i think maybe i was disappointed with will because i was holding on to the "behind the front" but maybe this is who he has just evolved to be, that closer to himself...the opposite of the christina aguilera phenomenon (lol, i'm going to get into some trouble over this one, i'm sure). but more on him later on (also in the lounge...). KRS-ONE, on the other hand, is an example of how being yourself in hip hop actually pays (in more than a monetary sense here) off. this album is actually beauty-full and relevant, so hard. "i am to hip hop what flour is to pancakes". abso-freakin'-lutely.

very much, madame. so, by know, we all know that i am loving "will you love me" from the new album, i haven't really been able to process the rest of it yet (you know how i can be with the "repeat" button, i'm still bumpin' "the rain" from the last k-os album for heaven's sake). but i do know that she samples herself while covering prince, and only chaka khan can pull off that shit. werd.

in montreal. stevie wonder comes after 20 years. plays for 3 hours, all instruments, weird tyrese cameo, bell centre.

wish i could be telling this story as someone who was there, but i wasn't.

i was working the door at malika's show, but that ended up being..grr...ok, y'all feel me yet about moving to toronto?!

there was also a sablo show, m.a.r.c., which was off the hook.

but stevie? we shoulda been there.

there's a fine line with being ok with it and being good about it are two different things.

but i did hear some of it through the phone, and it sounded amazing.

(sigh).

boo......

it's hard out here for a white girl. i guess this would be my "bluest eye" blog, except that i never found the aesthetic appealing, nor was i ever envious of the white girl look. i found it too ordinary, and it wasn't until i moved here that i actually turned my head at white girls, but it is mostly style-related rather than actual features. the reason i bring it up is because at the screening last week of the prom magazine idol contestants, we saw white girl after white girl looking trashy (it's really sad when these are high school students) and all the same, and it's the norm now to have extensions. i think it's funny that weaves and "superman" are what this all has come down to. i can't really tell weaves, just like when i was actually in high school, i thought people's skin was just perfect, makeup never occured to me. now, they're working at hooters and being import models at 13. (sigh). i suppose i am old, or just younger than your average.

this lil' guy is making me smile so much right now. him and monster trucks (they're beyond phallic). what would i do without bird in my life to break things down for me?

ok, so the latest issue of nightlife has hit the streets! montrealers, cop that. my latest is a mediation on groupies...bigup to bird (for coming through with "vibrate", which really cemented this piece), baby bro alex (for planting the "vibrate" seed and making the trip home musically inspiring enough to finish this piece), and nadine for lending me "the ethical slut" and talking about it with me at beauty's. check the myspace blog for my breakfast love. come to dieze onze tomorrow nite (after M.A.R.C. and Stevie) to see Miz Malika rock it on stage!