The Ready Cee Show | Parakhan Spit Hate

A blue satin cape embroidered with Thy Name Is Godfather of Soul and rhinestone, sequence and metallic embellishments.  Estimated Price:  $15,000 – $20,000

So they’re going to really auction off some of James Brown’s stuff at Christie’s?  I guess he’s not using it anymore, but if there are unresolved conflicts between family, business managers, and trustees…they should definitely be resolved before the slanging begins.  Yes, as Dozanova put it, “Hip Hop died on Christmas Day 2006″, but the legend lives on in my mind…and hopefully in yours.  I don’t have the official Christie’s auction book yet, but I’ve looked at all of the items online.  To jack some descriptions from http://www.thestate.com/local/story/462001.html, this auction is amazing to say the least:

There are handwritten notes, signed contracts and the inmate inventory sheet listing the clothing and accessories that were taken when Brown went to prison in 1989 for aggravated assault and failure to stop for police.

Most items are expected to bring less than $1,000. But others, like the jumpsuit he wore in 1974 when he performed before the Ali-Foreman “Rumble in the Jungle” in Zaire, are expected to go for $5,000 or more.

A black cape embroidered with his name, Brown’s 1986 Grammy for “Living in America” and a Hammond B-3 electric organ have an estimated value of $15,000 to $20,000.

So here’s my plan.  My bank is WAMU and WAMU is about to go out of biz.  I’m going to get my dough out of that sinking ship and instead of depositing it somewhere else, investing it, or saving it….I’m going to buy a cape, jumpsuit, and a moog…and make shit funky.  If I had a JB jumpsuit…I would rock it everyday for the rest of my life.  RIP Godfather….a true legend.

Btw, this is a perfect segue into a brief point I want to make about dead rappers and producers who aren’t true legends.  Just because you made some hot beats or spit some verses and then died…doesn’t make you a legend.  So, no, I don’t get super emotional over dead rappers or producers.  You know the ones I’m talking about.  On the flip side, I respect life very much and am saddened by loss of it …but I understand that we all have to live and we all have to die.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not some hardcore death lover as I always take time to reflect on what it means to be alive whenever I hear about someone passing….especially in hip hop.  Personally, I don’t expect anyone to give a damn about me when I’m gone (I do hope my friends to have a party and drink some hen though….haha).  Seriously, you clowns running around dropping RIP for these rappers you didn’t know is a weird hip hop phenomenon.  Why don’t you run around throwing RIP’s to people you know, loved ones, people close to you, and your family?  Or even the real legends who made shit possible (like James Brown, Hendrix, or Muddy Waters)….not some random catch phrase that you picked up.  Maybe you feel like you’re part of movement by doing that?  Maybe they really touched each and everyone of your lives…dunno…anything is possible I guess.  To each his own..don’t listen to me anyway cause I don’t know shit.  I do know one thing though…before I throw a shout to someone I don’t know, I’ve got a massive list of people who are gone that I’ve known and loved…and that’s all that will ever come out of my mouth.

Not too many updates.  I won’t keep you long…I promise.

The 4th of July was good.  A BBQ / Pool Party went down for around 30 friends and fun was had.  An entire keg of Newcastle got sucked down with the quickness.  The only downside of this past 4th of July is that I was in LA…if I would’ve been in Indiana I could have checked out Bobby Blue Bland in Benton Harbor the next day.  Bobby is on my list of must see musicians, and with his limited tour schedule, I may have to fly out sooner than later to catch him doing his thing.

I went to see Stevie Wonder at the Hollywood Bowl last week.  He played “People Make The World Go Around” using a talkbox.  Sick.  I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: If you’ve never seen Stevie, you need to figure out a way to see the man.  His voice is still incredible and he is always on.  The caliber of celebrity at a Stevie show is very consistent as well…everyone from the Greek Theatre show seemed to be in the house for this show with the exception of Mike Tyson.  Where you at champ?

I wrecked my knee two weeks ago and the scab is still there.  I’ve had a ton of skateboard injuries over the years (broken collarbone, shattered elbow, jacked ankles and wrists, hurt back, and more), but this janky little scabbing on my entire left knee is starting to piss me off.  Do I not have the same amount of white blood cells that I had as a kid?  Over the past few weeks, I skated Culver City a few times, the new version of the Venice church ramp (a really cool thing for the church to provide), Randy Randall ramp, and Glendale.  My feet are everywhere and my tricks don’t exist.  Skating to not fall takes away some of the fun.  When I get some health insurance rolling again soon, I’m going for all my old shit.

I’ve been cutting some rock demos lately.  Rock + Rap in attempts to not be the stereotypical rock rap.  You can be the judge of whether I’m succeeding or not.  I’m working on getting my back catalog up in it’s entirety….so you can actually be the judge of all the shit put down over the years as well.  Oh, and I have a remix brewing for a pretty well known band.  Gotta be in it to win it.

Today I checked out the Maloof Money Cup at the Orange County Fair.  The vert ramp was crazy and the street course was poured concrete.  They poured a real street area for a 3 day contest?  Wtf?  $$$.  I watched heat 1 and 2 of the Pro Vert prelims.  Sean White was killing fools…PLG was sick.  Lincoln Ueda goes higher than everyone else.  I didn’t get to see much of the street skating aside from practice, but they were killing it.  Said what up to the homey Kenny Hughes, ate a beef brisket dinner, and shook the spot.

My friend Steven @ Slabco is offering up his reggae 45 mixes for free.  He has been collecting records for a really long time, so please appreciate the dough that it took to build this collection.  Just follow the links and enjoy.   Tell him I sent you.

http://www.slabco.com/cblog/index.php?/archives/362-king-shade-summer-sizzle…html

or

http://thematerialtrip.com/45s/

Paul, HR, & Paranorm at The Shortstop in Echo Park.

Ian’s post on the Bad Brains sparked my interest in posting about the group as well.

I can’t remember exactly when Bad Brains became my favorite band. I first heard the band around 86 I guess…so it must’ve been around 88 that I decided this was my shit. After all, it was only a matter of time before the project dwelling, skateboarding, original Indiana rapping afro punk came to bond with the greatest hardcore band of all time. Below are some of my Bad Brains memories (in no particular order). I should put them in chronological order…. If I think of more, I will add them in.

• Ian Rogers purchased a Bad Brains coffee mug for me

• I began screening Bad Brains t-shirts in my graphic arts class at John Adams High School. Yes, kids do smoke weed in the high school dark room while film is developing.

• Skated DeMeyer ramp everyday with Mike Tatay while listening to Quickness

• Purchased my first Bad Brains t-shirt while skating the Kalamazoo skate zoo. I can’t remember the name of the record store I got the shirts from, but it was pretty cool at the time.

• Made friends with Doug (I think that was his name) at Orbit Music in Town & Country plaza…he would inform me of HR merch and bootlegs.

HR writes checks for $100,000,000

• Purchased bootleg “Pay To Cum” 7”…first time I ever heard “Stay Close To Me”

• Martin Bleinkensopp had the cassette tape for Rock for Light so I finally got to hear it. Life was a bitch before the internet.

• I got off the 101 freeway and was heading home down Hollywood Blvd and I saw HR. I pulled over and said, “HR, you need a ride?”. He was like “Yes Bredren!”. I gave him a ride in my caddy for around 2 or 3 miles. We talked for awhile and he invited me to an upcoming show of his in LBC. I was in the middle of a sentence and he hopped out at a red light and said “Jah! Rastafari!” and bounced.

• Amise and I had a band in high school called “Dead Homiez”. The only songs we played were Bad Brains songs. “Right Brigade”, “Banned in DC”, and “FVK” were some of the songs we covered.

• Sasquatch festival 2007. Drove all the way from Seattle to the middle of nowhere to catch Bad Brains. Good show.

• Took in the Bad Brains show at House of Blues Sunset with Dj Destroy and Tony Kanal. Some kid wanted to stage dive from the balcony into the crowd below but stopped after being talked out of it. That would’ve been pure disaster. HR was playing air guitar with a real guitar the entire time, but it wasn’t plugged in.

• On the way back from Sasquatch, we had time to spare in the airport so we went to the food court for something to eat. I decided on fish, get in the line, and notice that I’m standing directly behind Darryl Jennifer and Dr Know. They were stoked that I came all the way from LA to see the show.

• Before it came out, I asked Ian a bunch of times to ask Yauch about getting me a copy of “Build A Nation” to no avail. Silva had it in his car on the way to a skatepark one day, but couldn’t find it. I had to wait until I could get my hands on the mp3s to hear the record.

HR plays the piano at a house party.

• At the KROQ Inland Invasion in Glen Helen, HR was there hanging out with Fishbone. I told Amy and she got HR passes to stay as he was getting booted by security for lack of passes. He came into the production trailer to thank her, give her a demo, and personally give her permission “to play this on your radio station”.CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD this mp3 from the 2005 demo: HR – Re-Ignition

• I heard that HR was playing at the now ghost Coconut Teaser. He was going on after a member of Bodycount’s band. The place was somewhat packed for the fist band, but everyone split after the band finished. I was like wtf? Time passed and HR’s band took the stage while there were 5 of us in the crowd. I pulled a bar stool up to the center of the stage and took in a pretty good show with almost nobody present. Though HR didn’t know the guys in the band it seemed, they played well and did “I and I Survive” and “Pay to Cum”, among other songs. Did I forget to mention that he came out video taping himself and had some parakeets in a cage with him?

• I heard HR was playing with some latin band so I went down to the Key Club to check it out. In the bathroom I got mean mugged by what I thought were bangers, but everything was cool, so I went back up to join whoever was with me. I said, “Some Kid Frost looking dude just mad dogged me in the bathroom” and laughed it off. To my surprise, it really was Kid Frost and he comes out on the stage to do a show like 5 minutes later. Anyway, HR does his thing with a pretty tight latin reggae backing band which was cool

• There is a video tape that Ian made in Toronto of HR getting arrested and taken away in a police car. I will see if I can dig it up.

• Rob Mitchell had a drum circle type jam party at his house and HR showed up to play the piano and sing. Rob sent me the picture of it as well as a slip of paper with a 100 Million Dollar Promissary Note written to him from HR from a Human Rights account. I wonder if HR has funds to cover it?

• Ran into HR at The Shortstop in Echo Park. Paul and I snapped a quick pic with him.

• Ran into HR at The Echo in Echo Park. He was on the mic chanting at a weekly club called Dub Club

• Saw HR walking down third in Koreatown

• I skipped going to see Bad Brains when they came to my college town because Earl and HR weren’t in the band at the time.

New York, go see this movie. It contains awesome footage and has some great music in it.. hint, hint, hint.

From: http://www.fuel.tv/PoolSnob/blogs/view/2687?type=Blog

With their distinct style and in-depth perspective, independent filmmakers Coan Nichols and Rick Charnoski have delivered yet another one-of-a-kind skateboard documentary. With three years in the making, Deathbowl to Downtown: The Evolution of Skateboarding in New York shares the street-level textures and unconventional characters of previous Nichols/Charnoski classics. But it also takes on another dimension, covering the Big Apple itself as the film’s central figure, a growing and changing cityscape of unlimited skate terrain.

Narrated by Chloe Sevigny and injected with a period soundtrack, the skate history of America’s most populous city blends exclusive interviews and never-before-seen footage. And it moves with the scope and insight of a veteran skateboarder. Make that two veteran skateboarders – both Nichols and Charnoski have been skating steadily for more than 20 years.

The big night in the Big Apple is on Thursday, May 8, at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, which will screen the premiere. Those in the know can get tickets, which have been scattered around various East Coast locations. Then on May 9, you can check out a special exhibit covering 35 years of skateboard photography in New York. The party closer runs Saturday night at the KCDC skate shop in Williamsburg.

Deathbowl to Downtown is the debut release from Six Stair, Nichols and Charnoski’s new production company. The Six Stair studio is on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles.

-PoolSnob