2 Nite!!!!!!!!!!!

All that Jazz

I caught Joe Sample at Yoshi’s in Oakland on Sunday, Last month I saw BB King at the Fox. It is simple amazing to watch these Jazz and Blues giants well in their 70’s and King 80 still at the top of their game I even twittered it 

Joe had some interesting things to say about George Benson.  I believed the word was “Sneaky”

 

BB has more talent in his little toe than all his competion combined

Blip them here

Night Ride

NIGHT BITERS is the first in a series of fast paced horror novels targeted toward readers who enjoyed Harry Potter and the Twilight series, but yearn to read about characters that reflect their own rich diversity.
NIGHT BITERS tells the story of 16-year-old Jamilah and her 14-year old brother Omari when the two arrive in the city of Oakland, CA. A mysterious stranger gives Omari a magical compact disc and crucifix. Upon listening to the CD the siblings learn that the lyrics and the crucifix can aide them against the danger of vampires, but danger has never been as attractive as the handsome and charismatic heartbreaker Tyrone, or as beautiful and deadly as the vengeful Jennifer. Soon the siblings find themselves in twined with rival gangs, the Crimsons and the Cobalt’s. Their leaders transformed into vampires whose hatred for another threatens to destroy the city.

Shepard Fairey’s Process

Shepard Fairey vs Associated Press

I’m sure a lot of people are wondering about my case with the AP over the Obama HOPE poster. I can’t talk about every aspect of the case, but there are a few things I want to discuss and points I’d like to make. 

Most importantly, I am fighting the AP to protect the rights of all artists, especially those with a desire to make art with social commentary.  This is about artistic freedom and basic rights of free expression, which need to be available to all, whether they have money and lawyers or not.  I created the Obama image as a grassroots tool solely to help Obama get elected president. The image worked due to many complex variables. If I could do it all over again, I would not change anything about the process, because that could change the outcome. I am glad to endure legal headaches if that is the trade-off for Obama being president. I’m not saying my poster got Obama elected, but if it helped AT ALL I’d do the same thing over again. click here

The Process

Shepherd on the streets

Shepherd on the streets of SF

The First Pinoy Werewolf?

The true star of  my  Tales of Urban Horror series is the  Bay Area and its rich cultural diversity, which is why in Night Biters you have Latino, African  American and Vietnames vampires.

In Were Wolves the Mix Tape,  my soon to be release  second novel,  I introduce  Joseph Babay a Filipino werewolf.

I was asked is this the first Pinoy werewolf in print?

To which I answered,  I don’t know

Are there any other Pinoy werewolves out there?

Here’s a link to Chinese werewolves

here Werewolf in Bangkok

Click here to go to site

Were Wolves the Mix Tape

First Look

What do you get when you mix
Clueless Teens
Gangbangers
Pit bulls
Drugs
Yosemite National Park
DJ’s
Pychics
Escape Convicts
 A Party to End all Parties
And a Pinoy Werewolf
All to the Sound of one Beat?

A Tale of Urban Horror

Part 2

July 2009

Establishment Dictates Reasoning*

Venus delivers another fine broadcast, a true ecletic mix

Click on link and Enjoy

establishment dictates resoning*

Hip Hop is Under a New Administration

( A Rant)

Venus host the weekly Sunday Night Jam Session podcast

First of all, fuck off hipsters, hip hop is ours. Hipster is a euphemism for appropriator. Yes these are warring words. I, the Hip Hop Nation, am declaring war. With that said, your so-called hipster hop, all those guys, they’re ours. By definition they are hip hop, and you can’t have them. Do not try to change the label to forget the past. As we fight this battle for popular culture, let me explain why I’m keeping these people for my country.

It would hurt me deeply to think that the legacy of hip hop will die in the hands of ill performed gangster rap. I do not want to be remembered for 50-Cent. I don’t want my future to be spoken by Soulja Boy. We will die. The Underground will never die true, but they are a subculture in the Diaspora. The only hope we have of someone who could represent us in our true form is Cory Gunz. (If he’s not corrupted.) Hip Hop needs the chance to redefine itself. You must understand that we are suffering from the same strength divide as the Republican party of the United States. Hip Hop needs to openly listen to what the new generation has to say, even though we’ve been jaded by the group in power. I would hate for the next generation to want to self identify as someone different than who they are just because we didn’t hear what they had to say. They are a reflection of their elders.
Understand this is politics.

I understand what we look like to the rest of the world. You know how George Bush labeled Muslims? Or the way he destroyed America’s reputation? That’s what rap did to Hip Hop. It destroyed our reputation. We are considered terrorists. The world thinks all MC’s have guns and promote destruction. They think we hate ourselves and our women are whores. Understand, our government is corrupt. The politicians don’t give back to the community, while they abuse it. All hip hop events are not shot up by a lynch mob. As the new president I would like to say, we really are educated. Not all rappers are angry hyper-masculinated fictional creatures. We do have morals. We just let a few rich bastards take over office and fuck things up. Some people should not be allowed to be millionaires, while the citizens pay the taxes.

With that said, we claim rights to hipster hop, which from now on will return to the title Hip Hop, mostly because hipster hop sounds stupid. They were born of Hip Hop blood. They rhyme like us, over beats like ours. You may ask what does this new administration have to offer these kids that is better than yours. We have history. There is strength in that. We are family. We are where they got their delivery and swag from. We put those beats in their heads. We taught them you could tell a story in song. We are where they lay their head when they’re not partying. The administration now is part of the same group they grew up with, not the ice kings of the last 8 years. Hip Hop is the place they can be themselves and not necessarily a character because we understand them. Even though they wear your clothes, trust me, they’ll change eventually.

Now, with my people repatriated, I’d like to see what you have to battle with that’s actually your own. Hipster nation, I dare you to give the skinny pants back to the early English pop bands. The knit hat to SoHo. The lip ring to SoMa. The earthy earrings back to the Bohemians. The rocker belts to the Punk bands. The red lumberjack plaid back to, well… lumberjacks.

BTW, Chuck Taylor’s are classics.
It’s ok to borrow, but you can’t call it your own.

So hipsters take heed, I’m keeping these artists, and any that may bloom in the future. Go peacefully, or the Hip Hop Nation will blow up an ironic t-shirt factory.

the president.
v.

ps. Do not argue with me about mowhawks. They are native to every continent.

3 Voices from Davos 2008

Every year, global leaders attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to discuss how to better the world.

Van Jones of Green For All USA talks about lifting people out of poverty and building a sustainable, green economy by connecting people who need work with the work that needs to be done. www.greenforall.org

John Hope Bryant, founder of Project HOPE, answers The Davos Question, remiding that we are all entrepreuners and that the world’s leading entrepreuners were once poor. Bryant ties issues of financial illiteracy not only to the poor, but to the middle classes as well, as evident in the subprime crisis.

Dr. Arthur Mutambara, opposition leader from Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change, says the answer to The Davos Question is for global citizens to realize that our problems are interconnected. An injustice somewhere is an injustice everywhere.

for more information go to Website:

Participate in the Davos Debates by uploading a video answering any of the four questions on this channel, or vote on the questions posed to you.

You can also submit a video with your thoughts – the maker of the most thoughtful, compelling video will get an all-expense paid TRIP TO DAVOS to meet with the top leaders and thinkers from around the world and discuss the future of the planet in 2009.

To learn more, go to the Davos Debates YouTube channel:

A Tale of Urban Horror

Night Biters Cover

Above is the new cover for Night Biters a Tale of Urban Horror, the sequel  Werewolves the Remixed Tape will drop in a few months but I wanted to give the first chapter in the series a new look.
I’m happy with the results click here for an excerpt