sf knights

i've been meaning to make a trip up to the bay for awhile now. it's been a long time since i've been up there and even longer time since i've been able to hang out up there with my friends. after ankita and terence mentioned this to me, i finally decided to pull the trigger.

i'll be up there april 27-29. let me know if you want to hang out, and i'll keep you posted with plans. i'll definitely be going to the sf beerfest, but other than that, nothing's planned yet.

on a side note, i bought my tickets through sidestep. that site has the best interface i've yet to see from any travel website. check it out.

push back the first five rows

after seeing another great ozomatli performance last night, i got to thinking about some of the best concerts i've seen. on first thought, my top three concerts would be:

1. okayplayer tour (2000)
the roots
talib kweli
guru
slum village
dead prez
jazzyfatnastees

went with terence, sriram, and shawn.

the roots band was on stage for a good four hours playing back up for the various artists. people came on and off the stage, performing their own hits ... capped off with the roots doing their thing with almost everyone joining them. the roots are incredible live, and since this was my first time seeing them, i didn't know what to expect. kweli also rocked the crowd, especially after getting pissed when two guys started fighting in the crowd. plus being able to see slum village (minus dilla though) and dead prez was pretty cool. GREAT show.

2. word of mouth tour (2000)
jurassic 5
dilated peoples
supernatural

went with terence and ankit

the day after seeing the okayplayer tour, i saw this one. yeah ... needless to say, one of the best weekends in my life. just like above, this was the first time i saw jurassic 5 live. they are also great performers. these guys really know how to put on a show and always come with lotsa energy. dilated people also knows how rock a crowd.

3. ozomatli (2004)

ozomatli
kinky
plastalino mosh

went with shawn

these guys are just a bunch of amazing musicians. they know how to work a crowd and perform with lotsa energy. it was the first time i saw them and once again, didn't know what to expect. all around good music and performance. they ended the show by hopping into the crowd with their instruments and performing in the middle of the audience, playing stuff like ole ole, the chicken dance, and other stuff. then the formed a conga line and ended the show by leading the line out the door. good shit!


anyway, my question to you guys:
what were the best concerts you've ever seen?

the simpsons

one of the greatest mysteries of my lifetime will always be: "which springfield in the united states do the simpsons live in?" now i understand that matt groening has been purposely vague, and in all actuality, the springfield in which the simpsons live isn't a real place. it's been kinda fun reading people's cases for a particular state (i believe illinois and kentucky have the strongest arguments).

anyway, i think fox's decision to have the new simpsons movie premier at springfield is pretty cool ... but which springfield you ask. they get to fight for it. i think it's a clever marketing idea that'll appeal to longtime simpsons fans like myself.

the simpsons will always be one of my favorite tv shows of all time. i can't wait for the movie to come out. the new trailer looks pretty good.

cause the greatest rapper of all time died on march 9th

"cause the greatest rapper of all time died on march 9th
God bless his soul; rest in peace kid
it's because of him that i know what beef is"
- canibus

that line from canibus' "second round ko" (a great diss song pointed at ll cool j) will always be one i remember. i may not think big was the greatest ever, but he was definitely up there with the greats.

10 years ago today, the notorious big died, almost exactly 6 months after pac was killed. it's kinda surprising that it's already been 10 years. just like pac, big was killed at the pinnacle of his career. he had just released his sophomore album life after death, a double disc album filled with hits. he was already in the limelight before he died, and i feel just getting started.

on days like today, i wonder what woulda been if pac and big hadn't been killed when they were. pac woulda been on a fire, continuing his tirade against any and every one. big would have put out more music and probably kept puff in check. i don't people like 50 cent would have been able to emerge in the spotlight like they have. but with big and pac still alive, would the coastal beef continued ... probably. maybe they'd be able to squash it eventually. all i know is that it'd be good music. i can only imagine.

r.i.p.b.i.g.

classic

check out this new song in celebration of the 25th anniversary of nike's air force 1s. the song features some of the best ever and is produced by my personal favorite dj premier. i don't think kanye deserves to be put on the same level as rakim, nas, krs, and premier, but when things are all said and done, maybe he will cause he does "have a right to be a little bit snobbish." granted, he's too damn cocky for his own good.

i think the video is pretty sweet. seeing the guys bomb different walls with each mcs name is pretty cool, and i love how they show primo doing his thing.



i found out about the video/song from okayplayer.com, which is the online home of the roots, mos def, common, and many more. okayplayer is the source of much of my hip hop news and going-ons. it's actually where i've gotten my info on the new free music i've posted about recently.

if someone manages to track down the mp3 of this track, let me know.

definitive swim

i really like what adult swim has been doing lately by collaborating with hip hop artists to provide good free music. lately it's usually been with the folks at stones throw, but now they're offering a new free album in conjunction with the def jux crew. check it out here.

you're nobody until somebody kills you

i've thought about writing this post before ... even started on it a couple times, but then when i couldn't convey in words what i was feeling/thinking ... delete. if you're reading this, i've done better than my past attempts. or maybe i just failed again, but hey you wouldn't really know if that were the case.

on february 10, 2006, james yancey aka j.dilla aka jay dee died after a long battle with lupus. for those of you that don't know, dilla is/was one of the greatest hip hop producers ever, working with people like slum village, madlib, common, d'angelo, and many many more. amongst people in the music industry, he was one of the most creative producers out there.

but this post isn't necessarily about j.dilla ...

it's about a phenomenon that biggie rapped about and eventually became a part of. "you're nobody till somebody kills you." now don't get me wrong, dilla and biggie were, by no means, small players (literally for biggie) in the rap game ... but both were probably more respected, more notable, more whatever after they died. this is probably more true with dilla than it was with biggie, but i believe it definitely applies to both. then you get people like big pun and big l ... and no disrespect intended, but i don't think either would be as relevant as they are if they hadn't died early in their lives. they were both good mcs, but there's not much that distinguished them from other good mcs ... until they died. on the other side of things, you have jam master jay, who was highly influential as a part of run dmc and rightly respected as so when he died. tupac ... he has sold more since he died than when he was alive ... and oddly, put out more albums posthumously. would i have bought an album like pac's life (which i'm listening to now) if he were still alive? ... probably not. then again, i'd like to think if he were still alive, an album like pac's life never would have been released.

back to j.dilla ... i've always been a fan. slum village has always put out good albums. i love tracks like common's the light, pharcyde's runnin', and a tribe called quest's find a way. though as much as i hate to admit it, my appreciation of his work early on was purely indirect. i loved his work but didn't necessarily always know it was his work. if you had asked me a couple years ago about jay dee, i probably wouldn't have thought much. it wasn't until a couple years ago when he started mc'ing a bit (his fuck the police is an awesome track) and started pairing up with madlib for their jaylib album that i was starting to notice him explicitly. then he passed away, and since then, he's BLOWN UP. everything he touches is golden (though maybe that was also true before). everyone that's into hip hop now knows about dilla.

i just think it's unfortunate that a lot of these guy weren't truly appreciated while they were alive, and they weren't able to receive most of that appreciation within their lifetime. i guess it's true that you don't know what you have until you lose it.

i dunno ... i still don't think i've gotten out completely what i was feeling/thinking ... oh well. what do you guys think?

for some more good free music, check out stonesthrow's latest podcast, which features a j.dilla mix by j-rocc.

... and for all of you in san diego, friday, february 8, 2007 ... kava lounge ... j.dilla tribute party with all proceeds going to the j.dilla foundation, which raises money for lupus research. i'll definitely be there.

RIP J.DILLA!

suicidal thoughts

works been kicking my ass. it's not that i have been working extremely hard or long hours lately. i've definitely put in many more hours in a week on other projects. it's just that this project is REALLY annoying ... mostly due to the fact that my manager does not keep me in the loop, or at least not until it's too late, and then i end up having to scramble to get things done. our clients have been here twice since i've returned from canada, and both times i felt we wasted their time (at least partially).

most of my friends are going to be leaving san diego soon. i have few as it is; i don't want to give up the ones i do have. there's still some hope that one or two will stay in the area.

... and here's the kicker.
i received confirmation from multiple sources last night that dynamite is going to stop playing hip hop (or at least not as much). my bartender adrian said it was a long story but the change may only be temporary. one of the dj crew guys ali said they were trying to even out the guy girl ratio. dj profile (with whom i talked to the longest) said they're trying to change up the clientele. too many girls were complaining about being groped. etc etc.

none of that makes sense to me.

too many girls getting groped ... i think that has little to do with the music. it has more to do with the clientele, and if they want to change that, so be it ... but changing the music is not the answer. be stricter at the door. raise drink prices and cover.

and switching the music isn't going to help the girl guy ratio. maybe it was a little better last night than it normally is ... but there was less of everyone. there was probably a third less people than they normally have. hopefully the owner will realize he's losing money and switch things back. both adrian and profile said the change may be temporary, but when i closed out my tab last (after only one drink!) i felt like it was good bye.

i'm now in search of a dynamite replacement. i have a couple places in mind that may be good candidates, but they won't be same ...

=(

instead of flow for flow, let's go show for show

on friday, i saw the blastmaster krs-one live. kid capri and the grand wizard theodore also showed up. though krs is well passed his prime, he still came live with it. the guy was very energetic and animated on stage, yet still delivering crisp flows. he even had local b-boys and b-girls breaking on stage next to him while he flowed.

and for those of you that don't know, krs-one is one of THE most influential rappers EVER. it was a very good show. he went through some classics, such as south bronx, the bridge is over, mc's act like they don't know, and i'm still #1. i'm glad i was able to see this legend.

up next: the upstarts (group with some of the dynamite djs) on the 17th and the roots on feb 12.

too close

as you all know, dynamite keeps me sane (if you didn't know that, WHO ARE YOU?!?) ...

you can only imagine the feelings of anxiety i had when i heard rumors from my dynamite friend j that they were going to end their hip hop nights there ... something about too many girls getting groped. i'm not really sure what that has to do with hip hop. i was dreading going last night because of the chance that the rumors were true.

when i got there last night, they were in the middle of nice funk set. i wasn't surprised because they often get funky there (even did a james brown tribute set a week ago that i missed), but still ... it's not hip hop. i was filled with relief when i heard ohmega watts' mind power come on ... followed by mos def's brown sugar and erykah badu's love of my life. they still didn't play as much hip hop as they normally do ... but i was more than happy that there was any at all.

that was too close ... i'm still a little wary ... keep your fingers crossed for me.

liberation

with all the money that's ruling the music business these days, it's refreshing to see some artists making music for the sake of making music ... or at least, for the fans. in any case, you rarely see artists giving away their creations for free ... and when they do, it's not often quality work.

but here's a change. download liberation, the new collaboration album (9 FREE songs) between talib kweli and madlib, here. mine's still downloading, which means i can't comment on how good the stuff is, but kweli and madlib are two of the best doing it right about now. unfortunately, as far as i know, the album is only free for the rest of today (friday). get to it!

the rap up 2006

i know a lot of people (mostly families) that send a year in review type letter along with annual christmas cards. my cousin shawn even did it one year (last year, i think). my blog is great avenue for me to get out mine. here it is ...

looking back, the year has consistently gotten better as time progressed. the year began in a valley, and i guess there was nowhere to go but up. i was consistenly frustrated, lonely, and generally not content with the way things were. since moving to sd, my circle friends has consisted almost entirely of medical students, and during the beginning of the year (or basically since fall 05), they were engrossed in the demanding schedules of third year. not really knowing anyone else and not sure how to meet new people, i often found myself bored, lonely, and waiting for something better. eventually i realized, i needed to stop waiting and make something happen myself. that resolve led to my two of my three new years resolutions.

1) go out more ... even if by myself
2) go to at least one concert a month ... even if by myself
3) travel more (three trips ... at least one international)

i've done pretty well with those resolutions.

1) my first resolution spawned bar dynamite. seriously, that place is the only thing that kept me sane throughout the first half of the year ... and i truly mean that. i go every thursday like clockwork. this whole year, there have only been five thursdays that i haven't been at dynamite (new york, belize x2, palm springs, thanksgiving) and i'll miss today and next thurs because of canada. when you throw in all the random times i've been there on saturdays and even random tuesdays and sundays, that makes for a whole lot of dynamite. fortunately, my loyalty has not gone unnoticed. no lines, no cover, no waiting for drinks, doubles for the price of singles, and just all around good service. plus there are all the fun regulars i've met (j, paul, alexia, beccah, chivas, and many more) and fun randoms i've met. unfortunately, only one of those, as of now, has the possibility of moving outside the bar. aside from dynamite, at the beginning of the year, i explored a few other places alone, but none of them provided the same experience that dynamite did (mainly, the music wasn't as good).

2) i went to one concert a month for the first ten months of this year. i slacked off nov and dec, but i figure since i went to two concerts in a few months, it works out. i saw a lot of good shows and some average ones. i won't get into all of em, but highlights include dilated people, little brother, defari, the roots, jurassic 5 twice, common, and many many more.

3) traveling this year was filled with good times. new york was an awesome time ... and by awesome, i mean drunken. i definitely came back with some entertaining stories. belize was even better ... met some cool people, did some phenomenal things, and saw some amazing sites. i still find myself often saying," when i was in belize ... ". toronto will be its usual goodness. i can't wait to see all my family, especially my grandparents.

work has been progressing well. there's been the ups and downs, slow times and busy times ... and on a whole, work has been treating well. i still really like my job and the people i work with. i've been getting more and more responsibility, as well as autonomy, which is nice. even moreso, my hard work hasn't gone unnoticed. i was surprised with a nice spot bonus on friday by our office manager ... and that's not in lieu of "normal" bonuses, which should come in march (and hopefully along with a fat raise).

i went to three different weddings this year ... my sister teresa, family friend vesna, and cousin chris. i was one of the groomsmen in teresa's wedding and got to wear this pimp white tux. as her brother, i was also honored with the duties of walking teresa's grandma and mom down the aisle.

the med school kids ended their third year, and things started getting a whole lot better for my social life. but really, i know WAAAY too much about med school and the medical profession. i've done some more exploring of sd but still not nearly enough. unfortunately, most of the med schoolers (if not all) will be leaving sd for the various residency programs, and i'm dreading the impending lack of friends once again. yeah, i'll actually miss most of them.

in july, i spent another drunken weekend with likwit crew in vegas. of course, whenever brian, jay, and vivek get together, madness usually follows. this time was no different. plus labonee tagged along and added her crazy antics to the mix. we had a great time, which just can't be conveyed in writing. where will tha liks invade in 2007? ... and of course, there was the annual family trip to palm springs. that weekend is ALWAYS one of the best weekends of the year. i have one of the greatest families in the world ... and that's all i have to say about that.

the taurus finally died. i was disappointed not to hit the 200k mile mark with that thing, but it served me well for many many years. as its replacement, i picked up a 2003 acura tl-s. it was a VERY nice change from the ford tortoise ... but i miss not having car payments.

... and that was basically my year.

now, i can't wait to get to canada. i know my mom's energetic younger sister, some of m cousins, and my grandma will be waiting for me at the airport. i can't wait to see the smile on my grandma's face. she'll say i'll always be her baba (means "little boy" in konkani) yand hold my hand as we walk (cause i always used to do that as a kid). my grandpa won't be there, but only because they won't let him (he's getting old ... 90+) ... instead he'll be waiting at the door, peaking out the window for our car to arrive. he'll give me one of his grins and mumble something only slightly intelligible to me. i'm also looking forward to the constant teasing and banter that will ensue once all of the cousins get together. and who knows, maybe i'll have a white christmas. new years eve should be fun partying with my cousins and a bunch of other goans, though i wish i'd have someone to kiss once the new year rings in =(

and with that, this is brian signing out till next year. happy holidays everyone!

this morning, i woke up feeling brand new

actually ... quite the opposite. i woke up in a funk ... not necessarily a bad mood, but definitely not a good one. the mood probably stems from a buncha factors ... the amount of work i want to do before i leave (though can you really be behind in work if your project manager hasn't setup a project schedule?!?), the ever-growing list in my head of things i need to do before i leave for toronto and the ever-diminishing amount of time to do it, the fact that it's only tuesday and i feel this week has already been really long, and probably some other junk. the fact that it's abnormally cold right now doesn't help either.

anyway, i get to work and get to my routine, still having been unable to shake the funk. on the drive to work, i knew exactly what would remedy my current situation ... some common. common's be to be exact. unfortunately, i didn't have that album or any of his others on my ipod at the moment ... nor did i have any roots, mos, gang starr, or anything like that. i think i've realized i must have moment of truth on my ipod at ALL TIMES. luckily, i get to work and had be on my computer. that did the trick ... solid album from start to finish. my only real gripe with album is that it's too short and leaves me wanting more.

it's great how music can do this to me.

so yeah ... after popping that album in, i was "feeling brand new and i jumped up / feeling my highs, and my lows in my soul, and my goals / just to stop smokin, and stop drinkin /and i've been thinkin ... i've got my reasons / just to get by ... just to GET BY"

yeah, that's not common, but whatever ... it fits the mood.

i need a pork chop on my plate

the mcrib sandwich is back at mcdonald's for a limited time only ...

why do i care? i don't really. i'm not a fan of mcdonald's, and i don't believe i've ever had the mcrib sandwich, though i do hear it's pretty good. i just thought i would share a tidbit of information.

my company does a lot of work for quick service restaurants (taco bell, starbucks, panda express, etc) modeling process flow, customer satisfication, and labor utilization. a few weeks ago, one of my coworkers was doing some analysis for mcdonald's, and we had a contractor hired by mcdonald's in the office for awhile. he told us that the only reason mcdonald's does not offer the mcrib sandwich year-around is because the demand for it is so high that the world's pork supplies would not be able to keep up ... and ... for times like now, when they are offering, they stagger their purchases of pork throughout the year and freeze them till the planned mcrib season as not to mess the up the pork market during that season. how crazy is that?

okay ... i think that was enough of a distraction from work for now.

g.o.a.t.

over the past few days, i've had a few different discussions with different people about music and people's favorites, including being blasted for not knowing much pearl jam (though that'll change soon thanks to dave passing on five or six of their albums).

but anyway, these talks have gotten me thinking. i say i'm a big fan of stevie wonder. i'd also call myself a fan of the cure, frank sinatra, john denver, and the police. however, i don't actually have any albums by any of those people, except for greatest hits albums. do you guys think someone, like myself, can call themselves a big fan (or even a fan) of an artist or group despite not having ever really listened to one of their albums? i think most people will say people can. and in my defense, all the above mentioned were well before my time and getting old albums would be expensive and a lot of effort.

but i do think there is a lot to say about listening to an album in the way the artist intended. i know many put a lot of time and effort into the arrangement of songs within an album and often that assembly will make the individual pieces better. unfortunately, nowadays singles and radio play are key, and that artform may be dying. for instance, i like the beatles "sgt pepper lonely hearts club band" much much more than their greatest hit "#1" album.

anyway ... i'm ranting ... i'll stop ... what do you guys think?

this year halloween fell on a weekend

it fell on sat to be precise. archana and priyal threw a great party. their place was awesomely decorated. we carved pumpkins, drank a lot, partied, and had a good ol time ... capped off by wandering down the street to my favorite place, bar dynamite.

i ended up dressing up as flava flav. i got a lot of "flava flaaaav"s and "yeah booooooy"s at dynamite, which was pretty funny.

anyway, check out the pics. if you want hi-res copies, let me know.

but what about jermaine? ... f*ck jermaine!

in trying to keep up with what's going on in the hip hop world, i came across this the other day.

Jermaine Dupri Screws Virgin, Leaves Label

you gotta love that headline. straight comedy.

... and then:
da scruffy ONE (11:18:25 PM): cuz when i screw a virgin
da scruffy ONE (11:18:31 PM): i leave a label behind too
da scruffy ONE (11:18:40 PM): its just common courtesy, frankly.
bmasc123 (11:18:55 PM): it's like sticking a flag on the moon
da scruffy ONE (11:18:58 PM): hahahahah
bmasc123 (11:18:59 PM): you're claiming your territory
da scruffy ONE (11:19:03 PM): exaccctly
da scruffy ONE (11:19:17 PM): either leave a label or pee on them . . i'm marking my territory
da scruffy ONE (11:19:23 PM): and at least this way, they can't just move out the way

yes, yes ... jay and i are idiots ... we know.

ahh ... good times ...

the choice is yours

as many of you know, work had been kicking my ass for the past month and a half. well, the weight has been lifted ... as of tuesday, we called the project complete and moved into a support role. i'm sooooo glad this project is finally over. it had been consuming my left for the past month and a half. now that it's over, i feel like i have loads of free time in the evenings and have no clue what do with them (btw, someone suggest a good song to learn to play on the piano).

... and like last time, it's time to get rewarded for all my hard work. last time, my manager and i were given a choice: fancy dinner or day off work. my manager pulled rank, and since he has amassed hours upon hours of vacation time, he chose the dinner. he also promised me that i would be given the choice next time. so now is next time ... BUT i have no choice once again.

why?! because this time, the office manager gave us BOTH! yup, that's right ... a day off AND a fancy dinner. last time, we tallied an almost $200 bill between the two of us. we would have reached the $200 plateau if my manager hadn't somehow convinced them to give us dessert for free. and who knows, maybe this time the two of us won't be losers and will actually have dates to take along with us ... yeah, i know. that's a big IF. unfortunately, i didn't get a choice on the day off (it's tomorrow). long weekends are always nice too, but if i had known a bit in advance, i probably would have taken today off too and made a trip out to the bay.

so ... the choice wasn't mine ... but hey, who's complaining ...

tease me

my friends have been teasing me lately ...

raman sent me this link last night. i CANNOT wait for the nba season and the LAKERS to get back into gear. i'm excited about the new season and seeing the team progress ... and the link just amplifies that feeling.

my old roommate mike sent me two new jay-z tracks. one isn't all that ... but i'm definitely feeling the other. the lyrics aren't anything special but just blaze blessed the track with some HOT production. he tossed in an wrexx n fx sample and some NICE drums. i just hope jay-z's first album after returning from retirement will be as good as the black album was.

but yeah ... talk about teasers.

take that cookie

i went to panda express for lunch today ... good, cheap, quick food. after i finish eating, i crack open my fortune cookie:

"ASK YOUR MOM"

what kinda fortune is that?!!? i mean, come on ... i got jacked ... and why would i ask my mom? she thinks i'm ugly anyway.