A Product of Environment

What does a group of 16 children, youths and young adults from Kenya have in common with Barack Obama? Hint: it has nothing to do with bloodline. They'll both be in Denmark over the next few days for the Copenhagen Climate Summit. While this year's conference is building a lot more steam (or I should say wind turbine generated energy) than in years past based on the presence of the President, the Wafalme kids aren't there just for diplomacy and photo ops.

They're being handed MTV's Positive Climate award for their song "Trash is Cash", written by group co-founder Lillian Tende. She'll be accepting the award on behalf of the group and says the song is written - and more broadly the group was formed - to give kids from the slum a voice. They're using that voice to great effect, landing them a podium on the world stage while discussing an important issue. I've posted the video below, definitely give it a watch and listen, and also take in the lyrics as much as you can.

But first, I also want to mention some very important news for my fellow Canucks: Al Jazeera English has finally received CRTC approval to air in Canada! In my humble opinion, they are unequivocally the best news channel in the world, renowned for their ability to coherently and objectively show stories other outlets tend to miss, while tackling hot button topics and asking tough questions along the way. Two giant ironies cloud the struggle Al Jazeera English has had with breaking into the Canadian television realm: 1) Al Jazeera English has been readily available for years to the United States, often viewed as more lobby-driven than Canada, and 2) the head of Al Jazeera English is a Canadian, former CBC television editor-in-chief Tony Burman. But all that's soon to be water under the bridge, and Al Jazeera English will arrive to grant us Canadians the fair news we deserve - and an end to channel-surfing once and for all!

Anyway, enough of that - BACK TO THE VIDEO AS PROMISED! Check this out, it's a real treat. Wafalme - Trash Is Cash.

What It's All About

Hey y'all,

I've been thinking about making my move on the blogging spot (also referred to as blogspot) for a minute now. The question that's dogged me all along has essentially been, "What's it all about?"

I'll be honest, I find many blogs look the same, feature the same links to the same video clips, celebrate the same landmarks and anniversaries by posting more of the same links to the same video clips, and you can see where this is going. Redundancy! That's what I see.

So let me first cover my ass by NOT guaranteeing a 100% safe haven from that very redundancy, because, quite frankly, a lot of that shit that gets re-posted to no end deserves to be! So if I see something dope as fuck, it won't weigh heavy on my conscience that I stole it from another source, I'll probably even cite the source.

Now that I've gotten that out the way, allow me to answer the all-important question and tell you What It's All About. This blog is about me (Alborz, Crossword, whatever you wanna call me), music, love, basketball, and my daily encounters with both common and proper nouns (in other words people, places and things).

I'm a weird dude. I've learned there's no other way to go about it but to embrace it. I'm extremely random, my mind travels, and I think I have an eclectic taste for the various flavours of life. That means this blog will be unique, original, different... in today's hip terminology, it will be fresh, and in my own terminology, it will be chillin'.

Yeah, that's right... CHILLIN'. Cause that's what I'm doing now, and that's the best mindstate to be in period. It's also most condusive to networking and making friends. So no matter where you caught this link, if you're droppin' by long enough to read a blog post or even a snippet of it, drop a comment! Let me know how you're doin', what you're dealin' with, and how life's treatin' you. You know how it goes, positive energy reciprocates positive energy. Let's dead this screwface mentality even online!

Anyway, NUFF CHATTAH! I'm gonna get some shut-eye, because I wake up at 6 in tha mornin' to go to work, you're gonna read this and feel 150% more chillin' (on average), and I'll see you again, whenever the universe happens to bring adventure my way.

PEACE

I'm Back!

Hey fam,

THIS IS A WARNING SHOT!

I WILL be blogging consistently on this - my blog - from now on!

First REAL post coming tomorrow!

PEACE

CMW Recap

Celebration! 4 nights, 44 venues, 500 bands, all cramped into one city for Canadian Music Week. Such an event could only take place in the centre of Canada (if not the world), Toronto. That same omnipresence rightfully allows us to horde Canada-wide industry bosses and media groupies alike together for an incredibly pretentious reception of the CMW awards gala, the Indies.

Not that there was any shortage of rocking, mind you. Vancouver's New Pornographers headlined a lineup including fan favourite Tokyo Police Club, the Besnard Lakes, the Cliks, and Attack in Black, plus a special appearance by lifetime achievement awardees Lowest of the Low. And they put on a show for possibly the most influential yet least involved crowd imaginable.

The Rosemont's banquet hall was lit more so to see peoples' name tags while mingling than to showcase the bands. One can also assume the drinks were so ridiculously expensive to discourage rowdiness that could result in damaged furnishings. But for what it was worth, the show went on just fine. Of the lesser-recognized acts, the Besnard Lakes made the biggest splash, displaying a multitude of sounds over their two song demo. Attack in Black put on a dope set as well, although you wouldn't be able to tell based on their energy-drained postshow interview.

Lowest of the Low performed an underappreciated set for a crowd generally beyond their time. Although they opened their set with a tuning mix-up, their willingness to rock out with a hardcore fan made at least his day and lightened the show's tense overtone a good deal. That opened the curtains in a sense for Toronto-area rockers Tokyo Police Club. They used the first extended set of the night to showcase some new tracks off their upcoming album, Elephant Shell, as well as their singles to get the crowd at least semi-lively.

The main event was Canadian indie music godfathers the New Pornographers, but a sizable portion of the crowd had left after Canadian indie music darlings Tokyo Police Club were done. Even without Neko Case, though, they still kept it rolling with the liveliest set of the night. They also performed some new joints in support of their 2007 effort, Challengers.

As for the awards themselves, the big winner was Feist, although I'm not sure how much indie cred she has after 1,2,3,4 blew up. Then again, I'm glad she took home something (on behalf of her Arts & Crafts label) after getting jobbed at the Grammys. At the end of the day, she's still got Canada's love. Halifax emcee Classified took home the Favourite Urban Artist award, while commercial rockers Major Maker were crowned best... website. But regardless of who won for what category, Canadian indie music was the real winner throughout CMW.

The New Pornographers

BRING IT BACK

The Big Bad Borz, your number one source for 80's goodness!








PEACE

Tha RZA, Tha GZA, Ol' Dirty.........

I've been slacking on my concert going lately, I'll admit. Major concerts, mind you - I just checked my man Shehzaad and the rest of the dudes in Arietta plus that dude Mike Appleton last Saturday at Sneaky Dee's and the El Mocambo. But the last time I saw a real, touring, out-of-town band was back in early December when I caught the Dillinger Escape Plan at the Opera House.

Then again, to be honest, not many artists that pique my interest have come around the way since then... well, with the exception of Lupe Fiasco, Danko Jones, and Chimaira, off the top of my head... all right so maybe I could have peeped a couple more gigs. But I didn't, and that's the story. So here I am, show thirsty and slightly bummed that the only concert prospects in the near future are K-Ci & Jo-Jo and Peter Bjorn and John. Nothing against any of those guys, but I'm in the mood for a truly hype show. If I'm getting back in the swing of things, I don't want to sway my body and put up my lighter. I'd much prefer to mosh and snap my neck back and forth so vigourously that it's attached to the rest of my body only by my rasped out vocal chords, barely audible from reciting... erm... screaming out the lyrics word for word. Or at least, even if I don't know the lyrics entirely, just from screaming out of pure drunken amazement at how the music has taken form on its way from the instruments to the vocals to the monitors to the resonance of the empty beer bottles to the battered walls of a venue far beyond its time, to my ears.

Enter the GZA. The Genius. The prime lyricist of the Wu-Tang Clan, the self-proclaimed greatest group of all time, remembered in large part for their lyrical ingenuity (and bridging the gap between kung-fu and rap). Known for making crowds protect their necks, educating the masses about c.r.e.a.m. and the mysteries of chessboxing, the GZA in particular with his liquid swords. So when I got a link last week from the aforementioned Shehzaad - while wallowing in my musically deprived state of depression - telling me that not only was GZA/Genius coming to town, but he was coming to perform his classic Liquid Swords album in its entirety(!!!), of course I was hyped right away. So yesterday after school, I ran down to the Sunrise at Yonge & Sheppard - literally, I almost slipped on the slush tracks people brought from outside - and picked up my ticket for the February 8th show. So for all of you who know, and everyone should, who the GZA is, get that ticket! It's gonna be a party. And for those who don't (tsk tsk)... I leave you this:



Peace!

99 problems but a Clinton ain't one

So Obama's a hip hop head --
The issue of Hip Hop music and lyrics have also surfaced in this campaign, with Obama's camp coming under fire for the use of a Jay-Z song.

During Obama's victory party in Iowa, Jay's "99 Problems" was played over the loud speaker. Some imply that the line "99 problems but a bitch ain't one" was a thinly veiled shot at his political rival.

The Clinton camp says they "didn't know" Obama used the song and Obama says he is a fan of rap music, dismissing the notion that the song selection was aimed at his political rival.

"I tell you what, I can tell you the kinds of stuff I love dancing to . . . I'm sort of the generation of Stevie Wonder and Earth Wind & Fire," he said in an interview with CNN. "But I'm sort of hip to the younger stuff. You know, like Beyoncé's 'Crazy in Love.' That's a good song to dance to. Eminem . . . although he curses sometimes."

Link

LMAO... now this next clip is semi-unrelated but cool nonetheless.

Peace... Obama 08