Linkwood roots go back to early 2000’s in Edinburgh UK when the underground dance music scene there was popping off. Eventually Nick Moore and his partner Lindsey Todd (House of Traps) put out the first Firecracker EP on their Firecracker label in 2004 featuring their now sought out masterpiece “Miles Away.”

Since then Moore and Todd have collaborated on four more praised Firecracker releases as well as many more individual projects.  Moore had a breakthrough year in 2009 after releasing System on the soulful Prime Numbers label. This is the release that has taken his sound on tour around the world.  I describe the Linkwood sound as weathered acid washed beaten down house spaceship disco reprise.  Does that do it justice? Have a listen:

If that is not enough, then bug out to one of his latest mixes:

Latest tracks by Linkwood

So, Linkwood will be performing this Friday 23rd at one of the world’s most unique and intimate party spots located around the outskirts of San Francisco, very limited capacity and by the way, it probably has the best custom sound available in the Western Hemisphere…. Not kidding. The very secret and special locale will be disclosed the day of the event. Seeing that this is Linkwood’s only West Coast appearance I would not miss this if I were you. Alongside this house-disco phenomenon and appearing for the first time in the secret locale will be Jeno, one of the pioneers of the West Coast’s party scene, a living legend; also Sammy D of Kontrol who killed at his closeout set for the Sunset Campout, Conor SF, a local rising disco star and the man behind No Way Back, and Briski, my good friend who I love and respect, plus he dons a record bag full of slick cuts and knows how to mix them.

Don’t miss this one kids.

rebody sf, Linkwood, Jeno, Sammy D, ConorSF, Briski

Pre-sale tickets start at $15 and are available via Pay Pal, rebodysf@gmail.com, or find the pay pal link at http://www.rebodysf.com/

See you there dance suckas.

Do you hate bike thiefs or any other type of criminals for that matter?  This video might make you feel better, maybe.  In this video some citizens had enough with a local bike thief and they finally decided to take matters into their own hands.  They set up an ambush scene with a hidden camera and a bait bike to catch him in the act. After a couple of nights he gets caught ‘redhanded’ stealing the bait bike then gets blasted by dozens of paintballs.  He attempts to retaliate with a knife but that only makes it worse because the vigilantes had bear spray waiting for him.  Ever been hit by a paintball?? “Ouch” doesn’t do justice to the pain produced by one hit.  Yes, there is a possibility that this video is fake but after watching it closely a few times I am pretty sure it’s real.  Living in San Francisco I have gotten my bike seat stolen two times, my front wheel taken once and my car window busted twice only to take some old CD’s.  Needless to say I have experienced much anger at this situation and have actually thought about doing this same thing but never had the balls or motivation to actually do it.

This video is a first of a kind on even on You Tube.  Controversial?  Does the thief deserve this?  He deserves something that is for sure.  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t somewhat excited by the vigilantes who decided to take matters into their own hands.   The thief, well, I am sure he spent a week in bed watching his bruises go down.  I hope he never ever steals another bike again.  Thiefs worldwide beware.  This type of activity might become contagious.

Calling all true underground dance music connoisseurs of San Francisco.  In case you missed the last one, the one and only Mr. Dan Bell aka DBX will be playing another 9 hour set this Saturday night at the most precious of all underground locations in North America, this is a fairly common opinion shared by those who have experienced it.

Who? What? Dan Bell is an underground dance music pioneer from Detroit.  Many will argue that he invented the minimal techno sound, he definitely owns rights to the original classics like Losing Control.  Check out his Discogs page. Dan inspired an entire generation of producers to bump those beeps and blips into a bliss of smooth rhythm, very basic, very primal, very deep, sexy. These days Dan Bell usually only plays for big crowds at festivals or at some of the world’s largest clubs like Tresor, Panorama Bar, etc.  On this very special night in San Francisco however Dan will deliver another exclusive 9 hour performance for 150 people, the max capacity of the venue.  Why are we so lucky?

Dan Bell loves playing at this special underground venue.  Here is an excerpt from the official invite by our great host Mr. G. Bird who describes it oh so passionately:

In late 2008, after playing for [KONTROL] four times between 2005 and 2007, Dan Bell approached me and told me he had an idea for a long-format special event in which he was the only DJ all night. Knowing this would truly be one for the history books, we secured SF’s most amazing intimate private location, and it was on. After promising an 8 hour set in which he was the “opener, headliner, and closer”, Dan delivered what was, without a doubt, one of the most memorable nights of music I have ever been witness to in well over a decade of steady partying. Flawless long mixes, incredible unheard gems both old and new, and a deep, sophisticated vibe that has rarely (if ever) since been replicated. At 7am, when he was scheduled to end, Dan asked if he could play one more hour, as he still had some great music he’d like to get to before calling it a day. He did. And many of us stayed to the very end. And through nearly 9 hours of mixing, he never lost his focus, never even stopped to use the bathroom! To this day, when people ask me about my favorite parties ever, this one immediately jumps to mind, and I suspect I’m far from alone in feeling this way.

We will leave the name of this underground locale out of this post to protect the integrity of the spot.  However it is ‘theatre in the round’ presentation,  the artist performs in the middle, and 150 lucky people are engulfed by the perfectly tuned state of the art 360 degree 16.1 dolby surround sound system.  OH YEAH BABY!  This place is a sound engineer’s wet dream and it requires going through some dirt roads to find it. (Awesome! anyone been to underground Detroit parties in the early 90’s? It’s a lot like that:-)  Again, I’d like to give a special thanks to our host G. Bird for putting together this event on for the second time.

Besides having have had Dan Bell play my college house party for 30 of us (thank you Lucas Ortega for hooking that up), this event is as intimate as it is ever going to get to the decadent sounds of Dan Bell over a high quality system in the best city in the world, San Francisco.

Want to know how to make it to this party?  First you must be on Facebook, here is the link the invite:

Photos by Gilbert Rizzo

Dont Front! Nabir used this car the same way Hans Solo used the Millenium Falcon – he used a small screwdriver to get that tape player working and of course had a customized horn button – true Egyptian stylee.

Actually one of my main goals in Cairo was to get this picture of a hand drawn Michelin man which I kept laughing at no matter how many times I saw it.  8 years later it was still there. I was never able to get a picture before because the owner always looked so angry.  Lo and behold after taking this picture, the guy below got mad and asked for money for taking the pictrure.. Yeah right bro, no way.  Thanks to Nabir he got set straight:

Forget Pyramids and the Egyptian Museum and all that tourist trap stuff, I like Koshary, a simple and strange but addictive and cheap local dish.  I wanted to eat Egypt’s national dish from the minute I saw Cairo from the plane, Koshary!   Why do I call it strange? because the ingredient combination makes no sense to me and have never figured out how Egypt’s historical background even came to have this odd combination of ingredients in is national dish.   The name is actually and acronym K.O.S.H.A.R.Y. but excuse my bad job reporting here because I can not remember which letter stands for which ingredient.  They are : rice, brown lentils, macaroni or spaghetti noodles,  chickpeas, spicy tomato sauce (the secret ingredient in my opinon), carmalized onions, and garlic-vinegar or and lime dressing.

Accoring to Nabir, up until the 80’s Mr. Abou Tarek sold Koushary from a push cart in the heart of Cairo streets as an affordable food alternative for low income Muslims who could not afford meat.  His formula apparently became the favored choice of the people.  Eventually Mr. Tarek revolutionized Koushary when he opened up his restaurant at 16 Shampilion street in Cairo.

In Islamic fashion of having big posters of political leaders and family members, Mr Abou Tarek plasters huge poster of his smiling mug shot inside all the five floors of his famed restaurant:

ahh, that Abou Tarek, he just loves himself. Loving yourself is a good thing.  I love myself too. Its time to print out a huge picture of myself and put it in my living room, eh, might as well put it in every room in my house.

Regardless of the gaudy interior and Mr Abou’s ego his Koshary recipe is definitely regarded as the best in Egypt.  I absolutely love it and had to go get some.  It could be considered an acquired taste at first, but if you want to travel cheap in Egypt, eventually you will LOVE Koushary.  It is less than a dollar for a big portion so go figure.  My mouth watered for it as soon as I got into Egypt.. Strange huh?

This how it it served, along with fresh lemon juice and vinegar condiments which are not seen in this picture.

everyone has their own way of blending the ingredients but I always mixed it up well and added a lot of lemon, my Peruvian side you know.

While you wolf down that Koushary, you can enjoy the gaudy interior with fountains of course.  This is considered one of the best places for Koshary in Cairo, by no means should you expect to find fountains in other Cairo restaurants.  Enjoy the flash intro to the Abou Tarek Restaurant website, personally I get a kick out of it.

Since Muslims are not supposed to drink alcohol, shisha, teas, and tabla (Backgammon) are hands down the most popular activities in Egypt and pretty much all over the Muslim world.  In the heart of Cairo you see these Shisha places in almost every corner and they are always full of men, never women.  In fact, you don’t see too many women period, just dudes….dudes and more dudes…. ugh… but when in Cairo enjoy some shisha and tabla and tea.

Nabir and I just kept it very local and played backgammon, smoked apple flavored shisha, and drank tea.

I felt lucky enough to see this well known local 80+ year old eccentric Christian-Egyptian lady who dyes her hair yellow and wears interesting clothes.  She actually belongs in San Francisco.  Nabir could not remember her name.

Finally, TRAFFIC in Cairo, my favorite amusement.  Conventional talkers and guidebooks will probably tell you its THE WORST.  I disagree, it’s the best.  First of all, Egyptians have a slick way of communicating with light taps of the horn.  It does not come off angry, its more like,”hey I’m right here, don’t hit me.”  They use the horn so much that most drivers have custom horn buttons that are usually all worn out from frequent use. Secondly, pedestrians crossing streets.  Drivers don’t usually stop and let you cross. It is more like, you and some other pedestrians build some critical mass and then start walking across the street all at once.  It was scary the first time I did it, but after a while it became fun.  Believe me you won’t get hit.  Finally, in Cairo most drivers do not use headlights.  They just don’t see the point. Many people put colors on their headlights for decoration.  It looks cool at night.   Here is a video I edited for your viewing pleasure.  Enjoy:

]]> http://www.miguel23.com/blog/koshary-shisha-tabla-cairo-traffic/feed/ 2 http://www.miguel23.com/blog/macchu-pisco-combier-launch-party-in-san-francisco-111909/ http://www.miguel23.com/blog/macchu-pisco-combier-launch-party-in-san-francisco-111909/#comments Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:42:06 +0000 solprovider http://www.miguel23.com/blog/?p=280

Thursday November 19th at 9pm, Indy Spirits Expo Afterparty

Macchu Pisco and Combier Present

‘NOW AVAILABLE’ IN CALIFORNIA PARTY

1 FREE Macchu Pisco Daisy cocktail, Come celebrate

$5 Pisco and Combier cocktails

Top Shelf Music provided by Romanowski

@ 83 Proof, 83 First Street (between Market and Mission)

NO COVER

Special thanks to our new distributor in California, Wine Warehouse.

follow @piscosf on twitter for more news and info

The Facebook Invite: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/event.php?eid=176404807157&ref=ts

Join the Macchu Pisco Facebook Group for more goodies: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=18760511406&ref=ts

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As best described in bullet points by Daniel Gritzer in his Time Out New York magazine article. “Pisco: Getting to Know Peru’s Grape Brandy”:

• Pisco comes in three main categories: puro (pure), acholado (blended) and mosto verde (green must).
• Puro piscos are made from one type of grape, and are themselves divided into aromatic and nonaromatic categories, depending on the varietal used.
• Acholados are blends of the distillates of various grapes, such as the delicate and floral La Diablada, produced by the Asher sisters.
• Mosto verde is distilled after it is only halfway fermented, resulting in a much diminished yield. It is best sipped alone.
• The most traditional grape for pisco is called quebranta, meaning “broken.” It was brought by Spanish explorers to South America from the Canary Islands, and was essentially “broken in” to survive the Peruvian climate, hence the name. Macchu Pisco is 100 percent quebranta, and it makes a less fruity and floral spirit. Other pisco grapes can be much more aromatic.
• Pisco is different from Italian grappa in that grappa is distilled from pomace (the solid remnants like skin and seed after wine has been pressed), while pisco is distilled from freshly fermented grape juice with no associated wine production.”

I found this item in the middle of nowhere during a long bus trip stop for food.  I know there is history with marijuana and the old Turkish culture but how did it end up in the form of marijuana cow bank with some big lips and a blunt is a mystery.  Hilarious nonetheless.

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This girl toy was spotted at another bus stop.  Turkey not only strives to be part of the EU but apparently they seek to inculcate the idea into their children to someday own their own “Modern Sweet Home.”  It is hard to read in this picture because of the web resolutionbut the yellow copy at the top of the box says: “Simulating the True Styles and Making Carefully.”

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This is the sign in the metro to give up your seats to those who need it.  Since I am a huge fan of foreign sign imagery I could not get over the depiction of what must be considered the classic old Turkish man, see bottom right.  I want to make a t-shirt of this.

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I laugh now but maybe someday when I step out of the shower I will think “damn, I wish I had a pocket for my slippers conveniently placed on top of my steez on this towel.”

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This restaurant marketed their lamb menu by making this stuffed sheep look like its eating a plant.  There was another one on the opposite side of the entrance facing this one in order to welcome their guests in.  Charming.  I definitely noticed women and children enjoyed this so the manager of this restaurant must know what he is doing.

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All I have to say about this is…. “Otel, motel Holiday Innn, when that b*** starts f**** up, Ill just f*** her friend”    But for real, this in Turkish a hotel is spelled ”otel” and I simply could not resist singing that famous hip hop lyric every time I walked by an otel.

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Finally, did I or did I now get lucky with this great picture of this Turkish cat.  This is best cat picture I’ve ever snapped.  I call it Night Rider.  Look at those eyes.

Absolute Power

I was walking across the Galata bridge late at night in Istanbul when I ran into a very old Turkish man wearing this hat.  It was unreal that someone that old could be wearing such a cool hat. I don’t mean to say anything agist, but I was not in San Francisco you know, I am just saying.  I went up and talked to him, his name was Salman and he spoke no English, but he could tell I liked his hat and the guy was obviously pretty cool and very young at heart where it matters most.  I told him I was originally from Peru and he gave me a hug.  If you look real close you can tell it was hand made, probably by some  local Istanbul designer.  Salman let it go to  me for 15 TL, about 10 bucks.   The best $10 I have ever spent, it’s golden like a crown.   I officially own the coolest baseball hat in the world.  If anyone has any information about the hat designer, please comment.

color theory applied

Ghostly has categorized their album library by colors which correspond to different mood states in an effort to help you ‘discover’ new tracks and playlists according to how you feel.

I am so happy to see a cutting edge electronic music label elegantly implementing these concepts to further investigate the mind-body-technology relationship further, ultimately to put us in the mood we want to be in:-)

This cutting edge project was probably conceived in Ann Arbor Michigan, home to Ghostly. I would like to have been a fly on wall during the planning stage meetings.  I feel as if Ann Arbor has always been somewhat of a Silicone Valley for techno. It is so close to Detroit, how can it not be.  Those brainy students who like to party will rule the world someday…wait we already do.

The parameters are quite simple as you can see below.

Ghostly Discover iPhone App choose color mood

Choose your desired ‘hue,’ I was feelin’ yellow, then you choose your rhythm type fast/slow, organic/electronic  - pretty well thought out.  Click ‘ DISCOVER’ to get your results (click to link to the song to preview):

I do think this result matched the mood, and the other songs that followed in the suggested playlist also rocked.

The app has a monetization plan, everything is well though out. In the end this is a different experience towards finding and purchasing music. Put a boy tie on this, nice job.

You can choose to buy the track, rate it or get an artist bio.

In conclusion, this is a true holistic approach to music discovery.  If you love the Ghostly label I suggest you download this immediately.  Good job to the creative minds at Ghostly.  SV4 and the bunch.

Now go eat some cake.

San Francisco and The Ferocious Few have a symbiotic relationship.  The city provides music friendly street corners to play in and the duo returns a raw original rock sound from the gut that stops pedestrians in their tracks.  They can be found anywhere from 9th and Irving, to 4th and Market, to 16th and Valencia and of course the cosmic home base, Dolores Park.

The first time I saw drummer Daniel Aguilar and guitarist Francisco Fernandez at Dolores Park was in the Summer of 2007, my jaw dropped. David’s drumming intensity (the facial expressions) was reminiscent of Michael Shrieve’s leyendary Woodstock performance but on a small kit, just brutal.  Francisco’s rock singing and guitar playing was as if he was possessed by a southern blues spirit from the past that was trapped in his body.  This duo has that voodoo juju in their funk mojo.. dig?

For being so lo-fi, their sound is so big. Indeed they are a ferocious act so their name is well-earned.  I personally believe these guys are a rock duo made in heaven that will be listened to by many.  I think you are lucky if you get to see these guys in their local element, before they blow up, which should not be surprising.

Enjoy this video of the Ferocious Few from this past Sunday at beautiful Dolores Park:

Find them on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/ferociousfew

Not really, but it is called a “pasa montañas” or ‘mountain passer’ but to me it is a funny one of a kind tourist item for sale at this alpaca store in Arequipa Peru.  That is me wearing it and I regret not buying it since it was relatively cheap.  I still don’t really know why it makes me laugh.  If you are considering holding up your local cornerstore or yoga studio, I advise you do it in style and wear this mask. That white thin handlebar mustache pattern and rainbow head should allow you to get away with anything.

Accorgding to Wikipedia, Ruda, or Common Rue, is a plant with some acknowledged medicinal properties from digestive aid to arthritis relief but also used as an abortifacient to horses and humans. It is also said that cats dislike the smell of it and has been used to deter them. But no mention of any esoteric belief attached to it. Ok.

Originally I bought this soap to put on my wall menagerie (I have a menagerie? whoa) since I think its a cool little foreign trinket, but upon opening the box when I got home from Peru last night I realized this soap actually smells damn good.  So I have decided to use it and in the meantime report any blatant luck may occur during the lifetime of the soap.   To be fully fair to this experiment I will declare an open mind to the product and just report the facts.

I will post updates.

Alpaca’s experiencing post Ruda bliss?

UPDATE 4/14/09:

By some conventional definitions of getting lucky It would be fair to suggest I got lucky the first day I used the soap. Yeah, I totally got laid, but that does not mean you will and it also does not mean that this soap will give you the same result.  I will update if more blatant luck persists.

This movie was directed by directed and writen by Claudia Llosa, who is also the niece of recognized Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa.  She beautifully portrays the story of Fausta, played by Magaly Solier, who suffers from ‘la teta asustada,’ a psychological condition suffered by children born during the terrorist years who lactated from the ’scared milk’ of the mothers who survived that era.  Fausta herself is an attractive but timid and paranoid character who constantly lives in fear of men due to graphic rape stories told by her late mother.  She goes as far as putting a potato in her vagina to prevent rape, but this causes more emotional and physical trauma as the plot develops.

YES, you read that last part, this movie has very strong plot elements.  In short, the story takes place in a poverty striken and post-terrorist province of Lima.  After Fausta’s mother passes away, besides the emotional pain, she struggles to save enough money for her mother burial which is expensive.  At the same time, her cousin is preparing for a lavish wedding which juxtaposes the irony of a poor province stuck in old ridiculous dowry habits.  Fausta is forced to take a job as a maid for a rich white woman, which portrays another characteristic of Peruvian diversity, culture and class division.

As a Peruvian who was raised in the United States, and also a lover of film, my opinion of this movie is high. The director’s cinematic elements are slow in rhythm but beautiful in imagery and full of feeling. I praise Magaly Solier for her acting as Fausta, she is able to make the directors vision come alive well.  I think she captures the idiosyncracies of that Peruvian province in a charming way.  Some have called this movie the Slumdog Millionaire of Peru because it of its portrayal of a poor peruvian province, but I disagree this plot is richer in feeling and compassion from a different place in the heart.  Its plot does not strive for towards the hopes of wealth and prosperity, it observes the resolution of a very complex psychological reality and experience of the protagonist.  This movie stands on its own and it brings Peruvian film quality to a whole new level.  I recommend La Teta Asustada to any true lover of cinema with feeling.

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Update 2/26/10

When I wrote this movie review last year I did not expect it to become the 1st Peruvian film nominated for an Oscar. I also never thought I WOULD BE GOING TO THE OFFICIAL NOMINATION PARTY IN LA TO POUR MACCHU PISCO COCKTAILS! I am actually most excited to meet MAGALY SOLIER. Viva PERU and drink some pisco, its actually good for you.

 During my visit to Peru, I could not help a quick chuckle when my grandmother offered me some tea and slapped a box of Hornimans on the table.  She kept asking why it was funny to me which is something you don’t want to explain to your cute little Peruvian grandmother.

Could this be one source of Peru’s obsession with sex and machismo?  Besides those little Guacos de Mochica which  are very revealing that is.

Walter Goyburu is considered one of the local masters of Peruvian criolle music but from his respected neighborhood of Callao, Lima. Do not mistake this music to what they call creole music from New Orleans.

Goyburu’s version of the classic valz song Cenizas, originally by Emilio Visosa, was recently featured in the all star album La Gran Reunion, Los Guardianes de la Musica Criolla (’the great reunion, the guardians of creolle music’) which features 19 respected criolle music artists.  This album has been coined the Buena Vista Social Club of Peruvian criolle music, may be so.

Understanding Spanish would help the appreciation factor because the lyrics are stunningly beautiful, but its beautiful rhythm and melodies will captivate any music lover until the end of a song. If you feel this, I was even able to find the lyrics for you:

Ábreme y no me cierres

la puerta de oro,            (bis)

del cofre de la ventana

que hay en tu pecho,

sabiendo que eres

el único tesoro,

que engalana mi vida

trecho a trecho.

Dame luz de tu amor

y no me engañes,

escucha la canción

del que agoniza;

mátame con el fuego

de tu mirada,

hazme polvo

y vuélveme cenizas.  (bis)

I met William at a stoplight in San Isidro as he was breakdancing for money. He was literally turning on his head to earn a living. This is an example of a great Peruvian guy earning a fair buck with his talents. Support the street arts worldwide. Give William some love at bboy257@hotmail

As of two years ago cumbia in Peru has once again taken the front seat as the popular music but with a more comercial sound.  Los Chapillacs however have decided to revamp the old Chicha sound and bring back the lost party flavor from the dead.. and they did it well in Lima on 3/31/09 @ Bar Mochileros.

The most amazing thing for me about this band is that these young kids are from Arequipa, a conservative southern city with nowhere near the cultural capacity of Lima the capital.  It is rare that a band from Arequipa can come to the capital, pack a nightclub, and rock the hell out of it on a Tuesday night.  The band received great accolades from the crowd which ended up full of sweat by 1:30 am.  I also find it cool that their name, Chapillacs, is derived from La Virgen de Chapi who is the virgin patron of Arequipa if you will.  If you ever go to Arequipa you will likely see Virgen de Chapi efigies everywhere.

Their live show simply rocked, it did not sound psychedelic as their music claimed but if you can listen to their recorded sound here: http://www.myspace.com/chapillacs

I suspect that a band like this would do well on a little West coast American tour. San Franciscans would love it.

Brown says: “Words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am over what transpired.” What a spineless answer. Even more disturbing is that our children are watching this closely and they are absorbing it in different ways.  Chris brown must go to jail, he has to be made an example to any kids or ex fans he might have had. We can not let our children think in any way that this is OK.

Meanwhile accross the world, a story came out yesterday about Ameneh Bahrami, an Iranian woman who was an ‘acid attack’ victim of a crazy man who threw sulfuric acid on her face because she would not marry him.  She is now disfigured, blind in one eye and going blind eventually.  In Iran, victims of attacks usually recieve “blood money” in exchange for bodily damages.  She is however asking the supreme Court of Tehran to punish him with 20 drops of sulfuric acid into his eyes.  She says: “I don’t want to blind him for revenge… I’m doing this to prevent it from happening to someone else.”  The type of hate it took for someone to throw ACID in any persons face, let alone a woman who would not marry them, is evil.  Eye for an eye seems like the proper thing do within the constructs of their societies laws.

This is an opportunity to see justice served against acts of hate against women and let that echo around the world.  We can not accept this type of barbaric activity in any modern societies, it is too hateful.  May Rihanna and Ameneh  Bahrami get the justice they deserve.  Love the women in your life.

#giveprops to your favorite twitter personalities throughout the day by explicitly telling your followers to follow them and add ‘#giveprops’ at the end of your tweet. Presto! It’s that easy.

#giveprops will help us follow new cool twitter streams which we did not previously know about.  If someone gives you #giveprops, be honored, they enjoy your twitter company.

This is an experiement testing the love on Twitter and the following picture is the first result from googling #giveprops as of today:

I will publish who I gave props to on this post. #giveprops everyone.

This is sponsored in part by this miguel23 web log.  Oh have I neglected you due to Twitter my little blog…

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This is who I gave props to.

M

“Like any well-executed satire, The Tender Morsels captures a niche genre of rock, one where The Wiggles might be seen as competition. But they’re not. As any newly minted parent of an infant knows (and is reminded of every single night on repeat), The Wiggles play for kids and are also WAY more famous.“

Jeff also produced “I Slammed My Dick in the Drawer”,  a viral video that was screened at SXSW this year.  the rest of the cast I do not know personally but apparently are hilarious .. enjoy The Wiggles:

Let’s not forget to give props to all the cat extras:

CATS
Gus
Dakota
Amira
Squeaks
Brownie
Icicle
Poe
Ruckus Rockstar
Nessa
Thom
Bananas
Zima
Sumomo

Following Shaq on twitter now for less than 24 hours has made me laugh very hard.  I realize after reading his tweets that he has always been a genuine person.  The guy on TV who is kind of goofy in nature, loves to eat, and balls hard on the court, is just that in real life.  This again is another testament to the transparent nature and power of the Twitter communication medium.  Here are some of my favorite Shaq tweets so far:

Thank you Shaq.. You made my day.. I look forward to your tweets… Maybe you will follow back.

@miguel23

Here are the responses. Most names are abbreviated:

CHB at 11:25am November 4- move to Norway

NA at 11:31am November 4- move to New Zealand and shave sheep

TB at 11:34am November 4 – moving to Norway w/Cecilie.

COZ at 11:40am November 4 – Any more room in Norway? Count me in!

BS at 11:41am November 4 – loot downtown Chicago

SDK at 11:45am November 4- will too go to Norway.

JDH at 11:50am November 4-cry, then move.

EZ at 11:54am November 4- move to Slovenia and talk S@%^ about the US!

AM at 12:02pm November 4- Going to be surrounded by at least 65,000 other very angry people at his rally tonight.

DS at 12:15pm November 4- Start taking chinese lessons

LB at 12:18pm November 4- Fly to Belgium and visit my Cairo friends Melissa and Liesbet !!!!

GS at 12:23pm November 4- Try to hook up with Meghan McCain.

NF at 12:26pm November 4 -stay in South Africa

@aperobot @miguel23 be saved by ze-RO! http://flickr.com/photos/ma… 6 minutes ago from web in reply to miguel23

@itzpapalotl     @miguel23 spend 4 years in a drunken stupor 16 minutes ago from twitterrific in reply to miguel23

@dossy @miguel23 … “be disappointed, but not surprised in the least.” 10 minutes ago from Blackbird in reply to miguel23

@Spinelli666 @miguel23 If Obama does not win, I am going to riot with the brothers 13 minutes ago from Election 2008 in reply to miguel23

SHG at 12:33pm November 4- rock my zombie makeup every day in protest.

CH at 12:40pm November 4 – stop by the surplus store by my house, pick up a gas mask and a helmet and start preparing… or maybe i’ll just drink myself into a coma

DT at 12:55pm November 4- not even think about that right now since you can spend time actually working toward a win: Call Obama supporters in battleground states and make sure they’ve voted! www.my.barackobama.com/page/votercontact

magerleagues: Vote for him again in 2012

Jack- beats the hell out of me

Corey- fucking hang myself

CM: move out of the country

gordon- kick some ass

jerome – give up chocolate for one week

timmmii – obama will win, i refuse to think anything else

DH at 1:38pm November 4 – Move to Iraq.

hogpath @miguel23 sh*t myself 

Fausto  at 2:06pm November 4 -Me voy a la puta de su madre.

DH at 2:04pm November 4 -move to Mexico

ben dover Says:November 4th, 2008 at 10:02 pm- get ready for the “end of days”… find out how big a cubit is, get two of every animal, make an ark and prepare for forty days of rain!

MC at 2:23pm November 4 – Pinch myself because I’m obviously having a nightmare.

@melliefarrell @miguel23 If Obama does not win, I am going to go into a race rage for the next week 

JP at 2:40pm November 4- freak the F*&@)# out!

SB at 3:18pm November 4 – Prepare to be ashamed of my country for the duration.

Kristi Says: November 4th, 2008 at 10:47 pm  -throw myself on to the floor and pound my fists and feet into the ground…

BE at 2:11pm November 4 – gather two of every animal, make an ark, and prepare for forty days of rain.

Anyone who was there will remember their immaculate pre-race video and legendary race, but little did most know that this Death Star came with a Palin bumper sticker:

And I thought I was cool for having a “Chewbacca is my Co-pilot” sticker on my laptop.

Aside from writing blog entries and articles, he also posts videos, pictures, and does live radio broadcasts from his phone regularly.  He is currently hanging out with me in San Francisco after a month reporting from the East Coast and then San Diego.

When asked what its like to meet McCain supporters he replied that he is having a hard time finding them.  I thought this was strange but not out of the question due to the places he’s visited so far.  My friend Jessamay decided to help Axel in his search for a McCain supporter.  We searched for a San Francisco GOP group and found where they will be watching the 10/15 presidential debate from.  We decided to attend this event tonight which kicks off at 6pm.  We think it will be “an experience” nonetheless to go and share a moment with the political minority of this ultra liberal city.  Maybe I will meet my future wife.  Liberal ladies, you take me for granted

If you have any leads on any republicans  willing to be interviewed for the right winged perspective to the French nation, feel free to contact Axel at: alexardes[at]hotmail[dot]com

As the escalator lowered me down to two levels underneath the Marriot  where the fest was hosted, I was welcomed by the calm waft of fine malt whiskey and scotch scents – appropriate.  I received my tasting glass and my smile multiplied when I entered the largest whisky congregation in the entire planet, at that very moment at least.  After taking my first shot, the server prompted me to Tweet the following:

Let’s just make a long story short and say that “it was fun.”  All you need to know is that Glenrothes Special Reserve Single Malt Whisky won my vote as the best whisky of the night.  Here is a Flickr slideshow with some comments, or at least the ones I remember from the night.  Enjoy.

The night ended for me at Club Oasis in Oakland.  We were enjoying Dj Harvey as he was dropping serious beats for serious disco music lovers.  It was a lovely event filled with smiles and groovy music.  It was a great way to comedown from the madhouse which was Lovefest.  I met great Bay Area heads who all crew up and caravan for Sarcastic Disco parties in Los Angeles.   Love is the key, remember this.

I expect mostly hardcore disco lovers in the area who love Harvey for what he does will definitely represent that night.  I also think you haven’t seen Dj Harvey before, this would be the time to do it.  It brings together good people.  The crowd last time was diverse and flat out cool, everybody was smiling and dancing.  It is a nice relief from the bridge and tunnel weekend warrior crowds who flood San Francisco on any given Saturday night.

This event lands on the evening of the Lovefest weekend which will draw crowds from around the country. It gets ridiculous in front of City Hall.  No other city in America has an event like this in front of their public service offices.  Come nighttime, there will be plenty of cheesy afterhours parties in San Francisco but none will be as crucial as this Dj Harvey show at Club Oasis.  Good luck finding a groovier place to hang out that night.   Club Oasis is located at 135 12th Street, Oakland, CA 94607. 9pm to 4am, $10.

I look forward to meeting the crew who is throwing this party. They represented at my party last weekend.  I know this because they put their flyers up:)

See you there or beware.

All the djs had great sets. Kicked off my Chad Neiro, then Leonard, Jeno, Paul T, and capped off by Jesse.  We had some great guests show up.  David Harness and Lee Burridge from the UK just stopped by to hang out along with Gunita of Listed promotions who is putting on the Get Weird Lovefest kick off event at Mighty on Oct 3rd 2008.

The only bad thing that happened all night, and it was pretty bad I suppose, was that our sound-system broke and became 1/4th the volume.  This happened around 3am right before Paul T got on.  Unfortunately he played a quieter set than those who played before him.  People were forced to get closer to the front to catch the show.  It became very intimate.  He played tracks I have never heard before with a certain grace and groove.  His presence behind the decks is strong, he knows how to work a crowd.  He gets very involved in his sound which is infectious to a bystander.

Paul T and myself had a moment to hang out and even get a little philosophic.  The main thing I noticed was his humble approach to his djing talent.  He said more than once that, “he is not a real dj,” but I attest that he throws down like a pro.  In fact Paul is the owner of Sarcastic Clothing and also the co-head designer at Stussy.  He and Dj Harvey put on Dj Harvey Sarcastic Disco, hence his affiliation to those events and to the music.  Paul is NOT a fan of recorded mixes.  He believes that an online dj set does not lend enough justice to the actual performance and would rather not allow his sets to be recorded and distributed online.  The BeatsInSpace dj mix which has gotten so much attention was a one off experience for him. Paul has a very easygoing personality and I enjoyed speaking with him about many other topics.  If Paul T comes to your town, go see him.

I ended the night well.  I caught up with Jeno at the end and we shot the shit about old Detroit music.  He knows his business. I told him my favorite Theo Parrish story but that for another blog post.   Leonard as usual displayed his magic on decks and hung out all night which made me happy because I have known him the longest of any other local dj in San Francisco, he is a true connoisseur and has always looked out for me.  Thanks Leonard.  Albert our sound guy felt disappointed about the failure of his sound-system but I hope he knows that none of us are ‘pissed,’ S!!t happens.  He is ‘good peoples’ 

Again, thanks to all of you who represented with us on this very special night.  Look forward to more events from us in the future.

If you can sit through 9 minutes of jamming you wont be disappointed. I wish you could hear the bassist better. His name is Manolo, ex Manicato band member, and he was killing it that night. My homie Jaime was rocking out with some small bongos on the side. The drummer was on point, the bongo player was ridiculously good, and whoever the guy was who picked up the taborine was also good. The lights go off at one point and the music gets a little crazier.

Paul Takahashi, aka Paul T, is an underground culture trendsetter whose disco djing skills have earned him high degree accolades in the avant Nu Disco scenes.  Paul T sees  Disco through different lens.  He drops drippy filtered psychedelic ’spaceship-landing’ Nu Discospheric selections mixed in an expert fashion with keen attention to vibe and programming.   He was recently featured on Tim Sweeny’s highly acclaimed Bside radio broadcast, BeatsInSpace, out of New York.  A friend of mine described this radio recording as “crucial.” Listen to it here.

Years ago Paul teamed up with the voodoo disco prince, Dj Harvey, to produce LA’s highly acclaimed Dj Harvey Sarcastic Disco events.  Paul helped mature and foster a scene of serious disco music aficionados and veteran partiers who come out of the woodwork to celebrate the Disco warehouse spirit.

This will be Paul’s first show in San Francisco (he once played a wack fashion show here, so that does not count!).  Paul has a reputation for being very selective about where he performs.  This following clip from a gig in Mexico (Mexico has a rich history of loving disco music) displays Paul’s dj headnodding groove as he pounds a disco sample through the floor:

We made sure to secure a safe underground spot to make this event go off.  Here is a very short video clip of Paul building a crescendo at a party in Mexico, we never really hear the drop but the energy is building:

Paul will be accompanied by Leonard of Tocadisco, an underground music guru (Leonard is very sought out for his limitless knowledge of rare vinyl recordings), and Jeno, our local Wicked veteran and headliner for the BackToBack parties. 

In all, Paul T is the underground dj’s DJ.  I am very excited to work with VHS to help bring Paul T to San Francisco. I personally look forward to repeating the Disco magic I experienced at a Dj Harvey show back in May. I cannot wait to feel the power of the beat through the mind of Paul T.  19 Heron St, $10 at the door, 10pm to 6am.  See you there dance suckas!

My entire goal was to arrive by 2:00 pm for the unveiling of the applications built by teams of developers who in most cases met the day before for the first time. Many great applications were developed, each presentation was a few minutes long. You can read about it all from Andrew Mager who was there live blogging the event both days.

My personal highlight was performing 10 push ups during Jon Bardin’s demo of his Push-Up Counter app. I get an applause at the end which was actually for the application but it might have all helped because Jon’s app ended up winning a category. I’d like to think that my “interactive” demo influenced the judges decision.

Other highlights: I had a very pleasant time hanging out cross-legged on the floor of a side room with most of the Medialets team. They built an ad-network for native iPhone applications. Their blog is a sensational read I believe. They sponsored the huge amounts of beer for the event, this Marin Brewing Co. Peach Beer was amazing. It was also great to briefly hang with 15 year old blogger/entrepreneur Daniel Brusilovsky who launched Teens In Tech on the following Monday morning.Video is courtesy of Andrew Mager.

Julia Allison was the featured cover story on Wired Magazine’s Aug 08 issue – “Internet Famous” they called her. Mager had been Twittering about her earlier and it became more special when Allison revealed it was the first Wired cover shes ever signed. This prompted me to whip out the Canon TX1 and start shooting video. The party was extra exciting for me thanks to Kabbodle’s lovely Community Manager Kristi Herwarth who crowned me with a pink feather boa. Lots of fun specially when meeting Chamillionaire and McHammer and of course Julia Allison

Check out the video:

a photo credit to Andrew Mager for the picture of me and Julia

I saw Harvey once before in 2000 but I didn’t like it. On this night however, the stars were aligned and he came down with the phenomenal disco force that only a well strapped dj veteran like him can. Let’s have a reality check here. Dj Harvey is old school – I don’t know his true age but you can read his Wikipedia entry and get an idea of how far his dj career goes – He is no spring chicken – he is more like the wise owl – check out his greying beard. As a dj for 14 years myself, I was impressed by every selection he made. I recognized 2 songs all night – 4 hours.

Description: Funk-Rock with a Disco kiss on it. A deep blend of washed out guitars, funky-tribally drums rhythms, wet high hats, psychedelic drone strings, far away sounds, dance friendly rock and just the right amount of Vocals. It is one of the most eclectic sounds I have ever heard yet, under the umbrella of Disco.

The show was small, it was one of those events that drew true disco music lovers – only those who knew were there, about 100 strong which Harvey kept dancing for 5 hours straight. I myself got lucky and met a great dancer on that dance floor. We danced till sweaty – two and a half hours straight before we finally took a water break What a lucky guy her boyfriend must be – he was not there. Too bad for him, on that night Harvey made her and I connect body moves to the underground Disco Beat Check out his site and learn more about Harvey: http://www.harveysarcasticdisco.com/

According the the NSIDA in an article released on March 25th 2008, a 5,282 square mile ice shelf has begun to collapse. The catalyst for this reaction was the initial collapse of a 41 x 2.5 mile smaller ice shelf named Wilkins that started disintegrating into the sea. Check out the animation here.

It is hard to tell what the impact of this ice shelf melting will be in the next coming months. The last huge ice shelf break happened in January 2002 when a region named “Larsen B”, the size of Rhode Island, started to break away and completely melt within 30 days. Wilkins is roughly the size of Northern Ireland.

In the same days as the press release mentioned, Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change delivered a speech to the Environmental Committee.

“Now there’s enough evidence to show that there is accelerated melting of some of these large bodies of ice; west Antarctic ice-sheet, the Greenland ice-sheet…I think we need some coordinated actions that would put a price on carbon”

I do not mean to be a pessimist, but I still do not think anyone is listening even when the guy who is delivering the news looks at you like this:

With only 30 days left until the deadline of a contest that Current TV was running called, Seeds of Tolerance, I embarked on this project. The prize was 100,000 dollars – I was in for the ride of my life.

I picked this topic because I myself am an immigrant to the good ole U.S.A. and I felt it was my duty to explore this topic closely. I am so happy that I did.

I quit my job (I got it back when I returned), borrowed the equipment, secured the funding, and flew off to New Orleans with only two contacts upon arrival, a friends friend who lent me his floor to sleep on and Christian Roselund who ran Indymedia in the area and whom I met through email correspondence.

Blood, Sweat and Tears is the best way that I can explain these 30 days. Sourcing, shooting, directing, and editing. I was a one man show. I went up to scared immigrant strangers on the street, this is how I met all the subjects in my movie. My time in New Orleans was very short so every minute on the field was worth gold. I met heroes and downtrodden people. Then entire experience felt somewhat apocalyptic. Certain people will always stick out in my mind.

9 hours of footage later, I had to teach myself how to edit video. This took about 2 hours thanks to my audio editing skills. I’m not kidding. I am a natural at this. I boiled all the content down to 11 minutes to meet the contest requirements. I can easily make a 40 minute movie with the footage.

I did not win the $100,000 but out of approximately 380 entries, 8 movies were picked, 6 finalists, and 2 for television. This movie was picked for television – I got paid. Not much money, but the reward today is bigger than anything I could have possibly imagined back then.

Tomorrow, I will be giving a speech after the screening of my movie at Unity High School in Oakland, California. This website has all the details: http://www.unityhigh.org/gulfcoasttrip08

The aim of the fundraiser is to send a group of students to New Orleans and make 2 documentaries about this topic. You are all of course welcome to help out.

This is a much deeper story because it involves everything from the Detroit techno music label Underground Resistance and an old school Dj friend from back in the Ann Arbor days. However, you will have to ask me in person about this if you really want to find out more.

Here is a link to the edited TV version

Credits and thank you’s:
Eddie & Johnny & Larry for letting me crash in your places, and Kieran Walsh for hooking that up.
Alex Outhred for funding
Gregory Kellet and Ian Kellet for the Camera and the tips – good juju!
Elsa Wenzel for support and research help
“CESAR” for putting up with me in his editing suite.
Christian Roselund, Ed Holub, Eva San Martin, Luz Molina, Jorge Lopez, Damion, Claire Didier, Lamar LeBlanc, Albert at Common Ground, and the immigrants themselves who put themselves at risk to help me make this film.

Thanks to Cornelius Harris for passing it on and thanks to Daniel Zarazua for inspiring the youth to take further action.

Thank you ALL!!!

Mig

My least favorite holiday of all time is coming up. Valentines Day! Boo. I am one of those Valentine day haters, along with a few others. I was offered to dj an Anti-Valentines Drink the pain away party at the Argus Lounge, located at 3187 Mission St at Valencia in the lovely city of San Francisco of course. My Dj Buddies:Tau G and Saiman will be sharing the decks with me.  $4 Fernet Shots!!!

The music? Hateful love songs a la techno electro booty shake redemption. Yes. I should have started the promotion like three weeks ago, but like I said, bad women and hard work. To those girls out there who have been kicking my heart around like Diego Maradona kicks a soccer ball lately, I dedicate this to you. ha ha ha ha haaaaaa.

I will be back with more quirks, news, and ridiculous opinions soon. My day job has been squeezing every drop of my time. I woke up this morning dreaming about funnel pages, user experience and email subject lines. The first word I said this morning coming out of a deep dream was “conversion.” Yes folks, that is how crazy I am becoming. Marketing to your minds.
I will be attending one of my other favorite Anti Valentines day events in San Francisco earlier in the night however. The massive pillow fight. Here is a video from last years Valentines day pillow fight extraordinaire:

There is no escaping it, there really is no such thing as privacy. Just checkout sites like Zabasearch and Intellius – type in your name my friend. I recently showed these sites to a journalist friend from a very reputable bureau and she was stunned. Some new sites like Spokeo.com want to display all your online activity to anyone who has you in their address book. Others like Rapleaf.com track your social network behavior. Now you’re ex’s can spy on you from a creepy distance. Let’s not forget all this discussion about a national ID in 08. Some politicians have suggested that American’s rethink their definition of privacy. Damn, what are these people trying to do, look inside my pants or something?

Optimistically speaking however, 2008 will also be a time in which people will become more aware of things like privacy and personal liberties, which we all take for granted in the United States. This by itself will be a great accomplishment for our dummy masses. Good luck and good night.  Happy New Year

Tasteless joke, or marketing genius?

Redux Beverages LLC, from Las Vegas, is the same company that delivered us “Cocaine” energy drink, a product that was pulled off the shelves for FDA violations regarding its name. The brainchild behind these edgy-branded direct marketing schemes is a man with an impressive and respectable resume named Clegg Ivey. One day he just though it would be cool to name a soft drink “Cocaine.” Brawndo’s contents by the way: 200 milligrams of Caffeine, Taurine, Inositol, Guarana, and of course Electrolyes – no high fructose or corn sugar (huh?).

The hands that shook in order to make this deal happen include Omni Consumer Products Corporation, whose company slogan is: “We do what we must, because we can.” In other words, “we will b-slap you with our slogan if you front – and name our soft drink ‘Cocaine’, because we must.” Their website is suspiciously void of much information.

I lean towards marketing genius. Check out their shopping cart website which allows you to also join Brawndo on Facebook and MySpace. The underground buzz created by this movie, and now this drink are making people attempt Brawndo diets and blogging the experience. If Brawndo becomes the next Coke, we are headed one step closer to Mike Judge’s vision of the future.

Call it 8th grade humor, or just plain tipsy on cheap book-signing-wine, but upon looking at the signature table I couldn’t help to point out the admitted “dummies” all around, getting their Dummies book signed. Yes me included, but I ended up there by chance that night, I swear. It was held at my favorite club Temple.

It is typical that a green book signing would also take place in a club deemed to become the worlds first green nightclub. But they are not alone in this pursuit, a club in the Netherlands is making waves.

It is the green nightclub race of the decade. Temple’s club’s sustainability director, Mike Zuckerman also has plans install a power generating dance floor next year. He feels confident that they have found the person to do it. In the meantime, he is starting with something a little less ambitious which he calls a vertical garden shown here:

Elsa Wenzel at Cnet.com, whom I met outside of this book signing beat me to this story because it is her full time job to do so. She deemed this club the Chia nightclub in her Cnet Crave blog story. Look at the future vision of Temple nightclub in her entry and it will make sense.

This green night club business is great and all but it does nothing to offset the pollution created by those dj’s that fly millions of miles around the world year after year. Techno demi-god Richie Hawtin decided to do something about this problem and made an environmental pledge to his fans with this press release (PDF): Minimize Your Impact – by Richie Hawtin. I have not read any articles suggesting that others are following his footsteps, then again, Richie is always ahead of the curve on most things.

It is only a matter of time until we will all need to dance to keep the lights on.

“We have proved our world-class ability in cloning animals that have modified characteristics,” said Kong. “We found that the red fluorescent protein in all the organs of the dead kitten, which means we have established an efficient way of cloning gene-modified cats.’‘

The first time people look at any given ad, they don’t even see it.
The second time, they don’t notice it.
The third time, they are aware that it is there.
The fourth time, they have a fleeting sense that they’ve seen it somewhere before.
The fifth time, they actually read the ad.
The sixth time they thumb their nose at it.
The seventh time, they start to get a little irritated with it.
The eight time, they start to think, “Here’s that confounded ad again.”
The ninth time, they start to wonder if they’re missing out on something.
The tenth time, they ask their friends and neighbors if they’ve tried it.
The eleventh time, they wonder how the company is paying for all these ads.
The twelfth time, they start to think that it must be a good product.
The thirteenth time, they start to feel the product has value.
The fourteenth time, they start to remember wanting a product exactly like this for a long time.
The fifteenth time, they start to year for it because they can’t afford to buy it.
The sixteenth time, they accept the fact that they will buy it sometime in the future.
The seventeenth time, they make a note to buy the product.
The eighteenth time, they curse their poverty for not allowing them to buy this terrific product.
The nineteenth time, they count their money very carefully.
The twentieth time prospects see the ad, they buy what is offering.

The twenty-first time you see an Ad, WAKE UP!!!

you must understand the 4th dimension requires a 4th coordinate and the structures around it are too complex for the human mind to comprehend because we don’t process information that way. However mathematicians can make models that represent something about th:

update – as I watch diggnation’s live taping. I am learning that this product now costs $399 – Now I will consider it..

This idea is not new however and it will likely not be Joe Smoe in a Cupertino garage who builds this technology, rather it might be our friend, or foe, Google.

Several industry folks are discussing this topic after learning that Google is closely looking at H3TEC, a company that is working on detection technology designed to locate “anything, anywhere.” It is out of a sci-fi book because the inventor got the idea from the “Tricoder”, a detection device in the old Star Trek series. He built his own. Check out some of the applications suggested:

• Homeland Security (all over the world)
• Medical Applications (cancer and tainted food)
• Natural Resources (oil and gas, and minerals; currently, we are very active in this field)
• Military Theater (mapping battle grounds, patrolling, and base safety)
• Intermountain Bomb Removal Squad (currently testing)
• Airborne Sensors (flying over hazardous and remote areas, including HAZMAT)
• Shipping, Airport Security
• Peace Officers (officer safety, drug detection, and detection of the precursor chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamine)

How do you locate drugs and bombs? Apparently this technology can track atoms. NO JOKE! This could change our world quickly.

So, ask yourself, is Google your friend or your foe. At least ask yourself “what do they want to do with this?” Either way, I suppose I would rather have Google own this than the Department of Homeland Security, but they will get their hands on it anyway. Oh boy.

On a more lighthearted note, today someone revealed plans Google has to help you find your keys. They want to use RFID technology to track your possessions. Although I hate loosing keys, something about this makes me feel uneasy. It is a step closer to the “Idiocracy” idea. I think I would rather rant and swear as I try to find my keys. It is more human.

“I have watched the movie Idiocracy 3 times in the past week with 3 different groups of people. The appeal of this movie is startling and surprisingly broad.”

I would give you the link to his blog but he almost tells the whole movie so trust me, I’m player helping. This is that blog if you really want to search for it.

It is a satire on corporate driven American culture that takes place in the year 2550. The human characters, whose IQ is a 10th of ours, have been “dummed-down” by the corporate/entertainment media. Director Mike Judge throws an anvil at our corporate hyped media culture and its sponsors with this flick. My first day after watching it, I noticed people on the street that reminded me of characters from Idiocracy, and that is a bad thing.

I was not the only one affected this way too. The same blogger from above put it this way:

“The next morning after watching this movie, I woke up and watched the Packer game, and realized how regardless of Idiocracy’s exagerrated ridiculousness, we may not be that far off from such a world if we’re not careful. Watching a football game is an endless string of sponsors (Coors Light NFL on Fox, sponsored by ______, ________, and the official sponsor of _______) and advertising plugs, of which I can’t even remember. There was an official beer of the NFL, an official car, everything! Somehow in real life, it wasn’t as funny.”

I read this article today about this year’s top interet searches and it made me think about it in a similar way. We live in ridiculous times ladies and gentlemen.

The peculiar thing about this movie is the way 20 Century Fox handled its release. You be the judge, watch the movie, its message is powerful in my opinion. I’d say Fox would have “reasons” to not want to support the release of this movie- by contract they were obligated to release it however.

Listen to this NPR piece on Idiocracy. Go rent it now, but don’t watch the trailer, it is a dumbed-down version of the movie.

This is one of those events where you see everyone you have ever met in San Francisco who is or has ever been involved in underground music in any significant form. I saw mad heads including my man Alvaro, who decided to ‘retire’ from doing turntable repair jobs. I think he might be the only person in the Bay Area who knows how to fix and calibrate any tone arm. He undermines how valuable this skill set is.

Regardless, this party was one to not miss. Here are a few more pictures:

A slick fella in a black leather jacket pulls up roaring some deep soul track in a custom designed colorfully lit bicycle with powerful sub woofers in hand crafted detailed fenders. (Please bare with the phone camera pics) He parked his bike, met a friend, shook some hands, meanwhile a dance frenzy stirred up around his bike, in no time there was a party halfway onto the corner of 22nd and Bartlett. The tipsy crowd became infected by the thumping break beats that this dude’s sick bike provided. So many ladies were dancing.

Meet Paul Freeman. Inventor, bike enthusiast, and owner of Rock The Bike knows how to rock a party like white hip hop star. He has game. He designs bicycles with great intentions and goals. For example, he designed and produced a unique “convertible” bike seat system that allows riders to ride in 4 different positions. You can ride it like a chopper or haul ass in a stand up position so you can get to work quick like me.

One of Paul’s great missions is to educate people on the coolness of riding a bike to music. It’s lovely. Paul offers weekly community rides with the music blaring about town. He is poised to transform bike culture and enthusiasm by showing people first hand how much better it is to ride to music blasting. I would personally love to blast deep sexy baseline driven beats on my way to work every morning.

This street party went on for over 2 hours strong without letting up. Paul had a microphone on his bike which turned the music set into a live performance by Paul and other ‘rappers’. The dancing, hootin’ and hollering were out of control fun. It was an evening to remember. When in the neighborhood of 22nd and Bartlett, keep your eye our for the dude on the music bike.

When the police rolled up curiously at the flash dancing mob the first time, the music automatically shut off and everyone stopped dancing and pretended to anxiously wait for a bus. The creator of this spectacle rigged the bus stop with a mini sound and laser light system that was remote controlled. It was semi concealed in the upper-inner vestibule area of the canopy. The crowd ranged from the typical hipster fixed gear dude, your 60’s hippie still on acid, the random homeless guy, the cute working girl types, the usual emo-hipster chick, and your classic geeky types who got off on discussing chemical reactions at the bus stop.

I was interviewed by this girl who wondered what I thought of this bus stop flash mob action. I told her that I thought this was an evolution of the urban public space remixing culture. This bus stop temporarily had a different purpose from its everyday purpose and use. It was now a mash up bus stop/rave party. There were even underground party fliers on the ground from promoters who targeted this motley street dancing crew.

The urban public space remix concept is well explored by my friends Matt and John B, who on this same day had their annual Park(ing) day. Let me first disclose to you that these guys are pranksters at heart and they treat their work in a scientific manner. Park(ing), in case you have not heard, is paying for parking spot, and turning it into a mini park. It’s yours, you paid for it, you don’t have to necessarily park a car in it. Instead you can put park bench and some grass, read the paper why not? Hence, park(ing). Clever. There has been so much written on them already, but check out their other work. Unfortunately I was not able to make it park(ing) this year.

Eventually the cops curiosity amounted and they hung around the corner for a while trying to figure out the mob. They did not once realize that the structure was rigged with a sound and light system. After the crowd broke up a little bit, this guy displayed some strong feelings about it.

The beats came back and the party started up again with lower numbers but just as much energy.

The night started with twisted deeper techie cuts that preserved the original Chicago house hat hit that sets the mood. It progressed smoothly into deeper bass grooves with asynchronous clack-like sounds that teetered yet maintained funk. House head bopping was inevitable. I went with my deep homie ‘Mole’ with whom I first discovered Cajual Records back in 1992. He went on to being a deep hippie in the woods of Montana with a ZZ top beard. But on this particular night ‘Mole’ was throwing down some house jakin’ dance moves in his hometown of Chicago to the sounds of Cajmere. It was great to see, we both went back to the basics.

Dajae, the original Diva of Cajual Records came out and did all the greats “U Got Me Up” and “Brighter Days” included. It felt good to hear the Windy City sing along to the lyrics. Groovy! here is another horrible picture (I’ll get a camera soon):

Anyway, it was dark, I used my phone. Please cut me some slack.. I know the picture quality sucks.

As you can expect U Got Me up made the crowd loose their shit, but even more so was when we all heard the undeniable funky beginning beats of the “The Percolator”. Wow! Chicago, thank you for representing for your own sake. It was fucking great to see the love Cajmere get out there and actually perform the percolator live with a microphone in his hand. He actually showed us what the percolator dance looks like. Feast your eyes on yet another crappy phone camera picture. Here is a glimpse of Cajmere dancing the Percolator:

The guy to his right is one of his new artists whose name I can’t recall. After this apex moment, Cajmere took back the decks and continued to dj for another 2 hours. He stayed true to himself and played some of that ultra hard techno which he produces frequently under the alias Green Velvet. Personally speaking, another large highlight for me was when he dropped Plastikman’s ‘Spastik’ and Chicago welcomed it hootin’ n’ hollerin and jakin’ to it. I personally live between Chicago, Detroit, and Berlin as my favorite music epicenters so this was a special moment for me. Here is a picture taken at the moment he was playing it:

I ran into my old friend Tim Baker, founder of Elephanthaus Records, Detroit. He ran an early techno operation that spawned the Ann Arbor to Detroit techno contingency in the early 90’s. An old school head, great to see and catch up with. Another great surprise was seeing and hanging with yet another important Detroiter, Brian Gillespie whom I had the pleasure of knowing and rubbing shoulders with back in my party throwing days in Ann Arbor/Detroit.

I was happy to go home with this great auto graphed souvenir by Cajmere. I plan on framing it.

quick prop delivery and a picture with Cajmere. Good times. Back in San Francisco now.

Here is Brian in front of Galoppierende Zuversich, manning the sound board.

Galoppierende Zuversicht translates roughly to ‘Galloping Confidently’ in English. At times I would look around the room and see people loose their shit dancing. I was one of them of course. During the show their name became apparent. These guys can keep this techno train rolling once they press ’start’ with out failiure, very confident indeed. Their system is set up so that it is actually hard to fail. They can drop beats from any of their synths and keep their rhythm rocking the room with no problem at all! Effortlessly.

How can I describe this in words: the music as a whole sounded like the natural cosmic flux falling in love with itself and creating strings and baselines that defined the meaning of love with every beat and measure. On top of some nasty sick ass beats of course. I don’t really know where these guys came from, they say Switzerland, but I think it is more like another planet from far far away.

No laptops, just good ole’ analog sound gear…..1,2,3 blast off into space with Galoppierende Zuversicht.

Here is my with one half of the group, Styro2000. Meeting this man made me believe in extraterrestrial life by the way.

I would also like to mention that eventhough I gathered no pictures of anything else but the group doing their thang, this party by far had the most attractive women I have ever seen at a techno party, but I have no pictures to prove it. I guess good looking women do like real techno. It is like finding a diamond in the rough.

Of course, this was taken after the group was done and walked away from their gear:

Eventually owning this sleeping bag should should pay off big in someway or another. Give shelter to a homeless person, assist in an emergency child birth, or meet a future wife this way. This sleeping bag could easily fit a small family. Here is the testament.

Am I exaggerating? Is this not a Big ASS Sleeping bag??

At least once a summer they also take place at McLaren Park in the southern part of San Francisco. The picture below is witness to this local San Francisco outdoor house music moment.

This picture was taken during the very early part of the day. The sunlight gave a cool effect.

The creators of the Sunset Parties are three guys: Galen, Solar, and J-Bird – all great dj’s. They are regulars at most respected events on any given San Francisco weekend. Cool dudes.

A memorable Sunset Party moment for me was watching dj Miles Maeda perform a top shelf dj set during a summer 05 event. The crowd was so captivated by his calculated funky syncopated rhythms, while dancing under sky and the trees above, lit by the disco ball points. Go West Coast Go!

Thank you sunset guys for doing this service to humanity. I had a good revelation about Galen, Solar, and J-Bird after a McClaren Park Sunset Party in 2006. My friend and I hung around till the very end of that party. Next thing we knew, it was just Galen, Solar and J-Bird, cleaning up every remaining cigarette butt from the grounds. The same dudes who started this whole thing. Who else I guess, but it was still cool to witness the devotion to the party.

Naturally my friend and I started helping out. It was hard work. A lot of bending over and lifting motions including the very heavy equipment loading into a van. For these guys, this part of job happened after managing an 8 hour party and setting up early. These men have been doing this for 10 years plus purely for the love of music. They are not getting paid to do this. Come on, is that not something to appreciate?

more pictures from the other day.

above: from behind the decks, earlier in the day.

below: girl with a sunshine groove.

This last one was taken and messaged to me on my friend’s iphone. It does no look good expanded.

We found it rather amusing. I cared enough to show you.

I wonder what else was going through the person’s mind who overlooked this.

The last man/woman in charge of making sure these specific mistakes don’t happen that is.