Diggin on a budget in NYC .:May 16 09:.
So I am here in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York City staying and taking in a city that I have always wondered about but never visited. 
Yesterday I walked through Brooklyn Heights down to Ft. Greene and areas between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges; two days ago I traveled by foot through the Lower East Side through Little Italy into Soho (South of Houston St.) into the West Village. I stumbled upon a record store with dollar records.
Making new friends and feeling at home...
Pictures by Jen Verducci
I am having a good time out here and wish I didn't have to leave next week. By the way I was checking out the local radio shows on 105.1 with Ed Lover Friday Morning Mix, Hot 97 Mr. Seize(sp) Throwback at Noon and listening to Funk Master Flex talk a bunch of garbage over his mix last night; I WISH we had some kinda flava like that on the radio stations in San Diego. Anyways I will have more to say when I get back, peace from the BK son!!! Existence76
Ethics for Crate Digging .:May 04 09:.
I was doing some crate digging research on Sunday in the neighborhood and it dawned on me that there is an unspoken code of how to dig records...I was looking through a 'fresh' crate that had just been brought out for the public and was looking through it with some female friends when an older lady came up and started looking through the pile that I had been setting aside for evaluation. I told her that this was a pile I was previewing and she got a bit huffy and then pushed into the crate I was looking at. Now we all know that sharing is a value instilled in all of us since early youth but when it comes to sharing a crate with a stranger it can be awkward and probably considered rude to make that your imperative. Now my situation was that I was 2/3 of the way done looking through the crate and this older lady starts digging in rather intensely. I blew it off as whatever because my drive to find records is not as intense as it was in my past, but I could tell my female friends were ready to pounce on her. In the end we all scored well and we left happy.
But it got me thinking about crate digging interaction and I noticed a bunch of things that the older lady did wrong.
1. Being perceptive Survey the situation: Is the crate up for grabs? Is there anyone looking at the crate? Do the records seem accessible or should you wait until people are done looking?(Sometimes there are so many crates or records that physically there is space for a lot of people).
2. Courtesy We all know that crate digging is likened to a race or a battle from time to time but is it worth possibly being rude by undermining others in your pursuit? Do you really need to get so close to another person to find what you are looking for? Once again in the past I may have pushed my way into finding things regardless but it seems a bit over-the-top nowadays.
3. Mentality Rethink why finding music is so important. In this day and age of Serato music is much more accessible on analog and digitally; the information is out there with a little research. Unless your JOB is to resell vinyl records(I only know a handful of people who only do this for a living) the intensity to find good music should be tempered. I will admit it can be a huge adrenaline rush and very satisfying to find selections but realize that there are vast amounts of other people trying to do the same thing and alienation is a short sided goal.
Well anyway peace from a good weekend of crate digging, don't stop looking for those gems...
BeatDiggers!!!! .:Apr 01 09:.
Had to add a little bit to Jo_ills blog about sampling, with some of my favorite NYC producers with the Lyricist Lounge cameoing. In our Serato age we still have the ability to use technology and be fundamentally sound DJs and Producers by doing the knowledge, which in my opinion REQUIRES some participation in the digging realm. In other words don't just plug in your computer and download, go out and get dirty finding it.
Bay Trip 08, Bay Trip 09 and others .:Mar 20 09:.
On a mission
Red C Lounge
Dope Djs and some dude with a brown hat
Joels former living setup in Union City '08
Hotel for the weary '08
In the parking lot BEFORE I forgot my tickets '08
TruSkool @ Twelvez
After digging in Berkley '09
Outside of the Design competition '09
Kidragon @ the Elbo Room '09
More Flicks .:Feb 24 09:.
I don't want to be boring so I am gonna give a one line about each of these movies I recently watched:
Sukiyaki Western Django
If Sergio Leone and Akira Kurosawa had a violent/emo thought child that Quentin Tarantino reluctantly would babysit on occasion; think Yojimbo and Fistful of Dollars being combined into one final showdown and the participants are the spawn of six-shooting samurai.
Sukiyaki Western Django
Bustin' Down the Door
If you are interested in documentaries on cultural movements and like the ocean.
Bustin' Down The Door
Slumdog Millionaire
If you could have your life story told through questions leading to a million dollars; its time that Indian Cinema was known outside of the biggest continent.
2009 Academy Award Winner Best Picture
Miracle at St. Anna
I try to watch any Spike Lee flick; a tragic WWII flick with Italian Realism homage.
Miracle at St. Anna
I am anxious to see this flick:
EX76
Small Actions Can Facilitate Change: The Versus Store .:Jan 31 09:.
I met this dude a while ago at a downtown pad off Broadway Street who was kinda loud and overly excited, two things that I usually attribute to people who are fronting. As a usually defensive person towards that behavior I thought this loud guy was especially fraudulent when he showed me his self titled CD. I introduced my CD, Hate Your Way to Harmony: An American Criticism, and we put mine on and he was really excited about some of the instrumental tracks. 
I was a little skeptical of the guy after I left that night but thought he was harmless. Over the next year Dulok Shaman and I had some correspondence about collaboration and all of my prejudgments subsided; he was willing to collaborate and work hard at it which in my book were a bigger sense of character than anything else. Dulok is a good dude. So after some time he put some lyrics on a track from my album that I thought was nice and had a strong vibe, something we were both feeling. Us vs. Them was born. He called me one day not too long after completing the track and asked me if he could lace it in honor of the Versus Store in Temecula which sells nice clothing dedicated to an urban lifestyle. I thought it was a good idea and gave it my blessing. In August of 2007 I get a call from Dulok asking me attend a video shoot for the store for the song along complete with many heads from SD and the Inland Empire. The video got a lot of reaction and became an anthem for many which was beyond any expectations I ever had for making the track(with the help of my homie NoS LeRatZ from the Bay, Big Ups!!!).
Fast forward to this year 2009, I went with DJ Argonaut to the Agenda
Trade Show in downtown San Diego which showcases independent clothing
lines and kept peeping orange stickers with familiar font that I have
seen associated with the Versus Store in Temecula which read 'Us vs.
Them'. In fact the bottom line is that the Versus Store had changed the
name of their design to Us vs. Them, which blew me away. Even though I
had no exact input on the decision making for the change, our song had
made an influence on a whole style and the nomenclature of a line of
clothing. So next time you think that your creativity, no matter how
insignificant you may think it is, cannot be influential, think again.
