Notes from a Friend's Town

1. Prof. Gates' s ordeal & President Obama's remarks following it should be a lesson to America's citizenry, old & young alike. It's all in your best interest to comply with the police in any interaction. I'm sure Prof. Gates has heard enough Driving while Black stories to know better. I'm not encouraging a blind to police brutality & the abuse of power that often comes with a badge but you don't threaten an officer with paper work that won't be filed until the next day as he stands in a position of power over you that night. As my mother would say " Pick your battles wisely, son." 2. How can I fault you when I've done the same thing? 3. I'm way too excited about this trip & I haven't even firmed up the details & bought the ticket yet. There's a child like joy I've immediately associated with this entire endeavor, although I've no qualms with declaring my membership in the card carrying world of gr...

Just a few tracks for all of your sun filled festivities We Fight, We Love - Q Tip Run to the Sun - N.E.R.D. Unexpecetd Delight - Flying Lotus Mr. Moon - Jamiroquai Gobstopper - J Dilla Venus 2 Mars - J*Davey Skyscrapper - Ben Keney Juice - Drake Let's Call it Off - Peter Bjorn & John Restless - Unkle Come Tommorow - Van Hunt Telephone - Erykah Badu Hearbreak Hotel - Jackson 5 Montego Bay Spleen - St. Germain In the Space - Janko Nilovic Accident - TV on the Radio

(this bus can't be for the Kindergarderner's?) In the interest of encouraging an engaging discussion on what the nature of the boundaries of a society are I've put together a brief list of arguments that beyond a shadow of a doubt, can not be won in my presence. Ladies & Gents, grab your legal pads and commence your deconstructions. 1 . Any argument in defense of selling crack, heroin, meth, etc. Let's face it, there's no justification for having your hands in this sector of the black market. The jury is still out on guns, natural resources, & plasma TVs 2 . On refusing to adhere to basic tenets of personal hygiene while working/existing in close contact with the majority of the population Clearly a pass is given to the homeless , whose life's circumstance prevent such personal upkeep from occurring. Hippies, Anarchists, jam banders etc have nooo excus e 3 . The sale of children in impoverished countries to those rich enough to make charitable cont...

In all of my travels, it remains one of my most enjoyable experiences to look down out the window of the plane, like a kid on his first airplane ride, at dusk on communities of various sizes as the sun settles below the western horizon. The main arteries through the town are often wide winding lines of greenish white light with smaller orange streets attached to them like pieces of spaghetti left on the plate as the meatballs have been devoured in a greasy tomato sauced mess. I’ve only started flying with some degree of regularity since two thousand six, the aftermath of Katrina providing an all too familiar back drop for many drastic changes. Its not that I was reluctant to traveling prior to the mass evacuation whose effects are still being studied by NTSB, it was this unfamiliar release, like my mind, body, and soul all exhaled at once as my eyes were forced to look upon an unfamiliar land and assess its potential to become the new home of my family’s future. It wasn’t until I m...

1. I enjoy Michael Jackson's music as much as the next person but the marathons & streaming updates about the execution of his last will & testament are too much. I'm sure there's some questionable foreign policy decisions being made right now but they won't hit the news until after his funeral. 2. I've no issue or latent grudge with you. There's merely nothing resembling a conversation forming when I scroll over your number in my phone. 3. Swagger(a) & all its etymological relatives have no place in the daily vocabulary of anyone whose daily agenda involves them presenting a professional image in any of it's varying degrees. 4. I'm considering moving to Italy & becoming a cobbler. I'll keep you posted on how that develops. 5. In light of the future arrival of God child #2 & the pseudo science of gender prediction based on the behavior of the father, which is giving us a 80% chance of a baby girl. I feel encouraged to make vo...