AFREAKA! WITH DEEJAY OM

AFREAKA!

IS AT THE ATTIC ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10!

AFREAKA! IS A MIX OF PSYCHEDELIA FROM AROUND THE GLOBE INCLUDING MUSIC FROM INDIA, TURKEY, BRAZIL, AFRICA, JAMAICA, AND RIGHT HERE IN THE U.S. OF A. HOSTED BY ME.



GUEST DEEJAY OM WILL BE DUSTING OFF SOME CRAZY SHIT HE HAS IN HIS CRATES FOR YOU!




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http://www.myspace.com/deejayom



OM HAS BEEN DJING, PRODUCING AND SELLING RECORDS FOR MANY YEARS IN THE BAY AREA. HE HAS SOLD/TRADED RECORDS TO DJS INCLUDING JAZZMAN GERALD, DJ SHADOW, CUT CHEMIST, KEB DARGE, EGON OF STONES THROW, ETC. AND HAS PLAYED ALONGSIDE ACTS SUCH AS MADLIB, FLYING LOTUS, THE GZA, AND PHARCYDE.







PLUS AFREAKA! IS COMPLETELY FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!






THE ATTIC IS ON 24TH ST.
BETWEEN VALENCIA AND MISSION!

DON'T MISS THIS!

El Topo.

Finally saw El Topo the other night. I liked the film substantially more that Alejandro Jodorowsky's other famous film The Holy Mountain. There was actually a plot line to follow in El Topo and although The Holy Mountain is an amazing film, it is hard to watch in its entirety. The most amazing thing about The Holy Mountain for me is the fact that so many people were able to collaborate on a production with such a far-out vision. It made more sense when I found out that John Lennon and Yoko Ono helped fund The Holy Mountain after their amazement of El Topo.

Check the films out for yourself and hit me up with some comments. Y'all be strugglin' on posting some feedback. Let me know you're feeling the realness!!!

Return of the MAK.

Back in action and ready to present a post from some of the highlights of the past couple weeks in my life. So here we go...

Our main homey from BK, DJ Concerned, was in town staying with me and Oz for fucking ever, 10 days or some shit, but I'd be lying to say I didn't love every minute of it. Constant entertainment, seriously you need to hit him up for stories including him making people cry and setting the record for most burritos consumed during one stay.

Here he is rocking our weekly Thursday party called Discos Fuentes at Skylark in the Mission.



Kung Fu Chris laying down some funky wax. In case you didn't know, KFC is one of the funkiest cats in the Bay Area. Besides sharing two weeklies with yours truly, he holds down the low end (bass) for Raw Deluxe (betta ask somebody).



Afterward we rocked it at our place as usual. The combo of Toph, Kung Fu Chris and Concerned had me rolling. Funny characters for sure.









Classic times indeed.

Here we are getting down on some Thai, the one meal of Concerned's that wasn't a burrito.



Kicking it at the house with Concerned and Phil Money before the Kraak and Smaak show.



DJ Smash came through as well.



Kraak and Smaak was pretty dope but I wasn't blown away or anything. They definitely had a couple songs I wasn't feelin'.



The show was completely sold out at the Independent though.





On Sunday I got to see a really interesting show at Amoeba. Rodriguez was playing on Sunday night at the Great American Music Hall, so he performed a free show that day.

If you aren't familar with Rodriguez (as most people weren't until Light in the Attic reissued his psych-folk-rock classic) he is a musician who was recently discovered living in Detroit unaware that his 1969 album Cold Fact had become a digger's rare gem. So thanks to Light in the Attic, he is now playing shows again and promoting the reissue of his classic album.

Check the track Sugar Man.







Later that day, I had an truly epic time at Revolution Cafe. Revolution is an absolute staple of the bohemian vibe of the Mission District.







On Sunday evenings they host free live classical music. It is an unbelievable experience. Truly beautiful and a great way to just sit and reflect on life. So, I spaced out and worked on my origami skills with quasi-orchestral accompaniment.



Last night was my weekly Spliff Sessions party that goes down every Monday night at Tunnel Top. I'm really, really dig playing this party. It is cool to just feel out the vibe and dust off some records I don't get to play very often. I've been known to rock a set with everything from Mulatu Astatke to 2 Live Crew, from Lennie Hibbert to Gangstarr, Ersen to S.O.S. Band, and on and on. Come experience a Spliff Session for yourself. I promise you will dig the vibe.





Plus, there happens to be a ton of hostels around Tunnel Top that provide an influx of young Euro talent (non-gender specific reference to "talent", of course).



Plus, who wouldn't want to come show this guy some love?



Cuz I certainly could use some love these days! Shit is rough, but remember love is all we need.

Be well people.

Until next time...

Juke Joint 11.13.08

Last night was my first time throwing down a set at the Juke Joint weekly party in Sebastopol, CA. (About an hour north of San Francisco). The party was quite bangin'. My homey DJ Malarkey books some amazing DJing and musicians. Next month he will be welcoming Turntables on the Hudson (Nickodemus, Zeb, etc.) and past guests have included the Pimps of Joytime and Fort Knox Five. So although Sebastopol might be just a small town in Northern California, Malarkey is booking some world class acts.

Chango B warming things up.



DJing alongside me last night as the headliner was this cool cat from Vancouver called Wicked Lester. His sets are entirely comprised of 45s.







Kicking it with DJ I&I.













They are definitely doing some good things up north. Check it out for yourself sometime soon. Every Thursday night.

Wild Combination.

"This was a guy who could sit down with a cello and sing with it in a way that no one on this earth has ever done before, or will ever do so again."
-Philip Glass on Arthur Russell.

Last night, I saw Matt Wolf's documentary on Arthur Russell at the Roxie. It was done better than I could have imagined. Wolf paints a truly touching story of the life of Arthur Russell with some amazing footage and interviews with those closest to him. What really made the film so impressive was that you did not have to be a fan of Russell or even know anything about the artist to appreciate the story of his life as told through the film. The interviews with his parents and his partner were extremely emotional and beautiful. I highly recommend seeing this film, for I promise it will both touch and inspire you in a way few films can.

For more information on Arthur Russell, check out the article in Waxpoetics issue 23 with interviews from Francois Kevorkian and Bob Blank.

The new pad.

Just relocated in SF and I am quite stoked on the move. My room is quite a bit smaller but I've got huge place with some amazing new roommates and a back yard (WHAT WHAT!). So my room is far from organized but I've been listening to some new and old records today and just kickin' it.



I've been taking advantage of my new roommate Señor Oz's record collection. You may have heard of his weekly Afro-funk party on Thursday's at the Elbo Room called Afrolicious that he does with his younger brother Pleasuremaker.

So I drank heaps of coffee and danced the robot to this...



The back cover...



...as any close friend should do.



Other records of his I was diggin on include Bohannon's 1975 LP Insides Out.



So tonight Tunnel Top is going to be quite bangin'. Hope to see you down there.

The new lineup.



I've got some other dope stuff going on this week too.

Kung Fu Chris and I just started a dope new Thursday night party in the Mission that is free every week. It is called Discos Fuentes. Discos Fuentes is your source of latin funk, soul, reggae and hip-hop. Held every Thursday at Skylark (16th and Mission). Come say what up and I'll even buy you a drink (seriously).



I am actually not going to be there this Thursday Nov. 13th however because I'm heading up to Sebastopol (North of SF) for this dope little weekly.



So taking my spot alongside Kung Fu Chris is gonna be this man...



That would be Toph One from XLR8R magazine's Lucky 13 column and his 10 year long running Red Wine party Wednesday nights at Dalva.

Also this Friday...



Kung Fu and I hold down Fo Sho! Fridays every second Friday at Madrone. Always a good time.

So tons of good things going on. Hope to see your beautiful face soon!

No more wars...

Timmy, you do it to me every time.

Timmy Thomas "Why Can't We Live Together" (1972)

Halloween Weekend in NYC

New York, New York. Feels damn good to be back in the big city. SF is feeling a little small these days. So, I arrived in NYC last Thursday night after an extremely long day of traveling with a connecting flight in Austin, TX of all places. I was on about 45 minutes of sleep after my Afreaka! gig last Wednesday at the Attic so I was pretty much passed out the majority of my two flights.

My whole time in NY I was staying in Williamsburg which is one of the more convenient locations I've stayed in NY, just one stop from lower Manhattan on the L train.



This is one of the cooler pieces I've seen in a little while. The painting of the tiles so it looks pixelated a la Pacman is extremely creative. Diggin' it.



Other dope artwork in the hood.



DUMBO neighborhood in Brooklyn. I'm not too crazy about all of the work of this Neck Face character but he certainly knows where to drop a tag to be seen. Pretty crazy shit.



Brooklyn Bridge.





I got on a float for the Halloween parade. Shit was bananas.

What was I dressed up as you ask?



You guessed it, a coked up American Apparel model. (P.S. This is flour and MAKossa doesn't roll like that.)

Gettin' all tatted up. That sharpie hurt like a mothafucka.













Our float had a decent funk band on it dressed up as the muppets. Animal on the kit of coarse. Ali G grabbed the mic for a minute.





There were a shit load of people out.



There were definitely some damn good costumes in the mix.

This was hands down the best zombie I've ever seen. Check the colored contacts.



I also really liked this costume. Every year apparently a group of bikers dress up as E.T. and the boy on the bike. This year someone also had Gizmo on a scooter.



This dude was loving being the devil.

(By the way, I just found out in the new Waxpoetics that Grant Green had a dog named Satan, I didn't think it was possible but I now love him even more.)



Later we stopped by a house party that was not too exciting with mostly boring costumes but we made the most of it.





Saturday I kicked it in Central Park. It goes without saying how effing beautiful the park is in the fall.







Saturday night I saw one of the craziest shows I've ever seen in my life. It is called Fuerza Bruta and I'm not going to even attempt to explain it too you. Just peep some of these photos I took and check it out for yourself.





Sunday was the NYC Marathon which was unbelievable. I saw a blind man running it as well as a man with only one leg. People are fucking amazing!



Little dude was killing on the kit while the runners passed through Williamsburg.



Later that afternoon I kicked it in Park Slope for a while before my gig at Rose in Williamsburg.





















So my flight home was in the evening on Tuesday, Nov. 4. The whole flight I was scared as hell that McCain was somehow going to pull off a win despite being the underdog. Sometimes you just never know what can happen especially when there is such a high chance of some shady shit was being pulled.

So halfway through the flight, the flight attendant announced the Obama victory. A couple loud cheers erupted from within the plane. I have never wanted to hug someone so badly in my life. Unable to do so as I was traveling on the solo and I found myself next to an older couple of an ambiguous political stance, I couldn't contain my happiness. Close to tears, I smiled brightly as I knew the the horrific Bush era was finally over.

As I arrived in San Francisco, I took the BART directly to the mission district to meet with some friends to celebrate the Obama victory. As soon as I got off the BART, I couldn't believe how many people where out in the streets celebrating. People were openly drinking tallboys and dancing to drum circles everywhere in the streets.



It was fucking unbelievable. People were so happy. It was truly beautiful.

Pleasuremaker even busted out a stogie!









Tuesday night was my happiest moment of my life as an American citizen. I am truly proud to be an American again. We will once again gain the respect from around the world that was taken from us by the Bush administration.



Althought I believe Obama is going to be the best president our nation has seen in decades, our country is not going to just fix itself. We need to work together to make this happen. It isn't going to be easy, but with hard work and a new hope for the future in President Barack Obama we will bring ourselves out of this tough economic crisis and end the wars in Iraq and Afganistan.

The world just got a lot better.

Congratulations America from a very peaceloving and patriotic DJ MAKossa.