Last Friday, at Oakland’s amazing Eastside Arts Alliance, I was among the many sardined bodies packed into the space to watch Mountains that Take Wing, a documentary about two two seminal figures in American activism, Angela Davis and Yuri Kochiyama.
For folks that are unaware of the contributions made by these powerful womyn of color, please school yourself.
Watching and hearing Yuri and Angela reflect on 90+ years of activism grounded myself back to the importance of serving the people and not getting burned out. Discussions about life, struggles, and the evolving social landscape throughout the decades was profound to see.
The night of the show, both individuals were present, but Yuri had to leave early because she was feeling under the weather. This brought me back to reality knowing that two individuals that I hold highly are immortal and that it is even more important now to hear their personal narratives so as to offer the younger generations insight and perspective.
Listening to podcasts alleviates the pain and mundane experience working as a temp office monkey. A daily dose of Fresh Air, How Stuff Works, Marathon Training Academy, Talk of the Nation, Ring Theory and Sherdog provides a decent mixture of current affairs, useless knowledge, health, and some sense of masculine validation.
With the drama surrounding the racially charged elements of Arizona’s SB 1070, it was without coincidence that a caller into Sherdog’s Savage Dog Show would have made a comment pertaining to a certain tattoo on the chest of the next contender for UFC’s heavyweight title. The caller took on a typical “reverse racism” angle by saying that the “Brown Pride” tat on Cain Velasquez would never fly if were it a Caucasian fighter with a “White Pride” tat.
Interestingly enough, “Hawaiian Sovereignty” shirt-wearing BJ Penn’s [1] site has a video with Cain discussing the importance of La Raza as a Mexican-American living in Califaztlan.
“For everything my parents did to come over to this country, all the hardships they had to take, crossing the border. Brown pride when we were growing up man, Mexican pride it’s just something we would say to feel proud about where we came from…Another reason I got it was because growing up I had no one to look up to, there was nobody that was my size, that was Mexican, that looked like me, that I could see in the media…Now I’m in that position I put “Brown Pride” on my chest to let people know I’m Mexican, I’m proud to be Mexican, I’m doing good things.”
Having parents who came to America undocumented and having earned his college wrestling chops in Arizona, Cain’s voice would be great to hear in the immigration discourse. Searching the internet for any sign of the Salinas, CA native discussing SB 1070 turns up nothing. With the middle America audience that Dana White tries to reach through UFC, one is tempted to question whether or not Cain’s political voice has been silenced so as not to attract “controversy”. With a strong personal connection to issues of immigration, I hope this isn’t the case.
If you know don’t know about this spirited Filipino and African American wonder from the ‘Moe (and even if you do), listen to it and watch the mentioned performance at the 2008 Pioneer Awards where she showed that she’s still live and filled with energy into her 70s.
My clandestine source of power (dubbed B-boy VHS tapes from the early 90’s) and one of the earliest influences to mine and many B-boys I hold in high regards styles’. Early european B-boys brought to the game a new level of finesse and power never seen in such great balance. Like most will attest to in the clip, game recognize game and these fellas are looking mighty familiar.
It’s that time of year once again! This Daly City b-boy jam started back when I was in high school and it’s still going strong into the 2K10 era. Throughout the years the event has seen it fair share of changes, just as the aesthetics of the War Memorial they decide to hold it in. But still always representing that Daly City youth, Breakers at War has grown to mean something special to the community that it represents. ALL proceeds will be going to support Daly City After School Programs.
Come out to the War Memorial at Top of the Hill Daly City/Mission this Saturday and watch some b-boys get down and battle it out. Along with that there are going to be some very special showcases: DJ Swiftrock, Doc Lock, Donny Boogaloo and the list goes on. Have some food, be entertained and then go ahead and have you some good ol’ hip-hop fun.
So I’ve been, like, the huuuuugest Leo fan since Titanic (who hasn’t?), but I have to admit: Inception was just okay. Instead, check out this short flick entitled “Laser Tag” which tells the story of former NASA contracted, new media graffiti engineers whose art-technology rehabilitate creative life back to a pioneering LA graffiti artist.
“Anyone who supports Johannes and our Law Enforcement Officers may attend. This is a PEACEFUL rally to show our support for Johannes, his family, and our law enforcement officers. This was a tragic mistake that occurred while on active duty.”
Three words, FUCK OUTTA HERE. In light of everything happening with the Oscar Grant trials, leave it up to the folks of Claycord(Concord, Clayton, Walnut Creek, Martinez and Pleasant Hill. Notice NO PITTSBURG however.) to engage in cowardice counter protest.
I say cowardice because instead of rallying in support of their supposed victim in places that would matter, such as Fruitvale BART or Downtown Oakland, they instead decide to rally in Downtown Walnut Creek. The set date is for Monday July 19th. As if the socioeconomic and racial undertones weren’t apparent enough. The only thing that would really interest me in all this would be the counter-counter protest.
I had the opportunity to give this album a good listen during my brief stint in the Motherland. The Gobots 2: D-boy Era is an amalgamation of what you’d kind of expect in Bay Area post-hyphy rap.
It’s packin’ heavy bass, 80’s based melodies and samples with your expected subject matter consisting of trappin’, getting work off, and D-boy bidness. Of course that’s three ways of saying the same thing, which is exactly what you’ll be hearing in every song.
At the very least, with song titles such as “Play at Your Own Risk”, it’s not hard to tell that this album doesn’t take itself too seriously and neither should you. Some of the featured artists that caught my ear were Dru Down, Freeway, Yuk and of course my favorite, HUSALAH HUS (shout-outs to P-world)!
In all, Gobots 2 gets major play in my whip for the summer. Then again I’m a B-boy from Pittsburg with a thing for 80’s beats and one of the few folks I know still mobbin’ a ‘96 Buick Regal.
