I am... THE BAR MONITOR

My best friend Chris asked me if I wanted to make some extra money on a Saturday night. It involved monitoring bartenders at the Roxy club, making sure they asked the clubgoers for the wristbands that authorized them to buy drinks. I would only stay there and watch them for 4 hours. $80 easy; I said yes. I was assigned there by Chris's friend Lonnie who hired the monitors. If things went well, I could see myself doing this sort of thing every Saturday night. Hopefully though, it won't be at The Roxy... because every Saturday night is gay night.

The bartenders were mostly guys & mostly straight (that I knew of). There were two bars - one in the front and in the back. I monitored with this cool guy named Ross and he oriented me with how to carry out the job. He took the front bar which was busier with about five/six bartenders. I hung in the back with two - Julio & Luis (both straight). They were cool too, making me feel welcome while we cracked gay jokes for most of my time there. They told me about how a good number of all male dancers out there, especially the ones at Roxy that night, are straight also. They definately made alot of money, we all agreed, but there was no way any of us would do it unless it involved an obscene amount of money.

J & J had to feel some of that heat due to them having to work shirtless. It was mandatory after midnight. They felt glad of their barstand acting as a barrier, as Julio told me. If it wasn't for that, they would feel those hands on them through the night. I then told them that as no one would catch me dead as a dancer (I don't even have the body for it), I wouldn't be caught dead participating in a two-guys-on-one-girl deal. Don't like the idea of "crossing swords" (as it was said in an episode of Entourage). They said that, while with a girl, they don't want a guy tripping off any of their five senses. We all laughed.

There were girls there, as you'ld expect - they come with the homos (I use that word as a term of endearment). They come to dance & not to have straight men bother them, we all assume, but J & J tell me these girls just don't want the straights to overwhelm them. But it's alright when you're one of the only straights with a shitload of complimentary drink tickets. And it also doesn't hurt when you can take your shirt off like these bartenders can. Those tickets can get you pretty damn far when you have the connections to get them. You should see what Chris can do with his.

Before we left Roxy, Ross told me he got hit on by two of the male patrons as he stood at the busier barstand, next to the dancehall entrance in the middle of all that incoming/outgoing traffic. Fortunately, I didn't get hit on by the men. Unfortunately, I didn't get hit on by any of the women either. An interesting night, nevertheless.

I'll get paid this Friday.

i phoned it in

but im only allowed 160 characters on this cell. thats some bullshit. i really need that treo.

Appendage to February 12th

I got into it with a group of bible thumpers criticizing this article Abortion is Not a Sin, by Miss Poppy, expressing the idea that the soul, at birth, enters the body upon first breath. I held that view for some time before finding this article with its comment section. Others had found it first and started attacking. I jumped in there to stretch my debating legs, but I knew what I was about to get into before I even saw all the replies. But if I know anything, it's how to put up a good fight... especially when I'm RIGHT!

But after a while, I got tired of quoting the Bible (I suprised myself throughout at what I could find and support myself with on the little exposure I've had in my life compared with how much material the usual practitioner goes through). What follows is my last response made on the 14th, where I told them that I couldn't take them seriously and why.

as out of touch with God as you all believe people like me to be, it's one simple truth that convinces me of how BLIND you all truly are. the way you fight against a woman's right to choose exposes the truth of how you care for the unborn MUCH MORE than the children who are already with us today.

proof? compared to other developed and developing countries - our children come from an education system that leave them unable to compete for their future. american industry moves our jobs overseas, for example. and it's not just because of money. its because those jobs go to better people. i just LOVE how we never make education (and our children for that matter) our TOP priority in this nation. people like yourselves are a part of that. it's the truth.

and how evangelicals get behind the death penalty makes me SICK. how can evangelicals be against abortion but for the death penalty? if it's not our business to take a life before birth, then we don't have the right to take it at any time... for ANY reason. i know some of you arent evangelicals. some of you are catholic, and catholics dont believe in the death penalty. but then there's the issue of mysogyny when it comes to catholics (no women priests).

but really, does it matter? what's the difference between you all anyway? you're all in the habit of not giving a crap for people who dont believe in the same things you do (must polytheist and aitheist children take the pledge of allegiance in school?). in the broader context of western religion, youre all in habit of performing the worst acts to eachother IN THE NAME OF GOD.and not much has changed. proof?you among the religious (as opposed to you among the faithful) reelect Bush. Bush invades Iraq. its a thousand years later, but i know a Crusade when i see one ("war on terror" my ass).

i'll leave you with the Civil Rights Movement: it was a liberal movement. many of you today site how religion had played a part in its relative success. but sadly you forget something very crucial...there was ALOT of religion on the OTHER side too.

This probably won't make my last post there. This is definately one of my last though. I feel the need to explain to this guy there (he's somewhat new) that I haven't gone off topic from debating the abortion issue, though the reason I've seemingly done so is because I had try to make them understand why I, as representing their opposition, feel like they're a bunch of fools. Feel me?

We Won. But Did We Win?

What does it mean to Hip-Hop that the Three 6 Mafia just won an Oscar?

Wait... let's forget about the larger picture for a moment. I haven't really let it sink in that the Three 6 Mafia... WON... a FUCKING... OSCAR!

I'm not a fan. I don't hate them though. I just think they're average, holding my interest with only a handful of their songs over their long career. And that Oscar pretty much assures the survival of that career for the rest of their lives if they keep working at it (I know them to have a strong work ethic, so it's all good).

But "suprised" doesn't really encapsulate my sentiments. Even among their fans, I found this contributor to The Village Voice who not only felt suprised at the nomination itself, but also at how Singleton and Brewer had tapped them for the "Hustle & Flow" sountrack to begin with (even though it makes perfect sense considering where the movie takes place).

Now that the Mafia got theirs, what does that mean in the grand scheme of all things in this culture? It's a question we won't know the answer to until we allow enough time to pass - a few years, I say with a shrug.

Perhaps we can look back to what effect Eminem's Oscar win had on Hip-Hop in general, and rap in particular. Initially, it may be dificult to describe those changes in detail, but to realize it was Hip-Hop's first Oscar win begins to bring that picture into focus.

You have a great movie. You have an already critically acclaimed emcee starring in it. You have his song headlining the soundtrack. Then Hollywood recognizes that song and rewards it. What I'm trying to get across makes sense if you start to think about what would happen if "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" had made history first. With Eminem, the Academy had honored a PREMIERE lyricist; an emcee of the HIGHEST caliber. The first Hip-Hop Oscar had gone to one of the greatest, instead of someone not so great. I don't mean the Mafia disrespect, but when you compare them to Em... I'm sorry, but they're average.

Em's win made a first step, though a small one, in the rap industry. It raised the ante. It sent a message that talent DOES get rewarded, and not just record sales that affirm a label's belief behind their marketing engine.

You place something like that on a pedestal and then aspire to it because it represents your best. When a weaker model occupies that pedestal, and rappers follow that lead, then you'll get a lot of wack rappers. That's what I fear will happen.

The Pioneers Never Left Us!

When I said last post that I didn't know what had happened to the generation that started this whole Hip-Hop shit, I came away feeling, after watching a NY1 news report yesterday, that I can always count on some of them to do right by this whole way of life. But I still needed to return and explain/expand my position on the subject that I only brushed lightly upon.

I saw this first on TV, then went to their website:
Hip-Hop Heads To The Smithsonian Museum

And you know (living in NYC) I gotta hit up the Times:
Smithsonian's Doors Open to a Hip-Hop Beat

What I said about the first Hip-Hop generation (in the general) still goes. I just wanted to make sure that post didn't come off as some kind of blanket statement addressed to everyone single person. Of course we still have many individuals who very much remain involved in the culture they live. But how many of them, for example, don't work in the industry? Or how many aren't members of the Zulu Nation? I wish I could sit down with Herc or Flash or Bambaataa or Russell and ask them what became of their social contemporaries. Or maybe I can find a site that talks about this issue or a message board where I can ask.

For a long time now I couldn't help but notice the absence of this generation who were there from the start. They grew Hip-hop. But it's not them I see. It's not them I hear. It's these young cats whose faces I see more than, and voices I hear over, their predecessors. The youth molding this culture have disregarded what their elders have to offer. Let's not forget whose hands Hip-Hop currently lie in: some of these hands prove incapable. Some hands are capable but not truly aware of their true potential. These hands have fallen short of nurturing the elements of the culture along with diversity in the music.

So that leaves us with our elders still with us today. As great and as many of them as they are, many more than them have gone MIA. The ones left make me think about that analogy of the guy scaling a dam trying to seal off one leak after another using no more than their arms & legs & chewing gum. Russell & Co. continue to make contributions, but what they do struggle against a windstorm of manipulation by more people that understand, or care for, very little. The elders are outnumbered by those in power and all among us in the public who continue to buy garbage.

I understand people who want to get & stay rich & in power. They are black and white. They are old-man (and woman) record execs and young kids from the streets who dream about nothing but the mansion and the yacht. It's unfortunate that they hold the reins. THEM I understand. But what about the buying public? THEM I don't understand as much. Will they go along so willingly with how these fat cats define Hip-Hop? Will they listen to whatever these people tell them to listen to? If most of us have excepted today that Jen Lopez and Beyonce are Hip-Hop (which we have) when these ladies most certainly are NOT... will the fat cats define Hip-Hop as Country tomorrow and the rest of us will just go along with it? Are we THAT stupid?

I think so. And why not? We reelected Bush. People are stupid by nature, but this holds true more for us overweight, soap-watching, celebrity starved Americans. But I'm leaving the subject of stupidity for a future post.