HighBreedMusic

It was great to have a wake-up slightly earlier than usual today.  Brooklyn is one of the friendliest places in the world when the sun is out!  Still a few sour-faced cats milling around (the type who want to live gangster rap songs) but for the most part a righteous warm buzz threading through everyone.  Some more Sensai training for Fishcracker took place on a Tap Messengers track.  One of the highlights today was certainly a mid-cleanup dance sesh with Buse, Nikki, our new French intern Bilkis (her first dance in America?) and myself.  Nothing inspires it like Beck’s effort at South American shakedown, Tropicalia.

-Scattay

I was looking for a clip of Martin Lawrence saying that, but my patience ran out, and I’m posting this one instead:

Good morning! Everything is rolling, rolling, rolling. It feels good to be back in here, even if I only left a few hours ago. Remember that blog Puttrooku wrote about a while back? Well, it’s like that, and that’s the way it is.

Feeling pretty good this morning guys…time to channel that into some productivity. Woo!

Hmm, yeah, but first, I need some tea. 

Nik

It’s a breezy afternoon out in the city. I just came back from an appointment in Manhattan, and was reminded of more reasons why NYC is awesome. My journey took me to the Upper East Side, right along Central Park. I couldn’t resist the park’s calling, with the birds chirping and hopping along the paths, pink and white spring petals cascading across the street towards the park, people in their power suits or pastels, walking three paces slower than what is customary in the city. Colors, oh glorious colors. Green is amazing. Especially when dabbed with the spring festival of reds, purples, yellows.  If the easter bunny really did poop jelly beans, the flowers I saw today would have grown from the sugary droplets. 

I didn’t get to stay too long, another engagement called me away. However, on my way back to Brooklyn, the good weather persisted, and I had a splendid walk back to my train. It took mucho will power not to disappear into the Museum of Natural History, or into one of the many eateries along the way, but I did slow my pace, for just a bit. (Exhale, smile) I hope everyone gets a little piece of outside today, because the clouds rolling in look like confinement. 

mYniCisNik

Aloha :)

Today, Puttruukuu and I battled with some pieces of writing. It’s not always easy to project the voice needed to most clearly communicate your ideas. It’s even more frustrating when you know what you want to say, or know that you can say it better. Ugh!! But we overcame, continuing to create more effective ways of expressing our points. Phew.

The audio engineers are hard at work on their songs and it’s hard to believe the sound keeps getting better, but it does.

This morning, Putruukuu (yes, spellings may vary), asked if I’d read “Sonny’s Blues.” If you haven’t read this short story by James Baldwin, and you love music, I highly recommend it!! Like, go read it, right now! Here’s an excerpt from one of my favorite moments:

All I know about music is that not many people ever really hear it. And even then, on the rare occasions when something opens within, and the music enters, what we mainly hear, or hear corroborated, are personal, private, vanishing evocations. But the man who creates the music is hearing something else, is dealing with the roar rising from the void and imposing order on it as it hits the air. What is evoked in him, then, is of another order, more terrible because it has no words, and triumphant, too, for that same reason. And his triumph, when he triumphs, is ours. I just watched Sonny’s face. His face was troubled, he was working hard, but he wasn’t with it. And I had the feeling that, in a way, everyone on the bandstand was waiting for him, both waiting for him and pushing him along. But as I began to watch Creole, I realized that it was Creole who held them all back. He had them on a short rein. Up there, keeping the beat with his whole body, wailing on the fiddle, with his eyes half closed, he was listening to everything, but he was listening to Sonny. He was having a dialogue with Sonny. He wanted Sonny to leave the shoreline and strike out for the deep water. He was Sonny’s witness that deep water and drowning were not the same thing-he had been there, and he knew. And he wanted Sonny to know. He was waiting for Sonny to do the things on the keys which would let Creole know that Sonny was in the water.

Read the whole story here

Whoa! Amazing.

This morning I felt like some Frank and some Ella, so I got to listening, and pretty soon we were all feeling pretty smooth jazzy crazy cool, ya dig? lol. And just like that we were all-stars!!

Tyrannosaurus Raxle

Papa BatEyez

Dr. Clemens

Surley Barker

Red Yurmine

Moolty Cax

Crazy, all the alter egos that come out in this place! We love it though, if you haven’t read Patrick’s blog from earlier this morning, he nailed it. We’re here, working this hard, all the time, because we love it. Pure and simple.

Trust, we looked much better than we sounded.

mYnicIsNiK 

What Putrruukuuuuuu said.

:-D

Nikukuku

This morning I woke up annoyingly early and haven’t been able to get back to sleep. Well, to be completely accurate, I wasn’t motivated to go back to sleep. It’s amazing to enjoy being awake. Not everyone does. (Life happens now, and such.) So, I’ve been hanging out in a room that barely remembers me, listening to random songs as they pop into my head. I can’t listen to the radio, it’s not fulfilling. I don’t get that deep sense of satisfaction that comes from listening to a great song with all of yourself.  Music should make you feel nourished. A couple days ago, after Marquese heard the finished Groundfood songs, he took a deep breath, smiled, and said, “That felt goooood!” Indeed!

I’ve been time travelling to find a sound that fits today’s feel. The playlist over the last 20 minutes is pretty random-Priestess, Iggy Pop, Johnnie Taylor, Bettye Swan, Sugar Ray, Barbara Acklin. Next up…who knows. I just want it to be positive and uplifting. When you’re around that energy at work all day, not taking it home with you isn’t an option. Today’s plan, some housekeeping and writing-personal projects. It’s going to be a relaxing day. 

Happy Sunday to all :-) 

mYnicIsNiKu