Latin Reminisces
Being back from tour feels weird every now and then. On tour one wakes up in a different place with different people almost everyday. Something new is seen constantly and distinct words and thoughts enter ones ear on an ever increasing basis. Here at home base...things aren't like that. The same faces are seen and similar thoughts and opinions prevail. The excitement of uncertainty is quelled by this regularity of everyday scenarios. The excitement of not knowing who I'll meet or what I'll do 24 hours a day is what I'll miss the most. Interestingly, the uncertainty of our daily lives on tour is one of the things that often disturbed me the most. Not knowing when, where or how we'd pay for food, gas or other necessities on certain days made my brain want to leap out of it's skull. Sleeping arrangements didn't bother me much because I always knew that our home away from home was there (our Tour Bus). Showers was also a major concern of mine but we always found a way to get showers, food and anything else we needed. This fact left me with the knowledge of something we're reminded of on each and every tour we do. As long as we're doing what we believe in... we will somehow be o.k. Now if I could just find a way to incorporate that into the everyday regularities of life ll.
I strive each and every day to learn something new that I can pass down to others. Each day on tour was no different and the experiences I gained from being on the Front Lines tour will inevitably now be passed on to the youth I work with and the peoples I perform for. For the ability to do so I thank all of you that helped the Front Lines Tour get on its way and those of you that helped keep it going till the very last moment.
Peace, Paz, Salaam and once again THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.
Your Master Blogger
-Latin
Monday, September 15, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Reminiscing on the Tour Experience
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We're back home safe! After an arduous journey throughout the U.S. we now often reflect on the day to day occurrences we experienced on a tour that ended up changing our lives. As Ernesto Guevara De La Serna wrote to his mother after having traveled throughout South America; "Yo... ya no soy you" (I am no longer I) I myself feel the same way. Reading the below entries from each member of the ReadNex you'll see that I'm not the only one who feels this way. For now we have entries from Decora and Free. Soon we'll have a few others. Having come home we've encountered a number of things that need to be handled but be sure to check back for other entries coming soon.
Peace, Paz, Salaam
Latin
P.S. Thank you for lending your eyes to our words throughout our experience.
Never again will I take the words Front Lines for granted. As one of the artists on the 2008 Front Lines Tour I experienced the United States in a way unexpected prior to setting out. On July 10TH I thought I would leave home and visit places where people were anviled with adversity to the point of submission, hoping for a change to come . I thought I would speak with people whose hopes were railroaded by the train of disenchantment. Whose dreams would be morphed into a distant fantasy because of our governments policy marginalizing the space between them and justice. Although I encountered many people who were fatigued by the issues they were facing, the overwhelming fragrance of people with hope flooded my nose and opened my eyes to something totally different.
I found people in the lower ninth ward who gave me inspiration to continue on as an artists and spread the word of what I know to be true. I spoke with people in Whitesburg, Kentucky whose perspective was more well rounded then that of a traveling man. I was taught the true meaning of patience by a man in Fresno California who at the age of 38 has 11 children and does side jobs for a living. Although every second spent with me was a dollar lost, he still took the time to teach me the ways of life. Yet most importantly I learned to listen. I learned to listen by a woman from a community organization in Atlanta Georgia. A man at his home in Juarex, Mexico. A woman giving a speech from the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. And a 12 year old in break dancing in the street in San Francisco, California....
These folks are a small amount of those hundreds of people who blessed me with the power to listen. Had I not learned this early on in the tour I might not have seen the true beauty of our people. The smiles hidden in frowns, the music hidden in heartbeats keeping rhythms of love, for family, friends and even 9 strangers on a tour across the nation. One of the most powerful tools in constructing a better world is listening. Without listening we will continue to play the same songs over and over again, not realizing that the lyrics weren't even written for us but instead about us. How can the world be changed if the song we've been singing is only a preconceived notion about us but not the truth, by us. The power of listening is so high on the list of the universe that even the stars gaze at it. What was once a dream did not become a fantasy instead it became a reality. All of this because I learned to listen, Thank You
Revolution Begins With Self
Decora
Peace,
Decora
ReadNex Poetry Squad
Music Will Move A Nation!
I'm ready…..
I'm ready to go the distance. I have been equipped with faith, patience, intellect, humility, and ginger ale. My experience on the Front Lines Tour has been life altering. The person I was I no longer am. I have grown through the people I've met and the bond that was created with the other eight members and the experiences we shared as a nuclear family on our magic school bus. We set out on this journey to mend the severed edges and communities within our nation, little did we know (myself especially) that we were learning to mend the severed edges within ourselves. As usual, I over-packed and realized that later on in the tour (after our magical school bus died on us) that maybe 5 pairs of sneakers was a bit excessive. Especially when they are all in boxes. Needless to say 5 ½ weeks later after we started tour I was paying Fed-Ex shipping fees.
The tour started out in Brooklyn and it was a fitting kick off because I learned that Hip Hop has become a universal tool and can unify all types of people; no matter what race,age, gender or sexual orientation. Two graff artist were enamored by our tour bus and decided to add to the beautiful artwork that Corey did just days prior. In Kentucky we had a jam session with a banjo player… Me of all people, a girl from Fort Greene, BK jamming with a banjo. If it weren't captured in pics no one would ever believe it to be true. Our stay in Kentucky was an eye opener to environmental issues and social justice issues. I couldn't help but be amazed by the effects the coal mining industry and the close proximity to maximum security prisons would have on this small town in Kentucky. There were so many incidents on tour that were clear signs of some sort of divinity that I cant help but sit back and reflect and feel blessed.
When the bus broke down in Fresno, California it literally put the tour at a stand still. We had a number of occurrences where we almost didn't make it, but the transmission dying solidified the fact that we had to make some crucial decisions. Fresno was not a planned spot on the tour but it was definitely one of the communities we sought out to reach at the beginning of this tour. Our visit was unexpected but fortunately for us we were well received. The artist network out there was small but so organized and efficient that we were able throw together a show and feature at another show the following night. Thanks to the many donations and merchandise sold we were able to get to the Bay Area and continue the tour on foot. Honestly, I cant imagine not having experienced the tour and I am so grateful for it all. I have a lifetime of experience from 7 incredible weeks on the road performing, facilitating workshop and absorbing others cultures.
Your Sister in the Struggle,
FreeFlowin
We're back home safe! After an arduous journey throughout the U.S. we now often reflect on the day to day occurrences we experienced on a tour that ended up changing our lives. As Ernesto Guevara De La Serna wrote to his mother after having traveled throughout South America; "Yo... ya no soy you" (I am no longer I) I myself feel the same way. Reading the below entries from each member of the ReadNex you'll see that I'm not the only one who feels this way. For now we have entries from Decora and Free. Soon we'll have a few others. Having come home we've encountered a number of things that need to be handled but be sure to check back for other entries coming soon.
Peace, Paz, Salaam
Latin
P.S. Thank you for lending your eyes to our words throughout our experience.
Never again will I take the words Front Lines for granted. As one of the artists on the 2008 Front Lines Tour I experienced the United States in a way unexpected prior to setting out. On July 10TH I thought I would leave home and visit places where people were anviled with adversity to the point of submission, hoping for a change to come . I thought I would speak with people whose hopes were railroaded by the train of disenchantment. Whose dreams would be morphed into a distant fantasy because of our governments policy marginalizing the space between them and justice. Although I encountered many people who were fatigued by the issues they were facing, the overwhelming fragrance of people with hope flooded my nose and opened my eyes to something totally different.
I found people in the lower ninth ward who gave me inspiration to continue on as an artists and spread the word of what I know to be true. I spoke with people in Whitesburg, Kentucky whose perspective was more well rounded then that of a traveling man. I was taught the true meaning of patience by a man in Fresno California who at the age of 38 has 11 children and does side jobs for a living. Although every second spent with me was a dollar lost, he still took the time to teach me the ways of life. Yet most importantly I learned to listen. I learned to listen by a woman from a community organization in Atlanta Georgia. A man at his home in Juarex, Mexico. A woman giving a speech from the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. And a 12 year old in break dancing in the street in San Francisco, California....
These folks are a small amount of those hundreds of people who blessed me with the power to listen. Had I not learned this early on in the tour I might not have seen the true beauty of our people. The smiles hidden in frowns, the music hidden in heartbeats keeping rhythms of love, for family, friends and even 9 strangers on a tour across the nation. One of the most powerful tools in constructing a better world is listening. Without listening we will continue to play the same songs over and over again, not realizing that the lyrics weren't even written for us but instead about us. How can the world be changed if the song we've been singing is only a preconceived notion about us but not the truth, by us. The power of listening is so high on the list of the universe that even the stars gaze at it. What was once a dream did not become a fantasy instead it became a reality. All of this because I learned to listen, Thank You
Revolution Begins With Self
Decora
Peace,
Decora
ReadNex Poetry Squad
Music Will Move A Nation!
I'm ready…..
I'm ready to go the distance. I have been equipped with faith, patience, intellect, humility, and ginger ale. My experience on the Front Lines Tour has been life altering. The person I was I no longer am. I have grown through the people I've met and the bond that was created with the other eight members and the experiences we shared as a nuclear family on our magic school bus. We set out on this journey to mend the severed edges and communities within our nation, little did we know (myself especially) that we were learning to mend the severed edges within ourselves. As usual, I over-packed and realized that later on in the tour (after our magical school bus died on us) that maybe 5 pairs of sneakers was a bit excessive. Especially when they are all in boxes. Needless to say 5 ½ weeks later after we started tour I was paying Fed-Ex shipping fees.
The tour started out in Brooklyn and it was a fitting kick off because I learned that Hip Hop has become a universal tool and can unify all types of people; no matter what race,age, gender or sexual orientation. Two graff artist were enamored by our tour bus and decided to add to the beautiful artwork that Corey did just days prior. In Kentucky we had a jam session with a banjo player… Me of all people, a girl from Fort Greene, BK jamming with a banjo. If it weren't captured in pics no one would ever believe it to be true. Our stay in Kentucky was an eye opener to environmental issues and social justice issues. I couldn't help but be amazed by the effects the coal mining industry and the close proximity to maximum security prisons would have on this small town in Kentucky. There were so many incidents on tour that were clear signs of some sort of divinity that I cant help but sit back and reflect and feel blessed.
When the bus broke down in Fresno, California it literally put the tour at a stand still. We had a number of occurrences where we almost didn't make it, but the transmission dying solidified the fact that we had to make some crucial decisions. Fresno was not a planned spot on the tour but it was definitely one of the communities we sought out to reach at the beginning of this tour. Our visit was unexpected but fortunately for us we were well received. The artist network out there was small but so organized and efficient that we were able throw together a show and feature at another show the following night. Thanks to the many donations and merchandise sold we were able to get to the Bay Area and continue the tour on foot. Honestly, I cant imagine not having experienced the tour and I am so grateful for it all. I have a lifetime of experience from 7 incredible weeks on the road performing, facilitating workshop and absorbing others cultures.
Your Sister in the Struggle,
FreeFlowin
Monday, August 11, 2008
STUCK IN FRESNO, CALIFORNIA!
Today we reach the four week mark of the Frontlines Tour, which kicked off on July 10th in Brooklyn at a community Block Party. I jumped on the refurbished 32-passenger school bus when the tour hit Atlanta, the city I stay in now (although I am a native Bostonian). The Frontlines Tour consists of 8 people: 4 Poet/MCs, 1 DJ, 2 Interns and 1 Producer. The whole Frontlines concept is based on the grassroots organizing idea. We are going around the nation to various communities where we are linked up with a community organization that shows us the real issues of their community. Through those organizations we do youth workshops showing youth the positive power of Hip Hop and expression. At night we perform, and 75% of the proceeds raised go back to the host organization. The last 25% of the money raised goes straight into our 5 miles a gallon gas tank, and into our food fund. NONE OF US ON TOUR ARE GETTING PAID. I just had to be CRYSTAL clear about that factor. The group on tour is the ReadNex Poetry Squad, a conscious Hip Hop Poetry group formed from a club that was started at Orange County Community College. They are for lack of a larger vocabulary on my part, and amazing group. Each individual adds to the group in a unique way: H2O, the DJ is calm and help keeps the group focused and chill through the more trying times, Cuttz, Poet/MC, is an amazing actor and teacher, Latin, Poet, is a hilarious comedian, and also has a passion for youth, Free, Poet, is an aspiring civil rights lawyer who believes in organizing communities, and Decora, Poet/MC, is a naturally dedicated and ambitious leader essential to the group, Graham is a genius producer, and Jamaal the other intern is an amazing do-it-yourself man, without him on the trip we would have been broken down way before we reached the west coast, and I add an outside organizing view, and refreshed energy since I got on a week later than the rest of them. We sleep, work and eat together; actually we are stuck together for about 23.5 hours a day. So it gets a little crazy at times, its challenging, but have gotten back what we put forth, and we have all grown from the experiences and the people we have met along the way.
We were in Los Angeles for 3 days, working hard on performances and at Venice Beach. We met a lot of cool people in LA, and heard some amazing poets spit their stuff. Our next stop was in Sacramento, at Wine and Words, a bi-weekly venue that celebrates the culture an darts in Sac-town over some delicious wine. It was an event that had been planned and promoted for months. While passing a fruit farm we noticed our tour bus had started puffing out white smoke. So we pulled over on highway 99, and saw that our transmission fluid had leaked out, which is an ongoing problem for us. Decora and Jamaal run 2 miles to the nearest exit to get some transmission fluid for the bus. On the way back Jamaal was able to get a ride back with a kind man who overheard our troubles at the store. We put in the 11 gallons of transmission fluid and started back on our way to Sacramento.
We started back on Highway 99 and found that our bus couldn't push past 2nd gear, and going 30 miles an hour on a California highway is something I would not recommend anyone doing. We were able to get to Fresno, and pulled into the AutoZone on the corner of Lee and California St. Our car stopped completely right as we pulled up the parking lot ramp, so we had to get out and push. We got our workout, pushing the bus, yes I said BUS, around the parking lot. As this was going on I was racking my brain trying to remember the number for Eddie, the 2008 YP4 fellow I had met and connected with during the '08 Fellowship summit earlier this year in January. I finally found his voicemail, pressed 8 for a callback, and after the third call Eddie picked up. I told him our situation, where we were and I was relieved when he said he would see me in 15 minutes. He was going to give 2 of us a ride to the nearest car rental place so we could make our way to the Sacramento show we were running late for.
Eddie rolls through with his friend Mike and they instantly lift our mood, we are talking and laughing, and working on fixing the mess at hand. Eddie and Mike take Free and Decora to the Budget where we rent a 7-passenger SUV for us to drive 3 hours to our show. They leave, and we hope that some miracle will stop time so we can make it to Sacramento on time. While we are waiting for them to come back, a mechanic comes by and tells us he will help us out, Cuttz and him spoke in Spanish, and we found out that the problem wasn't the lack of transmission fluid, our problem was the transmission itself; it was completely done. The mechanic tells us we can go to his house and he will look at it. H2O, Jamaal, Latin, Cuttz and I push the tour bus, which only moves by momentum, while Graham drives. When we get to the mechanics house we are greeted by his 9 children and other neighborhood kids who are ecstatic to see our tour bus, decked out with graffiti and hip hop icons such as Nas, Tupac, Biggie and more park on their street. We show them the bus, talk with them and start to pack our bags; depending on how much room the DJ equipment takes up, we will see how many people will make the trip to Sacramento. As I put my sneaker into the trash bag I am using to carry my things, Eddie, Mike, Free and Decora pull up. They jump out and we all work hard and fast to get all of the equipment, merchandise and personal begins into the new vehicle. As were packing in the car, Mike is cheering us on: "Come on y'all!! Hurry up you got a show to make!!!" So we finish up, figure out that 7 of us can fit, and collectively decide that Graham; king of the Couch Surfing world will stay behind in Fresno. We said all our "Goodbyes" and "Thank Yous" to Eddie and Mike and pulled off from the Mechanics house, tired, but ready for the show.
Eddie and his boy Mike really pulled through in our time of need. They drove us around the city, helped us rent a car, donated money, and bought us water. Me and Eddie were talking about the whole experience, and how everything happens for a reason. Our tour bus may have broke down, and we may all be broke now, but we were in a city where people helped us out. The connection I made with Eddie through YP4 was priceless, and served me, and the whole Frontlines Crew in a real-life situation. I wanted to write this story for people to see the opportunity, and networking connections made through Young People For. I also wanted to thank Young People For, because I keep learning first hand how valuable the fellowship really is. Thank you Eddie, Mike and Young People For, for the hand you held out to me, and the rest of the group.
As I finish the story up I want to let you know that we are still stuck in Fresno, after three powerful days in Sacramento. We have to return the rental in a few hours and as I am typing, Jamaal and Decora are on their way to the tow company so they can tow our bus. The first mechanic fell through and after throwing down our personal money, we still need to raise about $900 to get the transmission fixed at the new auto mechanic company we are going to use. We are in a bind because in 2 days, on August 13th we need to be in Salt Lake City, to drop off one person at the airport, and pick up another at noon. Its an 18 hour drive to Utah from Fresno, and right now we have no gas money. If you are able to donate money or help us out in any way, and if for some reason you have an extra transmission we could use, we would graciously appreciate it.
You can donate directly to our Pay Pal account:
www.myspace.com/frontlinestour scroll down past the tour image and click donate. This money will go directly to us, and will help us make it to Salt Lake City, and continue the tour. For more information on the tour and the group visit us at:
www.frontlinestour.com www.myspace.com/readnex And if you want to connect with me personally, have any questions or ideas, please feel free to call me at 857-222-3554 or email me at
lutejuntos@gmail.com All support is appreciated and needed at this time.
Much Love and Respect to all,
Lute Juntos (Struggle Together)
Peace,
Corina McCarthy-Fadel
Get more from your digital life. Find out how.
We were in Los Angeles for 3 days, working hard on performances and at Venice Beach. We met a lot of cool people in LA, and heard some amazing poets spit their stuff. Our next stop was in Sacramento, at Wine and Words, a bi-weekly venue that celebrates the culture an darts in Sac-town over some delicious wine. It was an event that had been planned and promoted for months. While passing a fruit farm we noticed our tour bus had started puffing out white smoke. So we pulled over on highway 99, and saw that our transmission fluid had leaked out, which is an ongoing problem for us. Decora and Jamaal run 2 miles to the nearest exit to get some transmission fluid for the bus. On the way back Jamaal was able to get a ride back with a kind man who overheard our troubles at the store. We put in the 11 gallons of transmission fluid and started back on our way to Sacramento.
We started back on Highway 99 and found that our bus couldn't push past 2nd gear, and going 30 miles an hour on a California highway is something I would not recommend anyone doing. We were able to get to Fresno, and pulled into the AutoZone on the corner of Lee and California St. Our car stopped completely right as we pulled up the parking lot ramp, so we had to get out and push. We got our workout, pushing the bus, yes I said BUS, around the parking lot. As this was going on I was racking my brain trying to remember the number for Eddie, the 2008 YP4 fellow I had met and connected with during the '08 Fellowship summit earlier this year in January. I finally found his voicemail, pressed 8 for a callback, and after the third call Eddie picked up. I told him our situation, where we were and I was relieved when he said he would see me in 15 minutes. He was going to give 2 of us a ride to the nearest car rental place so we could make our way to the Sacramento show we were running late for.
Eddie rolls through with his friend Mike and they instantly lift our mood, we are talking and laughing, and working on fixing the mess at hand. Eddie and Mike take Free and Decora to the Budget where we rent a 7-passenger SUV for us to drive 3 hours to our show. They leave, and we hope that some miracle will stop time so we can make it to Sacramento on time. While we are waiting for them to come back, a mechanic comes by and tells us he will help us out, Cuttz and him spoke in Spanish, and we found out that the problem wasn't the lack of transmission fluid, our problem was the transmission itself; it was completely done. The mechanic tells us we can go to his house and he will look at it. H2O, Jamaal, Latin, Cuttz and I push the tour bus, which only moves by momentum, while Graham drives. When we get to the mechanics house we are greeted by his 9 children and other neighborhood kids who are ecstatic to see our tour bus, decked out with graffiti and hip hop icons such as Nas, Tupac, Biggie and more park on their street. We show them the bus, talk with them and start to pack our bags; depending on how much room the DJ equipment takes up, we will see how many people will make the trip to Sacramento. As I put my sneaker into the trash bag I am using to carry my things, Eddie, Mike, Free and Decora pull up. They jump out and we all work hard and fast to get all of the equipment, merchandise and personal begins into the new vehicle. As were packing in the car, Mike is cheering us on: "Come on y'all!! Hurry up you got a show to make!!!" So we finish up, figure out that 7 of us can fit, and collectively decide that Graham; king of the Couch Surfing world will stay behind in Fresno. We said all our "Goodbyes" and "Thank Yous" to Eddie and Mike and pulled off from the Mechanics house, tired, but ready for the show.
Eddie and his boy Mike really pulled through in our time of need. They drove us around the city, helped us rent a car, donated money, and bought us water. Me and Eddie were talking about the whole experience, and how everything happens for a reason. Our tour bus may have broke down, and we may all be broke now, but we were in a city where people helped us out. The connection I made with Eddie through YP4 was priceless, and served me, and the whole Frontlines Crew in a real-life situation. I wanted to write this story for people to see the opportunity, and networking connections made through Young People For. I also wanted to thank Young People For, because I keep learning first hand how valuable the fellowship really is. Thank you Eddie, Mike and Young People For, for the hand you held out to me, and the rest of the group.
As I finish the story up I want to let you know that we are still stuck in Fresno, after three powerful days in Sacramento. We have to return the rental in a few hours and as I am typing, Jamaal and Decora are on their way to the tow company so they can tow our bus. The first mechanic fell through and after throwing down our personal money, we still need to raise about $900 to get the transmission fixed at the new auto mechanic company we are going to use. We are in a bind because in 2 days, on August 13th we need to be in Salt Lake City, to drop off one person at the airport, and pick up another at noon. Its an 18 hour drive to Utah from Fresno, and right now we have no gas money. If you are able to donate money or help us out in any way, and if for some reason you have an extra transmission we could use, we would graciously appreciate it.
You can donate directly to our Pay Pal account:
www.myspace.com/frontlinestour scroll down past the tour image and click donate. This money will go directly to us, and will help us make it to Salt Lake City, and continue the tour. For more information on the tour and the group visit us at:
www.frontlinestour.com www.myspace.com/readnex And if you want to connect with me personally, have any questions or ideas, please feel free to call me at 857-222-3554 or email me at
lutejuntos@gmail.com All support is appreciated and needed at this time.
Much Love and Respect to all,
Lute Juntos (Struggle Together)
Peace,
Corina McCarthy-Fadel
Get more from your digital life. Find out how.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Another Breakdown
Bus break down # 2 Repair #4
We just left Flagstaff, Arizona and the tour bus broke down. Our journey began after we left Bess's apt. She lives in a huge house and rents a little cottage on the side for herself. We were supposed to do a workshop for her last time we were in Arizona but it didn't work out due to a miscommunication on the orgs part. She stayed in touch with us though and mentioned that we could stay where she was staying if we needed a spot to lay our heads. She also told us of a local venue called Apple Sauce tea house that gets a good crowd.
The day had been spent at the Grand Canyon and we were all exhausted and hungry. We hadn't eaten anything except for breakfast. Breakfast has been eaten in Utah which is also where we spent the night. WOW this is a lot of back tracking...don't worry I'll get to the break down soon. You know whaaat I'll start in Utah. We spent the night in a KOA (Camp Grounds of America) where we parked and got some rest. Decora and Jenny put up their tent and camped out next to the bus. There was a spout where we could get water to brush our teeth and a bathroom a few steps away. There were showers near by as well but they were closed until 7:00am. We all got some sleep and in the morning took some showers in the showers that were there. Then we took a hike of the area which was full of soft red dirt and spectacular views that continued onward till the eyes could no longer see. Most of us only had chancletas on our feet that some of slowed us down. I decided to take my chancletas (slippers) off and go it barefoot. It brought back memories of my years in Puerto Rico which put me on a nice spiritual high.
Afterwards, we headed to a nearby restaurant for some much needed comida (food). There Decora talked to the managers and they were kind enough to discount our food 30% (they also gave us some free Navajo Fried Bread) which helped us out a lot. We've been in Navajo country for the past couple of days since we entered New Mexico and performed at the concert deep in the desert. Jenny will be writing about that experience soon.
While in Navajo country we learned a few Navajo words like dooda (no) and yeahha (thank you). The people there had a look in their eyes that penetrates ones soul. With every look one could see the pain and centuries of suffering that they have endured. It was a clear reminder of the atrocities and lies this country has and continues to commit against the indigenous peoples of this vast land. The Navajo Nation was once a strong a powerful nation of people. Now for centuries many of them survive by selling necklaces and bracelets on the side of the roads that tourists frequent. This practice has been going on since the roads were made of dirt and the travelers rode by on horses. The Navajo Nation continues to be soverign and strong with a people of a humble and true spirit. However, the process of Americanization has indeed changed much of what once was.
After eating at the restaurant we stopped along side the rode at some of the many souvenir tables to get things for friends, family and ourselves. Further down we stopped at a spot that claimed to have real dinosaur tracks and even some fossils. We checked it out under the scorching sun and saw some amazing things as our guide Freddie showed us around. There were some velociraptor , delopasaurus, triceratops, T-rex, teradacticle and even some saber tooth tiger tracks. Two of the coolest things were the actual fossils that we saw (can't recall from what dinosaur) and the dino poop. Or as I call it doop. The area was an ancient beach in which there was once a vast fresh water ocean (now just miles and miles of red rock) that served as a refuge for many of the dino's coming to get some water. It was a real cool experience and I even brought some doop with me lol.
After that we stopped over by the the "Little Colorado River" that had carved out some canyons and we took some pictures. A while later we finally arrived at our destination the Grand Canyon. Let me tell you this thing was Grand alright. It was an absolutely enormous area that went on for what seemed to be an eternity. We walked around for a while and felt the strong winds that have caused much of the carving out of the canyon itself. We didn't spend much time there because we had to get to Flagstaff and check out an open mic where we could make some money to put gas in the bus. When we got to Flagstaff DJ H20 stayed at the place we he showered up and rested, Jenny and Graham went to do the groceries and the ReadNex (with both interns) headed for the event. The venue had about 20-30 people and we were all hungry and tired. The host of the open mic was pretty cool and he set us up as the closing act. Before we went up J-Man hit the mic with an amazing piece about Chains and Change. Afterwards the host introduced us and we all got up the and performed our little hearts out. The crowd seemed blown away and one by one thanked us for coming after the performance. We made enough money to be back on the road the next day and headed home for some comida that Jenny was cooking.
Dinner (it was now 11PM and we hadn't had a meal since breakfast) wasn't ready yet so some of us chilled worked or napped. Jenny promised me that I'd be woken up when dinner was ready so I headed for the cama (bead). I fell asleep soon after I hit the bead and woke up hours later. I noticed that DJ H20 (we shared a room) was still asleep and decided to go downstairs to see if the food was ready. When I got there I noticed that everyone had eaten and gone to bed. I began to see red strewn across the walls as I slowly became angrier than a Bobby when he realized Whitney was holding out. Flames began to fly from my skull and I searched the kitchen for food. I was HUUUNNNNNNGRRRYYYY! After a few tense minutes of searching I found some Salsa and crackers. I ate some of the crackers but each bite became more painful than the last due to my fillingless tooth (it fell out a day after I had been to the dentist) After a few minutes of pain I headed upstairs angry at my tooth and the fact that no one had woken me up. The next morning Corina walked into the room to wake up DJ H20 (the interns fear waking me because I can be a bit cranky in the morning...ok I'm downright cruel but it gets better after I wash my face) and I asked her why no one had woken me up. DJ H2O mentioned that he'd tried but that I was in deep sleep and didn't move. He said he even shook me and nothing happened. Needless to say breakfast conversation was rather entertaining when we all discussed (hysterically laughing at times with tears in our eyes) what happened last night and how the fear in Corina's eyes when she accidently woke me up. I'd just like to state that my morning crankiness is something that I've been working on since our "Brinding the Gap Tour in London...unfortunately not much success has been attained at this moment. At least I gave the interns an apology ahead of time before jumped on the tour...lol.
After breakfast we all packed and hit the road. This brings us to our latest breakdown. A few miles into the highway (literally about 10-15 mins from the house) Free yells out; There' s white smoke coming out of the bus!...those that weren't driving all looked back and mentioned the same. White smoke coming out the back of the bus is not a good sign for all of you that are wondering. We stopped the bus to check it out but the way it was stopped part of it was in the way of the freeway. I opened the back door to see to make sure we were the ones smoking without realizing that somehow Graham was on the floor under the bus (how he did that with no one noticing is amazing to us all). When he got up to stand he slammed his head so hard on the bus that he rolled about two feet backwards on the floor. Decora hadn't realized what had happened and he yelled out that he was going to back up...while backing up. We all screamed STOP to prevent Graham from being run over by the bus. Graham got out of the way but when Decora tried to reverse the bus again it wouldn't move. Some of us had to get out and push the bus to the side of the road. I'm sure we looked real cute and safe pushing the bus on a busy highway while Graham rubbed his head and some stayed in the bus to direct us (I'm being sarcastic of course). When we got to the side of the highway we realized that the white smoke was coming from the middle of the bus and not the back. White smoke, from the center, and a disabled vehicle are all signs of transmission trouble. Upon further inspection our resident mechanic (J-Man) discovered that the hose that sends transmission fluid to the transmission had become loose and was leaking fluid. A short discussion took place and Graham and Decora decided to walk back into town to find some transmission fluid. In the meantime J-man would reattach the hose and the rest of us would sit in the bus laughing at our situation. Well...we weren't chosen to do that but we all believe that it was the right thing to do. Decora and Graham had to cross the highway and get to the other side in order to get back into town. In town they found a spot to get transmission fluid and headed back.
While they were away we continued laughing and increased the laughter when hail the size of pebbles began to fall. The hail was then followed by a sudden torrential downpour We all got into a deep conversation and for some reason I jumped in (totally and completely off subject) and said; It doesn't matter though...as you long as you've got love any relationship can work out. Within approximately 3 mins of stating that an M.C. we met at the N.M. Dooda Desert Rock concert pulled up in front of us and started walking towards us. He was on his way to L.V. and then to home to Cali aftrWe all smiled and said wassup as he came on the bus to ask how we were all doing. He offered to pick up Decora and Graham up but they had already called Bess and she was driving them back. He stayed and chatted with us about some deep stuff. All of us thoroughly enjoyed his company. He had a genuine spirit and a real heart that was clear and evident in his speech. When Graham, Decora and Bess got back they all greeted each other. Bess gave him a big hug because they knew each other and hadn't seen each other in a while. While the M.C. stayed and chatted with us 3 beautiful little children would stick their heads out of the window and he would yell at them to get back in while we laughed. Tiwaeis the mother of the children (her name means thoughts is wind and elements signz)was in the passenger seat not feeling well. Cuttz gave the M.C. some natural remedies to give to her while we spoke with him (Cuttz has been natural remedy "GURU" on this journey). Bess left soon after dropping Decora and Graham off because she had to get back to her day. The M.C. went back to his car and brought back a shell, eagle feather and some sage. He had been the one that blessed the space at the Dooda Desert Rock following native indigenous tradition. He asked for a lighter and told us that he would like to bless the bus and that he was going to begin on the outside and then come inside. Before each step he explained the tradition to us, what he was doing and where he had received each item. He then began chanting and went around the bus. He then made his way inside and blessed the bus as well as each one of us individually. When he was done he asked if we had a container to put the extra sage and ashes in for us to keep. Afterwards we all thanked him and said our goodbyes. He walked to his vehicle looked got in and came back. This time he brought with him a small eagle feather and a red string. He gave it to us and explained that the eagle is sacred in Native American traditions and that it would guide us on our journey. We all gave another set of thank yous and goodbyes.
As his car pulled away we all reflected on what had happened in the past few hours. We also noticed that although hail and a downpour had fallen neither Decora nor Graham had gotten wet. We all prepped up and got back on the road to California where we had an event scheduled for that night in L.A.. We got to the event late but Poetri (well known Def Poet from that was on Broadway's Def Poetry Jam) let us go on and made us the feature. The place was PPPPAAAACCCCKKKEEEED! We got out the bus, used the bathroom and got on the stage to perform as if we were ancient spirits coming to bring knowledge to the people. The crowd went insane with each piece and we made enough donations and merchandise sales to get some food and head over to Decora's cousin's house. When we got there we all collapsed on the beds, fouton's and floors we found and woke up in the morn barely recharged.
This was an amazing day for us all that served as a reminder that as long as we are doing what is just and right the power above us will always guide us in the direction we need to be in. By the way...do you recall how I mentioned that out of no where in our moment of need I stated that all we need is love...well...the M.C. that came and graced us with his blessings, energy, motivating words, spirit and love...is named L.U.V...LUV! "Ask and Ye shall receive" my brothers and sisters.. "Ask and Ye shall receive!
-Latin
We just left Flagstaff, Arizona and the tour bus broke down. Our journey began after we left Bess's apt. She lives in a huge house and rents a little cottage on the side for herself. We were supposed to do a workshop for her last time we were in Arizona but it didn't work out due to a miscommunication on the orgs part. She stayed in touch with us though and mentioned that we could stay where she was staying if we needed a spot to lay our heads. She also told us of a local venue called Apple Sauce tea house that gets a good crowd.
The day had been spent at the Grand Canyon and we were all exhausted and hungry. We hadn't eaten anything except for breakfast. Breakfast has been eaten in Utah which is also where we spent the night. WOW this is a lot of back tracking...don't worry I'll get to the break down soon. You know whaaat I'll start in Utah. We spent the night in a KOA (Camp Grounds of America) where we parked and got some rest. Decora and Jenny put up their tent and camped out next to the bus. There was a spout where we could get water to brush our teeth and a bathroom a few steps away. There were showers near by as well but they were closed until 7:00am. We all got some sleep and in the morning took some showers in the showers that were there. Then we took a hike of the area which was full of soft red dirt and spectacular views that continued onward till the eyes could no longer see. Most of us only had chancletas on our feet that some of slowed us down. I decided to take my chancletas (slippers) off and go it barefoot. It brought back memories of my years in Puerto Rico which put me on a nice spiritual high.
Afterwards, we headed to a nearby restaurant for some much needed comida (food). There Decora talked to the managers and they were kind enough to discount our food 30% (they also gave us some free Navajo Fried Bread) which helped us out a lot. We've been in Navajo country for the past couple of days since we entered New Mexico and performed at the concert deep in the desert. Jenny will be writing about that experience soon.
While in Navajo country we learned a few Navajo words like dooda (no) and yeahha (thank you). The people there had a look in their eyes that penetrates ones soul. With every look one could see the pain and centuries of suffering that they have endured. It was a clear reminder of the atrocities and lies this country has and continues to commit against the indigenous peoples of this vast land. The Navajo Nation was once a strong a powerful nation of people. Now for centuries many of them survive by selling necklaces and bracelets on the side of the roads that tourists frequent. This practice has been going on since the roads were made of dirt and the travelers rode by on horses. The Navajo Nation continues to be soverign and strong with a people of a humble and true spirit. However, the process of Americanization has indeed changed much of what once was.
After eating at the restaurant we stopped along side the rode at some of the many souvenir tables to get things for friends, family and ourselves. Further down we stopped at a spot that claimed to have real dinosaur tracks and even some fossils. We checked it out under the scorching sun and saw some amazing things as our guide Freddie showed us around. There were some velociraptor , delopasaurus, triceratops, T-rex, teradacticle and even some saber tooth tiger tracks. Two of the coolest things were the actual fossils that we saw (can't recall from what dinosaur) and the dino poop. Or as I call it doop. The area was an ancient beach in which there was once a vast fresh water ocean (now just miles and miles of red rock) that served as a refuge for many of the dino's coming to get some water. It was a real cool experience and I even brought some doop with me lol.
After that we stopped over by the the "Little Colorado River" that had carved out some canyons and we took some pictures. A while later we finally arrived at our destination the Grand Canyon. Let me tell you this thing was Grand alright. It was an absolutely enormous area that went on for what seemed to be an eternity. We walked around for a while and felt the strong winds that have caused much of the carving out of the canyon itself. We didn't spend much time there because we had to get to Flagstaff and check out an open mic where we could make some money to put gas in the bus. When we got to Flagstaff DJ H20 stayed at the place we he showered up and rested, Jenny and Graham went to do the groceries and the ReadNex (with both interns) headed for the event. The venue had about 20-30 people and we were all hungry and tired. The host of the open mic was pretty cool and he set us up as the closing act. Before we went up J-Man hit the mic with an amazing piece about Chains and Change. Afterwards the host introduced us and we all got up the and performed our little hearts out. The crowd seemed blown away and one by one thanked us for coming after the performance. We made enough money to be back on the road the next day and headed home for some comida that Jenny was cooking.
Dinner (it was now 11PM and we hadn't had a meal since breakfast) wasn't ready yet so some of us chilled worked or napped. Jenny promised me that I'd be woken up when dinner was ready so I headed for the cama (bead). I fell asleep soon after I hit the bead and woke up hours later. I noticed that DJ H20 (we shared a room) was still asleep and decided to go downstairs to see if the food was ready. When I got there I noticed that everyone had eaten and gone to bed. I began to see red strewn across the walls as I slowly became angrier than a Bobby when he realized Whitney was holding out. Flames began to fly from my skull and I searched the kitchen for food. I was HUUUNNNNNNGRRRYYYY! After a few tense minutes of searching I found some Salsa and crackers. I ate some of the crackers but each bite became more painful than the last due to my fillingless tooth (it fell out a day after I had been to the dentist) After a few minutes of pain I headed upstairs angry at my tooth and the fact that no one had woken me up. The next morning Corina walked into the room to wake up DJ H20 (the interns fear waking me because I can be a bit cranky in the morning...ok I'm downright cruel but it gets better after I wash my face) and I asked her why no one had woken me up. DJ H2O mentioned that he'd tried but that I was in deep sleep and didn't move. He said he even shook me and nothing happened. Needless to say breakfast conversation was rather entertaining when we all discussed (hysterically laughing at times with tears in our eyes) what happened last night and how the fear in Corina's eyes when she accidently woke me up. I'd just like to state that my morning crankiness is something that I've been working on since our "Brinding the Gap Tour in London...unfortunately not much success has been attained at this moment. At least I gave the interns an apology ahead of time before jumped on the tour...lol.
After breakfast we all packed and hit the road. This brings us to our latest breakdown. A few miles into the highway (literally about 10-15 mins from the house) Free yells out; There' s white smoke coming out of the bus!...those that weren't driving all looked back and mentioned the same. White smoke coming out the back of the bus is not a good sign for all of you that are wondering. We stopped the bus to check it out but the way it was stopped part of it was in the way of the freeway. I opened the back door to see to make sure we were the ones smoking without realizing that somehow Graham was on the floor under the bus (how he did that with no one noticing is amazing to us all). When he got up to stand he slammed his head so hard on the bus that he rolled about two feet backwards on the floor. Decora hadn't realized what had happened and he yelled out that he was going to back up...while backing up. We all screamed STOP to prevent Graham from being run over by the bus. Graham got out of the way but when Decora tried to reverse the bus again it wouldn't move. Some of us had to get out and push the bus to the side of the road. I'm sure we looked real cute and safe pushing the bus on a busy highway while Graham rubbed his head and some stayed in the bus to direct us (I'm being sarcastic of course). When we got to the side of the highway we realized that the white smoke was coming from the middle of the bus and not the back. White smoke, from the center, and a disabled vehicle are all signs of transmission trouble. Upon further inspection our resident mechanic (J-Man) discovered that the hose that sends transmission fluid to the transmission had become loose and was leaking fluid. A short discussion took place and Graham and Decora decided to walk back into town to find some transmission fluid. In the meantime J-man would reattach the hose and the rest of us would sit in the bus laughing at our situation. Well...we weren't chosen to do that but we all believe that it was the right thing to do. Decora and Graham had to cross the highway and get to the other side in order to get back into town. In town they found a spot to get transmission fluid and headed back.
While they were away we continued laughing and increased the laughter when hail the size of pebbles began to fall. The hail was then followed by a sudden torrential downpour We all got into a deep conversation and for some reason I jumped in (totally and completely off subject) and said; It doesn't matter though...as you long as you've got love any relationship can work out. Within approximately 3 mins of stating that an M.C. we met at the N.M. Dooda Desert Rock concert pulled up in front of us and started walking towards us. He was on his way to L.V. and then to home to Cali aftrWe all smiled and said wassup as he came on the bus to ask how we were all doing. He offered to pick up Decora and Graham up but they had already called Bess and she was driving them back. He stayed and chatted with us about some deep stuff. All of us thoroughly enjoyed his company. He had a genuine spirit and a real heart that was clear and evident in his speech. When Graham, Decora and Bess got back they all greeted each other. Bess gave him a big hug because they knew each other and hadn't seen each other in a while. While the M.C. stayed and chatted with us 3 beautiful little children would stick their heads out of the window and he would yell at them to get back in while we laughed. Tiwaeis the mother of the children (her name means thoughts is wind and elements signz)was in the passenger seat not feeling well. Cuttz gave the M.C. some natural remedies to give to her while we spoke with him (Cuttz has been natural remedy "GURU" on this journey). Bess left soon after dropping Decora and Graham off because she had to get back to her day. The M.C. went back to his car and brought back a shell, eagle feather and some sage. He had been the one that blessed the space at the Dooda Desert Rock following native indigenous tradition. He asked for a lighter and told us that he would like to bless the bus and that he was going to begin on the outside and then come inside. Before each step he explained the tradition to us, what he was doing and where he had received each item. He then began chanting and went around the bus. He then made his way inside and blessed the bus as well as each one of us individually. When he was done he asked if we had a container to put the extra sage and ashes in for us to keep. Afterwards we all thanked him and said our goodbyes. He walked to his vehicle looked got in and came back. This time he brought with him a small eagle feather and a red string. He gave it to us and explained that the eagle is sacred in Native American traditions and that it would guide us on our journey. We all gave another set of thank yous and goodbyes.
As his car pulled away we all reflected on what had happened in the past few hours. We also noticed that although hail and a downpour had fallen neither Decora nor Graham had gotten wet. We all prepped up and got back on the road to California where we had an event scheduled for that night in L.A.. We got to the event late but Poetri (well known Def Poet from that was on Broadway's Def Poetry Jam) let us go on and made us the feature. The place was PPPPAAAACCCCKKKEEEED! We got out the bus, used the bathroom and got on the stage to perform as if we were ancient spirits coming to bring knowledge to the people. The crowd went insane with each piece and we made enough donations and merchandise sales to get some food and head over to Decora's cousin's house. When we got there we all collapsed on the beds, fouton's and floors we found and woke up in the morn barely recharged.
This was an amazing day for us all that served as a reminder that as long as we are doing what is just and right the power above us will always guide us in the direction we need to be in. By the way...do you recall how I mentioned that out of no where in our moment of need I stated that all we need is love...well...the M.C. that came and graced us with his blessings, energy, motivating words, spirit and love...is named L.U.V...LUV! "Ask and Ye shall receive" my brothers and sisters.. "Ask and Ye shall receive!
-Latin
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Jenny on New Mexico
The Beat Goes On
Hello, this is Jenny your guest blog author for the Front Lines Tour. I met up with the tour in Phoenix, and I'll be flying out of LA in a few days. All I can say is that being on the road makes crazy people even crazier (let Cuttz out of the bus and he will run 100 miles per hour up a vertical cliff), but that it's been all in all, mad fun. Beautiful sights, good people, and just a little too much road food (when I get home no one will cut me off from gas station pickles!) I hope I can be as witty and entertaining as your master blogger Latin – here goes.
We pulled in to the Dooda Desert Rock Camp around 5 pm on Saturday, after driving 10 miles down a dirt road in the middle of the New Mexico desert. Latin got the fun of driving down the bumpy-ass road that we thought would never end and throwing all of us all over the bus. When we got there we were too nervous to pull the bus down this steep hill to the parking area so we left it perched on the top of a hill before a beautiful backdrop of colorful cliffs, making for an amazing bus picture (see the pictures!).
Honestly, when we looked out I was a little concerned - even though it was supposed to be a big music festival, there were only about 10 cars. But in the next 24 hours we would learn so much from many amazing people, while telling our own stories and fulfilling the true mission of the Front Lines Tour.
When we first walked up Elouise Brown, the President of Dooda Desert Rock, was speaking on stage. Dooda Desert Rock was formed to stop a proposed coal power plant that would wreak environmental havoc on Navajo lands. "Dooda," pronounced "dough-da," means "no" in Navajo. The group is truly grassroots; although held together by a few local residents of the Navajo Nation, they have made great strides in the last 2 years and have so far held off the building of the power plant. The supporters say it will bring jobs to the Navajos, but according to the old ranchers at the site, they don't want those jobs- they just want to work on the land. Their struggle is such an important one, because there is so much money (3.2 billion dollars) and power (the Navajo Nation President supports the power plant) literally fighting them. Helicopters fly over their camp when they have events, and if they leave for a few days their property gets vandalized. Despite all of the resistance, Elouise and her family and supporters refuse to give up. During one of her inspirational speeches, she talked about sacrifice for the cause, and the need to keep pushing no matter what. "Sometimes I think I am crazy for continuing this fight," she said. "And then I realize I am crazy, but it is a good kind of crazy."
The ReadNex performed both days of the festival. The first day's set was a full and energetic one, with the crew performing "Youth," "COCA," Ready for War," and a full set by DJ H20. There was a man who was recording the whole event with super amazing professional equipment (the footage is so beautiful it looks like there is a fake background! Look for it soon.) The second day they performed some acapella poems and then Decora and Cuttz started off a freestyle session that lasted about 30 minutes. They were joined by Luv from LA and I think it was the funnest freestylin they've ever done. They had the crowd cracking up and in awe by the time they were done.
The other artists ranged from traditional Native music to contemporary hip hop and poetry. The bus from the Longest Walk got in the second day, and they all told their stories on stage. It was amazing to make the connection between the hip hop storytelling culture, based on the African griots, and the Native American tradition of storytelling. All there was to do there, really, was talk and listen, share and receive gifts.
During the hot sunny day Decora, Graham and I wandered off and found a clay mud pit, and let our inhibitions go until we walked back to camp covered head to toe in silty clay mud. At nighttime you could have found Cuttz and Graham exploring the surface of Mars, and the rest of the crew chillin in the bus watching Family Guy.
Despite the conditions that come along with being in the desert, like the lack of showers, excessive heat, and cactus needles that always seem to find your feet, I think it was a truly inspiring stop on the tour.
Before I left I asked Elouise for some fliers, so I could read more and maybe spread information about their struggle when I get home. To my surprise, they didn't have any. I guess I know for sure how I am supposed to share their story.
Check out Dooda Desert Rock and please support in any way you can!
-Jenny
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Awaited Mexico Blog
Corina's Mexico Experience
So we went to mexico with Maria. Twice. We went at night when we visited some amazing people who are doin amazing work. And again the next day when we walked to the border, paid 30 cents and crossed over the bridge from El Paso, Texas into Juarez, Mexico. It was amazing for me to see all of the revolutionary artowrk that was done along the border. It truly is another world down there. When we got in Juarez we were greeted by many people who were workin hard on the street to make ends meets, selling candy, jewelry and other goods. These are beautiful people who are struggling much due to capitalism, and many other forms of oppressions that have worked to destroy the Mexican people. Our host, Maria, lead us aroudn the city, through the markets and the store. We ate and were waitedon by a beautiful and sweet teenage girl who was laughing as some of us struggled to order our meal in spanish.
Maria was telling us about the dissapearances of the women in Juarez. Thousands of women in the recent years have disapeared to late be found raped and dea near the border. These women are young, Mexican workers in the Maquilladores (sweatshop factories) that have over powered and over populated Juarez. These maquilladores were built in the 1960s as an alternative tot he border worker act. Where Mexican workers were previously allowed into the US to work long hours on short visas, these Maquilladores allowed the US coporations and buisnesses to build their factories on Mexican land and pay there workers a fraction of what they had previsouly been forced to pay them when they worked in the US. These women workers that are disappearing are not going unnoticed, no matter how hard the Mexican government tires to hide. While we were walking we passed a few of the memorials for the women; a pink square painted on a surface with a black cross in the middle. This got to me, becuae these women are my age, and rape is used universally as a way to degrade, dehumanize and destroy a culture. These missing Mexican women are peoples daughters, sisters, wives, mothers, girlfriends, lovers and friends...and they are gone. It makes me sad and mad at the same time.
So after our lay in the bordertown of Juarez, we started on our way back, payin the 30 cents to get back over the bridge into El Paso. We had to wait in a line where we were right next to about 100 male deportees from aroudn the US being deported back into Mexico. These men were being forced to all fit in a small trailer with no air conditioner or air flow, on a day that was unbearibly hot, with temparutres at least 105. They were tagged on their arm and mistreated by the guards. They were stripped of their personhood, and made into animals being hauled to the farm. That scene was disturbing to see the mistreatment of "illegal people." No human being is illegal, no matter where they are from or where they live in the present; no human being is illegal. Maria was really upset by the whole scene, because for her this really hit home. She is from El Paso and grew up on the border and she knows whats its like to live in the border community.
To end this blog I want to say that my experience in Mexico made we want to organize outside of our border...sin fronteras..no borders. We should work to learn, connect and work with others that live in another community. When we tear down physical borders we are able to tear down the borders of hatred. So, work on yourself as a bordertown, and see if you can break down your own border. Thank you to all of the amazing people in our stay in El Paso, in Mexico and on the way there.
--
One Struggle. One Love.
-Corina
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Fundraising!
Last Night's (8/1/08) Fundraising
On the bus traveling down a long and lonely road in New Mexico I write you all about yesterdays' fundraising efforts. As mentioned in the previous blogs we a very low on funds and each day finds us working harder to make enough money to get to the next spot. We had hoped that we'd make enough money before the trip so that we could focus on working with communities and performing. However, that wasn't the case. In reality we were only able to raise a fraction of the amount that we needed for this trip. When we realized our situation back home it wasn't a difficult decision to make. Go anyway! Go because we will learn more than any classroom could ever teach us. Go because men, women and children are waiting for our words. Go because some of those children will be inspired by our having gone, words or lives. Go because if we do not go and reach out to these communities and help out... who will? Go because our words have the power to create and we as a people must finds ways to do just that in order to counteract the destruction that exists in our world. That's why we spent all of yesterday fundraising. To continue what we've set out to do.
We picked up Jenny (Decora's Queen) in Phoenix the other and set out to to Whole Foods. Whole Foods is an organic foods supermarket that has been donating food to us along the way. Decora had called and the one in Phoenix was nice enough to set us up with a bag of groceries. PB&J here we come! After we picked up the food we headed towards the YMCA we had been at the previous day getting a workout to keep ourselves fit on this journey of ours. There, Graham had spoken to someone about a teen event happening the next day. The organizer of the event said that it would be cool if we came out and had DJ H20 spin with a possibility of a performance to raise some funds.
When we got to the YMCA we set up and DJ H20 started to spin. In the meantime Decora and Jenny headed towards something called First Fridays. First Friday apparently attracts tons of people for various art displays, street performers and vendors. Decora found a good spot for us to set up and we headed over there after the event in the YMCA. Larry and his family came too.Larry is the Couch Surfer that put us up for two nights. Couch Surfing stems from a website (couchsurfing.com) where people connect online and stay at each others places instead of going to hotels. The idea is to save money and also create an interaction where one can learn from each other by "interacting with the locals". When we got to the area where First Friday is held it was packed full of hundreds of people. Decora was there and he guided us to park in front of an art gallery called Inn Studio. The artist's name is Michael David Little and he had some great work on display. People take houses and display their art all throughout the house. It was a pretty cool concept and the streets were lined with other artists doing the same.
We learned that we only had a half hour before the noise ordinances went into effect so we had DJ H20 setup his equipment right in the bus. With one of the speakers blasting outside. While he spun on the ones and two's I hyped the crowd and mentioned that we had CD's for sale and were accepting donations. Crowds surrounded the bus before DJ H20 and I could even set up the equipment. They were all checking out the bus and trying to figure out what was going on. DJ H20 did an amazing set and we both had intermittent crowds surrounding the bus while he DJ'd and I lured them over on the mic. We made some more donation money while there and sold some merchandise as well(CD's and Shirts). The cops came around at 10pm (time noise ordinances went into effect) and told us we had to shut down. We did as soon as we could because there was a "Couch Surfing" party going on a few minutes away. Larry had put us on to it and we figured it could be another fund raising opportunity. Indeed it was. This house was PACKED full of people. Apparently it was a bday party for one of the people that lived at the house and word got around that there was a Hip Hop group from NY soon to be rocking the mic. The DJ there (DJ Noah) was off the chain and soon after we got there he passed on the equipment to DJ H20. He had the people dancing and groovin to his mixes while I (and on occasions Decora) reminded the crowd that we were accepting donations. A couple of hours later we got the crew ready (I gave a shout out to Free while on the mic because she was sleeping on the bus) and had the crowd movin with a couple tracks. While that went on I woke up (accidently scared her too) Corina who helped out by passing around the bucket and collecting money. After our performance we took some showers at that house and got back on the road. This time to New Mexico.
-Latin
On the bus traveling down a long and lonely road in New Mexico I write you all about yesterdays' fundraising efforts. As mentioned in the previous blogs we a very low on funds and each day finds us working harder to make enough money to get to the next spot. We had hoped that we'd make enough money before the trip so that we could focus on working with communities and performing. However, that wasn't the case. In reality we were only able to raise a fraction of the amount that we needed for this trip. When we realized our situation back home it wasn't a difficult decision to make. Go anyway! Go because we will learn more than any classroom could ever teach us. Go because men, women and children are waiting for our words. Go because some of those children will be inspired by our having gone, words or lives. Go because if we do not go and reach out to these communities and help out... who will? Go because our words have the power to create and we as a people must finds ways to do just that in order to counteract the destruction that exists in our world. That's why we spent all of yesterday fundraising. To continue what we've set out to do.
We picked up Jenny (Decora's Queen) in Phoenix the other and set out to to Whole Foods. Whole Foods is an organic foods supermarket that has been donating food to us along the way. Decora had called and the one in Phoenix was nice enough to set us up with a bag of groceries. PB&J here we come! After we picked up the food we headed towards the YMCA we had been at the previous day getting a workout to keep ourselves fit on this journey of ours. There, Graham had spoken to someone about a teen event happening the next day. The organizer of the event said that it would be cool if we came out and had DJ H20 spin with a possibility of a performance to raise some funds.
When we got to the YMCA we set up and DJ H20 started to spin. In the meantime Decora and Jenny headed towards something called First Fridays. First Friday apparently attracts tons of people for various art displays, street performers and vendors. Decora found a good spot for us to set up and we headed over there after the event in the YMCA. Larry and his family came too.Larry is the Couch Surfer that put us up for two nights. Couch Surfing stems from a website (couchsurfing.com) where people connect online and stay at each others places instead of going to hotels. The idea is to save money and also create an interaction where one can learn from each other by "interacting with the locals". When we got to the area where First Friday is held it was packed full of hundreds of people. Decora was there and he guided us to park in front of an art gallery called Inn Studio. The artist's name is Michael David Little and he had some great work on display. People take houses and display their art all throughout the house. It was a pretty cool concept and the streets were lined with other artists doing the same.
We learned that we only had a half hour before the noise ordinances went into effect so we had DJ H20 setup his equipment right in the bus. With one of the speakers blasting outside. While he spun on the ones and two's I hyped the crowd and mentioned that we had CD's for sale and were accepting donations. Crowds surrounded the bus before DJ H20 and I could even set up the equipment. They were all checking out the bus and trying to figure out what was going on. DJ H20 did an amazing set and we both had intermittent crowds surrounding the bus while he DJ'd and I lured them over on the mic. We made some more donation money while there and sold some merchandise as well(CD's and Shirts). The cops came around at 10pm (time noise ordinances went into effect) and told us we had to shut down. We did as soon as we could because there was a "Couch Surfing" party going on a few minutes away. Larry had put us on to it and we figured it could be another fund raising opportunity. Indeed it was. This house was PACKED full of people. Apparently it was a bday party for one of the people that lived at the house and word got around that there was a Hip Hop group from NY soon to be rocking the mic. The DJ there (DJ Noah) was off the chain and soon after we got there he passed on the equipment to DJ H20. He had the people dancing and groovin to his mixes while I (and on occasions Decora) reminded the crowd that we were accepting donations. A couple of hours later we got the crew ready (I gave a shout out to Free while on the mic because she was sleeping on the bus) and had the crowd movin with a couple tracks. While that went on I woke up (accidently scared her too) Corina who helped out by passing around the bucket and collecting money. After our performance we took some showers at that house and got back on the road. This time to New Mexico.
-Latin
Friday, August 1, 2008
Brief Update
Time is Tight...Simple Update (As soon as time allows I'll write detailed ones)
We're in a reeeeaaaaaaalllllyyyyy nice house on the outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona. We're trying to see if we can set up an event for tonight to raise some money to get to the next spot. It's been a tough couple of days money wise and the Arizona heat doesn't help much. The minute we entered Arizona the sun came down and said ; Hey guys...I'm going to be ticking you off the whole time you're in this state...How do you like them apples? Since time is tight and we're all on the grind I'm going to write a basic update of what's been going on. Don't worry (Monica) I'll write a detailed update soon.
So we made it to San Antonio and met up with Monica. She has one of the most beautiful spirits that many of us have ever met. Not once in the time that we met her did she not smile or have an indestructible love for life. She works with the South West Workers Union (a 20 year old Organization that was created to fight for the rights of teachers and has grown to be an organization that works hard for others) under Ruben and introduced us to him so that we could stay at his house. He has a large house that wasn't as hot as it was outside (which all good with me). As soon as we walked in he welcomed us and let us know about his home's Mexican style plumbing (C=caliente H=helado). Soon after Monica re-arrived with some of the best breakfast burritos I've had. For those of you that don't know...Tex-Mex food is the bomb. During breakfast Ruben taught us an extensive After breakfast we all found a spot to chill out it and relaxed until we had to head over to our workshop.
Monica came by and picked us up so that we could head to our workshop. Actually we followed her in our bus. She stopped by the South West Workers Union office to pick some things up and we were back on our way. When we got to the venue Ruta Maya we found a basement packed full of youth. We presented our "Hip Hop and Poetry Save My Life" workshop and had a great time with this particular group of youth. The kids were wise beyond their years and threw out issues that they were seeing in their communities with no problem. When we did one of the techniques we teach (bubble technique) they immediately blurted out phrases that youth their age should not have to be concerned with. Phrases and words like police brutality, poverty, gentrification and others flew through the room we were in with the power of ancestral knowledge. Later on we learned that many of these youth are very involved in their communities working hard to stand up for the rights of su gente. After the workshop we had a few hours to rest before our performance that night.
The performance was at a venue called Cafe Latino. It was a packed house and some amazing artists vocal and musical artists like Vocab and Bombasta blessed the outdoor stage. We performed our set and dealt with some sound difficulties (mics kept giving off feedback) while at it we rocked a live crowd and had a great time doing so. There was an awesome party afterwards that had us all dancing and enjoying ourselves. There was a guy that liked the event so much that during the party he came up to me and said... You guys were awesome. Dude! Your like coffee...I wanna just drink you up! To which I politely answered thank you and slowly walked away lol.
The next day we had an outdoor performance in Hondo, Texas. the stage was setup on a long trailer and it was under the stairs. After the event there in Hondo we headed straight to El Paso which was a loooong drive. At El Paso we were greeted by Monica's beautiful family. The love and warmth that Monica had given us was granted to us by her family as well. In El Paso we realized that we had no money and needed to do so some fundraising. We were fortunate enough to get a couple of events where we made enough money to get back on the road.
This is a quick update to let you all know where we are. Hopefully if we get more time I can write a more detailed one soon. Thank you so Monica and her familia for being the warm beautiful people they are and for making us feel at home from the moment we met Monica to the moment we said good bye. Much amor para ustedes.
-Latin
We're in a reeeeaaaaaaalllllyyyyy nice house on the outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona. We're trying to see if we can set up an event for tonight to raise some money to get to the next spot. It's been a tough couple of days money wise and the Arizona heat doesn't help much. The minute we entered Arizona the sun came down and said ; Hey guys...I'm going to be ticking you off the whole time you're in this state...How do you like them apples? Since time is tight and we're all on the grind I'm going to write a basic update of what's been going on. Don't worry (Monica) I'll write a detailed update soon.
So we made it to San Antonio and met up with Monica. She has one of the most beautiful spirits that many of us have ever met. Not once in the time that we met her did she not smile or have an indestructible love for life. She works with the South West Workers Union (a 20 year old Organization that was created to fight for the rights of teachers and has grown to be an organization that works hard for others) under Ruben and introduced us to him so that we could stay at his house. He has a large house that wasn't as hot as it was outside (which all good with me). As soon as we walked in he welcomed us and let us know about his home's Mexican style plumbing (C=caliente H=helado). Soon after Monica re-arrived with some of the best breakfast burritos I've had. For those of you that don't know...Tex-Mex food is the bomb. During breakfast Ruben taught us an extensive After breakfast we all found a spot to chill out it and relaxed until we had to head over to our workshop.
Monica came by and picked us up so that we could head to our workshop. Actually we followed her in our bus. She stopped by the South West Workers Union office to pick some things up and we were back on our way. When we got to the venue Ruta Maya we found a basement packed full of youth. We presented our "Hip Hop and Poetry Save My Life" workshop and had a great time with this particular group of youth. The kids were wise beyond their years and threw out issues that they were seeing in their communities with no problem. When we did one of the techniques we teach (bubble technique) they immediately blurted out phrases that youth their age should not have to be concerned with. Phrases and words like police brutality, poverty, gentrification and others flew through the room we were in with the power of ancestral knowledge. Later on we learned that many of these youth are very involved in their communities working hard to stand up for the rights of su gente. After the workshop we had a few hours to rest before our performance that night.
The performance was at a venue called Cafe Latino. It was a packed house and some amazing artists vocal and musical artists like Vocab and Bombasta blessed the outdoor stage. We performed our set and dealt with some sound difficulties (mics kept giving off feedback) while at it we rocked a live crowd and had a great time doing so. There was an awesome party afterwards that had us all dancing and enjoying ourselves. There was a guy that liked the event so much that during the party he came up to me and said... You guys were awesome. Dude! Your like coffee...I wanna just drink you up! To which I politely answered thank you and slowly walked away lol.
The next day we had an outdoor performance in Hondo, Texas. the stage was setup on a long trailer and it was under the stairs. After the event there in Hondo we headed straight to El Paso which was a loooong drive. At El Paso we were greeted by Monica's beautiful family. The love and warmth that Monica had given us was granted to us by her family as well. In El Paso we realized that we had no money and needed to do so some fundraising. We were fortunate enough to get a couple of events where we made enough money to get back on the road.
This is a quick update to let you all know where we are. Hopefully if we get more time I can write a more detailed one soon. Thank you so Monica and her familia for being the warm beautiful people they are and for making us feel at home from the moment we met Monica to the moment we said good bye. Much amor para ustedes.
-Latin
Thursday, July 31, 2008
El Paso We Love You!!!
El Paso helped us get back on the road.
I'm on the bus across from J-man and Corina. Their working on Corina's computer. Cuttz just woke up and is scrambling for whatever food and drink he can find. Graham, Free and Decora are sleeping while DJ H20 drives. We're officially in the desert. The heat is beating down and I'm trying to stay as hydrated possible. We're on our way to an event in Phoenix, Arizona after having spent a few days in El Paso. Originally we'd planned to perform in Juarez and then drive down to Chihuahua, Mejico. Due to extensive flooding caused by heavy rainfall in Juarez the event had to be canceled. In addition, we'd run out of money for food or gas. So inevitably we decided to do some fund raising in El Paso to help us get moving forward. Monica (our San Antonio, Hondo, Juarez and El Paso connection) hooked us up with a place to stay (her brother's house) some food and pretty much anything else we needed. With her help we were able to book a couple of last minute events (DJ H20 dance parties and short performance) that made us enough money to get back on the road. Local organic food shops donated some food too.
Our first event was at the Percolator in El Paso. There we hosted a dance party and short performance. As soon as we were done we headed to another venue called the Black Market. DJ H20 tore it up with both sets. He was even dancing in the DJ booth at both venues. Decora stood outside where he asked for donations for the DJ while we had a table set up inside selling CD's and accepting donations as well. Overall it was an amazing night and couple days that had us all coming together trying to make dinero to get us back on the road.
-Latin
I'm on the bus across from J-man and Corina. Their working on Corina's computer. Cuttz just woke up and is scrambling for whatever food and drink he can find. Graham, Free and Decora are sleeping while DJ H20 drives. We're officially in the desert. The heat is beating down and I'm trying to stay as hydrated possible. We're on our way to an event in Phoenix, Arizona after having spent a few days in El Paso. Originally we'd planned to perform in Juarez and then drive down to Chihuahua, Mejico. Due to extensive flooding caused by heavy rainfall in Juarez the event had to be canceled. In addition, we'd run out of money for food or gas. So inevitably we decided to do some fund raising in El Paso to help us get moving forward. Monica (our San Antonio, Hondo, Juarez and El Paso connection) hooked us up with a place to stay (her brother's house) some food and pretty much anything else we needed. With her help we were able to book a couple of last minute events (DJ H20 dance parties and short performance) that made us enough money to get back on the road. Local organic food shops donated some food too.
Our first event was at the Percolator in El Paso. There we hosted a dance party and short performance. As soon as we were done we headed to another venue called the Black Market. DJ H20 tore it up with both sets. He was even dancing in the DJ booth at both venues. Decora stood outside where he asked for donations for the DJ while we had a table set up inside selling CD's and accepting donations as well. Overall it was an amazing night and couple days that had us all coming together trying to make dinero to get us back on the road.
-Latin
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Mas Texas
Sitting in El Paso
I'm sitting in El Paso, Tejas. I'm sweaty like a puppy that's too stupid to realize that his tail is never going to detach from his body. More tired than than a kid thats had waaayyy too much cake a bday party and decided that he wants to do just one more lap in the pool. But that's what being on tour is all about. It's about not caring how you feel and doing all you can to set a microphone that hasn't done anything to you on fire. As you may have noticed I am very behind on blog entries. It's been a busy few days and I have a Queen ill back at our kingdom. I will do my best to push these blog entries out like refried beans from a Tex-Mex restaurant (it's funny because they make a lot of refried beans...come on people follow me I won't let you down.
The next day in Houston I woke up with Manchita (my quadruped girlfriend...S's dog kept laying next to me) chilling next to me on the hard wood floor that I claimed as my bed. Graham's feet were to the left of me and according to him I played footsie with him all night. In reality every time I'd move my leg some how our feet would meet and I'd reverse punch the floor out of despair. That past night is yet another night that I won't mind forgetting lol. S and her sisters came out of their room and they and Graham made breakfast. They made some great food and a Pico De Gallo that would smack the smile out of any unsuspecting hot food aficionados. One taste of that in the morning equals 10 cups of coffee. Your eyes are open until they can be open no more. S mentioned that her sister had made it and that she chilled with the hotness since we weren't used to it. DAMN! I wonder what it would taste like if she hadn't recalled that our tongues were made of flesh and not steel. After breakfast S asked if anyone wanted to go with her to run some errands. Everyone had gotten themselves set in their work so no other me signed up. S smiled when she realized that not everyone wanted to go and mentioned that her mother didn't want anyone in the house without S being there. She mentioned it and then we laughed as we joked about her hopes that we'd all want to sign up to go run errands lol. We decided that we'd go to the local YMCA for a few hours while S did her thing. We prepped and embarked on our journey to the YMCA.
On route to the "Y" the rain came down like it was angry at everyone on the Highway. We quickly realized that the damage we had sustained the night before (we ran into the Tex-Mex restaurant's roof) had created a leak. Well actually it was more like a little waterfall. The interesting thing about it is that as it hit the engine cover on the inside of the bus it emitted the not so sweet smell of cat urine. Who knew that a hot engine over and rain water would cause such a stench on a bus with 8 persons. But it did...ohhh it did! Fortunately, by the time we had gotten to the YMCA the rain had stopped. Most piled out and headed to the Y while Decora and J-man stayed behind to work on repairing the artificial waterfall. Cuttz and DJ H20 practiced Capoeira, Corina, walked around, and Graham steamed himself while Free and I allowed wireless internet to flow freely into our computing systems. In other words we had some work to do online. This Y was niiiizzziice. They even gave us some Free ice cream which put them on Free's top 3 places to go under hair braider and performance venues. Decora and J-man got there later when we had to head out. Decora wasn't happy because he wanted to do his workout going but we had to go since S and her mother asked us to pick up some chicken while they cooked some comida.
We brought the chicken and they had the rice and refried beans going just like I had dreamt of. Needless to say I was hungry and the feeling was mutual. Free cooked the chicken and when she was done we all got our eating thing goin. Some chicken, rice, refried beans and Pico De FIRE... I mean Gallo later we were "red" to go. We got to "Bohemios" (the venue we were performing at) and were ready to set the mic ablaze....until the host said he wanted to cut our set to three 15 minute intervals. Say WA!!! we attempted to negotiate one 15 minute and a 30 but wasn't having it. He said that he was a slam poet and that his poems were 3 minutes long. We said that we weren't there to slam and that we create a dialogue with the crowd (Edutainment) before our pieces and perform Hip Hop as well. I sat down while Free spoke to him and told S about our situation. She freaked....stood up and walked over there with the strength of her corazon (heart) and spoke with the host. Lupe later got involved and the set was confirmed...one 15 and one 30. We opened up with a few pieces and I improved a funny Intro poem promoting the tour and our merchandise. We needed the help because we were running low on the dinero. Afterwards the poets of the "Word Around Town" fam came strong again and had the crowd amped. At the end we wrapped up with our 30 mins set and called it a night with a standing crowd that clapped as we spoke of how beautiful we all (as a people) are and that all we need to do is connect with each other to free ourselves from mental slavery. Deep huh? Soon after DJ H20 did what he does and some boogied while others break danced (this is when I realized Marlin was more than a breaker he's a creator) and even still others Capoera'd. The Word Around Town fam and the Front Lines Tour crew chilled and chatted for a while until it was time to hit the road again over to S's house.
When we got there Graham, Cuttz and S headed out again cause their adrenaline was still pumping and Steven one of the Word Around Town poets had offered to give us some gas money since we had gone to pick him up to take him to the event. He was a real cool dude and poet (he even finished one of his poems while on the bus) that kept telling me to find him after midnight cause that's when he'd be getting paid lol. While they headed out to chill with Steve the rest of us got ready to hit lay our heads down to rest. S's family was wide awake so Corina and I stayed up with them hablando. During the day Manchita (the dog) was caught being violated by a neighborhood dog so that was one of the big subjects of the night lol. S's sisters also asked questions and DEMANDED stickers lol. It's amazing how much teens love stickers. From now on parents just get them some stickers for Christmas...don't tell them I recommended it though. After we chatted up the night we all headed to bed. Then I heard the family laughing in the kitchen and heating up some comida...suddenly I was hungrier than I was sleepy. I walked in the kitchen and they laughed as they placed a plate of rice and uncooked bananas in the microwave for me. I had never eaten rice and uncooked bananas before but it was gooooood. After I finished up my newest favorite dish (next to anything Mami or my Queen Sofia cooks for me) my head plopped down on the solid wood floor like it was the softest pillow I had ever felt and my eyes slowly shut. We woke up the next morning prepped to leave and headed out.
We'll all miss S and her family. S always has a smile on and no matter what happens all is chill. Her sisters made us laugh as they talked about their many sibling battles. S's mom made some AWESOME food and her bf even recited a poem to us about home that reminded us to keep home in our hearts. We're all very greatful for the time we spent in Houston with S and her family and appreciate all of their love and hospitality.Hasta La Proxima!
-Latin
I'm sitting in El Paso, Tejas. I'm sweaty like a puppy that's too stupid to realize that his tail is never going to detach from his body. More tired than than a kid thats had waaayyy too much cake a bday party and decided that he wants to do just one more lap in the pool. But that's what being on tour is all about. It's about not caring how you feel and doing all you can to set a microphone that hasn't done anything to you on fire. As you may have noticed I am very behind on blog entries. It's been a busy few days and I have a Queen ill back at our kingdom. I will do my best to push these blog entries out like refried beans from a Tex-Mex restaurant (it's funny because they make a lot of refried beans...come on people follow me I won't let you down.
The next day in Houston I woke up with Manchita (my quadruped girlfriend...S's dog kept laying next to me) chilling next to me on the hard wood floor that I claimed as my bed. Graham's feet were to the left of me and according to him I played footsie with him all night. In reality every time I'd move my leg some how our feet would meet and I'd reverse punch the floor out of despair. That past night is yet another night that I won't mind forgetting lol. S and her sisters came out of their room and they and Graham made breakfast. They made some great food and a Pico De Gallo that would smack the smile out of any unsuspecting hot food aficionados. One taste of that in the morning equals 10 cups of coffee. Your eyes are open until they can be open no more. S mentioned that her sister had made it and that she chilled with the hotness since we weren't used to it. DAMN! I wonder what it would taste like if she hadn't recalled that our tongues were made of flesh and not steel. After breakfast S asked if anyone wanted to go with her to run some errands. Everyone had gotten themselves set in their work so no other me signed up. S smiled when she realized that not everyone wanted to go and mentioned that her mother didn't want anyone in the house without S being there. She mentioned it and then we laughed as we joked about her hopes that we'd all want to sign up to go run errands lol. We decided that we'd go to the local YMCA for a few hours while S did her thing. We prepped and embarked on our journey to the YMCA.
On route to the "Y" the rain came down like it was angry at everyone on the Highway. We quickly realized that the damage we had sustained the night before (we ran into the Tex-Mex restaurant's roof) had created a leak. Well actually it was more like a little waterfall. The interesting thing about it is that as it hit the engine cover on the inside of the bus it emitted the not so sweet smell of cat urine. Who knew that a hot engine over and rain water would cause such a stench on a bus with 8 persons. But it did...ohhh it did! Fortunately, by the time we had gotten to the YMCA the rain had stopped. Most piled out and headed to the Y while Decora and J-man stayed behind to work on repairing the artificial waterfall. Cuttz and DJ H20 practiced Capoeira, Corina, walked around, and Graham steamed himself while Free and I allowed wireless internet to flow freely into our computing systems. In other words we had some work to do online. This Y was niiiizzziice. They even gave us some Free ice cream which put them on Free's top 3 places to go under hair braider and performance venues. Decora and J-man got there later when we had to head out. Decora wasn't happy because he wanted to do his workout going but we had to go since S and her mother asked us to pick up some chicken while they cooked some comida.
We brought the chicken and they had the rice and refried beans going just like I had dreamt of. Needless to say I was hungry and the feeling was mutual. Free cooked the chicken and when she was done we all got our eating thing goin. Some chicken, rice, refried beans and Pico De FIRE... I mean Gallo later we were "red" to go. We got to "Bohemios" (the venue we were performing at) and were ready to set the mic ablaze....until the host said he wanted to cut our set to three 15 minute intervals. Say WA!!! we attempted to negotiate one 15 minute and a 30 but wasn't having it. He said that he was a slam poet and that his poems were 3 minutes long. We said that we weren't there to slam and that we create a dialogue with the crowd (Edutainment) before our pieces and perform Hip Hop as well. I sat down while Free spoke to him and told S about our situation. She freaked....stood up and walked over there with the strength of her corazon (heart) and spoke with the host. Lupe later got involved and the set was confirmed...one 15 and one 30. We opened up with a few pieces and I improved a funny Intro poem promoting the tour and our merchandise. We needed the help because we were running low on the dinero. Afterwards the poets of the "Word Around Town" fam came strong again and had the crowd amped. At the end we wrapped up with our 30 mins set and called it a night with a standing crowd that clapped as we spoke of how beautiful we all (as a people) are and that all we need to do is connect with each other to free ourselves from mental slavery. Deep huh? Soon after DJ H20 did what he does and some boogied while others break danced (this is when I realized Marlin was more than a breaker he's a creator) and even still others Capoera'd. The Word Around Town fam and the Front Lines Tour crew chilled and chatted for a while until it was time to hit the road again over to S's house.
When we got there Graham, Cuttz and S headed out again cause their adrenaline was still pumping and Steven one of the Word Around Town poets had offered to give us some gas money since we had gone to pick him up to take him to the event. He was a real cool dude and poet (he even finished one of his poems while on the bus) that kept telling me to find him after midnight cause that's when he'd be getting paid lol. While they headed out to chill with Steve the rest of us got ready to hit lay our heads down to rest. S's family was wide awake so Corina and I stayed up with them hablando. During the day Manchita (the dog) was caught being violated by a neighborhood dog so that was one of the big subjects of the night lol. S's sisters also asked questions and DEMANDED stickers lol. It's amazing how much teens love stickers. From now on parents just get them some stickers for Christmas...don't tell them I recommended it though. After we chatted up the night we all headed to bed. Then I heard the family laughing in the kitchen and heating up some comida...suddenly I was hungrier than I was sleepy. I walked in the kitchen and they laughed as they placed a plate of rice and uncooked bananas in the microwave for me. I had never eaten rice and uncooked bananas before but it was gooooood. After I finished up my newest favorite dish (next to anything Mami or my Queen Sofia cooks for me) my head plopped down on the solid wood floor like it was the softest pillow I had ever felt and my eyes slowly shut. We woke up the next morning prepped to leave and headed out.
We'll all miss S and her family. S always has a smile on and no matter what happens all is chill. Her sisters made us laugh as they talked about their many sibling battles. S's mom made some AWESOME food and her bf even recited a poem to us about home that reminded us to keep home in our hearts. We're all very greatful for the time we spent in Houston with S and her family and appreciate all of their love and hospitality.Hasta La Proxima!
-Latin
Texas Is A Country!
Texas Is It's Own Country!
It's been a while since the last blog entry due to our extremely busy schedule.
So much has happened and to write all of it down would require an entire book. Actually, a series of books to be exact. We've met and been embraced like a family by many beautiful and kind people. Heard some amazing lyrical artists on every stop. Seen breathtaking sights and eaten some of the best Tex-Mex food we could find in all of Texas. We've been continuously moving, pushing, performing, and the only small breaks we've had have been to get a little sleep in order to prevent the insanity caused by sleep deprivation. Crowds have been moved, children have been educated and in turn we've been blessed with both as well. Our blessings here in Texas have been numerous. In an effort to keep you all updated and maintain an adequate space I've decided to condense Houston, San Antonio and Hondo in to one entry.
In Houston we met up with S. She's a student at El Paso but she lives with her family in Houston during the summer. She was born in Mexico City and her and her mother moved to the states when she was a little girl. Now at 19 she is constantly under the threat of not being able to live in the U.S. any more. Every year she has to re-file and pay ever increasing fees per document filed. Hearing her story and how after all that her and her family has been through she might have to be sent away was heart breaking. This is just one story of thousands that occur on a daily basis. Stories of people that work their lives away and are then told they are no longer wanted by the government. As Cuttz says "immigrants are the arteries that pump blood into this nation".
We caught up with S outside of Notsuoh's (Houston backwards...get it???lol) a couple hours before we were set to be on stage. We actually thought we were late but when we got there we were all relieved to know we had some time to breathe. While we were breathing we all decided that it would be cool to experiment with our set. The event was a stop of the "Word Around Town Tour" that a collective of poets in Houston was putting on together. The goal of the event is to bring together a group talented poets under one roof at a number of different venues. One of the poets (Lupe) mentioned that there was a divide in the Houston poetry community and that their goal was to bring poets and their words together under one roof to show that with unity comes beauty. They've been putting on this tour for a few years now and each their success with uniting local poets increases. Being that the event was predominantly for poets and those with a love for Spoken Word we decided to switch up our set and rock it acoustically. We stepped outside the venue for a bit where Cuttz and DJ H20 tuned their guitars and experimented with some sounds that we'd might be hearing that night. After a couple run throughs we decided we were ready and headed in to hear some of Houston's most gifted wordsmith's. One by one they blew us away reminding each of us that words have the power to move. When it was our turn the Word Around Town (WAT?) familia and the crowd showed us plenty of love. We did our thing one by one but this time rather than have DJ H20 do his thing on the turntables he did it with the guitar. As he strummed the guitar like it deserved we rocked out on the mic. The crowd bopped their heads and clapped in unison as we went through our final tracks. As soon as we chatted it up the Word Around Town crew and headed to a Tex-Mex restaurant for some comida. When we got there in the process of parking the bus Decora accidently ran into the top part of the restaurant's roof. Fortunately, Lupe was kind enough to take care of the damage for us. When I learned about this it almost brought tears to my eyes. He barely knows us and yet he was kind enough to do something like that. That my friends is a person with a beautiful heart.
We all walked into a restaurant and filled a bunch of tables put together with more than 20 people. All talking about poetry, Houston and that night's event. Free and I chatted it up with Marlin (I later realized he was the greatest break dancer I've ever seen) and Lupe while everyone else chatted with others. This is when I realized that Lupe and Marlin were two of the coolest dudes I'd ever met. Lupe is a teacher and Marlin is a Social Worker. Both are humble, hilarious, lyrical scholars and overall great genuine human beings. They talked to us about the great divide that exists in Houston. Each ethnicity has its own clearly separated community. It's defacto segregation (segregation based on where you live not law) at its most defined state.
After our convo and the great food the Front Lines Tour said goodbye's and headed towards S's house. She got on the bus and guided us as she pointed out things on the way and further explained the division in Houston. We were all exhausted but we had to get gas because it was close to empty and we saw a cheap deal that we couldn't turn down. $3.80! To think that $3.80 can be considered as cheap gas nowadays is amazing to me. I recall when the most expensive gas I had seen was 3.90 and that was high up on route 1 in California. Never again did I see that price anywhere in the country until recent days. The time I saw that price was years ago while on our first U.S. tour .
Day 2 of Houston is next.
BTW... I'm currently in a cafe called Perculator in El Paso. We've run out of money and need to get to Arizona next. The past 2 days have been a scramble with all of us working and thinking up way to make money. We made 35 bucks yesterday but still don't have enough for food or even a sip of gas for the bus. Fortunately, our San Antonio, Hondo and El Paso hook up has us set up at her bro's house. The people at Perculator were cool enough to let us host a party here to raise some money. However, due to the date and time (tonight at 6PM) it doesn't seem like it will be a big money raiser. At this point we could use any cash we get though.
-Latin
It's been a while since the last blog entry due to our extremely busy schedule.
So much has happened and to write all of it down would require an entire book. Actually, a series of books to be exact. We've met and been embraced like a family by many beautiful and kind people. Heard some amazing lyrical artists on every stop. Seen breathtaking sights and eaten some of the best Tex-Mex food we could find in all of Texas. We've been continuously moving, pushing, performing, and the only small breaks we've had have been to get a little sleep in order to prevent the insanity caused by sleep deprivation. Crowds have been moved, children have been educated and in turn we've been blessed with both as well. Our blessings here in Texas have been numerous. In an effort to keep you all updated and maintain an adequate space I've decided to condense Houston, San Antonio and Hondo in to one entry.
In Houston we met up with S. She's a student at El Paso but she lives with her family in Houston during the summer. She was born in Mexico City and her and her mother moved to the states when she was a little girl. Now at 19 she is constantly under the threat of not being able to live in the U.S. any more. Every year she has to re-file and pay ever increasing fees per document filed. Hearing her story and how after all that her and her family has been through she might have to be sent away was heart breaking. This is just one story of thousands that occur on a daily basis. Stories of people that work their lives away and are then told they are no longer wanted by the government. As Cuttz says "immigrants are the arteries that pump blood into this nation".
We caught up with S outside of Notsuoh's (Houston backwards...get it???lol) a couple hours before we were set to be on stage. We actually thought we were late but when we got there we were all relieved to know we had some time to breathe. While we were breathing we all decided that it would be cool to experiment with our set. The event was a stop of the "Word Around Town Tour" that a collective of poets in Houston was putting on together. The goal of the event is to bring together a group talented poets under one roof at a number of different venues. One of the poets (Lupe) mentioned that there was a divide in the Houston poetry community and that their goal was to bring poets and their words together under one roof to show that with unity comes beauty. They've been putting on this tour for a few years now and each their success with uniting local poets increases. Being that the event was predominantly for poets and those with a love for Spoken Word we decided to switch up our set and rock it acoustically. We stepped outside the venue for a bit where Cuttz and DJ H20 tuned their guitars and experimented with some sounds that we'd might be hearing that night. After a couple run throughs we decided we were ready and headed in to hear some of Houston's most gifted wordsmith's. One by one they blew us away reminding each of us that words have the power to move. When it was our turn the Word Around Town (WAT?) familia and the crowd showed us plenty of love. We did our thing one by one but this time rather than have DJ H20 do his thing on the turntables he did it with the guitar. As he strummed the guitar like it deserved we rocked out on the mic. The crowd bopped their heads and clapped in unison as we went through our final tracks. As soon as we chatted it up the Word Around Town crew and headed to a Tex-Mex restaurant for some comida. When we got there in the process of parking the bus Decora accidently ran into the top part of the restaurant's roof. Fortunately, Lupe was kind enough to take care of the damage for us. When I learned about this it almost brought tears to my eyes. He barely knows us and yet he was kind enough to do something like that. That my friends is a person with a beautiful heart.
We all walked into a restaurant and filled a bunch of tables put together with more than 20 people. All talking about poetry, Houston and that night's event. Free and I chatted it up with Marlin (I later realized he was the greatest break dancer I've ever seen) and Lupe while everyone else chatted with others. This is when I realized that Lupe and Marlin were two of the coolest dudes I'd ever met. Lupe is a teacher and Marlin is a Social Worker. Both are humble, hilarious, lyrical scholars and overall great genuine human beings. They talked to us about the great divide that exists in Houston. Each ethnicity has its own clearly separated community. It's defacto segregation (segregation based on where you live not law) at its most defined state.
After our convo and the great food the Front Lines Tour said goodbye's and headed towards S's house. She got on the bus and guided us as she pointed out things on the way and further explained the division in Houston. We were all exhausted but we had to get gas because it was close to empty and we saw a cheap deal that we couldn't turn down. $3.80! To think that $3.80 can be considered as cheap gas nowadays is amazing to me. I recall when the most expensive gas I had seen was 3.90 and that was high up on route 1 in California. Never again did I see that price anywhere in the country until recent days. The time I saw that price was years ago while on our first U.S. tour .
Day 2 of Houston is next.
BTW... I'm currently in a cafe called Perculator in El Paso. We've run out of money and need to get to Arizona next. The past 2 days have been a scramble with all of us working and thinking up way to make money. We made 35 bucks yesterday but still don't have enough for food or even a sip of gas for the bus. Fortunately, our San Antonio, Hondo and El Paso hook up has us set up at her bro's house. The people at Perculator were cool enough to let us host a party here to raise some money. However, due to the date and time (tonight at 6PM) it doesn't seem like it will be a big money raiser. At this point we could use any cash we get though.
-Latin
Monday, July 28, 2008
Corina's (Intern) Blog
Corina's experience as she joined up with the tour in ATL...
So I decided to do a blog for every city that we hit...this is esp. for my people because I'm so busy its hard to call. So I'm in texas en route to El Paso now but I'm going to backtrack to my first tour experience : ATL.
Lets just start off and make clear I am going on this Frontlines Tour as an intern. What do I do? I have NO idea. So EVERYTIME someone would ask me: "so what will you be doin on tour?" I would give them that dumb look and respond like a fool, "I dunno!!!"
Now I have met the 7 other people who I will be living with, sleeping with, working with, eating with, and traveling across the country with for the next month. We did the South Atlanta Hip Hop Show last night and I want to shout out my people for comin helping and supporting me. It ended up being more of an artist jam session but it worked, Sharod Allen and Abyss held it down on the guitar and worked magic on the mic, Blackmail was holdin it down for the youth in the A and Big Nel brought craaazzzy energy to the room. Thank u all..yall showed out. The Read Nex came in and brought it...dey worked de mic, worked de crowd and spoke the truth. After the show we met with Kathleen Cleaver, the amazing woman of the Black Panther Party, she sat and talked with us on our bus (which by the way is HOT!!! Graffiti and revoltionaries cover the exterior). It was good talkin with Queen Cleaver because she was and still is in the struggle, and elders speak from experience that we youth sometimes do not have, they are walkin history. After we said our goodbyes the Frontlines crew came over to the house I'm staying at and I cooked them grits (I left out the small fact that I just cooked my first pot earlier that week, and they never knew).
We are now in "The Beautiful Restaurant" eatin breakfast, and so far all I kno is that we might leave a guy named Graham who is running 2 hours late. Still I have NO idea what I signed up for, and I'm startin to think my friends were right to call me crazy, but either way I am excited: REVOLUTONARY ROADTRIP!!!
--Corina
So I decided to do a blog for every city that we hit...this is esp. for my people because I'm so busy its hard to call. So I'm in texas en route to El Paso now but I'm going to backtrack to my first tour experience : ATL.
Lets just start off and make clear I am going on this Frontlines Tour as an intern. What do I do? I have NO idea. So EVERYTIME someone would ask me: "so what will you be doin on tour?" I would give them that dumb look and respond like a fool, "I dunno!!!"
Now I have met the 7 other people who I will be living with, sleeping with, working with, eating with, and traveling across the country with for the next month. We did the South Atlanta Hip Hop Show last night and I want to shout out my people for comin helping and supporting me. It ended up being more of an artist jam session but it worked, Sharod Allen and Abyss held it down on the guitar and worked magic on the mic, Blackmail was holdin it down for the youth in the A and Big Nel brought craaazzzy energy to the room. Thank u all..yall showed out. The Read Nex came in and brought it...dey worked de mic, worked de crowd and spoke the truth. After the show we met with Kathleen Cleaver, the amazing woman of the Black Panther Party, she sat and talked with us on our bus (which by the way is HOT!!! Graffiti and revoltionaries cover the exterior). It was good talkin with Queen Cleaver because she was and still is in the struggle, and elders speak from experience that we youth sometimes do not have, they are walkin history. After we said our goodbyes the Frontlines crew came over to the house I'm staying at and I cooked them grits (I left out the small fact that I just cooked my first pot earlier that week, and they never knew).
We are now in "The Beautiful Restaurant" eatin breakfast, and so far all I kno is that we might leave a guy named Graham who is running 2 hours late. Still I have NO idea what I signed up for, and I'm startin to think my friends were right to call me crazy, but either way I am excited: REVOLUTONARY ROADTRIP!!!
--Corina
Friday, July 25, 2008
New Orleans Opened Their Hearts
New Orleans showed Love!
I'm on the bus recalling our stop in New Orleans while Cuttz works on editing some footage, Decora drives, and others get some much needed rest. The air in New Orleans was thick with heat and judging by the wetness of our clothes we were all slowly melting under the sun. After leaving the hotel without the information we'd hoped for we headed towards our host house. There we met Jocelyn. We'd been put on to her through Keifu from N.C. We'd received word that our goal of assisting in the construction of houses would not work out. However, we still had a performance to handle over at the Lion's Den and Jocelyn was the one that hooked us up with it. She works at a local Hooka bar and works with Fusicology. An online org that helps in the promotion of artists throughout the country and soon overseas as well. Be sure to check them out at Fusicology.com. We were all looking forward to a spot where we could take some showers and cool off. We all called off a spot in the shower (1st, 3rd, 5th...) and while one was in the shower others either napped or worked on their computers. I took a much needed nap because "Mr. Grumpy Wumpy" (the man in my head that gets angry when I'm hungry and or sleepy).
After we rested and showered up we searched for something to eat. We couldn't find many spots that served anything other than Po'Boys (Subs, Hoogies) but we finally found a spot that had some good ole greasy seafood. Lee's Seafood...not the cleanest of places but they sure make some good ole spicy cajun comida. After the food we headed back to the place to prep for our performance that night at the Dragon's Den. When we arrived there was some confusion in regards to where we were going to perform. Some said we had to set up our equipment upstairs and others said we had to set up downstairs. Of course we didn't want to haul equipment upstairs to merely bring it back downstairs. So we sat to discuss it with the event "promoter". After 20 minutes of discussing we realized that the promoter was very confused because he kept saying "If you guys want to do it downstairs then fine but we usually do it upstairs". All of us took turns stating that it had nothing to do with us wanting to perform downstairs we just needed to know where we had to set up. An additional 15 minutes after we decided to just set up downstairs and get ourselves going. He kept saying "Fine if ya want to set up downstairs"...so we did lol. After we set up the host got on and mentioned the event and its purpose along with one by one calling up the local performers that one going up before us. The likes of "One Eyed Willie", Cleopatra, Hieroglyphics, Truth and more did their thing on stage.
Afterward we went on and did a set that we'd been working on for a while. Set went great and we sold a bunch of shirts and CD's that we hoped would get us to the next spot. It wasn't much but it was just enough to get some gas in the bus and get us moving to the next spot. While we were packing up and heading out some happy intoxicated folks decided that we were their friends for the next half hour. Except for one...for some reason she hated the bus. She kept "air slapping" the bus and yelling "F#$% the bus". Actually maybe she liked us and just hated the bus lol. So some of the drunk males offered to race J-man. J-man accepted and neglected to mention that he'd beaten all of us and ran track in High School. He of course beat them all and we got some footage of the race to show our kids one day. The heat was suffocating and our clothes had become glued to our bodies. We all got on the bus (Jocelyn had come to check us out and now was navigating us back) and headed home.
The next day we get ourselves ready and headed towards the 9thWard. An air of sadness entered our souls as we drove in to the area that had received the most destruction. We drove up to where the levees had breached. From there we could see the destruction. There was still some debris in the area. Homes that once stood now only have a set of stairs and grass the grows tall with the pain of those that are no longer there. At times the silence in the area was piercing. All that could be heard was the sound of hammers and power tools in the distance. Those that can afford it are rebuilding and giving hope for a better tomorrow. Taking a look at the "new levees" we could see that the Marine Corps didn't really do much to make anything better. Instead of making the levees stronger with distinct materials and more powerful as they are in other parts of the world...they made them a few feet higher. It's not a levee...it's a cement wall that's a little higher than the previous one. In fact, the money that was meant to be used to build up the levee was relocated and used to build the border wall via the Rio Grande. Jocelyn had mentioned to us that the 9th ward should not have been populated anyway. It's next to a canal! Normally communities are not built next to a canal because of the possible danger of flooding. As we drove by and saw what seemed to be ghost towns we could see the places where children once ran. The places where families once convened and the where voices could once be heard. They could still be there...
We performed that night at Sweet Loraine's, held it down and headed back to our sauna (hot living room). Graham had disapeared so we had to search for him through New Orleans...we stopped at a bar to order some food that tasted like the cook has a personal vendetta against us. Graham some how appeared next to us, kept quiet and then disappeared again. We called him a couple of times and then somehow found him in New Orleans sitting down and talking with a pianist that was a bit too curious about who was in the bus lol. He kept gazing inside the bus until we pulled away. Graham got in the bus and fell asleep. All I could think of was "Not all who wander are lost".
-Latin
I'm on the bus recalling our stop in New Orleans while Cuttz works on editing some footage, Decora drives, and others get some much needed rest. The air in New Orleans was thick with heat and judging by the wetness of our clothes we were all slowly melting under the sun. After leaving the hotel without the information we'd hoped for we headed towards our host house. There we met Jocelyn. We'd been put on to her through Keifu from N.C. We'd received word that our goal of assisting in the construction of houses would not work out. However, we still had a performance to handle over at the Lion's Den and Jocelyn was the one that hooked us up with it. She works at a local Hooka bar and works with Fusicology. An online org that helps in the promotion of artists throughout the country and soon overseas as well. Be sure to check them out at Fusicology.com. We were all looking forward to a spot where we could take some showers and cool off. We all called off a spot in the shower (1st, 3rd, 5th...) and while one was in the shower others either napped or worked on their computers. I took a much needed nap because "Mr. Grumpy Wumpy" (the man in my head that gets angry when I'm hungry and or sleepy).
After we rested and showered up we searched for something to eat. We couldn't find many spots that served anything other than Po'Boys (Subs, Hoogies) but we finally found a spot that had some good ole greasy seafood. Lee's Seafood...not the cleanest of places but they sure make some good ole spicy cajun comida. After the food we headed back to the place to prep for our performance that night at the Dragon's Den. When we arrived there was some confusion in regards to where we were going to perform. Some said we had to set up our equipment upstairs and others said we had to set up downstairs. Of course we didn't want to haul equipment upstairs to merely bring it back downstairs. So we sat to discuss it with the event "promoter". After 20 minutes of discussing we realized that the promoter was very confused because he kept saying "If you guys want to do it downstairs then fine but we usually do it upstairs". All of us took turns stating that it had nothing to do with us wanting to perform downstairs we just needed to know where we had to set up. An additional 15 minutes after we decided to just set up downstairs and get ourselves going. He kept saying "Fine if ya want to set up downstairs"...so we did lol. After we set up the host got on and mentioned the event and its purpose along with one by one calling up the local performers that one going up before us. The likes of "One Eyed Willie", Cleopatra, Hieroglyphics, Truth and more did their thing on stage.
Afterward we went on and did a set that we'd been working on for a while. Set went great and we sold a bunch of shirts and CD's that we hoped would get us to the next spot. It wasn't much but it was just enough to get some gas in the bus and get us moving to the next spot. While we were packing up and heading out some happy intoxicated folks decided that we were their friends for the next half hour. Except for one...for some reason she hated the bus. She kept "air slapping" the bus and yelling "F#$% the bus". Actually maybe she liked us and just hated the bus lol. So some of the drunk males offered to race J-man. J-man accepted and neglected to mention that he'd beaten all of us and ran track in High School. He of course beat them all and we got some footage of the race to show our kids one day. The heat was suffocating and our clothes had become glued to our bodies. We all got on the bus (Jocelyn had come to check us out and now was navigating us back) and headed home.
The next day we get ourselves ready and headed towards the 9thWard. An air of sadness entered our souls as we drove in to the area that had received the most destruction. We drove up to where the levees had breached. From there we could see the destruction. There was still some debris in the area. Homes that once stood now only have a set of stairs and grass the grows tall with the pain of those that are no longer there. At times the silence in the area was piercing. All that could be heard was the sound of hammers and power tools in the distance. Those that can afford it are rebuilding and giving hope for a better tomorrow. Taking a look at the "new levees" we could see that the Marine Corps didn't really do much to make anything better. Instead of making the levees stronger with distinct materials and more powerful as they are in other parts of the world...they made them a few feet higher. It's not a levee...it's a cement wall that's a little higher than the previous one. In fact, the money that was meant to be used to build up the levee was relocated and used to build the border wall via the Rio Grande. Jocelyn had mentioned to us that the 9th ward should not have been populated anyway. It's next to a canal! Normally communities are not built next to a canal because of the possible danger of flooding. As we drove by and saw what seemed to be ghost towns we could see the places where children once ran. The places where families once convened and the where voices could once be heard. They could still be there...
We performed that night at Sweet Loraine's, held it down and headed back to our sauna (hot living room). Graham had disapeared so we had to search for him through New Orleans...we stopped at a bar to order some food that tasted like the cook has a personal vendetta against us. Graham some how appeared next to us, kept quiet and then disappeared again. We called him a couple of times and then somehow found him in New Orleans sitting down and talking with a pianist that was a bit too curious about who was in the bus lol. He kept gazing inside the bus until we pulled away. Graham got in the bus and fell asleep. All I could think of was "Not all who wander are lost".
-Latin
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
New Orleans
"They never came back after the storm..."
We're in New Orleans and that's what the woman behind the counter of the Avalon Best Western Hotel told us when we asked about the men we'd befriended the last time we were there. When I asked her and the man behind the concierge counter if they knew where they were now they both shook their heads and said no in a solemn tone.
A few years ago when the ReadNex was made up of only Cuttz, Decora and myself (Latin) we went on a tour throughout the U.S.A. We stopped in New Orleans and after telling "the Reverend" (Manager on Duty that day that was also a reverend) about our music and our tour he let us stay at a discounted price. We were later introduced to Joseph (concierge and shuttle bus driver). He took drove us around New Orleans, told us where to go, where to be extra careful and even picked us up. That night, after he drove us back to the hotel we all (Cuttz, Decora, the Reverend, Joseph and myself) sat down in the lobby for hours and talked about society, God, Faith, determination and following ones dreams. When none of us could keep our eye lids open we began to say our good byes. Before Joseph said goodbye to me he looked me in the eyes, pulled out $25 and said that God had told him to give them to me. He said that he didn't know what I'd need it for but that I would definitely need it for something. I was left without words. When I could muster up something to say I said thank you, hugged him and headed to our room.
The next day while on the road our van decided that it didn't want to work anymore. After further inspection we realized that it was the water pump. Fortunately, we were right next to an auto part shop and got the van over there before it decided to stop running completely. They had the parts that we needed and Decora and I decided that we were somehow going to get the pump on with over the phone instructions from his father later from his brother. We spent the entire day there and every now and then the guy in the auto part shop would come out and give us some pointers. He was also kind enough to lend us some tools. We were traveling with extremely limited amount of money so we had to keep expenses to a minimum. In addition, we had to hit the next event in Texas. The guy at the auto part shop had called a well known town mechanic they called "Super Dave". But Decora and I tried to get it the van fixed ourselves in an effort to save time and money. The sun had gone down and the money crept up in the sky when we finally got the broken water pump off. We still had to get the new one on and were having trouble figuring it out. The auto part shop was soon going to close and we were going to have to return the tools soon. Fortunately, the guy told us we could leave the tools somewhere hidden since we were in a bind and that he'd pick them up in the morning. Right before the auto part shop closed "Super Dave" pulled up with his wife smoking a cigarette in the passenger seat. He was was wearing tanned overalls and that had seemingly been soaked in oil and grease for years. It difficult to say whether his hands, face, overalls or shoes had the most oil and grease on them so lets just say he was reeeaaallly dirty. He walked over to the car introduced himself and mentioned that he'd been called but the guy in the auto part shop hours ago and that he'd heard our situation. He'd been there earlier but he'd spent the day working on other cars. His van was similar to ours only his was full of tools, parts, oils and other car necessities. He told his wife what he needed and with cigarette still in mouth she began arranging the tools. As he prepped for work we all worried how much he'd charge us. It was late, he was obviously experienced and we were just a few young out of towners. Within 20 minutes "Super Dave" had the pump on and the van revving. What took Decora and myself to take out had taken him minutes to replace. While the bus revved Decora came up to me and said "ummmm I need those $25 bucks Joseph gave you". I quickly raised my voice and told him "No....Joseph told me I'd need these $25 bucks and I'm saving them for that moment. Decora laughed and said "Yeah...uhh Super Dave is charging us $20 and I say we give him the other $5 as a tip... At first I didn't believe him and then was amazed at what had happened. We all thanked "Super Dave" and he drove off while we stood mystified but what had happened.
This all happened not long before Hurricane Katrina. As we pulled into New Orleans I saw the hotel sign and my heart began to pound. DJ H20 drove in and parked while Decora, Cuttz and myself walked into the lobby with hopes that we'd see either "the Reverend" or Joseph. Part of me didn't want to get off of the bus. I kept thinking to myself...What if they're not there? My thoughts were confirmed and what we had hoped to be a joyous reunion became a quiet walk back to the bus as the three of us made sense at what had just occurred.
Wherever they are...we hope that they are well...and are as blessed as we were the day we met them. They will always circumnavigate our memories as we push forward and follow the teachings they bestowed upon us that night. Because of the words they told us and the situation that we all participated in...we'll always remember "[To] trust that God will guide us in the right direction".
-Latin
We're in New Orleans and that's what the woman behind the counter of the Avalon Best Western Hotel told us when we asked about the men we'd befriended the last time we were there. When I asked her and the man behind the concierge counter if they knew where they were now they both shook their heads and said no in a solemn tone.
A few years ago when the ReadNex was made up of only Cuttz, Decora and myself (Latin) we went on a tour throughout the U.S.A. We stopped in New Orleans and after telling "the Reverend" (Manager on Duty that day that was also a reverend) about our music and our tour he let us stay at a discounted price. We were later introduced to Joseph (concierge and shuttle bus driver). He took drove us around New Orleans, told us where to go, where to be extra careful and even picked us up. That night, after he drove us back to the hotel we all (Cuttz, Decora, the Reverend, Joseph and myself) sat down in the lobby for hours and talked about society, God, Faith, determination and following ones dreams. When none of us could keep our eye lids open we began to say our good byes. Before Joseph said goodbye to me he looked me in the eyes, pulled out $25 and said that God had told him to give them to me. He said that he didn't know what I'd need it for but that I would definitely need it for something. I was left without words. When I could muster up something to say I said thank you, hugged him and headed to our room.
The next day while on the road our van decided that it didn't want to work anymore. After further inspection we realized that it was the water pump. Fortunately, we were right next to an auto part shop and got the van over there before it decided to stop running completely. They had the parts that we needed and Decora and I decided that we were somehow going to get the pump on with over the phone instructions from his father later from his brother. We spent the entire day there and every now and then the guy in the auto part shop would come out and give us some pointers. He was also kind enough to lend us some tools. We were traveling with extremely limited amount of money so we had to keep expenses to a minimum. In addition, we had to hit the next event in Texas. The guy at the auto part shop had called a well known town mechanic they called "Super Dave". But Decora and I tried to get it the van fixed ourselves in an effort to save time and money. The sun had gone down and the money crept up in the sky when we finally got the broken water pump off. We still had to get the new one on and were having trouble figuring it out. The auto part shop was soon going to close and we were going to have to return the tools soon. Fortunately, the guy told us we could leave the tools somewhere hidden since we were in a bind and that he'd pick them up in the morning. Right before the auto part shop closed "Super Dave" pulled up with his wife smoking a cigarette in the passenger seat. He was was wearing tanned overalls and that had seemingly been soaked in oil and grease for years. It difficult to say whether his hands, face, overalls or shoes had the most oil and grease on them so lets just say he was reeeaaallly dirty. He walked over to the car introduced himself and mentioned that he'd been called but the guy in the auto part shop hours ago and that he'd heard our situation. He'd been there earlier but he'd spent the day working on other cars. His van was similar to ours only his was full of tools, parts, oils and other car necessities. He told his wife what he needed and with cigarette still in mouth she began arranging the tools. As he prepped for work we all worried how much he'd charge us. It was late, he was obviously experienced and we were just a few young out of towners. Within 20 minutes "Super Dave" had the pump on and the van revving. What took Decora and myself to take out had taken him minutes to replace. While the bus revved Decora came up to me and said "ummmm I need those $25 bucks Joseph gave you". I quickly raised my voice and told him "No....Joseph told me I'd need these $25 bucks and I'm saving them for that moment. Decora laughed and said "Yeah...uhh Super Dave is charging us $20 and I say we give him the other $5 as a tip... At first I didn't believe him and then was amazed at what had happened. We all thanked "Super Dave" and he drove off while we stood mystified but what had happened.
This all happened not long before Hurricane Katrina. As we pulled into New Orleans I saw the hotel sign and my heart began to pound. DJ H20 drove in and parked while Decora, Cuttz and myself walked into the lobby with hopes that we'd see either "the Reverend" or Joseph. Part of me didn't want to get off of the bus. I kept thinking to myself...What if they're not there? My thoughts were confirmed and what we had hoped to be a joyous reunion became a quiet walk back to the bus as the three of us made sense at what had just occurred.
Wherever they are...we hope that they are well...and are as blessed as we were the day we met them. They will always circumnavigate our memories as we push forward and follow the teachings they bestowed upon us that night. Because of the words they told us and the situation that we all participated in...we'll always remember "[To] trust that God will guide us in the right direction".
-Latin
ATL HELD IT DOWN!!!
Another crowd moved!
We finally made it to ATL! When we got there we headed straight toward the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. It was an amazing experience to write the least. To see all that he had to deal with and the exhaustion he must have experienced was overwhelming. It was a beautiful and inspirational experience that reminded us that the struggle is indeed worth fighting. But it was also a chilling reminder of how far we've come as a people and how long the road ahead of us still is. Throughout the building we read, saw images and even watched videos about his life and all that he did for the civil rights movement of the 1960's and humanity. His words pierced each one of our souls leaving us with a general "watered eyed" feeling that served as a testament of our appreciation for him and all that he'd done. Here was a man that stood when others needed him. A man that spoke when he knew it was necessary. Walked with pain in his legs and even with all of the hatred towards him and his goals he remained peaceful in his defiance of "our sick brothers and sisters". We were honored to have been in a place dedicated to his life and the recollection of his dreams of equality, freedom and justice. For he is the reason that the world exists as it does today.
After our time at the memorial we decided to hit the road towards the venue we were going to perform at. Cuttz was in need of a cell phone because he lost his so we headed to the Sprint store see if they could give him a credit for one.. While he and Free did that Decora, DJ H20, J-Man and myself headed to the sandwich and smoothie spot next door. When they were done we got on the road to hit up the event. Graham had been dropped off because he has a friend in ATL that wanted to hang out with him. When we were all done we tried finding a YMCA before we hit up the event to take some showers but we had no luck finding it and kept driving around ATL. We decided to just hit up the venue and get set up. We headed towards the Project South headquarters and got there a couple of hours before the event began. There we met up with Corina (our second intern until we get to Salt Lake City) and got our things settled. Corina is also the person that put the event together with Project South. Project South is an organization that has been working with the surrounding Atlanta community for years. It's because of organizations like these that various populations are not forgotten. After we set up we did a mic check and ironed out some aspects of our performance. Corina later held a meeting with all of the nights performers (ABYSS, Big Nel, Black Male, and Sharod Allen) to make sure we were all on the same page. A few minutes before the event began the ReadNex met up to prep and discuss a few aspects of the upcoming performance. Each performer there threw it down with a crowd that was loving every minute of it all. Be sure to check out the Front Lines Tour web page to check out some of the photos.
After everyone went we grabbed some microphones, gathered on stage and had DJ H20 set the tone. Well known tracks like War, Fight The Power, Bigger Than Hip Hop and other tracks by various artists echoed the airwaves and DJ H20 spun back and forth. Each one of us performed and Decora got himself a standing ovation. We wrapped it all up with our track Wade and had a now standing and fully energized crowd clapping and singing along. It was a great crowd and we had a good time with the people at the event afterwards. There were a few requests for internships that we had to turn down due to lack of space on the bus lol. After packing everything up J-man and DJ H20 gave tours of the bus to people while the rest put the final touches on the take down. We made sure we had everything and chilled out for a bit.
Unfortunately, our VIP guest for the night (Kathleen N. Cleaver) arrived after the event ended but blessed us with her presence on the bus for about an hour. It was an inspiration to have her there speaking to us about a number of subjects pertaining to the social situation we and the rest of the world finds itself in. She made us laugh and reminded us that we all have the power to build a better world. It all depends on whether or not a person embraced that power. Afterwards we traveled to Corrina's place, spent the night and hit up a soul food restaurant for breakfast. Food was great but knocked out J-man. We were then on route to New Orleans.
-Latin
We finally made it to ATL! When we got there we headed straight toward the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. It was an amazing experience to write the least. To see all that he had to deal with and the exhaustion he must have experienced was overwhelming. It was a beautiful and inspirational experience that reminded us that the struggle is indeed worth fighting. But it was also a chilling reminder of how far we've come as a people and how long the road ahead of us still is. Throughout the building we read, saw images and even watched videos about his life and all that he did for the civil rights movement of the 1960's and humanity. His words pierced each one of our souls leaving us with a general "watered eyed" feeling that served as a testament of our appreciation for him and all that he'd done. Here was a man that stood when others needed him. A man that spoke when he knew it was necessary. Walked with pain in his legs and even with all of the hatred towards him and his goals he remained peaceful in his defiance of "our sick brothers and sisters". We were honored to have been in a place dedicated to his life and the recollection of his dreams of equality, freedom and justice. For he is the reason that the world exists as it does today.
After our time at the memorial we decided to hit the road towards the venue we were going to perform at. Cuttz was in need of a cell phone because he lost his so we headed to the Sprint store see if they could give him a credit for one.. While he and Free did that Decora, DJ H20, J-Man and myself headed to the sandwich and smoothie spot next door. When they were done we got on the road to hit up the event. Graham had been dropped off because he has a friend in ATL that wanted to hang out with him. When we were all done we tried finding a YMCA before we hit up the event to take some showers but we had no luck finding it and kept driving around ATL. We decided to just hit up the venue and get set up. We headed towards the Project South headquarters and got there a couple of hours before the event began. There we met up with Corina (our second intern until we get to Salt Lake City) and got our things settled. Corina is also the person that put the event together with Project South. Project South is an organization that has been working with the surrounding Atlanta community for years. It's because of organizations like these that various populations are not forgotten. After we set up we did a mic check and ironed out some aspects of our performance. Corina later held a meeting with all of the nights performers (ABYSS, Big Nel, Black Male, and Sharod Allen) to make sure we were all on the same page. A few minutes before the event began the ReadNex met up to prep and discuss a few aspects of the upcoming performance. Each performer there threw it down with a crowd that was loving every minute of it all. Be sure to check out the Front Lines Tour web page to check out some of the photos.
After everyone went we grabbed some microphones, gathered on stage and had DJ H20 set the tone. Well known tracks like War, Fight The Power, Bigger Than Hip Hop and other tracks by various artists echoed the airwaves and DJ H20 spun back and forth. Each one of us performed and Decora got himself a standing ovation. We wrapped it all up with our track Wade and had a now standing and fully energized crowd clapping and singing along. It was a great crowd and we had a good time with the people at the event afterwards. There were a few requests for internships that we had to turn down due to lack of space on the bus lol. After packing everything up J-man and DJ H20 gave tours of the bus to people while the rest put the final touches on the take down. We made sure we had everything and chilled out for a bit.
Unfortunately, our VIP guest for the night (Kathleen N. Cleaver) arrived after the event ended but blessed us with her presence on the bus for about an hour. It was an inspiration to have her there speaking to us about a number of subjects pertaining to the social situation we and the rest of the world finds itself in. She made us laugh and reminded us that we all have the power to build a better world. It all depends on whether or not a person embraced that power. Afterwards we traveled to Corrina's place, spent the night and hit up a soul food restaurant for breakfast. Food was great but knocked out J-man. We were then on route to New Orleans.
-Latin
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Kentucky Rocks with the Front Lines Tour!
A few days and an enormous of amount of knowledge
I find myself on the bus alone... typing away. Its 2:48pm in Knoxville, Tennessee and the sun is expressing itself exponentially. The rest of the Front Lines Tour crew is inside "Shoney's" finishing up their lunch. I decided to collect my thoughts and begin documenting our experiences over the past few days. They've been days full of conversations with locals, performances and learning experiences. We've found ourselves looking deep within in order to understand the plight of others in our attempt to make their plights be heard. By doing so we hope that some change may be possible. Many have called our goals as a group idealistic. When I looked up the word idealistic in the dictionary to make sure I had the definition correct, my definition was confirmed. The Oxford American Dictionary defines the word as "the practice of forming or pursuing ideals, especially unrealistically". After looking up the word up in the dictionary I smiled and slowly nodded. Since the inception of humanity plight has been present. Our days are no different from the past. They just seem to be due to our current experience of this day and time. Idealism has often been scoffed at due to the apparent unrealistic views of the idealists. The funny thing is that the reality of the non-idealists is often what is unrealistic.
It was unrealistic of me to believe that I could not go to college and graduate Magna Cum Laude. It was unrealistic to believe that we could not buy a bus and retro-fit it with our needs for a US Tour. It has been clearly demonstrated that it is unrealistic to believe that words do not have the power to move. And it is unrealistic to believe that change is not possible. The examples of why this is true are infinite and would not allow space in between these lines for anything else. All it takes...is a dream....some faith...work and some words.
Now our reality is the reality of others. The other day we arrived in Whitesburg, Kentucky. We got there late due to our being behind schedule (the broken belt incident and other bus maintenance) so we missed our radio interview. However, we got there with plenty of time left to rock out on stage (at the Summit City Lounge) and were told by the locals that it was a radical move for us to have been there. Nick told us that the change would continue for years and that we just wouldn't know about it. He works for Thousand Kites. Thousand Kites is an organization that works towards giving inmates a voice. Its acts a "national dialogue to address the issues of the criminal justice system". Nick is a documentarist that works with the APPAL shop. The APPAL shop acts as place that serves as a multimedia resource for many in the community (especially the youth). There they are able to produce radio shows, documentaries, record, and learn learn learn which is most important. The APPAL shop acts as a place for the youth to walk into a safe environment and leave with works of multimedia art.
After the performance we headed to the apartment that Amelia and her husband Joel so very kindly allowed us to borrow for the night. The next morning we ate breakfast at a restaurant that had opened for the first time two days before. We were better off waiting a few more days till they got their things settled because they weren't doing too well with anything. But our bellies were full and we were "read to go". We met up with Nick and he showed us around the APPAL shop. It's a beautiful space and one can tell they have definitely put in work to keep the place going for about half a century. They're funded by grants and are very big on making connections with others. These are the connections that have kept them going throughout the years. It's a testament to what can be done if we all work together. We talked with some of the people that volunteer there at their radio station, record label and the filming department then checked a documentary. Nick played a documentary that he and Amelia had worked on called "Up The Ridge".
This documentary is all about the U.S. Prison System, it's corruptness and the many lives that it has destroyed. The way these "Super Max" prisons are set up is reminiscent of the slave trade. The state will build a Super Max prison to house all of their prisoners. However, they make them so big that they end up having empty cells. These empty cells mean lost money so the state has to find other ways to fill them up. One way is by "encouraging" judges to increase the sentence of prisoners. Another way is by opening their cells to other states. That way both states make money. States find that it is more beneficial to build large Super Maximum Security Prisons and fill them with prisons than to build and fund the improvement of schools. This is because Super Max prisons make more money than schools. In fact, it's a multi-million dollar business. Some one has to sell boots, weapons, uniforms, food, cells, concrete, security systems, razor wire, vehicles, toilets, clothing, toiletries, televisions, overpriced, phone service, etc. to these prisons. In addition, much of the labor the prisoners do is either free or extremely low paying (going to a commissary account for toilet paper and other toiletries) and then goes to benefit large corporations. For instance, if prisoners make doors they might get paid a few cents and hour. That door however is sold at regular market price.
Each prisoner equals thousands of dollars for the prisons. By sending these prisoners away (transferring them from state to state to fill up prisons) their families are longer able to see them. This along with no educational options further diminishes the prisoners chances of recuperation. Prisoners are sent back and forth on a regular basis with no notice. This further destroys families and creates a increased profit for the "prison trade". In addition, the staff members at these prisons are predominantly white with little training in regards to "peoples of color". All they see day in and day out (due to their small communities) is Black and Brown peoples that are criminals. With no training on how to deal with distinct ethnicities racism kicks in and "peoples of color" find themselves brutalized in place where they are no longer human in the eyes of the staff. The atrocities committed by the prison staff is horrendous. Dehumanization is something that is profoundly practiced in this world of evil for the sake of profit. Many of the staff members find themselves quitting their jobs because they find that the "work" they do is against their morals. Fortunately, organizations such as Thousand Kites work towards giving these enslaved peoples a voice against the evils that they find themselves dealing with. After the documentary all of us reflected on what we had seen and discussed our desire to create a documentary based on the unfortunate truths we see on our journey.
Later on Amelia was kind enough to take time (Owner of Summit City Lounge, Volunteer at APPAL shop and Thousand Kites) from her busy day to show us around. She gave us an in depth tour of the region and answered questions along the way. Some of us had known of the corporate colonization of the Appalachia region by Coal Mining companies but Amelia gave us an in depth up close perspective of the matter. Coal mining companies have maintained a strong grip on the regions for decades and they don't seem to plan on letting go any time soon. They've effectively destroyed much of the environment, until recently refused to admit responsibility for black lung (a disease caused by inhaling coal dust) and have even pushed oxycontin a highly addicting painkilling drug on the people of the drug. In fact, Amelia told us that one of the biggest problems affecting the region is drug addiction to "Oxy" and other pills. Learning about all of this further clarified the truth that we as a people are all suffering similar struggles. They're just a liiiiiiittle different everywhere you go. Amelia even showed us an area on the side of the mountain that had coal that locals seemed to have dug out for their own personal use. There she explained black lung to us and we picked up a few small pieces of coal for ourselves. The views and sights we saw going up and down those mountains were beautiful and left us all pondering how greed could dare inflict such destruction on a region that had naturally developed over centuries. Our final stop on the tour was the coal miners memorial. There we saw a monument remembering those that had given their lives in order to provide for their families. The extraction of black gold had cost not only their lives. It had also left their families with a void that no amount of coal or anything for that matter could fill.
After our tour of the area we dropped off Amelia at her house, picked up some things and headed back to her home for some good ole food and a jam session. DJ H20 set up his equipment, as Graham prepared his recording equipment others tuned their guitars, fiddles and banjo's. We ate and jammed until we couldn't jam anymore. First we had the Kentucky crew do their thing and we did ours (incorporated the two guitars we brought on tour with us). Then we all joined in and had a massive jam goin' on. I even freestyled for a while and made sound effects while Cuttz went from the dome, Free spit her pieces and DJ H20 and Decora kept the vibe DJ'ing. Graham recorded as much of the session he could as he could and pasted instruments to create additional music in his own way. The night ended with all of us being exhausted and the Kentucky crew asking us not to leave. We told them we'd love to but that we had to get on the rode and head to the next stop of the journey. There in Kentucky we were embraced as part of the family thanks to people like Nick, Amelia and Joel. We will forever be thankful for their hospitality and let them know that NY has a few homes for them as well.
-Latin
I find myself on the bus alone... typing away. Its 2:48pm in Knoxville, Tennessee and the sun is expressing itself exponentially. The rest of the Front Lines Tour crew is inside "Shoney's" finishing up their lunch. I decided to collect my thoughts and begin documenting our experiences over the past few days. They've been days full of conversations with locals, performances and learning experiences. We've found ourselves looking deep within in order to understand the plight of others in our attempt to make their plights be heard. By doing so we hope that some change may be possible. Many have called our goals as a group idealistic. When I looked up the word idealistic in the dictionary to make sure I had the definition correct, my definition was confirmed. The Oxford American Dictionary defines the word as "the practice of forming or pursuing ideals, especially unrealistically". After looking up the word up in the dictionary I smiled and slowly nodded. Since the inception of humanity plight has been present. Our days are no different from the past. They just seem to be due to our current experience of this day and time. Idealism has often been scoffed at due to the apparent unrealistic views of the idealists. The funny thing is that the reality of the non-idealists is often what is unrealistic.
It was unrealistic of me to believe that I could not go to college and graduate Magna Cum Laude. It was unrealistic to believe that we could not buy a bus and retro-fit it with our needs for a US Tour. It has been clearly demonstrated that it is unrealistic to believe that words do not have the power to move. And it is unrealistic to believe that change is not possible. The examples of why this is true are infinite and would not allow space in between these lines for anything else. All it takes...is a dream....some faith...work and some words.
Now our reality is the reality of others. The other day we arrived in Whitesburg, Kentucky. We got there late due to our being behind schedule (the broken belt incident and other bus maintenance) so we missed our radio interview. However, we got there with plenty of time left to rock out on stage (at the Summit City Lounge) and were told by the locals that it was a radical move for us to have been there. Nick told us that the change would continue for years and that we just wouldn't know about it. He works for Thousand Kites. Thousand Kites is an organization that works towards giving inmates a voice. Its acts a "national dialogue to address the issues of the criminal justice system". Nick is a documentarist that works with the APPAL shop. The APPAL shop acts as place that serves as a multimedia resource for many in the community (especially the youth). There they are able to produce radio shows, documentaries, record, and learn learn learn which is most important. The APPAL shop acts as a place for the youth to walk into a safe environment and leave with works of multimedia art.
After the performance we headed to the apartment that Amelia and her husband Joel so very kindly allowed us to borrow for the night. The next morning we ate breakfast at a restaurant that had opened for the first time two days before. We were better off waiting a few more days till they got their things settled because they weren't doing too well with anything. But our bellies were full and we were "read to go". We met up with Nick and he showed us around the APPAL shop. It's a beautiful space and one can tell they have definitely put in work to keep the place going for about half a century. They're funded by grants and are very big on making connections with others. These are the connections that have kept them going throughout the years. It's a testament to what can be done if we all work together. We talked with some of the people that volunteer there at their radio station, record label and the filming department then checked a documentary. Nick played a documentary that he and Amelia had worked on called "Up The Ridge".
This documentary is all about the U.S. Prison System, it's corruptness and the many lives that it has destroyed. The way these "Super Max" prisons are set up is reminiscent of the slave trade. The state will build a Super Max prison to house all of their prisoners. However, they make them so big that they end up having empty cells. These empty cells mean lost money so the state has to find other ways to fill them up. One way is by "encouraging" judges to increase the sentence of prisoners. Another way is by opening their cells to other states. That way both states make money. States find that it is more beneficial to build large Super Maximum Security Prisons and fill them with prisons than to build and fund the improvement of schools. This is because Super Max prisons make more money than schools. In fact, it's a multi-million dollar business. Some one has to sell boots, weapons, uniforms, food, cells, concrete, security systems, razor wire, vehicles, toilets, clothing, toiletries, televisions, overpriced, phone service, etc. to these prisons. In addition, much of the labor the prisoners do is either free or extremely low paying (going to a commissary account for toilet paper and other toiletries) and then goes to benefit large corporations. For instance, if prisoners make doors they might get paid a few cents and hour. That door however is sold at regular market price.
Each prisoner equals thousands of dollars for the prisons. By sending these prisoners away (transferring them from state to state to fill up prisons) their families are longer able to see them. This along with no educational options further diminishes the prisoners chances of recuperation. Prisoners are sent back and forth on a regular basis with no notice. This further destroys families and creates a increased profit for the "prison trade". In addition, the staff members at these prisons are predominantly white with little training in regards to "peoples of color". All they see day in and day out (due to their small communities) is Black and Brown peoples that are criminals. With no training on how to deal with distinct ethnicities racism kicks in and "peoples of color" find themselves brutalized in place where they are no longer human in the eyes of the staff. The atrocities committed by the prison staff is horrendous. Dehumanization is something that is profoundly practiced in this world of evil for the sake of profit. Many of the staff members find themselves quitting their jobs because they find that the "work" they do is against their morals. Fortunately, organizations such as Thousand Kites work towards giving these enslaved peoples a voice against the evils that they find themselves dealing with. After the documentary all of us reflected on what we had seen and discussed our desire to create a documentary based on the unfortunate truths we see on our journey.
Later on Amelia was kind enough to take time (Owner of Summit City Lounge, Volunteer at APPAL shop and Thousand Kites) from her busy day to show us around. She gave us an in depth tour of the region and answered questions along the way. Some of us had known of the corporate colonization of the Appalachia region by Coal Mining companies but Amelia gave us an in depth up close perspective of the matter. Coal mining companies have maintained a strong grip on the regions for decades and they don't seem to plan on letting go any time soon. They've effectively destroyed much of the environment, until recently refused to admit responsibility for black lung (a disease caused by inhaling coal dust) and have even pushed oxycontin a highly addicting painkilling drug on the people of the drug. In fact, Amelia told us that one of the biggest problems affecting the region is drug addiction to "Oxy" and other pills. Learning about all of this further clarified the truth that we as a people are all suffering similar struggles. They're just a liiiiiiittle different everywhere you go. Amelia even showed us an area on the side of the mountain that had coal that locals seemed to have dug out for their own personal use. There she explained black lung to us and we picked up a few small pieces of coal for ourselves. The views and sights we saw going up and down those mountains were beautiful and left us all pondering how greed could dare inflict such destruction on a region that had naturally developed over centuries. Our final stop on the tour was the coal miners memorial. There we saw a monument remembering those that had given their lives in order to provide for their families. The extraction of black gold had cost not only their lives. It had also left their families with a void that no amount of coal or anything for that matter could fill.
After our tour of the area we dropped off Amelia at her house, picked up some things and headed back to her home for some good ole food and a jam session. DJ H20 set up his equipment, as Graham prepared his recording equipment others tuned their guitars, fiddles and banjo's. We ate and jammed until we couldn't jam anymore. First we had the Kentucky crew do their thing and we did ours (incorporated the two guitars we brought on tour with us). Then we all joined in and had a massive jam goin' on. I even freestyled for a while and made sound effects while Cuttz went from the dome, Free spit her pieces and DJ H20 and Decora kept the vibe DJ'ing. Graham recorded as much of the session he could as he could and pasted instruments to create additional music in his own way. The night ended with all of us being exhausted and the Kentucky crew asking us not to leave. We told them we'd love to but that we had to get on the rode and head to the next stop of the journey. There in Kentucky we were embraced as part of the family thanks to people like Nick, Amelia and Joel. We will forever be thankful for their hospitality and let them know that NY has a few homes for them as well.
-Latin
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Front Lines Tour Day 7
It's been a week!
We got on the road to drive down to Kentucky. We all got hungry late at night and figured we'd stop at a "Countrywide Restaurant". It's a restaurant that's usually connected to a truck stop. WHO'S IDEA WAS THIS?! We walk in and a lady that looks like she has been awake for way too many hours seats us. On the way she yells at a guy in the kitchen ;I'm gonna warn ya! Ya got 7!...We should have ran away right then and there. The veggies we got were frosted. It was like they took the veggies out of the fridge and put warm water on it. Everyone's food looked either over cooked or undercooked. We...being the courageous group that we are...decided to eat it anyway. We complained throughout the whole meal. Being we hadn't seen another open restaurant for hours we figured we'd suck it up. Not even a group of college graduates that normally avoids "poisonous" foods was able to resist. Another thing that should have warned us was the painting on the wall. It looked like it had been up for the past 200 years...I'm sorry that was a typo. I meant 2,000 years.
After our "inappropriate" meal we figured we'd get some sleep on the bus. The drivers (DJ H2O and Decora) had been going for hours. They needed a break and so did the writers, bloggers and scheduler. Within seconds we'd all claimed a comfy spot. J-Ha,mack, DJ H20-floor, Cuttz-"table/bed", Decora-Chair, Graham-bed, Latin-Fetal position bed. Ok so not all of them were comfy but they were safe places for us to lay our heads down and that's all we needed. In the morning the moans and grans from the previous night's fiasco could be heard for miles. We headed to the bathrooms to freshen up and headed down the road. A few hours later we found a diner called "Nottoway Diner" . We ignored the funny name and went inside while Graham stayed asleep on the bus. It was clean, service was great and the foooood mmmmm fooood. I've never had biscuits like these before. As I ate them a little angel flew down from the sky, sat next to me and said: I knooow!The grits were not the best but were definitely home cooked. We had a great conversation going on there as well. The general idea behind it was about the people in our lives and how some are roots, others are branches and others are leaves. Cuttz added to it by that saying that some are birds. I said that others are twigs and we all agreed that we are the trunks. This conversation went on for hours. That's what happens when you give poets simile's or metaphors to discuss. It could go on for days as each one interprets it differently or adds to the general idea.
We laughed when we realized that the convo could be endless and we hit the road. About 20 mins in to the trip (we had received info from Keifu and Katina from Labor of Love in New Orleans that we could stay at their house in N.C. so we were now headed there) Cuttz realized that he didn't have his phone with him we stopped the bus and looked everywhere. We called the restaurant and they said they didn't have it. We figured we'd go back to check just in case it had fallen outside or something. We looked in there and at the gas station we pumped gas at. I even looked in the garbage! Nothing. Cuttz had officially lost his phone. Free had left her ID in Philly, I left my ring (a ring given to me by a dear friend) and my earring in Virginia and now Cuttz had lost his phone.
We got back on the road and headed to Durham N.C. there we found a beautiful house and an army of mosquitoes. Decora HATES mosquitoes lol. No of like getting bitten by them but he was dancing trying to get them off his legs. Then one bit him on the arm and he started swinging his arms while he stepped up and down. It was a site to see and unfortunately we didn't record it. Keifu got there about 15 minutes after we parked the bus. She's a very sweet and welcoming woman and we greatly appreciated her opening her doors to us. Keifu showed us around the house laid down a few rules and headed to her Yoga class. Cuttz and myself (Latin) stayed in the house while everyone else headed out to get some groceries. Cuttz and I were working online trying to get as much internet work done as possible. As soon as everyone got back we were hoping on eating, hitting up a YMCA to work out and having a rehearsal. The YMCA didn't work out due to time constraints but Free and Decora hooked up some reaalll good food. Everyone did some chores when they got back with groceries. Free and Decora cooked, J and DJ H20 cleaned the bus and Cuttz and I took care about a garbage situation. The house was new and the previous owners had left garbage there that smelled of the most rancid and foul smell a nose and it's receptor sites could every be exposed to. Cuttz and I were of course not pleased and I joked that next time I'm going to get groceries so that I get the cooking job rather than the toxic disposal job.
After a wonderful home cooked dinner we had a rehearsal and added some things to our performance that we'll be putting into work today. We got some rest, shaved, got shape ups and now after some home cooked breakfast we're in Greensboro N.C. where Cuttz is getting a phone. We're on our way to the Reed African Heritage Museum. More on that, the woman at the Organic food restaurant and more.
Peace, Paz, Salaam,
-Latin
We got on the road to drive down to Kentucky. We all got hungry late at night and figured we'd stop at a "Countrywide Restaurant". It's a restaurant that's usually connected to a truck stop. WHO'S IDEA WAS THIS?! We walk in and a lady that looks like she has been awake for way too many hours seats us. On the way she yells at a guy in the kitchen ;I'm gonna warn ya! Ya got 7!...We should have ran away right then and there. The veggies we got were frosted. It was like they took the veggies out of the fridge and put warm water on it. Everyone's food looked either over cooked or undercooked. We...being the courageous group that we are...decided to eat it anyway. We complained throughout the whole meal. Being we hadn't seen another open restaurant for hours we figured we'd suck it up. Not even a group of college graduates that normally avoids "poisonous" foods was able to resist. Another thing that should have warned us was the painting on the wall. It looked like it had been up for the past 200 years...I'm sorry that was a typo. I meant 2,000 years.
After our "inappropriate" meal we figured we'd get some sleep on the bus. The drivers (DJ H2O and Decora) had been going for hours. They needed a break and so did the writers, bloggers and scheduler. Within seconds we'd all claimed a comfy spot. J-Ha,mack, DJ H20-floor, Cuttz-"table/bed", Decora-Chair, Graham-bed, Latin-Fetal position bed. Ok so not all of them were comfy but they were safe places for us to lay our heads down and that's all we needed. In the morning the moans and grans from the previous night's fiasco could be heard for miles. We headed to the bathrooms to freshen up and headed down the road. A few hours later we found a diner called "Nottoway Diner" . We ignored the funny name and went inside while Graham stayed asleep on the bus. It was clean, service was great and the foooood mmmmm fooood. I've never had biscuits like these before. As I ate them a little angel flew down from the sky, sat next to me and said: I knooow!The grits were not the best but were definitely home cooked. We had a great conversation going on there as well. The general idea behind it was about the people in our lives and how some are roots, others are branches and others are leaves. Cuttz added to it by that saying that some are birds. I said that others are twigs and we all agreed that we are the trunks. This conversation went on for hours. That's what happens when you give poets simile's or metaphors to discuss. It could go on for days as each one interprets it differently or adds to the general idea.
We laughed when we realized that the convo could be endless and we hit the road. About 20 mins in to the trip (we had received info from Keifu and Katina from Labor of Love in New Orleans that we could stay at their house in N.C. so we were now headed there) Cuttz realized that he didn't have his phone with him we stopped the bus and looked everywhere. We called the restaurant and they said they didn't have it. We figured we'd go back to check just in case it had fallen outside or something. We looked in there and at the gas station we pumped gas at. I even looked in the garbage! Nothing. Cuttz had officially lost his phone. Free had left her ID in Philly, I left my ring (a ring given to me by a dear friend) and my earring in Virginia and now Cuttz had lost his phone.
We got back on the road and headed to Durham N.C. there we found a beautiful house and an army of mosquitoes. Decora HATES mosquitoes lol. No of like getting bitten by them but he was dancing trying to get them off his legs. Then one bit him on the arm and he started swinging his arms while he stepped up and down. It was a site to see and unfortunately we didn't record it. Keifu got there about 15 minutes after we parked the bus. She's a very sweet and welcoming woman and we greatly appreciated her opening her doors to us. Keifu showed us around the house laid down a few rules and headed to her Yoga class. Cuttz and myself (Latin) stayed in the house while everyone else headed out to get some groceries. Cuttz and I were working online trying to get as much internet work done as possible. As soon as everyone got back we were hoping on eating, hitting up a YMCA to work out and having a rehearsal. The YMCA didn't work out due to time constraints but Free and Decora hooked up some reaalll good food. Everyone did some chores when they got back with groceries. Free and Decora cooked, J and DJ H20 cleaned the bus and Cuttz and I took care about a garbage situation. The house was new and the previous owners had left garbage there that smelled of the most rancid and foul smell a nose and it's receptor sites could every be exposed to. Cuttz and I were of course not pleased and I joked that next time I'm going to get groceries so that I get the cooking job rather than the toxic disposal job.
After a wonderful home cooked dinner we had a rehearsal and added some things to our performance that we'll be putting into work today. We got some rest, shaved, got shape ups and now after some home cooked breakfast we're in Greensboro N.C. where Cuttz is getting a phone. We're on our way to the Reed African Heritage Museum. More on that, the woman at the Organic food restaurant and more.
Peace, Paz, Salaam,
-Latin
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Front Lines Tour Day 5
Ay Dios Mio
So we wake up and have mosquito bites all over our bodies. Decora drove to a hotel we booked and DJ H20 served as navigator while the rest of us got some sleep. The "Town Place Marriott Suite" was niiiiiiceeee (And surprisingly very very economical). The room had a kitchenette, a nice bed, a sofa bed, a cot and it was cleeeaaann. For the price we paid I expected to see blood stains, dead rodents and flies that kept us up all night. But not this place. It even had an outdoor pool with a lifeguard. Ohhh annddd the coookies...they had homemade cooookkiiess. Mmmmm. Latin like cookies.
Back to the good stuff. When we got to the hotel we had some good ole continental breakfast, (why is it continental breakfast anyway? why not national or countrywide lol) took some much needed showers and some of us got rest while others made phone calls, or caught up on writing. We decided the night before that we'd have a meeting at eleven but we pushed it to noon so that we'd have fresh clear minds. So at 11:55 we all regrouped and began our meeting. We discussed future group goals as well as individual goals in an effort to assure that we build with others as we build within ourselves. In order to create change one must experience change within self. To not do so leaves one at a disadvantage and in turn negatively affects those that one is trying to build with. We developed a number of ideas for the group and future performances that will inevitably leave many breathless.
After the meeting we got ourselves ready and went to fill our bellies We found a restaurant a Mexican restaurant in the area and headed there. Actually, we found ourselves sitting in Bob Evans but we all agreed that we'd rather eat at a "mom and pop" restaurant with better food than microwaved meals. It was our blind hunger that led us to the corporate chemically enhanced nuked food. We made the right decision by going to "El Paso". This restaurant was beautiful. The service was good, food great and portions were amazing. "Steve Prince" should learn a thing or two from them. At the restaurant we relaxed and laughed with each other as we discussed the difference between abstinence and celibacy.
From there we headed to Washington D.C. to pick up Graham. This is where it allllll began. While we were driving along in our happy bus (we realized later it wasn't so happy after all) it stopped running in the middle of fast going traffic. Fortunately, we didn't run into anyone and no one ran into us. Traffic was wizzing by us as we slowly let the car drift in neutral towards the curb. From the engine we heard a loud clacking sound that said; HEY PEOPLE I NEED TO CHILL FOR A WHILE! When we got out we realized that directly to the right of us was the Washington Monument. After popping the hood we saw that the clacking sound was the belt for the engine fan. Without that belt the bus was not going to move. Allow me to paint the picture a little better for you. It's Sunday evening in D.C. across from the Washington Monument and our engine fan belt snapped. There are noooooo auto part shops open on a Sunday evening in D.C. We know this now because we called them all. To get a tow truck we'd have to call a special tow truck for buses that will happily charge hundreds of dollars that we don't have. So the search was on for an auto part shop to be open some where for some reason. Decora and J went on foot while the rest of us stayed home (in the bus) and made phone calls. No luck. As the night reached it's peak of darkness Graham (Producer from Volume 8 Music) stepped to the bus wet and tired. Oh yeah...I forgot to mention that at one point it was pouring rain. When Graham got there it was still raining but fortunately it was no longer a torrential down pour. None of us knew what lied ahead.
We ended up deciding that in order to fix the bus we'd have to rent a car. A cab would be too expensive because we'd have to go from cab to hotel, from hotel to auto parts place and from auto parts place too bus. It was just too risky and inefficient. After seemingly hours of phone calls to rental cars, cabs, and CLOSED auto part shops we Decora and Free hailed a cab and headed towards Reagan airport to pick up a rental car. Reagan airport is the one that had a workers strike years ago. Reagan had the strikers fired and then they named the airport after him. At least that's what I recall. Be sure to look it up for the accurate info. As a matter of fact...don't believe anything I say. Look things up yourself so that you can create your own fountain of information without being tainted by another persons interpretations. Create your own interpretations When Free and Decora got back they decided to take the rental car to a Wal-Mart to see if they would have the part. We called and called but since it was late at night customer service was not picking up. Free, Decora and J headed towards the Wal-Mart but when they got there it was closed. It had closed merely ten minutes before they arrived. The headed back home (the bus) to regroup and plan out the next steps that would be taken. It was agreed that Graham, Decora and J would stay in the bus to get some sleep while Cuttz, Free, DJ H20 and myself (Latin) would head to the hotel room. There we would freshen up, rest a little, use the internet to find out what time the auto part shops would open in the morning (the time was then 2am) and which one would have the part.
We also searched for a YMCA in the area. I'm employed with the New Paltz YMCA and the one in Kingston (their connected) sponsored us by hooking us up with AWAY program memberships. That means that we could use participating YMCA facilities throughout the country for workouts and showers. Being that the guys at the bus hadn't had showers in hours this was going to come in handy. Thanks Lee Anne! The next morning all of us at the hotel cleaned up and had breakfast before we got to work. While I enjoyed my "continental breakfast I worked on sending out an e-mail blast letting everyone know to check out the blog and photo updates on our page. I also searched for a YMCA in the area.
Free and DJ H20 worked on getting the auto part shops on the phone (most of them opened at 7:30am) to figure out who had the part and where. Cuttz was responding to some e-mails and staying in informed with the Free Wi-Fi we had in the hotel. When I was with the e-mail blast I talked to the woman behind the counter (who side I looked like Common....lol) because DJ H20 said that someone told him that there was a NAPA auto parts shop in the area. While I figured out where the NAPA was DJ H20 found a place that had the part fan belt for us on hold. We high tailed (now that's a phrase that makes little sense...high tailed?) over there to pick up the part. Got the part and headed over the guarders of the bus. The doors opened and out came men that looked like they'd been in the trenches of battle. We handed over the part and they got to work. The belt ended up not fitting because it was too short. Sooooo we get on the phone to find the right one. After numerous attempts we find one that says they have the part. J and Free head over there to find the part while some rest in the bus and others take advantage of the opportunity and start trekking D.C. to get photos of the sites.
While the bus is parked a woman in her twenties rammed the side of the bus. The suffered minor scratches and a shake that caught the people still working on loosening parts under the hood. I thought someone had fallen in the bus really hard. She got out of her car startled and Decora asked if she was ok. She was but her car wasn't looking to good. It hard a long white stripe on the passenger side and the rear view mirror fell off. We got some Duck Tape and helped get it back on for her. After a few apologies and informing her about the tour she headed off while we got back to the bus to work on it.
After a few more hours (by now the bus had been parked there for nearly 24 hours) Free and J arrived with the right belt. While trying to get it into place Decora slashed his hand on the alternator (the alternator is what charges the battery). A few more hours of work passed and while some napped, others wrote, while the mechanics kept on working on the bus. Finally, the belt fell into place, it was tested out and we hit the road ASAP. On the road the belt started making the same noise it did right before it broke. So Decora took it niiiiice and eeeeasy. Free and DJ H20 drove the rental car ahead of the bus and we followed so that we could drop off the rental car. That noise was making us all nervous so we stopped and took a look at it but we saw no possibilities of it snapping. J called the shop we got it from and he was told that it needed to be lubricated. We stopped to get some much needed COMIDA (food in español) from another Mexican restaurant called Tostillos. Not as good as "El Paso" but it was till good. There hot sauce was HHOOOOOOTTTT! After our meal we dropped off Free and Graham at a cafe to get some research, and other internet things taken care of. Graham has been searching for housing on couchsurfing.com and needed to find out what the status of some requests were. Couchsurfing.com is website that links travelers with people that are willing to put them up for a night or two in the hops that the favor will be returned one day. It's a network a people helping people...sounds good to me. While Free and Decora worked online the rest of us went Advance Auto Parts to return the belt that didn't fit and get some other things for the bus. All seven of us were now in Alexandria, Virginia and a YMCA was nearby as well. On the way to Advance auto my body began asking if I really needed that much hot sauce on my Pollo El Salvadoreño. I was feeling things that no one should ever feel in their intestinal track. Fortunately Advance Auto had a restroom where I could do some much needed "resting". One of the guys at Advance Auto noticed the bus and pointed it out to his co-workers. He kept yelling; Wow look how cool it is!. Every now then people would walk slowly by the bus and comment on it as well. One guy asked to come in and check it out. He said it was real sixties like and that the journey we had embarked on was real cool. People really appreciate the giving back aspect of the tour. It really feels good knowing that we are giving and not just taking.
An oil change, new oil filter and air filter, new mini mirrors, cleaned windows, adjusted and lubed fan belt later WE WERE BACK IN BUSINESS. The bus was running mmuuuucchhh better than before. We picked up Free and Graham and made our way to the YMCA before they closed. When we found the YMCA we only had 45 minutes to shower. Some worked out, others shaved BUT WE ALL SHOWERED AND THAT... MY FRIENDS... IS WHAT MATTERS ON THIS BUS.
This is another loooongg one...We have another day without performances and then we're in Kentucky people...KENTUCKY!!! WHOOO!
-Latin
So we wake up and have mosquito bites all over our bodies. Decora drove to a hotel we booked and DJ H20 served as navigator while the rest of us got some sleep. The "Town Place Marriott Suite" was niiiiiiceeee (And surprisingly very very economical). The room had a kitchenette, a nice bed, a sofa bed, a cot and it was cleeeaaann. For the price we paid I expected to see blood stains, dead rodents and flies that kept us up all night. But not this place. It even had an outdoor pool with a lifeguard. Ohhh annddd the coookies...they had homemade cooookkiiess. Mmmmm. Latin like cookies.
Back to the good stuff. When we got to the hotel we had some good ole continental breakfast, (why is it continental breakfast anyway? why not national or countrywide lol) took some much needed showers and some of us got rest while others made phone calls, or caught up on writing. We decided the night before that we'd have a meeting at eleven but we pushed it to noon so that we'd have fresh clear minds. So at 11:55 we all regrouped and began our meeting. We discussed future group goals as well as individual goals in an effort to assure that we build with others as we build within ourselves. In order to create change one must experience change within self. To not do so leaves one at a disadvantage and in turn negatively affects those that one is trying to build with. We developed a number of ideas for the group and future performances that will inevitably leave many breathless.
After the meeting we got ourselves ready and went to fill our bellies We found a restaurant a Mexican restaurant in the area and headed there. Actually, we found ourselves sitting in Bob Evans but we all agreed that we'd rather eat at a "mom and pop" restaurant with better food than microwaved meals. It was our blind hunger that led us to the corporate chemically enhanced nuked food. We made the right decision by going to "El Paso". This restaurant was beautiful. The service was good, food great and portions were amazing. "Steve Prince" should learn a thing or two from them. At the restaurant we relaxed and laughed with each other as we discussed the difference between abstinence and celibacy.
From there we headed to Washington D.C. to pick up Graham. This is where it allllll began. While we were driving along in our happy bus (we realized later it wasn't so happy after all) it stopped running in the middle of fast going traffic. Fortunately, we didn't run into anyone and no one ran into us. Traffic was wizzing by us as we slowly let the car drift in neutral towards the curb. From the engine we heard a loud clacking sound that said; HEY PEOPLE I NEED TO CHILL FOR A WHILE! When we got out we realized that directly to the right of us was the Washington Monument. After popping the hood we saw that the clacking sound was the belt for the engine fan. Without that belt the bus was not going to move. Allow me to paint the picture a little better for you. It's Sunday evening in D.C. across from the Washington Monument and our engine fan belt snapped. There are noooooo auto part shops open on a Sunday evening in D.C. We know this now because we called them all. To get a tow truck we'd have to call a special tow truck for buses that will happily charge hundreds of dollars that we don't have. So the search was on for an auto part shop to be open some where for some reason. Decora and J went on foot while the rest of us stayed home (in the bus) and made phone calls. No luck. As the night reached it's peak of darkness Graham (Producer from Volume 8 Music) stepped to the bus wet and tired. Oh yeah...I forgot to mention that at one point it was pouring rain. When Graham got there it was still raining but fortunately it was no longer a torrential down pour. None of us knew what lied ahead.
We ended up deciding that in order to fix the bus we'd have to rent a car. A cab would be too expensive because we'd have to go from cab to hotel, from hotel to auto parts place and from auto parts place too bus. It was just too risky and inefficient. After seemingly hours of phone calls to rental cars, cabs, and CLOSED auto part shops we Decora and Free hailed a cab and headed towards Reagan airport to pick up a rental car. Reagan airport is the one that had a workers strike years ago. Reagan had the strikers fired and then they named the airport after him. At least that's what I recall. Be sure to look it up for the accurate info. As a matter of fact...don't believe anything I say. Look things up yourself so that you can create your own fountain of information without being tainted by another persons interpretations. Create your own interpretations When Free and Decora got back they decided to take the rental car to a Wal-Mart to see if they would have the part. We called and called but since it was late at night customer service was not picking up. Free, Decora and J headed towards the Wal-Mart but when they got there it was closed. It had closed merely ten minutes before they arrived. The headed back home (the bus) to regroup and plan out the next steps that would be taken. It was agreed that Graham, Decora and J would stay in the bus to get some sleep while Cuttz, Free, DJ H20 and myself (Latin) would head to the hotel room. There we would freshen up, rest a little, use the internet to find out what time the auto part shops would open in the morning (the time was then 2am) and which one would have the part.
We also searched for a YMCA in the area. I'm employed with the New Paltz YMCA and the one in Kingston (their connected) sponsored us by hooking us up with AWAY program memberships. That means that we could use participating YMCA facilities throughout the country for workouts and showers. Being that the guys at the bus hadn't had showers in hours this was going to come in handy. Thanks Lee Anne! The next morning all of us at the hotel cleaned up and had breakfast before we got to work. While I enjoyed my "continental breakfast I worked on sending out an e-mail blast letting everyone know to check out the blog and photo updates on our page. I also searched for a YMCA in the area.
Free and DJ H20 worked on getting the auto part shops on the phone (most of them opened at 7:30am) to figure out who had the part and where. Cuttz was responding to some e-mails and staying in informed with the Free Wi-Fi we had in the hotel. When I was with the e-mail blast I talked to the woman behind the counter (who side I looked like Common....lol) because DJ H20 said that someone told him that there was a NAPA auto parts shop in the area. While I figured out where the NAPA was DJ H20 found a place that had the part fan belt for us on hold. We high tailed (now that's a phrase that makes little sense...high tailed?) over there to pick up the part. Got the part and headed over the guarders of the bus. The doors opened and out came men that looked like they'd been in the trenches of battle. We handed over the part and they got to work. The belt ended up not fitting because it was too short. Sooooo we get on the phone to find the right one. After numerous attempts we find one that says they have the part. J and Free head over there to find the part while some rest in the bus and others take advantage of the opportunity and start trekking D.C. to get photos of the sites.
While the bus is parked a woman in her twenties rammed the side of the bus. The suffered minor scratches and a shake that caught the people still working on loosening parts under the hood. I thought someone had fallen in the bus really hard. She got out of her car startled and Decora asked if she was ok. She was but her car wasn't looking to good. It hard a long white stripe on the passenger side and the rear view mirror fell off. We got some Duck Tape and helped get it back on for her. After a few apologies and informing her about the tour she headed off while we got back to the bus to work on it.
After a few more hours (by now the bus had been parked there for nearly 24 hours) Free and J arrived with the right belt. While trying to get it into place Decora slashed his hand on the alternator (the alternator is what charges the battery). A few more hours of work passed and while some napped, others wrote, while the mechanics kept on working on the bus. Finally, the belt fell into place, it was tested out and we hit the road ASAP. On the road the belt started making the same noise it did right before it broke. So Decora took it niiiiice and eeeeasy. Free and DJ H20 drove the rental car ahead of the bus and we followed so that we could drop off the rental car. That noise was making us all nervous so we stopped and took a look at it but we saw no possibilities of it snapping. J called the shop we got it from and he was told that it needed to be lubricated. We stopped to get some much needed COMIDA (food in español) from another Mexican restaurant called Tostillos. Not as good as "El Paso" but it was till good. There hot sauce was HHOOOOOOTTTT! After our meal we dropped off Free and Graham at a cafe to get some research, and other internet things taken care of. Graham has been searching for housing on couchsurfing.com and needed to find out what the status of some requests were. Couchsurfing.com is website that links travelers with people that are willing to put them up for a night or two in the hops that the favor will be returned one day. It's a network a people helping people...sounds good to me. While Free and Decora worked online the rest of us went Advance Auto Parts to return the belt that didn't fit and get some other things for the bus. All seven of us were now in Alexandria, Virginia and a YMCA was nearby as well. On the way to Advance auto my body began asking if I really needed that much hot sauce on my Pollo El Salvadoreño. I was feeling things that no one should ever feel in their intestinal track. Fortunately Advance Auto had a restroom where I could do some much needed "resting". One of the guys at Advance Auto noticed the bus and pointed it out to his co-workers. He kept yelling; Wow look how cool it is!. Every now then people would walk slowly by the bus and comment on it as well. One guy asked to come in and check it out. He said it was real sixties like and that the journey we had embarked on was real cool. People really appreciate the giving back aspect of the tour. It really feels good knowing that we are giving and not just taking.
An oil change, new oil filter and air filter, new mini mirrors, cleaned windows, adjusted and lubed fan belt later WE WERE BACK IN BUSINESS. The bus was running mmuuuucchhh better than before. We picked up Free and Graham and made our way to the YMCA before they closed. When we found the YMCA we only had 45 minutes to shower. Some worked out, others shaved BUT WE ALL SHOWERED AND THAT... MY FRIENDS... IS WHAT MATTERS ON THIS BUS.
This is another loooongg one...We have another day without performances and then we're in Kentucky people...KENTUCKY!!! WHOOO!
-Latin
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