I have a feeling that this is going to be a wild weekend, and what better accompaniment for moral turpitude than some fresh music?

This song is about a month old, but still worthwhile as far as party music goes. Not sure how long I'll keep the track online, but, for now at least, you can download Krispy and bump it this weekend, if you like. I hope you've got subs. Cheers!

brett at 01:43 PM on August 24, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have just unconsciously stumbled across the greatest dance/rap group ever: Thunderheist. The story of Isis and Grahm is a strange one: the two originally began collaborating after Graham accidentally sent a remix destined for Spank Rock to Isis' MySpace, which she then decided to flow over. The two Internet pals were soon collaborating, with Graham producing and Isis rapping. Man, they are awesome. Just look at Isis:

Anyway, they've been starting to get quite a bit of press, in fact I just read about them in Urb yesterday. Hopefully this means that a full-length album is in store sometime soon. In the meantime, you can checkout these two Thunderheist tracks from the promo: Suenos Dulces and Jerrrkit. Amazing.

brett at 10:12 AM on August 22, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wow, last night provided Lincoln with one hell of a storm! Downtown was absolutely hammered with rain, hail and 60 mph gusts of wind--all incredible to see--for a good 20 minutes. Thankfully no funnel clouds decided to descend on us.

When the clouds first rolled in, I was dumbfounded by their speed and rotation--really, it was like no cloud I had ever seen before, and they loomed so low! It was one of the few times that I, with my meteorology 101 training, actually thought we might be in store for a tornado! Lucky for us, just hail and wind hail blowing off the roof of Duffy's directly into my huge windows.

Man, just look at the size of that thunderhead! Can you even spot the capitol in that photo? It's there, try and use it for size reference against this massive cloud.

brett at 08:46 AM on August 21, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you haven't already heard, a former Lincolnite and old friend of mine, Alex Svoboda, has been a victim of police brutality in Rhode Island while protesting this week. Alex was an ubiquitous figure when in Lincoln who was always inspiring, happy and willing to help those who were in need. Alex is one of the few people about whom I can say I have never heard speak a disparaging or hateful remark. Unfortunately, while following her goals of helping others she has had her leg violently broken by police and might not be able to use it ever again.

Yes, it's as bad as it looks. The long story short is that she was at an IWW march of approximately 30 people in Rhode Island, when police decided to attack her, saying that he drum stick (which she was using to bang on a jug) was threatening them. Honestly, after reading all of the media coverage of this event, and seeing the photos, I don't have much to say. The photographs truly speak for themselves, and this seems to me to be a clear cut case of excessive force, brutality and reckless law enforcement. Alex is still in the hospital, and seeing photos of her like this--such an old, dear friend, completely splayed out and broken--is heartbreaking.

In a literal "insult to injury," she is also being charged with three felonies for assaulting a police officer--probably the most ironic, ludicrous and absolutely disgusting thing I've ever heard: Alex would never harm anyone, let alone pull a "felony assault on a police officer."

Here is one article on the event that makes it clear the police are eschewing any blame and going into full damage control mode. If you'd like to see the rest of the gruesome pictures, they can be found here. The site with the photos, supportalexsvoboda.blogspot.com is also a good point for finding out how to donate money to Alex (who is still hospitalized) and bring this atrocity to the attention of people who can do something about it.

brett at 01:02 PM on August 16, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, I had one insane weekend. There were ups and downs--most notably our vehicle breaking down, constantly--but overall I would say I had a smashing time in Ogallala and Denver, despite all of the stress.

The story is long, so I'm not going to tell it here. The short version is that Margaret, Megan and I had planned a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, and it was cut short due to a faulty fuel pump. We stayed much longer than planned in Denver, and also Sterling, Colorado. Pictures from the journey are, as always, on Flickr.

brett at 12:53 PM on August 14, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week, our sales team is in town, so we had a big company party at a coworkers house. It was catered, and I was astounded to find that the woman who cooked all of our food was a vegan herself. This meant that I was able to gorge myself on every course, right down to the cake.

I had a surprisingly nice time, and got to meet some of my coworkers who I haven't really sat down and talked with before. I stole a few of the pictures taken at the party and have posted them on Flickr.

brett at 09:03 AM on August 09, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0)

I found a few stray shots from our trip to Minnesota the other day. Nothing to awesome, just some nonsense from the car ride.

For some pictures from the actual show, check Jessica's blog. They are much more interesting than our bored snapshots taken along I-80.

brett at 02:47 PM on August 06, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (2)

I've been obsessed with Lil Wayne for some time now, as should be apparent to all of my readers, and last week, Eric and I decided that with the man being named "Hottest Rapper Alive," and with his hype really starting to near critical mass, that we would indeed have to travel and see him perform. It's apparent to me that his career is nearing a crossover point, where he will go from playing smaller venues to performing on the arena circuit--because although he is famous, the fandom is only just now beginning to grow into a point of mania. Eric and I resolved to travel anywhere to see him perform before the chance escaped us; with last week's gun/drug arrest in New York City, his proclamation to never play the town again, and his rising status in pop-circles, we knew we had to act quickly.

But there were no shows coming up. Nothing listed for the entire year. We searched and searched and found nothing. That was Tuesday, and we figured that we had exhausted our resources, and missed some golden opportunities to see him. Wednesday morning, however, I awoke to an e-mail from Jessica: she had found a Lil Wayne show in Minnesota, at a club called Myth. There was a problem, though: it was starting at 9 p.m., that day. Eric and I didn't even have to ask one another what to do, we took two days of work off and drove to St. Paul. Ryan and Jessica did the same.

It was an intense drive. We took I-35 (yes, that I-35) the entire way, and no, we were nowhere near the bridge when it went down. We were at least an hour from it, and never actually crossed it into Minneapolis.

The show itself was phenomenal. Weezy really exceeded all of my expectations, performing for over an hour and providing a variety of his old hits, new singles, freestyles, and even some unreleased material. He also played guitar--yes, guitar.

After getting through some terrible opening acts, Eric, Ryan, Jessica and I were treated to a medley of songs by Memphis duo 8-Ball & MJG. Their set was something that Robin would have wanted to see: opening with the Three Six Mafia hit, "Stay High," following with "Relax and Take Notes" and then segueing into a series of songs from their classic album "Living Legends." It was a great way to heat the audience up for Lil Wayne, though he didn't actually hit the stage for at least another hour, as we were bored to tears by one more of Minnesota's local crappy hip-hop groups.

Weezy did eventually emerge, though. I was only a few rows from the stage, having shoved my way (or been shoved?) quite near since the show had started. The curtain was closed and the crowd--who by now, at 1 a.m., had been waiting for nearly 4 hours, was ready.

With the curtain still closed, the opening alarm from the Carter II

There were plenty of great moments in the show: from his drawn out, 8 minute performance of his newest Carter III single, "Prostitute Flange," to his seated guitar medley--we saw him sing, dance, rap and play some instruments. He performed such classics as "The Block is Hot" and "Dope Boy," while also managing to stick in some new material off Like Father Like Son when he performed both "You Ain't Know," and "Stuntin' Like My Daddy." He also did some Drought 3 material, giving the audience both "Sky is the Limit" and "Swizzy {Remix)."

Toward the end of his set, the automatically-identifiable sounds of "Stuntin' Like My Daddy" began to play, and Weezy spit both Birdman and his own verses in what would have been a wonderful close to the show; but he hadn't quite finished, despite the large amount of security standing around the stage, all insisting that there could be no more music (since it was now well past 2 a.m.). Weezy completely ignored them, and faced the crowd as his DJ played the first synthesizer bits of the DJ Khaled masterpiece, "We Takin' Over": he looked at the audience and smiled the same grin he had been wearing on his face all evening, then launched into a fantastic performance of what must be one of his best verses ever.

When "We Takin' Ova" finally ended, Weezy was on the stage, alone, surrounded by security. He paused and came front and center and told the crowd the following: "Three things: number one, I want to thank you. I want to thank all of you for your support, everyone who voted for me or defended me in whatever, thank you. Number two, I am nothing without you, I'm nothing without you." Weezy then stood silent for a moment, and as his DJ put the needle on Whitney Houston's classic record, "I Will Always Love You," he spread his arms in a Christlike manner and said, "Number three, I love you!" and dropped the microphone as security closed the curtains and dragged him offstage. It was one of the better finales I've ever seen, and truly seemed to represent the emotional connection he has with his fanbase. Perhaps that why he was smiling the entire night, yet you rarely see a photograph of doing anything other than a frowny-faced mean-mug.

The show really revealed Lil Wayne as a much different person than what the videos and interviews have shown: that is, he's not so hard or tough that he can't smile, and he's there for those who love him. He lives for this kind of stuff. He had no pretense because he was among his fans, those who admire him and appreciate his work, and there was no need for anymore cloaking or bravado: he could be himself, and perform.

His performance was amazing. He had more energy and life than I could have imagined, and he provided a bombastic delivery and acrobatic display of showmanship that was really worth all $48 ticket dollars. I had secretly worried that he might come out in a drugged haze, providing just a few songs, but on the contrary, he seemed sober, alert and there for one purpose only: to rap. Just great stuff.

I'm tired now, but I've seen my current musical idol, the Jimi Hendrix of rap music, do his thing on stage, in person. There's much more to say about the show, but if you really care to know, just ask me sometime, I'm sure I could talk for hours. The world isn't ready for Lil Wayne, and this show was exactly what I needed right now, when so much is going wrong in my life. A nice break.

brett at 10:27 AM on August 03, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (2)