Shepard Fairey: artwork in Asbury Park, NJ
October 4th, 2011 by Mr. C
“The Rebel Waltz” mural (depicting Paul Simonon – The Clash)
“Mount Rush-core”
(Joey Ramone,Johnny Rotten,Joe Strummer,Glenn Danzig,Ian Mackaye,Henry Rollins)
Tags: art, asbury park, revolution, shepard fairey
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greetings from asbury park
October 4th, 2011 by Mr. C
(panoramic pics by mr c)
Tags: asbury park
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All Tomorrow’s Parties at Asbury Park,NJ: the hip hop connection
October 3rd, 2011 by Mr. C
Chuck D, Flavor Flav, DJ Lord, Professor Griff, and the S1W’s better known as Public Enemy # 1 performed at the All Tomorrow’s Parties in Asbury Park, NJ last weekend! They were accompanied by a live band which added another layer of funkiness to the situation along with the familiar screeching sounds of the PE sirens! Ree-mix! Part of me wanted the tracks to sound exactly like the cuts from the album, but the live band definitely added another tiered layer of flavor in ya’ ear which included some heavy guitar solos along with the funk in your face bass guitar and drums! Public Enemy were scheduled to play the entire Fear of the Black Planet album, but since Mogwai had to cancel because of health reasons, PE stepped up to the plate and played a two hour set of organized chaos! Chuck D, Flavor Flav, and crew always puts on a great live show! Flavor Flav stepped onto the stage wearing a hoodie but it slowly got unraveled into a Walter Payton # 34 jersey which eventually got morphed into a Run DMC shirt wearing his famous large clock to protect his neck! What time is it?! Chuck D would swirl around the wireless mic like a steel chain used as a weapon before tossing it in the air, casually darting off to catch it, and then swinging the mic with a baseball bat motion! Home run! Flavor Flav went full boar with his familiar knee high stomps, alternating knock’em out, sock’em out, left fist-right fist two step moves! Besides Fear of the Black Planet, PE played hits like Don’t Believe the Hype, Bring the Noise, Can’t Truss it, Shut’em Down, Rebel without a Pause, He got game, & Black Steel in the hour of chaos to just name a few! Some fun moments from the show included a fan going on stage to meet Chuck D & Flavor Flav and to recite lyrics from Don’t Believe the Hype before he proceeded to stage dive back to the floor with NO apparent arms waiting to keep him afloat! Mind you, he was a big guy! Flavor Flav also showed his worth while playing Timebomb on the drums!
Kool Keith, Ced Gee, & TR Love otherwise known as Ultramagnetic MC’s with the help of Kut Masta Kurt on the steels generated a bit of ultra g-funk themselves! Only Moe Luv & Tim Dog would be absent from the performance. It was great to see the swagger of Ced Gee and Kool Keith attack the stage! Kool Keith’s abstract lyrics accompanied by his high pitched tone is akin to a boxer shuffling back and forth with confidence in the ring to also know that he can still sting you with jabs of lyrical madness from outer space! Ced Gee is the total opposite as his no nonsense, pit bull like attitude comes straight at ya’ like a mike tyson right cross when he delivers his aggressive lyrical flow! Ced Gee’s ‘Delta Force one’ tune is still one of my favorite tracks from the Critical Beatdown album. Ultramagnetic MC’s style of sampling really changed the game of hip hop and added another funky dimension to the art form. TR Love & Kool Keith made sure to mention to the ATP crowd that Ced Gee was the mastermind behind all of the beats and production of Ultramagnetic! He also lent more than a helping hand in producing Boogie Down Production’s Criminal Minded. Mad ‘ree-speck’ mang!! The Ultra set that night included songs from the Critical Beatdown, Four Horsemen, & Dr. Octagon albums! Ego Trippin, Watch me now, one two-one two, Delta Force one, Ease back, give the drummer some, funky, & Poppa large were all represented!
El-P, DJ Mr. Len, & Bigg Jus collectively known as Company Flow, cold crushed the Asbury Park Convention center to a modest crowd before Public Enemy uprooted the stage! The ATP festival would be the 3rd reunion show for Company flow this year. Chocko is a big fan of CF and he attended the 1st reunion performance at Santos Party House in nyc last july. For myself, I’m a late comer to the Company Flow house party as I was stuck in a bubble listening to the Lost Boyz, Geto Boys, EPMD, & KRS-One. After listening to their set at the ATP festival, I asked myself: what took me so long to rock this funky joint?! My big bobble head really dug the Vital Nerve & the 8 steps to perfection tunes! I gotta catch up with the Funcrusher album!
Portishead was the headliner of the festival and they curated the event as well. It was much thanks to them along with the ATP organizers who made this smorgasbord of bands possible. It all started with the vision of the bands they wanted to see perform! Ultramagnetic MC’s, Public Enemy, Jeff Mangum, Swans, & The Pop Group are usually not mentioned in the same sentence but yet all have influenced many in the music industry. I might have found a music festival that is just as eclectic as my tastes in music!
Portishead also flew under my radar in the mid 1990’s. After I listened to their 1st album ‘Dummy’, I got hooked! Track # 2, Sour Times sounds like they share the same sample(Monk Higgins’s “Little Green Apples”) as Gang Starr’s “Code of the Streets”! The slow tempo, hip hop beats along with some funky sampling and turntable scratching coupled with the soul & jazz inspired vocals of Beth Gibbons really adds a trance like state of mind to groove in order to show and prove! Beth has that smooth, hypnotic, & mesmerizing vocals that sort of reminds me of Lisa Stansfield! Geoff Barrow, the drummer & turntablist is clearly influenced by hip hop which is why Public Enemy, Ultramagnetic MC’s, & Company Flow were on the same bill! Portishead played on Saturday & Sunday. I went to the Saturday show and it was amazing! The lead singer even surfed the crowd! I heard on Sunday’s performance, Chuck D came out on stage to lend some of his vocals from Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos to Portishead’s Machine Gun beat! Here’s the setlist and neat writeup of Portisheads’ performance on Saturday by Stereogum.
Reggie Watts, who I will loosely call the greatest entertainer provided a nice comedic relief to an otherwise dreary and rainy friday night on day 1 of the ATP Festival. I’m not sure how to describe Reggie but his mashup of improv with singing, the human beat box, sampling, recording loops on the fly, and comedy is something I’ve never seen before. He truly is a one man wrecking studio, a real talented mofo! Check this dude out if you get a chance! Your blood pressure will thank you!
Tags: all tomorrows parties, asbury park, atp festival, music
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Red Lanterns #1
September 29th, 2011 by chocko
You may have heard of Green Lantern and The Green Lantern Corps but The Red Lanterns are a group of aliens you don’t want to mess with. The first issue is a bit of an intro for the newbies. Atrocitus seeks revenge after The Guardians of the Universe, a group of immortal extraterrestrials who have the power to time travel and chop a planet in half, slaughter his people. Atrocitus forms the Red Lantern Corps, a blood thirsty band of misfits who go out to destroy and punish as “instruments of vengeance.” The leader of the Red Lanterns is in a bit of rut lately…feeling self doubt and feeling like his days consumed by hate just lacks the kick it used to have. Plus, he feels like nobody in the group respects him. After taking a break and receiving a blood prophecy, Atrocitus finds his purpose in life and off he goes into which is sure to be a life of relentless and bloody rampage. Will the rest of the Red Lantern crew join him for some revenge and violence? We shall see in future issues!
The story in the first issue is excellent and well paced. Kudos to writer, Peter Milligan who has worked on a ton of books for DC and Marvel including X-Men and Detective Comics. The history of the Red Lanterns is covered in the first issue, but it doesn’t get boring for the reader already well versed in the Lantern stories. The pencils by Ed Benes is amazing with attention to detail and the first couple of pages are a doozy. There’s the initial sequence where Dex-Starr, originally a house cat, flies through outer space bum rushes a spaceship full of bad, blue lizard-like aliens up to no good. The splash page is hilarious and the damage Dex-Starr does will get your blood pumping!
There is a little bit of info not covered in the issue, but the red rings the Red Lanterns wear send commands to the one wearing the ring to kill, hate, and destroy! The red rings are their power source, replacing their hearts and pumping red energy into their blood which is forced out of their mouths as they rage. It’s a big mess! If you can relate to violence, rage and a good old blood bath, then this book is for you!
Tags: comic book, dc comics, review, the new 52
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Portland Jam
September 28th, 2011 by chocko
Chocko recently landed the spaceship in the North West corner of the United States finding himself in Portland, Oregon…a city with great coffee, fun shopping, yummy food, and friendly people that love to ride bikes. Here are some places that you should check out especially if you’re on a budget! (The White Stag Sign pictured above is located at the White Stag Building, at 70 NW Couch Street)
About 80 miles west of Portland is Cannon Beach featuring the 235 foot Haystack Rock. It’s an amazing sight to see…you might recognize the beach from the Goonies movie. The drive to Cannon Beach is beautiful. There are mountains and forests for miles and miles. Sadly you can also see a ton of deforestation in the mountains.
Powell’s Books is an independent bookstore located at 1005 W Burnside and takes up a whole city block. If you’re a fan of books, this place will keep you busy. You’ll need a map to navigate all 4 floors of the Godzilla of indie bookstores. Open 365 days a year!
For snacks, try Voodoo Doughnut located at 22 SW 3rd Ave. and open 7 days a week and they’re open 24 hours. They got all kinds of doughnuts-vegan, ones with breakfast cereal as toppings and bacon too. I waited an hour one night for them suckers. If people in the Portland area see you carrying one of those pink voodoo boxes filled with doughnuts, good luck. You might as well be walking with a spotlight on you. Walk fast or you can kiss those doughnuts goodbye.
The gentle, cascading Wahkeena Falls is not too far of a drive from Portland. There’s a small bridge about a half mile hike from the base where you can get a closer look at the 242 ft. waterfall. The much more majestic 620 ft. Multnomah Falls is also in the vicinity and the Benson Bridge also offers a view that will knock your socks off, but be careful of the slippery trails and poison oak.
There are are hundreds of food carts in Portland. You can find a whole fleet of them parked around the perimeter of a parking lot on 10th Ave and Washington. All the food Chocko tried was delicious, but the favorite meal was the chicken pesto sandwich from Rotissol & Greens who specialize in healthy home cooking and for dessert, the banana pudding from A Little Bit of Smoke-a bbq joint right next door. So much food (inexpensive too!), so little time…gotta go back soon!
There are a ton of record stores in Portland, but the ones I went to were Everyday Music (1313 W. Burnside). They have a massive amount of stuff from vinyl (new and used), CDs and DVDs. I found some pretty good used CDs along the Sale wall. EM is a local chain and have several locations. Another store I enjoyed was Music Millennium (3158 E. Burnside) which has been around since 1969. They have a second floor devoted to vinyl and huge CD sections of every genre including hip hop, folk and classical. They host a lot of in-store events and their window decorations are the best! Another great Portland record store is Jackpot Records (203 SW 9th Ave). They have a great inventory that includes new and used records, CDs and collectibles. Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips was in the house to promote the Strobo Trip Light & Audio Phase Illusions Toy which included a 6 hour song. The line wrapped around the block and the dude only brought 11 Strobo toys with him. C’mon now…
The Hoyt Arboretum in Washington Park was a highlight of the trip. There are 12 miles of trails to explore and plenty of trees, plants and flowers to see and smell. My favorite place was the Redwood Deck surrounded by huge redwoods and sequoias. I wanted to hug every tree there!
Another attraction in Washington Park is the International Rose Test Garden. Both the Arboretum and Rose Garden are free…no need to take the wallet out. There are 8000 rose bushes to check out and there is a really nice view of Mt. Hood from the Garden.
For $4 (roundtrip) you can ride the Portland Aerial Tram and get a spectacular bird’s eye view of the Lair Hill neighborhood and a bunch of highways and mountains. The tram travels back and forth between the South Waterfront Terminal and the OHSU (Oregon Health & Science University).
Food Fight! Vegan Grocery Store (1217 SE Stark St) is a great place to buy vegan mock meats and junk food. They also sell shirts, DVDs and stickers too. Herbivore Store (1211 SE Stark St) is located next door and sells vegan products, clothes, books, art and jewelry. Sweetpea Bakery (1205 SE Stark St) on the corner, sells vegan baked goods. I tried a pumpkin muffin. Damn good muffin! The Microcosm Store (636 SE 11th Ave) is located a couple blocks away and they sell zines and shirts. If you love zines then you must go there! They sell other things as well including shirts, movies and books. Microcosm Publishing puts out some of the best zines and books around. If you are planning a trip to Portland, I recommend picking up “The Zinester’s Guide to Portland” for info on cool, free, cheap and weird things to do in the Rose City.
(photos by chocko)
Tags: cannon beach, flaming lips, food fight!, haystack rock, herbivore store, hoyt arboretum, jackpot records, music millennium, oregon, review, sweetpea bakery, vegan, voodoo doughnuts, wayne coyne
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The Weird World of Blowfly (2010)
September 24th, 2011 by chocko
Director: Jonathan Furmanski
Starring: Clarence Reid as Blowfly, Tom Bowker, Otto Von Schrach
Genre: music documentary
The documentary, The Weird World of Blowfly is a wild ride with Clarence “Blowfly” Reid at the wheel. Back in the 60’s and 70’s, Clarence Reid was a well known writer and producer of many hit records from the R&B and Soul scene in Miami, Florida. Reid’s notorious alter ego, Blowfly donned a cape and mask while spitting X-rated raps and soul and disco parodies. Blowfly’s nasty party records sold like hot cakes, party people went to the shows and Blowfly became an underground sensation.
Before slipping away to obscurity, Blowfly joins forces with a drummer, Tom Bowker in 2005. Tom becomes Blowfly’s manager and drummer, they form a band, record new songs and take the show on the road. By this time, Blowfly is in his senior years and his arthritic knee and unhealthy food choices (the one scene where he’s eating a sloppy, greasy unidentifiable meal from McDonald’s is hilarious and sick!) ain’t helping the old man get the bills paid. The film focuses on Blowfly’s struggle for success while touring dingy bars in the United States and playing in front of unappreciative crowds in Germany.
Blowfly is the self proclaimed inventor of rap music, predating Sugar Hill Gang and Kurtis Blow, so it was nice to see legends such as Ice-T and Chuck D of Public Enemy talk a little bit about the controversial music of the masked man. One of my favorite scenes from the movie was a brief clip of Blowfly singing his X-rated version of Otis Redding’s “(Sitting on) The Dock Of The Bay” with Isaac Hayes on the piano. There’s some brief archival footage of early shows. Was that Henry Rollins in the front row checking out a Blowfly show? There’s also a tiny bit of footage from the “Fonky Party” video with Blowfly getting down with Rudy Ray Moore a.k.a. Dolemite. Check out the full video for some cameos by other Blaxploitation stars, Antonio “Huggy Bear ” Fargas and Jim “Blackbelt Jones” Kelly!
The movie is truly entertaining, weird and very funny. I enjoyed it and definitely put it up there with some of my favorite music documentaries such as Louie Bluie by Terry Zwigoff and Anvil! The Story of Anvil. During the opening weekend of the movie at The Quad Cinema in New York City, Blowfly sat and watched the movie with the audience and answered questions from the audience following the screenings. Check out Saturday’s q&a below. He was more than happy to sign autographs for his fans and even serenaded quite a few of them with his filthy songs. Check out the movie The Weird World of Blowfly but please leave the kids at home!
(photo by chocko)
FONKY PARTY
Jason Newman (freelance writer and editor) interviews BLOWFLY and Director Jonathan Furmanski at THE QUAD CINEMA in NYC 09.17.11.
BLOWFLY and Director Jonathan Furmanski at THE QUAD CINEMA in NYC
Tags: Clarence Reid, documentary, Jonathan Furmanski, movie, The Quad Cinema
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GIRLFIGHT (2000) — friday night fights at the movies!
September 23rd, 2011 by Mr. C
Director: Karyn Kusama
Stars: Michelle Rodriguez, Ray Santiago, Santiago Douglas, Jaime Tirelli,
Genre: boxing drama
This film is on my top 10 favorite boxing movies of all time. It offers a look at a raw, gritty, and unglamorous look at boxing under the covers without all of the hollywood bon bons. Girlfight is Michelle Rodriguez’s breakout film and she defintely broke out with an intense portrayal of Diana Guzman, a troubled teen in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn with a Dad that was abusive to her mom. The opening sequence of the film would reveal that signature cold, death stare that cuts like a knife which Michelle Rodriguez would be known for. Those freaking eyes my lad, those killer eyes! She is one intense young lady with the looks and a left hook that kills! Diana’s bottled up anger would be present at school and at home with her father and younger brother. She would eventually find her solitude in the art of boxing as her anger would turn into rage with technique! A deadly combination! She discovers boxing when she escorts her brother, Tiny (Ray Santiago) home from training at the front street boxing gym after she pays the trainer for his services as instructed by the shit head dad! Diana adores the soft spoken and gentle Tiny as she acts like a bodyguard for him. She even cold clocks a boxer who lended a cheapshot to her little bro! Soon, Diana would seek out Hector the trainer (Jaime Tirelli) so she can fuel her anger with boxing and also to have an outlet to express herself and more importantly, express it on someones face! Hector would soon fill the shoes of that father figure that Diana wished she had. Suffice to say, she would also have a confrontation with the real dad in her own brooklyn way!
After being tweaked into a well tuned fighting machine at the renowned boxing gym in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn (Gleason’s Gym), Diana would not turn down any bouts including fights with males and a more established women boxer. All would get a chance to taste that Red Hook thunder with her thudding combinations in the ring! Things would get turned upside down as she meets Adrian (Santiago Douglas), a boxer from Gowanus who is looking to get out of the hood courtesy of his fists. Love would be their next opponent as they bob and weave through a few hood rats, obstacles, and emotional monkeys! A surprise bout in the ring between Adrian vs Diana scheduled by their promoters would test their relationship…and their chins!
Girlfight is a raw in your face film, y’all! Michelle Rodriguez is the urban Million Dollar Baby! Check out this joint if it somehow eluded you!
Tags: boxing, movies, mr c
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Hong Kong TVB’s reality show: KUNG FU STAR
September 21st, 2011 by Mr. C
A reality show/competition in Hong Kong to search for the next new Kung Fu movie star cropped up on the TVB Channel last month! The show’s name is roughly translated as “Kung Fu’s new star” or “Kung Fu Supernova”. I’ve only watched the first episode and it was pretty darn entertaining! Some old school judges included the great Lau Kar Yung (The Young Master,Tigress of Shaolin, Shaolin Disciples,Dragon’s Claw), Shaw Brother’s favorite lady: Kara Hui Ying Hung (Dirty Ho, My Young Auntie, Lady is the Boss), & Tony Leung Siu Hung (Actor/Stuntman/choreographer: 36 Crazy Fists,Enter the Fat Dragon,Angel,Long Arm of the Law).
The hosts of the show boasts the slick duo of MC Jin, hip hop artist from NYC, currently residing in HK and Chin Ka Lok, veteran HK actor/stunt choreographer.
There were 12 contestants on the 1st show and two would go home that night! I think there’s a total of 6 shows! Some categories of competition include martial arts, stunts, & acting! The 1st episode included performances with the double nunchucks, a spear set, a karate form, a young lady doing a broadsword routine, a pole form, & the competitors running through a glass door?!
Here’s Lau Kar Yun & Tony Leung Siu Hung giving some advice to the contestants:
To be continued….
Tags: action, hong kong, tv shows
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True Legend (2010) screening at Museum of the Moving Image + Rock Steady Crew
September 19th, 2011 by Mr. C
Director: Yuen Woo Ping
Stars: Vincent Zhao, Zhou Xun, Jay Chou, Michelle Yeoh, Andy On, David Carradine, Gordon Liu, Cung Le
Genre: Qing dynasty period piece, kung fu action
True Legend was shown at the Museum of the Moving Image as part of the Fist and Sword programming hosted by Warrington Hudlin. Following the screening, Sifu Jose Figueroa, a Chen style Tai Chi specialist and Jo Jo Torres, one of the original founding members of the Rock Steady B-boy crew will discuss and demonstrate the dynamics of kung fu and breakdancing! Jose & Jo Jo have been childhood friends since elementary school while growing up in the Bronx. Why are they having a panel on b-boying and kung fu? Because this movie will put both of these elements on display! And because both of these art forms have been meshed together in urban areas since the kung fu craze & hip hop madness from the 1970’s!
As the Director & fight choreographer of True Legend, Yuen Woo Ping would deliver an old school vicious throwdown enhanced with technology accompanied by a simple plot: revenge, revenge, & more revenge! The drunken fist style would get a spotlight in this film to no-ones surprise along with a nice dosage of ground fighting inspired from the power moves of breakdancing! Yuen Woo Ping, if you didn’t know was responsible for cult favorites such as the Drunken Master, Drunken Tai Chi, Iron Monkey, Dance of the Drunk Mantis, Wing Chun, & the Tai Chi Master besides many, many modern HK martial art films! Woo Ping had an early vision of incorporating breakdance in his Fu movies with Donnie Yen in the 80’s like Mismatched Couples & Drunken Tai Chi. His father was the great Kung Fu film legend Simon Yuen who often specialized in drunken boxing playing the role of beggar So or Sam Seed aka Ol’ Dirty! All the old skool fans will know what I’m talking about!
The cast would reveal the ultimate who’s who list filled with old school, new school, every school, mixed martial artists, pop stars, & even contained the last performance by the late David Carradine before his untimely death. The lead character was played by the chinese wushu beast himself, Vincent Zhao (The Blade & Once Upon a Time in China) while being backed up with tremendous help from the kitchen including the capable Andy On and Jay Chou (Green Hornet). For the additional wow factor & for the salt over the shoulder effect, veterans David Carradine, Gordon Liu, & Michelle Yeoh would be the tie in for old school flavor! Even mixed martial artist, Cung Le was thrown into the True Legend wok to stir up the dragon’s flame! The fighting choreography was fast, furious, superhero like, and sometimes dreamy but the action still managed to come off as dark and gritty especially when the crazy Yuan destroyed anyone in his path with the 5 venoms fist style along with his stitched in body armour of steel to his flesh! This is one of those movies where the fight scenes probably dominated most of the screen time and thank god it did because it more than made up for the wack & lack of story! The setting of the movie takes place at the end of the Qing dynasty when General Su (Vincent Zhao) and his adopted brother, General Yuan (Andy On) barely get back to home base after a brutal battle. Su is praised by his leader and recommends to the emperor to promote him as governor for his brave mission. Yuan will rage on with deep disgust. However, General Su decides to retire from the cause to spend time with his wife and kid and concentrate on a life of martial arts while the brother heads back into the mayhem of the battlefield. When Yuan comes back from the war, he will unleash the beast with his deadly venom techniques! The first half of the film will concentrate on family dynamics and filial piety or lack thereof! Michelle Yeoh would make a cameo as a legendary healer from the mountains! The God of Wushu (Jay Chou) and the Sage (Gordon Liu) would play the role as the mysterious walk on water kung fu masters offering a beatdown in order to reach the next chow down! Is Su fighting for redemption or is he battling an inner demon? Su would eventually learn to develop some new techniques known as the drunken style while he encounters a drunk in a restaurant! Floor techniques from breakdancing would get thrown in the mix with drunken flare as windmills, freezes, and plenty of familiar down rock routines were used as a perfect weapon! The old Rock Steady Crew in attendance at the theater were hootin’ and hollerin’ when the familiar B-Boy moves were magnified on the screen! Head spinning and one armed freeze techniques was a sight to see from Beggar Su! It was definitely a fun sequence with solid choreography! The latter part of the film would segue into a fighting tournament with larger than life opponents in a win or die state of mind! General Ma, one of Su’s confidants from the militiary would find himself in this death match. Beggar Su and his son would stand by his side as his B-Boy backup ready to take battle on stage when called! The bottom line with True Legend is that if you are familiar with Yuen Woo Ping’s intricate fight choreography on his films in the past, you will surely appreciate the martial arts action being put forth in this project as well. Like I said earlier, the fight scenes dominate most of the screen time and just as well because the plot was nothing to write home about. The visuals were incredible, though! I’m not a huge fan of CGI but I felt in this case it really complimented the scenes in order to relay their super human abilities. I can only imagine the sensory overload if I actually saw True Legend in 3D! When the credits were rolling after the film, we all gave a nice applause in memory to David Carradine.
I can’t wait to purchase this film on Blu ray when it becomes available!
After the movie, sifu Jose Figueroa and Jo Jo Torres talked about their backgrounds and the influence of kung fu films with breakin’ and vice versa. Yuen Woo Ping would pay homage to the b-boys by implementing their culture into his films as early as the 1980’s with Mismatched Couples featuring Donnie Yen. He would do so again with True Legend!
This event ended with Jose, Jo Jo, and other O-G members of the 1st generation of the Rock Steady Crew forming a circle with the audience before they took the show to the floor! A nice steady mix of Jimmy Castor’s “It’s just begun” would light the fire for Jose as he swept the floor like he wanted to take down the crowd with drunken vengeance! I think Jo Jo Torres would of blew a load if “Apache” by the Incredible Bongo Band would of came on! Jo Jo did an amazing headspin as he cut up the floor like it was the 1970’s! The moves that father time has taken away was made up for by great energy and that B-Boy attitude! It was really fun to watch this old crew of masters from the Bronx get down!
Tags: hong kong, mr c, rock steady, yuen wo ping
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5 POINTZ : street art in long island city,queens-nyc
September 18th, 2011 by Mr. C
Just a few pics from the mecca of graffiti in long island city on my queens romp today….I haven’t been to 5 pointz since the fall of 2010 but big foot chocko can be found lurking about more on the regular. Show your support and save 5 Pointz, y’all!
Tags: 5 pointz, graffiti, street art
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STREETS OF GOLD (1986) — Friday night fights at the movies!
September 16th, 2011 by Mr. C
Director: Joe Roth
Stars: Wesley Snipes, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Adrian Pasdar
Genre: Boxing, Drama
Streets of Gold is one of my favorite boxing movies of all time. It’s obviously not a filmmaking masterpiece in any sense of the word, but I really enjoyed the gritty nature of the story along with the characters of the two up and coming local boxers from Coney Island & the Gravesend section of Brooklyn being trained by the Mr. Miyagi version of boxing from the Soviet Union! Alek Neuman (Klaus Maria Brandauer) is a jewish immigrant from the USSR who was a former boxing champion that was not allowed on the Russian national team because he was a jew. Alek would soon defect from his home country in hopes of better pastures in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn which has a large population of residents from the Soviet Republic. He struggles day to day working as a dishwasher in a restaurant while drowning his past sorrows with mr vodka. Alek had a funny line in the movie: “In Russia I lived like an american and in America, I live like a russian”.
Alek stumbles onto an underground fighting circuit where he sees boxers fight such as Roland Jenkins (Wesley Snipes), a jive talking, street smart local champion from Coney Island with a tremendous upside and Timmy (Adrian Pasdar), a raw & brute talent from the nearby Gravesend section. These kids will eventually seek out the Miyagi like boxing technician to help train them after they’ve seen how gracefully a drunk Alek handled himself vs the cocky & heavy handed Wesley Snipes! The U.S.A. boxing team will eventually get wind of these NYC talents and covet them on their team much to the delight of Alek! A bout with the Russian national team will harden the stool for an intense encounter with Alek’s old coach. Some beer muscles will make a presence as it would inspire additional twists to the hips while celebrating at the neighborhood restaurant on Brighton Beach.
There were a few ethnic slurs & derogatory words being tossed back and forth mostly involving the “N” word directed at Wesley Snipes’ character coming from a jealous & selfish hate monger. Despite a few ignorant creatures in the film, the brotherhood of boxing would be much more deeper than color, race, creed, & cultures. There were also no political or religious agendas being stirred up in the Streets of Gold as a black muslim, a jew, & a training brother preached comradery, loyalty and friendship till the end. The issue with the Russian national team being anti-semitic remained in the background without further air time until personalities met in the locker room. The actual fight in the ring was less about the russians vs the americans rather it was more about believing in yourself, the hard work & effort put forth, and your trust in the circle of friends that you surrounded yourself in.
I loved some of the views and backdrops of Coney Island from the 1980’s in this film including the boardwalk and Astroland Park!! It gave us a glimpse of that gritty old charm of NYC that we miss so much! I just wished some company would remaster this movie or at least put out a passable copy of Streets of Gold on DVD but for now, my trusty beat up VHS copy from Vestron via Tower Records clearance will have to suffice!
Tags: boxing, movies, mr c
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Anthrax played Best Buy Theater 09.12.11.
September 13th, 2011 by chocko
I walked up to the Best Buy Theater about an hour before doors, expecting to stand in a line for about an hour, but instead I was told there were extra wristbands for the Metal Masters Clinic 2 which was in progress on the very stage Anthrax was going to play on in about 2 hours. You couldn’t turn that down, so after bumrushing the stage I notice that Kerry King (Slayer) is on guitar along with Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) on drums, David Ellefson (Megadeth) on bass, with Scott Ian, Charlie Benante and Frank Bello of Anthrax. They’re just jamming and the crowd was losing it…headbanging all over the place. After a couple songs with Frank on vocals, Phil Anselmo from Pantera joins the band to take over the vocal duties and cranks out two Pantera songs, “A New Level” and “Fucking Hostile”. Daaaamn!
After the Clinic and after the crowd picked their jaws off the floor from the madness they just witnessed on stage, Kerry, Frank, Charlie, Mike and David signed stuff for the fans in the lobby. The line was long and people brought magazines, posters, albums and guitars to get signed. There were a lot of freebies at the table including the new Revolver magazine with Five Finger Death Punch on the cover and killer trading card sheets inside featuring the bands playing the BIG 4 at Yankee Stadium-the ultimate metal concert feat. Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax. Back on stage, Lady Starlight was on the turntables playing metal vinyl and strutting her stuff to the sounds of Iron Maiden, Ozzy and Dio.
Eddie Trunk introduced the band in fine fashion and Anthrax took to the stage and the place erupted into a sea of fists and mosh pits. Joey Belladonna is back in the lineup as the lead singer and the band sounds awesome. The last time I saw the band was many moons ago at Roseland with John Bush on vocals. It was a great show with White Zombie opening up, but fast forward to the present with Joey back on the mic…you can’t beat that. The rest of the lineup consists of the usual suspects-Rob Caggiano (guitar), Frank Bello (bass), Scott Ian (guitar) and Charlie Benante (drums). Their set started with “Fight ‘Em ‘Til You Can’t” off their highly anticipated album “Worship Music”. It just came out and every metal fan should buy it. Do yourself a favor! The band went right into “Time” then the crushing classic slab of metal, “Caught In A Mosh”. The mosh pit in the back was intense with pretty much older dudes running around throwing fists, elbows and head butts. I counted 3 fights…2 of them got a little bloody-not bad for an Anthrax show! Kerry King came back out to toast the band on the eve of the album release and Phil Anselmo showed up during the song “Indians” for a little fun at the end of the song with Bello’s bass and Belladonna doing a little metal worshipping. The band closed out their 10 song set with a crowd favorite, “I Am The Law” and during the encore, ended off the night with another track off “Worship Music” titled “Earth On Hell”.
SET LIST
Fight ‘Em ‘Til You Can’t
Time
Caught In A Mosh
Antisocial
The Devil You Know
Indians
Madhouse
Metal Thrashing Mad
Only
I Am The Law
Earth on Hell (Encore)
Tags: anthrax, big 4, heavy metal, megadeth, new album, pantera, slayer, thrash, worship music
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