1000 names, but wack ain't one.

My boy Simon who's from Venezuela 1nce told me that when you're born, in latin culture, you must take on the name of members of the family of a parent... something of the sort. So, his name is Símon Z., but in reality, his FULL NAME is Símon xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx Diamante Z. He recited his whole name once... ha.

So, sometime time late last year, I came across these cats called 1000 names. A EU duo from Sofia. Not sure how, but I eventually got some joints from them. Cool.

More recently, I had seen them come up on some comp (beatnicks 1+2), but they had one release in particular that did it for me.



Worth Making Noise About... And Noise I did make. This EP had this banger than I just loved and chopped nicely live when I played out. And more recently I went and bought the digital music files to a new 7" this have just released.



Both of the above were releases from the French Eklektic Records.

After mentioning the 7" in a convo with them, would you believe what arrived @ my door whilst in NYC??







A red 7"?? You know you have to be a collector for that.







They even threw in the last release for kicks. Say wrd.

1000 names, and wack ain't one.

I have to give a shout to Nikko and Margg for the love on this one. Been a min since I was serviced vinyl. But I do realize that some ppl still take pride. And I'm not mad @ that @ all. Say wrd.

7€20 was the EU freight and was worth every penny. So peep this: Monobinate <-- my joint!



H!

NY State Of Grind

That's it really. Some of you might be like...

Dude, where ya been??

Man, your man needed to simply decompress man. Sin duda.

Things have a touch uninspiring. On some real métro, boulot, dodo type thing. I was in this creative rut and I needed a change my surroundings. So I printed a long overdue boarding pass for JFK.

So off I was. Had not been out there in a min and as many of you might recall, I've be Californicating with every opportunity.

Man, NY is just so bananas. It makes me realize more and more why there are seemingly more tourist in NY than NY'ers: there's too much to see and, for someone's who's never been there - it's quite a site... and all of this had slipped my mind - really. ;)

I would have offered some reg updates this week, but in my proclivity to pack as puny personal wares as possible (I like to challenge myself err-time - all I needed was in a backpack for 4 days), I forgot my f*cking laptop charger. So, it was essentially useless. And, with these Robbers Wireless rates, I did't want to chance having some lengthy and data intensive updates from my non 3G iPhone. :(.

So what better way to chat about it via a photographic dissertation... ;)





Yes, you are seeing this correctly.



Post MLB All star artwork. Is nothing sacred?? ;)















Shouts to Miss Castro for hollering and inviting me to Capsule. What a f*cking nice venue. No joke. They had it in a synagogue.









I def did a ton of chilling and thinking... needed to relax and reflect a touch.



Def one of the highlights of the NY trip was finally running into the ever so polite, EU transplant and now US resident Mike Slott. Say wrd. I have run his name out here a few times already, so reg readers might recall. We got to kick it and chat. That was hella tight. Good look dude!

Another cat that I was pretty stoked on running into as well (and I do mean that when I say running into... ) was this cat: Daru Jones. Again, another producer who I have more recently chatted about as well. Essentially, I was just on my way back home @ night and ran into what looked like his twin... Then I took a few more steps only to decide then that I would wait to ask - since this would bother me all week had it been him and said nothing. I was either going to play myself or be like... WHOA. BAM. It was him. My man & I chatted for a min about some of his joints and we swapped contacts. Say wrd. It was a very good day.

And who might this be??



Another hint...



Ok. After chatting a ton, I finally got to run into the bday girl herself, Kissey Asplund. Again, a name that I have run thru The Newest Era™ a few times previously.





And again, being that it was her bday, she got busy on the mic @ Studio B in BKLYN.







Certainly, a big shout to my man OP! who held down a tight set. Ha... Kissey was right. ;) Good look. Lets get up when you get down here dude. Say wrd.

So.... as I sat there by the bar, this dude is like:

"Were you in MIA for WMC??

Hell yea dude. What's good? He then proceeds to introduce himself.

SIMBAD

WTF?? Pffffff....

So the French came ripping out. I was just chatting this dude's name last week. Missed him in Toronto as I was @ a bday party in Ajax. All love. That was so crazy.

All in all, that was a great night, with many more shouts to be handed... Like DJ Scribe . I've been on homeboy's mailing list for as long as I can recall. Wow.



I've said it in the past, and I'll say it again: Good ppl meet.



So glad I took that little bit of time off man. That trip put me back on my NY State Of Grind for real. There really are some great ppl around, and I got meet a gang on this one little stretch away from home. The music I heard this week was just blazing too... man. Love this sh*t.

Shouts to the whole gang: Dr Byrne, Slott, LRG crew in NY, Kissey, Fiona Bloom of Bloom Effect, Sribe, OP!, Daru, Waajeed (sorry I was soooo late), SIMBAD (that was wild), Night Nurse & Chandler (WTF??) - that was really rndm, Neil, AILEEN, Phillionaire (good seeing you dude - shout Brooke for me man), Adam @ Evisu (congrats) and my man ANT over @ New Era. I'm sure I forgot a few. Catch you on the rebound if I did. ;)





So now, time to engage the cluth and get this poppin.

Chat soon.

H!

Twist And Go

This is not even a joke.

More and more cats are riding. I mean, there are 5 of us @ work. Friend of mine The Gardner came to surprise me @ my house with her brand new scooter and I just had a long chat with CB who revealed to me that she's got her M2 permit. Sick.

It's fun to see more ppl riding. Living in QB and having all/most of my dealings in the downtown core, it made absolute sense for me. Then, the oil speculators showed up to the party and welcomed all to the $100 fill up. ;). Now that's all ppl ask me: how much to fill up??

I'm just about to round the 8000 kms mark on my Derbi Bullet. It's been fun. But in a quick, random and periodic search, I found hella deals online. There's been no better time to get on 2 wheels. A Buell Blast for under $4k?? Say wrd.

Speaking of scooters...

FUCK YOU.

That's for the person who stole my prized piece of head gear: my full face helmet. For 2 yrs, no one bothered with it. Now, I come out around 5am to find that's it's been jacked. Oh well. I'll wait till the end of the season to grab one. I have 2 extras for now. I'll also take a good look in EU in oct for one. They have some sick ones out there... so many riders. HA.

As well, a quick shout out to the TMSC who had the Monster Scooter Rally 08 just about 1 week ago. We get together 1nce a year and go a monster ride. Click for bigger shot.



I'll be there next year gents... barring another bday out of town. ;). Shouts to Gord for a stunning photo.

So my new rider friend of mine asked whether I'd double her if she came thru. Unless you have this is mind, I'm good. ;)



LOL.

Anyhow, so random.

Cheers. Great week coming up.

;)

H!

Love!

Lord Quas... you pimp. Love LQ.



Would also love a girl who came to me like this too...



I mean, maybe I just caught this image on one of my highs (I slept aiiight, but I'm feeling good and there's a full calendar this weekend), but this is sick. As such, could I hang with a girl who might want to listen to some Lord Quas all night?? You f*cking bet I could. Haha.
Shouts to who I will call Quasima for this shot.

This is hella fresh.

This ain't no Hydrant Game! Say wrd. QUAS!



PS Quas... we need that new sh*t.

H!

Proxima Vez

As the news of the RBMA winners trickles slowly through the very world wide web, I had a quick chat with one of the most celebrated grads and a friend of mine Hudson Mohawke. He asks:

"Have you see the pics from Sonar?"

NO.

So, he then proceeds to send me this shot...



All I can say is: proxima vez gents. Next year indeed.

And speaking for RBMA, shouts to Fatima, Dorian Concept, Pursuit Groove, Onra and Ta-Ku....

It's gonna be bananas.

H!

Sesenta! The RBMA 08 starts today.

CONGRATS.

That's it. After having to spend who knows how much time getting this extensive application complete and out the door, el famoso sesenta have been selected aka The Barcelona Sixty. From just under 3000 applications, the RBMA crew were able to trim it down to 60 who they felt were best deserving of the most exalted slot.

You will be in good company in BCN. Your inclusion into this group of RBMA participants speaks (or plays) volumes.

Congrats again. I know of a few that made it so far. Looking to catch the rest soon, and hopefully, I'll catch a few of you out there...

H!

Bad Man! Simbad, July 18th @ SPRMRKT

Man, not oft do we have the pleasure of having cats from EU come thru town, but you know how Toronto stays: spoiled. This month has been pretty crazy and the momentum maintains this week.
Friday, we play host to Simbad - UK based French born producer as part of the 1yr anniversary for Vintage. But one thing stays true: BANGERS.

Signed to RawFusion, a label that I like to keep an eye on, Simbad will bring that exquisite electronic dance floor tempo. LADIES! ;).



So having said that much, Toronto's due to be blazing all this week, leading to a blazing weekend and Simbad will signal the start of a good weekend. So come out. Bring a friend, tell another. Shouts to my man Paredes! Should be fun.

Vintage 1 yr anniversary ft. Simbad (RawFusion, UK)
Friday july 18th w/ residents Patrick Paredes, Basic Soul Unit & Jason Ulrich
Supermarket - 268 Augusta
Facebook Event here.

And speaking of Momentum, a recent banger from Simbad. Hold it.



See you there.

H!

HAPPY BDAY DAD!

What a day. What a week in fact. I was seemingly away from the AIM café as my folks were in town to see the Don, 1st born, I & I, and I then headed back home to celebrate my Dad's bday. What a blast!



1st, my parents came thru town. Ever since my dad discovered GPS devices, he's been on this driving tear. He's one who never traveled any distance that he didn't know well. Then, suddenly, he drove to NYC! So they came through to kick it for a week. That was fun. Laughed, ate and watched Poupées Russes and La Doublure.



My mom loves trinkets, so she spent hrs pon hrs in Chinatown. She loved it. So cute!

So after a fun filled week, headed to the home town to have a great day with the whole fam: yow x yul connected for my dad's bday.





One thing my dad loves doing is running his mouth and laughing. There was much of both. You see, my dad's a kind of raconteur. Has a story for every situation. So they ran. Hard! My dad's seen alot though. Going from being a student in Haïti, to a young UN teacher in Zaïre, to a married father of 3 in Canada. Nothing but love and admiration. All day.

Happy Bday Papi! Many more to come. ;) Of course, more shots here.

BESO!



Bday shouts to TR Gunna, More Mec, CaitCulli (see you tomorrow) and Les Bleus!

H!

Big Kids

Man...

This is what I'm talking about. The summer that we've all been missing is soooo here, finally! It was blazing hot yesterday and although the sun was splendid, one could only take refuge in the in deep in the night... though it was still gorgeous out well into the wee hours. So after a great eve @ Chelsea Room with Age, Rebecca et al (Bullion does rawk, no??) - Age suggested that we hit the pool.

Hmmmm... 3h47 am?? Cool. Let's go.

So off we were to reminisce and re-enact a great scene from Larry Clark's cult classic KIDS (if you haven't seen this.... ARGH!)



Here we were hopping the fence, stripping down to bare essentials and that's all she wrote. Swimming freely with not a worry @ all (I had to get up early as did a few of us) except that blasted chlorine! ARGH. Hey... was that Rosario Dawson over there??
So this is a shout to all who were there man... Age, Rebecca, Lil E aka edub aka 1/2 somersault and the rest who bashed it with us from Chelsea to the pool...

We're all just big kids in the end. Sin Duda. Someone mentioned skinny dips for the next run... sh*t... Might be down. ;)



















So this one's for my man Harold Hunter (RIP). The man who convinced Larry Clark to hire Rosario Dawson. The cat who I had the pleasure of having drinks with back in LV... This one's for you. We did it nice last night... as you did as well.

For those who recall HH's cameo in this video for this sick track... 1 - 9 - 9 - 9 ... Still getting mine in the ONE!



H!