SMOKING? - NOT FOR SAXOMAN

When I was in Junior High school all of the so called "cool" kids were smoking cigarettes. Because I wanted to act and look cool as well, I started smoking cigarettes too. Yes, SAXOMAN was a smoker. Oh no! First I would sneak a few of my Dad's unfiltered Lucky Strikes (yuk!) and then I started buying Marlboro cigarettes at various cigarette machines. I really thought I was one cool kid puffing away like a grown up.

When the busing and integration started (see post of 7/6) I switched over to Kool (menthol)cigarettes so that I could be even cooler. HAHA! Actually smoking Kool's was a way of acceptance and instead of getting hit up for my lunch money I would get hit up for a Kool cigarette instead.

Now I was smart enough to only smoke for a few years before I wised up and quit this terrible habit. As a sax player I felt that smoking was detrimental to my lung capacity. I know other people that never were able to quit smoking and have smoked since they were teenagers.

I really feel sorry for these people as I am a pretty anti-smoking guy now and only look on with disgust at people that continue with such a self destructive habit. Anyway, just my two cents on smoking.

SAXOMAN GOES HOLLYWOOD - WHAT?

Yes, you read that correctly. SAXOMAN (aka Afro-Samurai) is going Hollywood! Now you're probably wondering what does this actually mean? Well it means that I am taking my unlimited supply of witty tales and life experiences and am going to write a screenplay. Yep! That's right! A screenplay that will eventually be made into a major motion picture. Yes folks, SAXOMAN is going Hollywood!

Because this blog has an astounding two followers (thanks guys!) but probably millions of readers, I've decided to share my talents with the world.

Now the real questions are, will I finish this screenplay and what will come of it once it is completed? Well I can tell you that it will be written and then major Hollywood studios will be bidding after it. After that? Well I'm envisioning an Academy Award and then a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (see photo). As you can tell I have modest goals. Stay tuned!

THE NEWEST LAKER - RON ARTEST

I thought I would welcome the newest Laker to Los Angeles. So with that being said, Ron Artest - SAXOMAN welcomes you to L.A. Although I was sorry to see Trevor Ariza go, I understand the NBA is a business and the players chase dollar signs and not Championship rings. Now when you can replace Ariza with a quality player like Ron Artest then why not? Now I know Ron has exhibited some nutty behavior at times such as punching out fans in Detroit (see YouTube) and getting kicked out of several games for flagrant fouls (recent Lakers vs Houston playoffs) but I think Ron also brings some much needed toughness to the Lakers. Ron will also spew more nonsensical quotes then you can imagine and that haven't been heard here since Shaq left. Here's a short video from the recent playoffs with Artest blowing by Ariza and then dunking over Gasol and Odom left handed. Oh my!

MICHAEL JACKSON ON THE RADIO

Now I don't know about you but I am getting a little tired of the same Michael Jackson songs currently being played on the radio. Now don't get me wrong, I love Michael's music and all but what is irritating to me is that the radio stations are typically playing the same songs from Off The Wall, Thriller or Bad. Yesterday when I was listening to radio station KJLH (102.3) in the Los Angeles area and which happens to be owned by Stevie Wonder, I heard a lot of great old Jackson 5 songs and early Michael recordings that I hadn't heard in years. So if you want to hear something different than the same old songs, check out KJLH - 102.3 on your FM dial.

JAZZ ARTIST OF THE WEEK - HORACE SILVER

This past weekend I picked up a Horace Silver cd (The Jody Grind) and it got me to thinking of what other Horace cd's I have in my collection. A quick check shows that I "only" have 10 cd's by Horace Silver. Anytime I come across something by Horace that I don't have I usually end up picking it up. Every Horace cd I have bought has been a swingin' recording and typically features an all-star lineup. Because of this, pianist Horace Silver is my pick for Jazz Artist Of The Week. For those of you squares that are not hip to Horace Silver then all I can say is go check him out and see what you've been missing!
Here is a video of Horace performing one of his biggest hits - A Song For My Father. This is a live and slightly edited version but definitely worth checking out!

BUSING AND INTEGRATION

Way back in 1970, Pasadena, CA held the distinction of being the first non-Southern city ordered by the federal courts to desegregate its public school system. Basically this meant that all of the lily white schools would be integrated by implementing forced busing and would bus in black students from other neighborhoods. Now I didn't realize it at the time (because I was just a kid) but I guess this was a hotly debated topic. I always wondered why one of my longtime friends and his family suddenly upped and moved away to Newberry Park. I think I know why now.

Me? I have many, many experiences about this whole busing situation that I will be blogging about. Because I was a pretty cool kid (at least I thought I was) most of my experiences were pretty good although there were the occasional bad ones as well. All I can say is that if this busing would not have taken place I would be probably be one square peg and then I wouldn't be here writing this blog and trying to hip you, the unhip!

What this experience brought me was an exposure to various cultures and races but most of all it hipped me to all of the great music that I had been missing out on. Music like The Temptations, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Moments, The Jackson 5, The Temprees, The Whatnauts, and many, many more. I probably would still be listening to Iron Butterfly or Rare Earth! Nooooooooo! So all I can say is God bless this experience because I am all the hipper for it.

CYCLE BOOTS

OK now back in Junior High some of the older thugs on campus used to wear motorcycle boots or what we commonly referred to as cycle (pronounced as sickle) boots. Now none of these people actually had motorcycles but they just thought that the wearing of these cycle boots was cool. Several of my friends who were in the same grade as me started wearing these so that they could also look cool, tough, or whatever. What was funny was that when we would go to a party the older thugs would see my friends wearing these boots and tell them to "take those boots off! You can't wear those!" My friends would then be walking around the party in their bare feet as they either had to take off the boots or get beaten up. HAHA! The only friend that got a free pass and was allowed to wear these boots was Eddie Van Halen. He could wear these boots because he was giving guitar lessons to one of the members of the Los Compradres motorcycle gang.

Anyway, when my friends would get humiliated and have to take off their shoes I would just shake my head and say "Man, I don't know why you wear those stupid things".

DVD PICK OF THE WEEK - SUPERBAD

I know that I normally give you an Asian cinema release as my pick of the week however this week I've decided to switch things up a bit and make the comedy Superbad my dvd pick of the week. This is one hilarious movie (to me) and I think it's mainly because it reminds me of when I was in high school and the things we did to score booze as well as adventures to and from parties. This movie covers all of that! A very funny movie that you need to check out! The attached video clip from the movie shows the obtaining of the fake i.d. to score the liquor.

BASKETBALL JONES

Now I don't know about the rest of you NBA fans but I can say that I am really having a basketball jones with no hoops on tv. I mean I'm as happy as can be that my beloved Lakers won the World Championship however I still miss the excitement of sitting on my butt every night and watching basketball. Oh well, I guess I can watch the Dodgers or some more Asian cinema. Anyway, here's a classic old school song (and video) from Cheech and Chong titled Basketball Jones based on the song Love Jones by Brighter Side of Darkness (Huh? What? How do I know this stuff? HAHA! Get hip!) Enjoy!

iPOD HORRORS - NOOOOOOO........

Well the photo of Homer describes exactly how I felt earlier today when I was trying to update my iPod with some recent cd purchases. Basically what happened was that everything and I mean everything was erased from my iPod! WHAT? I kid you not. I was close to a heart attack as well as tears. I have over 90 gigs of music in my iTunes library and only have an 80 gig iPod so I have to manually manage what I can store on my iPod. I have been patiently waiting, and waiting for Apple to release a new and hopefully bigger iPod but so far no new Mega 250 gig iPod.

Anyway, I'm not sure what exactly I did to erase everything but I was eventually able to recreate some playlists and have now put my entire jazz and reggae collections into these playlists (about 54 gigs). My collection of R and B, Latin, World, Hip-Hop and Easy Listening will have to wait to be downloaded. Jeez......that sure was scary though. How could I go cd shopping without my iPod? I can't remember everything that I have. You may wonder why does a person need so much music? My theory is that if I am ever stranded on a desert island (like Tom Hanks in Castaway) I would have 64 days of music to listen to without repeating any songs. Now granted my battery would only last a day (or less) but that's besides the point. Hmmm......why doesn't Apple come out with a solar attachment so that I could charge my battery by the sun and not have to worry about battery life on a desert island.

Anyway, all is well and no heart attack for me.