one of my favorites of all time

this the mood.

photo by Todd Westphal

I didn’t know Eyedea.  I never got into his music.  I’m sure he would say the same about me. However, since the announcement of his death last week it’s been on my mind.  I didn’t want to distastefully attach myself to his passing and act like we knew each other because we both come from the same genre of music, although in 2010 we’ve moved far beyond the point where we started from for the better.

My time with Eyedea was short and impactful, much like his time here on earth.  And unlike a lot of people throwing names around I actually kicked it with him for a night on tour 2 years ago in Chapel Hill/Carrboro, North Carolina.  I was on tour with Cage and he was on tour with Atmosphere and somehow the Hip Hop Gods decided there would be two Indie rap shows within a mile from eachother in a place that is lucky to get 1 decent Hip Hop show every 6 months.  Cage and I played the smaller venue, I forgot what it’s called but I remember it was sweltering and they were down the road at Cat’s Cradle which I had played a few years before with EL.  Before their show both Slug and Eyedea came to our show to hang and say whatup.  Was good seeing them of course and I was sitting at the bar having a drink after I just kicked a bunch of fans asses at the X-Men arcade game they had.  Eyedea came up and sat around the corner of the bar so almost across from me.  He got a drink and we started talking.  It was the first and last time we met but we both knew it was overdue as it is many times when you meet a peer that you’ve known about for quite a while.  Cut from the same cloth, we had a mutual respect although we were from different worlds.  We were talking about what we were up to.  I had just started thinking about Gas Galaxy and at the time I believe he was mixing some of his most recent music with Abilities.  We were both visibly run down from the road but we got into it about mixing and he was generally talking about taking the best stems from his already mixed sessions and adding to the songs and making them better even though they had been mixed.  It was his process. He didn’t think having things mixed made them final and he told me I should try it.  Prior to our convo I never really did that or thought about it, however, with Gas Galaxy it’s been the same process.  I can’t say that our convo is the reason for it and I doubt it is but interestingly enough it came to fruition that way.

Later on that drunken evening we went to our hotel which was in the middle of the woods.  I remember Sean jumping out of a the van while Timmy was still driving and running around with his shirt off like a crazy person on the road before we even got to the hotel.  When we did, the usual partying commenced with the door wide open for some reason.  At some point Eyedea walks in mine and Cage’s room by himself and sits at the table with me where I was sippin’ on something and asked we’d mind if he hung out.  Coincidentally he was staying there too.  Chauncey, Cage and I welcomed him in, I poured him a glass and we got pretty shitfaced together.  It was a memorable night to say the least. I love that night.  I would re-live that night*

Rest In Peace Michael “Eyedea” Larsen

(November 9, 1981 – October 16, 2010)

Respect.

What can I say? This movie was not as good I thought it was going to be. If you like when new movies lend themselves to the late 80′s/90′s in terms of cinematography then you might like it more. I personally don’t care either way but I thought Wall Street had more weird/cheezy Batman and Full House tv show esq scenes and transitions than it had great ones. Thanks Ollie. At least you can’t knock Stone’s work ethic; he directs what seems like two movies a year now. The characters were interesting of course considering the great cast. The young blood definitely held their own, but for all intents and purposes Michael Douglas and Josh Brolin are really the ones who make it worth it. The love scenes were sweet, mostly lame, but mannnn Carrie Mulligan is so precious…and of course you know our boy Boof does it again! Burt Fox (not the Don’t Cry Records DJ), I mean Charlie Sheen also with a small but forgettable cameo. Overall it had some moments but not enough of them. Top of the box office though (19 million in the first weekend). Guess money never really does sleep…does it? except when it’s yours and in a coma. 2/5

…

My Dad and main man, Bahram M. Zadeh AKA B.Z., in the early 70′s. A little younger than me now in this pic. resemblance much? illest foo man chu stache and killer style.

THE BEST*

If you follow me on the Tweeter you may have caught wind that I recently had surgery to get my timebomb of an appendix the fuck out of me. But if not….last Tuesday evening, what started out as a stomach ache and a self diagnosis of food poisoning actually turned into one of the most painful experiences for me ever. After violently puking and not being able to lay down I was rushed to the hospital feeling as though someone repeatedly took a knife to my stomach. As hours wen’t by and IV’s pumped meds through the veins, the catscan result came back as acute appendicitis. I was admitted to the OR and subsequently underwent a Laproscopic Appendectomy, which basically is a standard procedure to take out your appendix. Fortunately they let me out the next day as they said I bounced back quicker than most. Pilled up and sore as fuck I came home and have been on the road to recovery ever since. Feeling a little closer to being able working on tunes, I’ll be back to working on Gas Galaxy any day now. Thanks again to everyone who sent their well wishes. Lucky for me my discharge and The World Cup seemed to have happened almost simultaneously so as I’m making progress I’m happily watching. Since I haven’t used the “send your music” embed on Fairtilizer, I put it here so send your music via the widget below. You can also send links, pictures, or whatever you deem entertaining to this email yakballzmusic@gmail.com while I’m hemmed up.

I feel like all the rumors in the past have fucked with me but it seems to be real this time that Guru of Gang Starr has passed. A sad day for Hip Hop. He will be immortalized through his words, wisdom, and music. R.I.P. GURU

It’s finally here, the official DOWNLOADS section of the website to house all of the FREE ish we be givin’ away over here. You can get there by clicking HERE or the link in the navigation (on yakballz.net for all you TUMBLR folk) E N J O Y

The dawn of the TUMBLR age is upon us! We’ve created a tumblr blog to work in sync with the yakballz.net mothership.

http://yakballz.tumblr.com/

As you can see it already has previous posts from .net as we have been testing it’s functionality for a week prior. I really like the follower/following and re-blog capabilities; very much in the same vein as the Tweeter. So If you have a tumblr, feel free to follow to get the follow back, and re-blog the posts you’re into.

CHYEAHH