Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975.

incroyable.

mad respect to Badu, Kweli and ?estlove.
...and goshdangitt EVERY time Erykah speaks she straight drips ill verses of dopeness.
wow.

i like teaching in West Oakland where all the vintage footage is from;
straight outta Sweden.
oh, that and the brooklyn bookstore owner interview is claaaaaaasic.

but i can't even forget how Marcus Books folk have been holding it DOWN in the bay for years.

again. wow.

check it.

-bwlp


p.s. Netflix cookin' SPP's y'all!

Mindful Elan of Holiness and Respect.

"..but why the Air Jordan Retro 11 'Concord'?!"

i know, i know. i'll get to that in a minute...

...my waking thoughts on Christmas' eve was a shower of mental snapshots:
"Don't write 'xmas' Mr. D, 'cause that's crossing out the 'Christ' in Christmas!"
-a few of my 5th graders.

okie doke.


"..this economy got things bad! What the hell happened to Richmond, bruh?"
(I had just relayed that I saw my buddy's apartment he lived in during high school,[he's since lived in New York the past 20 years] in the newspaper, a shot of it burned-out, aligned with a story about squatters and foreclosures)
"Damn, man, I tell people all the time out here I'm from Richmond, and they always say 'What, Richmond Virginia?'

"...and I'm like, naw' Richmond CALIFORNIA! It ain't no joke. You better ASK somebody!"
-high school pal relocated to Brooklyn.

yes. at least to me, these hard times look slightly 'harder' in the Rich.


my daily spiritual routine involves 7 elements of mindfulness interconnected to:
vision. wisdom. purity. strength. peace. love. and victory.
there are many other fine ideas to attach to ones' ongoing awareness about in the world, i suppose...

but reflecting, as my closest loved ones are well beyond a 50 mile radius from me today, it is easiest to go about the business of each activity with elan, holiness and respect.

some would argue the Nike AJ Retro 11' Concord embodies that.
to others it's just another iconic bastion of what's wrong with consumption; what, with the lines, rushes to collect, cop, admire, stunt...what have you.

to me, this shoe, as enigma, is yet another focal point or flash point of regional urban experience; highlighting the disparate variance of human conditions.

remember Cazals?
remember Krylon?
remember the 'tennis bracelet'?
remember the 'perfect' one?
remember (that thing, person or ingredient of your own experience that would take you to that next level of 'fresh'?)

we at bwlp send you best wishes during amazingly turbulent times.
we're honored to be alive now.
we're grateful for our friendships and loves through music.
we're thankful for awareness and the capacity to considering opposing views.
we love that the urge to assist someone in need, need not go further than your neighbor.

we love the mindful elan of holiness and respect that comes from wholly tending to your art of living.

on the eve of Drum. Bass. (code name for the actual title....)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS.

p.s. honorable mentions to Shogun Audio.

Dig In. BWLP December 2011 Podcast.

Finally.
Come and Get Some.











Set List:

one 4 teen bahamadia jdilla remix,
love and space by shanti om,
over by naibu & key,
more than i can take by lensman,
work it out by q-tip,
two can play the game with morris chestnut and anthony anderson
jay z’s threat fel sweetenberg remix,
track no.4 by jdilla,
timewavezero by intermetric,
the upper room by afrikan sciences,
sabre remix of the touch by mortem,
raise your weapon by deadmaus,
ghetto heaven part 2 by dilladog,
the captian obvious jazzy remix of one love by nas,
the differences by sango,
mount kimbie remix of a town called absolete by andreya triana,
yemaya by xaphrykan,
her favorite color by oh4real?!,
soul clap remix of garden by teed,
time by chase and status featuring delilah.

fin.

(nice job, frank.)

THIS is your holiday part'tay soundtrack.

drinks on d'oiseaux recordings.

Happy Holidays.

-bwlp

Club World Cup Champs. Barca.

Plain & Simple...but never simple and plain.
Barca Rules.

Bear Witness to the Golden Age of Greatness.

if you get a chance, watch this team....before it all changes.
watching them play is beauty in action.

mad gorgeous football.

W.I.M. B?

What's in my bag?

magazines, of course.
between beats, cables, mics and jacks...
a fellah' needs to go way elsewhere with words and images.
especially since most of our inspiration comes from imagined soundtracks for rooms in
vintage fashion magazines.
(so imagine the photo clippings for 'drum. bass.' come Christmas...)

soon we'll be on a train to see loved ones in the central valley,but
not before so much audio construction goes down- and two gift purchases to go.
and then there's those niggling little birthday folks who happen to be born within days
of winter's holiday.

Hanukkah and Kwanzaa traditions, withstanding.

but to get right and direct with this posting, nothing satisfies like a great magazine
for the literate fashionistos y 'istas in your life.

get on over to your most excellently outfitted mag' retailer and scoop up these 3
top publications for stockings and respective holiday counterparts:

Fantastic Man
the gentlewoman
DAPPER DAN


don't forget the note:
Happy Holidays,
respectfully yours...


bwlp.

now, back to the mix.

Michael Ellis. Naturalist. Hands-On Healed.

This Makes Sense.



"Healing
Michael Ellis says sometimes only a mystery explains the unexplainable.

By Michael Ellis

About two years ago I began to suffer the greatest series of cluster headaches I have ever had. These are related to, but not exactly like, migraines and are also called suicide headaches. They can be extremely debilitating and people have been known to kill themselves from them. Fortunately I do not suffer to that extent -- but they are bad.

While I was leading trips in the Mojave, I went to see an eccentric artist friend of mine who lives on the edge of Death Valley. I mentioned my headaches to her. She said, "I am a hands-on healer and I can help you."

"Well I don't have time right now I have to go meet my other group."

"It only takes a moment."

Ok, I had nothing to lose. She uncrossed my legs, had me sit erect, closed my eyes and as I sat still on a worn out folding chair in the hot desert heat. She put her hands on my head, said some things I could not understand, brushed rapidly downward several times and that was it. Fifteen seconds, max.

Now I am a scientist-type, a skeptic. If it cannot be measured and data gathered under controlled circumstances then I don't usually believe it. The fact is, however, I have not had a headache in nearly two years. Now they are called cluster headaches for a reason so it could have just been a coincidence. Last April when I returned to the desert I stopped by for another hands-on healing from LeAnne, just in case it wasn't.

Right now we are immersed in this holiday season, and spirit abounds. At age 60 I am finally beginning to understand, or at least feel, that there are many things in our world that cannot be quantified or explained but do exist. What hubris we humans have to think that if our feeble minds cannot grasp it, then it must not exist or be real. There are things that are simply mysteries right now.

My friend LeAnne touched me and I was healed. How, I do not know. Maybe someday we will be able to measure the energy fields that emanate from some people that can actually rearrange neuronal pathways at a close distance but for now I must accept that LeAnne is simply a hands-on healer with a gift to give.

This is Michael Ellis, with a Christmas Perspective."

Catch the audio at KQED here.

Sorry Everything's Late. One More Thing:

everything's late, but only because we're upping some ante.
the game has changed and we've gotta go all 'secret-weapon' on a few things.
hold tight.
it's coming...

we promise.

Dave Ghetto Is The MF TRUTH.

Never faked the funk.
Take notes.

TINTIN. Finally.

I seem to remember us saying something about this last summer or so...
but the jig is up and at least one resident 7 year-old will be on the edge of his seat.

in today's technological times, it seems perfect to capture the spirit of a comic so ahead of it's time.

Te-Nehisi Breaks It Down. Get Your Civil War History On.

That's right y'all. The Civil War is YOUR history, too.
Senior editor at the Atlantic Monthly, Te-Nehisi Coates breaks it down:

"In our present time, to express the view of the enslaved--to say that the Civil War was a significant battle in the long war against bondage and for government by the people--is to compromise the comfortable narrative. It is to remind us that some of our own forefathers once explicitly rejected the republic to which they'd pledged themselves, and dreamed up another country, with slavery not merely as a bug, but as its very premise. It is to point out that at this late hour, the totems of the empire of slavery--chief among them, its flag--still enjoy an honored place in the homes, and public spaces, of self-professed patriots and vulgar lovers of "freedom." It is to understand what it means to live in a country that will never apologize for slavery, but will not stop apologizing for the Civil War.

In August, I returned to Gettys­­burg. My visits to battlefields are always unsettling. Repeatedly, I have dragged my family along, and upon arrival I generally wish that I hadn't. Nowhere, as a black person, do I feel myself more of a problem than at these places, premised, to varying degrees, on talking around me. But of all the Civil War battlefields I've visited, Gettys­burg now seems the most honest and forward-­looking. The film in the visitor center begins with slavery, putting it at the center of the conflict. And in recent years, the National Park Service has made an effort to recognize an understated historical element of the town--its community of free blacks."

Read more here.

Where Sorbet Rules. Scream.

i went into a little place that served great coffee one morning.
it was in the Temescal district of the town and they served vegan donuts.
o.k. i know a bit more on the back-story on those, but needless to say: they're delicious.
but anyways, i met a crazy bloke who went on and on about starting a sorbet shoppe.
about how someone he knew was a genius sorbet alchemist.

well, he wasn't kidding.
hence, SCREAM now exists.

if you know anything about the crew here, you know that we rock decadence to the fullest.
in that vein, SCREAM sorbet could serve as some patron saint of heavenly, cool tidings.

word.

after a fill 'er up kind of dinner at Zachary's on college ave....
Chicago style stuffed pizza and our share of Fat Tire
(people always wanna order a pitcher of, but Z's frowns on and denies...)

it was time for something light, easy, and well...decadent.
there was no second guessing a trip to SCREAM.

and the perfect selection lay there smack dab in the middle of the shop seeming to giggle, "...you GOT your girl, right here, daddy-o!"

chilled and dressed to kill in gold crinkle and adhesive white print...

Pistachio Cardamom Orange Cookie Sorbet Sandwich.

'Halle-berry-freaking-lujah.'

if you want to sweep someone off their feet through a desert unsuspecting, act like you don't know where you're going one night sometime around Telegraph and 51st and just amble in: "Oh I don't know, I'll just go for the Pistachio, Carda,... Carda..oh just give me THAT one."

Share it.
And if there hasn't been a smooch before this- there's definitely one in the cards after this.

TTFN.

-b

The Marbled Godwit. Sara Varon.

...news from the Marbled Godwit.

we have to admit we've been captivated at Chrissy Fields watching these stately creatures wade ankle to belly high poking for snacks....

we have to admit it was one of our son's birthday over the weekend.

we have to admit work on many report cards for children are still in process.

we have to admit this weekend saw the kind of climate that allowed children to fake-ice skate on plastic-puzzle floored rinks under afternoon sun...be able to see the moon, Mount Diablo, Alcatraz, the Farallon Islands, Napa, and San Jose, all in one 360 degree spin on the Bay Bridge.

...and it's December 5th, 2011, northern Califas.

call it a beautiful life moment in time.
a snapshot of lots going on and appreciation in full effect.

it's monday. game on.


so until the podcast is up, read-up our latest cold-crush:
Sara Varon's, Bake Sale.


T h i s B o o k I s
L o v e l y .


here's something nice about Sara here.
and can you believe she's also a recreational boxer?!
(...if her jabs are on point as her humorous nuance- she a BEAST in the ring, yo..)

-we've been down since Chicken and Cat. (hill- ar ee usss!!!)

B. Girl.

Jules Urich.

If you have lived the b-boy, b-girl experience...
then you know there's something authentic with this.

nice.

it was kinda cool how Project Blowed did a little bit...

from the West, we always trip off how the breakin' flavor gets a little spread on the East/West contrast jimmie jammie.

ioow'no.
all i can say is there's something real about B-Girl.

can't fake moves, yo.
ill cameos.

Encuentro. Holy Moly.

grown folk swils-aggah.’

no foolin.

have you ever been in love? perhaps you’re in love now- all fresh up in it...
or maybe you vaguely remember what it was like; as a french kiss in the Alps...
(hmmm. or somewhere quite else...)

BOCA!! BOCA!! BOCA!!

but what i’m getting at is: if you've ever known love
and wish to experience it in a completely new and different way,

head on over to Encuentro.
202 2nd street. oakland, ca 94607.

so, i was looking to romance myself after feeling a little inspired on the guitar

having hashed out a few lost chords; finishing touches on the holiday drum & bass EP
(craziness, totally.)

when i said, “freak-it. i’m bouncing over there. cash budget and all.”

oh baby. the bruchetta. black sea salt, pepper jam, avocado, persimmon, chevre,
olive (oil) supreme....
a superb red wine,

a teeny bottomless glass of water...

heaven.

and the crowd looks good.
like you’d expect of angels.
tended to by lordy lordy sidekicks with disarming sweetness.

just go.

bring someone you’ve been dying to talk to for awhile.
or just show up with the latest GQ like I did and giggle to yourself on snarky lines interspersed amongst bird-eyed fashion-istos.

topping off a hard-won week of teaching and witnessing my 5th graders knock learning targets out the box.

way out.

me smiling at Netflix & a demitasse of ice cream.

(oh and about that podcast thing: catch it this Sunday evening 12/4/11....sorry we’re running late!)