Linden Street Brewery Lager. A Love Supreme.

I have NEVER been a lager man. I'm porter, almost always.
HOWEVER, that was before I had both the LS lager as well as the California-style unfiltered version at a skate away from the crib over at Heinold's First and Last Chance Saloon
It was a no-brainer. Stay inside on a balmy Friday afternoon to have my pint (bicycle-delivered keg snapped fresh from the tap) in a chilled glass as opposed to something plastic gathering alchemy.

No matter the nearby helicopters reminding me that OWS Oakland was snatching up national attention blocks away- protests in full-effect.

But.

I had my NYT Magazine back issues rolled and ready for reading; a hard week of teaching ;lay in the wake. It was high time to get some relaxation in.

Linden Street's current lager incarnates implore you to celebrate your unwinding with one. Have one, heck TWO Lagers. Cold.

The blissful smile upon the first sip'll arrive on your face as a courtesy.

The Ninety Nine Percent. Oakland's Overreaction?

The supporting cast at Blue Bottle Coffee on the 7AM daily get pretty deep off the cup.
An astute group that can drop science without a second thought, like:
"...the helicopter; that's the sound of an other person's civil liberties being violated."

And the next (day) thing you know...downtown Oakland was flashing and banging.

BWLP. Agosto. Dos Mile Y Once. Edition Is Dedicated To...

Yeah. You'll hear a bit about these fabulous graf femme fatales in the next issue's editorial. And to you both Reds & Meme, thanks for your generosity of stories, bbq, and drinks! This BWLP's for you and your crew!!!!

Sometimes it takes awhile for me to get my editorial on...nah' mean. After all, in 2 days I bounce to wrap the re-edits, samples and cold-cuttin' of Life Arsenal down the coast... clean up my crib, so it's the kinda place a brother wants to come back to, clear my mind for the upcoming school year, (grad and teaching...) Dang. It's about to go down and there's a celebratory feeling in the air. Like something SUPER FRESH is about to happen. Which ain't always the case...but it's feeling like that these days. Maybe cause I've been skating again...(iowneeevenknow...) Maybe it's the Chocolate Cake dessert at Oliveto. (how do you say BOMB!!!!! in Italian?!) Seriously, that restaurant done stole some heaven and is currently serving it up over there, so if you're ever in the town and want the best sweet thing this side of eternity- go get some!

Anywho. Back to the beat.

-BWLP

MSK Kicks Spring Off in the Town!

Celebrate. Visions of Dr. King from Oakland to Brooklyn

and why not cop the Year of the Blacksmith Community Mixtape to get your groove on?!

Saturday Richness in the Town

I was told by a dear friend that a state of sapped creativity is a byproduct of ill communication... or a communication blockage, altogether.

Yeah, so I'm on production blackout, personally until December- taking time off to get the script together for my dolo spoken word show,
Adjacent Queen's Kings; Word Life! No Act.

So in the meantime I get to smile around Oakland knowing that the hip hop disciplines continue to play out around me.
Bust the Mark Bode and a wheat pasting by an unknown artist (until I find out who dunnit...I'll ask across the street at the Dream Yard)

It's about sustenance, right?
Don't worry, we've got a really nice September 09' Back to School Edition of BWLP on tap for 9/3 posting.

Wish me luck on taking some stuff to a new level.

Funk, Circa December 31, 1976 Oakland, CA

don't sleep hoolahs.
ya boy, got straight chills when the curtain goes up...
Boz was no joke.

-bwlp

Doin' Much

For Cesar Chavez' took a day around the bay to see who's repping in aerosol...

vogue is up for 09, tdk stands strong at the tracks, giant and fateez killing on the legit in upper Haight SF...

and this, right here from the town, OAKLAND.

History, Posters and Vocabulary

November 5th 2008
Something great big and important has occurred.
Barack Obama has been elected as the 44th President of the United States of America.
It is historic because he is African American, in light of the turbulent history towards people who have been considered minorities in terms of their social power, this is a feat that speaks to every American and person outside of our borders.

Personhood
Barack Obame being elected by the majority of this country’s diverse citizenry says to the world that WE CAN aspire towards an ideal. We as Americans can aspire towards greatness and can accomplish what humanity deserves: decency, humility and a commitment to come together to work towards peace and personhood. That’s right, personhood: sisterhood, brotherhood, partisan-hood, racial-hood, and cultural-hood. The very act of Obama becoming our 44th president shows the world unflinchingly that we are evolving towards loftier aspirations than what we have currently achieved in this country- for our world.

How Do You Spell OBAMA?
I could explain the details of my take on the evolution. But I think I can best express how this translates from an experience with my 2nd and 3rd grade combination class at a ground zero of financial and resource poverty in a distinctive part of Oakland, California. On Tuesday, November 4th, 2008- yesterday, I gave an assignment to my students. I had a training to attend for half a day so the assignment had to be completed after I was gone. The activity required them to put their weekly vocabulary words in alphabetical order on a poster with a title and a nice border.
At the onset of the activity one of the first questions an eight-year-old asked another was, “How do you spell Obama?”

Allensworth
My substitute arrived soon after and I was out. As an aside, to my utter surprise, the arrival of my substitute presented none other than a distinguished 70’s-ish African-American gentle man of fair skin, blue eyes, straighter hair, whom was a member of the Allensworth historical organization. I immediately recognized him from from his visit to my classroom where he appeared in period costume to my class in January of this year. But at the time I was teaching in another school district alltogether! For those of you who don’t know, Allensworth is the only town to be founded, financed and governed by African Americans on August 3, 1908. Colonel Allen Allensworth, the norther California community’s founder, was previously one of Kentucky’s delegates to the Republic national convention in 1880 and 1884. (see full details at: http://www.friendsofallensworth.com/allensworth/allensworth_history.html)

Digression
I don’t mean to digress, but as a firm believer that there are no accidents, but mere unfolding of what is to be- I felt something freaky going on. Suffice to say, what and when things occur in our lives- truly shape who we are. You can either be present and take it all in- or die in ignorance.

100%
When I returned to my class, I returned to posters where the alphabetization was completely on point- albeit secondary to the messages about Barack Obama. All 20 of my students are African American with the exception of one: he is Latino.
“Go OBAMA”
“OBAMA!”
“WE LOVE YOU OBAMA!”
..are just a few of the banner inscriptions. And, there were Obama portraits that consumed more space than the alphabetized vocabulary- 100% accurate by every student.

Welcome to a Small Piece of Change.

Back in Oaktown

hey,

my father used to always say, 'get to steppin'.
i dunno' maybe 'cause he was always steppin'; around, out, about...he was a restless soul.
we used to wake up every morning between 3&4. i mean he did. but if i caught him sitting up by candle light, he there at the table with a cup of cowboy style coffee (boiled grounds), we'd be up in a flash ready to take an early morning drive.
usually we'd go to the airport and watch the airplanes take off.

forgive me, but there something about the town right now that has me reminiscing.


i'm back in the bay, and was steppin' my damned self out at the tracks in E.O.
i didn't have much time in between a training and an after hours appointment.
taking care of business.

at the tracks.
there was something bright and beautiful there, the flix are here.
i thought about these on the way home- as it sat in a series of zeros and ones in the form of something digital.
knowing i had just picked up something more soulful than the case it was in..when

a scraper went by bumping something deliciously discreet- below pop radar and ridiculously groovy. the windows were up and it wasn't loud enough to make out...
soulful brothers in a soulful case.

just a late Summer commute hour; Fruitvale in the East O.


i'll let you check 'em for yourself...
-b

p.s. in living memory of Mike Dream and Plato