June 2010
3 posts
History Repeats Itself AKA I Am A Celtic Pt. 2
The 2009-2010 Boston Celtics aren’t the same obviously dominant team that their 2007-2008 incarnation was. For one, the key players (Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce) were all two years younger and supremely motivated to get the monkey off their collective back and add banner 17 to the Garden rafters.
That team dominated the NBA from wire to wire and finished with a 66-16...
May 2010
6 posts
Dispelling Old Myths AKA I Am A Celtic Pt. 1
I was born and raised in Boston during a very volatile time in it’s history. Back when I was a kid the city was still experiencing fallout from the numerous uprisings in the 60’s and the era of forced busing in an effort to desegregate the schools beginning in 1974.
The end results were mass school closings, White flight from the Boston Public School system and even more...
Yo Dito! You Rock Or Disco? © Laurie, Diane &...
One of the reasons I loved radio as a child growing up was even though the stations I listened to had set formats and were classified as “Black” or “urban” they still played whatever the hell they felt like.
I can remember a great number of artists that one wouldn’t consider exactly urban music getting considerable burn on the radio in the late 70’s up into...
Once The Face Got Revealed The Game Got Real ©...
This past Saturday night I attended the Boston Hip Hop Unity Fest, an event I’ve been looking forward since it was first announced. It was organized by none other than Boston Hip Hop legend Ed O.G. Since the passing of Guru, the man that left Boston for New York on a quest to finally put Boston Hip Hop on the map for good I felt this show was necessary for several reasons.
I had a hell...
Dart's Thrash: Record Diggin' In South End Boston...
In my previous entry I wrote about how both the chain/box and independent record store met with dire straits over the past decade plus. I also touched on a few of the by products of their disappearance. I also realized just how instrumental that time in my life was to the person I’d ultimately become today.
I ran across another old post inspired by my old record store days on Poisonous...
If You Wanna Buy A Sam Cooke Album, Where Would...
I’ve written about my days working in & managing record stores several times previously in Poisonous Paragraphs but I don’t think I really went in depth about I why I felt so at home working there during that time. I never fully explored the emotional aspect of my experience working in both a big box store/chain ran by a corporation vs. independent neighborhood record stores....
What Hath Transpired Since Mine Last...
I didn’t realize how long it’s been since I last posted until today. Back in the days of Poisonous Paragraphs I posted a blog every weekday & occasionally even the weekends because the truth is I cannot go a single without writing in some form or fashion. Whether it be on Twitter (which I didn’t joint until the final year I was @ Poisonous Paragraphs) or even on notes...
April 2010
2 posts
Everything Is Everything AKA The By Product Theory
Where did all the blogs come from in the first place? What possessed a gang of music listeners to write about music on the internet anyways? Those of us Hip Hop fans of the post Telecommunications Act era were also dealing with the fallout from 9/11 as well as the abrupt collapse of the so called Backpack Era (1997-2002).
The indie Hip Hop boom came to an end when the end of Rawkus...
Call Me What You Will...I'm A Fan First
I’ve been called several things in the past few years. Blogger, journalist, tastemaker, whistleblower, douchebag and asshole but the bottom line is I’m a fan of music. The music industry? Not so much. Whereas magazines are beholden to commercial interest, ad space and readership/subscription numbers I do what I want because I answer to no one but myself and nothing but my own heart...
March 2010
6 posts
The Leak*
We’re all familiar with the phenomenon of the leak and all of the components associated with it. Some of you readers already have a person or a place that you have bookmarked for the specific purpose of acquiring music that newly leaked onto the internet. Many of us are A+ students in “Leak Math”. Others of you are expert at finding said music within the hour of the leak and...
Hip Hop's Dreaded "C" Word (Classic)
I once explored the very same question years ago in a Poisonous Paragraphs post but as is bound to happen with the passage of time, things done changed. One of my main points was that it gets easier to call a classic album such with the passage of time. If the music can still hold up years later and not sound dated then it deserves the tag since classic material is supposed to be timeless.
...
What's My Motivation? AKA I Write, Therefore I Am
I often get asked what’s my motivation behind writing so much or keeping my ear to the street (or eye on the ‘net) to find new music or seek out new sounds or artists. I honestly never ask myself that question so it’s alien to hear it asked of me. The average human really begins identifying with music and developing their personal preferences 7 taste somewhere between the ages...
What The Future Holds © M.O.P
Seeing as how we’re coming out of the cold dead Winter into a promising Spring full of growth and potential so will this blog Bastard Swordsman. I have so many ideas, many that I’ve carried over from Poisonous Paragraphs & many more that I couldn’t properly executed on Bloggerhouse coming here soon. I’ll be doing my “Producers That You Need To Hear Right...
In Memory Of...
While Boston is still reeling from the news that Guru of the legendary Hip Hop group GangStarr recently suffered a heart attack & went into a coma then surgery I feel the need to share a story with my readers.
Back when I was in high school I had a friend named Eddie Jackson who single handedly made it possible for me to even get a shot @ college as I’d fucked up my entire transcript...
The Transformation Of The Heavenly Silkworm* AKA...
After a couple months of taking it relatively easy, taking meetings & having discussions with some people following the discontinuation of Poisonous Paragraphs & light posting over @ Bloggerhouse I decided that I had to get back into the blog game.
In light of discovering that Kevin Nottingham was charging indie artists for reviews & thought nothing was wrong with it, seeing blog...
