Stat and Melo
February 25, 2011
So the Knicks made it happen and got Carmelo Anthony. I can’t front, watching him be announced in MSG for his first game Wednesday night was one of the most exciting sports moments I’ve ever witnessed as a Knicks fan. I was sad to see my dogs get traded away, particularly Raymond Felton who I instantly became a huge fan of when he came to New York this past summer. And my wife was a little tore up about Gallo getting dealt away. But once the game started, the reality of Melo being here washed away any signs of lingering sadness. And Chauncey Billups is a strong pickup in the deal too! New York basketball was back when Amar’e got here, but now it’s REALLY back! And it only took about 24 hours for the “Black and Yellow” remix we were all waiting for to hit the internet, “Stat and Melo”. Props to the kid Judge Hyp who made this, he did a good job. Amar’e even gave it his co-sign in a tweet!
“Miami Heat? That’s nothin’…” Well, we’ll see on Sunday if Stat and Melo can shut down Wade and Lebron. Should be a super fun game to watch. For now, let’s savor the highlights from Carmelo Anthony’s first game as a Knick (watch below), and hope they can handle Cleveland tonight…
As always, for all Knicks related news and opinions, stay tuned to my dude Tommy Dee and The Knicks Blog. GO NY GO NY GO!!!
*UPDATE*
Tough loss to the Cavs on Friday night, but the Knicks beat the Heat!
Return To Stubb’s
February 2, 2011
Matisyahu’s new CD/DVD, Live at Stubb’s II, is in stores now. I’m so proud of my boy. He’s still doing his thing, touring like crazy and making great music. I’m excited to check this out, it looks like a really nice release for him. He’s such a great performer, so it’s only right that he put out a sequel to his first live album.
And for those of you who have never seen him in concert, well then the DVD is definitely a must have. Watch the trailer above (and a clip of “Jerusalem” HERE). And below, let’s bring it back to his first trip to Stubb’s in Austin, Texas, with his classic live performance of “King Without A Crown”…
Congrats to Matis on all the success. Keep going my dude! Oh yeah, Get Live at Stubb’s II HERE. Peace…
Matisyahu Miracles
December 1, 2010
Fun times last night at the Music Hall of Williamsburg for Matisyahu’s 5th annual Festival of Light. Matis was in great form, backed by his boys Dub Trio, taking the stage in a white Yankees fitted and ripping through his growing catalog of jams. It was my pleasure to join him on stage for “Sparkseekers” and “WP”, but the highlight of the night was definitely when he brought out Citizen Cope to do beatbox renditions of Cope’s songs “Lifeline” and “Bullet and a Target”. Exclusive video footage of the Citizen Cope and Stan Ipcus appearances below…
“Lifeline”
“Bullet and a Target”
“Sparkseekers”
“WP”
And in celebration of Hanukah, Matisyahu released a new song and video, “Miracle”, which he performed last night (people in the front row were calling for him to play it all night). Check out the video below, it’s super fun!!!!!!
Thanks to my dude Matisyahu for bringing me out to perform, as always it was thrilling…Happy Hanukah Westcheddar!
*BONUS*
Matisyahu: 8 Facts About Hanukah You (Probably) Didn’t Know, Maybe (Huffington Post)
Matisyahu: Light a Fire for Hanukah Music (NPR)
Live at Stubb’s II CD/DVD Pre-Order, Video Preview, and Free Song Download
“Hanukah Prayer” & “Darkness Into Light” & “Miracle” (Live on SIRIUS XM Radio Hanukah)
How The Wheel Was Won
November 11, 2010
Back in June, I posted about how my dude Timmy P’s older brother Matt, a fellow White Plains High School graduate and longtime family friend, recently won $40,000 on Wheel Of Fortune. In the post, I highlighted a video of Matt on stage in Portland (where he now lives) telling the story of his road to victory, which is filled with many heartwarming, laugh out loud moments. Well, I finally got my hands on the footage of the Wheel Of Fortune game show that he won! I gotta say, listening to Matt tell the story is awesome, but watching him actually win, and solve that IMPOSSIBLE final puzzle, is truly incredible. I am proud to debut this footage, almost exactly a year after his November 2009 appearance on the show, for all to enjoy, here on Westcheddar. Congratulations again to Matt P for a remarkable performance, and thanks to his father Dan P for blessing me with the DVD of the show. White Plains stand up!!!! Part One is above, and Part Two and Three are below (Part Three is the Bonus Round where he solves the final puzzle). Enjoy!
WOW. This is definitely one of my favorite posts in the history of Westcheddar. By the way, if you missed Matt telling the story of his big win, click HERE. Cheah!
The Lottery
October 10, 2010
The first ever fantasy NBA season of the Westcheddar Hoops League is officially underway. Our league is made up of 16 teams, with owners from Massachusetts to Maryland. It’s going to be tough competition, with cash and prizes for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners. We set the season off today with “The Lottery” to determine who will pick when in our upcoming draft. A few of the owners were down at Madison Square Garden with the BGC middle/high school basketball team to watch the Knicks Open Practice, so we filmed “The Lottery” there and had the kids pull the team names out of a hat. Check it out above. And below, watch a great clip of my young boy Nappi aka Napstar spit a sick rap at our recent BGC Jam Session (alongside our special guest and up and coming rap star Chris Webby) over a beat made in our lab by a fellow 8th grader we call Dr. Dres. This is what we do…
You see me cheesin’ in the background?!?!? I love watching my little dudes kill it. More action from the Westcheddar Hoops League coming soon, along with our official NBA preview. Stay tuned!!!
Get Pumped
August 19, 2010
Ok, this is what happens when I spend a whole summer with a bunch of middle school campers. We hang out every day, play pool and tetherball, crack jokes nonstop, and then go into the lab and make rap music together. These kids, who call themselves “The Kunais” (I’m told it means “japanese tool”) came up with the concept and beat for two great songs, and we ended up performing them for the whole camp.
The first, “I’m Pumped”, came from them being so fired up everyday at camp. They’d walk around all day saying “I’m so pumped right now” and then wail on each other’s arms with fists of fury. Then one day they bumrushed me in the lab and said they wanted to make a song called “I’m Pumped”. They banged out the beat on Garage Band, and I helped them shape their verses and the chorus. Then, true story, when we were done recording I was so pumped myself that I went in and freestyled the last verse. We were all cracking up and they loved it so we decided to keep it on the song. For the rest of the summer, this was our anthem. Everyone knew all the words, and campers were constantly quoting my freestyle back to me, which was so funny.
The second, “Says Who”, was another saying of theirs. For example, if a counselor would ask them to do something, they would respond “Says who!?” Completely rude, obnoxious, and disrespectful, but really, really funny. So I suggested we make a song about it. I came up with the hook, like I’m the counselor and they’re talking back to me, and they wrote their verses. The rest is summer camp history.
So the above video is us performing these two songs at the end of camp Variety Show. You can’t tell from the video, but the entire gym is filled with campers and their parents and families. It was an off the hook performance, and I’m confident that no summer camp Variety Show has ever witnessed anything like it. Enjoy the rest of your summer, and big shout out to my boys at the BGC for making the past eight weeks unforgettable…
*BONUS*
My beat boxing brother Max Bee came to perform for the campers and shut the place down. It was extremely sick. Here’s a clip from the performance of him playing the “Name Game” with the campers (he makes beats using their first names), and also beat boxing for a staff dance battle. Thanks for coming Max!
Peace!
Beach Boys
July 23, 2010
Matisyahu was in town this week on tour with Sublime at the Nikon Theater at Jones Beach, and he invited me to join him on stage. It’s been a while since I performed with him, almost exactly a year, and it was great to be back up there rocking our collabo “WP”. But before we got to that, he brought me out for a little warm up, where we exchanged raps over a dope beat by his band The Dub Trio. Here’s a pic someone posted on Twitter…
And check the guerilla video footage filmed from the crowd by my boy Timmy P. Audio is actually pretty nice on this. And if you recognize my verse, it’s because it’s from “Druss Park”…
Shout out to my boys in the pic up top for a great night. It was my first fellas night out since my son was born, and it was a memorable one, filled with awesome music and tons of laughs. Always great to catch up with Matis too, sounds like he’s got some cool stuff happening very soon. That’s what it is.
*Bonus*
Here’s a throwback pic from the summer 2007 of me and Matis on that same Jones Beach stage…
Cheah!
Best Of Westchester Top 5 Tables 2010
July 15, 2010
I was sad to miss the Westchester Magazine “Best Of Westchester” party last night. It’s always the jump-off of the year around these parts. But I’m a new Dad with an infant baby at home, so my wife and I were unable to make it. Lucky for us our Westcheddar correspondent Billy “The Kid” Henderson was in attendance to do his annual breakdown of the Top 5 Tables. Check out his review…
It’s about that time of year again. Uncle Ralph pulled off another great party. This year was a little different than the last few years. Where was Willet’s Steakhouse? The Crabtree Kittle House? The Seviche? The Gazpacho? Ipcus and Killa Kam? It felt a little off.
With Lady Gaga as our background music, a woman dressed like Lady Gaga trying to lip sync to our background music and a chef (who embarrassed Bobby Flay on a popular cable network) serving dessert downstairs, it was a quick trip upstairs (around fake breasts and really old women) to find the best tables.
Upstairs also raised a couple issues with me. One, if your restaurant is named after your skill at plating dishes, maybe you shouldn’t serve a homemade Ring Ding. Glorified cupcakes aren’t making this list playboy. Two, the background music, for both floors, should of been from the band upstairs. Three, way too many desserts. Let’s get into it.
1. Le Chateau
1410 Route 35
South Salem, NY 10590
www.lechateauny.com
914.533.6763
As I approached the table, Chef Andre was doing his best European two step and his assistant had a Pink Floyd shirt on. Again, a little different this year. He served a seared bay scallop with a tomato-basil sauce and a parsley-ginger sauce. Clean, simple, and the best dish there. The parsley-ginger sauce was insane.
2. Sushi Mike’s
146 Main Street
Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522
www.sushimikes.com
914.591.0054
This year Sushi Mike and his team tried to distract me from eating all their food, with a female employee sporting a fake “Sushi Mike’s” tattoo on her neck. I did notice her neck. I also noticed the fact that I can eat an absurd amount of Sushi in one sitting. Like my Irish Grandmother used to say,”Odorokubeki Sushi!”
3. F.A.B.
222 E. Main Street
Mount Kisco, NY 10549
www.fabbistro.com
914.864.1661
They had a braised Lamb shank over goat cheese Polenta. The Lamb tasted like actual butter and the goat cheese Polenta was very nice. Subtract the enormous carrots and you might have the best dish at the party. Really good.
4. The Cookery
39 Chestnut Street
Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522
www.thecookeryrestaurant.com
914.305.2336
Have to applaud Chef Dave for coming strong at his first B.O.W. with TWO solid dishes. The White Lasagna and fried Duck Tongue over white Polenta were pretty damn tasty.
5. Bistro Rollin
142 5th Avenue
Pehlam, NY 10803
www.bistrorollin.com
914.633.0780
This place served two little servings of amuse-bouche that were packed with flavor. One was a Salmon tartare with pickled leeks, ginger and cucumber. Topped with a lemon reduction. The other was chicken liver topped with a fig and a Port jus’ lie’. Dope.
Thanks for reading. If you disagree with me, I could care less.
No, thank you Billy. Hope to see you next year. Cheers Westchester!
Winning The Wheel
June 14, 2010
Sometime towards the end of last year, I got a text from my boy Timmy P saying that his older brother Matt was going to be on Wheel Of Fortune. Matt, a fellow WPHS graduate and our elder of a few years, is a great guy, and during my middle school and high school years growing up I would see him at Tim’s house playing pool in their basement and hanging out on weekends. I never knew that Wheel Of Fortune was so big in their family, and specifically with Matt, who loves the show and had been trying to get on it for years. Well not only did he get on, but he won the fucking thing and took home $40,000. Recently, Matt told the story of his triumph at Back Fence PDX, which is a live storytelling series in Portland, Oregon, where Matt has lived for a while now. Check it out, it’s a doozy of a tale, told with heartwarming humor and comedic style. Congrats Matt, you are now an official member of the Westcheddar Hall Of Fame.
And yes, we have the footage of the actual show in the Westcheddar Archives. Stay tuned!
Luca Long Legs
May 29, 2010
Born on his Daddy’s birthday, 5/25. Welcome to Westcheddar baby boy…
