Cop it while it’s hot, in celebration of the MLB All Star Break….here’s the details about the No Mas All Star Sale via my cuz CI…
A major league deal for the midsummer classic: 25% off everything except our vintage sunglasses. The store has just been restocked with full runs of classics shirts like The Catch,Thunderbird Hotel, Thank Ew, Fuckface, Boom Boom Mancini,hats, shorts, etc. The sale ends when the NY season resumes: 7pm Thursday night.
Fleet Foxes lead singer Robin Pecknold (above) gave a solo performance in Seattle, his band’s backyard, this past weekend at Neumo’s. His set was filled with Fleet Foxes cuts, a bunch of covers, and even some new material. For more on the performance, which included special appearances by Pecknold’s bandmates and even his sister (below), click HERE. And here’s the direct link to the audio from the show:
Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes live at Neumo’s in Seattle 7/11/09
More Westcheddar posts on Fleet Foxes HERE and HERE. They rule.
I’m back baby! Got some fresh new coloring sheets for the 2009 camp season. Only the flyest pages for the youth. Try to find these somewhere else in the world. Yes, I take pride in my coloring sheets (I draw them myself). Usually, for the sneaker sheets I draw one sneaker nice and big for the kids to color (see the bottom of this post), but I thought it would be cool for the Air Yeezy (Kanye West’s new Nike sneaker) to give them a chance to design their own collection, since that’s what Kanye did. Here’s a couple examples of what the kids did with them. These were done by a couple of pre-teen members that frequent my Cultural Arts Center at the BGC (Boys and Girls Club)…
Check out my other new one, the iPod Touch. The kids love this one. I’m excited to see what they can do with it. Check out a couple examples below of what they’ve done so far. Not bad huh?
And here is the first Sneaker of the Week winner from the 2009 summer season, off one of my original sneaker designs…
Stay tuned for more winning designs from this summer. And for all previous Sneaker and iPod of the Week winners, and more sneaker coloring sheets and other fresh pages for kids, check the link below…
Matisyahu put on an amazing show last night at the Central Park Summerstage in the heart of NYC, gearing his fans up for his new album Light (cover above), which is in stores August 25th. He swung back into town in the midst of a monster US touring schedule, and got a perfect night of weather to play some old favorites and show off his new single “One Day”. Check out the official video and a stripped down, in studio clip from WNYC’s Soundcheck of “One Day”below:
Back to last night’s show. Lots of good vibes and love backstage and out in the crowd, and I saw a lot of old friends from White Plains, University of Maryland, and even my boy Ben who used to work for me at Kidsco, which was amazing. Big Moshe (pictured below) sat in on the congas and did his thing, and I came out on “WP” for my 16 bars of fame, which is always a thrill. I spotted a few dudes in the front row spitting my verse along with me word for word (or at least trying to, it’s a tricky one huh fellas LOL). Check the pics from backstage that my wife took (pardon the sunburned face I was at Playland all day with a bunch of crazy summer camp kids) and the video of “WP” courtesy of LC at www.dreamtime.tv…
Get ready for that Light album, it’s dope (“One Day” is available now on Itunes). I got a copy of the whole thing last month, and it’s got some great songs on it and a lot of new sounds. DJ Roz is also finishing up his Matisyahu No Sleep ‘Til Brooklyn mixtape, which will drop exclusively here at Westcheddar before the album comes out, so stay tuned for that it’s going to be crazy. And Moshe and I will finally be holding our live music/open mic River Ciphers on Wednesday, July 22nd at The Rec Room in Dobbs Ferry, so come through for that.
I’ll leave you with a couple recent interviews/live performances Matis did on the radio. First is a fun one from Philly’s Preston and Steve morning show, courtesy of my boy Ariel from WP at themerchan.com, and second is the full audio link to Matis and the boys on WNYC’s Soundcheck…
Matisyahu on Preston and Steve in Philly
Matisyahu on WNYC’s Soundcheck
*BONUS*
Read this recap of the Matisyahu Central Park Summerstage show written by my boy Craig Dershowitz, which also includes some great pictures…
Stevie Wonder picked the perfect song out of his bottomless catalog of classics to memorialize Michael Jackson yesterday. “Never Dreamed You’d Leave In Summer” is one of the first R & B tunes I learned how to play on the piano. I performed it on a few different occasions with my childhood friend Liz Farrell back in our high school days (she’d sing and I’d tickle the ivories), and many times in my twenties during late night sing-a-longs with drunken pals. Stevie Wonder is one of my absolute favorite musicians of all time. I spent most of my first two years of college studying his catalog. He’s got some bangers, but it’s his ballads that I really love. Here’s the clip from yesterday’s service at the Staples Center of Stevie singing “Never Dreamed You’d Leave In Summer”, which coincidentally I first heard in a Poetic Justice scene where Janet Jackson is listening to old records in her house…
I thought I’d add to this post with a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Lately”, performed back in the good old 90’s by Jodeci on MTV Unplugged. Wonderful (pun intended).
This marks my 200th post on Westcheddar, in just over a year’s time. Thanks for reading, watching, and listening. Stay tuned.
Damn Fifty! Another mixtape in less than a month?!?!?!?!? This one is banging too, though I’m not sure yet if it’s better than WAR ANGEL. Download it asap, after you listen to one of the fly cuts from it, “Funny How Time Flies”…
Al-Al-Alchemist’s latest album Chemical Warfare is out today, and his collaboration “Grand Concourse Benches” featuring Krs-One is my favorite song on it. Having Krs-One rap over a banging Alchemist beat is a beautiful thing. Check out the song above, which ends with a hilarious skit making fun of nerdie hip hop bloggers. And below, check two of my favorite, slept on Krs-One classics. The first is his duet “Bronx Tale” with Fat Joe (the first song on Jealous One’s Envy), and the second is the DJ Premier produced “Mortal Thought” from Return of the Boom Bap. Bouyakah!
And while we’re at it, for those of you interested in visuals too, here’s a couple classic 90’s Krs-One music videos to check out. The first is another DJ Premier produced cut, “Rappaz R.N. Dainja”, off his self titled album Krs-One. And then finally, a song my buddies and I played out (and emulated) in high school, “Mad Izm” with Channel Live….
Cop that new Alchemist Chemical Warfare album asap (the one verse long song with Eminem is ill). And always respect the teacher, Krs-One. Peace.
*BONUS*
This video just surfaced of Prodigy and Alchemist in the lab/crib, smoking and spitting with a major beat bumping. QB dudes Big Noyd and Twin are also in the building. What an ambiance. This is a portrait of my ultimate male bonding, hip hop environment. Peep it…
*BONUS #2*
Another related video just popped up. Krs-One backstage at Rock The Bells in Toronto with Rosenberg and Pete Rock. Sounds like he might be going at 50 Cent soon?!?!?!?
My desk. As you can see I’m a total neat freak. This is where I’m at everyday. Just me and the youth. Here’s a link to a closer look at some of the hip hop activities that go on up here (for those of you who might have missed it when it was originally posted), and an additional link to the rest of the Westcheddar posts focused on kids. Now back to the grind…
The date is finally set for the release of Raekwon’s Only Built For Cuban Linx…PT II. Die hard Wu Tang fans have been anticipating this album for years. You already know that the first one is in my TOP FIVE. Personally, I think the sequel should be entirely produced by Rza, but I admit I’m excited to hear what other producers like Alchemist and Westchester’s own Scram Jones are going to contribute to the second coming of the Purple Tape. I’m confident that Raekwon and his co-host Ghostface (and the numerous other confirmed and rumored contributors) will not disappoint. Let’s take a trip down memory lane and watch the videos from Only Built For Cuban Linx…
“Heaven and Hell”
“Glaciers of Ice”
“Incarcerated Scarfaces”
“Criminology”
“Ice Cream”
Can’t wait for PT II….Check the video for the first official street leak off the album, “New Wu (Wu Ooh)” featuring Ghostface and Method Man. If the album is consistent with the sound of this song, we’re in for a treat. I like this joint…
Hot 97’s Peter Rosenberg will be interviewing Raekwon at his upcoming Noisemakers event on July 29th at the 92Y in Tribeca. Def gonna try to make it out for that. Would love to hear some good old Shaolin stories from the man himself. That’s it for now. I’ll call you back at the god hour. Scream.
Bruno (above) is very gay. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But he’s a flaming homosexual. And he’s hilarious. In the spirit of Borat, comedian Sasha Baron Cohen is back with more raunchy, absurd, and uncomfortable humor in his new movie simply titled Bruno. He’s been popping up everywhere during this past month, promtoting the movie by appearing nude on the cover of GQ magazine, tea-bagging Eminem at the MTV Movie Awards, and giving Conan O’Brien a lapdance on The Tonight Show. So to assist with the movie promotion, I’d like to take it back to where Bruno first started, on The Ali G Show, and present you with Westcheddar’s Best of Bruno. First up is my favorite clip, where Bruno completely gasses a college wrestling team on spring break to go crazy on his show (including show their ass cheeks) before finally telling them that the footage is for Austria Gay TV…
Next, Bruno hosts his version of Fashion Police. “Ricky Martin, ‘keep him in the ghetto’ or ‘train to Auschwitz!'” Hahahaha.
And here’s another interview in a similar style as Fashion Police (arguably better than the one above), followed by him crashing a fashion show and making his way onto the catwalk with Paris Hilton. Awesome.
This one is fun. Bruno goes to see a psychic…
And finally, here’s a brilliant interview with a young designer. Bruno totally plays him…
Bruno comes out this weekend (July 10th). Here’s the trailer for those of you who haven’t seen it yet. And if you have any other Bruno clips that you think should have been included in this post (I also like the one where he goes to Miami and is a bouncer at a club but couldn’t find a good copy of it), please let me know in the comments. Oh, and check out Westcheddar’s Best of Borat too if you missed it. Link below the trailer. I’m out. Peace.
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