Best of Westchester’s Top 5 Tables

Events, Fly Spots, My Dudes, Published Material

Best of Westchester

Last night was Westchester Magazine’s annual Best of Westchester party, held at the Glen Island Harbor Club (check the picture below, the place is super pimp, right on the Long Island Sound in New Rochelle).  My fiancee and I had a blast (and got blasted), checking out all the tables, eating free food and drinking free drinks, fully enjoying the live music and feel good ambiance.  It’s basically set up like a job fair except instead of going table to table talking to prospective employers, you pop shit at a bunch of chefs and get loaded off free drinks and deliciously creative small portions of high quality food.  Me personally, I was really getting after it last night.  “Best Chili in Westchester huh fellas?  We’ll see about that.  UMMMM.  Not bad, it’s got a little kick to it!  Not Bad!”  So fun.

glenislandday

I saw my boy Billy Henderson last night, Pelham Bay’s finest food critic.  Great times.  Shout out to “Lawyer Mike” Martinelli too for hooking me up with the free tickets.  Anyway, here’s veteran Best of Westchester party-goer Billy Henderson’s assessment of the 2008 event:

Billy Henderson’s TOP 5 TABLES:

1.  Sushi Mike’s
146 Main Street
Dobbs Ferry, NY
http://www.sushimikes.com

Once again, there was a line. Once again, they ran out of food early. Once again, the sushi was insane. I asked the non-english speaking chef what is in the poppy seed roll and he replied, “EER”. I think that means “awesomeness” in Japanese.

 
2. The Willet House
20 Willet Avenue
Port Chester, NY
 
   Sliced “melt in your mouth” Steak on a crustini, with three phenomenal sauces to choose from, next to a free bar, on an outside deck, at high tide. Hard to screw up.
 
3. Sonora
179 Rectory Street
Port Chester, NY
914.933.0200
  
   Braised Duck on a jonnycake with a dot of saffron aioli. I could of ate a hundred of those things.
 
4. The Kittle House
11 Kittle Road
Chappaqua, NY
 
   There were many “shots” of food this year. X2O had the shrimp-watermelon cocktail, 44 Tapas had the shrimp in gazpacho and 42 at the Ritz-Carlton had the ceviche with the beads of ginger. The Kittle House decided to serve a gazpacho with a cilantro foam that just exploded with flavor. Impressive.
 
5. Belle Havana
35 Main Street
Yonkers, NY
 
   Although the owners are very suspect, he might be french and she might be a man, they make an incredible mojito. I didn’t eat their food but I did have a dozen mojitos.       

Billy Henderson’s special thanks:
I’d like to thank “Uncle Ralph” Martinelli for another great year. I’d also like to thank the electricians who are tearing up my office as I type, FORCING me to drink beer and grill burgers on my boat. Holla at the kid.

 

Thanks Billy. Stay tuned for more TOP 5 posts from Billy Henderson. And check out my blog, GROOM GUY, up now on Westchester Magazine’s website, all about the male perspective on getting married. Here’s the link…

GROOM GUY

Playland Pop-Off

Fly Spots

I took my fiancee out to Playland on Saturday night to meet up with a group of friends for some good old fashioned fun.  I lost my effing voice on the Dragon Coaster.  HOW WESTCHEDDAR IS THAT?

Playland is the same as it’s ever been.  The rides haven’t changed much at all.  I took Dana (my fiancee) on the Dragon Coaster for her first time ever, which is crazy because she grew up in West Harrison and spent her whole childhood coming to Playland.  It was a blast.

The pimpest move at any amusement park is winning your girl a stuffed animal playing those games, you know, making a shot, or squirting the gun into the clown’s head to fill up the balloon.  I was on fire on Saturday.  Right off the bat I hit my second basketball shot on the big hoops and won Dana a Hello Kitty that she was eyeing.  Then, they had the smaller hoops a couple games down, and I nailed that too for a NY Yankees stuffed animal.  It’s always safe to go to the basketball games.  Kapow.

So anyway we went to get on the Dragon Coaster, and when we finally got to the front of the line after waiting ten minutes or so, the dude in the booth tells us we can’t bring the stuffed animals on the ride, or Dana’s purse, and he wouldn’t hold them for us we had to get a locker.  Story.  So this college aged girl with her friend and a little baby in a stroller offered to hold our stuff which was great because we would’ve had to get a locker and then wait on line all over again.  So we gave her the stuffed animals and Dana’s purse (WHICH HAD OUR RENT MONEY IN IT ALL CASH ALL HUNDREDS, MORE THAN A G) and put our trust in a complete stranger.  When we got off the ride, sure enough she was still standing there with all our stuff.  I offered to buy them ice cream for being so nice, but she instead asked if I could try to win her a stuffed animal.  THE PRESSURE WAS ON.

We walked a few yards to the basketball shot game, where I already won earlier in the night, put my two dollars down, and BOOM, I hit the first shot and won the girl a prize.  HOW WESTCHEDDAR IS THAT?  Fall back pricks.

All in all it was a great night at Playland.  FUN VIBES.  I gotta say if I worked there I would want to be the DJ on the Thunderbolt, that guy just chills in the booth dropping bangers!!!!  A MILLIE A MILLIE A MILLIE A MILLIE!!!!!  Oh, and that other Lil Wayne with T-Pain is my jam right now!!!  GOT MONEY, AND YOU KNOW IT…THISAWAY, THATAWAY….HANG OVERRRRR THE BARRR OF THE V.I.PEEEEEEE!!!  Good tunes.  Next trip we’ve got to save time for some mini-golf…HOLLERRRRRRRRRR.

That’s Matty B’s hand blocking Dana’s face.  Jumpoff!

 

 

Dirty Jax

My Dudes, Stan Ipcus

I met Josh Kimerling, the creator of Dirty Jax clothing, my sophomore year at the University of Maryland. He was one year older than me, and we met through mutual friends. All the New Yorkers found each other in one way or the other down there, and since he was from the Bronx (he now lives in New Rochelle), it was only a matter of time.

Josh and I got along well because we were both artists. In fact, he used to rap but cites me as the direct reason for him moving on to pursue other artistic endeavors. He told my fiancee when he first met her, “Yo, when I first heard Ip rap, that’s when I decided to become a designer.” Funny.

Dirty Jax is Josh’s brand that I watched grow from an idea to an all out official clothing line. It’s all about sex, money, and fame, and the line has been embraced by lots of club cats and celebrities . I have a bunch of shirts, and a couple of the hoodies too.  Take an exclusive peek at some of his new stuff coming out for Fall 2008…

How ill is this shirt going to look with a fresh pair of Air Jordans?

I won’t be wearing this one to work with the kids….

THE HOODIES ARE MEAN!!!!  Yo JK holler at ya boy!!!!!  Oh yeah, check out the Dirty Jax girls shirts below…

Josh and I do lots of cross promotion events together.  He’s always been my biggest supporter and vice versa.  Check out the video and some pics from August 2007’s Stan Ipcus and Dirty Jax event at the Thirsty Turtle in WP…

What a bargain.

The Godfather of White Plains Hip-Hop, Lord Judah

The Rodentz

Isiah Thomas’ son DJ Zeke, and my dude straight out of Greenburgh, comedian Suits Dat Kid.

Let’s Walk.

Ip and Jax.

Video above is from August 2007.  And here’s some more Ipcus and Dirty Jax videos (see below), featuring Max B, Matty B, and my dog Jiggs Telfair, from our June 2007 show at Thirsty Turtle in WP.  Stay tuned for info on August 2008’s event…

Peep Matty B rocking the famous I HEART DOGGYSTYLE shirt.

Bonus Ip and Dirty Jax pics…

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Ipcus in Dirty Jax, San Diego, 2006, after the tour with Matisyahu.  Those were good enchiladas…

Hmmm, I wonder where Josh got the idea for this shirt?  Probably from this (see below)….

“Brainiac”, live in WP, 2006.

“Black Dirty Jax Hoodie…”

 

For more info on Dirty Jax, check out their website…

Now Rule’s Finest

Uncategorized

One of the first reasons I was drawn to Brand Nubian was because they were from New Rochelle, NY.  They were local guys with popular songs, and although they didn’t seem to like white people much, I dug them.

When Grand Puba came out with “360 Degrees WHAT GOES AROUND“, I was in 9th grade and totally infatuated with hip-hop music.  His solo album Reel to Reel was the first actual CD I ever bought, before that my music collection was all tapes.  This was back when Sam Goody was on the first floor in the Galleria.  I loved that album, and suddenly my closet was filled with Tommy Hilfiger shirts.

I was in 11th grade when Brand Nubian came out with their second Grand Puba-less album.  They had one before it, In God We Trust, with the radio hit “Punks Jump Up to Get Beat Down” on it, but Everything is Everything was the one I used to always rock.  Just look at the cover and the placement of the parental advisory sticker, it’s amazing.  This album made me respect Sadat X so much.  His style was so ill.  And there are some incredible NY hip-hop beats on this album too.  Check out some of my highlights from the album…

Straight off the Head…You can tell they were just freestyling on this back and forth which was cool because no one ever really put freestyles on their album.  The beat is dope too, real slow with a sick bassline.

Alladat featuring Busta Rhymes…I’ve been listening to this song alot lately.  It’s like a Sadat X solo record with Busta on the chorus.  Fire.

Down for the Real…This was the one for me, with the Menace to Society sample and them rapping over a live band.  No one except The Roots was really doing that back then, and they managed to pull it off and still make the track sound gully and street.  My favorite song on the album.

And here’s a video for their second single off Everything is Everything, “Hold On”, filmed half in NY and half in LA…

Sadat X eventually put out a solo album too called Wild Cowboys which was cool (especially the title track), and Grand Puba dropped 2000, a second solo effort, before Brand Nubian reunited on Foundation in the second half of the 90’s.  And since then there has actually been a good amount of Brand Nubian related material released, group and solo.  But most of their best work is from the early 90’s, some of which was never officially released.  Here’s a few of my favorites:

Sadat X, Grand Puba, and Diamond D- I Flip Styles…This was my shit.  It was originally on an old DJ S&S tape, and it never got released on anything.  

Sadat X and Redman- You and You and You ORIGINAL VERSION…I love Sadat X on this track, and Redman comes in on the second verse and kills it.  This was on some random mixtape back in the day.  Frankie Cutlass released another version of it on his album, but it had a different beat.

Grand Puba and Sadat X- Play it Cool…This song is hot.  It’s from Puba’s second solo album, and it was the first time the two reunited on an album cut.

Grand Puba- Ya Know How it Goes…Solo Puba at his best, off Reel to Reel.

Sadat X and Notorious BIG- Come On…This was a mixtape classic, released officially on B.I.G.’s Born Again.

Sadat X- Straight East Coast–  This is an unreleased cut, and it sounds exactly like it’s title.

Since I moved to New Rochelle last year, I’ve seen Grand Puba walking on the street by the train station twice.  Both times I was driving by in my car, and one time I was actually listening to his album!  True story.  I wanted to pull over and tell him what a big fan I was and how his style directly influenced me, a whiteboy from White Plains who used to come to New Rochelle to play in summer league basketball tournaments at Lincoln Park and drink pitchers at O’Brien’s and Downtowns in high school.  Maybe next time.

My Book of Rhymes Part 1

My Book of Rhymes, Published Material, Stan Ipcus

I found this in one of my many old notebooks of raps sometime last year.  I wrote this in the spring of 2004 during a four month stay in my old bedroom on Ogden Avenue.  I was working at White Plains High School as a substitute teacher by day and recording in NYC at Sony Studios by night, fresh from a seven year stint on my own in Maryland and D.C., now at home sharing a bathroom with my Mom and Dad.  Of the millions of bars that I’ve written in my life, these are my 16 favorite.

It was my most personal, meaningful, and lyrical verse long before it ever ended up on the Matisyahu song “WP”, and that’s the truth jack.  In fact, I spit this verse on stage with Matis in November 2004 at SUNY Purchase, about eight months before “WP” was recorded.  Matis saw me in the back of the audience (he didn’t know I was coming to the show), and he motioned for me to come up on stage to spit something.  And I spit this verse that I had been listening to in my head for months.  

He didn’t know it at the time, but he indirectly inspired this verse.  It was about us, our experiences growing up in White Plains, all the nostalgic thoughts I was having at the time, working at my old high school and living in my old digs.  I loved the verse for so many reasons, but mostly because I felt it so accurately represented me and how I felt as young guy growing up in the NY suburbs.  AND THE LYRICS ARE SICK.  Peep the alliterations kid.  MISTY MORNING AND MY MOMS A MESS.  I knew the second I wrote the first line that this verse would be perfect for those special kosher Matis moments where a rap about blunts and tits was not gonna fly.

Well the verse must have resonated with Matis, because in July 2005 when he was working on the YOUTH album, he called me up and said “remember that verse you kicked…?”  No one ever heard it before that night at SUNY Purchase, but thanks to Matisyahu and Epic Records, this verse is now immortal.

My “WP” verse, live from the SPAC in Saratoga Springs, NY, with Matisyahu on the 311 Summer Unity Tour, July 2007.

BGC Coloring Sheet Collection ’07-’08

Coloring Sheets, Youth

One thing I’ve learned in my decade of running youth programs is that kids (and staff!) love to color.  Sometime back in my first year working with Kidsco, Inc. down in Gaithersburg, Maryland, I started making my own coloring sheets in response to the repetitive Disney ones that we kept using.  I wanted them to reflect the culture of our program and what was going on in our world.  My style kind of developed on its own, and the elementary school kids became obsessed with them.  Eventually I had a bunch of original coloring sheets running through all the schools Kidsco had programs in.

When I began last September as the Cultural Arts Director at the Boys and Girls Club up in Mt. Kisco, I resurrected some of my old coloring sheets and gave them a new life.  In the process, I made a bunch of new ones too that focused on the interests of our club kids.  Everyone embraced them heavily.  Even the older kids in middle and high school love them.  It gives them a chance to design their own color schemes and patterns for sneakers, sports uniforms, Ipods, etc.  They are fun to color, especially when kids are looking for a relaxing activity to do while they sit, talk with their friends, and listen to music.  I do weekly contests for sneaker and Ipod of the week, the winners of which I will start posting soon (stay tuned!).  They really come alive when they are all colored in.  For now, check out my 2007-2008 school year collection raw and uncolored, which I recently compiled into a book:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ippy on the Radio

Stan Ipcus

 

When I was in high school, I used to stay up until three in the morning taping WNYU 89.1 FM’s hip-hop show. Back then it was DJ Mayhem and Martin Moore, and they used to get crazy exclusives, from artists like Nas and Ghostface and De La Soul. Before the internet, that was the only way to get a recording of brand new songs before they dropped on albums or mixtapes. So to be on 89.1 FM’s The Halftime Show a decade and a half later was pretty ill.

The Halftime Show (DJ Eclipse, DJ Skizz, Marz One, and Petey Cologne) was actually the first place Stan Ipcus ever got radio airplay. I met DJ Eclipse back in 2005 at a Don Hill’s show and gave him a copy of my FLIRTING WITH FAME album, and he took a liking to “Pay U No Mind” and “Uptown Girl“, two songs produced by Joe Naughty, an ill beatmaker I used to work with during my time recording at Sony Studios. Joe Naughty produced one of my favorite Kool G. Rap songs “Its a Shame“, so to work with him was incredible. And for a highly respected underground DJ to spin my records on the radio back then when I was first coming up was definitely a thrill.

Being a guest on the Halftime Show last night was dope. I got a chance to talk about my latest mixtape, BACHELOR PARTY, my influences growing up, highlights from my rap career, plus I got to spit a couple verses over some ill beats. And they played “Dan Dynamite” and “My Ferris Buellers” on the show. Check it out…

Stan Ipcus- Halftime Show SPIT OFF

Stan Ipcus- Halftime Show full 20 minute segment

Oh, and a little station called Hot 97 played “My Ferris Buellers” on the radio this past Saturday afternoon.  Shout out to Cipha Sounds for spinning that Stan Ipcus!!!  He dropped it at like one in the afternoon on a beautiful New York summer day, and I jumped up off my couch when I heard it, like Don Mattingly had just hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning.  My first time ever on Hot 97.  Sick.

Maybe this “My Ferris Buellers” record is the one….we’ll see….

Johnny Cash in WP

Uncategorized

I’ve been reading this book of Rolling Stone Magazine interviews for the past week or so (see picture below), which has an amazing collection of classic interviews with everyone from John Lennon to Ray Charles to David Letterman to Eminem to Jerry Garcia to Bill Clinton.  It’s so awesome, especially if you’re like me and your favorite thing to read is interviews.  I came across something very cool in the middle of the Johnny Cash piece, something about my beloved home, White Plains, NY. 

Turns out Johnny Cash’s song “Big River” has roots in WP.  Featured on his I WALK THE LINE album, “Big River” is one of his lesser known tunes, but it’s actually pretty hot.  Peep the excerpt from the interview…

Let’s talk about your own songs.  Do you have any special memories about them?

“Big River”-I wrote that as a real slow bluesy thing.  I remember sitting in the back of the car going through White Plains, New York, singing…”I ta-ught the wee-ping wil-low how to cry.”  Real slow and Bluesy.

“I taught the weeping willow how to cry.”  That’s a great line.  WP is known for its trees!  Check out the song…

Johnny Cash- Big River

The World in Dubai

Fly Spots, My Dudes

My right hand man Killa Kam just picked up and moved from NY to Dubai last week. Good for him. There’s alot of crazy stuff going on out there. It is an area that’s rapidly developing, especially the real estate. Known as one of the flyest places to vacation and do business in the Middle East, Dubai is popping right now. Even Donald Trump has a bulding there that just opened.  But the dopest thing I’ve seen that is about to jump off over there is The World.

Shaped like a map of the earth, The World is a man-made group of islands off the Dubai coast designed specifically for luxury real estate.  It’s nuts.  For an area that is well known for being drug free, I don’t know how they came up with this one.  Check out the video for more info…

Sick.

My Man Moshe

My Dudes

The first time I ever saw Marlon “Moshe” Sobol was at a Matisyahu show at Joe’s Pub back in 2004, playing the bongos and hopping around on stage dancing his heart out.  His drum skills were awesome, but it was his look that struck me.  He looked like a short version of Matisyahu, and my friends and I in the audience dubbed him Mini-Matis.

Fast forward a year, and I’m backstage at Webster Hall getting ready to make my first big appearance with Matisyahu since our recording of “WP”.  Moshe, who I had just met a couple days before at a rehearsal,  comes up to me and says “Yo Stan, kick a freestyle”.  So the two of us started spitting to each other in the back staircase over the sound of the band on-stage as we awaited our entrance for the next song. 

From then on Moshe and I became great friends.  Not only did we continue to freestyle with each other before big appearances with Matis (Moshe plays the melodica on the “WP” record), but we began to hang together on our own.  It was easy because he worked as a music therapist in White Plains only a couple blocks from where I was living at the time.  

Moshe’s story is very similar to Matis’ in that they both grew up as regular suburban jewish kids (he’s from Long Island), and became very religious in their early 20’s.  Matis is actually responsible for introducing Moshe to the Hasidic lifestyle.  He’s easily the most talented drummer I know.  He’s also the guy responsible for giving me a bar mitzah without me realizing it (i never had one as a kid).  He wrapped me in tefillin, asked to me repeat about 15 minutes worth of prayers, and that was it.  I thought I was just having a jewish experience with my boy, but when I was all done, it turns out I had a bar mitzah, in the comfort of my apartment.

Here’s a video of Moshe performing a drum solo at the Thirsty Turtle during my first ever show there in November 2006 (which also featured appearances from Matisyahu and Max B among other local artists)….

Moshe and his younger brother Aaron formed a band called Shem’s Disciples, and released an album recently featuring ME.  Check out the first track, it’s called “Fisherman”.  That’s Stan Ipcus on the second verse…

Shems Disciples featuring Stan Ipcus- Fisherman

For more information on Shem’s Disciples, check out their myspace…