Rockin' robin

Okay, I did it.  I bit the bullet, and finally did it.  I'm a little disappointed in myself... just a little bit.  But, it's been done.   Facebook is still the devil, now.  Don't get it twisted!  But, with receipt of the confirmation message from @Biz Stone and the @Twitter Team ("Welcome to the flock!" it read), I have now joined the birds who have been rockin' in the treetops all day long, tweedle deedle tweetin' and a-tweetin' along.  I am officially a Twit.

I guess it was inevitable.  I mean, if you look at the template design I chose for this blog when I started it up in September, you'll see the birds in the upper righthand corner... I was bound to "join the flock" some time, huh?  Twitter.  I just can't believe it, y'all.

While this may seem like a "so what" moment to you, this is pretty major for me.  When it comes to social media, I'm like your weird uncle who still mails at least one letter per month to Paramount Pictures asking when are they gonna finally release Forrest Gump on Laserdisc. What I'm saying is I can be resistant to change.

But this time, I'm also ready to change, folks.  I've committed myself to making slowFlowOnline.com a bigger and better presence in 2011.  Part of me doing that is getting the name out there, through media... socially.  :: big sigh ::

So, go ahead.  Follow me, you Twits.  I'm @slowFlowOnline on Twitter.  You can view my recent Tweets via the widget off to the right, beneath the blog archives.  Damn, I feel like an old head  for real, talking about $#!t and not knowing whether I'm using the correct terminology!  LOL

Now, no matter how much my wife, friends, family members, and co-workers try, I'm not reading any psalms from the Book of Face anytime soon... as I mentioned, FB is still the devil.  But for the time being, you can just say I'm flying with Hell's Angels, so follow me inna town, and a-follow me inna country... as I get my Tweet on.  Reason why you should ah follow me?  Cuz yu love me!

 

The MF'n Life, eh?

No, I didn't select this title so that I could drop F-bombs on the low.  I'm talking aboot the bombshell firecracker Canuck that goes by the name Melanie Fiona.  She's sexy as hell, can sing her @$$ off, and if she could recite verbatim Rev. Brown's sermon from the Sexual Chocolate scene of Coming To America, she'd be half as dope as my wife is (I love you, baby).

Anyway, I linked up with her dope @$$ last year, on the brink of her burgeoning popularity... circa August 2009.  This was quite a bit earlier than her debut release, The Bridge, dropped in the States; just before "It Kills Me" hit the airwaves, but just after "Give It To Me Right" had her catching ears of neck-rollin' pigeons from T-Dot to Texas.  I saw her tear the stage down at Water Street Music Hall here in Rochester, which gave me good reason to dub her a modern-day Anna Mae Bullock.  Melanie, showing a glimpse of her GT background, performed what would become my favorite from the release, that I'll share here:

Melanie Fiona - "Ay Yo"

She also performed...

Tell 'Em Chali Sent Ya

I was re-reading my Faithful/Priceless post, and noticed that towards the end, I mentioned a late night out, as me and Scotty had just wrapped another interview/shoot.  That was on 9.15.  Well, the fruits of our labor have finally seen the light of day!

Yes, I take some of the blame for it being two and a half months before publication, but not all of it.  I admit I was struggling getting this piece completed.  Usually when I write, the piece will simply fall into place as I move it along.  For some reason, though, I had a block whenever I sat down to attempt banging this one out.

It would be six weeks from the time that I interviewed former underground Hip Hop set Jurassic 5 notable Chali 2na before I submitted the completed work!

tunes available after the jump...

ghosTown Productions

So, I've been told that my blog has become somewhat of a desert-like ghost town of sorts.  My bad, sons!  I logged in to begin this post, and was shocked to see the date of the last post was over two months ago.  Yeah, pretty wack, indeed.

Even though this is a bit of a "filler" post, it's still something!  I say it's filler because it's not going to contain too much new content, and it's a "hold y'all over" until my next post, in which I have some jurassic news to share.

The last post contained a bunch of songs that were supposed to be able to be streamed on my site.  I understand that not everyone has been able to hear all of the content.  So, I've made them available in another format.  The tunes are available below (and hopefully, this time they'll all work!):

Faith Evans - "Maybe"

Faithful... Priceless...

I'm the youngest of three children, two girls and a boy.  I've always had a special relationship with my parents' first born child, as we were both connected through our love of the arts.  When we were young, it was our love of Hip Hop music and culture that fascinated us.  Now, we have both realized our love of the written word.

My big sis, whom I've always playfully nicknamed Supa D, was what we will call "lost" for awhile.  She has now found herself, and is enjoying the world of self-discovery.  She has decided to share it with the world (wide web) via her blog: A Bed-Stuy Mommy's Diary.  It's insightful, delightful, and full of things I've never known about my sister.  I'm enjoying finding out about her with y'all.  Be sure to check her out.

While finding out more about my sibling, I was just thinking about loyalty.  It is so rewarding to be loyal to someone/thing that equally reciprocates the sentiment.  Being faithful is truly priceless.  I've been faithfully loyal to all of my family members, and continue to do so, as my family is growing.  The image posted above was captured by our father, of whom I am a namesake.  I can only attempt being loyal to his memory.

I have not been as loyal to myself in expressing my love of the arts as I was when my radio show was on the air.  I recently mentioned to someone that...

Uncle jayt'ree + Chuckie D. = OKP

Big news: the piece that me and my main man Scotty Stewart completed most recently is now posted on okayplayer.  Scotty described my excitement best when he said, "Call me when you leave work and get in the car so you can scream like a woman."  And I did.  I've had articles, stories, and reviews published before in print and online, but OKP is a big look for me!

Chatting with the man that...

Local Yokels

So, as I'm going through my portfolio of work to post on this new blog, I have been checking my work out from older to more recent.  I had forgotten about some of the pieces I've had published in City Newspaper.  This next assortment is to highlight those folks from around the way... i.e., the way of Rochester, NY.

I'll kick it off with a piece that was published circa September 2005.  City gave me my second cover story with a feature on a dude named Amir Sulaiman (pronounced SOO'-lee-mon).  He's a published author and poet slash dope eMCee.  His spoken word is sometimes blended with music on some tracks from his three albums.  He's been featured on Russell Simmons' Def Poetry on a few occasions, toured with KRS-One and Mos Def, and been called everything from teacher to terrorist.  Oh, and of course, he's from the city I currently reside in.  Good look for the Roc!  Check out the piece from City's archives.

We also covered a piece on a funk electro...

I'm not fancy; I live the Common Lyfe

What's happening, good folk?  I'm sitting here reminiscing about the summer of 2005.  It was a special summer for me; it was the time I met the beautiful woman that would become my wife.  That's why I'm very excited about this post.

My then-girlfriend and I had our first almost-date at the 2005 Rochester MusicFest.  Her and her homies had already copped their tickets, and I was headed out also, but on the grind.  I had just picked up a freelance writing gig at City Newspaper, Rochester's premier newsweekly, and had my first big feature covering the event.  She and I got to chop it up, and I was able to wow her with my charm and boyish good looks (she's still here, ain't she?).

Well, the introduction to the...

It's ya Uncle jaythreeoh on the blog tip!

So, even though I was dumb ahead of my time on the radio tip for almost 14 years, I'm sooo far behind the times on creating my online presence.  I don't even have a Facebook page!   But, I have an excuse though: FB is the devil.

Anyway, I'm putting this up here, in the hopes that I will be updating it on a more regular basis.  My most recent thing to update is the fact that a few weeks ago, me and my mans Scotty Stewart (photog extraordinaire) went to Buffalo to get an exclusive with CHUCK D. of PUBLIC ENEMY! Yes, it was supafresh to share a booth in the back of the lobby restaurant of the Adam's Mark hotel.

I chopped it up with the big homie for like a half, and...