Monday, June 30, 2008

Outside The Box

Another great LA weekend in the books! This summer has gotten off to a fantastic start, the weather is just perfect, and the vibe is very much alive and kickin!

On Friday night we had our 3rd episode of GET FRESH!, with the OC invasion. It featured awesome music all around, starting off with Tyler and Jesse (first time ive seen them, they warmed up very good!), then on to OC veterans Wobs, Wally Callerio and Nonfiction. As expected, the music was on point all night so many thanks to all who played, and to Cade for teaming up with us again on this, and Eddie B for being Eddie B =)

On Saturday night, Gelly and I played at Space Island for a House meets Breaks party we were booked for. I really enjoyed it, first because we had a chance to play a bit differently, and for new dancers, ears, party people. We seemed to get a great reaction and we hd a great time.

After we played, we had a chance to check out the other room which consisted of Breaks and some Dubstep, which is pretty cool stuff. Its always nice to take part in events that are completely different, with a whole new crowd and new faces. I feel that lately we have been so busy with our House scene, that we don't have enough chance to think outside the box a bit and try new things.

Have any of you been to Burningman? It is one of those things I have wanted to check out for years, and I never get there for many reasons, from money to other stuff going on. Just a thought!

Anyhow, thinking outside the box and trying something new is always good. It takes you out of your comfort zone and makes you see things in a different light. One of two things can hapen, you will either love that thing you try, or you won't and you'll be even happier right where you're at. Try it ;)

Anyway, this weekend, HAWT is up in San Francisco with Sneak, Wally Callerio, and Jason Hodges and more. If you have no plans and wanna get out of town for the 4th, check it out. Otherwise on thursday night, Eddie B and Dave Parker are playing @ Pulse, so peep that if youre around!

love!

Friday, June 27, 2008

Lately...

There's a Stevie Wonder song that I have always loved, one of those slow ballads he used to do, and still does so, uhhhhhh......wonderfully =) . It's caled "Lately", and many of my generation might only know it because Jodeci covered it on their MTV Unplugged in the early 90's. Their's is good too, but KC and Jojo can't be Stevie, and if anything I prefer the Red Hot Chili Peppers' rendition of "Higher Ground" anyday. (By the way he's playing the Hollywood Bowl soon! Anybody got tickets????)







Anyhow, I am a sucker for R&B, I admit it. I grew up with it and used to hate singing in choir @ school because they made us sing lousy songs, dated stuff, and then Church music and cheesy Neil Diamond stuff. Sweet! If we were lucky we'd get to sing "A Bridge Over Troubled Water", which has grown on me more and more over the years. I mean I also loved Alternative Rock, Salsa, and Hip Hop, but R&B has always had a huge place in my heart.

I had this friend of mine named Pete Utley who used to play basketball with us all the time, and I remember one day we got talking about music. Or friendship really sparked when I realized that he was also into Boyz 2 Men, ABC, and B.B.D, and much more, so we knew we were gonna be great friends.

One day we got sick of choir, and ditched practice (we were outlaws!) to walk around the back side of the campus and sing our own songs. I remember it being close to graduation time for us when we were in 8th grade, and all of us were preparing to enter the next phase of our lives, thinking that we'd already seen it all. It was kinda emotional for some, but all i wanted to do was play high school baseball finally. Regardless, those were times that always stay vivid in my mind. So vivid you can taste them, feel them as they were yesterday.

Lately, as i mentioned the other day, i feel like i've been in a rut of sorts, unsatisfied, like my energy has been misplaced and i need to enter that next phase. i dunno what it is exactly, but maybe, just maybe i do?

....i guess everything is always right in front of us. Maybe its the opportunity we have at all times, the fact that anybody can do anything if they set their mind to it? Maybe it's the person you love and can't live without, or the career you have chosen and are happy with.

Whatever your everything is, i feel it is important to figure out what it is. Without that guideline, that goal you strive for, it is easy to fall off course, to get sidetracked. It's important to figure out what it is that you want, what it is that you need, and what it is that you just can't live without.

When you cannot live without something, and nothing and nobody can ever stand in your way, you have found your passion. If it's something that you kinda want, but won't bend over backwards to get it, put in blood sweat and tears for, then maybe the passion isn't there, and maybe that may not be meant for you.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Cha Cha Radio & Summer heat ahead!

Big thanks to Richard "slick dada" and frank lara for having hawt invade their studio yesterday for their weekly Internet radio show, cha cha radio. Mike magana and I had a blast and we look forward to doing it again soon! I have known these guys probably longer than anyone in the l.a. House scene, going back to the release days, and when deep was still rotating with revival on Sundays at the old spots, club vinyl, etc.

Anyhow these guys have been living house music for ages, and I thank both of them, Richard especially for always having been such a positive influence on our scene and with us too. Same goes for big cee, who rolled thru to hang with us for a bit in the studio.

The weekend is almost here, do you know what youre getting into? Feels like summertime has now made a statement, and I think this summer is gonna shatter records for high temperatures. I mean, I love hot weather, I was born in Puerto RICO, lived in and love Miami for the humidity, but lately LA has been crazy! I can't imagine what late July and august is gonna feel like, but it beats the cold anyday!

We almost have the sets from the hawt beatdown ready for download, so stay tuned!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Forever Waking Up...

Today i will share a written piece that ties into what i have been thinking about alot lately, and how i feel the need to recreate myself again, start anew, move onto something fresh and full of life.....another phase.

The way one feels really does always boil down to the way one perceives things, so that being the case, why is it so difficult to make those tiny adjustments? Well, i feel everything goes hand in hand, and nothing happens overnight, so patience and faith are crucial.

Some say that forming a habit takes a minimum of 30 days. For instance, a diet, quitting smoking, waking up early, or even changing the thought processes that make up your brain. In other words, without patience, it is difficult to reawaken, and without faith, one may seldom see the light that recreates the self.

Read this piece, hopefully it will kickstart an awakening in you too =)

mikey

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The World of Intensive Practice


- Kosho Uchiyama (1912-1999)


Regardless of conditions, what is essential in doing zazen is just to sit, aiming at zazen and waking up to zazen. In just sitting and waking up to zazen, the various conditions going on in our heads simply become the scenery of our zazen!

The world we live in is not something that exists independently of our thoughts and ideas. Our world and these thoughts and ideas appear to us as a unified whole. Depending on what our thoughts and ideas are, our world may appear to us in completely different ways. These thoughts and feelings constitute our psychological condition. Moreover, our psychological condition is at the same time our physiological condition. When something breaks down inside of us physically, our minds no longer remain clear. And if our minds are not clear, then the eyes with which we see the world and our views of life become dark. Our lives and the whole world take on a gloomy appearance

On the other hand, when we feel healthy our minds brighten, and consequently our outlook on everything becomes brighter. Furthermore, our physiological conditions are tremendously influenced by the environment in which we live. The changes and conditions of climate and weather both affect us. This cause and effect relationship is particularly easy to see when you lead a life as unvaried and devoid of distractions as the sesshins at Antaiji.

The essential matter here is the attitude of just striving to wake up regardless of the conditions you are in. It is not about arriving at some state where all thoughts have disappeared. To calmly sit amidst these cause-and-effect relationships without being carried away by them is shikantaza.

Like the weather, there are all sorts of conditions in our personal lives: clear days, cloudy days, rainy ones, and stormy ones. These are all waves produced by the power of nature and are not things over which we have control. No matter how much we fight against these waves, there is no way we can make a cloudy day clear up. Cloudy days are cloudy; clear days are clear. It is only natural that thoughts come and go and that psychological and physiological conditions fluctuate accordingly. All of this is the very reality and manifestation of life. Seeing all this as the scenery of life, without being pulled apart by it-this is the stability of human life, this is settling down in our life.

This is the same as the zazen we do. We always try to sit zazen aiming at being steadily awake here and now. Yes, it's not a matter of being able to adhere to the sitting, since we inevitably slide away from it. So we move away from sitting and then we wake up again; we move away again, and wake up to it again. Zazen is the very posture of forever waking up. As long as we have this attitude, all thoughts that occur to us when we move away from the sitting become the scenery of zazen. The times when we can strictly maintain the posture and awareness of sitting are also the scenery of zazen. It is not that the cessation of all thought is satori and good, and the arising of thoughts and the tendency to chase after them is delusion and bad. Just sitting, transcending good or evil, satori or delusion, is the zazen that transcends the sage and the ordinary person.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

My Morning Shake & Pop with the Cops

so I woke up this morning bright and early and decided to go to the gym and workout. I had a light snack and spent about 20 minutes loading new music to listen to while I got my sweat on. Anyway, Im ready to rock and hop out the door and I'm on my way......so I thought.

I start my car and get ready for my literally 2 minute drive down the way to workout, and throw on that led zepellin song that I been rockin lately to fire me up. I get out the driveway and to the stop sign fifty feet from my house and see a police car parked there, so being the safe driver I am, I make sure to stop for a good 5 to 7 seconds, making sure the oncoming cars pass first. So I make my left and on to the gym I go.

So, apparently I am doing something wrong here, was I being TOO cautious? The sherrif flips a bitch, right behind me with his lights on! All I'm thinking us you have gotta be shittin me! And he pulls my law-breaking, delinquent ass over.

Now, I'm no saint, I've had my share of tickets like the rest of us, but its been years and I'm always doing what I can to abide by driving laws. Anyhow, apparently this cop was training his new partner, because I felt like a crash test dummy the way they treated me! Of course, I didn't bring my wallet, as my gym I.D. is on my keys, but they still made me sit in the backseat of their cop car as they searched mine, repeatedly asking me why I don't signal when I turn and that its the law. Wow.

Not only that, they asked my age and assumed I'd said 88, and not 78 for my year of birth. In other words I am by far older than both of these guys.

So by this point I'm sitting in the backseat, wondering why I hadn't slept in or gone for a jog instead, and decide to go with the flow rather than be that guy and ask them how bored they must obviously be to hassle me, or ask them if they pulled me over due to my shaved head, or if they didn't have better things to do like catch people speeding, or if the donut shop was closed today, or why I needed to signal so badly if there was nobody around, etc.

So I start chit chatting with these kids, who didn't know the 2 head Sherriffs that i knew personally, obviously because they are rookies or something, and before I know it he's bro-ing out with me, asking how I like my gym, if I have the turbo vw, even what kinda music I play, to which it struck a nerve and he wanted to know when and where...

So I got a fix it ticket even though they coulda towed me and cuffed me, not having my license or insurance, and he told me to enjoy my workout, apparently saying I could carry on with my day..

wow!

So moral of the story?

One, always signal when turning! In fact do all obvious things no matter how close to home you may be.

Two, always be cool with cops, never try to prove your point, as they probably already pulled you over and don't like it when you smartass with them.

Three, once in that situation, deal with it and admit you're wrong. In the past i have taken a different approach, and it has not worked. Instead of asking them why they pulled you over for no using your turn signal with nobody even around, say, "you're absolutely right officer! I dunno what I was thinking, I must have been so concerned ith my workout, blah blah blah"....

After all, they are just doing their job i guess. Just like we all gotta do ours, right?

I did think it as rather unnecessary to search my car, but i was also glad i didn't have anything in there i shouldn't have had ;)

SO there I go. My day is now starting after a run in with my cop buddies. So, if anyone meets an officer Pedroia or Mendez at the next HAWT event, you know how they got the info ;)












Tuesday morning, and if any of you don't have plans tonight, I highly suggest you go down to Focus for the 5 year Anniversary tonight with Green Velvet! I have never had the chance to see GV, although he has always been one of my all time favorite producers. I LOVE his originality, from beats to lyrics to the whole nine. If you don't know Green Velvet, you really should shake and pop your butt down there tonight!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Simplify

So I heard that George Carlin just passed away this morning.

He has always been one of my favorite comedians. From the first time I heard "The 7 Words You Can't Say On Television" with my Dad, and pretty much everytime after, he has always been one of those guys that made me laugh uncontrollably. He's right up there with Richard Pryor. Look him up on youtube and you'll see. I first heard the news this morning, when i overheard someone talking about it. Apparently he had a history of heart problems, but was fine and doing his daily routine just hours before. Suddenly something went wrong, he was rushed to the hospital, and he died. He lived a full, action packed life. He lived his dream, and for that all should celebrate his life forever.

On another note, my buddy and fellow HAWT resident Eddie B is missing his record bag. It was last seen at a small get together @ our friend Jesus' house after HAWT on Friday night. Hopefully someone accidentally grabbed it, because we only invited friends and a few of their friends came thru, so it would be a huge let down if they never reappeared. Please respond privately if you might know of the whereabouts =) Eddie is one of my dearest friends, and i know this hurts him alot. He is the kind of person who still digs and digs for records, spending countless hours searching for hard to find records. He has put so much heart into his collection, that losing any part of it is like someone stealing your car or something.

Anyhow, I leave you with a Zen saying: "Life is the only thing worth living for."

Sometimes I tend to focus on things that do not maximize my best and highest use. I tend to beat myself up about things, and continue doing things that i feel are necessary, but really may not be. Do you ever put yourself second to something or someone you love, almost too much where you come last and your own priorities aren't addressed? I feel I do, and I want to work on that. If you do, so should you =)

Sometimes simplifying things helps you put those things in perspective.

Friday, June 20, 2008

BLAST FROM THE PAST

So i got a text last night from some random number, inviting me to a lil get together this Sunday. At first i was wondering the usual, "who in the world could this be????", until they followed with another one saying, "by the way, in case you forgot the address, here it is", and so on and so forth.

Although at first I had no idea who it could be, the address gave it away and clued me in. I remembered it was my very good buddy from high school, one of my best friends growing up. The kinda friend who I told things in deepest confidence, knowing that he would never tell a soul. He knew about my passion for music long before anyone ever did (i was a very shy kid). The kinda friend who would get in trouble, and get into a fight just because somebody messed with you (hey i went to an all boy school so it happened!). Even moreso, the kinda friend that comes over to your house, unannounced, walks right thru your door, and will hang out with your parents watching TV and shooting the shit, just because he's family like that. I'm sure you guys had hose friends right? Or maybe you were the one going to your bud's house. In other words, it was great to hear from him, and his message made me think about alot of things.

I hardly ever get to see my buddy anymore lately, mostly because we have our separate lives, schedules, passions. Regardless though, its the type of friendship where ages can go by, yet your bond is so tight that if you saw them again, it would be like you'd seen them yesterday. I liked that feeling I got when i saw that it was him, I missed hanging with him and cannot wait to catch up soon.

What does that tell me? Aside from the reminder that I'm almost 30 already, yet feel like I'm 20, i realized that i have other "family" in my life that i miss dearly. How many of us have friends we miss or have not seen in ages for these very same reasons? When was the last time you spoke to them even? Or parents, cousins, aunts and uncles, etc that we haven't talked to in awhile?

Well, I can almost guarantee that we all do. Maybe it isn't the same dynamic in your relationship as to mine, but regardless, try making that call sometime soon, or your own unannounced visit. Even if it's something you might dread, maybe because your Mom may drill you and ask you a million and one questions that you cannot stand, or your friend that you don't wanna call because it's been so long, do it anyways. Odds are that they will be pleasantly surprised, just as i was, and that they still LOVE you more than ever. Try it, you just might make their day and have some goodness coming back at you too. Showing love is maybe the most precious thing you have in this world, and guess what, it's FREE to use, there's unlimited minutes on it and you don't need to buy a "Love: for dummies" book.

I know, i'm cheesy like that, but i give all of you the money back guarantee on that ass that if you simply try to LOVE a little bit more in your life, and just put in that conscious effort, you will indeed get it BACK. It's contagious. Do it as a trial experiment, and you'll see that it works. Maybe you won't notice right away, but you will, and soon. And if you don't, then maybe your effort can be stronger. Try it!

Anything.,

Anyways, it's friday! Once again i'm about to go drive around in the Valley heat, but i'm kinda looking forward to it (i know it sounds gnarly). Not because of that heat but because its the weekend and i'm excited. Plus i am going to make some of those calls myself to some of those friends and family that i haven't spoken to in quite awhile.

My buddy already made my day, so hopefully i can keep that string going!

have a grrrrrrrreat day and weekend, and if you want something fun to do tonight, peep the lil flyer on my picture ;)

Oh yeah, on that note The Love Guru opens this weekend i think, it looks pretty funny!

..
LOVE!

m

Thursday, June 19, 2008

change is good

So apparently summertime is officially here, and it's a beautiful, sunny day in LA.

I was in the LA valley yesterday, running some errands and driving around from noon until 3pm, and boy lemme tell ya, thank goodness for AC in my car. It was reportedly 105 degrees, my chapstick melted, my gum melted, and luckily I no longer carry vinyl around or else that woulda melted too, for sure. I'm glad gas prices have been so affordable lately or else I would have had to fill up my 12 gallon tank for 60 bucks ;P

Anyhow, lately I have been on this trip.....well, not a trip, but more like I've been stuck in this thought process where I feel like change is necessary. Could be the weather, could be the change of season, or it could mean that I need to reorganize some things or priorities in my life, but whatever it may be, it's rather exciting. I'm ready and anxious.

Sometimes change is a scary thing, because we tend to feel so comfortable where we are at that we don't want to switch anything up, we get complacent where we are and changing your program takes work. Well, I want that change right now more than ever. I wanna get out of my comfort zone and start something fresh, take on some uncharted territory and make it mine. That is part of the reason I'm writing about this now, because I have always been the kind of person who did things better when I held myself accountable.

You ever heard the saying, "sometimes you have to throw your hat over the fence, so that you have to go get it"? Well, in a nutshell, that's what I'm doing. So check back in here periodically for updates, unless you have better things to do, which am sure you do!

Anyhow, here we go....

SO i am committing to writing a daily blog. I have alot to say, and I am gonna say it as long as someone listens. Actually, since I'm helping myself out, I guess I'll do it even if I'm the only one reading it....

after all, remember that no matter how difficult it may be, change will do you good....

So if you're in a similar situation in your life right now, I challenge you to take that leap of faith with me. If you're tired or bored or just sick of a particular situation in your life, try something new. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results. Try changing something today, you never know what it may bring....

love!

m