It’s been a long time since I’ve done one of these. And it’s not that I haven’t been thinking reflectively, I have been… A lot. There’s been so much going on with the site, our Closed Sessions getting off the ground, new events, projects, I just haven’t had time to really write a blog, or by the time I find some time, what I was going to write about has been somewhat forgotten, or not as relevant. One thing that has been on my mind a lot is capitalizing on all the momentum we’ve built over the course of the last year, as well as the changes that are happening all around us, including the change I’m noticing within myself. One of those changes involves the way I carry myself and dress. While this isn’t a ‘I’m gonna buy all new clothes’ type of thing, I am making a major wardrobe change and retiring my vest. The vest, a tri-colored piece, is quite warm and comfortable. It’s been dubbed “The Interview Vest”, “The Charlie Brown Vest”, and even “The Lucky Vest”. Most of these nicknames are bittersweet, as they each hold a bit of mockery from the likes of Virgil and Mike from SoundScape, as well as Omar, who has asked me to burn the vest many times. A few weeks ago after the Peter Bjorn and John concert I went to a Wrigleyville bar with a friend of mine, and someone there offered me $50 for it. I declined the offer, and while $50 would be good, the vest is almost invaluable for the memories and moments that it holds. In a proper send-off, I have compiled the top 5 “Best of The Vest” moments. Check them out below.
Interview With Cee-Lo Green 11.13.08
The interview with Cee-Lo has definitely earned its place on the Best of The Vest list. The interview took place at the Vic Theatre, as Cee-Lo was there to play a show with The Roots. I met Virgil at the venue in the late afternoon. I was a little drunk when I got there, as my niece was born the previous day (11/12/08) and after visiting her for the first time at the hospital, my brother and I went to celebrate at an English pub close to Northwestern hospital. When we got to the Vic, Cee-Lo and The Roots were doing soundcheck, and I had plenty of time to prepare, sober up, and knock it out. I put together a very solid list of questions, and was ready when they walked us into the dressing rooms. There was one problem, the interview I was preparing was for Black Thought and ?uestlove, who we were told would be speaking with us that day. Apparently schedules got messed up, and Cee-lo was taking press instead. With no time to plan, I pretty much freestyled this whole interview, and did a pretty damn good job.
Wale played The Abbey Pub last April, and we were on board as the official media sponsor. It was great to have free reign at the Abbey Pub, and that show was especially dope as I remember it being Mic Terror’s true coming out party. He literally killed it, and made it hard for Colin Munroe, who also performed that night. Naledge, The Smash Bros, BBU, Mano, D.O.E., Chuck Ingish, Vic Lloyd, and too many others to name were all backstage and it felt almost like a big summer camp. After the show we did an interview with Wale on his tour bus. Straight after that, Virgil and I went back to the office, uploaded the footage and Virgil did a marathon session of posting it to youtube. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but staying up til 6AM definitely had some ripple effects later in the week… Also, and this has never been said before right now, the interview we did with Wale never saw the light of day because of some technical difficulties… double-treated indeed.
RH TV: 11 Interviews w/De La Soul 4.09
I went to do this interview with De La Soul on a Monday. I was drained, uninspired, maybe a little depressed. I’m not exactly sure what else was going on, probably girl problems, money concerns, or just the burnout that comes from our daily grind. I remember that the spring of ’09 was really busy. We were doing a lot of parties, and I was DJing or out late pretty much every night, then up and at the RH offices very early. The few hours of sleep weren’t enough, and I was feeling a lot of pressure. I was really excited about interviewing De La Soul, but didn’t know exactly how well it was going to go. Everything seemed to click as soon as I sat down for the interview and Pos said to Dave, ‘doesn’t he remind you of Stretch Armstrong?’ From there it was cruise control, as I dug deep into their debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, an album that changed my life when I first purchased it. I left the interview with a new breathe, and actually wrote this blog about it as well.
Dubya’s Farewell at Tonic Room 1.09
This was just a great night. I remember running into Izzo on a Friday night after I left Mix. Reef did a weekly over there last winter, and I checked it out with Dave Jeff and Troy Real. Mick Luter was with us too I believe. I also remember running into the Leaders guys, and that’s when I first really starting seeing Suli from BlindI (as well my old high school) on the regular. Things ended at Mix and I walked home via Halsted. I hit the Tonic Room and Izzo was outside smoking or something, and was like, ‘hey, RTC… Want a shot?’ I’m not really one to turn down a free drink on a Friday night, so we chopped it up at Tonic Room and he asked me if I wanted to DJ there. I was definitely with it, and we set up a party that was going to launch a regular RH thing at Tonic Room. Rather than just me DJing, we decided to bring in Naledge for a brief performance (Naledge was pretty much rapping at all my gigs during this time, which was dope) and making it a goodbye to George W. Bush, who’s presidency was finally ending. The night was dope. Mic Terror also came through, and it was the first of many great times at Tonic Room. At the end of the night some cutie came up to me and asked if she could tell me a secret, and proceeded to make out with me before I could stop her. All in all, it was pretty… pretty… pretty… pretty good.
The Day After The “Similar To The Letters” Release Party 12.08
That’s a pretty long title, right? Last December I teamed up with GLC to release Similar To The Letters, one of my favorite mixtapes to be a part of as well as listen to. This was the biggest thing to happen to me as a DJ at that time, and the knowledge I gained from GL during this process will last a lifetime. I remember riding around while he showed me all his old stomping grounds including his old high school, Kanye’s old house, and the alley where GL and Really Doe would hoop. I felt honored to be welcomed into his sister’s house, and remember going through a plethora of music on his computer. While we were going through the music I quickly snagged two live recordings, and decided then that they would kind of anchor the tape. The rest of songs we picked were new and old, and we even recorded an exclusive song with Chip Tha Ripper at SoundScape. This was during the beginning of my relationship with Michael Kolar as well, and he spent a lot of time mastering the song files. The result is a mixtape that I can still listen to today, and bang. I remember GL was going to do a collection of like 3 mixtapes around this time… I guess this one was so good, he just let it ride, lol. Anyway, this night was really dope because the previous night we had the release party for Similar to The Letters at the NV Penthouse. The party was a huge success. Mano, Hollywood Holt, and Rock City killed their sets, and all of our friends and industry people came through to hang out. I was just getting frustrated because there were some issues with NV, and people were pulling me in different directions all night to where I couldn’t just enjoy myself. I tried to keep my frustration to myself, but I guess I didn’t do too good of a job. The next day GL called me and said, ‘it’s OK to feel like that, but you can’t let other people see it.’ Later on we met up with him at Lava Lounge, and talked about it a little further. He told me that the game doesn’t come with any instructions, and that he’s there to offer some guidance. That’s stuck with me til now, and that’s why this round’s out the best of the vest…
If anyone has any other pics of the vest, or memories of its awesomeness please let me know!