So if you have been tuned in and wondering what we have been doing in the last few days, I’m sorry that we haven’t gotten up on here daily…..We have been constantly moving and sandwiched in the van for the last few days so its been hard to catch up on everything!
As we are driving from SF to LA I managed to break out my labtop and write a little bit for the blog!
Here’s what you’ve missed……..
Friday tacoma WA hells kitchen…
So after the episodes and exploration of north west Canada, we slowly worked our way back to the states into Washington and down to Tacoma.
Tacoma is a small military town just south of seattle that is just as seedy as any other town located around a big base.
Before our show we checked out a few of my favorite spots in the city, I used to live in Tacoma a few years ago when I was stationed in the Army, so in a way it was like going home.
We stopped at the local goodwill…nothing noteworthy…..checked out a few smaller stores downtown and then went to LEGENDS barber shop on the east side! I must say it feels good to get outta the chair with a smile on your face and happy with the company and cut that you get….Especially outta town…. The last time I fucked with a barber outta town I got my head cut up, instead of my hair! Anyways..Legends…good people, dope cuts….nuff said!
After getting fresh over there we headed down to my Absolute FAVORITE VENUE in the tac called “The Swiss”. Althought the swiss isn’t really a scene based spot, it became my favorite a few years back when they invited me to play! So I had to stop in and say whats up to the staff and homies that work there! And also grab some dates up for 09’
(ahem….april 9th at the swiss….party people)
we had a few beers and jetted to the venue!
We played a show at a Venue called “Hells Kitchen” with a bunch of local artists and emcees. The show was cool and the staff that worked there was extra nice as usual!
Shouts out to ILLIZM….nice seeing you again famo!!! WORD!
Gran Rapids, Vertual Vertigo & Mic Skills
I’ve played at hells kitchen before and I’ve had some good times in Tacoma, but it was a first for Mic Skills and Vortex to get down there….the sound in the kicthen is always on point and there was a really nice sized crowd there….kind of a mix of cats but generally cool peeps…
The Crowd
Nothing really spectactular, happened in tacoma, and after the show we headed straight for Cali. We drove about half way that night and ended up crashing down in Eugene OR.
Top 5 in Tacoma:
1. LEGENDS barber shop!
2. Bob and Monkey at the Swiss
3. Mike (sound man at Hells Kitchen)
4. Tacoma Mediums (fat girls working at fast food spots who fuck up your orders….good for a laugh.)
5. seeing old friends
NEVADA CITEEEEEEEEAH! Jan 3
So we woke up in a motel 6…..which by the way has been an unofficial sponsor of the FUM BUCK TOUR….I think we are up to 3 or 4 motel 6 stops now….but you can beat 29.95 a night for two beds that you can push together to make a big ass jump jump! No homo……
Vortex gets his power from..........Pimp Juice!!!!!
Anyways…..we left around noon and headed for the next venue in Nevada City CA, a small artsy town outside Sacramento….about 45 mins east….in BUFU for real!
We got there around 10 or so and met up with our peoples from the sac that were in the house…Max Bundles, the realist crew, and few others….we set up shop and almost immediately started pumpin off the merch! Cats were hella cool out there and the show started promptly after our arrival.
Task1 and his Chewbacca Backpack
As the night progressed we started to meet more and more interesting characters at the party….One dude came dressed like a half pimp half chicken….no bullshit dude had the fur mixed with feathers…..and was serious with it! He was randomly jumping on and off the stage during the performances and we had to call it quits when dude knocked the speakers over….boo……
Another dude, who seemed to be really cool at first, came up and offered to by ALL the cd’s off the merch table at once. Stoked and impressed, I offered him a really good deal for all (12) of the cd’s available….he agreed to the price and left for a few mins. When he returned I guess he decided that he didn’t like the price and then threw a beer bottle at the table…..real weird….needless to say it was a wild night and a few people needed to be escorted out the spot!
I think we honestly had one of our best nights there…the spot we played at was called “Dos Banditos” and it was an old house style building, over looking a nice sized stream in the back with 3 or 4 different balconys that you could chill on, great food and excellent service…..If your in the area, def put Dos Banditos and Nevada City on the map…..
So after quite a few beers and plenty of stage killing, we broke out and crashed at a friends house a few miles away. Great times!
Top 5 in Nevada City:
1. Chips and Salsa
2. The fans who copped multiple CD’s
3. women…shorty in the white hoodie…whoever you are wherever you are…skills later told me her name was mary jane…shout out!
4. Taz ones Chewbacca back pack
5. Nicole from One Nation Army’s beat box and vocals
Sacramento Ca. jan 4th
We woke up mad early handled some last minute biz at the banditos spot and headed into the Sac.
It was a Sunday so we took it easy at a homies house, did some laundry and kicked it.
Sooooooo, kinda late towards the day we learned that the show at the VIP lounge had been cancelled, so eager for a show we hit an open mic session at “the java café” out in the burbs of sac.
A few of the same acts we saw in Nevada were getting down and cats were pretty open at the café…..I was actually impressed that there was a decent sized crowd there on a Sunday eve at a coffee shop…..
We did a small set visited with a few peeps we aint seen in a minute….shouts to dj nocturnal, max bundles and p chill…….and then dipped to a friends house for a few beers and laughs….
(THE NIGHT TOOK A VERY INTERESTING TURN AFTER THAT….BUT YOU GOTTA HIT ME UP PERSONALLY FOR MORE ON THAT!!!! Hahahaha)
Top 5 in Sacramento:
1. doing laundry
2. Jay’s dog humpin people
3. beer pong at the after hours mansion
4. late nite chicken strips
5. Carls Jr. burgers
S.F. Monday jan 5th
We left Sacramento around noon on Monday and drove straight to the bay to get up with all our peoples out there. We got in around 4 and met up with Buddy Leroy and nit the block with some merch and open minds….
Vortex lived in SF for awhile and had been all over the city before, as for me and skills we had never really seen SF. I stopped there quick one time a few years ago, but never hit the streets at all…
Anyways we walked straight to Haight St. and visited a bunch of boutiques and record stores. We found some of the sickest spots in the city very easily and dropped off a bunch of shit!
I had heard a lot about the people in SF and I had always assumed that cats were kinda snobby out there, but I was completely misled….All the people in SF that I came across were some of the most friendly and helpful cats on the west coast….
Heres a list of some of the MUST SEE AND VISIT STORES ON Haight.
TRU - sneaker boutique and womens/mens apparel, (Jern Eye was mad cool!)
RVCA Clothing apparel Store(Matt who works there is cool as fuck!)
Us in the window acting silly!
Kid robot
Amoeba Music….props for all the love and copping our shit…(for those who don’t know, amoeba is a famous cali record store that has absolutely EVERYTHING in stock!
FTC skate shop…new colab with Adidas is hitting!!!
215:The Freshest Kidz X Vertual Vertigo Colabo
As I was saying people were mad friendly….there was a dude who came up to us with no introduction and or reason, and just dapped us up and offered us beats…..dont know if dudes beats are any good…but I thought that was oddly nice.
A few other homeless people made the hilly walk amuzing….one old man was pushing a wheel chair down the hill mumbling to himself “Don’t worry Grandma…I’ll take you home now.” Only the wheel chair was empty except for a lonely 49ers starter jacket that sat in the chair…. Another women was screaming at the wall by the car when we arrived.
I went over to ask her what was on her mind and she broke down crying that she lost twenty bucks, and then told me that it was for “her shit”….meaning drugs….wow!
If its one thing that I have learned about the west coast its that the drug game is HEAVY and that the government is not trying to hard to hide it…..good on one hand in that theres no faulse advertising and decepetion about where you are, abd bad on the other for the obvious reasons that it is easily and readily available….
Coinsidentaly, on the way to the west coast, somewhere around Idaho, I was listening to some speeches from Dick Gregory and one stuck out in my mind, the entire time I was in the west coast….
If ya’ll aint up on Dick Gregory check his Stuff out….you might have to dig for audio stuff but theres mad literature out there!
Anyways…..the speech that I’m referring too, is one about drugs in the city…He said….”suppose this was my first time in New York City, how many people would believe that within 15 minutes of my first visit I could score some heroine?” the whole crowd believes. He then says,” ok and how many people would believe that within 30 mins that same dope would be traveling through my viens and I would be getting high?”
The whole crowd agrees, “OK so how many of you have the courage to belive that the police in the same city, who were born and raised here, cant find these same drugs and dealers?”
I don’t think I could ever accurately articulate the truth the way Dick Gregory did on that CD, but the lecture has been in my mind through out the whole west coast! Thought Id share it………..
So after the shops……….
we skated up to B’s BBQ a few blocks up from Haight……I swear all the dudes in the spot were stoned out there damn minds…..although the food was good, the cats working there were a bit strange….There was this big dude in the back cutting up the meat with a cleaver who was straight ice grilling us as he chopped…..a tad scary to be honest….then the old man who took our order came out and sat down with us as we ate….It felt simalr to the service in an old fashion BBQ jump off in TX, but still not being in TX and having these dudes extra egar to mean mug, then switch to being EXTRA friendly was ill.
GREAT FOOD THOUGH!
Full stomachs a few gifts for friends and about 20 cds sold we hoped back in the van, said peace and headed for LA.
Top 5 in SF
1. Crack heads screaming at themselves as soon as we got out the car.
2. mad roof top burners and a thriving graf scene.
3. Amoeba music
4. Nice walk and excersise through the hills
5. Haight st. shops
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