The First Rap Record?
************************
I can recall way,way back before they even had
MySpace...(Or maybe internet?...lol)
It was before many of the DJ's I know today
were even born.
Before exstacy, before raves, before glowsticks.
"Superstar DJ's"...

I was DJ'ing in a club...
I think it was around 1977 thru 1979
(Yes, doing Disco of all things!)
Hey, it paid well!
So anyway, I was DJ'ing in this club, it was nice
and cushy...I had an apartment right next to the club...
(Talk about after-hours! I always had some gal knocking
on my door at 4 or 5 in the morning)
The club owners liked me and used to give me
bottles of Amarretto di Saronno, cause they knew I liked it.
I was hooked up with IDC...
(International Disco Corporation) and they would send me
free promo albums and EP's every week.
(You just had to have a letterhead from the club
owners proving you worked as a DJ for them)
I had all kinds of disco albums. Crates and crates
of albums. infact, I used to have these two guys
come to my aprtment before i was going to the club
so they could help me carry them.
In those days....it wasn't many DJ's spinning
for maybe an hour each.
I was spinning straight from 10:00pm
all the way until 4 in the morning.
No breaks.
I had all that old disco stuff...
You name it...
Gloria Gaynor,The Village People,Cerrone,
(An awezome disco drummer with pounding beats...
Check it on You-Tube, he's there)
I also had Donna Summer,Earth, Wing and Fire,
The Trammps,B-52's,Blondie,Vicki Sue Robinson,
The Gap Band,oh you know...all the artists of the time.
(I used to have the place hopping because I played
disco, and rock and roll, and even thrw in some latin!
Anyway...
So one day....they come up to me with an LP in
a brown paper wrapper like it was porno or something...
I ripped it open and what did I see?
One of the first Rap records...
"Rappers Delight" by The Sugar Hill Gang.
(One of the first, not THE First)
I was like..."What's This?"

My friend said, "It's Rap music...the latest thing.
So I popped it on the turntables (Technics...I only used Technics)
and spun some Rappers Delight that Friday night.
I was never, ever prepared for the explosion that followed.
Of course there were other "bootleg" albums from other raps
that were actually around first...which some people don't know.
Such as GrandMaster Flash and MelleMel, and everyone knows
whenh Blondie came out with "Rapture".
However,
Some of the REAL Godfathers of Hip-Hop are known to only but a few
afficionados of music. (All types of music, not just one).
"Kool DJ Herc, the godfather of hip-hop, was a Jamaican-born DJ who moved to the Bronx in 1967. With his unique playlist of R&B,soul,funk, and obscure disco, Herc quickly became the catalyst of the hip-hop way of life. The kids from the Bronx and Harlem loved his ghetto style, which gave birth to the concept of the B-Boy. The B-Boy -- or beat boy, break boy, Bronx boy -- loved the breaks of Kool Herc, and as a result soon created break dancing. These were the people of the hip-hop culture. While Pete DJ Jones was #1 for the black disco crowd in NYC, Herc and the B-Boys were the essence of the hip-hop movement, because of they lived the lifestyle. The way they danced, dressed, walked, and talked was unique, as opposed to most of the disco artists and fans of the time, who were not as in touch with the urban streets of America."...
Taken from "A History of Rap and Hip-Hop"
http://www.jahsonic.com/Rap.html
*************************
After that, the people couldn't get enough of rap.
Soon after that came GrandMaster Flash and The Furious Five,
Kurtis Blow,and a host of others...
It was right around this time that I heard some Jimi Hendrix.
Then it was over for me. I started playing guitar and doing rock and roll and blues.
Only recently have I begun to go back into dance and psytrance/techno, thanks
mostly to my buddy, DJ CKat (Cheshire Kat).
Amazingly, we were in a band together doing some rock and my tunez briefly.
The band was called Tryptamind. With Eric Vanderveer on drums.
So anyway, when I see some rappers today 17 or 18 years old....
I have to smile because they weren't even a twinkle in their Daddy's eye
when I was spinnin' the first Rap Records.
But hey...Spin on!

Peace
{   o}=====>
Cazzy
The Alien Bluez Dude

Yoko Ono’ Art Exhibit

"Touch Me"

As I arrived at Yoko Ono's
art exhibit, "Touch Me"...

I was immediately delighted by all the people
dressed in black....
(Both men and women)

I suppose this was the attire for
Gallery Lelong...
(Located at 528 W26th St.)

Sleek.Classy. I liked it.

It was a kool contrast to the bright white walls...

I walked in further and went over to the desk and signed
the guest book. It was quite full of signatures already.
I took some of the greeting postcards and flyers Yoko
had left out there for her guests which were simple
yet effective....

It read...



Touch me

Y.O. '08



As I entered further, I saw was a long line of portraits...

as it say's in her blog...

"Complementing this contemporary work will be Vertical Memory, in which a composite of a male face—combining Ono's father, husband and son—is contrasted with the artist's succinct and moving texts describing her passage from birth to death."



Each picture had a short piece of narrative
about her life. From birth onward...
Some were incredibly deep and revealing.
Things I have never known about Yoko. Some of them were quite shocking...some were funny...some sad...
(She is so open and totally honest about herself!...and bold!)

I am not going to tell you everything that was under
each picture....you should go and experience that for yourself...

As I walked into the next room, there was a very large canvas
(Almost the width of the gallery!)
with holes which seemed to have been cut with a razor or
carpet knife....in x shapes...

People were there with polaroid cameras ready to take your picture
as you placed your arm or leg or other appendage through
one of the holes and they would snap a pic.
You were free to keep the picture or sign it and leave it
pinned to another wall Yoko had set up for people
to leave their pics. They were hilarious too...that was fun.
I signed mine and left it...Cazzy-The Alien Bluez Dude...Peace Yoko!

As I walked around further, there were these other pictures
taken of different people, each with a interesting look or shade or hue
or expression. I stared at each one for a time...trying to feel Yoko's
mindset and thoughts...

Around the other wall....there was a meduim sized black marble bowl
filled with water....and a note from Yoko...
"Dip your fingers in the water....Touch me"

So I did and walked over to the next table which had several boxes,
each with a different part of the body, made in soft rubber...
(Molds of Yoko's body?)

The first box was the lips, then the breasts, then the tummy, then the pelvis,
then the knees and then the legs, and then finally the feet.

I touched each part as Yoko requested, and it felt like real skin!
Amazing!

Around into the next room, there were four tv's...
Each displaying a different video...of Yoko...
For instance...
One was done in Paris, France....
Yoko sitting in a chair onstage with a black dress on...
People came up from the audience and took a pair of scizzors,
and one by one, they cut pieces of Yoko's dress!
She sat there totally oblivious and calm...
(Peaceful Yoko as always!)
One by one they cut, the audience...
Until finally, she was down to just underthings...It was amazing how each person came up and looked up at Yoko
before cutting another piece of her dress, and Yoko
would just stare straight ahead...totally calm and buddhist.

(You gotta love her!)

I think people were standing around trying to...wait and see
if Yoko would arrive. I didn't want to bother her and bug her for
an autograph...or try and snap a picture of her...so I left.
(She probably is tired of signing those, and having pictures taken I'm sure!) I left a CD of my music for Yoko with one of the girls...and went outside into the beautiful NYC sunny day...

The weird thing was...it actually felt sunnier and brighter inside the gallery!

All in all it was exciting and awesome and kool...Soooo

glad I went!

Love you,Yoko

You are real....real is love...

Cazzy

Juzt wanted to zay...

Happy Birthday to my buddy, Liberty DeVitto!

You, my friend are the mozt versatile, hard hitting, consistent

and freakin' rockin' drummer I have ever seen...
I am honored to have been able to play on the same stage as you, Lib...

(I still can't believe that day...I know it was juzt another gig for you...

but for me it was a dream...)

You've alwayz been zo kool with me too man...

The mozt un-egotistical celebrity i've ever known!

Peace, my brother...

Purple

Clouds float by inside my head

The rain is always soothing

the music calms my very soul

My guitar it keeps on moving

The lights they blinded me with hope

the stage didn't seem quite steady

The purple waves before my eyes

Have kept me high but ready

Glitter girls zoom by so swiftly

in leather and plastic dress

The foam it tumbles in your head

and cleanses it from mess

The world they say is now quite new

Or is it still the same?

The internet speeds so very fast

Yet people, still slow, a shame

Wherever you go is where you are

and cyclones whip up frenzy

The speakers pound and spill the drinks

another DJ's envy

Flowers dance right in the air

and birds fly upside down

The singer can't become the song

the sky becomes the ground

On the lips of every lover

who has so been quite smitten

On the neck of every guitar

is every song every written

Cazzy

Just wanted to let you all know...

I have some of my music uploaded...

Check it out when you get a momment...

Peace

{   o}====>

Cazzy

The Alien Bluez Dude