My trip to NAMM day 1

Good People of the internet, greetings from Anaheim, CA! I'm writing this via a "borrowed" Wifi Connection at the hotel. Let me tell you why i'm here. Every year, the industry gathers for 3 major trade shows. One in January, here in Anaheim. One in March in Germany, and one during the summer in Indianapolis. This show, called the NAMM show is only open to music industry professionals such as buyers, artists and vendors. Its too bad more people can't see this. It's basically a music store so big, it fills up the entire convention center (which is huge) and stretches into another hotel. Every company that designs, manufactures or sells musical gear is represented. In addition, the halls are teeming with celeb players. Just tonight, I got to hang with Omar Hakim (he did plenty of time with madonna among others.), and Dave Pomeroy, a big name bass player out of nashville! To give you an idea of the magnitude of the show, check this out. When we got to the convention center today, we spent two hours walking around in the same room and didn't see everything. Housed in this particular hall are guitar/ bass companies and drum companies. We haven't seen keyboards, recording gear, pro audio, etc. It's all here and i plan to see a ton of it. I also brought the camera along to capture some moments. check out the pics. I'll Check in tomorrow after the first full day of trade showing.
-truth, kid in a candy store the size of two football fields.

Wendy's Is the Bomb

and i'll tell you why. I finished up a sound gig late around midnight and i had a craving for that number 4 (big bacon classic). i rolled up to my local square hamburger dealership and got my fix. And you know what else is the bomb? The car fries... You know, the fries you eat in the car on the way home from a fast food joint when they're hot and salty and delicious? them jawns. The ones i got this time had no salt, however. They were not the bomb.

So this is kind of a multipurpose entry. I feel compelled to write and there are a few things on my mind. so here we go.

1. Tonight I engineered an event at a local hotel and the people there want a great production but didn't really consult the production people about what was needed to make things go smoothly for all involved. As a sound engineer for a live show it's very important that I be able to both see the action and hear the system which i am controlling. I should not be in the hallway adjacent to the ballroom, next to a camera operator. I'm saying all this to say if you should find yourself planning an event that requires additional technical support from video/audio or lighting people, talk to them before hand and find out what's need and a lot of headaches can be avoided, or at least prepared for.

2. I don't talk too much about love here, at The Truth Speaks. I try to keep it from being a typical sappy hopeless romantic rant but dang it, i'm feeling the rant right now. I'm ready for somebody to kick it with. if you're out there, now's a good time to knock on my door. Right now i'm feeling the urge to get hooked up with someone smart, funny, and full of common sense. (that last one's important.) If you've seen or are this girl, please make it known so the adventure can begin. (it was incredibly tough to find a word to make that sentence not sound sexual. I think i still failed.) I'm ready to chill with somebody in a relaxed, low stress, high affection kind of deal. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

3. Isaac Hayes is the Man! My dad gave me the his "Black Moses" 2 disc set. It's Bangin'. period.

Thanks for reading.
-truth, at home, just Black Moses and Me... you know you want to come over

Wise words from Filmmaker Mel Stuart

The following is an excerpt from a PBS interview with director Mel Stuart. He's a great documentarian (films like Wattstax) but I'm sure is more well known for feature films like the original Willy Wonka and Chocolate Factory. I found his advice profound and felt as though I should share it with you.

P.O.V.: Any advice for budding documentarians?
Stuart: To anybody that wants to go into the documentary world, I have five pieces of advice. But I'm only going to tell you two. The first is that you must be lucky. If you're not lucky, get out. Second, but far more important, is: go alone in a room and find what you can do well. I wanted to become a musician or a composer. I went and heard Stravinsky conduct the "Symphony Of The Psalms" and that night I gave up music, because I knew I wasn't hearing what the master was hearing. If you want to be a writer, you'd better be damned sure you're a writer. If you want to be a director, you better be very sure. Whatever you want to do, don't fool yourself. You'll wind up at the bottom end, very sad, and you would have been a great plumber. I don't say this lightly — I'm very serious about this — but you really have to know that you're good at what you want to do.
Oh, I could give you another rule. I'll give you the last one: if you ever interview anybody, be stupid. Never tell them what you know, never act smart. That's the trouble with Barbara Walters — "Well, I hear you were going to have a divorce." Hey, I want them to tell me, Barbara, not yoyouyou idiot.
The other rules we'll save for another time.

That's the end of the excerpt.

It is kind of fitting that I found this quote from Mel. Very recently, I helped a friend and colleague in the business. Originally, she and I were to perform together but she chose to go in a different direction. What bothers me is the fact that she's constantly trying to question my intentions in the entertainment industry. I realize that she does so jokingly but something about someone else questioning my dreams, or my life's work for that matter realdisturbsubs me. I say this as a cautionary statement. In your own situations you may find yourself worried about a friend's chosen path. Yes there are some that should be discouraged (i.e. uber violent druglord, etc. ), but more often than not, there's some type of call being answered. Give support when it's needed not criticism or doubt. For all we know, the words of encouragement needed to get someone through may be on your lips. Thanks for reading.
-truth
P.S. Are you hearing what the Master's hearing?

Bridgette come get that crazy foofie! (subtitle: why you shouldn't watch late night TV on Sundays)

This one is long but you won't be disappointed.
-truth
Friends, internetians, countrymen lend me your eyes. Okay so here I am two days in a row writing about things that bother me. In case you're wondering, I'm spinning Musiq's first record properly spelled "I just want to sing." I can't remember the actual spelling.

Here's the Deal:
I watched a lot of TV tonight. Billiards on ESPN 12 or 13. Awesome and inspiring. The Stevie special on BET. Not bad. Something on the Food Network. Yummy. A Jazz Special featuring the late, great Lou Rawls. "Yeah Buddy!" Then out of nowhere I died and went to Stupid, population, seemingly the whole dang country.

VH1. Most people think shows like "Storytellers," "Behind the Music," The "I Love the [Decade X]" series and my favorite, "The Fabulous Life of..." They used to be like a grown up MTV. I guess in reality this is still true as they've unveiled the latest edition to their "Celebreality" series of shows. This includes "The Surreal Life" (like MTV's Real world with celebrities), " Celebrity Fit Club," where overweight celebs try to get back to a former self and "The Flavor of Love." This last show is where I lost my mind and my lunch.

So anyone that knows about this series of shows knows that spin offs featuring Public Enemy Hypeman Flava Flav are prevalent every season. He was originally in the cast of the debut season of surreal life. Here he fell in love with Bridgette Nielsen a formidable middle aged, European blonde, about three times as tall as Flav. They got their own show appropriately entitled Strange Love and to see these to in action, the title made perfect sense. I don't what ended up happening at the end of that show's two season run but there was talk of marriage in the teasers. In this latest season, Flav is back and Bridgette who could handle Flav, has been replaced by 20 or so crazy young ladies (I use this term so loosely it's almost poetic license), all vying for Flav's affection and I'm sure some arbitrary sum of money.

WHY IS REALITY TV MORE FAKE THAN THE SCRIPTED STUFF?! Sorry I just had to get that out. Back to the story.

So I'm watching this thing right. It's a typical reality show. All of these ladies (they call each other b*tches), Flav and his butler/manager/bodyguard lookin' dude live in the same house, filled with cameras. Of course in the beginning there are like 5 girls occupying a room. Already drama. Then of course there's the one the producers pick because they know she's gonna make everyone else want to kill her (except Flav who of course will keep picking her crazy behind until the end). There's a "voting off" process in which a certain number of girls are given a clock and the catch phrase "you know what time it is." Everyone else gots to go. Peace, B*tches. (I don't take that word lightly but after seeing an episode of this show you'll want to call them that too.) Another funny thing to note about this show is that none of girls' real names are used. On the first episode, Flav meets each girl and, based on the interview, gives them a nick name. Hysterical. Some names include Red Oyster (the Asian chick), Pumkin (spelled as it is on the show, is the white chick) and there is a whole host of African American women with names like Peaches, New York, Georgia. Ms. Latin (guess what nationality she is) got the boot tonight. I believe the troublemaker is "Hottie." Personally I think everybody on the show should be name triflin'.

So the real drama comes at elimination time. The girls catty, backstabbing and conniving. The b word goes flying like spitballs in an uncontrolled classroom. The confessionals are hysterical. Here are all of these young and beautiful women, many of whom are young enough to have been fathered by the "object of their affection." They get in the little confessional booth and say things like "That B doesn't care about Flav. She's fake. She needs to leave the house." I looking at this thinking: "Do you really care about his licorice colored behind?" No offense Flav, I'm just looking out for you best interest. These chicas are just after your fame and fortune, homeboy.

VH1 Producers, here's my ending for the show. We bring back all of the girls, call Oprah and get her to get Donald to lend us his Helicopter. Fly them out to that Survivor Island. Then Bring the Fear Factor people out there, do some crazy stunts to prove their love for Flav. Then in the middle of the night while they're sleeping, the whole production crew leaves them there. That'd be the end of the season. Cue the sad, slow pop music.

Some of you may ask why I don't simply change the channel. First of all it's not that easy. These people do the market research to get you hooked. Besides, I tried once. It was BET and a white Televangelist was on there telling about the blessing I could receive by calling to get my green prosperity/prayer cloth. I can't make this stuff up. If I could, I'd be on the "The Fabulous life of." Seriously, this guy with a combover hair piece combination of nearly legendary proportions was interviewing people that called in to get their prayer hanky. I don't mean to down your vibe if you've got one and it cured your cancer like they said on TV, but come the freak on. They'd probably be able to sell more of them if they called it what it is, a piece of fabric from the Lucky Charms leprechaun's outfit. Shoot, I'll take two! And send some to those girls at Flav's house, they need prayer.

Thanks for reading.
-Truth, planning on visiting a bookstore more often.

P.S. I need a TIVO hook up. Who's got my back?

By the way

Thanks to Aunt Faye for my Arch Card. It was by far my favorite gift this holiday season!

A few thoughts about growing up.

Good blog readers and people of the internet: hello and happy new year! I realize it has been a while since my last entry and that has been both painful and purposeful on my part. It's been painful because I've wanted to write yet I wouldn't write just anything. I like to come with something real and meaningful or nothing at all. So friends, as Freddie Hubbard tells his story about the red clay of Mississippi, I'll clue you in to what's on my mind these days.

My little sister, Benni, is growing up. Like a freight train. It's crazy. Twenty minutes ago she was just poppin' out. Now she's talking about the boys, trying to be cute and what not. Sure this is to be expected but what I wasn't for is the constant civil war going on between Benni and my Mom. Both of them are strong, opinionated women. One just happened to birth the other. Now in most people's eyes, that means one has the overall advantage. To Benni this doesn't seem to mean anything. Everyday they fight about one thing or another usually something incredibly trivial and pointless in the grand scheme of things. But at 14, it seems that only the trivial stuff matters.
"why can't I wear these pants?"
"Because they don't fit."

"Why do I clean it up?"
"Because you dirtied it."

"Why can't I go to the party?"
"Because I said no!"

anyone who's past this stage of life, has kids now or siblings can relate to the scenarios I just listed. What I came to realize after I made it through that stage (which was far less painful for me) was that usually, (and that means every dang time) the parents were right. So now as the conscious, aware and observant brother that I am, I find myself trying to explain to Benni that the things that she dwells on now aren't really things worth fighting about. There are plenty of fights to come with way more important issues against much more ruthless enemies (if you can even call your loving mother an enemy). I had a long talk with her recently about her life and the way she's currently choosing to live it. She listened but I don't think she heard me. I'll have to keep working at it.

Benni is the company she keeps... or so she seems to think. In real life, she is a main line princess that goes to an amazing private school. I think she is a afraid that if she accepts who she really is and how blessed her life really is, she'll lose some sort of street cred or something. (Kind of like the cosby show when some girls called Vanessa "rich girl." don't misunderstand the dowdells are not rich. Just a lil comparison. tee hee.) anyway, Benni finds her company among the ghetto fabulous at her school. Many of whom are main line princesses in their own right but get caught in the same game of trying to front for the cameras and unsuspecting public. I spent some time tonight on Myspace.com just to see what they were into. Interesting experience. She and all of her 14 year old friends are 16 in internet years with their little icons and "sexy" poses and pictures. Hilarious.

In my quest for truth and less Bullsh*t in '06, I confronted her about it. More than once. She never has a reason for acting the way she does. Not even a bad reason. Yet she refuses to change. It makes we wonder if we all have a little of that front built in. I mean sure there's keeping up appearances but when does that go to far? I know I've had to put on the front and embellish my character in certain situations but I've been able to turn it off. Benni doesn't seem to have that ability yet. Just some things on my mind lately. Thanks for reading.
-Truth, a concerned brother/brotha