www.howtotuneaguitar.org

tech lesson

Old school joint from Nubian Crackers

how to maximize your youtube experience

Youtube is great for finding amazing videos of crazy shit like this

But there is much more to youtube. Here are some of the best ways to maximize your youtube experience, and it starts with using the "My Channel" page.

tip 1)
Tired of seeing other people's videos of crazy people doing even crazier things...like this?


Make your own! It's easy...if you live in New York City like I do. All that's required is some luck, timing, and a touch of discretion. Friend of the blog Joey Boots decided to do exactly that, minus the discretion. He walks around NYC all day filming crazy people with his Flip Video recorder. This is a compilation of some of his videos. The "Michael Jackson Impersonator" video that he shot went viral
and landed him on hundreds of websites...and gave his own website a few hundred thousand views.



I decided to try it out as well. I soon learned that if you ride the subway long enough, you will have many opportunities to capture some of the more insane elements of the human condition. Here are a
 few examples of videos I shot myself:




Once you have uploaded the videos (which you can do with your phone, btw), they are on your channel for everybody to see. You can now embed the videos on your friends facebook pages, email the link to friends, and create a catalog of anything you find interesting.

Eventually, you can move onto projects more challenging then filming crackheads in the subway. A guy I know was part of a youtube spoof of "There Will Be Blood." Their video got almost 750,000 views.



tip 2)
youtube is extremely entertaining. We all know this. But it can be educational as well. Subscribing to other channels offers a wide array of things, whether it be political/historical, music related, or news related. Two of my favorite channels that I subscribe to are:

Antihostile, who posts many famous Malcolm X speeches and James Baldwin interviews.
Anthony Arnove, who, along with  historian Howard Zinn, wrote "The People's History of the United States."

Additionally, there are hundreds of channels whose sole purpose is to catalog and find amazing music within a specific genre. If you like funk, I cannot recommend a better channel than 805cowboy13's, who has hundreds of old, rare funk tracks.

If you like a certain record label and their artists, subscribe to their youtube channel. Whenever i go to my youtube home-screen, I am always  updated with videos of new songs...or new albums about to be released, like this


I'm a huge hip hop fan, yet I had no idea that Pete Rock was teaming up with "Smif n Wesson" to make an album. Thanks to my handy subscription to their record label, DuckDown Records, I found out before all my friends did...which is extremely important for me.

tip 3)
Use your inbox! This is where other people can interact with you. Other youtube users can share videos with you. If you like what that user is about, much like facebook, you can become his "friend" and get updates as to his or her recent activity.

Furthermore, there are times where you need to interact with others. For instance, I wanted to know the name of a song featured in the Pete Rock video posted above. I commented on the video, "hey, does anyone know the name of the second Pete Rock song?" Two days later, I checked my inbox on a whim and got my answer. Somebody commented, "@mothernaturesson89 Pete Rock & CL Smooth - Straighten It Out." I am forever greatful.

If you want to reply to someone's comments, you can post @their account name, and they will see the reply in their inbox.


I hope I offered some useful tips. If you have any interesting videos you've uploaded, hit me up at @mothernaturesson89 on youtube. Or, check out my channel.

7 Worst tattoos of all time

People have been getting tattoos for a very long time. The earliest tattoo in recorded history belongs to "Otzi the Iceman," whose 5,000 year old body was found preserved in a glacier between Austria and Italy. They even make an appearance in the bible--leviticus (19:28) reads, "ye shall not make any cuttings on your flesh for the dead nor print any marks upon you."

In modern times, tattoos were typically relegated to sailors, soldiers, and members of the circus. However, in the past 50 years, tattoos have become more widespread and much more socially acceptable. Unfortunately, as more people get tattoos, the number of idiotic, ridiculously awful tattoos rises accordingly.

In 1936, Life Magazine reported that 6% of Americans had at least one tattoo. In 2006, according to the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, that figure rose to 24%. In 2007, The Pew Research Center found that 36% of Americans aged 18-25 had at least one tattoo. Now, I know there are dumb asses of all ages across this great country of ours. But 1 in 3 college age kids, a demographic widely known for its impulsive and sometimes moronic behavior, is inked up? No wonder we have tattoos like these (and no wonder that 17% of people who have a tattoo consider getting it removed):

• 1)     College; the precious 4 years when young people all over the world get the chance to grow and discover who they truly are. This freshman "discovered" the fact that he's a fucking douche bag

• 2) Really? Let me get this straight. You decided to get not just a Patrick Swayze tattoo, which would be pretty strange to begin with, but a tattoo of Patrick Swayze as a centaur? 

• 3) Congratulations, you just got your fucking eyeball tattooed. You know what they say: beauty is in the eye on the beholder...

• 4) You know these stay on your body forever, right? Seriously, tell me how you're going to explain to your grandchildren that you got Justin Beiber's visage tattooed on your thigh? (note, you can barely make out the leg hair on the left thigh, which would indicate that the recipient of this ingenious tattoo is a dude)

•  5) You must be on fucking crack to think this is even a remotely good idea.

•  6) Ahh yes, the famous Gucci Mane incident. In addition to being a terrible rapper, he's also a  mental defective who got an ice cream cone tattooed on his face. Now, in his defense, one of his catchphrases is "so icy, boy." But, to get a metaphorical representation of said catchphrase tattooed on your face is absolutely, unequivocally one of the stupidest fucking things I've ever seen in my entire life. No wonder he can't spell "Man" correctly. 

• 7)  I'm unsurprised that America ranks 17th overall in education. I'm also unsurprised that Americans have begun to get high off bath salts, ensuingly lapsing into dangerous psychotic episodes. We are a great nation. I firmly believe that. Yet, it deeply pains me to see that the freedom so many have sacrificed their lives for has been squandered on this: some guy getting a collage simultaneously commemorating his daughter, America, and Star Wars, tattooed on his dumb, chunky back.

Counterpoint:

However, I have great hope for this nation because of tattoos like these

I really, really, hope this is ironic. Either way, it's fucking amazing

'nuff said.

Once again, 'nuff said. Don't try to read into it. Just accept it.

Dick Cheney as Satan? fuck yes

 This takes the cake. The fact that there's some sardonic genius lurking around out there who came up with this leaves me awestruck. Would I want to have this on my body? Not really. But I definitely like it.

subway dancing: masked man, young bill gates lookalike, and his portly friends getting it in

I saw the Spike Lee movie "Malcolm X" last nite. Thought i would post this video. A video that was linked to it was a lengthy speech by the "Honorable" elijah Muhammad. it was posted by 7thjewelproductions, which is apparently an NOI internet mouthpiece. very sad to see that people are still subscribing to this sophism.

the nation of islam is as truly islamic as the mormons are christian (or as the christians are jewish, for that matter.) organized religion can be a powerful tool for good, yet in my opinion they are entirely divisive and cloud people from a purer understanding of themselves and their fellow human beings. that being said, it is important to differentiate spirituality from religion. an individual's relationship with their higher power, in whatever iteration that may be, is spirituality. accepting and believing what someone else's beliefs are is religion. and that, in my opinion, is bumbaclot.

Religious fundamentalism scares the shit outta me

In the words of Drake's song Bitch is Crazy, "I respect a woman, but this bitch is crazy..."

6 year old dj

this kid is sick

Why teachers across the country are teaching couses about HBO's THE WIRE

 why teachers are teaching "THE WIRE"

"The Wire" is my favorite television show of all time. This hour-long weekly drama blows away the competition in its cinematography, dialogue and plot lines. And nothing can match Baltimore as stage set.

Words can't describe how immensely pleasurable, disturbing, entertaining -- yet thought provoking -- this show is. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Imagine that picture, at 30 frames per second, showing:

•  a bowtied, bespectacled hitman from The Nation of Islam who reads Harper's magazine as well as The Economist. 

• a guy who pretends to be a geriatric in a wheelchair, in order to break into drug dealers' safe houses and rob them blind... he also happens to be gay.

• a renegade, broken down semi alcoholic homicide detective using dentures to leave teeth marks on homeless corpses' asscheeks, creating a phantom serial killer in order to get the mayor to give the police department the funds they desperately need.

 Imagine all this taking place  on the streets of Baltimore, providing not just a backdrop for a mere tv show (its not tv, its hbo, by the way...) but as a backdrop for all former heavy industrial and shipping cities in our country. Rusted waterfronts and factories, manufacturing centers (and the jobs they created) gone--reduced to smoke like specters rising from the gutters that haunt the inner city.

The public schools are so severely fucked up, that many children attend school only one day of the year, the day when principals round up truants to bolster their attendance rolls to receive better funding. 8th graders, halfway through the year, get "socially promoted" to high-school in order to move them through the system faster. High powered drug dealers read Adam Smith's "the wealth of nations" and develop slums into condos.

The first season focuses on cops and crooks, and all the bureaucracy in the way of trying to catch the crooks and remaining financially solvent. second season focuses on the ports and how drugs get into baltimore. third season goes back to the cops and crooks (i'll leave it at that, i dont want to ruin it for you). 4th season revolves around the schools and we witness the various fates that befall a group of four 8th graders. 5th season, shit gets real nuts ( you'll thank me for the ambiguity later, trust me).

after seeing the entirety of this greek  tragedy, where institutions like the police department and city hall are the gods and everyone else are mere mortals who are trapped, you realize a few things.

• 1) one should always pronounce "shit" like "sheeeeeeeet." 
• 2) Newports are the best cigarettes (something i personally can attest to). 
• 3) Drugs are bad, Mkay?). 
• 4) the actors from the wire are in every movie or tv show (go watch the episode of Bored to Death where zach galafinakis-or however the fuck you spell it-gets a colon cleanser...from the actor who plays brother mouzone).  and finally
• 5) apparently,  if we do not endeavor to fundamentally change the things that are wrong around us, in whatever incarnation they may be, history will repeat itself. watch the entire series and see what happens in the last episode if you dont believe me.

Faile stencils in my hood

Portrait 5 stephen(s)

 PORTRAIT OF THE PUNDIT AS A YOUNG MAN

They probably don't usually laugh this much at Park Avenue auctions. But then, how often do you have Stephen Colbert begging people to buy one of paintings?
 Our favorite "pundit" took satire to new levels the other night at Phillips de Pury & Company. He was on hand to auction off a portrait of himself. The $26,000 that he finagled out of the buyer will go to DonorChoose.org, an online group that raises money for classroom projects in needy schools.
The March 8^th contemporary art auction at de Pury featured "Portrait 5, Stephen(s)" among the 287 items sold that night. This painting had been featured on the Dec. 8th episode of “The Colbert Report.” During the show, artists Shepard Fairey and Andres Serrano had spray-painted the work and drawn on it with a Sharpie marker. (Note art lovers: The result didn't quite have the instant appeal of Fairey's famed Obama campaign poster.
"Portrait" had been on display since Feb. 25^th at de Pury’s West 15^th Street location. The actual auction was held at 450 Park Ave. The Colbert piece was in very good company that afternoon. Also included in the event were works by Chuck Close, Damien Hirst, Faile—a prominent fixture in the “street art” scene, whose spray paint works can be found on the streets of Williamsburg, and Mr Brainwash—the focus of the Banksy film “Exit Through the Gift Shop.”
People buzzed about de Pury's modern, open Park Avenue space while camera crews set up and latecomers frantically registered for the  2 p.m. auction at a desk near the entrance. Meanwhile, professionally smiley employees stood by looking helpful and cordial. While nodding to customers, client service representative Audrey Lindsey said that there was a “lot of good press, lot of people excited to see Colbert himself.”
“This is my second auction,” photographer Sarah H. said while the media in attendance prepped. “I like the de Pury stuff. This is a much more fun way to see art than in a store.” She added, “I’m excited, I watch the Colbert Report. We’ll see how good of an auctioneer he is.”
The pre-auction festivities included a video project that replayed the "Colbert" segment of the artists embellishing "Portrait 5." As the sale began, Colbert entered and the crowd cheered. When the auctioneer informed the audience that the buyer’s premium would be waived -- because the proceeds of the painting would go to charity -- Colbert briefly clapped. He was the only one to do so.

The bidding for his painting opened at $1. In what seemed like a matter of seconds, the bid rose to $6,000. "It's happening!" Colbert exclaimed. 

The fervent bidding went back and forth, reaching $17,000. At $18,000, Colbert put in a bid and jokingly pretended the man next to him had placed it. When the bidding stalled at $22,000, Colbert coughed, “higher.” At $24,000, Colbert ran up to the auctioneer’s podium and grabbed the microphone. The affable crowd applauded.

“If you’re not bidding, you hate children,” Colbert teased. “C’mon, have you seen the other stuff they have here today? Damien Hirst is doing spin art now.”

The satirical pundit talked non-stop through the bidding. “If you live in the New York area, I will personally hang the portrait," he begged the audience. "I will come to your mansion, yacht, or personal walk-in cocaine closet.”

Even more, he offered the highest bidder the chance to come on his show and receive the portrait. When the bidding leveled off at $26,000, Colbert made one final attempt to reach a higher bid. “Come on, it’s Mardi Gras, I’ll show you my tits!” he joked.

After throwing a last, longing gaze over the audience, Colbert banged the gavel. The crowd applauded. The de Pury auctioneer reclaimed the podium and declared the sale the “best piece of vertical integration—the artist promoted it and sold it. It’s completely innovative.” He then quipped, “we love to innovate at Phillips de Pury.”

After Colbert left, the murmurs of the audience wafted through the auction house. Some of the camera crews left too.
And then, the auctioned continued. The second lot (lot being the term auction houses use for the work being sold), a diptych by Elad Lassry of a Chilean flamingo and snowboarder Travis Parker, sold for $27,000. Lot 9, a painting of a text message that reads, “I’ve been blacked out for four days. U coming over tonite?” sold for $4,000.
By the time lot 11 was ready for auction, the atmosphere was much more focused and subdued than it was previously—with most of the bidding coming from the auction workers taking bids by phone. And for good reason too; lot 11, an oil painting by Dan Colen titled Untitled (Birdshit), sold for $74,000.

With lot 14, an ink and collage on wool canvas by Udomsak Krisanamis, the bidding shot up to $10,000, then $15,000 in 30 seconds. Lot 15, a painting by renowned artist Mark Grotjahn sold for $104,500. Shortly afterwards lot 17, a painting by Kehinde Wiley, which graces the cover of the “Under the Influence” catalogue, sold for upwards of $100,000.

At this point the seated audience became much larger. Everyone seemed prepared to dig in for the long haul. The catalogue had 287 lots in total. On why the catalogue was so substantial, Daniel, an employee for Phillips de Pury, said, “Some (of the lots) are cheaper. Whenever they have higher caliber works, there are less lots. Also, now we have two locations, so we can do more.”

In regard to Colbert’s presence at de Pury, he added, “It’s for a good cause, no reason not to be here. It’s theatre, just adds to it. Usually we don’t have celebs, even the artists promote. That never happens. I thought it was refreshing, I could see how more rich people didn’t care too much. They’re here to buy art, also (it’s) about schmoozing.”

Some did not share his opinion. Robert Blumenthal, who was there mainly for the two Ricci Albenda pieces, said, “It was pretty wild, pretty embarrassing—what, with offering to hang it! I didn’t know who he was actually.”

Soul Master Freddie North

more mike and the censations, now available for download

                  


mediafire download link

jessie anderson

Soul Magic: Let me back in, by Jesse Anderson.
Download link here

More soul

Download Link Here

soul sides:

records to snack on...

Rare funk

1)ADVANCE - TAKE ME TO THE TOP 2)JAMES OTIS JR - BABY COME ON 3) ORLANDO JOHNSON - TURN THE MUSIC ON 4) TOUCHE - WRAP IT UP

hiphopdx.com...

10 of hip hop's most criminally slept on albums

13 unsolved scientific puzzles

from the uk times

dan smith will teach you guitar/making flyers

i can't fucking believe it. holy mohammed mary moses. Throughout my entire life, i have seen "dan smith will teach you guitar" flyers posted on everything from walls to coffee shops, all the way from the upper west side down to the village. not only can he teach you guitar, but he will teach you how to be everywhere, at once...all the time. So imagine the pure ecstatic, orgasmic delight i felt when yesterday, i actually saw him putting up a dozen of his flyers in Murrays bagels on 13th and 6th ave. Dan Smith, in the flesh. my world has been officially rocked

see above...

Frankly, I don't know whether to be happy or sad with what seems like the inception of my new life as a "blogger." For a long, long time, I viewed the vast mass of entities called "bloggers" with disdain; bloggers were people who didn't have real, actual friends with whom they could have meaningful or semi meaningful conversations. To some extent I still hold this scornful opinion of "bloggers," though this is tainted by the fear of the unknown and the reluctance to do whatever it is that most young people are supposedly doing (like twitter, ironic sideburns, trendy folk psychedelic rock, etc.). A neighbor of mine, when asked what he did for a living, told me that he wrote a blog and, "had a bunch of people reading it." Ever mindful of tact, I had to resist the urge to say, "you can actually pay your rent? Really? Are you sure you don't sell reefer on the side?" Even my father has a blog, which definitely makes me not want to have one. However; in the spirit of honesty, I must examine my own wanna-be-trendy behavior and aspirations to see just how legitimate are my claims of not conforming to things that typical non conformists typically conform to. Firstly, I live in Williamsburg, crowned the hipster capital of the world. This does not help my case. It seems like a large proportion of the world's bloggers live here. Hmm, what else is another measuring stick of my blatant trendy-ness? Well...i've been known to wear vintage t-shirts. A quick look at my recently played folder in my i-tunes reveals that i've been listening to: Gangstarr, Radiohead, Elvis Costello, obscure soul singers from the late 60's and 70's, Ray Charles, obscure funk from the early 80's, and obscure rap artists from the 90's (note: Black moon, Smif-n-wesson, and pete rock are obscure only to most white people). This does not bode well for my supposed anti hipster ideology. Fuck, how tight are my jeans? whew. I almost lost it for a moment there. Despite everything I have mentioned above, the fact that my bollocks isn't squeezed in an iron, vice like grip by skinny jeans gives me the intellectual and spiritual leeway i need to blog. While we're on the subject, Iron Bollocks would be a good name for a band...or not.