Goodbye, John

I'll miss John Edwards. He played fair and brought some very important issues to the campaign. Also, I've been looking for an excuse to post this picture.
I took it back in the 2004 campaign during a stop at Presbyterian College the morning he won the South Carolina primary. I out-positioned the big boys from the big papers and was pretty much up his nostrils.

It's in my top 5 favorite photos I took while at The Chronicle, but I'm pretty sure we didn't use it.

Can You Dig It? Che Grand

Che Grand is about to get busy – literally, figuratively, metaphorically and Can You Dig It-ally.
After offering listeners an EP (“Official Bootleg Import”) and a free digital mixtape (“The Fixtape”) over the last two years, buzz is building. The New York-based MC, born Uche Anosike, is preparing for the release of his debut full-length album, “Everything’s Good Ugly,” on Loud Minority Records this spring (April 1st).
Two songs from the album already released via mp3 players across the internet, “Swing” and “Crash,” reveal an artist hitting his stride.
Bearing a big, sturdy voice and an ear for catchy hooks, Che Grand exhibits the superior creativity and lyrical ingenuity you want in your favorite rapper. He’s also a worldly, well-read MC with a wide range of musical interests and a sense of humor – traits you should want in your favorite rapper, or your best friend.
In “Swing,” which features a simple and funky handclap-driven track by frequent collaborator Brian Brizzo, Grand breaks out his simile skills (“Grand hold it down like a weak toilet flush”) and makes what would be a hit record in a utopian music world. In “Crash,” he talks tough to rivals over a hip horn sample and danceteria Von Pea beat, and backs it up with more witty wordplay (“More than one or two screws loose in my brain/looks like Home Depot got hit by a hurricane” and “your whole career die young like Frankie Lymon”).
Can You Dig It? is proud to have coaxed Che Grand to the blog for an interview.



Push (or "mash" as we say in the South) theplay button on the box to hear "Swing."

Can You Dig It?: Give me the book jacket author bio version of Che Grand’s life:
Che Grand: Ok here goes… Upon one or two reviews of Uche Anosike’s motif (better known as Che Grand in this setting), some may believe he’s discovered a way to positively twist schizophrenic patterns and put it on exhibition. Living the early part of his life similar to a hoi polloi army brat, Che only had one destination in mind the whole time: New York City. Fueled by the saying that persistently buzzed in his ear from English private school playgrounds and later to dingy after-hour nights clubs in the boondocks of Virginia, “If you could make it in NYC you could make it anywhere,” Che is determined to squeeze truth from the phrase by fusing the experiences of his travels with the ideal score of the day.

CYDI?: Any similarities between Che Grand and Che Guevara?
Che Grand: Nah, I don’t think there is any at all…
One thing about Guevara is that to some he’s known as a hero and to others he’s not. There are definitely a few more potential Grandkids I need convert out there. When it’s all said and done, I want my face on your T-shirt!

CYDI?: "Everything’s Good Ugly" is your debut full-length album, but we’ve already heard an EP and a digital mixtape from you. What can we expect to hear from you on the album – musically, lyrically, thematically – that we haven’t heard from you yet? What has Che Grand been holding back?
Che Grand: I’ve never really held anything back from my listeners. Anytime I decide to make music it’s usually based on what I’m feeling at that moment – various shit that I’m going through on a daily basis. The only difference between the EP (in addition to all the digi mixes) and my album is that with the debut you get to hear a collection of my thoughts for the past three to four years. This whole time I’ve been simply spoon feeding people info about me through my music. But with "Everything’s Good Ugly," you get to have a full-course meal, plus I feel I’m a better chef now, y’know? Progression is important to me so this is going to be very advanced in comparison to OBI and the Fixtape material. It’s like a baby finally leaving that mushy stuff and starting to eat solids.

CYDI?: There’s a good amount of buzz around “Swing” and “Crash” on the Internet and I think both are A-grade material. Will these songs be released as proper singles with videos and dancing girls and action figures?
Che Grand: Thanks! As of now “Swing” is the lead single from the album and I’m really thankful for the response on both song. I’ve been a bit of a hermit these past few months taking any chance I can to lock myself in my bedroom and write video treatments. I’m a very hands-on dude with my work (sometimes to a fault). A few great ideas but no directors locked down on “Swing” yet. “Crash” is kind of the “people’s choice” single. I wanted to just let it be an album cut but I put a snippet of it on my myspace page last fall and the reactions were bonkers! I have a little fun clip in the works for that one right now, should be out in the next couple of weeks.

CYDI?: I’m pretty sure I heard Von Pea/The Beatmaker’s signature bat crack sound effect on “Crash,” but who else did you work with on the album?
Che Grand: Yeah my dude Von “bat crack” Pea produced “Crash.” Oh and by the way, he told me to tell everyone it’s just Von Pea now – “The Beatmaker” tag is outta there! I guess some people still don’t get it and really believe they are two different people after all these years. Um, who else did I work with? Production-wise it’s the usual cast – my brother Big Neeze, Suburb, Brian Brizzo, Aeon and Von… got a few features on it too, my homegirl Nicky from the group Heavy, Kami Jones, Tanya Morgan and Benny Sings – just people I personally enjoy and felt good working with. I know I’m missing a few folk, damn! Everyone on the album I thank you so much!

CYDI?: The album title and the cover art image are really interesting. What’s the inspiration for both?
Che Grand: Everything’s Good Ugly is generally feeling good about your situation no matter how ugly it can get. We all have our own personal struggles, but it takes a lot to face them head on and say “You know what? I won’t let this destroy me,” hence the water gun image. I tend to celebrate my bad days as much as my good ones. On the album I took a lot of tough situations I’ve had to deal with and made light of them hoping the listeners can feel encouraged to not be downtrodden and just keep it moving, too.

CYDI?: I think we have a shared affection for Penelope Cruz. Aren’t women with slightly odd noses sexy?
Che Grand: Yep. See that’s that “good ugly.” I can appreciate the perfect imperfections of a woman just as much as the other stuff we all admire.

CYDI?: Valentine’s Day is coming soon, so why can’t rappers be in love? It seems that only Common can pull off a good hip-hop love song.
Che Grand: I disagree. There are a few rappers that deal with that subject matter pretty well. The homeboy Com just gets that lite skinneded love, ladies think he got that glow!
I’ve been in love. I did a whole Valentine’s project about it, too; it’s out there on the innawebs somewhere. Honestly, love is one of my favorite subject matters to record about cause it can be flipped so many different ways. I’m not an emo rap guy though…Try not to get it twisted, I’m Airtight Grizzy, the anti-hero, never saved em! With that said, I’m single this V-Day, girls hit me on gmail. We’ll go get sushi and watch a romantic comedy like Rambo.

CYDI?: I saw on your blog that you’re a NetFlix subscriber. Why not Blockbuster Online? Didn’t you hear Alec Baldwin tell you that you can return your movies to the store?
Che Grand: Nah, I didn’t… I did hear him scream on his daughter for not picking up her cell phone though… that was Alec right?

CYDI?: What’s next in your queue?
Che Grand: I think next up is Death Race 2000 and Heavy Traffic.

CYDI?: I think the best MCs are the people who can showcase a wide range of knowledge and interests of things other than rap music and its typical themes – people who read books and shit. It’s easy to tell who those guys are. You’re one of those guys, aren’t you?
Che Grand: I’d like to consider myself one of those guys. I study music more than anything else though, and I mean almost every genre I can get into. Truthfully, whatever catches my eye or ear and can hold my ADD-affected brain’s interest for longer than 5 minutes will get some burn.

CYDI?: I’ve spent a little time on your blogs over the last few weeks and I’ve enjoyed them, especially the photos of television screens, more specifically, the photos of food on television commercials. Isn’t it strange how they make it splash, spill and tumble all over the place and that makes it look tasty?
Che Grand: Damn you went to the stew fuzz blog?! Yessir, Red Lobster commercials give me tiny orgasms.

CYDI?: What’s the last great record you got for free?
Che Grand: Hopefully Tanya Morgan’s new EP this weekend… Von what’s good with that Grizzy Special Edition CDR?

CYDI?: What’s the last great record you bought?
Che Grand: Downtown 81 Soundtrack and Kenna’s “Make Sure They See My Face”

CYDI?: How’d you get into Downtown 81?
Che Grand: I have to give a shout to my brother from another, Filthy. He put me on to the works of the late New York artist Jean-Michel Basquiat a few years back and I’ve been admiring it ever since. I kept procrastinating on seeing the movie so when I finally joined ’flix it was one of the first movies in my queue. The music in the movie blew me away, I must’ve kept that shit for about two months! Shortly after I finally sent it back I got on a hunt to find the soundtrack and copped it from Ebay. I LOVE the music in that movie because it was so off kilter and innovative for that time period. Plus, it was just a melting pot of all these new post-punk sounds that were coming together in NYC around the time I was being born on another side of the map in London. Seeing that made me realize that my pops was on the same vibe and was kinda hip back then. A lot of the music in that movie is what I was coming up on as a kid, for instance I remember seeing Kid Creole and The Coconuts vinyl at the house. I mean you had hip hop, new wave, and punk folks all hanging out together in the same spots. It just seemed like a good time to be a creative mind.

CYDI?: Shouldn’t everyone be made to watch Space is the Place at least once in their life?
Che Grand: Ha! Sun Ra is great! I wouldn’t push that movie to everyone though… maybe some of his albums.

CYDI?: Did you know that Mariah Carey is also releasing her album on April 1st? How do you expect people to choose?
Che Grand: Well I saw Mariah on Cribs once, I’m not saying you shouldn’t give her your money but she had like 3 bathrooms… I have ½ of 1 and there’s no toilet paper in there right now…but it’s WORKING! 4/1/08 is tentative anyway. Mariah, get your money baby…

CYDI?: Do you ever go to i-Tunes or other retailers to read the customer reviews of your stuff? I would. Have you been tempted to leave an anonymous review commenting on your genius?
Che Grand: I don’t go that far… but I do google myself sometimes to see how the blogsters are treating me. I always appreciate the feedback.

CYDI?: When Von Pea was gracious enough to stop by Can You Dig It? he agreed to provide three good rhymes for Huckabee. You don’t get it so easy. You know how radio stations always play little promos where they record an artist saying, “Yo, whassup, this is Ralph Tresvant and you’re listening to Chattanooga ’s number one hit music station for today’s best R&B and symphonic metal joints, 107.7 Jizzams.” It would be really cool if you’d do one (written, but we’d take recorded) for Can You Dig It? (And it’s pronounced Van-DEE-Vor-DEE)
Che Grand: Haha, this assignment is actually easier than that rap stuff, fam! I got you, check your gmail in a few… Thanks for having me. Everything’s Good Ugly…

We win

Barack won big in South Carolina, repudiating the Clintons' nastiness here.
Here's the victory speech, in which Barack addresses that nastiness.



You will not find any concession speech from Hillary. She left South Carolina in the afternoon once exit polls made it clear she had lost by a landslide. So, instead of doing the normal/polite thing -- congratulating Obama and graciously thanking her supporters here -- she took off for Tennessee. Oh, and Bill continued his belittling of Barack by comparing his win to Rev. Jesse Jackson's two victories here in '84 and '88.

The streak is over

Me with my headband, a lamp and a bloody honker

Two days before my 32nd birthday, I suffered the first bloody nose of my life.

I wish I could say it happened after I got into a fistfight for freedom, defending the honor of a plucky, kind-hearted prostitute, or just doing a whole bunch of blow, but the fact is my wife's diagnosis was probably right: "The air is dry and you spend too much time picking your nose."

Depends on what your definition of 'is' is

The Clintons are lying.

You know it. I know it. Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune knows it.

You may have heard the Clintons, and even John Edwards, going on about how Barack Obama has been praising Ronald Reagan. It's not true.

Tribune columnist Eric Zorn clearly lays out the truth in his blog today, transcribing exactly what Barack said and how the Clintons have lied about it.

An excerpt:

"Hillary Clinton, Jan 18:
My leading opponent the other day said that he thought the Republicans had better ideas than Democrats the last 10 to 15 years.
Bill Clinton, Jan 18:
(My wife's) principal opponent said that since 1992, the Republicans have had all the good ideas....I'm not making this up, folks.

Well, yes he is. The key, inflammatory words in the Clintons' quotes are better and good, and I invite you, reader, to find it in these transcripts of what Obama has actually said:
'I don’t want to present myself as some sort of singular figure. I think part of what’s different are the times. I do think that for example the 1980's were different.
'I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it.
'I think they felt like with all the excesses of the 1960s and 1970s and government had grown and grown but there wasn’t much sense of accountability in terms of how it was operating. I think people, he just tapped into what people were already feeling, which was we want clarity we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing.
'I think Kennedy, twenty years earlier, moved the country in a fundamentally different direction. So I think a lot of it just has to do with the times.
'I think we’re in one of those times right now. Where people feel like things as they are going aren’t working. We’re bogged down in the same arguments that we’ve been having, and they’re not useful.
'And, you know, the Republican approach, I think, has played itself out.
'I think it’s fair to say the Republicans were the party of ideas for a pretty long chunk of time there over the last ten, fifteen years, in the sense that they were challenging conventional wisdom.' "

There you have it. A lesson in dirty politics from the couple that should know better.

Happy King Day

I hope you're doing something good on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
I thought this speech, delivered May 17, 1957, was appropriate for the season.
"Give Us the Ballot," Address Delivered at the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom
Here's a brief excerpt:
" ...But even more, all types of conniving methods are still being used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters. The denial of this sacred right is a tragic betrayal of the highest mandates of our democratic tradition. And so our most urgent request to the president of the United States and every member of Congress is to give us the right to vote. (Yes)
"Give us the ballot, and we will no longer have to worry the federal government about our basic rights.
"Give us the ballot (Yes), and we will no longer plead to the federal government for passage of an anti-lynching law; we will by the power of our vote write the law on the statute books of the South (All right) and bring an end to the dastardly acts of the hooded perpetrators of violence.
"Give us the ballot (Give us the ballot), and we will transform the salient misdeeds of bloodthirsty mobs (Yeah) into the calculated good deeds of orderly citizens.
"Give us the ballot (Give us the ballot), and we will fill our legislative halls with men of goodwill (All right now) and send to the sacred halls of Congress men who will not sign a "Southern Manifesto" because of their devotion to the manifesto of justice. (Tell 'em about it)
"Give us the ballot (Yeah), and we will place judges on the benches of the South who will do justly and love mercy (Yeah), and we will place at the head of the southern states governors who will, who have felt not only the tang of the human, but the glow of the Divine..."

Now listen to this:

My Endorsement

Eleven months ago – Feb. 21, 2007, to be exact – I used this space to announce my intention to vote for Sen. Barack Obama for President of the United States of America.
I was getting a little ahead of myself.
What I meant to announce was my intention to vote for Sen. Obama in the Jan. 26 South Carolina Democratic Primary as the Democratic nominee for President.
Although the stage is a little smaller, the stakes are not. And nothing has changed my mind about who is the best candidate to lead our country out of these terribly divisive times domestically and horribly troubled times worldwide.
Not John McCain being charming, funny and smart on Face the Nation with Bob Scheiffer.
Not Mike Huckabee playing bass and being charming, funny and smart on Meet the Press with Tim Russert.
Not actor Fred Thompson doing the folksy “I’m Just a Regular Guy Sitting at the Counter of a Small Town Diner Talkin’ Straight Talk” routine in his commercial.
Not John Edwards pulling his campaign up by the bootstraps and promising to do battle with the evil American corporations that are running and ruining this country.
Not Hillary Clinton crying on cue in New Hampshire.
Not Bill Clinton reverting to Hillary Clinton’s former role as paranoid conspiracy theorist on the campaign trail, whining after his wife’s defeat in Iowa that New Hampshire party officials were to blame for what he saw as her impending doom there because the state scheduled its primary too soon after Iowa. Then it was the media’s fault because they conspired against Hillary by giving Sen. Obama “a free ride” and calling his campaign “a fairy tale.”
No, only one candidate has inspired me to believe that America can be great again and moved me to give up by long-held ban on bumper stickers. And that candidate is Barack Obama.
But as a longtime Clinton family supporter/apologist, it saddens me that things have gotten so negative from their camp. Politics is a dirty business, I know, but this is how the other side is supposed to act. Not us.
Last week, on Jan. 8 at 7:58 pm, I received a phone call from an area code I didn’t recognize. I answered it and the person on the other end told me I had been selected to participate in a public opinion poll on the upcoming primary in South Carolina. I agreed to take part because it sounded like fun and I like it when people take the time to hear what I think.
First the guy asked me a couple questions about who I was supporting. I told the gentleman about my unwavering support for Obama, rating my opinion of Barack as “extremely favorable” and telling him it was “very likely” I would vote for him Jan. 26.
Then our conversation soured.
The inquisitor on the other end of the line asked me to rate how the following statements influenced my opinion of Sen. Obama. I knew something was up when an early statement said something about Sen. Obama supporting the issuance of driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants “who are stealing jobs from hardworking Americans.”
I recognized the tactic from an article I read in Vanity Fair a couple years back about how our current unforgivably inept President and his campaign managers, led by legendary leech Karl Rove, smeared American hero John McCain in the 2000 South Carolina primary by using, among many other dirty tricks, what they call a “push poll.”
A push poll is an old trick campaigns employ to plant misinformation about candidates and spread rumors using telemarketers disguised as researchers. But their goal is to shape, not measure, opinions.
In 2000, South Carolina voters reported receiving similar calls where they were asked, “Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for John McCain for president if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?” I guess I would say “more likely,” but let’s get back to my personal anecdote.
The final straw of my phone call was when I was asked how I felt about Sen. Obama belonging to a black supremacist church on the Southside of Chicago. I laughed out loud, and actually, so did the guy asking the question. We both recognized it as ridiculous.
I traced the call to a telemarketing firm, Parker Consulting in Tucson, Ariz., but I know they were just paid hatchet men. I’m just depressed about who my gut tells me did the paying. As they say in the business, it’s “very likely.”

I had to have this

My new amiga GiuCe had this on her Block de Notas and I had to have it.
It's a commercial for a thirst-quenching Peruvian beverage called Chicha Morada. I didn't know it came mass-produced in plastic bottles a la "Sunny D," but I'm all for it.

Here's the Wikipedia entry on the drink and here's a recipe.
If you're not ready for a purple corn drink, there's a new compilation of Peruvian chicha songs (psychedelic/surf-styled electric guitars mixed with cumbia rhythms and Peruvian folk music)by Barbes Records.

You'll be better when you read this book

I'm sure I can't adequately explain how great this novel is. Junot Díaz writes the way people talk and it's beautiful. The narrators in this perspective-shifting novel make the book pop, but there is so much goodness to be found.
You learn about everything from the history and fukú of the Dominican Republic and the bloody reign of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina (someone I'm sure your high school world history teacher knows nothing about) to role playing games and anime.
It's funny, it's sad, it's educational. It's the best book I've read in a long time, but make sure you have this and this handy to help with translation.
You should read it. Don't wait until it comes to a theater near you.

For the record

Can You Dig It? returns from holiday vacation with this:

We had a great Christmas trip to see the family in the Quad Cities. On the way there, some stranger in the Atlanta airport, who claimed to be Australian (although he did not once say "G'day mate"), carrying two bags of O'Charley's leftovers gave my 15-month-old daughter a $20 bill for her college education. I spent part of it on a 1/2 pound jalapeño cheddar double melt from the airport Wendy's, which I ate minutes before boarding a small plane for a two-hour flight. Crikey!

Things soured a bit on our return trip to Atlanta when some gaunt, greased out little Santa Claus-looking man made a pitch for the very same $20 by Utah (I mean Idaho, but I accidentally said Utah --thanks to my Idahoan friend Sarah who caught my mistake)-Senator-Larry-Craiging me in the restroom.

I'm not imagining it.

I accidentally made eye contact with the man as he was leaving the bathroom, then as I saddle up to the urinal, guess who appears two potties down, trying unabashedly to get a peek at my carry-on luggage? I grumbled, "WTF," stopped midstream and considered moving to any one of the other 30 available pissers in the room. He looked the other way, probably wondering what kind of crazy MFer spews out Internet acronyms in airport bathrooms on Christmas night.

I ended up just finishing the job where I stood, exiting rapidly without washing my hands and feeling quite violated for a day or two.