Check it, dang inexpensive, matte finish handmad little planters, like 3.5″ and 5″… or something close to it.  At the gig, and I like them. If you do, peep them at Sprout Home.

This is the Aeschynanthus radicans, or lipstick plant.

It’s really dope. Most people like the leaf structure, which curls (nothing really Rasta about that). But are you kidding me with this flower.

I didn’t just feel like chicken, I had this crazy almost two week long jones going on for KFC, yeah, the same KFC that isn’t suppose to use Chicken in the title of the chain, because they modify the chickens so much, they don’t qualify as chicken.  Ok, maybe that last part isn’t really true, I feel like I read that in Covert Action Quarterly back in my college days, but that might be some kind of false memory.  But you know, it might as well be true.  I feel very ill from that meal.  The whole thing comes from this childhood trip to Kentucky, my Uncle Jay took me to see some speedboat races in god knows where in Kentucky, I was like 8 or somewhere near that age.  So I remember really wanting to go to KFC, or Kentucky Fried Chicken as it was called back then, because I knew one thing about this trip, we were in Kentucky.  Our household didn’t eat a lot of KFC growing up, Mom and three boys, that was a lot of chicken, i’m sure Moms wasn’t about getting more than a bucket back then, and I was a notorious fried chicken eater (thanks Grandma Susie!)  I”m kinda getting off point here… I went today, I was just feeling like “fuck it, it’s crap, but I want it!”  Yeah, I need to never ever ever ever eat it again.  I’m declaring thing right now.  I”m almost 40 years old, and i’m not eating KFC ever again.  Ok, I could see maybe being captured by some evil bad peoples in some far away land, and them feeding me rocks for a couple years, and then being rescued by some magic bears like in The Golden Compass, and them asking me in a voice that might sound like Fozzy Bear’s Voice, “You must be hungry, would you like us to park the blimp at that KFC?”…. Yeah, then I would have a two piece with that super sugar sweet coleslaw.  I for sure would.  But as for this moment, and all things being a non hostage situation… i’m done with the skinny tie wearing dude slinging simi chicken.  All Done.

New term maybe. I have just been to a couple record stores here in Chicago to sell some records. That whole economy thing may have had a lot to do with the small number of records that these folks were actually interested in. But check it, Aesop Rock, Company Flow, El-P (i know, kinda like in Co Flow, but his solo records), Madlib produced 12″‘s….. these were the only LPs they wanted, all three stores. Not the Gang Starr 12′s, no Wu, No Nas… I could keep listing, but the quality of records as far as rap goes is about the same as the first few I just listed. So…. Has Madlib’s adoring indie rock following pulled these people from liking other Hip Hop? Is there now a kind of rap that moslty white folks like? I say this because the stores I was in, were mostly indie rock by nature, that said… Dusty Groove was in the mix here. So.. off to ebay this shite. Nothing much about this, just noticed a little something. I mean, El-P ? That would be the Garbage of the lot.

I did something the other day that I rarely do, I went to pitchfork and looked at and listened to a some songs from the weeks new releases.  I stumbled on Bibio.   I’m kind of a visual person sometimes, and the album cover was lovely, it called to me.  I liked the sample song, went out and bought it.  Its really nice.  Boards of Canada seem to come to mind, but that might be because the reviewer planted that in my mind.  I find this to be a bit more dynamic than the Boards.  I recall almost falling to sleep to Boards of Canada when I would hold down the fort at Dandelion back in Champaign.  Bibio to me has this nice Prefuse 73 meets The Sea and Cake.   There are some lovely beats that nod the head laced into dreamscaped melody.  The only vocals that pop up are pretty.  Fire Ant, Sugerette, and Cry? Baby? are my cuts of choice.  That said, check out Jeolous of Roses as well, kinda Suggie Otis soul funk.

I”m from Champaign Urbana, its the 217! and its pretty dope.  I tend to drink too much when i’m there, and that’s ok, because i’m not there too much.  This isn’t about drinking though, it’s about…. well, I”m not sure what its about.  Something about the quite times there, and the loud times here I think.

I”m motivated to put my fingers to the keys this moment because of all the fucking car horn honking that goes on here in Chicago.  I feel like I never heard a car horn until I moved here 5 years ago.  There is something unnerving about the mechanical sound of a horn, its cold and rude, and really has no place in society.  Ok, sure…. your driving, your brakes go out, and you need to let the fools playing dice in middle of the road know your about to hit them.  Yeah, in that case, and some others that are close to that, it is perfectly ok to honk your car horn.  I moved from my last apartment because of car horns, seriously.  I lived on Pierce and Kedzie, 1/2 a block south of North.  We lived off an alley.  Holy shite, Puerto Ricans can honk a car horn.   The art of honking when your coming out of an alley, about to cross a sidewalk, they have it down.  No subtle one quick honk here, were talking a fucking song.   Think of any beat you can, and apply that to a car horn.  That’s the deal over there.  All Day, All Night, honk honk honky honkity honk.  But that wasn’t really the worst of the honking.  This next level of car honking annoyance is not relegated to any one ethnic group, nope.  The I”m to lazy to get out of my car and knock on a door, or I don’t want to use a single minute of my wireless plan to call the people i’m picking up, or can’t use a text to let them know i’m here, yeah… you know it, its the honk honk honk honk honk honk honk, “I’m here” honk.  This honk has followed me around Chicago.  I”m on Ada now, a cute little side street off of Chicago Ave, and well.. it’s worse here.  There are more fat people I see around the block, so i’m going to go with lazy, and their lazy ass friends.   Morning, Noon, Afternoon, Eve, and yes.. Late Night.   These fools will honk their asses off.  I”m not into any kind of money, and constantly live in some poor hood, and when i’m at any kind of “moneyed up” area, I notice instantly that I’m not hearing a single car horn.  I did live on Potomac, in Wicker Park… No horns there, well except for the, sorry to say… Puerto Rican family that lived in the garden unit of my building.  This is starting to sound like I have beef with Puerto Rican’s eh?  I don’t.  I love me some grown men on blinged out bikes, its my jam.  So yeah, i’m thinking that some people just don’t have it in them to think about sleeping babies, chill people, and well, their neighbors.  That must be some soft trait that can’t be recognized by the peeps on my block.  I’m saving my Black Folk and the art of cell phone talking for another day.  On the horn honking tip, I must seem kinda crazy to some people, when i’m hanging out of my window yelling, “What the fuck is wrong with you and your car horn”,  yeah, i do that.  I think its kinda funny.  I”m sure it could escalate into some real beef with someone, but see… that would be cool, because I hate the car horn so much, that I might really be into whopping someones ass over it.  I remember my mom telling a friend of hers that was picking us up, to not honk the horn, because she could see her pull up in the driveway, and that it wasn’t needed.  I think that is the moment as a child that I must have learned that car horns are for emergencies only.  So if you want to have some fun with me, come pick me up, and just honk to let me know you here.  It will be real funny, I might punch you nicely.  This coffee has me really tossing out the violent declarations, I’m not a fighter.