Wednesday, January 2, 2008

holy shit...

god damn...

fucking hell...

i wanted to just make a post consisting of exclamations of disbelief, but i can't think of any more.

but seriously, god damn.

so i finally broke out of Canada.



i visited a friend of mine who now lives in New York City. i got there the morning of the 29th, and was greeted by fucking cold temperatures, shots of Jack, and tickets to see Talib Kweli on the 30th.

i don't have a lot of background in hip hop, but i am into a fair amount, usually lyrical hip hop like Kweli and Common. Mos Def, all that scene. well, i also like some older, seemingly expected stuff like The Chronic and Ice Cube also. "Quality" is actually one of my favorite albums. in any case, i've never been to a hip hop show before, so i didn't know what to expect. i know the Roots are a band, but I don't know that Talib had ever performed with a band.

and he didn't, it was him and his DJ, in front of a New Year's 08 backdrop, done in the style of a lot of modern design (as in "happy new year's" written all over the wall in a big mess and in different languages). since it as just him and a DJ, i didn't expect the energy of the room to get as intense as it did. there's a lot of respect for anyone who can get an entire room simply at the sound of their voice.

i was impressed to say the least. and drunk. goddamn. the only thing is the no smoking in bars thing New York has. i just don't get it.

on the way out, Darren and I saw this:

classic.

we went to a "New Year's Eve Eve" party with friends of his afterwards, and proceeded to black out.

and then of course, there was New Year's Eve proper. like a million other people we made it to Times Square at about 8PM, flasks filled with whiskey to keep us warm. and a little baked.

i mean, i dunno what to really say. it was amazing. all the confetti like colored snow, the noise everywhere around me and coming from me....everything. so intense. for a moment, i almost forgot everything with Samantha, and I just let myself become enveloped by the moment.

The high of celebrating New Year's and all the mythology or gravity or whatever-you-want-to-call-it behind celebrating new beginnings completely convinced me that this trip was the best thing I've ever done, and gave me the final resolve to just go for it. why the fuck not, i was already miles away.

we didn't get back to a place with a bed till 6am. and i collapsed. Darren and I had been discussing the whole trip idea, (which incidentally, a lot of people seem to be into), and we kind of planned out a little journey for me.

well, really, just the next stop, and a potential goal or final destination.


so today, since I may as well support all of my vices while on this, I am headed for Atlantic City. to quote Ice Cube, "shake em up, shake em up, shake em up, shake em".




i'll write more when i get there.

No comments: