Any1Man: the show, the feeling....

Photography and Flyer Design Work: Jon Genius

Any1Man was amazing. This past weekend, Shak & I attended my homie George's show in Burbank and it was packed when we got there, which was great. I have been wanting to see this play for the last couple of years, since it's inception, but this was the first time he's played on the west coast. Anyhoo...I was so proud, like parent proud, I was beaming in my seat. He was completely engulfed in every single character as each graced the stage. My favs were Wesley ("You better do it, Wesley!"), Adam, and Man-Tan. He really put into action the various types and phases of any man. I was completely enthralled and in awe of someone I've known for so many years. His performance at once touched my spirit and lit it on fire going through a range of emotions as I watched each character's tale unfold. Saddened by Wesley's plight and in love with his love of dance. Entranced by Man-Tan's charisma and wit. Feeling like I've found a part of the piece I can never seem to understand about the opposite sex in Adam's frankness about his fall from grace. Wondering what I'm "missing" when I walk down the street while hearing Bishop rant. Remembering childhood and feeling warm inside while Victor breaks through his fear of the dark (because aren't most fears really that simple anyway?). Knowing that there are so many men whose lives are mirror images of Willie's plight and he's probably the best to put it into words through his "cock"-iness and rage. I cannot wait to see where his immense talent takes him next.

Check out the link to read the descriptions of each character.

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Catch A Fire

Every single person I know who has their dream/goal/passion and is aware of what it is knows that not now but right now is the time. I’m so sincere, everyone I talk to is like ’09 is it. The cinders are just waiting to catch fire, I’m telling you. So, my homie George is coming out and he has a one man show “Any1Man” that he created* and stars in. (It was co-penned and produced by his homie Jon Genius) Can’t wait to see the show as it has been touring for two years on the east coast. Anyhoo, he gives me a ring to tell me about it and we start to discuss the need to put ourselves on and blow like yesterday. He’s feeling it, been feeling it, too. I’m super juiced because we’ve been wanting to do some stuff together for a minutebut now the stars are aligning. He’s super creative too and a talent like Shak. Amongst other things he wrote a spoken word piece for a track with Scar (so fresh). Can’t wait to post all of the stuff we shoot when he comes out. I truly believe I know every person or am separated by them by one degree of separation who’s about to take this joint over. We are the next generation of creatives, entrepreneurs, intellectuals, musicians, actors, producers, directors, you name it. When the pendulum swings back the other way, we’ll be on top. Grinding ourselves to a fine point together to make it happen. ItG is about to blow, Ife and her band (Sweetie) are supposed to move out here, Shak’s a force to be reckoned with on all accounts creative and business, Maya (aka MayaImani), Elle Mixon (designer), Sakinah… the list goes on. I’m so appreciative to know intimately these talents as they inspire me to keep my visions true and alive and to keep pushing.

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Passion – Perseverance – Innovation – Imagination – Success – Inspire

I'm Inspired By: Jay Z

Check out the link for Jay-Z'S 6 Points to living a successful life:

http://www.bestlifeonline.com/cms/publish/wealth/Jay-Z-Personal-Success.php

Jay said, “Whether you have zero money or a million dollars, it doesn’t change who you are. Keep yourself inspired.” I know a lot of people that look up to a person for all the wrong reasons…mainly money, chicks/dudes and their lifestyle even if that person is a complete LOSER. I look up to Jay because of his raw talent but more important than that I admire his tenacity. He won’t let you forget about it either, not for one second. He lets everyone know about his story…we all know it, from Marcy to Worldwide Baller. Storytelling has sooo much power in it. I think everyone should know their own story that defines who they are as a person: CEO’s, marketers, policeman, teachers…because it’s what connects you to other people. If your life has a boring story, I suggest living a more compelling life.

Sometimes we don’t want people to know how much we’ve been through to get to where we are, but that type of brutal honesty is SO RARE and it’s what sets a part your Jay’s, Kanye’s, Janelle Monet’s. They don’t give a damn about what people think…look at that dude T. Perry. Regardless of what people think of his movies, his personal story is undeniable and so are his pockets, HELLO! And then there’s that dude Obama…I wonder if people believed in him when he was on his campaign race to become a State Rep and lost…only to become Senator and then Pres. Everyone believes when you have the proof (once he became Senator) but would everyone on this thread believe in a young, hungry Obama, if he was just a dude with a story and passion for changing this country? Hmmm…

Unfortunately, 99% of people don’t believe you, until you’ve become what you say you are. You can be in the studio day and night, like Pharrell, more amazing then Pharrell and the world will say, “You need more People, I don’t believe you”. Lol And that’s such a tragedy because no one becomes anything without first believing in themselves. Damn, I think that’s Jay’s 1st point.

Future in Music - J*Davey

J*Davey (comprised of Jack, left, and Brook, right)

While driving yesterday I got so tired of the mixed CD I was playing, you know how it goes. As I'm changing the CD the regular radio comes on (I can count how many times I've listened to it in the last 12 months, seriously) and some jazzlerific song comes on. I can't get my CD in fast enough. I thought, "J*Davey save me from the radio." lol

I remember the 1st time I ever heard them. A couple years ago a homie was in town and wanted to check out one of his favorite bands. I'm always down to hear/be put on to some new ish. So off we go. We get to the Viper Room and the crowd's eclectic (check, although not terribly odd for LA), and they come on within 5 minutes of our arrival (check, perfect timing by us). I asked my friend to tell me what kind of music they played on the way to the show...he says, "sexy-electronica-punk-soul". A melange? Dope. They come on and they're sexy-electronica-punk-soul-rock-funk. Awesome. Energy? Amazing. The band owns their presence in this interim arena. It's almost as if they're daring you to try to label them. By the time "Might As Well" comes on, I was done. I'm from The "A" and bass is what I grew up on, it's like the heartbeat. So, I felt the lifeline of the song before it actually dropped and was already in love. Near the end of the song crowd participation was in full effect and every single person in there was on the same wavelength. As soon as the show was done, I bought the double disc..."I need this in my life."

Why does J*Davey save me from regular radio? Because they're different, not for the sake of being so but just because they are. You know that they're influenced by "so & so" but they're not mimicking anyone. They own their sound. J*Davey is multifaceted, just like we all are actually, and they flaunt it instead of trying to fit into someone's box. Alright, it's warm again, time to bump some "Hi Sun."

Sidebar:  Jack's been rocking the fresh cut for years now.

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http://www.jdaveybaby.com/

The Night the Cops Tried to Jack Me for Inspiration

photography: Jewel K. Estephanos

Today we had our first sit down to offically begin the launch of this site. Things have begun to get a bit strange with all of the coincidences. Whenever we're together it seems that every single thing we speak of comes into existence almost instantaneously or we’re somewhere where someone knows one of us…it’s very Celestine Prophecy-ish. I guess I’ll start at the end, I always like stories that start that way :)

We go to Starbucks for the second time today and see the same group of older gentlemen sitting at the table in the middle and Shak even remarks on it…”Kinda déjà vu-ish, right?” We order the same drinks as before we walk out I look across the street to see what new art Mr. Brainwash, a new-ish Pop Artist think Andy Warhol circa ’08 but in his (Mr. Brainwash’s) own right, has put up. It’s so right on, of course, I have to point it out. As we get to the car Shak asks if I brought a camera and I “just so happened” to have mine in my purse. We decide that I’ll take a picture and post it on the site. I get out of the car and try to find the best vantage point for the shot because it’s dark outside and I don’t want to get hit but I’ve gotta get the shot. As I’m positioning myself in the middle of the yellow lined area on the edge of the lane for traffic a police car pulls up next to me and the officer asks, rather nicely, “What are you talking a picture of?” I simply respond that I’m taking a picture of the art work because we’re starting a company and wanted to put it on our website. He asked what the website was about, and I said that it was about empowering people through inspiration to go after their passions and follow their dreams. And so, seeing the sign from across the street was like God (the universe) talking to us as we were just taking a break from our session. He wanted to know the name of the website and I told him that we hadn’t posted it yet and that’s what we were in the process of creating. He said ok and I told the officers to have a great evening. I took a couple more shots and as soon as I got back into the car the officer had turned around and pulled up right next to us and said he wanted to know if he could get the website info and Shak said that it wouldn’t be up for another two weeks. He said, “Well, how can I find it later,” and I asked if he had a business card. He said, “With my email address?” And we said, “Yep.” As he was writing his info on the card we introduced ourselves to him and the officer that was accompanying him. He gave Shak the card and asked how we met. I said that I was the “brains of the operation.” Lol Then I said that it actually started from an idea by Shak. She expounded that it was something she’d been thinking about for about 10 years. She then said that she picked me because I was one of her most artistic friends. We wished them well and they drove away. After words we looked at each other like “What the f*@k?! Did that really just happen? Did a police officer just come over and try to get that inspiration up outta us?” It was just further proof that what we’re peddling is like water, like air…it’s SOOOOO necessary. An officer of the LAW stopped me got a little bit of info, drove away and then TURNED AROUND! Are you serious?! Who does that happen to?...And on the DAY that we’re getting everything together for the launch no less. It was meant man, it was meant.

Everything that day happened in such a way that every experience seemed to just feed into one another. The premonitions have slowed down coming through my dreams by way of my subconscious. My conscious thought patterns and processes are bringing every person into my life now. Because I am experiencing this and recognizing what I’m experiencing makes me feel at once more powerful and at the same time more responsible because I AM bringing it all to me. So that previous wackness, yeah, I brought it in and the DOPEST, I’m definitely bringing it in. I have to be aware, at all times of my thought process and work constantly to eradicate any negativity by instantaneously replacing it with that positivity when crap wants to peek it’s little head in. I mean, before we left the house to go on that Starbucks run, Shak did her Tyrone Biggums impression, AGAIN lol, and this time it was Tyrone talking about wanting Obama to win, “Obama in ’08.” And she follows up with (in her own voice) “Uhhh, Obama was actually elected last month.” So when a real life Tyrone Biggums walks up on us in the parking lot of Starbucks saying, “Obama for President! And I bet that Michelle can cook, too.” We were a bit stunned because we knew Shak brought that experience into our lives. I just gave the dude a pound and responded, “Si se puede” (Yes we can), I mean what else can you say? Lol I further commented on the experience after we got into the car by simply stating “Shak… stop thinking about things or next chocolate is going to start raining from the sky.”

Sidebar: she has a MAJOR obsession with chocolate…for real. Check her profile pic.

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Inspire

My Purpose

If only I could change….This year has been an A-MA-ZING year for me. Reason #1 out of 5723 is that I have really begun to see myself. No, not the well-put-together self that people see when you walk out the door in the morning, but the self that you see when you first wake up in the morning. I am so happy that I can start to see her for who she really is because I am taking less time with jazzleing (phony, fraudulent, fugazi in actions, words or ways of being) myself out of doing what I need to and using that energy to actually do something. This began with making the decision to get in shape…for real. When I made up my mind to do it, I said to myself that this was the first day of the rest of my life. I was tired of feeling like crap about myself and NOT doing anything about it. “Those types of people” get on my nerves and I was one of them. What started as something that seemed to be a more superficial change was actually a deeper, spiritual change. The reason is that I had to change my mind about how I was going to handle everything right then in that moment in that space.

This road of self-discovery has been such a profound overhaul of my entire existence that I know I have changed the course of my life. I was at that fork in the road where I could have continued to be a self-loathing person who let life pass me by or I could change one thing…my mind. I have seen the most horrific display of my competitive nature take me out of my element and my focus. While running in Palos Verdes one morning I allowed my competitive spirit to hate on me so much about not being able to catch up with the others that I had difficulty completing a run that I’d already done twice before. I felt sick to my stomach about what was happening internally, and when I tried to come out of it I just kept slipping back into it. There was an actual fight going on inside of me…the prideful versus the martyr, the hater versus the winner, the best me versus the worst me. At the end of it all, I was so disgusted with myself for allowing myself to get to this point of allowing ANYTHING to take me off of my game. It was a pivotal moment because I got to see my reflection on that hill. The beauty in that experience is that I DID see myself for who I really was. Seeing that allowed me to make a decision to work on it because I’ll be DAMNED if that person peaks her head out again. No one is stronger than me, no one can take me out but me…as ‘Ye says in my theme song for ’09 “Amazing,” “…I’m the only thing I’m afraid of.”

If only I could change…if only I could remember to remember that I am the strongest, most compassionate, endearing, inspirational me everyday, I can remind others of that part in themselves. For the last eight months I’ve been working out every morning at 5am. I started out as a person who has never really run a day in her life, I mean if you don’t count kickball and four-square. I came from that to a place where I ran 2 miles outside in 40 degree weather with hills and all while feeling subpar and finished it in the fastest time I had done to date, 19 minutes. I realized from this one accomplishment that at least every week there is something else I accomplish that I thought was impossible. To me, “impossible” is a concept or a word that I’ve used in the past to alleviate myself of the responsibility to complete a task or fulfill a mission. I HAVE to challenge that inner jazzler and hater everyday because through that I AM changing.

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Empower – Inspire

On Joy…

I've been getting these little tingling joyous sensations lately. They come out of nowhere and seem almost unwarranted. The only thing I can contribute it to is the starting of this company. It feels like doses of euphoria. I feel SO a-ma-zing inside that I am taken off guard by the experience and am prone to uncontrollable smiles. These are deeply content knowing smiles that derive from the inside, the depths of my soul. I am talking about real joy like the literal definition of joy combined with a sense of grace. Not the kind that dancers have but the ethereal kind that makes you feel calm and totally connected to everything. I don't have tons more money than I did before, my bumper still needs to be fixed and I have to do the dishes (lol) but that has nothing to do with this joy because it's inside and not dependent upon those things. I finally SENSE my purpose. When I think of it, my senses heighten...I can see it more in my head and because of that I feel like I see the world around me coming more into focus. The leaves on the trees are individual where before they were a green blob. I can taste it in my dreams, daytime and nocturnal. :) I guess this is being alive...and it only took me 28 yrs :)

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Connect – Inspire