1,2,3....RING!!!!!!!!!

So I was one of 95 thousand people at the Los Angeles Coliseum yesterday enjoying the NBA Championship win for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Los Angeles as a sport town can really be disappointing, except when it comes to the Lake Show. This team runs the city and its hard to find people who are natives who are not fans.
Now I'm not an avid fan by any stretch, I am harder on them than most people I talk to, but at the end of the day I bleed purple & gold.
Anyways once I heard there would be a parade I decided that I had to see this in person as I hadn't gone to one since the Showtime days in the 80's. Now all the mayhem that came out of the win on Sunday was a reason to not go. As well as the issue with the city of L.A. being bankrupt (As my friend Mes says "Screw an IOU!") , and who was going to pay for it was a major topic of discussion. Well as far as I know there was no violence yesterday and it was mostly paid by Lakers and other groups.
So on to the recap. I will do this in a different way than most........the bad, the good & the quality....

The Bad :
Having to wake up so damn early to line up........and having the people who woke me up to tell me that they were on their way forget to get me......(they came back)
A lot of standing around waiting to just get in.....a couple hours worth
The over abundance of weed smoke (look do your thang but blazing for 6 hours straight in a family environment like that is not a good look IMO)
All the people who started throwing stuff while waiting to have the gates open......chairs really???
Kobe's wife being soooooooooo damn hoochie..........and then taking like an hour to come down the coliseum steps
The music........How many times do have to listen to the same Black Eyed Peas song.........
The 2 girls who thought it would be funny to tease the crowd in the section I was in by acting like they were going to flash them and teasing them and causing a few shouting matches
The idiot who thought if he saved a few seats he could sell them to people
The fact that I didn't get a Kobe/Lil' Dez fan for my son who enjoys those commercials so much(any one of you have an extra one.......please hit me up)
The family that neglected their 3 kids and left them outside
Not having reception on any cell phone cause of all the people there
California Love not being played ONCE
The dude that fell asleep behind us
The "Marry me" section.......A bunch of girls who wanted different players to marry them
The dude behind me who thought he was the "basketball" expert and would not shut up
The idiot who thought it would be cool to start throwing shit while waiting, which set off people throwing all kinds of stuff including a chair


The Good:
All in all the crowd was civil
Having so many people there was a sight to be seen
Emotions in the arena that could not be duplicated
Kobe not opting out of his deal
The cheers for Tex
The people who brought out the beach balls while waiting in line to get in


The Quality:
The squirrel/monkey dude who climbed a tree in like 6 seconds to fetch the ball from an adjacent building
And the crowd chanting "MVP" while he did that
And the security guard who was cool to let him go
The security guards who kept it calm and where cool with all of us waiting out side
The guy that made me laugh with his USC Trojan tattoo, knowing damn well he never has or will go to USC
The KID ROCK looking Tecate guy............and his homie with the INSANE shorts
Singing along to Billie Jean with 80 thousand plus
Singing along to "I Love L.A." with 95 thousand plus
Hanging out with Mae & Ducky
The Chick Hearns cheers
Having the court as the stage
Lamar doing his best Ric Flair impression
Phil rolling up in a cart all G Style
D Fish savoring this championship more than anyone
Staring a "Kobe's wife is a hoochie" chant with Mae........(I though it was funny)
The 2 dudes that fell asleep cause they were soooooooooo wasted
Talk of a REPEAT!!!!!!!!!~
Seeing Phil rock his Macolm X hat.....(X for the 10 championships)
Mae & I literally hoping Gasol would just start rocking some random Aesop Rock line when he spoke
the fact that I ordered a Gasol shirt that says Aesop Rock on the back
the guy in the stands who LOOKED just like Gasol and got a standing ovation when shown on the big screen
the dudes that went through the WHOLE coliseum with their "Black Mamba" puppet made out of tubing
Josh Powell's hair
Seeing all the greats (Magic, Rambis, Shaw, JABAR!!!!!!!!!!!)


Recap from Ab Rude


I know I'm forgetting moments............it was a long day.......(cant wait to see the pics Mae(she posted them here....& Ducky took)
But it was fun as hell......and I would do it again...............


NEXT YEAR as a matter of fact........SW'ORD!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a snek peek into a Soucrate Summer!!!!!!

soulcratemusic.com
lethlaville.net

stay tuneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed

It's all sunny days........

People that have known me for a while know my love for Soulcrate Music's song "Novocaine Rain".
Yet not many people know the back story of why that is.

Well.........the date was November 4th, 2008. Election day. This was the same day that Soulcrate released "Carboard Cut-Outs Vol.1". I had already pre-ordered a physical copy but was really fiending to listen to album so I saw that Amazon had it for sale and I decided to download it right there and then.

Now being that it was election day I was up and about and anxious to go out and make a difference by voting. I went to my polling place with iPod in hand and Soulcrate bumping in my headphones. I was rocking out to this amazing album while waiting in a pretty long line. The day was gloomy and it was slightly sprinkling. Around that time "Novocaine Rain" starts playing. That organ starts kicking in and I had to turn it up. Then the lyrics kick in and I start nodding my head in agreement. Rain coming down this whole time. As the chorus kicks in "........and I can't feel.....feel the rain, it's all sunny days......." IT LITERALLY STARTED TO STOP RAINING AND THE SUN CAME OUT!!!!!!!!~
At that moment I knew this song was something that was going to move me in ways not many others had.

This is one of those moments that you tell people about and they either don't believe you or completely agree with your sentiment.

Every time I hear that song (which is at least once a day) I always smile and remember that moment. I also remember being in line for about and hour and half waiting to vote. I also remember that I was part of history.

I've been lucky enough to meet the Soulcrate guys and was even able to tell them how much I love this song and what it means to me. And they being the stand up quality guys they are, they played the song (which is not one they usually do live) when they were here last in March. And to top it off they brought me up on stage to sing along with them. I'll probably talk more about that experience later.

Either way when I need something to pick me up I remember that "it's all sunny days and I cant feel the rain.............."