What a long, strange trip it’s been!

Where do I begin?

This trip is by far one of the worst I have ever been on. (And there have been quite a few runner ups for that prized spot!) Every step revealed yet another massive obstacle to be overcome, another hurdle in my path to journalistic success and a sun soaked Miami Beach vacation. By the time I returned home, my life had been thrown in complete disarray and I am still struggling to put out the fires. I may never vacation again. Yeah, it was that bad. Uncle Q has a story that rivals Homer's Odyssey! OK, maybe it’s not that bad, but its pretty f’in close. Are you ready? This is going to be a long one.

03/25/05------0245 hours-----Albany NY
As I do a final check of everything I need as I get ready to go, I have a sinking feeling that this trip is not a good idea. The objective is to get to Miami to interview some of the movers and shakers at this years WMC and M3 conferences and hopefully sell them to some magazines. I have a few people that I hoped to catch up with, but being that the conference ends tomorrow, and the Ultra Festival will be going on for a couple of hours already by the time I make it there, I was really starting to regret booking the trip. But I was already in too deep, with people expecting me in Tennessee and Miami. So I threw everything in my two overnight bags, and hit the door.

While driving down to LaGuardia Airport, I really consider pulling over and going back home, calling everyone in the morning and apologizing for standing them up. The fact that I am having cold feet so late in the trip insures that I will not get a penny back from my AOL Last Minute Deal package. And as I start to do a quick mental rundown of my finances, I really want to pull he plug on the trip. The thought of the Miami sun was way too powerful to ignore, especially as it is starting to snow yet again in Albany. So I continue on my journey while watching my car’s temperature gauge start to inch up slowly.

It’s been a few years since I moved out of the NYC area, I failed to take into consideration that rush hour starts around 5am. Soon as I got to the GW Bridge, I hit traffic and knew I was in trouble. As I felt my blood pressure start to match my slowly overheating car temperature, I finally pulled in LaGuardia, absent mindedly parked in he short term parking lot (more on this later), and ran into the terminal. The aforementioned Delta agent informed me that I would indeed miss my flight, but punched in some number and got me on the next flight out..at 9:35. No problem, if a 3 hour wait is the worse I’ll have to deal with, I can handle that. So I get my boarding pass, take off my stinky shoes at the security check-in, and wait for my flight.

03/25/05---1430 hours—Cincinnati, OH
For some strange reasons, something told me to look again at my itinerary. I didn’t really look it over after I booked the package. I just saw that I had a great deal, round trip flight to Nashville, car rental, and hotel in Nashville. I couldn’t remember the hotel’s name, so I checked the package again and found….NO HOTEL! With 20 minutes until my Nashville flight began boarding, I called AOL to see what the problem was. Of course they were no help at all, telling me I did NOT book a hotel, even though the package does include one. They told me it was my fault for not picking a hotel, which I could not understand as they also said the hotel came with the package plan automatically. After listening to the AOL customer service rep talk in circles for about 15 minutes, they put me on hold. I hung up and caught my flight. It was a pain, but not a total loss, as I had planned to drive to Miami anyway. It was just another sign that I should have listened to my gut and stayed in Albany.

03/25/05---1830 hours-----Nashville, TN

Finally in Nashville, I step to the Hertz car rental, drop a $50 for the deposit on the 2005 Ford Mustang (yesssirr!), pick up my sister Ebony and her man Lyondell, and hit the road. This is the beginning of the fun part of the trip, riding clean through Tennessee-Georgia and Florida, taking pictures, laughing, watching “Along Came Polly” (let it rain!), “Starsky and Hutch” (Do it..do it, just do it!) and just enjoying our last minute road trip. We were all excited and couldn’t wait to get to Miami.

03/26/05------1000 hours----South Beach, Miami
A little later than we expected, we pull up on Collins Avenue. Everyone wanted to get to the hotel, but I just had to check the strip real quick. Plus I figured we wouldn’t be able to check in until at least noon so we cruised South Beach a bit. When I called the hotel to get directions, I got the next surprise of the trip. The hotel is a half hour drive away. Not too bad, but not the greatest news to people who have been driving all night. After getting lost a few times, we find our hotel and are told we cannot check in yet. UGHHH!! So we eat lunch and about 1 hour later we get our room and everyone passes out.

03/26/05------1800 hours ----South Beach, Miami
After everyone took a nap, showered and got dressed, we hit South Beach. At this point I had all but given up on he idea of catching up with anybody, as I knew the Ultra Festival was almost over! I figured, the heck with it, let me relax and have fun down her with my sister. We did have fun too, driving up and down Washington and Collins Avenue. I was supposedly on a few list at some parties, but I wanted to entertain my sister and Lyondell, as they had never been to Miami.

So we tried to get into the DJ Clue party at State, but they were beating fools in the head! $50.00 a pop. So we went to Sobe to hear Kid Capri. From the size of the crowd, I think everyone else who wanted to hear hip-hop did the same that night. It was tight! (I would have pictures to post, but my sister has that camera…look for the pics soon!) Anyway, we posted up in that spot until I feel asleep on one of the sofas in the back. Some girl plopped down next to me, asked me if I was ok, and couch danced with me to some old 2 Live Crew. After a few songs, I got up, found Ebony and Lyondell and we left.

03/27/05-------1500 hours -----Miami Fl
After we checked out of the hotel, we hit South Beach one more time, to get some more loot, eat lunch and get ready for the big trip back. I really did not want to leave. One of the reasons that I love South Beach is that it seems like its Fantasy Island or something. Nothing looks real to me, and the sight of the beautiful people driving beautiful cars in a beautiful setting is very surreal. It’s like stepping out of a dark noir film into the blinding color of the Land of Oz. I did not want to return to the grey reality of my life so quickly. But return we did, and grey it was!

To be continued------------

Memph Bleek Is....dropping 534 in May!

Memphis Bleek ran up on the hip hop scene in 1996 with a little help from his friend Jay-Z on "Coming Of Age" on Jay's "Reasonable Doubt" CD. He introduced himself as a emcee to be dealt with on “Memphis Bleek Is..” and it wasn’t long after that we all knew exactly who he was.

Since his debut, Bleek has held it down on Roc-A Fella, releasing 3 Gold records and appearing on such hip-hop classics as “Hey Papi”, “Do My..” “What You Think Of That”,“Round Here” and “Is That Your Chick” to name a few. Bleek is set to release his latest CD "534" this spring, and agreed to answer a few e-mail questions about the upcoming CD, The Roc, Game, give us a financial tip or two, and say his peace. Check it out! Straight from Marcy, its the Memph Man at Canhead! (what you think of that?)


Canhead:
How’s the family doing? I know you have been speaking on more personal things like on the M.A.D.E. album. Is everybody good, your son, your brother?

Memphis Bleek:
Everyone is in good health. My son is bad as ever. My brother is doing real well. His rehab has been a slow long process but it’s good.

Canhead:
There is a lot of attention on Roc-A-Fella and Def Jam now with all the moves. It seems now that you truly are the veteran of Roc-A-Fella. What does this all mean for you? How do you feel about the new moves?

Memphis Bleek:
I feel good! I feel like it couldn’t have come at a better time now because I understand what I gotta do and now I’m just going to go do it.

Canhead:
Obviously the whole situation with Beans and State Property is getting hectic. Some thought you may have been getting overlooked because of all the Philly cats on Roc-A-Fella. Now it seems that side of the crew is a little shaky. How do you feel about all that?

Memphis Bleek:
I feel like we all bigger than that man. Everyone [is] getting money, its nothing that a conversation shouldn’t end. They should wait until Beans come home because then they can really see where his mind is at.. When you're locked up you can think a little bit off the wall.

Canhead:
The new 9th Wonder track “Alright” is fire, as is! What else can we expect from the new album?

Memphis Bleek:
If that’s fire, then you can expect lava on the album!

Canhead:
Why do you think “M.A.D.E.” was a “sleeper” as you say in “Alright”? Did you see the writing on the wall back then with Roc-A-Fella?

Memphis Bleek:
Definitely. I saw the split coming. I seen the separation and how people [were] trying to exclude me out of Roc-A-Fella. I knew at the time I had the short end of the stick.

Canhead:
Are there any mixtapes we should be looking out for with you on it?

Memphis Bleek:
Mixtape scene, [I’m] on Clue’s mixtape, K-Slay, Envy, and Absolut.

Canhead:
What’s up with Get Low? Can we expect to hear any new heat from Geda K? How’s H Money Bags?

Memphis Bleek:
H Money Bags doing good. He’s locked up, serving 7 year sentence. As far as Get Low, I’m on them every day about putting records out. They make records everyday and just hold them but soon as I get them to release them, the music will be on the street

Canhead:
You still got mad beats on the side? You once mentioned how Jay used to scream on you about being in the studio to much. Any chance of Canhead getting an exclusive mp3 to post?

Memphis Bleek:
Yeah – send me your email address.
(I will keep you guys posted as soon as I get the mp3s)

Canhead:
I don’t really want to but I gotta ask. What’s the deal with you and Game? Is everything cool between the two of you or is it still what it is?

Memphis Bleek:
We cool. Everything is cool. Ain’t no beef just 534.

Canhead:
You once said that you invested most of your money when you first got your deal. Do you have any financial or investment tips for the people out there?

Memphis Bleek:
Buy yourself a house, fix it up and watch how fast the rate goes up.

Canhead:
Your scene with Dame in Paper Soldiers is funny as hell. Can we expect any scene stealing from you in the new State Property movie?

Memphis Bleek:
Not in the new one – I died in the first one. If there was a way they could bring me back to life like Elektra....

Ed. Note: Damn..I forgot that...You could play the twin brother no one knew about, coming back avenging your brother’s death…just a thought.

Canhead:
What CDs you’re listening to right now?

Memphis Bleek:
John Legend, 50 Cent (Massacre), TI, Lil Wayne

Canhead:
When’s the last time you been to Tennessee? Just had to ask, I’m from Clarksville originally. It’s ok if you don’t know where that is.

Memphis Bleek:
I been to Tennessee on the Jay Z and Friends Tour in Nashville, putting it down!

Canhead:
Who/what is your favorite emcee(s)/favorite albums?

Memphis Bleek:
Big Daddy Kane – “Long Live The Kane”

Canhead:
It’s been a while since “Backstage”. Any new road stories you’d like to tell us about?

Memphis Bleek:
I don’t have no new stories. Just people getting on each other, getting locked up for speeding, came back candy. [That’s the] weirdest thing I heard on the road.

Canhead:
When is the album coming out? Any shows?

Memphis Bleek:
May 17th. 534 [is the] album, [I’m] on promo tour now, hitting different markets, Mid-west, West Coast, [I’m] going all over.

Canhead:
Any final words on any thing you want to promote?

Memphis Bleek:
Thanks for supporting Roc-A-Fella since ‘96.
Last words – we be getting busy!

There you have it! Make sure you cop that CD when it hits stores near you. I will let you know of any updates, events, and other goodies. Here are a few links that I found out there on Memphis Bleek as well.

Roc-A Fella Memphis Bleek Page

Memphis Bleek: Do or Die

Memphis Bleek tells SOHH.com, "Everybody in the world knows what side I'm on."

Launch Memphis Bleek search results

Singing Fish video links

It’s been a long time

I shouldn’t have left you. For real, I shouldn’t have left. I will go into it in detail later, but let me just say it was not fun. At total bust of a trip, except for about 18 hours of fun in Miami, getting there and getting back home was hell. I’m trying to decide the name for the next post….it’s a tie between “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles” or “Canhead’s Vacation...NOT!" In an attempt to turn a negative into a positive, I’ll journal the carnage for you all, reality tv style. At least it will be an intersting story.

Until then, here’s what floating around in the Canhead inbox:



To every hip-hop artist in America who make records about killing each other (who is that on the joint Flex was playing Monday night? Papoose?), these kids just flipped it on you. IFilm has this clip of a foreign hip-hop group’s video that has been banned in Norway. They call for the assassination of George Bush, and basically setting it off on America right now for foreign policy crimes and imperialism. The group, Gatas Parlament, released this video originally in 2004, but it is still making the internet email rounds and getting attention. If you haven’t seen this one, you should check it out.



~Rolling Stone has new live footage of T.I. performing, photos from SXSW 2005, U2’s tour launch and more at their website.

~Check out Waxy.org for the ill DJ DangerMouse “Grey” video. That’s what up! Ringo on the turntables and John floor rocking!

~Must have missed this one when I was redlining that 2005 Mustang on 24W heading to Cashville. Remember the part in Fahrenheit 9/11 where Michael Moore says that the US government secretly flew several Saudis out of America on 9/11. Remember how everyone said it was BS? Seems he was right. (Check O-Dub for link!)

Stay tuned.. Memphis Bleek interview is up next.