Sunday, July 20, 2008

So I Got with a Sick Ass Clique and Went All Out

Six Weeks in Port Saint Lucie: Miami Edition Caught this guy driving your dream car in Little Havana on the way to pick up some pasta sauce. My buddy, graffiti legend SHIE ONE, showed me around the MIA in style. We stopped at a wall he's currently working on...
with a couple other guys...

while we listened to dancehall on pirate radio station 96MIXX. Turns out Miami's airwaves are delightfully and directly snatched up by those opposed to the Babylon System. On the way into town, I found 89.1 FM, which was pumping an insane mix of serious Bass music. The set's climax was a beautifully layered Baltimore Club track, with the guitar lick from the Ohio Player's "Love Rollercoaster" laced over a syrupy bassline and an awesomely explicit vocal loop. Later on it was Gangsta Grillz mixtapes and an infectious hook concerning "a recipe for making money", which apparently requires copious amounts of baking soda.

We stopped by one of Miami's last record shops, Uncle Sam's Music, and though they specialize in house music, I was able to pick up a couple early-2000 reissue gems I slept on.


This 2001 "Enter the Dragon" soundtrack picture disc makes me have something in common with 499 other people in the world. I also picked up the '03 Ninja Tune/Sesame Street project, which features what is possibly the funkiest children's song of all times, recorded in 1975 and re-edited by DJ Food for its first vinyl release almost 30 years later. Check the steel drum solo at 2:07.
Shie surprised me with this joint, near 164th street SW in North Miami Beach. The mustard greens with garlic sauce will make any kid want to eat his veggies. On my own I visited Haulover Beach, a state park worth checking out just for the changing rooms.


When life hands you one of those brown road signs (scroll down for the science), follow it. I ended up at the Ancient Spanish Monastery, where the nice young lady at the counter apologized for charging me the five dollar admission fee before informing me that the monastery had at one time belonged to "some guy named William Hurst." Turns out Citizen Kane did in fact buy an entire 12th Century monastery for his California Castle. The stones were shipped to America, Hearst ran out of money, and the entire building sat in a warehouse until the 60s, when an investor rebuilt the thing in Florida as a tourist attraction...my girl Mary was there, of course... and with the monks gone, these guys were running the show.



My friend John R. avoided falling into a similar Booby Trap in another town, and I barely managed to avoid the snares myself in northwest Miami...



Before I rushed back to the consistent comforts of Port Saint Lucie, I stopped to admire the moon over...well, you know.

4 comments:

John R said...

WOW!!! Tell Shie that I'm sorry I missed him last time (I was sick) but will def see him in two weeks. Incredible post!!!

Mike Germon said...

That kids song you linked to really is the jam. I remember that video for sure but had no idea how funky it was at the time.

GT3K said...

Its been a long time since i actually listened to a Miami Bass song in its entirety. I had fun imagining how it would work on the radio

cant wait for the Miami Bass Gems mix when you get back!

GT3K said...

ps that sesame street shit is cray