How my life changed, semi-drastically, last week
I am happy as fucking pie. I found a new wifi signal in my building, and i've got a bangin connection.
This week has ruled, too!
Last tuesday, I was in line to get into the MC Chris concert at the Nanci Raygun. If y'all don't know MC Chris, check him out. So, i'm standing in line for the show. Rasul the Nobody, who's also the hip-hop director for WRIR (Richmond Indie Radio), walks by. He can't go to the show, and he hands me a tape recorder to get an interview with MC Chris.
I get in, get the interview. Hang out with the MC afterwards, burn a blunt. Tight stuff. MC Chris is a very, very down guy. He didn't realize how popular he was, and at the 1st show (this was the 2nd) of the tour (1st tour he's done), in baltimore, he made back the entire tour investment.
MC Chris
MC Chris & I
So the next day, I head into WRIR to edit the interview with MCC. The interview, despite being improv'd, was great. the WRIR people liked it, and made me an intern. They want me to do more interviews, and I delivered within 48 hours. This is wednesday, that I was made an intern.
The Roots were, at this point, slated to play a show friday at the seigel center. So, Rasul and I walk int othe Seigel Center and ask to talk to the director of activities. He's not there- so we leave a note and a business card in his mailbox, and get his phone number. I go to sleep that night, barely thinking of the full ramifications of my actions...
Wake up the next day, call the director of activities. He bounces me to the director of something else, who bounces me again, and I finally land at someone who could help me. Kathy so-and-so, I think.
She gives me the phone number of the tour manager of the Roots.
I call, and leave a message. I head to WRIR to tell them that I think I might be close to possibly having something. Rasul and I head out to get lunch, get some passport pictures taken, and laminate them onto oversized versions of our business cards, making WRIR field passes, basically. We don't hear back from the tour manager. It's thursday, the night before the show, at around 5PM or so- it's been four hours since I called, so I call back. She's there. I ask if the Roots have a radio gig booked for pre-show - WRIR's friday hiphop show takes place the two hours before the roots play- and they haven't booked one yet, because the roots apparently don't do radio interviews. It's not their thing. I explain to her the insanely convenient timing of our show to their show, how well the Roots chart on WRIR (#4 on CMJ), and the fact that we're a fledgling, non-corporate completely public radio station that could really use the celeb cred.
She calls me back an hour later to tell me to pick up Black Thought (the Roots MC) at the Sheraton at 6:30PM the next day. I rush back to the station (I'd been out), and tell everyone. They're elated. I head to a coffeehouse, connect to the wi-fi, and start researching.
fast forward, to friday. I wake up a bit late, and head to the studio. Rasul and I go over my interview, discuss the format. Everyone in and out of the station comments somehow on how much it kicks ass that black thought is coming in. We clean the car, and head out to pick up... Black Thought.
I'm in the lobby, and he walks up, shakes my hand, and introduces himself as Tariq. He's quiet, the entire way there, making small talk about his projects. he asks me about the bands I'm in, and I can smell the fact that he's rolling a blunt of some chronic shit. He blazes the blunt, we get back to the studio, and the interview starts.
It goes very, very well. He's a very well spoken person- obviously- and he's intelligent. He answers the questions, well, and he's got a lot of great stuff to say. It went well, very, very well.
We get back in the car, and we take him to the seigel center. there's a three-line-block of people waiting to get into the show, and it's nice to get past them all and behind the center. Tariq invites me into the tour bus, takes my jacket, and passes me a blunt. We get high, and he puts on the yet-to-be-released Roots album, which is bangin. He heads into the back to get ready for the show, and I chill out, listening, and talking to the guitarist, who is wicked, and a very cool guy. I go backstage during the show, and get to take lots of pictures of them on stage.
The Roots
?uestlove
I went out, got something to eat, came home, and crashed. One of the longest, best three days of my life.
It's a long one, but holy shit... read it. I swear, it's interesting, twists and turns.
This week has ruled, too!
Last tuesday, I was in line to get into the MC Chris concert at the Nanci Raygun. If y'all don't know MC Chris, check him out. So, i'm standing in line for the show. Rasul the Nobody, who's also the hip-hop director for WRIR (Richmond Indie Radio), walks by. He can't go to the show, and he hands me a tape recorder to get an interview with MC Chris.
I get in, get the interview. Hang out with the MC afterwards, burn a blunt. Tight stuff. MC Chris is a very, very down guy. He didn't realize how popular he was, and at the 1st show (this was the 2nd) of the tour (1st tour he's done), in baltimore, he made back the entire tour investment.
MC Chris
MC Chris & I
So the next day, I head into WRIR to edit the interview with MCC. The interview, despite being improv'd, was great. the WRIR people liked it, and made me an intern. They want me to do more interviews, and I delivered within 48 hours. This is wednesday, that I was made an intern.
The Roots were, at this point, slated to play a show friday at the seigel center. So, Rasul and I walk int othe Seigel Center and ask to talk to the director of activities. He's not there- so we leave a note and a business card in his mailbox, and get his phone number. I go to sleep that night, barely thinking of the full ramifications of my actions...
Wake up the next day, call the director of activities. He bounces me to the director of something else, who bounces me again, and I finally land at someone who could help me. Kathy so-and-so, I think.
She gives me the phone number of the tour manager of the Roots.
I call, and leave a message. I head to WRIR to tell them that I think I might be close to possibly having something. Rasul and I head out to get lunch, get some passport pictures taken, and laminate them onto oversized versions of our business cards, making WRIR field passes, basically. We don't hear back from the tour manager. It's thursday, the night before the show, at around 5PM or so- it's been four hours since I called, so I call back. She's there. I ask if the Roots have a radio gig booked for pre-show - WRIR's friday hiphop show takes place the two hours before the roots play- and they haven't booked one yet, because the roots apparently don't do radio interviews. It's not their thing. I explain to her the insanely convenient timing of our show to their show, how well the Roots chart on WRIR (#4 on CMJ), and the fact that we're a fledgling, non-corporate completely public radio station that could really use the celeb cred.
She calls me back an hour later to tell me to pick up Black Thought (the Roots MC) at the Sheraton at 6:30PM the next day. I rush back to the station (I'd been out), and tell everyone. They're elated. I head to a coffeehouse, connect to the wi-fi, and start researching.
fast forward, to friday. I wake up a bit late, and head to the studio. Rasul and I go over my interview, discuss the format. Everyone in and out of the station comments somehow on how much it kicks ass that black thought is coming in. We clean the car, and head out to pick up... Black Thought.
I'm in the lobby, and he walks up, shakes my hand, and introduces himself as Tariq. He's quiet, the entire way there, making small talk about his projects. he asks me about the bands I'm in, and I can smell the fact that he's rolling a blunt of some chronic shit. He blazes the blunt, we get back to the studio, and the interview starts.
It goes very, very well. He's a very well spoken person- obviously- and he's intelligent. He answers the questions, well, and he's got a lot of great stuff to say. It went well, very, very well.
We get back in the car, and we take him to the seigel center. there's a three-line-block of people waiting to get into the show, and it's nice to get past them all and behind the center. Tariq invites me into the tour bus, takes my jacket, and passes me a blunt. We get high, and he puts on the yet-to-be-released Roots album, which is bangin. He heads into the back to get ready for the show, and I chill out, listening, and talking to the guitarist, who is wicked, and a very cool guy. I go backstage during the show, and get to take lots of pictures of them on stage.
The Roots
?uestlove
I went out, got something to eat, came home, and crashed. One of the longest, best three days of my life.
It's a long one, but holy shit... read it. I swear, it's interesting, twists and turns.