MAC MALL

surreal- 1 : having the intense irrational reality of a dream (Merriam-Webster Online)

Eye was tripping when eye saw that J. Dilla performed last evening at Jazz Cafe, inspite of his physical challenges. That's on some ole' real man type ish. Word up! The outpouring of love from his supporters has been amazing.

Gotta run to handle this BI. These children are a trip...

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DISCLAIMER:

Think long & hard before you consider having a large family.

It seems impossible at most times to get peace in a house with six bodies. It wouldn't be a stretch to say nearly ALL of the time. This can be terribly frustrating, at times. Especially being that four of them are youth. Not only do they occupy every waking hour, but those that should be reserved for sleeping, too. They want it all!!!

Still, eye give thanks & would not do a thing differently if the chance came about. Who else would fold the towels & washclothes; put away the silverware & cups; water the plants; set the table? Children are like personal servants if you freak it right ;-).

But really...what they contribute to my day is much greater than what they walk away with. In these times of frustration, eye try to remind myself that these moments are fleeting. Before long, the children will have children of their own & little time for Mama & Daddy. Then what will we do?

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GOBBLE, GOBBLE

Never heard a turkey make the gobble sound. It's kind of like achoo.

Most United Americans do gobble their meals on Thanksgiving.

DIRECT CONNECT:

*Thanksgiving=Ani Yun Wiya (Cherokee Natives)

My great grandparents were part Cherokee. Attribute my "good" hair to the Indian in my family. My recommittment to re-lock once Kush was a year old has been undermined by my genes. This wig looks wild like a desert dustball. Eye am lovin' it, too!

My recommittment to skirts has been undermined by my jeans. Banana Republic to be exact. It's about time for me to invest in some Apple Bottoms. They are designed to compliment the Black female rear. So eye hear. Why not get a pair? They really are priced fair.

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New Edition really was the premier group back in my day. When my phone reminder alamed that it would be time to begin educating these children for the morning, their rap song "School" came to mind. Back then, R&B singers could rap every now & then without much criticism. It didn't feel corny like the breakdowns in today's Crunk-n-B or Hiphop Soul. Why is that?

Eye was fortunate enough to catch the Halloween Jimmy Kimmel with Bobby Brown & Mike Tyson. The funny in that episode came across from the captions. From the captions alone, yo! Now you know that's funny! Those are the type of guys that lived around my way. They could easily be my big brother, had eye one. These are two of the greatest personalities of our era. Really.

The King & I are starting to trip out at this 360 that we just completed with Sony. In the midst of it all, we are finally recognizing the actual quality of success that we are having collectively. Direct connections are at every hand. Some people call it degrees of seperation. It's motivating for us to establish the direct connections in our line of work.

For instance, DIRECT CONNECTION:

*Jimmy Kimmell=Mac Burris aka MacBurney Burris of the band Self

*Hoppoh=Fat Beats

Isn't that interesting? Let's revisit...

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JUST A LIL' BIT KOUNTRY

Someone tuned the radio in my office/studio/skool area to 650 WSM. Dolly Parton's "Jolene" is blasting (eye turned it up when the song came on). Nostalgia has overtaken my attempt to work on my retail one sheet. All that comes to mind is how reassuring country music sounded to me as a youth. Having spent the majority of my life in Nashville, it was almost ritualistic that Country & Western be a part of the average daily goings-on.

Every single morning in my Granny's house, it was understood that the first person to visit the kitchen was responsible for powering the outdated clock/radio that permanently sat next to the 4-slice toaster. Every day after school, the first one in would power the radio off. It was a crime to change the dial. So no one ever did. Not for decades.

Dolly is my girl from back in the day. She used to ride in on that train like it was a Bentley.

Sing along now:

"Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
I'm begging of you please don't take my man
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
Please don't take him just because you can
Your beauty is beyond compare
With flaming locks of auburn hair
With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green"

You slappin' that right knee yet? Stompin' that foot? Yee-hoo!

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Magnificent definitely (meaning:without the slightest doubt) has the curse. He walked into the project studio this morning, entranced by the fresh new beat coming over the system. He went right for the headphones, as if the sounds were not already pumping through the hole house. That baby had a serious jonz for some one-on-one.

The way that he responds to music makes me wonder if his daddy acted that way as a toddler. If he did, then not much has changed since. They are like two peas in a pod.

Dwight just phoned me in my office/studio to tell me that he has disappeared into his studio...in case eye was wondering. Honestly, eye figured as much. What's a trip is that he phones right when eye am in the middle of telling you about he & Mags musical connection.

Now Mags wants to type+

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...that was all him. He is determined to destroy something. Young male children sometimes behave this way when they are restless. Now my cell phone is the object of his desire. He has signed onto the internet through Verizon 3 times this week. He we go again...

What is it about phones that ALL babies love? Have you ever met a child over 3 months that wasn't absolutely enthralled by it's capabilities? This is true even when the phone is inoperable. Who knows why?

My latest commercial addiction is Sex in the City. Never saw it before last month, but eye have since found myself not changing the station when it comes on after WGN news. We're spending this weekend catching up on the first season, thanks to Hollywood Video's wide selection of flicks. After 3 episodes straight, the appeal started to tarnish slightly, but it's worth seeing out. The directors have done a decent job at capturing raw female sexuality. There's a lot of flesh on display - in true American portrayal. The writers take great liberties taken with the traditional sister-friend relationships, but the essence is evident. Above all, it's mindless fluff. Eye am going through a phase where responsibilities are so vast that mindless tv is a cheap (& inexpensive) escape. Could be worse...right??? Eye know people who do crack under pressure. Ya heard!

Off to see the wizard...

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PLAYING CATCH UP...

Settling into the graveyard, slaving hard for future grand-kin. To slumber while work remains; a mighty costly sin. When the digi-world flickers midnight out west, the big red sun splashes his best. Abreast my aesthetic lifeboat, eye gloat. High on Something To Cope. Feels like something is in my thrope whenever wheels start biking this fast. The last place to rest my heart is on a mare. Past & future cares eye declare long gone; there is a present to embrace! A beautiful full-figured moon of space!

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SMOKE BREAK

Yowzers! Your homegirl is getting straight smoked in this blog competition that Dwight & eye are having this month. In the last few days, three posts were saved as draft, but never sent. No use in going back to that old news now. That sets me back a bit though. But you know me. This battle is not over yet, so eye ain't never scared! Watch me get up in here so often in the next few days that folks will have to request me to shut my trap.

Now don't do that really... ;-)

We watched Diary of a Mad Black Woman this weekend. It reminded me so much of Nutty Professor in the characterization, but the writing was so...BLACK. Sure...Hollywood scripting was well represented in the dramatization. However, the actual reality of the range of Black living in America was dead on point. So was the portrayal of our emotion. That Tyler Perry is truly a gifted brother.

His Madea Goes To Jail will be in Nashville on December 3rd & it would make me happy to be up in there. Since eye have never made it a priority to attend any of the past plays that have come to my city, this newfound admiration feels a little like jumping on the bandwagon. Hell! So be it. But let it be known, the fact that the brother is a self-made millionaire & still finds time to fully participate in the art touches me in a mighty way. Shoot! He is living the American Dream in a very Black fashion. That's what eye'm talkin' bout! Plus, he has Oprah eating out of his palms! Who got a business like that?

Be who you be. Do what you do. Much respect in all things you.

Too bad Tyler Perry will have to wait to meet me some other time. We will be in Hartford, Connecticut on December 3rd. If you will be in the area, be in touch so we can get together - oriana@countbassd.com.

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PASSION FRUIT

Weeks like this one do not come about often on my walk. All praise be to the creator!

Right now, Something To Cope is printing for the first time in full. Eye am slightly paralyzed in this moment. So much so, that typing this post is taking me double the time that it should. The surrounding thoughts do not provide an isolated moment for me to accurately convey these emotions. Eye am overwhelmed, to say the very least.

Page 85 just printed. This is really bugging me out!!! As soon as eye can focus, eye need to shower & head to the library. The book needs to go to the printer yesterday, so the pressure is on to edit & make changes - QUICK! So much help is needed with this Library of Congress code. Sorting out CIP data block information is so tedious & technical that most librarians are not seasoned in using the LC system.

"We use Dewey."
"We use Dewey."
It's like the librarians cataloging defense phrase. Hopefully some friendly student of library science will challenge themselves to step outside of their comfort zone to help me hash this out today. Hopefully...

Just know that things are good. No...things are great!

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OH BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?

International phone tag is the absolute worst! Besides coming up against the obvious language barrier, the process of dialing while using the best rates on the best calling cards requires so many numbers that eye would probably be better off sending smoke signals. Not tobacco, of course.

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PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT

Orianna no longer works for Writehanded Dot Com or CountBassD.com. Oriana lee will handle all of the pending business left dangling in her absence. All future correspondence addressed to Orianna will be forwarded to Oriana lee. For those of you who are accustomed to dealing with Orianna, please be patient during this transition from two n's to one. After a few messages addressed specifically to Oriana, surely you will get the hang of it.

Count just phoned to report that the show was one of his best performances ever. He was so blown away by his own performance that eye had to hang onto my desk while he told me about it. Had eye not, the account would have blown me away, too [shaking my head]. Sounds like something that should have been caught on video. But then, that's all of Count's shows. Word up!

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This is my first post from the "leg-up" perspective. If things work out to where eye can boogie this weekend, then whatever the champion prize, consider it mine. Yeah, baby.

Honestly, considering that my bet is with a Blog graduate, he probably expects me to think him slipping. Watch. The promoter will have a way to hook Count up to Blogger Go Mobile word that will permit him to upload every thought he releases while in Sweden.

You know it's the truth. Shame the devil.

Seems as though eye need a new strategy if eye plan to reign victor. Back to the mixing board...

ROCK MY WORLD

The King & eye have committed to a blog challenge. Whoever blogs the most this month wins a...well, not sure exactly what we win yet because we didn't get that far. But,let me be the first to admit that eye am getting smoked because it has been two days since posting.

See for yourself

And his posts are kind of long, too. That's okay though. The competitive nature is kicking in & eye should get a leg up because he is going to Europe this weekend. (sinister laugh:hehehe)

Eery things have been happening around our house lately. It has always been my thinking that someone died in this place because our landlord is never willing to come inside. Not when we came to the showing of the house prior to living here. Not when it was time for us to move in. Not even the few times that she has popped by to ask about her money.

Besides that, random items tend to disappear, never to resurface. There is a bag of greenery that just went up in it's own smoke one fine afternoon. How? Where? Must be a ghost with a fix, huh?

Granny (peace be upon her) makes a visit every now and then, as well. Just the other day my Cousin Joyce (peace be upon her) made a visit after not having been here since her physical presence left this space in 2003. Actually, she was at my house just the day before she passed away.

She had come down for a surprise visit from Detroit to see my Granny & our family like she always had done, usually twice a year. It was April 25th and we were celebrating our son, Kush's 2nd birthday (April 23). She was a great help that night because my King had not yet come home from work & everyone had arrived to a kitchen not yet prepared. Joyce came right in & hopped on the grilled. She manned that meat like a champ & she even put together Kush's bike once the grilling was done. The night was especially festive simply because she was in our home. She was one of those center-of-attention spirits. So no party was complete without her. Thankfully Kush's was.

Joyce had to drive back to Detroit the following afternoon. Upon arrival, she phoned Granny to lay ease to her ever-worrying mind. She had arrived safely. She shared that she was tired & was going to bed so that she could go to church in the morning.

The following morning, April 27th, her 15 year-old boy, Michael, phoned my mother. This was something that had never happened before. He was perplexed that he could not wake his mother for church. Yikes! Joyce had transitioned in her sleep.

So fast-forward to this weekend. For the first time since we had inherited Granny's sofa-bed, we decided to let the children sleep on it. So we pulled it out. When we pulled the bottom-half of the fram open, we discoved a stocking cap that had been folded up inside. A shiver shot through my veins instantly. It was Cousin Joyce's stocking cap, left there from the last time she came to visit & slept in this very couch-bed, that used to be Granny's. Is that not weird? Whatever the forces that haunt this house are really real, ya'll.

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