Kanye West and Biz Stone at Twitter, or @kanyewest, @biz

@kanyewest, originally uploaded by @Twitter.

Twitter headquarters in San Francisco is certainly a blast of a fun place to be. Twitter has hosted such celebs as Wil.I.Am from The Black Eye Peas and here, Kanye West on July 28, 2010. And when they're not hosting celebs, they can get their drink on, as we'll see in another blog post.

But back to Kanye.

What's Kanye doing there with Twitter Founder Biz Stone? Annoucing he's joining Twitter. According to the LA Times The Envelope, Kanye announced he was drawing followers at the incredible rate of 80 per second.

Now, @kanyewest is well over 1 million Twitter followers.

The question is, what will he tweet at the Video Music Awards Sunday? He's already apologized to Taylor Swift.

SF Events: Ernie Gehr's COTTON CANDY At Balboa Theatre This Weekend

Balboa Theater SF

A San Francisco event must-see: Balboa Theatre's Gary Meyer emailed the news that Ernie Gehr's COTTON CANDY will be at The Balboa Theatre this weekend.

Gary writes:

Critic J. Hoberman has described Gehr's celebrated avant-garde film work as "a tale of three cities": Berlin, his parents' home; New York, where he became known for his structuralist films in the late 1960s; and San Francisco, where he lived and taught from the late 1980s to the mid-2000s. COTTON CANDY visits the beloved Musee Mecanique before its move from the Cliff House to Fisherman's Wharf; relishing the proto-cinematic devices there, Gehr recaptures the dream of cinema before it found its big screen. Gehr introduces the film and joins us for a post-screening discussion.

Check out Cotton Candy this weekend.

Hip Hop News: Too Short Talks New Band, Funk Music Impact - by Davey D

In Hip Hop News, Bay Area Hip Hop Pioneers Richie Rich & Too Short talk about the importance of musicianship & live bands within Hip Hop.  


Too Short: Oakland Hip Hop Royalty 

When we talk about Hip Hop, its important to note that every city and region has its own unique histories and pioneering figures. In New York we give props to Hip Hop’s forefathers, DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa andGrandmaster Flash. They did the first parties, formed the first groups and developed the first techniques throughout the 1970s that laid the groundwork for those who came after. Here out west, 3000 miles away in the San Francisco Bay Area, we pay homage to pioneering figures Todd Shaw aka Too Short, Richie Rich, Freddy B and E-40 to name a few. Like their New York predecessors they too did the first parties, formed the first groups and developed some of the first techniques throughout the 80s that would influence future generations both nationally and around the world.

One of their signature contributions was laying down important blueprints on creating, recording and distributing music independently. The other important contribution from these pioneering artists was the how they used funk music and live instruments to develop the early West Coast sound.

Yesterday we caught up with Too Short at a barbershop around the corner from Mexicali Rose restaurant on 7th and Clay in downtown Oakland. Here he, explained that from the very beginning West Coast Hip Hop had live instrumentation. He noted that when he did his first recordings at 75 Girls record label, like everyone else they had a drum machine but it was complimented with someone playing keyboards, guitars or bass. There was no such thing as sampling for many of the early artists, Short asserted.

Short noted that he was in the tradition of many of his fellow artists and producers like E-40, Digital Underground and pioneering producers Khayree, Al Eaton, Studio Tone, Tommy Foster & Danny McElroy, and Ant Banks to name a few, in the sense that they all played in high school or college bands. Short went on to explain that he started out as a drummer who played in the band at Fremont High School. He said he was also a pretty good ‘one finger expert’ when it came to keyboards and guitar. He named off a string of records including Freaky Tales, Dope Fiend Beat and I Ain’t Tripping where he played the background instruments.

Short added that the use of live instruments allowed early artists to maintain a funk sound that was desired by those who came up either listening or being directly involved in the hundreds of 3-4 man garage bands that existed prior to Hip Hop showing up in the Bay Area. “It was all about musicianship”, he said.Short pointed out that within every Bay Area Hip Hop group there is someone in the fold who can really throw down on the musician tip. It’s part of Bay Area/West Coast culture and our legacy. Short talked about the influence that groups like Tower of Power and Sly and the Family Stone had on early Hip Hop in the Bay.

Shock G of Digital Underground started his group as a full fledge band with a drummer and him playing piano photo credit: ani yapundzhyan

If folks really look closely at Bay Area rap groups you will find that many of them deeply rooted in band culture. I recall earlyDigital Underground shows where DJ Fuze would battle long time drummerChopmaster J while Shock G also an accomplished musician would rock the keyboards as one of his alter ego ‘Piano man‘.

MC Hammer had a lot of early production done by Felton Pilate of Con Funk Shun. Later he would have huge bands at his live shows which included the original horn players from Earth Wind and Fire.

Before Paris also an accomplished musician made his mark as a political rapper, he started out as an artist who was moving in the direction of Prince.

Today artists like Boots Riley of the Coupnot only have their own band, but recently teamed up with Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine to form Street Sweeper Social Club.

Again Bay Area Hip Hop is derived from the funk bands that proceeded them.

This was a point that was re-emphasized by Richie Rich. He said that even though he doesn’t play instruments, he considers himself a musician because as an emcee he uses his voice and flows to play along with live instruments. He went on to add, that over the years he’s come to prefer rhyming with a live band because it allows him a lot of freedom to express himself and also be felt.

We spoke with both Too Short and Richie Rich about the new music venture that’s emerging from their camp. For those who don’t know, Too Short has teamed up with popular accomplished musicians Kev Choice and Martin Luther formerly of theRoots to form a band that has no official name as of yet. Also in the group is Silk E who many know as one of the Bay Area’s dope emcees, who often performs with Tony Toni Tone but as Short noted, she’s also an incredible singer.

During our interview Short talked about how the group has been able to bring such divergent sounds together and make it work. He pointed out Martin Luther‘s soul/neo sou/ and rock backgrounds. He talked about Kev Choicebeing a classically trained jazz musician who can ‘freestyle endlessly’.

‘He’s the exact opposite of me in the sense that he has super positive rhymes and spits rhymes about current events’ Short noted. But that’s what makes the group work.

Silk E rounds out the group with her unique sound and approach

Dubbed Towne Business, their debut performance is scheduled this Saturday September 11th at the Mezzanine in San Francisco. Short noted this will be the first of many shows they plan to do in the Bay Area before taking it on the road.

Here our interviews with both Too Short & Richie Rich-click the links below

Interview w/ Too Short

Interview w/ Richie Rich

Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner

Social Media, Social Networking Specialist Wanted For SF Transit Firm

Hey everyone. A good friend of mine runs a San Francisco-based transit organization. They're in the middle of a total re-branding and seek a social media, social networking specialist. He asked me to assist him in finding the right person for their needs.

If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, have over 2 years of experience in new media which calls for running at least one blog for over a year, maintaining active accounts on at least six different platforms, at least one geo-location-based social network, like Foursquare, have a Twitter and Facebook profile (which is expected), are part of the five percent of Twitter users with over 1,000 followers, have at least an active YouTube account with over 5 of your own videos posted, and have at least one social bookmarking profile active, you're a perfect base level candidate.

The best candidates have already served as social networking consultants and can demonstrate that in the application.

If interested, send an emailed cover letter with a resume attached to me at zennie@zennie62.com - I will forward each one to the interested party and help in the selection of the final candidate.

Thanks

San Bruno Fire: YouTube Asks You To Help Victims

The San Bruno Fire of last night, at first locally thought to be caused by a plane crash, but was the result of a ruptured natural gas main explotion, has destroyed 53 homes and impacted countless lives.

San Bruno is also the home of YouTube, with its headquarters located at 900 Cherry Street.

Now, YouTube asks for your assistance in helping the victims of the San Mateo Fire:



You can donate via the American Red Cross with a click here.

More later.

Chevron Ecuador Case: Crude Movie Director Ordered To Talk To Chevron

Crude Movie Producer / Director Joe Berlinger and Lawyer Steven Donziger should have answered the call to my Chevron Ecuador Challenge. Since it's plain to anyone, especially New York U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, that Berlinger has hidden video information relevant to the Chevron Ecuador case, Joe could have saved himself the embarrassment of what happened this week.

Judge Lewis Kaplan has now ordered Joe Berlinger to make himself available to Chevron's lawyers. An amazing turn of events that will most certainly result in the outing of Donziger's case for the sham lawsuit it has been all along.

As this blogger has aggressively stated, Donziger saw an opportunity to collect billions of dollars by presenting a weak case and enlisting the assistance of the Government of Ecuador, while pretending that Ecuador wasn't involved in the lawsuit. His cover? The people of the Amazon, who Donziger claimed to represent.

That argument was destroyed in this space, when evidence was presented proving that the Government of Ecuador itself would collect 90 percent of any damage award that would come from the case, should Chevron lose it. That makes Ecuador itself a party to the lawsuit. Over and above the people of the Amazon, Ecuadorian President and the bizantine and corrupt political system there would have its grubby hands on the money from the Chevron Ecuador case.

Care to lay a bet how much of that money is seen by Ecuador's poor in any way?

Meanwhile Petroecuador and other non-American oil companies have been free to spill oil in the region since Chevron's departure in 1992. Yet, the media has been duped into presenting the facade that American Oil's at fault for Ecuador's problems.

There's no active oil-producing American company in Ecuador as of this writing.

This, learning of what comes of Joe's visit with Chevron's lawyers, is going to be fun.

Stay tuned.

Reggie Bush Scandal: Tony Bruno Weighs In , Talks New Show

Tony Bruno, the legendary sports talk radio host, briefly talked with this blogger about The Reggie Bush Scandal and his new Comcast SportsNet California television show with Gary Radnich this Sunday, September 12th at 9 PM EDT.

First, for those of you who are saying "Isn't Tony in Los Angeles?" The answer is "Yes." But Bruno will, as he put it, "fly back and forth from LA" to do a show in San Francisco - one that he's talked with Radnich about doing for a long time.

"Gary and I have been doing radio for a long time," Bruno said, "and we enjoy doing it together. So we've kicked around the idea of doing something up here on television. And we're finally gonna give it a try."

As to Reggie Bush, who's Heisman hasn't been formally taken from him, even though a rumor surfaced to the level of truth two days ago, Bruno said "It didn't surprise me. The Heisman group was talking about it. I know Reggie had to expect something...But he's with the Saints now and moved on."

One lingering question not answered is if Bush would have to physically give back his 2005 Heisman Trophy. On that Bruno didn't have an answer, but our conversation about what fun Reggie and Kim Kardashian may have had with The Heisman when the two were dating made for a good laugh or three.

Bruno A Veteran

Tony Bruno is a sports talk radio veteran, and host of Into The Night With Tony Bruno, has worked for four networks: ESPN Radio, Fox Sports Radio, Sporting News Radio and The Content Factory. He's filled in (and very well, I may add) for Dan Patrick on The Dan Patrick Show.

But this blogger wonders if Bruno and Radnich are going to "make it rain?"



Stay tuned.