Midweek Randomness

Wow, it was definitely uncomfortable this morning w the humidity, by the time I got to the store I was drenched in sweat. And this was hella early in the morning, so I can imagine what its gonna be like later on. As I passed the graveyard I thought about those funerals that have a band leading the procession, I think they take place in New Orleans, correct me if I'm wrong. I was wondering what it would be like to have one of the Historically Black College Marching Bands leading a funeral. Man that would be hype unless it was your own funeral. Well at least you could say u made some noise on the way to the cemetery. Yeah I know, that was definitely the wrong type of thoughts to have but hey its a welcome distraction to my mind before I reach the store. Also came up with a new chapter/entry for the Fiction piece that was posted last week.
Wow I actually was able to get the windows covered with condensation for a while yesterday. I think the interior temperature was at 64 or less. It was nice for a bit, but I realized that I had to get it back to an acceptable level before fearless leader arrived. It was kind of funny seeing the reaction on his face when he saw what was left of the condensation. That was after he moved the A frame away from the front of the middle window. Yeah I still put it there every time I drag it out after I open the store. He doesn't say anything to me about it, he just drags it away from the middle window. Gotta love those priorities.
Speaking of priorities, fearless leader was spending a good amount of time at this website, I guess he wanted some background material for his case.

Tuesday!

Well fearless leader has come back from his pre-arraignment conference, hearing. From what he said the other side has not even looked at the file in regards to his case. His next court date will be the 12th. He went on to say that this was the first time that this charge has been brought against someone in this state. Something about the laws being vague. He also mentioned the flea market persons who get caught are usually charged with counterfeiting. The charge or charges that will be brought against him is a felony or felonies. His case will be heard in Superior Court. The prc was held in district court. That's it for now. Here are some more quotes from fearless leader and customers.

In regards to the mix cds that we received from Def Jam
"Def Jam sent us these"

"I'm giving it to you, I'm not selling it to you"

In regards to the raid
"They hit Boston,Cambridge, and Pawtucket,all at the same time just like the movies"

In regards to Phunky Stuff getting raided
" I told her to be careful, after they hit our store"

His answer to customers questions as to where they can get mix cds
"You can try online, but they'll probably hit them next"

Customer comments
" Yeah I heard about in news"

" Oh you still don't have mix cds"

"Wow, aiight we'll just get em in da hood" (a bunch of girls said this)

"I don't like the regular cds, I like the mixes"

"I don't buy the full length cds, because there's usually only one hot song,that's why I grab the mix cds"

"oh U guys are still open, I thought yall was shut down"

Mundane

Well the week begins, are yall ready? Yesterday was kind of warm, spent the a good portion of the day in an adirondack chair with a good amount of gatorade, in the shade of a tree grillin some food. What types of food, well not to much, just some beef flat ribs (the big Flintstone kind),some hot italian turkey sausage, red peppers, and onions. Wouldn't even consider using the stove yesterday.
Today's experiment was, how cold can the store get..or how much will the windows fog up. Let me just get that thermostat set into the 60's and go from there. Whew it looks like its gonna snow,now thats cold...

FriiiiidaY

This just in..Don't you just love those news cut ins..Well fearless leader has informed me according to his lawyer,the court appearance on 28th it is a pre-arraignment, and the arraignment is July 5th, the trial date will then be set at that time....

Yaay today is going to be fun. Can't wait to get outside on my lunch hour (that's a good one) in my triple thick bubble jacket w a wool skully and sheepskin mittens,and scarf.. Ok a bit over the top, its going to get kind of warm today (understatement) into the weekend so what better way to make folks sweat even more by dressing up like an explorer on his way to the south pole. Hmmm have them step into a very cold store then head back out into the heat. Wow where would that happen,I wonder? Hmmmm.

Ah yes the weekend is almost upon us, just have to get through the fun and excitement of a full day here at the store. More than likely I will get a call from Hec,asking me if I'm going to do an order today. I may also get a call from D today to, considering that I didn't have time yesterday to do an order with him either. I try to not do orders on Fridays because my focus aint completely there. Its more geared toward the door and sleep. You see Fridays are my long day and I get to experience a longer dose of fearless leader,and his minions. Well he aint exactly a minion,but a fellow employee,but he is also best taken in small doses. I must once again thank Ronnie for providing us here with this person, even though it may not have been all his fault.

Well I guess a good thing is that we once again have a new UPS driver on the route,which means that we must get used to a complete new arrival time for our packages. I think the route that our store is on ,is cursed or something, we go through more drivers than (well we cant put that here) yeah that many.

Thirstday

Helllo there, sorry couldn't get this up earlier today, motivational imperative was gone for the whole day. Didn't do any orders for tomorrow, just barely finished putting out the 7 inch order that arrived yesterday today. Whew a change of scenery is looking more enlightening every day. I did find an article explaining what happened to the employees of that store in NYC,check it out

Received the newest RIAA Enforcement Bulletin for the month of May, man they are definitely running wild, much thanks to Mr. H for the forward, not sure if u want ya name mentioned. Here's some text of interest:

Massachusetts

On May 10, 2005 the Boston Police Department
executed a search warrant at Hip Zepi, a retail
store located in Dorchester. This police issued a
summons to the suspect who must appear in
court at a later date. Seized as a result of the
warrant were 643 piratical CD-Rs.

On May 25, 2005, the RIAA conducted a
Voluntary Surrender at Newbury Comic, Inc. in
Brighton. They turned over 2,214 pirated CD-Rs,
all of which were DJ Mixes. The evidence seized
at this location is from all 25 different locations
named Newbury Comic.

Amazing yet it was nowhere the number of cds that they took from our store,also of interest was that The Phunky Stuff raid didn't make the local news. Fearless leader took his wife with him to the lawyer yesterday, and she seems satisfied with the goings on. Well thank the gods she's satisfied with the direction of the case. Wouldn't want her getting upset now would we?

And now a summer distraction, I really like this pineapple slicer

Pineapple Coconut Smoothie
You will need 1 cup of chunked pineapple,one banana cut up into half inch slices,3/4 cup of orange juice,3/4 cup of coconut milk chilled.
Place pineapple & bananas sheet pan in a single layer, place in freezer till firm (about 1/2 hr or so).Once the fruit is firm pour chilled orange juice & coconut milk into blender and mix together. Add pineapple chunks and bananas and blend till smooth. For a better taste use fresh pineapple (Costa Rican Pineapple on sale at Shaws in RI ,Star Market, and maybe Albertsons for 2.49) and substitute pineapple banana orange juice for regular orange juice.
enjoy!

Whensday

Man I wonder what is going to happen today. It takes major amount of meds to get me in the mood for this place. I usually start the first few doses when I wake up, take a few more before I leave the house, and finish up when I step through the door. Pretty potent stuff I must say, helps me make it to the point of departure in the afternoon. Wanna know what the meds are? Deep breaths, and thoughts about anything or anywhere else except the store. It works, almost too well. As I was walking out the back door heading towards the front of the house, I realized that the quaint greenery on the side from a few months back has turned into a sidewalk blocking jungle wall of doom. Hmmm if I turn around now, change my clothes, wait a few hours (don't want to wake the neighborhood, yeah I leave that early), grab the lopping shears,hedge trimmers,bow saw,etc, I can cut back the jungle. But then I realized that I wouldn't stop at that,hmm that azelea(sp) bush needs to be trimmed, and those trees branches are getting a bit outta control. Next thing you know its Friday evening, and I have amassed 10-15 bags of yard waste and missed two days of work. Hmmm.... oh yeah that's right I may actually get my paycheck today, must continue on to store, breathe in, hold, release....yaaay!
So the other day I got a call on my cellphone from a Village Voice fact checker asking to speak with fearless leader (well she didn't ask for "fearless leader") she asked for him by his real name. I informed her that she called my cellphone, which was weird because that was the number she was given to reach fearless leader. I directed her to the correct phone number,and then wondered why a village voice fact checker was calling for fearless leader. Here is the reason she called.

Tunesday

Well, another day has passed. Fearless leader has left to visit w the lawyer. From what I understand he may be bringing the wife w him because she's good at asking the right questions. Hmm i wonder what he'll say after he reads the statement that we gave when we were at the police station that day.

Be on the lookout for a break on this store related stuff.

Comments are welcome

Fiction

Jase couldn't believe he made it, especially after the nightmare at the airport. And now he was drenched in sweat,listening to mc trunks hype up the crowd at the end of DJ Craze's set. Most folks knew DJ Craze was there to do a jungle set and they thought he was the special guest,so it was a big surprise when the lights didn't come up in the arena and the unmistakable voice of Shogun, A number one speaker for Thooosaaka Doom addressed the crowd in broken English, "Manchestah prepare u selfs..."
And then the sound of the doom theme took over the arena, and the chant of thooo-saaka,thooo-saaka,thooo-saaka doom was heard. A green glow began to fill the lower sections,from the side exits,they approached,the doom dancers,at least 400 of them,all in black robes except for a small insignia on the back representing their country of origin. They assembled in front of the stage, which seemed to have risen from the ground by at least 10 feet. The powered wheelchair containing Thooosaaka approached the edge of the stage,and in a rare occasion,thooosaaaka addressed the crowd,"Bretthhrennn I bring to you a new discipllle....Deaddddd Dredd!
The doom theme ended abruptly and these lyrics were heard in its place "police in helicopter....The lights changed from green to red and the stage took on a yellow glow as a tall dark skinned rasta approached the turntables,bopping to the beat. Thooosaaka & Shogun were off to the side until Dead placed his first record on the turntable,and in a flash of green light and smoke,Shogun & Thooosaaka disappeared to be replaced by three doom dancers with the jamaican symbol on the back of their robes....

Moanday II

Yaay another record store has opened up. I got to thank the battle buyer for refering to it as the next generation of record stores. He kept on raving about how the set up was,and their inventory system. And the cds that he found there.
new store
Man the fallout over the raiding of Phunky Stuff continues. People came in our store today looking for mix cds because they heard about Phunky Stuff,I guess they didn't hear about us.

Moanday

Ah yes yes yall, the weekend is over and the fun begins once again. Friday afternoon fearless leader gets a call from the lawyer informing him that another store was getting raided. The store Phunky Stuff, carried,gift,novelties,black lights,posters,incense,cigarette papers,flavored bidis,some regular CD's, and Mix CD's. A customer came in and said he was just going to pick up a new pipe, but when he saw the police outside, and the boxes coming out, he kept on going. From what I understand, they also hit a music store called Sams. They carry regular cds, t-shirts,posters,etc and mix cds. It seems as if the authorities are making a grand tour of the state and hitting everybody. One of our employees said fearless leader was happy because he's not alone anymore. I wonder what folks are going to do now that those spots are shut down, I guess they'll have to hit up that guy on the corner w the truck. It's always a good thing when a customer comes in and says, "Nah I only buy mix cds, don't want the full length" Fearless leader blames the lack of cd singles for the popularity of mix cds.
Gotta love walking in here Monday morning. I get to see what posters fearless leader took down and put up. Wow he let the Mike Jones poster fall in front of the huge Faith Evans light box, nice. Then there's the always exciting game of "find the weekend faxes" Oh look here underneath these used records with no jackets and sleeves, the latest Fat Beats fax, yaaay 15 points! Thank the deities for e-mails.

Menu

I think were having some catfish tonight, not sure since I work all day. Mom had it on the shopping list, not sure who's gonna cook it unless sister does it after choir practice, which means a late dinner. Maybe I can leave work early and hook it up so we can eat at a decent hour. Fried catfish with some chipotle tabasco sauce, some red wine vinegar cole slaw, and maybe some french fries. mmm Mmm

This Sunday is fathers day,so I started thinking about the menu for dinner. Well actually I had already put together a menu last week. Still gotta tweak it. It will either be some grilled marinated steak w sauteed onions (vidalia if there are any left over) peppers,mushrooms,maybe some sliced garlic tossed in, baked potatoes, green salad, or jerked chicken thighs w grilled pineapple (gotta test out that new pineapple slicer) slices, mango chutney, may also do pineapple coconut smoothies to help cut down the heat on the jerked chicken. For those who cant take the heat of the jerked chicken thighs maybe some lemon & herbed chicken drumsticks,pasta salad, some spinach (not sure if its gonna be the steamed or sauteed in olive oil w fresh ginger). Hmm, this might be a good excuse to pick up that smoker grill at Lowes.
Char-Griller
Super Pro Charcoal Grill/Smoker

The new (as of last year) Weber Kettle grill is aight but its a little limited in terms of grilling space
weber grill

Still gotta work on the midweek menu in case we go through the other stuff. Hmm stir fry sounds nice...stir fry

Ticking Clock

Well as the pre-trial date approaches (6-28), fearless leader has started to pay more attention to his case. It took one of the other employees constant nagging for him to get in contact w the lawyer again. I guess he was just gonna show up at the pre-trial and assume that the lawyer had everything all set. Sheesh, well next week he's going to meet with the lawyer, the lawyer told him that he will have copies of the evidence that they have against fearless leader. Should make for an interesting meeting.

Also of interest is the RIAA enforcement bulletin for the month of April, they mentioned our store even though they spelled Pawtucket wrong, and also our two Mass area stores.

If you would like to see the text in regards to our store and the two Mass Area Stores from that bulletin, let me know and I'll email to ya. Much thanks to Mr. Henry for the forward.

I guess one of the positives from the raid is that now he is forced to pay attention to the rest of the store somewhat.

Fearless leader is still bemoaning the fact that they should have called him in advance. You know kind of like giving a heads up.
Hey Mr lawbreaker we are going to raid your crackhouse on this date at this time, we figure we give you a warning in advance so you can get rid of all of your illegal merchandise in advance of the raid. Have a nice day.


Here are some more quotes:

"For years and years they kind of ignored them, then all of a sudden they decided they needed to do something about it."

"No, they confiscated them"

"That Sucks"

"Thats not fair"

There's an interesting article in the NY times today worth reading in regards to a raid at a local store

"Mixtape Crackdown Sends a Mixed Message"

Thanks to Dan at Ambassador for the info

One more thing, Rhode Island Law in regards to pirated material is strict, the compromise mentioned in the above article wouldn't past muster here.

Middle

Well yesterday was street date day which meant the changing of the p.o.p. displays,woohoo. In the fantasy world the p.o.p aka display material,posters banners,clings etc would be put up in advance,but this is the world of fearless leader, in his world display material wouldn't go up early because customers might actually take notice and wonder when said release is coming out. Don't want to put that one up, it has a street date listed on it and you know how labels are always changing those street dates.Thats how things were for a while,now I just put the stuff up as soon as i get a chance. Had to make sure that the middle window remained clear so fearless leader would be able to gawk at the ladies as they strolled by. It would be a major problem if anything else was put in the middle window. I know he was a little nervous when the local Geffen ADR wanted to hang a Black Music Month Banner up in the middle window. Lucky for the ADR that the banner only covered the top most portion of the window. Also of interest is the placement of the A-Frame, its an outdoor sign, sandwich board type of thing provided to us by EMI Music Group. When I drag it out as we open I place it right in front of the middle window. I didn't realize how fanatical fearless leader was about his view until he actually dragged the A-Frame further down the sidewalk away from the middle window.

More

Ah yes the week began today with more of the same. Folks coming in looking for the latest mix cds only to be dissapointed when told that we don't sell them anymore. And they ask why and fearless leader launches into his spiel. I have heard him say it to customers so many times that i can say what he's going to say word for word before he even says it. I proved this to a friend as he was listening to some records while fearless leader was by the register telling a top heavy female customer what happened on the day we were raided. He refers to that day as Black Thursday.
For every bunch of customers that come in looking for mix cds we get 1 or 2 looking for that new Mike Jones,Marques Houston,Juelz Santanna,or Fat Joe which comes out Tuesday. It was great to hear a customer asking for a Louis Logic(fearless leader thought it wz a dance artists until the customer corrected him),Ed O G,and or People Under The Stairs CD.
The vinyl customers still seem to be coming through,not to many sheperds,just a whole lot of sheep.

Hmmm, well its a work in progess, there may be comments in regards to work, and observations about the goings on at work