Did you miss me?

Issac thinks you did. He stands accused.

Seriously, though, what's been going on, people? I've been spinning lots of records, drinking a lot of Real Ale, eating a lot of pizza, and, you know, other stuff. Oh, I forgot, #Hashtagging on twitter like it's MY JOB.

The Atlanta Hawks are up on the Magic, 3-1, Chris Paul is doing his best to single-handedly dismantle the Lakers, (with a little help from Trevor Ariza) and the Knicks are flopping like a trout trying to swin against the current. While at work last week, I caught snippets of game 1 of the Bulls-Pacers series, to which I exclaimed "the Pacers made the playoffs?" I was dumbfounded. I immediately consulted the resident NBA expert in my world, a one Coby Lee Gleason. His retort to my query "How did the pacers make the playoffs?" went something like this:

"Marty, c'mon. they play in the eastern conference."

Fair enough, Cobster. I guess Derrick Rose has to fillet some lowly Eastern Conference team on the way to the next round. Hopefully they'll meet the Heat, D Rose will somehow get into a fight w/ Dwayne Wade, and Lebron and Chris Bosh will hold each other post-game in the locker room while this song plays:




Maybe they'll find some type of solace in being surrounded by Keyboards. In other Miami Heat-related news, I don't see the fire in Lebron's eyes anymore. Maybe it's that he's trying to gel w/ other superstars, or maybe he's still bitter about the media taking a huge dump on his face (see prior AGC post). The NBA playoffs are always an uncompromising saga of super stardom, Phil Jackson's buddism, Kobe's knees, crazy tattoos, and the highest level of basketball you can possibly see ANYWHERE. Even though the Lakers are trying to shake off the NOLA Hornets, you can bet somebody in their camp somewhere is busting kneecaps to get Dwight Howard in a Lakers uni come 2011-12. and you thought WWE wrestling was a soap opera. Look at what happened w/ 'Melo.

Ok, ok, I haven't only been cracking-out on playoff NBA B-ball, I've also been spinning tons of records. A few weeks back, I was digging at one of my favorite spots in town, Breakaway Records up on north loop. The help was spinning some raw soul-funk type stuff. I noticed the tune was the sample the Geto Boys' used in "My Mind is Playin' Tricks on Me" ...turns out it was an Issac Hayes cut dubbed "Hung up on my Baby", but it also turns out that brooklynites the EL Michels Affair did a whole album of Issac Hayes covers that is straight up RAW. Then, the help put on the next El Michels record, dubbed "Enter the 37th Chamber" in which they re-translated a bunch of Wu-Tang beats with live instruments. I was sold. I've bought every El Michels record I could get my hands on, and have considered paying upwards to $40 on ebay for Sounding Out the City, which is full of EMA original cuts, on LP. This track is the crown jewel on said LP:





Great stuff. The lo-fi production and horns make this sound like it was made in the late 60's.

In short, get off your ass, get outside and enjoy the sunshine when you can, when you come back inside, watch some NBA playoff bball whilst spining El Michels Affair records. I can't really give anything else my endorsement right now, in fear of a pending lawsuit. Dear Andrea B, I'm glad you've passed the bar. I might need to enlist your services. (Jokes.)

Keep it real, ATX and beyond.

-Marv.