We realize that we have fans in many areas of this little ‘ol planet and it saddens us a whole lot that we can’t book a show to the many corners of the world. So we decided that we’ll play a special acoustic set for you folks who we can’t see in the flesh. Please tune in at 9pm Pacific Time for a special acoustic set live via USTREAM @ http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-concrete-project

Tory, Jen and I had a pleasant opportunity to sit in With Lady X and Melissa Myers on their The Break Talk Show. Eddie was busy with school finals, Cody went to the Casbah to support the Tuesday Hip Hop night and network amongst our genre and SB1 had a prior engagement so could not attend. It felt weird not having the whole squad there to tell our adventurous band tales, but us three were honored to rep for the whole band. The Break Talk Show was held in the sunken living room area of the AC Lounge and shot by the good people from Triple M Designz and will be broadcasted by our friends at DagoSD.com. I don’t want to be a party pooper and spoil the interview before it goes public, so I’ll just say that the interview was conducted very professionally on Lady X and Melissa’s part which allowed us to give our insightful, detailed answers to their questions. Of course, because we’re fun loving people, we had to get our goofy mcdoofy on during the interview by clowning on each other and getting clowned on. Eh, we like to keep our humility intact this way.

TCP’s Jen blessed the crowd with her soul hitting solo song Eye of the Storm and I did a spoken word piece and two solo songs while standing in the middle of a clapping cipher. It was quite the experience to say the least. Kinda felt like I was at church getting baptized because I was surrounded by people and by the sounds of clapping while the bright lights of a camera was all up in my grill. I was pleased to meet Majesty from DagoSD.com who told me that he rarely gets up and dances during performances, but had to get to moving while I was on the mic. I was very humbled by that fact and could say nothing more, but “thank you”. I was also very pleased to meet  Mitch from Triple M Designz (amongst the many other hats he wears). After the show Mitch and I had a great conversation about organized religion. Usually I try not to speak about religion with people I just met, but I could tell that Mitch was a very respectful, open minded person so our discussion was very intriguing. One thing that he said that stuck in my mind was that he loves Jesus, but wouldn’t be surprised if Jesus, Allah, Buddha, Judah, etc. was the same being – we all just see God from a different angle. He gave me a simple example of what he meant. He said that he is Dad to his daughter, Uncle to his nephews, Friend to others, Supervisor to his employees, Rap Artist to his fans, Asshole to some, Great Guy to others. Different people view him as a different light, but even though he’s interpritated under multiple titles, he is still just one person – Mitch. Same thing could be possible with God. Christians call him Jesus, Jews call him Judah, Buddhists call him Buddah, but maybe we’re all looking at the same God just at a different angle. I thought it was a very interesting theory. I was also pleased to meet Panthong and the camera man (I’m so sorry I forgot his name) from Triple M Designz. They were genuinely nice people to be around and I felt comfortable straight off the bat being amongst their presence.

Overall, a wonderful show ran by wonderful folks. I’m so humbled that a crew of people would spend their time and energy for the sole purpose of helping the TCP saga move into the light. THANK Y’ALL SO MUCH!

Young Caleb the Du-Raggamuffin Terror circa 1999.

Besides the music I create with TCP, I also like to dabble into the world of solo artistry. Being a solo artist allows me to release the type of music I want to poison the world with without the barriers of band politics or other people’s opinions. It’s also an ode to my younger years when I was nothing but a lonely solo artist trying break into the industry. Oh young Caleb, I have so much to warn you about. First off, please take off that silly du rag. Actin’ like you can get waves….pshhhhhhhh!!!

Anyhow, this night I was blessed with having the opportunity of rocking a solo set at DJ Tramlife’s and DJL’s Spinn Cycle night at The Ruby Room. Audiocrack, Parker and The Numberman and Day-Go Produce were also on the bill so I was amongst great, talented company. Day-Go Produce started the night with a high energy set that kept the crowd well satisfied. I was up after Day-Go Produce and was just coming off a 30 day no drinking cleanse so I had a nice little buzz going courtesy of my main doo doo stain bartender Ziggy. I started my set with a brand new spoken word piece about how I should have went to school instead of pursuing music. This piece was only a few days old so it started out rough with patches of forgetful lines, but all in all, it went schwang. I then performed In This Love and HOME and ended my set with another spoken word piece about how the SD Hip Hop scene should be more united. In true TCP fashion, my set was a mix of energy, goofiness, stupidness and a little rap talent in between. The always impressive Parker and The Numberman took the stage next. Once again I was impressed by these two gentlemen (and DJ) as they busted out their skin to give the crowd an ear and eye pleasing show.

DJ Tramlife and DJL then hit the 1’s, 2’s and 3’s and provided the crowd with a great mix of Dubstep and Hip Hop. I met a cool cat named Ezekiel who just moved to San Diego from North Carolina and who was also a MC. He spit a couple of freestyles for me that was quite impressive. He then told me that he’s going to freestyle on stage later. In all sincerity, I was like, “Cool, you should do it”. I also met a Mohawk Chamorro dude named Chris who runs a collective called the Infusion Project. He was the man responsible for bringing in the artists that were painting in The Ruby Room on this night. Very chill, down to Earth cat. With Chris, was Jason, a girl named Bones and another girl that I regretfully forgot her name. Jason, Bones and the unknown named girl were all from The Bay Area (like me) so we had a great convo outside the venue reminiscing on old school Bay Area artists. Again, very chill, down to Earth cats. Also in the place to be was the band As The Sun Sets who we previously performed with at the Soda Bar a year prior. Again, again, very chill, down to Earth cats. I remember having a nice conversation with Pat from A.T.S.S. about how dope his mustache was. He had one of those old school baseball pitcher mustaches that was hella intense. Ya know, the kind that had the rollercoaster loop at the ends. Fuckin’ BOSS! I had to admit to him that I was very jealous because I couldn’t grow one of those and I felt that my manhood was being tested everytime I looked at his mustache. Very sad moment for me.

We all headed back into the venue and was surprisingly treated to Audiocrack already performing on stage. This was my first time seeing this guy perform and I must say that this dude has skills. He was spittin’ over some high energy, part Electro, part Dubstep, part Hip Hop beats and his delivery was super duper clean. Their wasn’t very many people in the crowd at this point in the night (mainly because it was Wednesday at midnight), but I have to give it up to Audiocrack. He was rockin’ the stage like he had a stadium full of people in front of him. He was very much lost (in a good way) in the performance and music and I dug it. That’s a sign of an artist that is passionate about his/her craft.

After Audiocrack’s performance, I stuck around for a little to hang with my new friends Ezekiel, Jason, Chris, Bones, Unknown Named Girl, As The Sun Sets and also with my already buddies Tramlife and DJL. At this point the conversation was a drunk grab bag of various topics that were quite entertaining. One topic I remember was how Tramlife picked up a pair of RUN DMC glasses at the swapmeet for $6. I was buggin’ out cause I bought my nerd glasses at a Brooklyn flea market for $50. Man, I gotta get to that SD swapmeet pronto. After a few conversations outside, I headed back into the venue to close my tab and who do I see? My main man Ezekiel on stage freestyling like he said he was going to do a few hours ago. That man sticks to his guns. BLADOW!!

All in all, it was a great night meeting new people and getting to know my current friends that much more.

Salutations promoters, how have you been? We’ve been fine. The kids are good, this new batch of almond moonshine is hot off the burners, but what else is new. Anyhow, an idea. If you’re going to title yourself a promoter then please do what the title of your job entails and actually promote something other than promoting yourself as the promoter. Not just book the band, send a few Facebook invites to the four girls you’re currently stalking behind the cloak of your promoter title and then pat yourself on the greasy back for a job well done. How about putting down that bag of nacho cheese Dorito’s, get your manly size 7.5 Nikes on, print up flyers and posters and pound the pavement on behalf of your clients - ya know, THE BANDS!

You see, this is the arrangement. Bands shouldn’t be expected to also do your job. We, the musicians, sacrifice days and weeks on creating a music set that makes your venue go boom, boom, pow (them chickens jockin’ my style) and you, the pie loving promoter, should be out there channelling the same type of energy, focusing on filling up the venue. Do you see how this relationship goes? Here, let me make this equation simple for you:

PROMOTER = BRING PEOPLE IN THE VENUE
BANDS = ENTERTAIN THE PEOPLE YOU BRING INTO THE VENUE

You booked a band for the night. You did not book a multi-talented, Medusa headed machine that triples as a promoter, marketing specialist and PR agent. Hey, while we’re at it, how about we go behind the bar, mix the drinks for your patrons and check IDs at the door too. We’re not Geek Squad, we’re not May Tag men, we’re not Nationwide is on your side, we’re not the 1992 Olympic Dream Team. We are the band, that’s it. It’s right there in your title: PROMOTEr. Your title is not GUY-WHO-BOOKS-BANDS-AND-THEN-EATS-SELF-CONGRATULATORY-CHICKEN-WINGS. It makes me want to uproot a tree trunk and pee on a telescope when I get an email back from a so-called promoter asking me, “Well, how many people do you think you can draw?”. You musty son of a Cadillac driver, that is your job to draw the people!!! You book the bands, you sell the band to the people and then the people come to see the band. It’s like if I were to have my professional title on my business card as “Race Car Driver” when in reality I fix vending machines.

Some time between the first episodes of He-Man and the last episodes of Seinfeld, promoters have lost their way. Just in case you are one of those unfortunates, I hope this message finds its way into your hearts. So please, promoters, take off the Bad to the Bone t shirt, marinate some Irish Spring bar soap into your skin and put booties in those seats. PLEASE. We do our job rehearsing in the studio and sweating our carbs out on stage and you do - what is it that you do again? Yes, you should know by now. Thanks buddy.

Catch Caleb of TCP without the band performing a solo set for DJ Tramlife’s Spin Cycle night at the Ruby Room. Will also be doing some Electric Boogaloo for change outside the venue. Lots of painters and local Hip Hop artists in the building. A great mixer for you up and comers to network at. Caleb on stage at 10pm.