The Journey to COUNTY OF KINGS

There are a million ways to tell a story, most likely more. After taking a long hard look at my life and the work that I've pursued I have realized that more than anything I'm in love with the art of story telling, in all its forms, shapes, and sizes. Whether it be a book, a play, a film, a song, a dance (the list can go on and on) all of them have at the very core one purpose to convey a message, a story. To that end I have always been a supporter of those who have a particular skill or talent when it comes to telling a story.

I've had the good fortune to been able to work with and be in the presence of some of the most talented artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.
First there was the show, dubbed as a staged-memoir by Lemon himself,

Then there was the book:

County of Kings by Lemon Andersen is definitive tale of coming of age in New York City during one the most tumultuous times of modern history. Amidst the birth of hip-hop, the proliferation of drugs, and an unthinkable disease that ravaged many communities. Lemon shows the reader how he struggles helped him to find his voice, his purpose in life.

Breathlessly intertwining poetry and prose to create a one of a kind memoir that can only be described as the rhythm infused child of the classics Down These Mean Streets by Piri Thomas and The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. County of Kings is sure to become a classic not only for its powerfully poetic verses that conjure not only a different place and time but often different characters. The narrative prose gives the readers insights into multidimensional characters that are difficult to describe but easy to fall in love with.

County of Kings is not only the story of a young boy coming into his manhood, but the story of a poet and writer finding his voice and honing his talent. In a lot of ways this book is a love story to the all of the pieces of literature that deeply influenced the author.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone whether reading is your thing or not. Whether you grew up in Brooklyn or not. This is a story for the ages.

For more information on Lemon Andersen visit www.SpitKing.com and to purchase a copy of the New York Book Festival book of the year for 2010 visit Amazon.

The 50th Law by 50 Cent and Robert Greene

All the way back in September 2009 I wrote a blog about a book that HarperStudio had published

Since that blog I had put several of my friends and associates on to the book. Sharing the blog with them as well as my opinion on how the book had really open my eyes to a new way of viewing the world and my place in it. Well since then several of my comrades and like minded individuals picked up a copy of the book and read it, so many folks bought copies of the book that it became a National Bestseller.


My friends and associates are well educated folks from diverse backgrounds with just a diverse group of beliefs, values, and opinions so I didn't really expect everyone to get on the same page about a book.


Now in the past there have been quite a few books that I knew of that were national bestsellers, I knew that they had hit bestseller lists through out the county because I work for a publishing house and in the lobby of the building I work in the book would be prominently featured the way The 50th Law is featured in the photo to the left. Often times I saw this books mentioned or featured in the major print publications or televisions and radio shows, however very rarely would I actually see it everyday in the hustle and bustle of my life. This is one of the few books that actually saw everyday people, that I could relate to, reading this book. To me that is the definitive sign of a book being a bestseller beyond hitting a list, which to me means absolutely nothing.

Versus

Id vs ego
You vs I
Us vs them
Life seems ridden
With strife & struggle
...Then what choice
Do we have
But to fight
War is in bred
As much as love
To deny that
Is to deny
Your very humanity
Oh what a tragedy
When we refuse
To see ourselves
For who we really are.

4 AM EST

It's 4 AM in NYC and I'm still up, which I suppose is not really saying much when you reside in the city that never sleeps. And I guess that if I lived the Sex in the City lifestyle saying that I'm up at this time would be followed by steamy story of partying the night away. But I'm not Keri and my life is more like Dry Humping in the City, you know, all the drama and hijinks of Sex in the City only with rub burns and no Jimmy Choos.

Now don't get me wrong there's the no other place I'd rather be or live, and the saying is true if you can make it anywhere. But that's mostly because you make so much more money working in NYC then any other place, on average. However, that's completely offset by the fact that on average New Yorkers spend more than half of their earnings on rent. In NYC the only difference poor and middle class, is that the poor people can't get credit.

Which brings me to why I am up so late, I feel like I just don't know enough like there so much information, so many new things to look at new games, books, movies, shows, cars, clothes, and the list goes and on. I often find myself coming home and sitting in front of my home computer after sitting in front of my work computer all day; looking up information, doing work or just fucking around. Today was one of those days, I've must have spent more than 10 hours in front of a computer.

I truly wonder what this means. How this much constant information and bombarment of messages is doing to me as a human being. I don't go out without having my iPod with me, my earphones on, avidly searching for my favorite tracks. What happened to the days when you listened to music at home? Or live at a ballroom or concert? I tune the hussle and bussle of the city out with my music high, there are times when I worry that I might go def by the time that I'm 40. Especially when my doctor said "if you keep listenig to your iPod too loudly you will go def by the time you're 40."

So this need to tune things out is because of the overwhelming amount of messages that I take in just in one day alone. Just looking out my window I could easily see one huge billboard promoting Wicked, and another three on the street. Its hard enough to stay focused on the day ahead, on my responsibilities and proper role in a solely profit driven society is somewhat of a soul-sucker (i.e. that which sucks the very spirit out of your life and you wonder it's very point and purpose.)

It gets to be too much sometimes so I tune it ouout, to function, survive and thrive. But there are days and weeks like this where it seems I've lost the strength to tune it out, and that's the moment advertisers wait for.

And that's what I think about at 4 am on Saturday morning as I wait for sleep to take hold of my eyes.

Lemon Andersen, the Spit King, the featured poet at Capicu Poetry!

THE CAPICU POETRY OPEN MIC

Friday, May 14th
$7 Cover
Doors Open @ 7 PM

Feature Poet:
LEMON ANDERSEN is a critically acclaimed and award-winning renaissance artist. As a poet he has the greatest number of appearances on HBO’S RUSSELL SIMMONS PRESENTS DEF POETRY—Eight times in six seasons. He is also an original cast member of RUSSELL SIMMONS PRESENTS DEF POETRY JAM ON BROADWAY—in which he won a TONY award for his writing and performance, as well as a Drama Desk Award nomination.

Notice Lounge
198 Union Avenue

(bet. B'way & Montrose)
Williamsburg, BK, NY 11211
G Train to Broadway, J train to Hewes

Music by: DJ Sambarella

Performances, visual art, & other goodies provided by: Jani Bomba Rose, Roberto Plena Irizarry, Ralphy Tatuxmen Perez, and many more.

Sponsored by:

Futuvision & Platinum Mic Studios

18 & over, dress casual but neat.

Attend This Event

Artists for Creative Theatre Presents 2009 Holiday Networking Mixer

2009 has been an amazing year for me and as we slowly creep into the last days of this year I can't help but look back and reflect on all that has happened. With that in mind my last blogs of the year will be dedicated to reflecting on all that I've done, seen, and heard. Since I didn't have time to actually blog about what was happening while it was occurring I figure a blogmoir (of sorts) would be just as good if not better cause this way you don't have to read through the boring parts. So stay tuned as I back track over the 365 days of 2009.

Before I get all misty eyed reflecting upon all of the crazy amazing events of these years. Those who have received national media attention, but most importantly those who have just happened in my life and very few people know about but are still just as relevant. I want to focus on the last 17 days of this year.

Yes there's a lot of Christmas shopping left to do, or in my case there's a lot of shopping left to start, and although I can't wait to get my bargain hunting on, this year for me the most important thing is the time that I will get to spend with my friends and family. I know that to many that sounds like some sappy Rockwell all-American Christmas jargon but now more than ever (as the economy yo-yos between collapse and recovery, and the audacity of hope and change begins to wain under the reality of business as usual, when so many of us have lost loved ones to tragedy or just the inevitable reality of the end) it is necessary to focus on the things that are really important and truly matter, genuine human connection and contact.

Its for this reason that there is one event that I'm officially looking forward to more than anything else, even more than Christmas and New Years. In 2009, I officially became the Artistic Director of Artists for Creative Theatre (ACT) a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing professional theatrical training to young adults from low-income communities. ACT's official launch will be taking place this upcoming Saturday, December 19th at the Rebel Diaz Arts Collective starting at 8pm.

We are having some of the most talented up-and-coming artists in New York City mixing and mingling under one roof. With funny man Chris Diaz hosting the evening, and performances by Omarvelus, Hiz and Herz Entertainment, and Earthchild. As well as special reading and book signing of the Next Stop by Ivan Sanchez. My friend and editor extraordinaire, Sulay Hernandez, was nice enough to donate copies of the book so those who come for the reading will get a complimentary copy of the book personalized by the author.

With sponsors like Nike, Island Def Jam, XXL Magazine, Urban Latino, El Presidente Media & Marketing, SRC Universal, Latinos NYC, Hiz and Herz Entertainment, Touchstone, Circa 95, Pop Corn Records, and more this is sure to be a memorable evening. We will be doing silent auctions of one-of-a-kind gift bags packed with exclusive merchandise from our top sponsors. There will be drink specials like $4 nutcrackers and $1 beers. We will also raffling off various items, and doing free give-a-ways.

So on Saturday, December 19th treat yourself to a lovely evening of good drinks, snacks, great music, and some of the most talented and amazing people that you will meet in New York City. RSVP today at ACTIncTickets@gmail.com

For more information on this event or ACT's 2010 season please visit www.artistsforcreativetheatre.org or contact me directly.

P.S.---Don't forget your business cards.

Its been a while, but I'm back, and so is 50 Cent.

Okay, so its officially been more than two years since my last blog. The few that will read this blog are probably wondering what's up with that? Is she a procrastinator? Is she unreliable? Or just plain old lazy? Or has she been working her butt off to keep a roof over her head? I would say its probably a little bit of all those things and much more.

Now lets not dwell in past inconsistencies and lack of follow-through and look towards the future, not too far into the future, I may be good at reading people but I'm no psychic. I can however predict what's going to happen on September 8, 2009. As a matter of fact, just to show you how amazing the digital revolution really is, I have a direct link to the future all you have to do is click: http://www.amazon.com/50th-Law-50-Cent/dp/006177460X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247590207&sr=1-1

Yes folks, its true 50 Cent, drug dealer turned rapper turned actor is now officially an author. I have to whole-heartily admit that at first I was totally taken a back at the thought of reading a book written by 50 Cent. I was straight up like hell-no I'm not reading that if its anything like his albums or videos on YouTube he's going to just talking about a bunch of "beef" he has with a bunch of other rappers who keep talking about their "bling" and going off in random tangents and other masturbatory rants. However, and I can't believe that I'm actually typing this, once I read the introduction I was totally taken aback. There is non of the usual 50 bravado, instead what is held between the pages of the book (which looks very much like a bible) is some extremely profound, yet accessible wisdom.

The 50th Law, co-written with Robert Greene, from the The 48 Laws of Power fame, is an honest and bold exploration on what it takes to be successful. Without giving too much of the book away I will say that personally this book has helped me change the way I see at my role at work. I am now more focused than ever at achieving my goals and staying focused on my chosen career path. But, and this is what I feel is most important, it has made me more confident, it has opened my eyes to the endless possibilities before me as long as I don't let fear cloud my judgment and decision making.

I highly recommend this book to anyone whose looking for a way to get to that next step. Whatever that step maybe in your journey. Robert Greene does a great job of moving past 50's persona and getting down to the real deal, to the struggle of trying to make something out of nothing. And how anyone can go from growing up in a poor neighborhood to running their own company with enough hard work, perseverance, and the fiftieth law.