Month / September 2017

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Energy

I’ve been working as a bike courier for about a month now. It’s really fun and really challenging –  probably the most physically hard work I’ll ever do (besides that time I shucked oysters for 15hrs straight at the PDX convention center).

I’m getting faster, long rides are getting easier, and it’s all coming down to energy. If I get frustrated (which totally happened the other night) I pedal sporadically fast, not really gaining much speed, and getting hella tired by the time I make my delivery. I’m figuring out going with the flow of my energy and bike makes for faster times and less fatigue. It’s equally mental and physical. 

I started making this comparison to daily life. If we expel a bunch of shit energy on the world, ourselves, or someone we love, we experience real fatigue that holds us back from our potential for a bit. If we cruise through our day openly and positively, moving at a pace that fits our mental and physical demands, we’ll have a much better chance of facing the next challenge with calm clarity.

I’m mostly writing this as a reminder to myself to keep the energy right, holler if you give it a try and it works for you too 🙂

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Church of Hype: Jam of the Week #4

The 4th installment of The Jam of the Week is a track that came to mind instantly when the idea of starting the playlist hit me – J Dilla’s Nothing Like This from his Ruff Draft LP.

Dilla is one of if not the best rap producers ever, no question. This is why this track’s simplicity and vibe carry such huge weight! It’s a massive flex and testament to his creativity and ability to shine beyond any expections or even loose ideas of what music can sound like.

I’m straight up scared to look up the sample because I don’t want to question the magic it’s laced me with on every listen since Stones Throw reissued the record in 2007 (OG came out in 2003, fuck!)

Nothing Like This is a timeless, genre-free love song to someone or something he felt really good about. Let’s take this love to something we care about too y’all and party to it, honoring the incredible legacy Dilla left on this planet 🎉❤️ 🙏🏽

Peep the full Church of Hype: Jam of the Week playlist here

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Greyliens

The other night at dinner with my bandmate and best friend, label-owner and mentor, and one of LA’s raddest musical minds I learned greyliens are aliens that live among us in another dimension. No other details were shared, and I only Googled far enough to get the spelling right.

It doesn’t really matter to me if greyliens exist or not. I just find being open to stretched out and irregular ideas helpful. Not saying go ham searching conspiracy theories online, but what if we use avant-garde concepts like greyliens to open up our perspective in other more concrete parts of life, basically giving us infinite options to situations that seemed simple or already out of our hands?

Why not spend time digging into ideas that can lead to things we never even considered a possibility? Like greyliens, or changing your career, or taking a life-changing road trip through Canada to Alaska, or visiting Instanbul to see all the cats, or being the family/crew member you’ve always wanted to be. ❤️👽

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Church of Hype: Jam of the Week #3

This week’s Jam of the Week is Could Heaven Ever Be Like This from the legendary drummer Idris Muhammad. It’s a ridiculously uplifting journey, full of bouncing  positivity and an intro that completely changes your day (try it)!

I first heard it on this jazz cassette comp I thrifted in the early 2000’s. I’d bump it on a boom box in my Ford Ranger while driving around rural Minnesota doing lawn care saving the money to move to Portland.

Eventually I hit rewind too many times trying to hear Could Heaven Be Like This and the tape snapped : (

Still on the hunt for another copy!

I was reintroduced to the song last year on Today’s Good News (RIP), the XRAY.fm radio show hosted by legendary Portland DJ Rev Shines and All Night Tong. I hit him up about it and he said you gotta get the extended 12″, the 45 version is too short!

Hope you dig this track as much as I do – Check out the full Church of Hype: Jam of the Week playlist here

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Space, man

Yo if you want to feel humbled for a sec check out space! I just copped this paperback at my wife and I’s favorite thrift spot in Tucson.

Dude breaks down all the ways people looked at space (thru 88′) in a way that’s mostly understandable.

It’s facintating to learn about astronomers who were 100% sure they knew what was happening in our sky – only to be completely disproven, or in many cases, there ideas were built upon discovering the truth decades or centuries later!

Also that star you’re looking at might not be where it seems. Light can bend around objects like the sun, making stars appear in the sky far from where they actually are. #questioneverything

Marination Station

  • Space is massive and elusive and we are tiny.
  • What you see isn’t always what you see.
  • Absolute facts can and will later be disproven.

This context is helpful for me – hope you get something from it too.

Give me a shout if you’d like to borrow my copy of A Brief History of Time, I’m happy to send it you. 🚀

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PS Writing this outside the local planetarium so you know how serious I am about space! You can tell it’s legit because they’re showing Dark Side and a crew of college kids are playing light-up frisbee to the sounds of a playlist featuring dubstep, country, & punk with bag pipes (back to back to back) in the grass behind me. All love, have fun kidos! 

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It’s harder to dream

Ever get stuck thinking about things you don’t want to? Gossip from work you honestly don’t care about keeps coming up in your head, or anger towards a person or group of people for something that already happened and doesn’t really matter right now… You know these aren’t the healthiest thoughts, but it’s hard to let them go.

Try dreaming. Literally start making stuff up in your head. Your dream scenario. Wherever you want to be. You’re in total control and its all imaginary so go deep! I’m thinking about being on a cross country bike ride on a bike I don’t own with skills and gear I don’t have yet. I’m visiting new communities and making rad connections to keep doing the things I love!

Dreaming is harder than staying stuck on unnecessary and mostly irrelevant issues, which is why I love doing it! It exercises the mind in a really cool way, while getting you closer to your totally attainable, realistic, and ok-to-dream-about goals!

It’s also harder to dream – like street hard. I’m way more into someone thinking about doing incredible shit than being a big ole bummer.

Obvious right? Dream!

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Start with Spit

I was gifted a massage as a wedding present from my friend Kerrie at Sun of Metal Body Work (who you should totally call if you’re ever near Tucson)!

Before my session I started having those awesome thoughts about starting a new and more intentional life, making this massage my catalyst to be a better human – for myself, my fam, and the world.

Then I thought why not have these revitalizing feelings around anything and everything? What if you put that much thought and energy into eating dinner with a friend, taking a walk, or just straight up spitting on the ground?

Try it and let me know if it works. Just go spit outside your door (or even better the door of the cafe you’re at) and start being the new you you’ve been dreaming of.

I’ll go do the same right now – each of us putting a little effort into making our lives and the lives we touch better ✌🏽