You Wanna A Piece of Me?

The coolest Michael Jackson moment.

2009-07-05T09:31:00.000-07:00

I witnessed the coolest thang yesterday.

Okay, maybe my all-time favorite Michael Jackson moment (up until yesterday) was when I did a puppet show for my li'l sister's 5th birthday. Using the Thriller album with Kermit The Frog as Michael and Animal as Vincent Price, I performed a series of sold-out performances in our basement. However, I reminded my sister about this last night and she said she doesn't remember it. Oh, well.

To quote De La Soul..."On to the next, on to the next!"

Guys, I saw one of the coolest things last night. My father and sister
are in town and I took them to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery where
they show movies outdoors. They project them on the side of a building
and people bring their picnics. It's a lot of fun. Last night was
JAWS. Man, talk about a great film.

So everyone's sitting on their blankets waiting for the film and there
are DJs playing music. It's a very chill vibe. Right before the
movie's about to begin, the DJ drops "Dont Stop Til You Get Enough."

The entire mass of people, hundreds and hundreds of movie fans, all
explode and get up at the same time and begin dancing. And then
"Thriller" came on and the crowd amped it up even more. Talk about a
fun time.

And talk about the power of one musical artist. I'll be talking about
that moment for years to come.

Love,

Joe

What I'm watching right now.

2008-12-13T00:21:00.001-08:00

VH1 Classic.

Ya ever get stuck on a channel for a while? Earlier I was watching the making of John Mellencamp's latest album, "Life, Death, Love and Freedom." That got me all inspired. He wrote the whole album in a span of twelve days. Why does my process take so long sometimes? It's all of that damn multi-tasking.

Then I watched Top 10 Videos of Van Halen. Awesome. Eddie never had any formal training. Just locked himself in his room for hours on end. Then one of my favorites came on...

"Metallica: Some Kind of Monster"

I'm watching this for like the third time. Their creation process is fascinating. I love that Lars Ulrich even doubts himself. Millions of albums sold and he still questions. I think that's crucial to the life of the artist. Not the self-doubt. I wish I could do without that. But the constant questioning. I love that my job requires that I excavate my soul on a daily basis. I love watching James Hetfield write. It's the search for the visceral. Every artists white whale. The search for that piece that naturally flows from your mind to your pen to the paper. The words that you can over and over again and they never lose meaning. The meaning only changes as your perspective changes and matures.

What have you done for me lately?

2008-09-14T23:27:00.000-07:00

My speaking agency, the American Program Bureau, asked me to put together a list of my performances for the past two years. So I sat down with my Treo calendar and started typing out all of my performances, etc over the past two years. It actually helped me feel a li'l bit more confident in what I've been doing since January 2006. I haven't been as lazy as I feel sometimes.

So from now on, whenever anyone asks, "So what have you been up to?" I'm gonna say, "Visit my blog. It's ALL there."

Joe

2006 - September 2008
1/20/06 – Joe’s short film, “Afterschool’d,” about an afterschool hip-hop program that goes wrong, premieres at the Hip-Hop Film Festival, held at UCLA.
1/22/06 – Si TV’s “Not So Foreign Filmmakers Showcase” premieres. “Not So Foreign” is the show dedicated to independent Latino film that Joe hosted and co-wrote.
1/31/06 – Joe performs “Refried Latino Pride” at Rider College, Lawrenceville, NJ.
3/18/06 – Joe opens in “The Stones” at Center Theater Group’s Kirk Douglas Theater, receiving rave reviews by Variety and The Los Angeles Times.
3/27/06 – Los Angeles: NBC screens "Afterschool'd" as part of its inaugural Comedy Short Cuts Film Festival.
4/18/06 – Joe performs “Refried Latino Pride” at Penn State Harrisburg, Harrisburg, PA.
5/17/06 – Joe and DJ Jedi are invited to perform Joe’s hip-hop solo show - “You Wanna Piece of Me?” – at Ars Nova in New York City.
7/17/06 -- Joe performs his poem, “America: The Pinko, Liberal, Commie Re-Mix,” on the Mun2 Network television show "Vivo."
7/27/06 -- "Afterschool'd" screens at the New York International Latino Film Festival.
8/26/06 -- "Afterschool'd" screens at the Nosotros Film Festival in Los Angeles, CA.
8/29/06 -- New York City: NBC screens "Afterschool'd" as part of its inaugural Comedy Short Cuts Film Festival.
9/20/06 -- Los Angeles: NBC chooses "Afterschool'd" as one of its seven finalists in the Comedy Short Cuts Film Festival.
9/22/06 -- Joe's solo show, "You Wanna Piece of Me?" headlines the "Say Word" Hip-Hop Theater Festival at Lehigh University, Lancaster, PA.
10/2/06 -- Joe performs “Refried Latino Pride” at the University of Southern Florida, St. Petersburg, FL.
10/4/06 -- Joe performs “Refried Latino Pride” at Penn State Altoona, Altoona, PA.
10/5/06 -- Joe performs “Refried Latino Pride” at University of Scranton, Scranton, PA
10/10/06 -- Joe performs on HBO's "Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry."
10/12/06 -- Joe performs “Refried Latino Pride” at Tacoma Community College, Tacoma, WA.
10/26/06 – Macy Gray is so impressed with Downbeat 720, Joe’s open-mic program for high school youth, that she and Joe begin “Downbeat in the Valley” at the M Gray Music Academy, North Hollywood, CA.
10/27/06 -- Joe performs at Cal State LA, Los Angeles, CA
11/3/06 -- Joe performs at Cal Poly University, San Luis Obispo, CA
11/11/06 – Joe performs “Refried Latino Pride” at Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
11/16/06 – Joe brings together some of his favorite spoken word poets and musicians and produces and performs in “When Two Worlds Collide” at the Highways Performance Space, Los Angeles, CA. The show receives standing ovations every night.
2/22/07 – Joe performs “Refried Latino Pride” at Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA.
3/30/07 – Joe performs at Youth Speaks Finals in Minneapolis, MN.
5/7/07 – Joe performs “Refried Latino Pride” at CUNY Queens, Queens, New York.
6/6/07 – Joe competes in “The Anthem” Poetry Slam at Cal Poly University, San Luis Obispo, CA.
6/7/07 – Joe performs at the Esalen Institute, Big Sur, CA.
6/22/07 – Joe performs “Refried Latino Pride” as part of the Latino Laugh Festival, Los Angeles, CA.
7/8/07 – Joe performs at La Peña Cultural Center, Berkeley, CA.
9/10/07 – Joe shoots a scene in the new Will Smith film, “Hancock,” Los Angeles, CA.
9/26/07 – Joe performs “Refried Latino Pride” at Onondaga Community College, Syracuse, NY
10/6/07 – Joe performs “Refried Latino Pride” at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, MO.
10/11/07 – Joe performs “Refried Latino Pride” at William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ
10/28/07 – Joe participates in the first Hip-Hop Theater “Boot Camp” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. OSF invited eight hip-hop theater artists from around the world to spend a week with their staff and actors to create dialogue between the disciplines.
11/12/07 – Joe performs “Refried Latino Pride” at Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI
11/15/07 – Joe performs “Refried Latino Pride” at East LA College, Los Angeles, CA.
2/15/08 – Joe performs “Refried Latino Pride” at Cal Poly University’s “Change The Status Quo” Conference, San Luis Obispo, CA.
2/21/08 – Joe premieres “So Fresh and So Clean” at the bang. Comedy Theater, Los Angeles, CA. “So Fresh and So Clean” is his new two-person Hip-Hop comedy show with beatboxer Joshua Silverstein.
3/8/08 – Joe performs “Cool” as part of the Comedy Showcase at the National Association for Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) Annual Conference.
4/6/08 – Joe shoots a scene in the new Jamie Foxx/Robert Downey Jr. film, “The Soloist,” Los Angeles, CA.
4/18/08 – Joe performs at Immigration PAC Fundraiser, Chicago, IL.
4/21/08 – Joe shoots scene in independent feature, “The Assistants.”
5/3/08 – “So Fresh and So Clean” runs for five weeks to packed houses and standing ovations at the bang. Comedy Theater, Los Angeles, CA.
5/17/08 – Joe performs at Highways Poetry Festival, Los Angeles, CA.
6/4/08 – Joe shoots a scene with John Schneider in pilot, “Twenty Six Miles.”
7/22/08 – Joe opens for John Mellencamp at the Charter One Pavilion, Chicago, IL.
7/26/08 – Damon Young’s film, “5”, (a spoof of “24” where Joe plays “Jack Bauer”) premieres at Comic-Con International Festival, San Diego, CA.
8/4/08 – Joe appears on “The Price is Right” on his birthday and wins over $9000 in prizes! (no kidding.)
8/23/08 – Joe hosts Sanborn Stage at Sunset Junction Music Festival, Los Angeles, CA
8/28/08 – Joe attends Barack Obama’s Democratic Convention nomination acceptance speech at Invesco Field, Denver, CO.
9/12/08 – Joe performs “Half-Brown Like Me” at Morehead State University, Morehead, KY.
9/19/08 – Joe performs “Refried Latino Pride” at Indiana University NW, Gary, IN.
9/23/08 – Joe performs “Refried Latino Pride” at Texas A&M, College Station, TX.

And ya don't stop!

7-18-08

2008-07-15T16:01:00.000-07:00

I have my tickets.

DO YOU?

The People's Republic of Capitalism

2008-07-15T15:53:00.000-07:00

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/koppel/koppel.html

I am knee deep in this series right now. It's fascinating to take an in-depth look at the relationship between U.S. and Chinese commerce. There's a segment that shows an Ethan Allen couch being made in China, then shipped to the U.S. for inspection, then shipped back to China for purchase by the growing Chinese middle class. Although the middle class is growing, a great majority of Chinese still live in rural areas and make very little money. They showed a family that makes $600 a year in farming, $300 of which is spent on educating their daughter.

Keep an eye open for it.

Just write.

2008-07-15T14:26:00.000-07:00

I'm learning how to get back into blogging. I'm not really good at it. I just write shit in my journal and leave it at that. There's an art to blogging, I think. People are now making massive cha-ching based on their personal opinions, whether they're discussing entertainment news, political views or who's screwing who. My boy, Damon Young, he's got a real freakin' blog: www.macroscope.blogspot.com. He puts up photos, political opinions, articles, etc.

I think I'll at least start posting articles and other shit that I find interesting.

Okay...starting...now.

IMMIGRATION PAC Fundraiser -- Friday, April 18, 2008

2008-04-22T09:48:00.000-07:00

I was blessed to be asked by my friend, Jose Cruz, to perform at a fundraiser for Immigration PAC, a new political action committee dedicated to combating all of the negative press against immigrants. Check them out at www.immigrationpac.org.

Here's a copy of the poem that I read:

"AMERICA--the pinko, liberal, commie re-mix"
(for Langston Hughes)

1
Late night cops don’t interrupt me
A Chicano in a white boy’s body they never confront me
They don’t see that
My roots go much deeper than a blond Asian’s on local TV
If you go beyond the soundbites
There is so much more to me

2
I was raised to reach to the highest of skies
To achieve my dreams
Navigating ill-informed conformity
While never negating
Those who came before me
I am hard work combined with
Chicago street knowledge
Focus and consciousness
Arrived at an Ivy league college
I am late-night prayers asking for guidance
I am awful dreams of my family risking bordertown violence
I am eyelids open when others are asleep
I am the morning dew and the promise it keeps

3
I am the Haitian husband carrying my wife on handlebars hustling in the early morning streets
I’m the Wall Street businessman playing chess with Washington Square homeless
I’m a Pilsen teen
Accepted to Harvard pre-med
I’m a Colorado kid refusing guns
I choose a pen instead
I am a middle aged Chinese delivery man
“You know, I used to be a doctor in my homeland”
I am the white collar workers laughing and eating
I am the immigrant who cleans up for them after their meeting
I am all couples in love for over 25 years
I am Mexican & Puerto Rican
Compadres in the Cubbies bleacher seats
Competing to drink the most beers
I am a Kansas City kid in the café with
One mic, one guitar and one voice
I am a pregnant Atlanta teen I can’t help but mourn over my choice
I am the Republican, the Democrat, the Independent
I am the original tribes and their descendents

I am Florida flea markets sellin’ Versace
I’m a Greek girl studying Mariachi!
I am the children of Dr. King who never stop dreaming
I am New Orleans citizens and I am still here screaming

4
So often
I feel scared, beaten up and tired
I am angered by
Sheltered apathy and money-blinded liars
I know my faults
I am built on indigenous tears
Hypocrisy and minstrel fears
But I refuse to detain and torture human lives
To every story I know there is more than one side
I don’t need arrogance from demagogues
I have room in my heart for every child of every god

I am comfortable and confident with what I believe
I am not concerned with the prejudicial past times of the naive

5
I am a brother who can’t play basketball
I’m a Jew who’s broke
I’m a Latino who sucks at salsa
I’m a vegan who likes to smoke
I’m a cholo with a chai latte
An Asian who sucks at math
An East Indian born and raised in Virginia
I’m a white girl with a big ass
I am hot summer days by the great lakes
Bloods giving crips pounds and handshakes
I am a soldier always ready and dependable
My life has value I am not expendable

I am stolen kisses on subway trains
Courtesy and patience on freeway lanes
I’m money and I'm learning to invest it
I’m educated and not afraid to express it
I am the kindness of strangers that keeps growing
I am the inspiration that keeps me going

6
I am a Chicano in a white boy's body
Like an Israeli married to a Saudi
I am the best of all worlds
The promise of what will be
“There are stains on the beauty of my democracy
I want to be clean”
And I am the compassion and hard work of millions that goes unseen

7
I am merely an infant
But I am ready for what is ahead of me
I am America my greatest friend and enemy.

(c) Joe Hernandez-Kolski 2008

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2008-01-11T01:37:00.001-08:00

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