To the Man in the Mirror

In the few days since Michael Jackon's death, there has been a flood of responses from fans around the world. I suppose when any celebrity passes away, there is some cohort of fans who feels compelled to share memories and reflections. Today, such fans are more visible than ever with internet forums, youtube videos, and blogs. The reaction to Michael Jackson's death, however, goes beyond anything I've seen before. The personal responses that have erupted forth seem nearly ubiquitous. People you might not expect to say much on the matter are offering long reflections. People like me, who are typically oblivious and apathetic to Hollywood news are writing their thoughts in blog entries like the one you're reading now. Why? Michael Jackon's impact on culture, not only in the US but around the world, cannot really be fathomed. News of his death reawakewnd in me a flood of memories from my childhood. Walking through these memories, I suddenly realized the extent to which Michael Jackson influenced my life.

MJ is THE reason I started dancing. To this day, nothing gets me on my feet faster than hearing a classic like Billy Jean, Don't Stop Till You Get Enough, or Smooth Criminal. My love for dance started around age 5. I used to watch and rewatch Michael Jackson's music videos on VHS, standing in front of the TV trying to mimic his movements. Play. Pause. 0.5x speed. Rewind. Play. Pause. 0.5x speed. Rewind. My favorite possession was my VHS of Moonwalker. I would watch that video almost daily.

When I was 6, my family went through some rough times. At the same time, I started first grade at a new school, in a new town. I didn't know anyone. My older sister was at a different school, so I didn't even have her, my usual protector. It was a school full of kids from fairly well off families very different from my own, and I was the only non-Caucasian. I didn't exactly fit in right away. I would have this fantasy where I'd show up to school dressed as Michael Jackson, dancing like Michael Jackson, letting the other kids know who's bad. This of course would lead to my immediate promotion to coolest kid in school, with all the girls swooning over me. In third grade, this fantasy briefly and partially came true. For the school talent show, I danced solo to Thriller. I spun. I grabbed my crotch. I moonwalked. My classmates went wild (or at least it seemed that way to my over-imaginative 9 year old mind). For a short while after that, I was famous. I walked the halls of Brown Elementary as a hero. Recess was filled with requests for me to do the moves again. I wonder how much of the confidence I now dance with stems from little events like that one.

Michael Jackson's influence on me was greater than just inspiration to dance. My favorite song growing up was Man in The Mirror. The song repeats the line, "If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change." It's a simple message, probably too obvious to be considered profound. But imagine being a little kid, listening to this song every day, hearing your idol tell you, "If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change." I took this message to heart. In my still developing brain, caring got equated with cool. So, instead of having dreams of being a basketball star or a race car driver, I dreamed of growing up to be able to help people, to protect and save the weak. Since then, I've had many important influences that helped to guide me and inspire me in the pursuit of my goals. But I can't help but think MJ helped to plant the seed. With songs like Man in the Mirror and Heal the World, Michael Jackson empowered kids like me to dream of fixing all the ugly things we saw happening in the world around us. He made me believe that helping others is not a burden but a privileged. So despite whatever controversies exist around Michael Jackson, despite all the problems he had, I have to join the millions of other fans in paying my respect to the legend. No one can deny that he changed the world. I know he changed my life.

Stream of Consciousness Coast to Coast

It's about 11:30 PM and I'm sitting in the airport. SFO is buzzing more loudly than I would expect for this time of night. My flight doesn't leave for another hour. I'll land in Manchester around 11:30 AM Eastern time and bus up to Portland. I always choose overnight flights. Daytime is too precious to lose to long plane rides alone, where you never get as much work done as you say you will. On the other hand, I suppose it can be somewhat arduous to spend the night traveling across the country. Sometimes layovers can't be avoided, and you find yourself observing the hustle and bustle of airport culture. It's like the same mini-city exists, cloned at each major aiprot across the country.

I've made this trip so many times now, I can quite literally do it in my sleep. I'm usually asleep before the plane leaves the ground, and I can sleepwalk between terminals to catch connecting flights whenever needed. It's easy for me to make the claim that if getting back to Maine were easier, I'd make the trip more often. But I wonder if that is really true. It's been over a year and half now since the last time I was home. It seems like an unnecessarily long time when I think about it. But it's hard for me to notice that the time has passed. It's almost as though I put my east coast timeline on pause while in California. For my brief trips back, I press play and it's as though I was never gone. I have a painfully inadequate sense of time. I suppose everyone must feel that way. It's too easy to blink your eyes and find yourself in another year.

I repeatedly see two approaches to dealing with the unruly nature of time. One philosophy is to just go. Don't waste time thinking and contemplating or life will pass you by. People like this tend to believe that as long as they are doing something they are living. These people seem afraid to stand still. On the other end of the spectrum is the person who sees each moment in time as a single chance to do things right. These people will think and rethink before taking any action. They can paralyze themselves with thought. They prefer the regret of inaction over the regret of incorrect action.

Of course life is a balance. Who doesn't acknowledge that fact? It's the cliche of every dichotomy, every debate. But how many of us achieve balance? I certainly don't. Oddly enough, people often complement me for having a balanced life. I think the people who tell me this are mistaking variety for balance. Sure, I do a lot of very different things. I have "diverse" interests. But I'm missing a certain balance. I can feel it. Ah, it looks like my flight is boarding.

...

I've made it onto the plane now. To my left is a tall, lanky, cynical man. He's on his way to Detroit to play drums for Phil Collins. To my right is a woman who flies 747s for NWA. We're sitting in the exit row and the drummer assures me that if we crash, I'm going to have to be the hero because he's getting himself the hell out of the plane without looking back. He adds, "It doesn't really matter though. There wouldn't be any survivors anyway." As we get ready to leave the gate, we hear a buzzing/hissing noise. It sounds like a power tool to me, but the drummer claims it's the engine having trouble starting. The pilot to my right corrects him. "it's the hydraulics. The engines are fine." Once we're in the air, the drummer becomes convinced that we're flying south. Again, the pilot confidently corrects him, " We're flying east. We'll be in Detroit in under 4 hours." Slowly their chatter fades as I fall asleep. When I wake, it's morning and we're landing in Detroit. I have an hour and a half layover here. I can't remember the last time I was in Detroit. In west coast time, it's a little after 5 AM. I'm a bit groggy and I feel a gnawing hunger growing. Fortunately, I always pack snacks. mmmmmm pop-tarts. From here, I fly to Manchester, NH, and from there I'll bus up to Portland.

...

We'll I'm in Manchester and it appears that the bus I was planning to take no longer exists. That's alright, I'm not too far from home now; I'm sure I'll find my way there.

A smattering of updates

• New sponsor: A1 Crew is now sponsored by Ninja Neishon. You can check out their mission and their gear over at http://ninjaneishon.com/

• Pics: I finally posted some of the pics from the photoshoot A1 Crew did with Likuid Elements (photos by Alex Oppenheimer). Some pics we did with Ninja Neishon are also posted. You can check them out in my A1 album
  
  
  

• Facebook: People love to constantly remind me that I am basically the only person in my generation to go through college and not join facebook. I'm not really into social networking, let alone online social networking. So, I just never felt compelled to join. However, for the past few months, I've been secretly using Facebook. I joined because Facebook is one of the main ways my crew communicates with each other and with our sponsors/clients/fans. Finally, after much badgering, I've changed my settings so that I'm not invisible to the rest of the world. If you want to communicate with me via Facebook, just search for my email address or for "Bboy Shogun".
  

LIKUID ELEMENTS

A1 Crew is now sponsored by Likuid Elements, a clothing line started in the bay and spreading through Cali and NY. As a first promotional event, we did a fashion show at the Vivid night club in San Jose last Friday evening.



Check out their gear at likuidelements.com

The Importance of Rhythm

Bboys/bgirls often describe breaking as having four key ingredients: toprock, downrock (footwork), freezes, and power. Rhythm ties these four principle components together at a higher level, but rhythm is also necessary at a finer scale for each individual ingredient. I was reminded of this fact today, when I was working on power moves (one of my greatest weaknesses). I've noticed with power that sometimes you hit it "just right," and you are able to do many more consecutive iterations of the move than you have ever done before. The "power" in power moves does not come from brute strength but rather from rhythm. When you catch the right rhythm, no energy is wasted, and the move serves to perpetuate itself.

The importance of rhythm is pervasive throughout all aspects of life. In mathematics, there is a theorem that shows that any function can be broken down into a series of sines and cosines. Though mathematicians call these functions "sine" and "cosine", they might as well be called rhythm functions. A sine wave is nothing more than a simple beat, a repeating pattern, a rhythm. Quantum mechanics has shown that all particles travel as waves. Actually all matter in the universe can be describe by waves using the Schrodinger equations. Indeed, some physicists interpret the universe as being one giant system of waves... or rhythms.



I have found in my own life, I am most successful when I am able to get myself into a rhythm. A good rhythm allows me to continuously work towards my goals without tiring out. It is not necessary to always use the same rhythm. But those times when I'm completely out of rhythm, those are the times when I find myself fatigued.

Rhythm is also key to social interactions. Whether within families, communities, or whole societies, some amount of rhythm is needed to tie everyone together. When two people's rhythms are similar enough, they serve to amplify one another. Imagine a crowd of people, each yelling the same message. If they all yell in rhythm with one another, the message is heard loud and clear. However, if they all yell with different rhythms, we hear only a roar of chaos. When two people are out of rhythm with each other, they can create what a physicist might call "interference." At some points, the rhythms cancel one another, at other points they amplify each other. Entirely new (and perhaps unintended) rhythms are generated. Thus, even people wishing to spread the exact same message can detract from one another.

This is what I think about when I practice flares....

A1 CREW WINS BATTLE OF THE BAY

Damn. 2009 is the year of A1. We started the year by winning an exhibition battle against Hybrid Crew, and we've continued strong with numerous performances throughout the bay. Most recently, we performed for a fashion show in San Jose, a charity concert, and for the Hip Hop Chess tourney in SF (with an appearance from the RZA of Wu Tang Clan).

Hip Hop Chess Federation

Tonight, we made our debut appearance at Stanford, performing at the annual Battle of the Bay. The show included a spoken word competition, freestyle rap battles, and a dance competition. All performers had to pass through auditions, making for a high quality show. A1 took the crowd by storm, receiving the only standing ovation of the night and perfect 10s from the judges. People were literally jumping out of their seats during the show. I gotta say thanks to everyone who came out to support me and my crew. It was amazing to hear so much cheering. We literally couldn't hear the music, people were so hype.

I'm sorry I couldn't stay after the show to catch up with everyone. We had to jet after the dance competition to go rehearse for the show we're doing tomorrow at Foothill College. As we like to say on the crew, "Every day we're hustlin'" Thankfully, I think I'll have a little time off starting next week. Our next big performance won't be until the end of April, when we battle Airsteps Crew in Sacramento.

Thanks again, everyone, for all the love and support.

Peace.

I NEED YOU. HIP HOP NEEDS YOU.

What's up everyone? Next week (Jan. 14th) I'll be joining A-ONE Crew in an exhibition battle against San Jose's epic Hybrid Crew. The event is called Blaze of Glory Tour and features live underground emcees and DJs from east and west coast. So if you're into underground hip hop or just want to see some of the bay area's dopest bboys, then head on down to "The Downtown Brit" at 173 W Santa Clara St, San Jose. We'll be battling for a cash prize, but as part of the deal we have with the managers we have to promote the event and each guy from the crew has to bring at least 4 guests. So, LET ME KNOW if you're going to come, so I can add your name to my list. Hope to see you there.

Peace.


I am hip-hop, I sleep hip-hop, I want hip-hop
I love hip-hop, I lust hip-hop, I need hip-hop
B-Boy round the clock, doin it non-stop