Back to my Roots Reunion….

Saturday September 18^th will go down in Washington Heights history and will forever be a special date for Hundreds of us that grew in the hood… You know who you are!

To the younger set, it was just another “rave” (ughhhh),,  they went,, smoked a little weed, got stupid, perhaps drunk and that was that.  This is not the case for us in our 40’s and better.. For me,, it was a spiritual culmination, a nirvana and return to my roots. I made it,, I’m still here and I feel good… Gracias a Dios.!!!!

At one point while chillen with BUBU and seeing all my old friends dancing and smiling,, I actually cried a little..

To understand how special this evening was  for ME you have to go way back into time,,  back to the Bridge Apartment Jams,  Salsa Disco, The block parties, the gangs, the clothes and of course the Streets in the 80’s.

You see, It’s no secret to anyone that really knows me, knows that I was on the streets since I was 13 years old.. My reality was not that of the normal teenager.. I was REALLY ON THE STREETS HARDCORE.

I knew all the gangs members, Ball Busters, Playboys, UCC, AA, TDD, THE BAD BAD BOYS,  MBB, etc ect.. On the drug tip,, dudes like CABALLON, CAPO, YAYO. MIKE THE DOME, SERGIO ( shanana)  and MANY MANY MORE.  Although I Was NEVER  in a gang… I knew them ALL, they all showed me Love as a kid and in many cases more than my own family. Some people that grew up in that era swear they knew these guys and talk about them like you knew them.. Lots of you are FULL OF SHIT… But I digress…

Growing up in Washington Heights and navigating in those rough waters with the sharks I just mentioned,, MANY ( not all) people became gang members, stick up dudes, addicts,, bigtime dealers, victims of beatings and worst, Homicides. Unless you were home, hiding from the streets and wasn’t allowed on blocks like 177^th, 172^nd, 163^rd 174^th 185^th 180^th and others… From Amsterdam to Fort Wash.. It was that real…..

And please don’t get all offended,, IM TALKING ABOUT MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE,, NOT YOURS!!!!

Then there were these 2 amazing dudes.. HEX AND JULIO,, somehow they had this energy, power, respect and sound that took us away from all that. Their parties were like a refuge, a Holy ground where all your issues went away..

Let’s face it,, most of us were on welfare, didn’t grow up with a dime, had issues at home and on the streets we were dodging addiction, crime and in many cases death.   Back in the dayz I personally saw with my own eyes some of the hardest dudes of our times dancing like kids to JULIO AND HEX mixing  on the tables.. Literally dancing right next to dudes from a block they hated… NONE OF THAT MATTERD THERE.  It was like spiritual place…

The power of the music that came through those speakers would heal and if even for that moment save us from our realities..  That’s some powerful shit!!  DJ’s come and go but in my humble opinion these 2 masters are way bigger than that, they bought together a generation, exposed us all to amazing sounds from all types of genres and in many cases saved us…. I say this all the time, “they wrote the soundtrack to my life”… This is why September 18^th 2010 was so special for me… I FUCKING MADE IT TO MY 40′s and was enjoying it with people who understood how special that is. I felt 15 years old again.. THE MUSIC WAS AMAZING!!!! A TIME MACHINE……….

I guess in many ways this is more than just a blog about the Reunion Jam,, it’s more of a thank you to JULIO TON RODRIGUEZ AND HEX HECTOR for playing a huge part in my life..   Thank you for the moments, the memories and a lifetime of happiness via the music..   See you at the next jam!

Milton (Milz) Castro…….

I Love Polaroids… * I’m a narcissist *

One Night Stand.. Gallery 151 NYC

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Graffiti Furniture… I need this in my Life!!!

Luis Alicandu a.k.a. Caco Uno is a former tagger who recently channeled his art and creativity into industrial design. He lives and works in Caracas, Venezuela and finds inspiration for his work in the streets of the city he used to tag. It’s not always pretty, but like he says, “I used to complain about the poor visual culture I could get in this city, used to be very negative, one day I stopped the complaining, and tried to get something beautiful from those images”.

These pieces are amazing and truly would LOVE to own them!!!

FIORUCCI NYC 80′s..

New York in its hey day was amazing..   Everything is soooo BLAH these dayz!!  Reallyyy???  You think those little limited edition sneakers make you “cool” or  “edgy”… That expensive handbag that you’re oh sooo proud of,, think you’re really cutting any edges with that?? Where did all the interesting NYC characters go??  But I digress…Here is a quick trip down memory lane…   Maybe you’ll remember what downtown cool was…Fiorucci 1980′s!!!

MORE STUFF… STUFF YOU KNOW YOU WANT

This is the story of Disco and Mask…

This is the story of Disco and Mask…

The other day as I was walking my oldest son to School and I saw something that changed the tone of my day and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since then… Just like any day we were walking in our usual rush,, He has to be at class and I of course have to be at work at a decent time. No big deal..

As I passed the big U-Haul building on 228 street I noticed a door wide open with no one around, a door that in all the years I’ve taken this path I have never seen open or even taken the time to notice it.. But something felt different, somehow something was calling, I went to it without a thought and there they were.. Disco and Mask!! Not in the flesh of course, in graffiti,, Although both their fates would meet very sad and harsh realities of the NYC 90’s era their tags had somehow survived over 25 years in this hidden staircase of that U-haul building.

Both these tags were made at a time in their lives when we were all still kids and our wholes lives were still in front of us.. We just didn’t know it!

My son looked at me kinda weird and really couldn’t understand why I instantly became a little nervous, excited and slightly emotional. I of course composed myself quickly, took out my cell phone and took a few pictures quickly…I didn’t explain or said anything to him, I chose to let him keep his precious innocence.. Soon papi, soon daddy will tell you all these stories. But not today..

I met Disco when he was about 12 years old, being that I was a few years older than he was and my graffiti was all over our hood he kind of looked up to me, at least for a little while.. He would come to my house, and practice his tag on one of my many stolen notebooks I had in my room. I immediately liked him and for some reason just wanted to protect him.. He was small, kinda quiet but had a swagger of confidence that said,, “Im gonna be someboday”..

This went on for a while; we’d chill, talk, be kids and do graffiti.. I can still see his little face..

Mask was another Kid from the hood, he was also kinda small soft spoken and like to chill at my crib from time to time to brush up on his tags.. We were never really that close but I also felt a sense of wanting to watch out for him.. There was a certain vulnerability about him.. He too had his whole life a head of him..

You see, we were to young to see or even understand that the devil was just lurking all around us in the form of cars, new sneakers, money, and egos.. In many times,, the devil won! Crack hit my hood like a bat out of hell.. Some of us survived, lots of us didn’t.

Disco was  shot in the neck and was lucky enough to survive that time, afterwards he became a big-time drug dealer and He eventually went to prison,  This happened sometime in the 90’s, I always thought about about him from time to time and always wised that he was ok.. Had nothing but love for the little brother.

The last time I saw Mask we were all chillen in a Riverside Jam drinking, smoking weed, laughing and talking about when we “were kids”.. A few days later he was murdered on 173rd street.. Shot continuously in the face with a high powered automatic handgun. Mask had become a drug dealer and an occasional stick up kid.. This was a “payback hit”..

I’m sure there are countless DISCO’S & MASK’S in every urban hood but I knew these 2 and before the crack years and  they were just like me.. Just trying to grow up and be somebody.. Like I said, sometimes the Devil won…

DISCO AND MASK……….

Visual Stimulation… Words are overrated!!

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STUFF I REALLY LIKE…. (In a visual nutshell)

I MISS 42ND STREET~~~!!! 40 DEUCE!!!!

I HATE DYSNEY!!!!  I DISLIKE TOURIST!!!  I MISS MY DIRTY, CRAZY, PIMPS ON THE CORNER, PROSTITUTES ON THE STREET,, JUNKIES, STREET PUNKS,CRAZY MOTHERFUCKING 42ND STREET~~~~!!!  CLEAN MAKE LOOK NICE AND SAFE TO SOME PEOPLE,, BUT IT SURE IS BORING!!!

Take a ride down memory lane with me and check out some videos and pictures I found of the Old Forty Deuce…  Another time and place…  If my poor mother only know that me and my friends were running around here she would have died of an attack..Sorry Mami.. But it sure was fun!!!