I had a nice post all set up and auto-save had saved me one time, but suffice it to say didn’t work a second time.  Here’s the gist:

03.06.09 @ The Berkley Front

We’re rocking our favorite spot with our other fav. group MIDCOAST MOST.  Details coming soon.  21+, $5, & doors @ 9PM.  Great specials, best vibe, great bartenders Christian & Evan.  The Berkley Front is located @ 3087 W.12 Mile Rd in Berkley.  48072

Arranging

We’ve got a solid idea of what we’re doing to arrange the album, and have the tracklisting all set.  We’re working on some special ideas for the project and it’s going to be slightly a pain in the ass, but worth it in the long run. 

EP

By the time Living A Nightmare… is finally out, we should have @ least one EP completely finished to follow up.  We’re going to stay in the studio b/c we never really leave it.  If we’re not recording ideas are being tossed around for upcoming songs/releases.

Haters

I just wanted to address certain artists who play a show every week to the same crowd and think they’re the shit;  they’re really faggots.  Try making a song over music that is actually yours…

That’s basically it…Goodbye from my nervous breakdown!

We will be back @ the Berkley Front in March performing with our good friends Midcoast Most.  More details including DJ and other acts will be up shortly.  I figured I’d post b/c we confirmed for the show.  I can’t express how much we love to play the Berkley, and the hospitality that they give us every time we come through if we’re playing or not.  Bartenders Christian & Evan are great people and accomidate everybody with strong drinks, great service, and over 40 beers on tap!  We should still have a couple of shirts left over from our repress this week for anybody who hasn’t gotten a shirt yet and wants one.

The show (as always) is 21+, $5, & doors are @ 9PM.  The Berkley Front is located @ 3087 W.12 Mile Road in Berkley, 48072.

Arranging the album is a slight nightmare

We’ve sat down for a couple of sessions and have an overall tracklisting set up, as well as some other additions we’re putting into the album.  Tony went out with a portable tape recorder and gave several interviews to people primarily about their nightmares and dreams, respectively. 

Our overall goal is to inter-twine the album with people’s comments, and is quite an ambitious task considering we’re going to combine everything.  You’ll get the point when you hear the album, but it’s quite a handful of work b/c we can’t do anything easy, or release anything on time. 

Living A Nightmare… is hands down our best album to date, and really puts us in our own lane in terms of sound.  If there’s one thing we’ve heard from the beginning of A.M., it’s that we always are ourselves and are original in the music we make.  I just think our personalities and relationship with Tony and I really brought everything together great, and we were blessed to work with the people we did on the album, and everyone being so eager to work on the project with us.  

I’ll update more on the album as things progress.  We still don’t know what our single is going to be b/c we make classics every time we record (jk, we’re not that pompous).  Best believe we’ll have a video to accompany the first single though!

BTW, when the album is finally out we’ll already have an EP or two in the can to get out to everyone also.  As Khaled would say, ”We’re Out Here Grindin’”  We just don’t feel the need to play a show every week to the same people like some other faggots who remain nameless.

And  

My GF and I saw NOTORIOUS this past Sunday.  I thought it was pretty good overall.  My rating would be 7.5/10, but it didn’t really tell me anything I didn’t know about the guy.  Btw, Tony and I have been debating for about a week now as to who is a better rapper:  BIGGIE or JAY-Z.  I’ve said BIG without question although his career was brief and not as prosperous as JIGGA, he opened the gates for him to cash in on everything BIG set him up for. 

FLINT

Flint was pretty cool.  You could call the show an ‘intimate performance’ but we definately had a good time.  The Aloha Lounge kinda reminded me of what ELKS Clubs look like, but the vibe was solid and the beer was cheap.  There’s something slightly ironic though about playing a spot called the Aloha Lounge in temperatures less than zero.

We caught up with The Artfull Dodgers, and some people who remember us playing Flint six years ago!  Whenever we get to do a show with Artfull Dodgers it’s always a pleasure, not to mention they’re good people to shoot the shit with.  We were also intruduced to DJ PSYCHO, who was an original DJ for MC BREED (R.I.P.) 

Long story short, I ended up getting pretty fucking drunk followed by an allergy attack from Tony’s dogs while crashing @ house, (He lives in Holly about 15 minutes from Flint) only to wake up with a stone cold hangover.  It’s been quite sometime since I’ve actually drank so much that my head hurt, but what can I say?  $5 pitchers of beer are too cheap to pass up.  Really though, it was worth everything to eat some of Tony’s mom’s GOULASH.  It’s simple and to the point, but she destroys it every time…I must’ve eaten four bowls.

2006 Impala Hoe

I finally got new car, but I didn’t have time to upload a picture.  There’s really no point though since there’s thousands of Impalas on the road, and it’s not burned to a crisp.  I came out ahead though with the settlement, and I like the car way more than my Taurus.  She will still have a sweet spot in my heart though.  My impala is blue and has an automatic start that would’ve been great a week ago.  Thanks again to everyone who helped me with rides when I was in need I can now reciprocate like every good male should.

SHOWS

We’re looking into setting some shit up in the near future;  we just want to make sure everything is right and we are playing spots that are worth your money, time, and support.  I’ll keep you posted…

My whole entire post almost got deleted because of my sketchy computer, and I just wanted to thank it for not….She paused, but did not shut down… 

Everyone knows we have a new president, so that’s all I have to say about that. 

Holler @ your boys.

 

 Show @ the Aloha Lounge in Flint with A.M., Artfull Dodgers, Jozi Whalez, & Aslaam Mahdi.  Doors @ 9PM.  Free for 21+ $5 for 18-20.  429 S Dort Hwy in Flint.

B.Gozza of Flint’s Artfull Dodgers hit us up last week and wanted us to make a trip out to Flint to play one of their new spots, and we gladly said yes.  A.M. and the Artfull Dodgers have been playing shows together for over six years, and it’s always a pleasure to work and/or play with them.  They were also featured on our debut “4 A.M.”  a song called “Straight Shot” which also featured The L.Y.N.X., which shows our history alone.  BTW, that album is available for download in the music section if you haven’t heard and want to check the song out.

Artfull Dodgers been putting in work since the late 90’s and have put out some great releases including one of my favorite Michigan albums ever entitled Second Wind.   The Artfull Dodgers been promoting their most recent release, Off The Credenza, which is a dope album and helps bring people back to the essence of hip hop;  it’s like we all forgot how to have fun or something…The AD’s style is a mix of classic hip hop meets creative and uniquely sampled beats.  Every album they put out can be bumped from front to back with barely any filler which is ironic b/c their albums usually have @ least 15 tracks.  I also mixed a couple of songs on their the album which was released in 2008.  Their website is www.artfull-dodgers.com and www.myspace.com/artfulldodgers

This is our seventh or so time playing Flint, and first time in over two years;  I believe the last time we played out there was a couple months before The Most Dangerous Game… came out, and it’s always dope to play for new audiences;  especially people who appreciate what we do.  Almost every time we’ve played in Flint it’s @ a new spot and the Aloha will be no different.  We’ll let you know how the show went, and thanks in advance for giving us our first show of ‘09.

Most people who know me are quite aware that I am a Reality T.V. junky.  I coined the moniker RBP (Reality Based Programming) around 2005, and it’s been on the rise ever since.  Some of my favorites include Bravo’s Top Chef, Fox’s Hells Kitchen/Kitchen Nightmares, A&E’s Intervention, VH1’s Celebrity Rehab, & plenty others.

The Real World was the first reality show I got into.  Arguably, it could be the first RBP ever?  I caught on in San Francisco, when a young gentleman by the name of ‘Puck’ captivated me with his loogies and lack of respect for anybody.  A marathon goes by and I was hooked.  From there, I  checked out two previous seasons, (NYC & L.A.) and have since then watched the majority of the others also.

As the show has gotten older, the lovely or should I say crappy programmers made the show more about drinking and hooking up then actually being ‘real.’  I understand what’s good for T.V. and all that bullshit, but it’s ridiculous and unrealistic as hell.  Not to mention the new ‘celebrity’ that people become after being on the show and see how long they can drag out 15 minutes.  Between the spin off shows (Inferno, The Duel, The Island, RW/RR Challenges, how many more are there?) to the club appearances and various other things, the cast now takes what they have and run with it.

Now some people actually are talented like Kevin Powell from the first season who has gone on to write for Vibe Magazine and be a spokesperson for the hip hop generation, but he did that based on his own talent;  not the ‘I’ve been on MTV’ route.  The majority of the cast is fucking worthless and/or whorish, but suffice it to say I continue to watch.

Onto the latest season:  Brooklyn.  Now there are eight strangers, two of which are from Utah of all places, a gay guy from Miami, a pageant winner from KC, an army guy outta PA, an ex-lesbian who is now straight from idk where, an east coast ‘best abs of the year’ award winner, and last but not least: a transgender guy/girl named Katelynn. 

After watching the first episode, I feel like this show might be entertaining based soley upon the ex-army guy from PA.  He seems to have some issues that are in the background that will surely come out when there is no T.V. to watch and being with complete strangers.  It’s quite entertaining to see his take on Katelynn, who although has completely changed genders, he still refers to as ‘him’. 

Nonetheless, it appears to be an interesting season ahead of us, and I’m sure the debauchary will make me laugh as much as I want to vomit.  It’s on MTV (obvi) Wednesday’s @ 10PM.

 MANHUNTERS MOTHER FUCKER

Tony tells me he tried to put me up on this show a while ago, but my gf and I stumbled upon it while being couch bums on our 3 year anniversary.  (We went out first and whatnot, so don’t think I’m a wack ass bf.) 

A&E is the network that hosts this great show.  The program is basically COPS yayed out of it’s gord.  The premise is that a task force is hired to find people who are wanted for serious crimes, and travel all over the U.S. to track them down.  Think of a loan shark who goes on tour to track MF’s who have scorned the justice system.

One day they’re @ home base which I believe is in NYC or Newark, NJ.  Next day they’re in Orlando knocking on some guy’s door @ 6AM for attempted murder who’s been on the lamb for eight months.  After handcuffing and arresting the gentleman, Officer Peppers or ‘Pep’ as he’s nicknamed thanks the guy for coming to Florida so he could see Disney World.  They caught the guy literally with his pants down as he was sleeping when they busted him.

I don’t know when Manhunters is on, but it is a must see if you like shows like Cops or Police chases or anything. 

You’re In Good Hands With Allstate 

I should be up and running with another car in the next week or so as I just recieved my settlement check from the Taurus.  For once I came out ahead in a terrible situation in the sense that I don’t owe shit on the car anymore and actually got money back.  It is an incredible inconvenience to rely on people for rides when I would rather drive off a cliff by myself.  I’ll post a pic of my new whip when I get it.  Stephanie, the main woman who helped me with my claim really took care of me and got me a nice crispy check for my troubles….thanks girl!

Also, thanks to everyone who’s helped my bum ass out with rides over the past few weeks.  It’s allowed me to get drunk when I usually have to drive, and helped me save money on gas.  Really though, thanks for looking out when I needed help.  I’ve been in somewhat of a depression over some shit recently, and wanted to big up the people who’ve helped me with rides and try to stay positive.

Re-Ordering Tees

It was dope that most of our tee shirts got sold @ the Magic Bag and over the holidays, but we left some people without b/c of sizes getting sold out.  We just want to let everyone know that we’ll be re-ordering tee shirts next week and will have your size in stock.  We took pre-orders for the shirts and if you want to jump on the list and reserve your size hit myself or Tony up @ abrasivemethod@gmail.com The Shirts are $12.

We are getting back into the swing of things with the holidays finally being over, and are moving forward with Living A Nightmare…  We’re really proud of the album and want everything to come to fruition the way we planned.  We’re going to be doing a couple of special things with this release, but are keeping things quiet while we try to strategize.  Look for a single to be available for download in the next month or so. 

Lucky # 13

The album is still available for download @ AM.com  We’ve been getting a lot of compliments about the album, and are still getting downloads daily even if it’s only a few.  It’s cool for people to be interested in the album when we didn’t really push it @ all which means people are actually seeking out to hear our music.  Maybe there’s more listeners out there tuning into our music than we even thought, and although it is an uphill battle, we’re no longer @ the very bottom of it. 

This album doesn’t really have shit on Living A Nightmare… and I say that with grace knowing that what we’ve been doing over the years is truly original, and shows our growth as artists.  It’s funny how we started out being a suburban rap group and how that style has headed to the forefront of hip hop with this ‘hipster’ movement, yet we were making tracks like that when we were 19 & 20. 

I hope we’re not too ahead of our time, jk.  I don’t need for A.M. to be Nirvana or anything, but I definately don’t want us to be The Pixies in the sense that Nirvana got their whole style from The Pixies, yet not half as many people are familiar with them.  A brother’s just looking for a little Jimmy Eat World success.

Anyways, thanks to everyone who has DL’ed the album, stopped by the site, copped merch, come see us play, and/or can’t keep our name out of your mouth.  We don’t get mentioned a lot on these popular/local sites, but some people love to hate that we’re doing shit they could never do, and that is a good thing.  When people are talking I suppose that means you’re doing something that affects them right?

Taking what’s mine in ‘09. 

As I see that Tony commented below about his upcoming solo project, I guess I can let people know about it.  I didn’t know if it was going to stay low key or not since we’re yet to release Living A Nightmare…, but if he said it then okay.  Yeah, the project has both a tentative name, and album title, but nothing we want to say yet.  Tony is thinking out of the box on the project trying different vocal techniques, singing, etc. 

His first song entitled Pistol is waaaaaayyyy better than his ‘pretty good’ or whatever the quote says in the post below.  Tony paints some of the best pictures with his words, and it’ll be great for everyone to see him on his own.  I’ll be doing a lot of the production, but he will be getting some help from his great friends I’m sure.  This project is in the infant stages to say the least.

DEXTER

I just got put up on the show DEXTER that’s on Showtime, (IDK what day/time as I don’t have the station).  I did though, rent the first season’s DVDs and am ready to rent the rest of them.  The premise is that Dexter is a blood and forensics investigator and deals out his own kind of judgement to criminals who get set free:  he kills their worthless asses.  It’s dark and humorous….Now back to finding out about the Ice Truck Killer.

In the tail end of 2008, and onto 2009 I’ve been working with and slated to work on projects with these artists:

AJAX-Working on Mainstream Pollution II, his follow up to Out Of Body/Out Of Mind EP that I also did a couple tracks on including his single By Any Means with Psychopathic Records Artist ABK.  Excited on getting back in the studio with the touring phenom and taking his music to the next level.

D.Allie-He’s on the rhymes, and I’m on the beats for a whole EP.  We have a couple tracks in the can and am looking forward to finishing this project.  There’s really a great vibe between both of us and creativity is affluent.  Tony Franks on the Exec. Producing tip?  He doesn’t co-sign much, but am sure he does this.

Skrapz-If he ever chooses to follow up his classic The 12 Step Program, I believe I have a track or two.  This is our man and he is picky as a mother.  It truly is a pleasure to work with our boy.  I know we also have a feature on the album already in the can.  Worse case I’ve been engineering some songs already;  maybe they’ll see the light of day sometime this year.

MC TAY-Pontiac legend TAY is following up his 2006 album Believe with his upcoming album tentatively titled Hip Hop For Dummies, and we’ve already got several songs finished with no end of stopping soon.  We’re planning on doing @ least six songs together.  Think gangster Slum Village meets Proof.

MIDCOAST MOST-Finally after all these years I finally have a beat that Nonsense likes.  I’ve seriously hooked up around five or so tracks through the years, but nothing ever came to fruition.  MCM are good friends of ours and Eddie Logix lended four tracks to Lucky # 13, and another two beats to Living A Nightmare, Chasing The Dream.  Suffice it to say I was happy they finally wanted to bless me with their rhymes.  I’m really excited to hear everything they’ve been doing over the years.

Aztek-The frontman of Downriver group Rising Sunz, is out for dolo and got two tracks from your boy.  We’ve been doing shows with the young Jedi for over six years, and it’s a pleasure to hear his upcoming work over my backgrounds.  I’ve heard Aztek has over 60 songs recorded, and just hope something I do can make his album.

Dante-Mr. “All I Do Is Tour” never liked many beats that I made.  This is up in the air, but I hope we can get together and create some magic.

Kayoe-I’ve done around 10 songs over the years for the emcee who also runs UNATION PRODUCTIONS which is a video company, and he has a custom track he whistled for me that I made come to life.  This track is supposed to happen soon also.

 That’s all I believe I have on my plate production-wise so far for 2009, but I’m sure more are to come.  Anybody interested in production from me can holler @ me:  abrasivemethod@gmail.com

KENDALL

As I’m about to post an update on my production, I saw that an old friend from FULL SAIL (where I went to school for all this music shit) hit AM.com up.  I only wonder how after all these years he came across our site and hope he DL’ed Lucky # 13.  Kendall was a ‘mentor’ of sorts in the fact that he had way more technical knowledge of music, and even helped find some loops for a couple of tracks that never happened.  He was also from the U.P. and that was something familiar to me when home seemed so far away, (the school was in Orlando).  Kendall I hope you’re doing well, and staying afloat.  I can’t believe your fav. drummer was the guy from Weezer, and thanks for always buying me liquor when I was underage. 

Happy 2009 People.  May death not strike you yet…