New Promo

Here's the new promo photo for the Wine Thieves. I sent it to Hype yesterday, so soon we should have a full fledge poster. I'll post it upon completion.

Peace,

- p.picas

Psychedelic Horror Show

I was working on this beat yesterday for Hype ... it may or may not be for 'Fuck Robots', we'll decided after he gets it. It's a cool beat. There's a rolling swagger to the groove but the samples I chopped give it a horror vibe. Anger comes through rather strongly too, but not overbearing because it still has a cess head nod to it. I'm gonna take tonight to finish it up ... at least the rough draft.

I took a majority of the samples from a French record from '80 or '83, I can't remember. The original clocked in @ somewhere around 10 minutes. It's an insane track. Organs & bass galore! There was also this static sound that seemed to be from a homemade electronic instrument ... it was nice a raw like only early 80s record could do ... and 60s & 70s, but you know what I mean. Some great vocal samples as well. Cool little side note, when you chop up a vocal sample you, for the most part, turn the original line into gibberish, but in this case the French speaking women were not singing in French ... instead they decided to scat. So, in the end the chopping I did just augmented the order of their gibberish.

In other news: It's muggy as pure shit in PA & NJ (I'm in both states on a daily basis, but I 'live' in PA) & I can't wait for some Autumn action ... best time of the year.

Anyway, peace.

- P

Short hiatus.

Yo,

the Wine Thieves are going to lay low for a short while to concentrate on selling the 'Sex & Co.' EP. We'll be working on small separate projects for the time being & I will continue to set aside beats for the next project. We'll also continue to blog here & on our individual blogs. This is only a temporary thing, nothing long term. So, hang in with us & tell your friends about 'Sex & Co.' & cop it @ www.fuzzhugger.com/thewinethieves. A $5 donation is appreciated. I love the dollar menu, but come on.

See you soon,

- Party

Also, check out:

http://www.emceehype.blogspot.com/
http://www.partypicasso.blogspot.com/

And don't forget to come back here soon for the new project.

barry gets an abortion

something's been eating at me today. and not because i'm necessarily having a moral dilemna, altho i mite be... it's more of the splinter in my finger; the shard of wood of which i am aware (it itches and gently throbs) but i go about my day as if there isn't tree in my flesh. what the hell am i talking about ?!

feline abortion. cat abortion, for the layperson.

seriously, let it sink in.. cause it's real, as real as prosthetic balls for your dog. (no, seriously, don't let your best friend lose his balls and his pride, add some prothesti-testies.) but i digress. feline abortion. cat abortion. it's been the eyelash on my lense, that proverbial sliver. i don't know if it would've bothered me if i had only read about it. i found out the hard way:

a friend of mine adopted a feral (not to be confused with sterile) cat. a wild, trailor-park-running, free-as-the-wind cat. but the cat was emaciated. so, starving and probably delusional, the cat wandered on to "barry's" porch. so barry, being the kind and generous old soul that he is, fed the cat. but if you feed a feral cat, they just keep coming back.

so the next morning, the cat (now named "karen" ...never name a stray, that's the first fell step down a slippery slope) returns, of course, for breakfast. after several days of this entire scenario on pavlovian-repeat, karen will let barry pet her while she eats. ...days, and he can pet karen even when she's not eating. she comes around just for attention.
and then, like in every other seemingly-harmless-bum story, the cat decides that she wants to move in! and barry, he's a good dude-no joke-we chill with him all the time, let's karen barge right into his life, like a red-headed psycho ex.

well, you've heard the tale before: all goes well... for a while. karen has transformed, from a gutter cat into a house-cat. she plays the part alright! ..but after a few weeks, karen starts to go stir crazy.. the wild wind is calling, the dumpster cats meow in the distance... and she's in heat. yeah, she needs a good romp, you know? some wild tomcat rapesex, you dig? don't recoil in disgust, it's natural in their order of things, you see.

so if this entire time, you've been shaking your head, like, 'yes, yes!' ...if that is you, reader, then you know what comes next: yes, karen comes back. she's sorry she had to run off like that. she's sorry she's been neglecting the food and milk that barry was putting on her table! he didn't have to take care of that bitch! she was a guttercat before she met barry. fucking ingrate, i say!
but if you're saying in your head, 'i've been there, barry-' -if you're saying, i know a good dude like barry, then you know that in this story barry is the character who could be expected to do nothing other than to take back karen. it's true, barry takes karen back into his house. he nurses her sex-starved-sex-satiated feline body back to health--yet again.
now, karen is soooo sorry. and karen is doing muchhh better. she's purrrring and rubbbbing and salivating on barry, as in, 'yes barry, you're my human! you are mine, barry!' and barry gives karen milk, gently warmed, and feline food, and tuna (fresh from the can! that's a good tuna-salad sandwich barry's giving up for that cat!) and water.

but karen still has a secret. the plot thickens: karen's pregnant! ...an on-again-off-again homeless, feral cat...a wild dumpster cat, now inpregnated by some feral, homeless alley-cat, no doubt! so what?! so, barry let's this irresponsible cat make life?! re-create!? let karen single-handedly re-overpopulize the feral kitten market?!

"she's got seven in there," the vet tells barry.

"oh god," is all barry says in response. "oh god." barry's new girlfriend squeezes barry's arm in tight, then muzzles her nose into his t-shirt. he smells of catfood and his clothes are covered in inch-long white hairs."isn't there anything," barry's girlfriend says at long-last, "ANYTHING, we can do?"

the vet looks at the young couple, and he sees so much potential, love and hope... so, he procures a card, hands it to barry's girlfriend, "i know a guy," the vet says. barry looks up at the vet from his frozen stare on the floor tile. "doctor blacops," the vet says, "works for the animal control board of pennsylvania." barry takes the card and reads: dr. blacops, animal control board of pennsylvania. and then a local phone number.

it was later that night when barry called doc blacops. a smokey-grey voice on the other end of the line, "yeah?" barry's all, "ummm..." he said he could hear doctor blacops kissing the butt of a cig in the silence. then it all came rushing out: barry recounts the whole story of he and the feral cat, the dishing of milk, the petting, the adopting into his house, the runaway, the heat, the sex-starvation, the runaway--and now, the kittens.

"uh-huh," the doc says, "and so you're calling me," he says, "cause you want to get a feline abortion.""what!? no!" barry gets defensive on instinct, then goes, "i do? i- i can get one of those?!?""well you can't," doc says, "but your slut cat can.""she can?" barry asks-says, then says, "she can."and then the fateful words, "i want a cat abortion."

now, don't get it twisted, i'm not trying to make lite of abortion. this is--obviously--only a true story, which barry told to me, and i told to you. don't rush to judge! don't go bombing the animal control board's abortion clinic, cause that's not even the organization's real name! it's just something that's been bothering me: cat abortion. and now that's it's off my chest, you're free to wrestle with the moral and ethical reprocutions.

in closing, i'm happy to report that karen is doing just fine these days--sans kittens. barry is back to the every day grind, so to speak, and he lets karen come and go as she pleases. and even when she's gone, barry leaves a bowl of milk, gently warmed, on the porch.

The Practice

I woke up insanely early Wednesday morning. It's a horrible feeling when you awake from slumber recalling a jury duty summons. But, that's what happened. So, I stumbled out of bed & hit the showers. I sped all the way to court, I think I was hoping to get pulled over so in some way I could get out of it. It didn't work, I just got there quicker. I smoked a few cigarettes before stepping inside where I had to go thru a metal detector. It went off, of course, they always do for me, but they waved their magic wands & deemed me nonthreatening.

In short, I was in the court all day. Just waiting. I talked to the person next to me for awhile, but that got old. The only fun part was telling the judge that I could not be impartial to the case due to my lack of trust in law enforcement. My number was never called again. That was the positive of the day, the negative was it was too late for me to go to Hype's for practice.

I decided to head up to Newark for the night to chill with Chuck Treble & some of his crew. I took this photo from his apartment while we all got drunk off Jack. A freestyle busted out in an instant & we all started vibin'. Treb broke out yet another new strain that just knock me off my feet. Beautiful shit. I passed out completely skunked on the couch for something like 3 hours before I woke up to head to Hype's for a 2nd try. Chuck came along for the trip, so I had plenty of blunts to chief. Leaving from Newark added another good hour to the drive, but the beats knockin' out my speakers made everything just fly by.

We rolled into Williamsport real quick to pick up Styles East. He was chillin' @ a record store near the Sheetz gas station. After he jumped in the car, we rode up 45 minutes to Wellsboro to hit up 104.5 The Buzz. Hype was waiting with DJ Stretch for a radio interview. As luck would have it, Tony Walgrins was a few towns over signing a new emcee to his stable of artists. He decided to stop by the station & rock the interview with us. Everything went great. We mostly discussed hip hop & the records hanging on the station walls. Good times. I'm pretty sure we smoked the entire time ... on air.

After the interview, we all split up. Stretch had to stay @ the station to continue his show. Chuck & East headed out to Mansfield to meet up with some girls Style's knows for a BBQ & some drinking. Hype & I headed back to his spot to practice. Tony tagged along, he wanted to hear how things were going ... being he is our manager.

We got back to Hype's & set all our shit up in the basement. We rocked thru the set a few times for Tony. Like always, he gave some constructive criticism, but we're used to it. Plus, we didn't mind hearing him yap away because we knew he was just about to leave, he just wanted a sample. After the lecture, we gave our pounds & Tony headed back to Newark ... long drive.

The two of us finished the rest of the rehearsal on our own. We worked out some kinks & ran into some problems & rocked it @ points. We both gave our practice mixed reviews ... but, it's understandable due to the fact that Hype's had his move on his mind. He's not moving far from Covington, but moving is still a bitch.

(Side note: This Sunday will be the last time Hype & I will be practicing in the JBTC Basement. More on that in this Satursday's blog.)

So, overall, the practice went fine. That seems to be the appropriate word. But we are not discouraged in the slightest. Ever band goes thru a small bump in the road. And that's all it was. Plus, the new EP is closer to being on it's way than we thought ... we're moving a lot quicker than anticipated ... more on that as well, soon.

After practice, Hype & I decided waited for Chuck & East to return from their extravaganza by rolling up a big fattie & smokin' up. We just laughed & talked about old times & old projects we've done & just life in general. Good vibe.

Chuck & East finally roll in, both with fuck hair. They obviously got laid ... the grins gave it away to. The already had a blizz rolled up & although Hype & I just chiefed, we decided to touch the sky. The four off us got RIPPED. Off our minds. Chuck leaped out of his chair & busted out 4 mics & started up Cool Edit. We must of freestyled for hours over old beats I've made, Madlib instrumentals & all kinds of shit. It was tight. But, after that ... we klonked out.

The next morning we woke up all looking like bums. Burnt out. Hungover. Dirty. The works. Of coarse, we had to do one last wake & bake before we all headed out ... so we did. I love those wake & bakes. At that point, we said our goodbyes & Styles, Chuck & myself hopped into my dented Corolla & headed back. Styles went back to Williamsport & I drove Chuck's ass all the way back to Newark before going back to my part of PA. Hard shit. Good times over all. It goes in the books.

Til next,

- Party

them irie vibes are calling

had an unbelievable recording session at the commune home studio the other day. didn't feel unbelievable at the time... just some freestyles and some manic-page-turners, jamming some rhymes together and what. baptiste blessed the commune that morning (as he does every morning) and the irie vibes must have vibrated thru-out the commune home-walls, richocheting in chaos all day long. the vibe was undeniably good, just me and ves bound within the body-warmed recording room. stuffy and hot, grimy sweaty shit. tom manned the kitched (as he often does) with a waterfall of mountain lightning and gnosh.

i had a legal notepad filled with ideas and ideas for ideas, lyrics and phrases and rhymes... it seemed like chaos (on paper). and chaos always tends towards chaos... i scrawled and squinted, lyrics in low-light situations, bedside manners cast to the wind; i wrote with a pen, an unusuality in my instantaneous, button pushing-on-command, problem-solved lifestyle. i can't remember how to cursive. not properly, anyway. that was third grade or so! my loops and dips, droops and lower-vs-upper-case intertwine and intermix in my head. instant lysdexia. i digress, but that is how they were written; carefully, organically, sloppily. and chaos always tends towards chaos. but not in the studio, or not on that day.

the pre-game looked like a triangular syphon, passing at three axi; me, treble (who had stopped by to antagonize, chill, scavage, and rhyme) and the commune's tommune, tom. syphon and circles, for one-one-one.. two and no bogarts. treble started in on some freestyles, and soon, trailing the cypher (not cyber) smoke were the rhymes, usually one-behind. "i stick siblings' silverware straight into old outlets- neon-glow eighties shit in brazen bold outfits..." laughter eruption. 'don't break the syphon!' chuck says to ves, who had materialize behind the woodshed and elbowed his way into the cicle. 'gotta get me in on that,' ves mumbles, 'i'm on the boards!'

after the session with chuck and tom, and then ves, i moved solo into the studio. just me and my shadow producer, vesuvius. i was warmed from the cicle, already rhyming and finding a cadence in my head. from clicks to wraps, in two measley hours, we managed to track five sets of vocals. the energy was high, the room stifling, and it all felt good. i'm not sure that we'll even release any of these sessions, but that's not the point. it felt good to rhyme. it felt good to manage a mess of freestyles on a mono mic, no popscreen.

i'm meeting party at the commune south tonight. we've got some rehearsals to jam over, some preparations to be made for upcoming live showups. i'm still riding that high vibe off of preceding days events, so i'm up for a long-into-the-night rap and then rap more. we'll let you know how it goes off.. catch us soon at that stop.

hy.

En Why Sea

I went to a show last night. A hip hop show in the city. Styles East & Chuck Treble performed together on stage with Bobby Baghdad on the cuts. It was a killer show. East was extremely on point & Treb had his swagger turned to 11. The crowd was sweating & bumpin' to the music. I felt a tremendous vibe in that club.

I wasn't expecting to do anything for the night. I had just finished my delicious Thai cuisine & ready to plug in the MPC when Chuck called. He asked me if I wanted to meet him in Newark @ the Colonnades before the show. I grabbed my cancer sticks & hit the road. I must of flew down 78 because I made it there in a little under an hour. I had to pick up Chuck on Market Street after he wrapped up a few sales. We hit the liquor store around the corner from his place to cop some Jack & headed up. We stopped by Andrex's spot, but he was out. So, we waited for Styles upstairs while Chuck got his pre-show drunk thing going & I puffed on some of his new shit in this crazy pomegranate flavored blunt that Tony Walgrins gave Treb as a birthday gift.

Style's showed up around 45 minutes later demanding a blunt before the performance, so I went for round #2. He was a little stressed from the drive. Apparently, he totaled a horse & buggy in Amishville on Route 54 in the Danville area of PA. The kid was alright & promised to make up a story to his father about the accident as long as East didn't mention him smoking cigarettes & sippin' on gin & juice. Laid back, ma'fuggas. The pomey blizz hit the spot. Then, it was show time. Like I said, the show was really on.

Unfortunately, Hype couldn't make it due to a promise he made to assist Reverend Jean-Baptiste Salome in the Wellsboro Fingerboarding Invitational. I heard the Rev did well despite a minor yet rare knuckle injury. DJ Stretch of the Buzz reported the incident on his radio show 'The Afternoon Stretch', stating "I now have faith in the great Universal Life Church after seeing the twist Rev. Salome took. It would have made the average, non believing fingerboarder retire on the spot. Not Salome!" I'd like to congratulate Jean-B & I hope the swelling goes down so he can get back to business. I'm gonna be paying him a visit this Wednesday when I go up to Covington for practice with Hype.

The Thieves are also appearing on Stretch's show this Wednesday with a listen to 'The Official Countdown' following. Tune in if you're in the Mansfield/Covington/Wellsboro/Williamsport, PA area.


More later,

- Party.p

Autumn Leaves.

It's almost Autumn. The best season for hip hop, in my opinion. Then, Winter. Two great follow ups to a long, hot summer. In Jersey & PA, the summer isn't my favorite.

Rehearsal's this week @ Hype's. We've had a few set backs the past few weeks, so it'll be cool to unleash some of the restlessness we've bottled up @ practice. Luckily, Chuck can still make it up, so I'll have some company on the drive ... and some unbelievable green. Treb's really excited to freestyle with me & Hype, so we're gonna get good & high & record some fucked up sessions.

Nothing else going on right now. As promised, photos will be posted of practice @ the end of the week.

Til then,

- P