Haven’t had much to say as of recent…..well maybe not so much that I haven’t had anything to say but more so that I haven’t had time to post up what I wanted to say. However I couldn’t let a week go by and not point out the obvious here.

The past seven days have been very big for my city, and in case you’ve been living under a rock the above picture is a illustration of what’s been going on, and arguably one of the most historical and relevant times in our existance as human beings…not just our modern day society, but our existance. I’ll be able to tell my kids one day that I was apart of history, I was there like their grandparents before them during the civil rights movement to see history in the making.

Now grant it, there are some issues/policy changes that have already surfaced that I don’t agree with, but I plan on reserving judgment until this man (who’s checks the same box as I do on official government documents that ask what your “Race” is) is able to get his feet and the ground and get into the Oval office. He’s not the guy I wanted a year ago, but given the choice we had it was a “no-brainer” on who would be president and I will give him a shot to prove himself, and back up what he’s been saying he would do over the past 18months. He’s surely got his work cut out for him.

Below I have posted up some of what I consider the most touching photo’s from the past year that i’ve found and have been sent to me. I hope and pray that this man can begin the process of bringing about a new era in the United States. To whom much is given, much is required President Obama…….

B.Price

Alright folks, so as much as I’ve attempted to avoid this I really just can’t anymore. I’m not drawing a line and picking a candidate yet because…..well frankly the guy that I liked didn’t get in, so right now i’m still riding the fence for eh, the next 30days or so. However, when i see absolute stupidity/incompetency or where I might notice things that literally and utterly confound and perplex me I just can’t sit on and act like they don’t exist.

1st) I’ve been reading over a lot of really interesting blogs lately trying to broaden my perspective on this bailout i’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that this bailout for the most part is garbage. What they (the government) are doing is basically rescuing all of the companies and organizations that made terrible, and risky decisions way back when the housing market was booming. You know what that is? It’s me asking everyone in my building complex (it’s about 1000 of us) to give me $1,000 so I can clear out my debit after i’ve gone out and financed a $150,000 classic car that I was going to restore and turn around to sell for $200k……well I couldn’t sell that car because the market for it dried up and now I cannot afford the note……what do you think those people’s responses would be?

Don’t get me wrong I’m fully aware that this is indeed a bailout of the American economy. And that If banks continue to feel the pressure that that are currently have/do then they will continue to pull back on lending, the economy will become extremely stagnant and the ripple effect from that will be enormous. But it still doesn’t make me feel any better that i’ll be carrying on my back the price tag for their bad decisions.

Michael DeVault said it best

This meltdown has already inflicted its damage. If you have a decent credit score and your 20 percent downpayment, you’ll still get your new mortgage. If you have a good pay history on your credit cards and a job, you’ll still be able to get your ultra-HD Big Screen T.V. on 180-days Same As Cash at your friendly neighborhood Best Buy.

If, however, you’re a meth-addicted crack whore working a minimum wage job at McDonald’s with a 325 credit rating (and let’s face it, if you have a pulse, you score a 300), then guess what: no, sweetheart, you will not be able to buy your $450,000 McMansion in Tuscan Hills Estates.

2nd) That debate tonight……a small child would’ve been able to identify not only who was in control but who got butchered who wasn’t, and who came out the clear victor. Although, why in the heck did this get so much press?? I honestly couldn’t care less about what the vice presidents views are, no matter how powerful that office is it is subordinate to the west wing.

B.Price

31.6MPG by 2015…..

Let’s marinate on that for a second if you will.

Are we good?

Ok then, as some of you that already know me might already be aware of the fact that i’m a bit of a car enthusiast….a “bit” meaning that a gorgeous streamlined automobile can turn my head faster then a gorgeous half dressed woman can. It’s just how i’m wired, and who I am.

So first off….lets get down to what CAFE is.

C.A.F.E stands for Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE), it is a law setting minimum average fuel-consumption levels for cars and trucks sold in America. The law has been in effect since 1975, two years after the first U.S. fuel crisis. Since 1985, the law has required that an automaker’s line of cars average 27.5 mpg. The current truck standard of 22.2 mpg was raised 1.5 mpg over the past three years…….Where the problem now lies is in the congressional approval of a bill to raise the CAFE standards to 31.6mpg by 2015.

This is ridiculous and absurd. Newer cars a burning less gas, cleaner, and emitting less pollution then they’ve been in the past 30 years. Cars can up 5-7,000 miles without oil changes, bio-degradable tires, synthetic oils, engines that are lasting 150,000+ miles without any major emission related issues, state and local annual emissions tests/standards and hybrids…..hybrids are everywhere. Not only that, but our government now is going to make what is already an extremely volatile market (all because the government wont take the same stand against the oil cartels like they will for “the environment”) for automakers even more difficult now that they have to scramble to cut models, scrap engines, destroy or cease making legendary brands that we’ve come to love and appreciate.

In addition our government is abolishing the stigmas of what makes us the American automotive consumer….that stigma being the SUV (as well as the pick up truck). No where on God’s green earth are these automobiles more popular then what they are in this great nation of ours. We already are in a recession and the price of gas is now at an all time high, so now somehow congress thinks that forcing the automobile companies to change their entire lineup to make cars burn less gas and ultimately abolish what drives the automotive economic engine in this county will help improve the environment…..Here’s some cold hard facts

• According to Automotive News the big three automakers in Detroit who combined make up more then 2/3’s of SUV’s on the road will pay about $30.6 billion — including $15 billion by General Motors alone — to bring their fleets inline with the new regulations. This on top of the combined 25.4% sales drop from their respective brand last month compared to the numbers from last year. (HUMMER alone dropped 61.7%)

• Honda passed Chrysler in U.S. sales for the first time…..EVER. What’s more, the Honda Civic beat out the Ford F Series pickup to become the nation’s best selling vehicle for the first time on record as well. The Toyota Camry also topped F Series sales in the month. Just to so there’s a clear understanding of how significant these numbers are….the best selling minivan in the history of automobiles in the Dodge Caravan with an astonishing 11 million cars sold The best single-month sales of any car ever goes the Ford F series back in July 2005 of 126,000 units.

High gas prices are not new. They have been creeping steadily higher for a decade. So I don’t want to lose focus and concentrate on that topic, gas isn’t what this post is about. This post is about the government crippling the automotive industry in order to “save the environment”, which is garbage. You know why? Because overseas governments aren’t in the least bit imposing the same crap that congress has and they output an enormous amount of pollution (not to mention gas prices are on average….AVERAGE 25% higher then what they are in the US).

You want to do something? Light a fire under some of these other nations to get in the ball with their pollution issues, do some actual good for a change. Put those billions (of people CHINA) to good use.

Some places that deserve an honorable mention:

1. The People’s Republic of China (Linfen) A superpower that has 16/20 of the most polluted cities on the planet
2. India (Ranipet)
3. Russia (Dzerzinsk, Norilsk, & Rudnaya Pristan)
4. Peru (La Oroya)

Oh and for the record, alternative fuels (at least the ones that are currently out there) aren’t the answer either. The main problem here is that producing alternate fuels and hybrid cars often requires CO2 emissions that offset or cancel the benefits of improve vehicular design. Take ethonal for instance - ethanol is made from corn, more than 75% of its energy value is spent on its production. Filling up one large vehicle fuel tank one time with 100% ethanol uses enough corn to feed one person for a year. So yeah, ethonal = not so good idea.

Electric cars? Ok, If an electric car is recharged with electricity produced by a fossil fuel burning generator, there will be little to no net benefit to the atmosphere. A real solution would reduce air pollution beginning at source materials and would continue through the use cycle of the vehicle.

My solution is biodesiel. Why you might ask? Because a biofuel should provide a net energy gain, have environmental benefits, be economically competitive, and be producible in large quantities without reducing food supplies.Biodisels do just that. Ethanol yields 25% more energy than the energy invested in its production, whereas biodiesel yields 93% more. Compared with ethanol, biodiesel releases just 1.0%, 8.3%, and 13% of the agricultural nitrogen, phosphorus, and pesticide pollutants, respectively, per net energy gain. Your precious greenhouse gas emissions are reduced 12% by the production and combustion of ethanol and 41% by biodiesel. Biodiesel also releases less air pollutants per net energy gain than ethanol. These advantages of biodiesel over ethanol come from lower agricultural inputs and more efficient conversion of feedstocks to fuel.

No solution is better than reduced vehicle use. Congress, get more money into public transportation!!!

So to me it’s a no brainer on what we should be focusing on as a country and as members of planet earth. Sorry for the long post, but I just had to get this stuff off of my chest.

-B.Price

This post is about my disdain for a disturbing and growing trend that will see a resurgence now that the weather is warm….Mandals. If you wear them and get easily offended by the raw and pungent truth then you probably should wait for my next post and skip this one.

First off, WTF. When did we start calling Men’s Sandals Mandals? Who came up with this? And why is it then when I went into DSW last weekend and told the cute sales rep that I was looking for some sandals she tells me “Oh the mandals are over in this section”……excuse me, WHAT? Did I not get the man memo about this new term or something?

Oh and don’t think I haven’t taken notice of my Caucasian (and every other race for that fact) brothern wearing these during the cold months…..Where in what book of man laws ™ or rule of thumb was it ok for us to start wearing these on the regular like it’s apart of everyday life (365 days a year with anything we want)? It’s gotten so bad THAT NOW THERE’S A NEGATIVE CONNOTATION ASSOCIATED WITH WEARING THEM!

Are you Egyptian, do you live in a climate that has more (appropriate) warm days then cold? Perhaps you’re a Spartan or of Roman decent…..No? Okay then it’s not kosher for you to wear these year round guys….it’s not kosher.

I use to rock the “mandals” hard back in the day when they were just called “mens sandals”, by “hard” I mean in the appropriate place and at the fashionably appropriate time.

For example

• WHEN MY FEET DON’T LOOK AS THOUGH I’VE BEEN WALKING ON RAZOR SHARP ROCKS OUT IN THE BUSH SOMEWHERE!
• At the beach
• While washing the car
• When rocking the fresh linen pants & or linen shirt
• Spring time @ a wine festival
• A quick trip down to the mailbox/grocery store/carry out/car (when to lazy to lace up some kicks)
• Summer BBQ’s & or cookouts
• A scorching summer day when shoes/socks just aren’t going to do

But now you can see guys rocking this look year ’round, proudly wearing them with jeans, at the club, nice restaurants, in the winter time, or with mens capris. I’m not saying that wearing man sandals during this time of year is bad, this is the time of year when you should wear them, and when it’s appropriate. Where my problem is are with the people that rock them hard all year, and those people that don’t follow the rules when wearing them around this time of year.

Here are three key rules that the dominate gender should ad hear to.

1. Socks with Sandals - No man should be caught wearing socks with sandals. But again, especially in the black community this has become acceptable. If you wearing sandals leave the socks at home please.

2. Flip-Flops - Honestly there really isn’t a necessity for a man to wear these type of sandals when there’s such a vast collection to choose from now days….But for those that do follow this rule: If not at the beach, then there is no reason for any man to be wearing flip-flops. Ever.

3. Pedicure - If you don’t know what that is or perhaps think this is for women please stop reading, go get your mandals and throw them in the trash. It’s a requirement, not an option. Look at it like this; would you go outside with your hands ashy and crusty? with your fingernails long and yellow??? NO! So don’t let your feet be in that condition. GET A PEDICURE!

/rant

Long day at work today…..it’s one of those rainy dreary days outside that you should be spending inside your own dwelling not in an office on the first day following the weekend……on my way home with mild to light traffic, unseasonably cold and just all around dreary and gloomy day. Leave the parking garage (break out) after giving the man my 9+hrs, blow thru a few traffic lights to get onto the main road to take me home….while at the same time browse the local stations stored in the presents on my radio and what to I find? Garbage, straight up garbage.

Am I soothed, moved, motivated and liberated by the hypnotic sounds of instruments, melodies and smooth vocals?….Nope, my ears are assaulted by Mariah Carey belting about someone touching her body, Flo Rider talking about jeans and some girl’s boots, a drug addict going on and on about a lollipop, and User whining about getting some in a club? Seriously…..is this what we are calling music now? Disgruntled, and disappointed I cut the radio off, (didn’t even bother to look for a cd) and resumed the ride home.

I arrive at my destination tired, disappointed, and sapped of energy due in part because of the climate but mostly because one of the very art forms that i’ve come to love and appreciate above all others was utterly butchered and has at that moment failed me. I take it to heart just because of what it invokes in me, what I gleam from it….. the melody, dynamics, texture, structure of this art form just does something to me, especially on days like this.

Drop my bag, kick off the shoes, prep/begin dinner. Stop and take a second just as i’m about to turn on the tv, go for the Zune instead and put on some Marvin Gaye (1976; I Want You). This was 100% without question an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental and vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner. As I suspended the rest of my evening to absorb the mellotic tones of one of the greatest artists of our time one song inparticular comes on.

Track 1 (the device is set to shuffle, Track 4 ended up starting first) I Want You. The title track for the album, this is where my night stays….for the past four maybe five hours i’ve been absorbing art in it’s raw form from the soulful sound and equally romantic and erotic lyrics of this great song. I’m aware that not everyone loves this genre of music that I do, neither can the same song that impacts me in this very moment do the same to someone who might share my same love for this art form…but If you love, and know of what real music is then there’s no denying the greatness in this…Real Music, from this truly great artist.

I Want You (Vocal)

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-266196747943131850&hl=en]

I Want You (accapella)

As I dive deeper into the blogging thing I want to begin intelligent discussion about various “Questions of the Week” that I have for my small but growing base of readers.

This week it’s in a form of one of my favorite songs by the Neo Soul/R&B artist Musiq. Give a listen and leave a comment about what you’d do if it were you in the situation. I personally haven’t been in that situation but if I was i’m not sure how i’d respond if I was put in this exact situation that he was given the fact that it was just the one time…..

The core part of the song is as follows for those that might be too lazy to actually listen to the entire song

So what would you do?

Guys: if a girl came to you saying what she says in the opening conversation

Ladies: if this was you, and the part of the lyrics were said to you by the guy you were involved with. Plus how would you tell him?

-B.Price

Alright so i’m going to have to make a slight confession here…..I on occasion watch American Idol. Normally I only stick around long enough to see the carnage that takes place during the auditions, and like most of Americans get a big kick/laugh out of it. But it’s perhaps something about the contestants this year or maybe the utter lack of quality programming on TV due to the writers strike motivated me to watch….and watch like it’s season 2 I have.

So last night the contestant (already a star) David Cook did a cover of one of my favorite song by Michael Jackson called ‘Billie Jean‘, but decided to do Chris Cornell’s version of this legendary track. It was pure gospel, music in it’s raw form, this kid can blow. Not only did he own a song that isn’t really “his own” and was made legend by the King of Pop, but performed it for an audience of a lost generation of listeners that don’t have a clue what good music is and they loved it.

Hands down it was the performance of the season so far, and the best rendition out of many others. Even though he wasn’t the first to perform it, I think he took absolute creative control (unlike some of the other contestants) over his performance a made it his own.

…and your nudity at the gym….

So i’ve been hitting the gym for the past four months or so, not like I should but whatever, i have a membership and i’m there so that’s what’s important. In starting at this new gym, the first week (day really) I get there I notice that most of if not all of the patrons there are caucasion. Not that there’s a problem with this, i work with them, call them friends, even break bread with them.

But I’m coming from an all black gym for the most part in my native PG county where the music, the tv stations, and the people are different. It’s this last thing: the people being different, that i’m going to touch on. I don’t know if it’s a pre-programmed rule of thumb from birth, the particular gym I was going to, a respect thing or what but BLACK MEN (at the local gym) DON’T WALK AROUND IN THE LOCKER ROOM (with the exception to ball players) BUTT NAKED! I’m sorry, we don’t.

Now grant it, i’m not saying that during the course of your time between the shower, and your locker that you wont “be naked” but we don’t walk out of the shower, bare feat (i’m going to get to this too) air drying, strolling back to our lockers with the towel not where it should be, i’m sorry we don’t. This isn’t a movie with Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding, we aren’t teammates playing professional sports getting showered and ready to get back on the bus to head home, and it sure ’nuff isn’t an exhibition of some sort to show off to fellow members (no phun intended) of your gender.

It never fails that when i’m in there it’s usally me and one (literally, one) other brother who see the white guys proudly walking out of the showers naked, and bare in route to their lockers. We turn to eachother and shake our heads in non-verbal unison, noone wants to see that! Seriously, and if you are proud of what you’ve got, great for you but i’m a hetrorosexual man and I don’t enjoy seeing your junk, or pale ass as i’m getting ready for my workout, or ready to leave. Mom didn’t teach you to cover up? You aren’t at home buddy, you are in a public place, act like it.

What gets me more is that I can almost guarantee that if a female were to walk thru that locker room ALL of them would be covering up, making a big stink. Where as if I did shower at the gym (my house is <25min from the gym, i’ll be alright until then) that’s when i’d be the most comfortable with my nudity. So my point is, I’m not interested in seeing your parts swinging around the room, there’s nothing special going on down there, in fact why would you assume anyone will want to look at it? Please cover that ish up! I don’t want you standing/bending/walking next to me while i’m lacing up my shoe and then I look up and see *you*, and for the love of God don’t stop getting dressed in order to sit there and carry a conversation with me while you are naked.

PUT YOUR TOWEL ON!!!!

Signed 

-blprice a.k.a frustrated black man

Ok, so maybe it was during my downtime last year recovering from surgery, house hunting these past six months or something along those lines that caused me to miss it, but where did these words come from?? Like out of the blue they drop onto the scene and I hear people everywhere using them.

Ok, slore i’ve used recently when it deemed necessary and I found it to be very appropriate and useful under the correct situation. It fits well with when trying to describe a person or persons that otherwise would fit the description of both of these words but normally would have to use either or. I commend the person that came up with this simple, but cleaver combination of the two.

DMV: Ok, this circulates mostly in my (black) community and has becoming increasingly popular over the past i’d say 6-10months and bothers me sort of. Why? Because we already had a good word for this area, it’s called chocolate city. The term chocolate city refers to a positive, harmonious image of a predominantly African American city, Chris Rock was really one of the first from our generation to say it out loud in 1996 on his HBO special “Bring the pain” and has pretty much stuck with us since then. The word’s meaning referred to ‘DC Metro Area’, it was adopted for the entire area and was a commonly used term of endearment when talking about where you were from.

The term DMV; from anyone that remembers back that far was an acronym for The (Maryland) Department of Motor Vehicles, which in turn was changed a solid 10+yrs ago to the MVA because some politician said so. People had a hard time swallowing it because it had always been called the DMV but people eventually accepted it. Or at least it seemed….Now the acronym has found new life, but due in-part to it’s lack of originality I resent the term being used and believe that either another acronym should of been applied/created/stolen or the one that we had (have still?) should have been kept.

I personally will not be using the DMV term anytime soon, and only time will tell if it has the staying power of chocolate city.