04.12.08

Update: Check the latest issue of Urb magazine for my article on the trip and some great photos....

(Also, to anyone who might be new here, make sure you check out the downloads page for a ton of free mp3s.)

03.05.08

So, I'm going to Kuwait.

Operation MySpace is the name of the show. Pretty bizarre line-up if you ask me, but yours truly is representing the DJ slot, so wish me luck. (I think I may be the first of my kind to do this sort of thing.)

Anyway, for those of you wondering why I would take on something like this, I wanted to speak on it here. When first approached, I was really on the fence about it. I mean, growing up listening to the kind of music I did (and still do), this is really the last place I would've thought I'd be playing. Naturally, I don't support the war, or wars in general. But something about this whole opportunity made me curious. It made me ask myself all sorts of questions: Is it right for me to go over there? Is it wrong to support this sort of thing? Will people equate my doing this as a support of the war? I've never been asked to do something like this, so I'd never really thought much about it in this context....

Before I gave them an answer, I felt like I needed to speak with some people that could help me sort it all out. I approached Chuck D, and Henry Rollins (via Shepard Fairy), and asked them their thoughts. After picking their brains a little bit, they all gave me plenty of things to expand on, as well as a vote of confidence. It totally helped. It reinforced what I was feeling all along, which was that under the circumstances, it would be best to keep my views out of it and just focus on the people there and giving them a show that could take their minds off of things for a while. Rollins said it best: “You're just visiting, they live there. You get to come back home.” I knew that, but to hear it come from him somehow had a different effect on me. It really stuck with me. (BTW, Henry has gone out there a few times already, and he also opposes the war.)

So I kept thinking.... Home. I like being home; I like it a lot. I'm always on the road, and coming home, that's the best. When you are out on tour for months at a time, getting a visit from your lady or getting to speak to someone that reminds you of home is the next best thing to being there. That feeling makes it all go away for a little while; makes you forget where you are. Now, I know a show from me, no matter how great, won't come close to a wife, husband or child coming to see them (or fuck, getting them all back home for good would be the very best thing), but if my show has any relation to the the feeling they get when they think of being home, then I'm glad to help out....

So with that being said, it's on.

You can check the show out live on MySpace. I plan on bringing back plenty of pictures too, as well as a journal of my experience. It should be pretty interesting.

If you want to chime in on any of this, there is a thread going on in the forums.

Also, real quick, we've just re-stocked the Shepard Fairy/Obey designed t-shirts in the store, they won't last too long, so check 'em out before they are gone.

Peace,

Z-TRIP