[the g-ride]

After cuttin’ it close with finishing up a video for class and then booking it to pack quickly and hop on the subway to the airport, I was greeted at YYZ by my sissy Brit, who got me to my flight as quickly as possible. I’m getting pretty good at packing quicktime, I must say. With only 4 hours of sleep under my belt, zonking out on the 4.5 hour plane ride came to no surprise. I am notorious for being able to fall asleep anywhere, just one of the many perks of being a small human.

The plan was to begin with hometown central — Vancity, and then make my way westwards. It had been 7 months since I was home last summer, and I knew that the homecoming greeting I’d receive would be nothing short of wonderful. I’m lucky that I have friends and family who are always stoked to see me whenever I come back for a visit. It’s a totally new experience to visit Vancouverite as a now Torontonian. The things I like and am into now were not the things I was into before… Vancity I see with a completely different new set of eyes.

My old broski Chris scooped me from the airport and brought me back home to a bangin’ Mama Loro filipino dinner of lumpia, panko breaded prawns, and of course rice. Gotta love Moms cookin.

[Panko Breaded Prawns]

[My broski on that lumpiang shanghai steeze]

[This is my beautiful Lola! the only grandmother I have left:)]

[My mom and I both gave our high school valedictory address.]

[I was born with an afro. Didn't you know?]

[My 18th Birthday Debut -- Cotillion pictures!]

[The hottest day in Vancity. Best Cotillion dancers eeevverrr.]

[Yes, costume change! My escort, Tim and I, and our epic Star Wars introduction. Lol.]

[Oh my god, they created me!]

[The folks and babybroskiii Chad]

[My faja. He's a nut.]

After dinner one of my childhood best friends, Nathan, came over and we rolled downtown to check out my boy Jolin Ras who spins on Thursday nights at The Granville Room. Aside from the fact that a beer cost me almost 8 dollars, I loved the vibe of Granville Room. Exposed brick, chillin vibes, and of course, dope music — facilitated my Thursday night mood.

[Nathan aka Tan Tan and I.]

Jolin and his crew Raw Mind Movement (more than just a collective of Bboys who get down with each other, but get down on that raw mind tip) along with a few other homies came through to enjoy the night. It had been a minute since I say Ryan and Yong, who, along with Jolin, came to stay with me during Manifesto Festival last year. That trip where they traveled across Canada on a Greyhound bus for 3 days to come to Toronto and check the hip hop community… was definitely one for the books. It changed their perspectives on everything. Toronto was that trip for them.

Needless to say, we cool like that, and it was mad dope to see them again.

[Jolin Ras, my friggin brother from another mother, yo.]

[Ryan Narita, dope film photo documentarian. Check him.]

Next stop on the Granville strip — Jo Rich’s. It’s Thursday night, how could I not go and say whattup to my dude Mike Alcantara who runs one of the most hectic parties in Vancity… on a Thursday night! Lawd, it was packed. Upon arrival I had my hand stuffed with more than enough drink tickets. Shots were in order c/o one of my most favorite friends in the world — Adi aka Adlib of The Boombox Saints.

Honestly… I ALWAYS have wayyyy too much fun with that guy. Cracking up over making the most ridiculous inside jokes in filipino accents, and doing some seeeerrious dance moves in the circle. Hahahaha. We have too many memories of going out in Toronto and Vancity and having awesome party times. Nights with Adi are guaranteed wild — gotta love it.

After Jo Rich’s, at the brink of inebriation, we met up with my boy Mike Rodriguez. One of the dirtiest filmmakers in Vancity. I’ve seen this guy go from buying his first camera, to applying to school, finishing, and making his first film. I’m so proud of him, and humbled that we’ve become such great friends over the last couple years. That’s for real. Check out his shit here: MR Productions, Eighties Union, dun kno.

We rolled to the most expensive chinese restaurant I’ve ever been to. I swear… I think we really paid for the experience to sit underneath the giant chandelier. Black Bean Beef was actually Beef N’ Broccoli (with black beans in it) but eh… all good… they just screwed up one of my most favorite dishes in LIFE!! Hahha. Just kidding.

[The Mike Rod, yo.]

The night ended with ongoing laughs over our filipno impression of Rick Ross, and a big fat smile over my face. I love coming home to such a warm welcoming, ones that continuously top the previous one.

Watch this dumb video of Adi and I foolin around. And then listen to ‘Stay Schemin’ by Rick Ross. You’ll get it. And if you don’t… no laughing for you, I guess. Bahahaha.

Stay Chuned for more. Vancity, I appreciate the love. One.

[Rev up the engines. It's go-time.]

It all started because my roommate, soulmate, sister, best friend Brit Sirianni (of April Management/First Lady of DSTRY) made mer her WestJet companion… meaning… I get to fly literally, for the cost of pennies. It’s incredible! More than it being about me being able to fly to my hometown Vancity and say whattup to my folks whenever I want… I wanted to do something very special with the opportunity. Thus, being in the development stages of a new project that will soon be released and that I’ll be working on all throughout the summer.

This project is enabling me to do exactly what I love doing — exploring the music, arts and culture communities of all these different cities in Canada. Part of the development of this project which is so necessary… is just research. Going and immersing myself in the culture of these cities. How can I expect to share their stories if I don’t know the people who are the center of them? I simply went with the pure intent to connect, establish relationships, and build upon that connection.

I met the sickest people who are doing things in their communities that uphold the culture they have in their cities. From Vancity, Calgary, Winnipeg and (what was supposed to be Halifax became) Montreal, I saw the factors that influenced their character — for all their strengths and weaknesses. It was a unique experience in every place I went. I’m excited to come back in the spring/summer months and capture more of that, and bring back those stories… I’m stoked for you to learn about the artists I’ve met and will meet, and hopefully one day you’ll have the opportunity to connect with them if you’re ever in their city, and vice versa.

The exchange starts now.

First up, Vancity….

[Headed for the vanishing point.]

Before I even begin to set the stage for what I experienced during my past reading break where I flew across Canada for what I was mad hashtagging as the “#LOVEHARDTOUR” — I need to fill you in on what has inspired this post. Simply put, I don’t share anymore. I just had this long awesome parlay session with one of my dearest friends (who worked with me as one of Manifesto’s Doc Team Directors this year), Jon Riera, about how us doing our art as our main source of income, has made us forget why we fell in love with it.

We end up feeling tired all the time and resistant to these shoots because we stopped doing the ones that were just for ourselves and the sake of our creative sanity. Sharing, especially over this platform, is something I once loved doing… I used to blog everyday. Being busy cannot be my excuse anymore. This blog isn’t about shameless promotion, especially for other artists and their events… it’s about support, it’s about this being my art form in and of itself.

I’ve taken a long hiatus… but I think I’m ready for Lovehard 2.0. It’s going to be a lot bigger than me, that’s for sure.

You’ll get my thoughts and experiences in doses. Stay close. Love.

And they say Ottawa isn’t poppin’… truth is, behind the strip malls of commercially driven establishments, as far as the eye can see, lies small gems of passionate independence. Places like Flavor Factory, a new dance studio space and the only studio space of it’s kind, geared towards street dance and supporting events within that community. I found myself hanging out there last Saturday night, in lieu of the momentous reunion of the Fresh Format bboy crew, who all reached down from Montreal, Ottawa, and even as far as from out west in Alberta.

[Creeasian on the decks!]

It was really refreshing to be an observer amongst a new collective I have never interacted with before. There’s something about group dynamics that intrigue me: how they get down, the types of inside jokes and humor they share, what kind of energy they exude and exchange amongst each other and how that comes out in the character they portray as a collective. Fresh Format is… exactly that — friggin’ FRESH. 11 B-boys, with that flavor and attitude that culminates the chillin’ west coast, effortless type of vibe, and the Quebecois-French mentality of mastery in taking the time to do things… and to do things WELL. In Toronto, we call that shiet Propa Tings!

[The video stylings of Cee]

[The First Ladies of Fresh Format -- Aileen, Julia and Lyndsey]

For the reunion, B-boy Lost Child organized a video shoot with two dope videographers, Cee and Yves, with myself taking some behind-the-scenes pictures. It was a goooood time, yo, being in the energy of people feeling super stoked to see each other after quite some time, some as long as three years ago! From the way Lost talked to me about his crew, I knew the night would go down organically, and the shoot was going to be something we’d all have a lot of fun with.

[Bboy Lost Child]

[Zig]

[Elon]

[One of the best poppers I've ever seen.]

[Raul]

[Kamikazee]

[Raul's fresh leather vest]

[Creeasian]

[Aileen]

[Julia aka B-Lady Jussik]

[Torpedo]

[System]

[Monsta Pop on that berry steeze]

[Sancho, power monster.]

[One of my fave photos of the night]

But really though, who woulda thought we’d end up spending the entire night inside this random irish pub in the same strip mall joint, with Saturday night DJ and Kareoke?! Our initial intention to drop by for some pub grub and be on our way to downtown to a club quickly switched gears as we were all enchanted by the Kareoke DJ’ing of this young, 20-something year old heavier-set woman, with gel slicked from root to curl, rockin’ a dry-fit t-shirt with the Kareoke company logo  stitched onto the shoulders. She was quite the character, lemme tell you. Hahahaha. The girl kicked back a few shots by her lonesome and killed the mic with some Sheryl Crow. Seeeeerrrious!!

But there was nobody else badder than Lyndsey and Julia to set the stage with some Salt N’ Peppa to introduce us to what was about to go down that night. I grew up total city life steeze, so you can only imagine how this was all quite the spectacle to me that like 15 of us “hip hop kids” took over this small-town bar and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly with DJ & Kareoke night at Conroy Irish Pub. It was honestly… one of the best nights ever.

Much respect to the Fresh Format Fam for letting me be part of it. I hope you all like the pics I took from the shoot! Check em out below:

LOOKING FOR: A part-time production assistant for LOVEHARD (my video/photo production company and blog).

Do you love hip hop music, arts and culture? Do you want exposure to these kind of events and artists? Are you organized and can word doc/excel it up? Are you a jack of all trades? What are your skrills? Can you shoot/edit/graphic design/web develop/blog (wordpress)?

Sometimes there’s money involved, sometimes there is free inebriation and access to dope shows/parties. Regardless, the experience is GUARANTEED goodness if you’re eager and excited to soak it all in. You must be 19+.

If interested, please email char@Lovehard.ca with your resume, your goals (life & career), and why you love hip hop and who you listen to!!

Deadline to Apply: Thurs, Feb 2nd, 2012.

[TFHOUSE at his last show of 2011. Sneaky Dees, if you were there, youuu knowwwww]

What a frickin’ year for TFHOUSE and the DSTRY team. We went from Teddy’s show at Nocturne where he performed hits from his On My Way mixtape, to Teddy opening up for MacMiller in July for like 5000 people, to Teddy opening up for Wiz Khalifa on September, then The Weeknd in London, ON, and then him closing off the year with his show OUTRO SUPERIOR at Sneaky Dee’s. What an amazing run!! I couldn’t be more proud of the fam, especially my sister Beetle Brit, aka April Management — TFHOUSE’s manager. They really did the ground work this year in order to prep themselves for what’s to come in 2012… and if my intuition is correct, it’s about to get reeeaaallll hectic.

The show was SO ILL! All hands were on deck from the fam — Beetle Jenn and Fulfy holdin’ down the door, Mensa and Aphillyaded on the 1′s and 2′s, Eyeamtheo, KnowTomo, Jay Isip of Extension Jewelry, Redventura, Vincent Grey, myself and the Frstldy aka Beetle Brit aaallllllll holdin’ down that night. Not to mention the show was co-presented by Hustlegrl, Pardon Le Dopeness, and the friggin Weeknd camp were all in the building!! Teddy kills every single performance, and he also introduced a new track off his upcoming mixtape – Young Desperado. I can’t wait. I can’t waaaaaaaaaait for the release.

Check the flicks for what you missed. Take note that you’ll never want to do that to yourself again!

]]> http://committee-design.com/lovehard/2012/01/04/recap-outro-superior-tfhouse/feed/ 0 http://committee-design.com/lovehard/2011/12/14/untitled-thought-82/ http://committee-design.com/lovehard/2011/12/14/untitled-thought-82/#comments Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:44:12 +0000 charloro http://committee-design.com/lovehard/?p=3726 – The year of 2012 is upon us. My mind has been racing. I am preparing for maximum efficiency in the coming year. I’ll come back to write more about this soon. For now, ponder upon that thought. The Time that is upon us has the potential to be Legendary. What will you do? Who will you be? What will you stand for? Think about this.

This coming weekend is Maximum Efficiency Crew‘s 12 year anniversary. If you’ve been following this blog from time, you’ll remember that I did photo coverage of their weekend long festivities last year. It’s crazy to reminisce upon last year’s anniversary — it was unexpectedly one of the dopest weekends I’ve ever had in Toronto. Insane battles, crazy parties, and too many laughs. The MEC boys have truly become my homebways. Every Granby Mansion jam, every party I work at in this city, these boys are always there to support and come through. I’ve had enough drunken real talk love talk moments with these guys and I know if I ever needed anyone to be roughed up, I have them to call. (Although, I would never want to inflict physical pain upon anyone as a means of retaliation, it’s nice to know I have that potential option. Lol.)

This year, Lovehard is partnering with MEC again and this time doing up video coverage. It’s set up to be a pretty awesome weekend with FREETHYM gwannin’ with FAM as well. I’m stoked!

My dear friend Angie Choi of Eyekahfoto put together these promo vids highlighting each of the boys. Check em and get ready for this weekend! Mad love to MEC, FAM, Rude Bway Posse, Eyekahfoto, The MAD ONE, Unity. All Day. Errday.

Check the vids and the facebook events after the jump.

Oh, Also! MEC got maaaad sponsorship this year with Pioneer and their new line of boomboxes and headphones under the brand Steez. It’s like the future of boomboxes is now here. Sh*t is LOUD and fricking AWESOME. We’ll be raffling off some prizes as well as throwing in the boombox in the crew battle prize! Check out STEEZ HERE.

FREETHYM 2011 — Happening all week! http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=157011927729533

MEC 12 YEAR ANNIVERSARY – http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=151203718309610

“CAN I KICK IT” W/TONY TOUCH AFTER PARTY — http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=179877832098376

BBOY STYX

BBOY EMSTRO

BBOY TROUBLEZ

BBOY SWITCH

Stay tuned for more videos as they come out everyday… Shouts again to Angie, you did a killer job on these! Love.

“Having the faith to Love truly is your fight.

The fight often goes unnoticed, and is a passion can so easily burn you out. I don’t know anyone with same amount of raw passion. Everytime you type “Lovehard” I feel you. Its real. Its wholehearted. You always “say yes” if it is to love. So when Andrea Gibson says, “this is for saying yes”, I think to myself, “This is for Char”. – Nate Gerber

Someone wrote this to me this morning while sending me a Youtube video of Andrea Gibson’s poem “Say Yes”. I was sent this poem a few weeks back from another person, but it really hit home for me particularly today. It was really a moment from the Universe. To think, my innermost thoughts and feelings, unarticulated, being reached out to me through someone whom I’ve never had any close relations to. That is work of the Divine. When these moments happen in life, we cannot ignore it, we cannot downplay it. It is something truly Extraordinary.

Always Saying “Yes” to Love is not easy. I am in constant battle with myself in continually choosing to have the Courage to Love. This battle is unrelenting… and well, simply put, F*ck, MAN… Love is f*cking hard sometimes. It confuses me. One minute I feel like I have a grasp on what Love is, and the next minute that idea is yanked out of my hands and I’m left feeling befuddled once more. I want to stand up for What I Want. I want to stand up for What I Know I Deserve. I want to Love and Be Loved. Because Lord knows, I sure know how to give it.

Too many times in the past have I loved on those who could not handle my Love. It’s too much and too extraordinary. I’ve learned over time how to hold back. I’ve learned over time how to keep my mouth shut, keep my true desires unspoken and locked up in the ventricles and atriums of my heart. I’ve learned over time how to be Careful. I bleed and I heal, I bleed and I heal, stronger and harder every single time… Yet it’s still there. This burning intensity to want to Love on someone who burns just as bright, loves just as freely, loves just as ferociously as Me.

And so I am… Burnt out. Burnt out from giving and loving and believing and hoping and fighting… always fighting for this thing called Love. But, Love is Ever Abundant, isn’t it? It’s supposed to come springing out of wells, and gushing out like waterfalls, no? Yes. Love IS Ever Abundant, but the fight for Love is Ever Constant… And the world continues to war with each other over money and land, when the true battle worth fighting is the one for Love.

I won’t stop. I will come around, once again. I always do. Even though today, I am tired, I know I will not stop fighting. The cause will always be too Great. Too Great.

For now… this Love is for Me. Only for Me.

I’ve spoken my piece.
Peace.

I hate when I make decisions influenced by Fear. I don’t feel like myself. I don’t feel Free. I feel so uncomfortably Safe, and worst of all, I am in denial of it. I am in denial of my own regret. Fear is not a friend, yet he’s always there. I can’t shake him off.

And then I remember that Courage is a Choice. In the presence of Fear, to choose to do what I’m most afraid of, is Courage. I feel so uncomfortably dangerous and unsure and excited  and willing to take the chance to fall. Fall hard, Fall fast.

And then I remember that Strength and Wisdom is the fruit of Courage. I remember that I am much stronger than I think. I am much stronger than Fear tells me.

I do not want to be afraid of Who I Know I Am. I do not want to be afraid to Love the Way I Want to Love. Even if that means it’s not returned. Even if that means I am rejected.

I refuse to be selfish with This Love. Selfishness comes from poverty in the heart. True Starvation. Selfishness comes from the belief that Love is Not Abundant.

Because it Is. Love is Ever Abundant.

And I want to give it freely. I want to give it openly. I want to give it furiously.

I’m afraid You can’t handle it. But I don’t want that assumption to hold me back anymore.

I will Love with Abandon. I will Love in Abundance. I will Lovehard because there is no better, or more exhilarating, or more nerve wracking, or more Fulfilling… way to Love.

I’ve spoken my piece.
Peace.