May 12, 2008 Did everyone have a good weekend and a nice Mother's Day? I spent Sunday afternoon with my family in Milwaukee and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant called Fiesta Garibaldi, just off of Highway 100 and Bluemound. I had a seafood burrito. It was pretty good. I'm starting to wonder if it's possible for me to OD on Mexican food. Recent studies have shown that this is not likely. It's not an exaggeration for me to eat Mexican food four times a week. It's beyond ridiculous.

This past Saturday I watched a documentary at Sundance called Planet B-Boy. By the way, thank you Robert Redford - I know you're an avid HDP reader - for opening your theater here in Madison. It's pricey, but I dig it. Outside of the Oriental Theater, there is no better place to watch a movie than Sundance. As for Planet B-Boy, the movie was excellent. As some of you may vividly recall, there was a time when I might have been categorized as a breakdancer. Flight pants, shirts with zippers all over it, high tops with wide laces... the whole bit. The way I remember it (circa 1984), breakdancers fell into one of two camps: those who could do "The Helicopter" and those who could not. I fell into the latter group. As much as I practiced I just could never get it down. It still sort of aggravates me.

Anyway, Planet B-Boy is a documentary of the global presence of hip hop culture, specifically breakdancing. And just to be clear, hip hop is not solely rap. Hip hop contains four core elements: graffiti, breakdancing, rap, and DJ'ing. The story of hip hop is a familiar one: the hip hop scene develops amongst a few dedicated scenesters and fans, slowly gains a sizable and rabid audience, and eventually draws the attention of mainstream culture, which in turn sees the latest cash cow and milks it dry. Presto, you get The Super Bowl Shuffle.

Planet B-Boy tells the story of those were inspired by the original spirit of breakdancing and have pushed the art form into new and unimaginable territory. Basically, this cat in Germany, of all places, decides to put on an annual breakdancing competition called Battle of the Year. The first year of the Battle was 1990 and attracted a few hundred people and a handful of breakdance crews. Today, the event draws thousands of spectators and breakdance crews from all over the world. While the personal stories of the participants were interesting, particularly those of the Korean and French crews, the star attraction undoubtedly was the dancing itself. It is truly unbelievable how much breakdancing has advanced over the years. My jaw literally dropped at some of the moves these guys were doing. If you haven't seen any breakdancing lately, check this out. Incidentally, the music in this clip is a remix of Eric B. and Rakim's classic "I Know You Got Soul," if you were wondering when I was going to get to writing about music after blathering on about my Mexican food addiction, movie theaters and questionable clothing choices.

I'm going to go practice my helicopter now. Have a good evening.

PINK MOON 2008 Hooks

WORM MOON 2008 iPod and I

SNOW MOON 2008 All Around Al's World of Sound 101

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