Mixtape Inc.

Again with another Hulu gem. This time a documentary on Mixtapes and the war being waged between the mixtape industry and the record labels.

I think Chuck D says it best; "You think the labels lost money through downloading? I think that the people in the public now will not be tricked and be fooled. I think people will buy what they love as opposed to something they have been made to like.

Crash This Place EP Behind The Scenes

This has been a very busy year for us at Bright City Studios. We are excited about all of the records coming out in the fall of this year. "Crash This Place" is an EP we worked on for Morningstar Ministries in Fort Mill, SC. We were blown away by the talent, songwriting, and creativity in this community. This is a video of some behind the scenes footage we filmed on our flip camera during the tracking of this record.

Sekelton Bones- John Mark McMillan

John Mark McMillan is a great friend of mine and an awesome songwriter. This video was directed by the Calnin brothers and filmed, recorded, and mixed at Bright City Studios. I am blown away by what the Calnin boys are creating and I love the work they did on this video. Check it out.

Top 5 Favorite Organic Restaurants

Although I am not a practicing vegetarian, I love the occasional meal without meat. Some of the most inspired cuisine I have experienced has occurred when a creative and passionate chef crafts a locally-grown vegetarian menu in a geographically inspired setting, mixes in great atmosphere and surrounds themselves with a great staff. As I've travelled over the last 10 years a few places have stood out.   

Here are the five meals and five restaurants that rise above the rest:

1) Greens Restaurant: San Francisco, CA

Wilted Spinach Salad with Knoll Farm chicory, feta, croutons, gaeta olives, garlic, mint, sherry vinegar and hot olive oil

Masa Harina Crepe with white corn, grilled onions, poblano chilies, cheddar, cilantro, crème fraiche and Brandy Wine pico de gallo. Served with grilled cousa squash, rainbow chard and lacinato kale.

Greens Restaurant Online


2) The Gate: London, UK

courgette flower v o g o
with a sweet potato, goat’s cheese & pine-nut filling, deep-fried
in a light beer batter & served with garlic & lemon aioli

roasted almond & cauliflower korma
okra, pumpkin, jerusalem artichoke, courgettes and cauliflower
cooked in a creamy coconut & almond sauce with sweet
indian spices, served with basmati rice and a pickled aubergine
salsa

The Gate Online


3) The Bozeman Montana Community Food Co-Op

Okay, so I know it's not really a restaurant, but the Bozeman Community Food Co-Op is a great way to spend an afternoon. Grab a piece of fresh fruit from a vendor and a cup of coffee from the cafe and spend the day walking down aisles of farm-fresh, locally-grown produce.

Bozeman Montana Community Food Co-Op Online


4) The Tomato Head: Knoxville Tennessee

Jose Jose Burrito
Fresh Spinach, Organic Brown Rice, Organic Baked Tofu, Hummous, Green Olive, Banana Pepper,
Red & Green Peppers, Cheese, Crema

The Tomato Head Online


5) Tupelo's World Cafe

Although the previous tenant of 506 West King Street, Angelicas Vegetarian Restaurant, would have been in the top 2 of this countdown, its successor's limited southwestern approach to the vegetarian menu is interesting enough to grant it the number 5 spot.

Sweet Potato Enchilada
Sweet potatoes, spinach, mushrooms, red pepper, topped with diced apples. mango salsa, and pepitos.

Tupelo's World Cafe Online

Weekend Watch List: The Fearless Freaks

Hulu has been killing it lately with some really good 
documentaries. 
This one on the Flaming Lips is really inspiring. 
Wayne Coyne makes me feel lazy.

Remix Manifesto

I watched this movie a week ago on Hulu and it really challenged my thoughts on copyright law and infringement. Honestly, I'm not sure where I stand on this issue. As a producer, I have a profound respect for the right of artists to get paid for what they create. I place a high value on the time, money, risk, and life investment involved in producing a creative work. As a DJ and mash-up artist, I am totally frustrated by the system that is in place and think that the laws that were created to protect the intellectual property of artists have been perverted and misconstrued to protect the profit potential of huge publishing houses and the interests of powerful labels. Watch this movie and let me know what you think:

Beach Cruiser Renovation

Over the weekend, Lee Worley and I renovated an old Mike's Hard Lemonade Beach Cruiser. We replaced the yellow flames over glossy black paint job with a simple flat black and cleaned and polished the chrome hardware.

This is how we did it:

Here is the bike in all of its original glory. Notice the sweet custom Mike's Hard Lemonade paint job. I especially hated the yellow flames on the front and rear fenders.

The first step was dismantling the bicycle and removing all of the wheels, chains, saddle, and fenders.
-This was not a difficult task. With a lag wrench, some pliers, a screwdriver, and a an allen wrench it was broken down in no time. (Was the lag wrench an over kill? Maybe, but power tools make the job feel so much more legit.)

Next we used a fine grit sandpaper (120-200) to sand off the clear coat of the existing (hideous) paint job. This was done with much joy. We used a Milwaukee power sander for the large portions and touched it up by hand.

After taping up the handlebars, gears, pedals, and remaining chrome accents we applied the first coat of flat black paint. At this point it started to look really good, and so we got inspired to sand and apply two more coats.

After two more coats of flat black we cleaned the chrome using a fine grit steel wool pad and citric acid (lemon juice). We hit the white walls with a couple S.O.S. pads, used some armor all on the leather seat and put the thing back together. (Reassembly was a bit of a hassle with a few of the nuts and bolts rusted and a few stripped out. I went to Ace Hardware in Park Road Shopping center and picked up replacements for all of the hardware. This added a cool cosmetic feature with all of the hardware bright silver against the flat black frame.

Here is the finished project. All I am going to add now is a rear rack and some new handle bar grips. (The foam pad originals kinda bum me out.) I was tossing around the idea of leaving the rear fender off, but with the rack added I think I will put it on for the vintage, large fender, fat tire look.


Thats how we did it. I think it turned out good for our first restoration. If I were to do it again, there are definitely some things I would do differently and now that Lee is looking at old bikes on Ebay, my opportunity may come sooner than expected.