Brownstone Sessions: UFOMan aka Algin Sterling

My brotha from anotha Algin Sterling aka UFOMan of KD, UFO Movement, and TheCompany just groovin' to some real melodic musica. We miss you out there in NY, homie. We'll come visit soon. Count on that. One love. Enjoy the movement, peeps.

Nothin' to fuck with...

You already know!

Hear my prayer... This is for you, Haiti.

Be thankful. There are no tomorrows, so live for today. It can be worse. Pray for the victims affected by the earthquakes in Haiti. They're in dire straights down there at this very moment. It's disturbing for me to even fathom without taking action on the matter anymore. I know I will be spending my day donating my hard earned dollars to relief efforts for people affected, and god knows there are plenty. So be happy, and do something great for someone else today.

It takes the world, to save the world.

Peace.

Update: the best Birthday Week(end)!!!

I turned 22 years young on the 18th of this month but just thought i'd share with you all the great things that happened before my actual birthday happened. Enjoy.

MONDAY 1/11:
So, typical Monday. I got off a long, tiring shift at work. I had started at 3am and got off at 11am. ugggh.. When I got home around noon and just passed out. I slept for a few hours when I was woken up by the misses with news that Rebel 8 (my favorite clothing brand) was throwing free shirts out of the window of their HQ. Half asleep, I literally jumped out of bed, got dressed faster than I've ever gotten dressed in my life and flew out the door with my partner in crime. Still trying to piece together what's happening I slowly start realize how dope it would be to get Rebel 8 shirts today, fo free!!! Twitter, you're the shit. So, we get to the R8HQ and there was a open window to yell up to get free gear. Me and gina ran to the window like fat kids to free cake and yelled up to the window, HELLLLLOOO UPPP THEEERRREE! Joshy of R8 sticks his head out and says wasssupp, what sizes are you? We tell him and he disappears for a moment, next thing we know shirts come flying out the window. One after the other after the other. He literally made it rain with shirts on us. He ended up thanking us for coming through, Joshy's the man! We left with close to 30 shirts. Oh yeah! With such a stressful and tiring day it was all washed away with getting hooked up by the greatest clothing brand ever, REBEL 8 por vida! Thank you guys! Me and G were happy campers to say the least. This was just the beginning.


Tuesday 1/12:
What a monday! Getting hooked up is the best. Today was another typical day at the job, long and tiring. Same as Monday just crashed when I got home. When I woke up, I went on to the R8 website just to poke around and sure enough they were doing the same thing as the previous day. "Come through, free gear out the window." I guess it's kinda selfish to go back a second day to get free stuff but hey, I'm that big of a supporter. I'm not gonna sleep on free gear especially my favorite. Me and the misses end up heading down there, again. We go to the window and yell up. A guy comes to the window and says, "hey, weren't you guys here yesterday?" Me and G look at each other and just laugh because we knew they would recognize us.. They toss a few shirts out then the guy goes and grabs Joshy to come to the window. I guess he prolly mentioned to him that we came yesterday or something because after Joshy got to the window he yells to me, "What size New Era do you wear?" I make the mistake saying Large because I thought he said shirt size.. Gina laughs, "He said hat size babe..lol" I yell "7 1/2!" He disappears for a moment then tosses this beauty down to me...
Thanks Joshy! You're a saint. Lucky day #2

Wednesday 1/13:
Got off early from work. Anxious about my upcoming turning of age. Excited about all the great gifts I had already received and ready to rock, I get to come home to a loving girlfriend. We spend the day running errands, food, post office, etc.. Gina had received a note from the mailman that she got a package and it was at the post office. One of Gina's gifts for me apparently arrived at the post office and I didn't put two in two together. Silly me. When we got home she asked me "If I would still would love her if she lied to me?" I looked at her with the look of death. She leaves the room, and I'm stuck there wondering what the fuck she was talking about so I go to find her to talk to her and that's when she whipped this out...
She yells Happy Birthday!!! She got me hella off guard. I was upset at first but that all went away with this great surprise. She remembered that my favorite soccer club was Manchester United and my fav player was Wayne Rooney so she copped me a on field replica jersey. Fuckin' awesome!! She told me she got me a second jersey but it hadn't arrived yet. But I didn't care, I was so surprised and happy that it didn't matter. This was from the heart. Thanks babe! OY OY OY!!!

Also I had began talks with my good homie Mel about hooking up with his Tattooist friend Steven about doing a portrait of my Dad for me for my birthday. When I was 7, I lost my father. He was stabbed multiple times and bled to death on the streets of San Francisco. He was 37. I have lived with this everyday of my life ever since. And since I was 13 or 14 I knew I wanted to get a portrait of him done on me one day to remember by. I had been trying to get ahold of Mel all week with no call back to make an appointment and today he called and said Steve would be down to do it. My prayers had been answered!

Thursday 1/14:
Met with Steven Lam, tattoo artist from Goldfields, he asked me if I want to do it tomorrow, I said fashoooo!

Friday 1/15:
Today is the day! After my shift at work, Gina picked me up and we headed to the tattoo shop together to get the ink I've been wanting to get ever since I was a kid. I'm gonna let the photos speak for myself in this part. Thanks to my beautiful girlfriend for documenting this great day. These photos look amazing.



4 1/2 Hours later:




My new best friend, jk. Thank you so much, Steve! Thank you for fulfilling a dream for me. And if anybody reading this is interested in getting tatted, Steve's the man. One love, homie.

Saturday 1/16:
So happy with the way my tat turned out. Today Gina and I went with Dezi Bruce, Andy Bruce, Ton Ton, and Raul to SJ to eat at Boiling Crab. I had never eaten at this spot before but only heard good things. MMMMM mmm. It was delicious! To say the least. It was amazing. Mos def going there again. I recommend the 1 pound shrimp, not spicy, the whole sha-bang!!!

The homie Ton, getting ready to do some damage.

Sunday 1/17:
Secret to dancing like a pro so I thought i'd try. lol.

Sundays are Company practice. So after practice we decided to go bar hopping on Valencia. The plan was to all meet at Elbo Room, more like no Elbo Room because we walked in and it was soo crowded that they wouldn't even let me n' G upstairs to where all my friends were to join them. We ended up heading to a small spot called Double Dutch. This spot was really dope. For sure caters to hip hop heads like me. They had cheap drinks, retro jordan's hangin' from the bar, dope graffiti on the walls, and even more importantly dope music! Big thank you to all the homies that came out to celebrate my being brought into this world, lol... But foreal though, thank you.



Happy Capricorn's! Dez:1/17 Me:1/18 Jeka:1/19. Good times!









Monday 1/18: (Happy Birthday to Me! 22.)
Finally had a day off from work.. Woke up to a package this morning. Opened it up and this was inside...

Te amo, querida!

Me and the misses spent most of the day being lazy then decided to go to Stonestown for Mrs. Fields cookies (love 'em) and to watch the premier of Netta B's 'Tonight' video on a computer at the Apple store because our laptop at home is too slow to watch video. Gina was one of the dancers in the video. She looked HOT! She was the Asian "Fantasy" in the video. I was/am really proud of her. Her dancing was strong, as well as her presence in the video. Great job babe. Later on we decided to go to Barracuda for Happy Hour. Food was delicious as always and was so surprised when they brought this out for me...
Greentea Gelato! Yummmm!

So, that was my birthday in a nutshell. Full of great memories, great people, and good times. I'm truly blessed to have people in my life who care for me. And without them, I would be truly assed out.. Thank you thank you thank you. I love you all.

'Til next year homies. Stay positive, stay humble, and give thanks. Everyday.

Much love,
-G

Happy (belated) Birthday MLK Jr.

You will always be missed, but never forgotten. Your memory is still very much in my thoughts. I swear the words from the staple 'I Have a Dream' speech are just as important NOW as they were then. It's 2010 people... Isn't it obvious, we need to start loving each other and stop the hate. When will the world wake up and realize the importance of love and compassion for the simple fact that we are all gods creatures regardless of color, creed, or religion? We are people. The race of Humans. The differences in each other ARE what make life beautiful. Look at the world, the Earth is angry from the lack of love and its taking it out on us with all of these natural disasters i.e. Earthquakes, Hurricanes, etc.. The list goes on. People need to stop hiding behind hate and fear, and open up their minds to the idea that hatred is a poison and love is always the answer. So I too have a dream, and have faith that one day it will be fulfilled. Today is my birthday. I am 22. I just wanted to share a piece of my thoughts on the subject because as I continue my journey through life, another year older and wiser, I realize more and more that life is short and shouldn't be taken for granted and that you can't go through life with hate in your heart. Love, and having love in your heart is what creates change, creates life. It could create a sense of clarity and understanding amongst the masses that we as humans are all brothers and sisters for that simple fact. And the different human characteristics we ALL have should be appreciated and not hated. John Lennon said it best, all you need is love...

Remembrance Is Power.

peace,
-G

Happy New Year!!!

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010!