Mister Fongstarr » Adventures In Wonderland

DAWN OF THE DEAD

fongstarr — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:50:22 +0000

The dead ain’t done playing yet. I kind of tagged along with some folks for a Monday night dinner and chaos yesterday at the 24th and Mission area. Seems like the past day has been nothing but celebrating, but this was kind of a site to see.

To my knowledge, the Day of the Dead is an homage of some sorts in where the living pay their respects to the diseased. There was a certain a mount of seriousness to this whole thing where you kind of just had to watch it and take it for what it is. At times, it was actually kind of sad.

But the beauty of it all was the acceptance of this holiday by all races. Whites, Blacks, Mexicans, Asians, Indians….I mean everyone was out and no one was treated any different otherwise.

Sorry for the crappy video. I am thinking about changing cameras if I can soon. ¡Feliz Día de los Muertos!

ALL HALLOWS EVE WEEKEND

fongstarr — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:31:03 +0000

Seems like Halloween is the hot thing to post….so here goes mine.

While searching for some things to add to my costume, I stumbled upon some old kicks that literally never see the day of light. I actually purchased these used off some guy around 05’ and almost 5 years later, I have only worn them like 5 times in my life. Still chalked as one of my favorite shoes of all time….I guess I just don’t want to devalue them any more then they already are.

I have this idea though that I’ll keep about 10 other kicks like these and break them out when I am 65 years old and wear nothing but priceless, valuable kicks till the day I die. I’ll be the coolest gramps on the block, or some old fool that gets mugged.

If it’s not broken, then don’t fix it. I keep trying to live this youthful past I never had since my collage years were kind of a bust. Every year I feel like a tween and get all excited to go all out for one of the most hyped up holidays of the year….and every year as that day ends, I always say “it was aiight”. But SF goes hard on Halloween. As the kids slowly settle into their houses, that is when all walks of life come out to play.

And what the hell. Sunday was so nice with our late Indian summer that I just had to see some god damn animals. Yes, me rikey the animals.

LOVEFEST 2009

fongstarr — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:54:12 +0000

I took a firm stand a good couple of years ago. I told myself I would never set foot in a rave infested environment ever again….yet, I find myself walking past the entrance into Lovefest.

I have already heard some testimonies from other people that were there. Sex in the port-a-potties, a couple of OD’d civilians….a public dick sucking contest?! It’s hard to decipher truth from fantasy since everyone seems to be in a dream state anyways.

When was the last time you saw this and said “Look at Susie acting a fool again!” chuckle-chuckle. You more or less like “Check out the dirty ho shaking the corn kernels out of her dookie-booty!” Hi-five your broham next to you and proceed to chug your Bud-Light.

This guy was having a hard day. Must have had just one too many and hurled all over the ground and rolled his face in his own puke and decided to take a nap right then and there until the cops showed up. Dude had a nice pair of Nike Blazers on though.

I know what you are saying. Shots from day to night and no naked chicks! For whatever it is, it just wasn’t in me to get shots like this and this and this and this. Blame it on the wind and the lack of catching a buzz I guess. Oh well, Halloween is around the corner.

IDLE WARSHIP @ YOSHI’S SF

fongstarr — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:24:24 +0000

Without deliberately giving out the coordinates to my secret lair, I am conveniently located within blocks of the Yoshi’s jazz club on Fillmore St.

Fillmore St. bleeds music from the soul. I don’t think it has the same street cred as say Chicago, but the feelings and passions are pretty much the same.

Coming into the show, I had lost faith in the Blackstar camp mostly through seeing two bad performances from the Mighty Mos Def. I would say as far as star power is concerned, Mos should rank higher then his brethren brothers Kweli and Hi-Tek. I mean the guy did after all do a movie with Marky-Mark and Charlize Theron in Italian Job….but after seeing Kweli’s performance with Idle Warship, I think he just bumped him off the pedestal.

Kweli is good for a couple of reason. One of the most important things in a live performance is creating a relationship with your audience, even within only a 2 hour time span. Kweli took control of the show but made sure it wasn’t a straight shot experience. I want to say him talking about some dude shitting on his performance on Twitter was only something that we saw, but maybe I could be wrong.

It also helps that you have a pretty good range of songs to get yo damn hands up. I have a pretty hard gripe on hip-hop shows for this very reason. Some of my favorite hip-hop songs have been disasters live on stage due to the song’s impact not being necessarily appropriate for a live audience. Not to attacking Mos Def again but Umi Say is a pretty boring song to hear live, but on the Bart train to work it can be kind of uplifting to hear.

And throw me a late pass on Res and Graph Nobel. I never really heard of these chicks but I hope Idle Warship produces more star power for the two. Their voices don’t resonate but they compliment each other as a trio doubling up as MCees and singers. Think Fergie but with more talent and a cuter face.

Good to know that some of the rappers that I listened to in college are still doing there thing in this industry. Overall the show was good and most important, it didn’t put a dent in my pocket.

CITY OF SIN

fongstarr — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 10:43:49 +0000

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

A CHECK OFF THE BUCKET LIST

fongstarr — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 20:46:16 +0000

This was sort of a birthday present to myself for my 28th birthday. You’d be surprised how you can’t scream for anything when you are falling 13k from the sky. Honestly I wasn’t scared at all….except 5 minutes before take off when I was jittering like a little school girl. But I think my female coworker said it right, giving birth to two kids is definitely worse then skydiving. Don’t talk about it….seriously….go do it! This is part of the perks about being a single guy like myself. I could have died right there and been a happy man, but as fate will have it, I am sure it has more in store for me in the future. I guess I am game for whatever is in front of me. I don’t look at it as a challenge no more, but more of a thing to just get past as another thing in your life. There will always be something else to bitch about, so solve the problems now and move forward. Well, another year past and another birthday down the drain. Perhaps on my 29th, I’ll try to ollie down Wallenburg. I am more scared of that then skydiving!

HAIGHT ASHBURY STREET FAIR

fongstarr — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:52:24 +0000

This is a easy formula, and apparently something that will be happening almost every weekend in the summer. Close a street, get food vendors, music and trinkets to sell, post up fliers and posters about it and watch as hundreds of people come out to have a good time.

Haight Street used to be the hippie epicenter. Peace love and the freedom to free-base and smoke mad herb. Now it is filled with rejects on every corner, asking if you can pull their cock for a dollar so they can add it to their savings fund for a Miller High Life. If you don’t contribute, they call you a rich prick and spit on the ground while they stroke their dog Ginger that is wrapped in hemp rope. Still don’t know why they all have nice dogs.

Everyone and their ~~mama~~ daughter had a DLSR that day. Not as photogenic as Bay To Breakers but everyone had their gear in hand.

Funniest corner of the day goes to Haight and Clayton street. Hecklers with a sense of humor.

Apparently I don’t stay down on hip-hop no more. Do you know who Knobody is? From not knowing, dude is the new addition to the Heiro camp. Shit must be hard for an MC. He was getting down in the nitty gritty of self promoting and actually MCing on a flatbed truck towards the end of the festival, gathering the loose end pedestrians that were fleeing to the bus stops. I guess you got to do what you got to do to get your name out.

“Wit life in the pen, every page a breath, my last days, so its only a coupla pages left, I said fuck it, raise the stakes, I done made my bets, I’m all in, I’ll see ya struggle & I raise u stress.” – Knobody / What U Think

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM

fongstarr — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 22:25:48 +0000

One of the best bang for your buck happy hour spots (minus the crowd) is Palios on Sacramento street. Get two alcoholic beverages and receive this nice thin sliced pizza for free.

The beautiful streets of North Beach. Only about a couple blocks up was the line for Dave Chappelle’s show at Cobbs. I found out about his show on Wednesday and still couldn’t get tickets for all 3 of his shows this week.

So it’s not like I haven’t been hip to this info before. Apparently one of SF’s most slept on venues is the night life experience that they have at museums and exploratoriums. Okay, don’t expect top notch ho’s and booty shakin’ strippers. This is just an alternative thing to do when you’ve done almost everything in the city. Still, when you have enough drinks in your system, the place does turn into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory at times. But for some reason, science and liquor just hurt my head.

I am not going to go out on a limb and say this was totally worth my while, but luckily Maria knew someone that worked at the Exploratorium and we got in for free. We grabbed about two drinks each and called it a night and ate cheap chinese in Chinatown. Consider these pictures a window into this place and just save your money but this is an idiot telling you that science is dumb.

I AM WITH THE DJ

fongstarr — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:12:19 +0000

Sometimes offers get thrown my way and as I input all the info, I am like For real? About a month ago, I received an e-mail asking if I wanted to shoot a photo gig for a DJ that would be spinning at the Warriors vs. Memphis game on Monday night. In return, I would get the golden pass to sit courtside with other season ticket holders that either a) have old money b) fucked someone that has old money c) fucked a basketball player that has money but doesn’t love you enough to call you “boo” so as a consolation prize, he tosses two tickets to a game for you and your fat friend to watch him play. I have fortunately/unfortunately have done none of the sorts but managed to be sitting side by side with these mongrels. Holy hell these basketball players are big as shit in real life!

The cool kids Derrick and Jeremy. Props for the opportunity to let me shoot at a GS-Dub game like a true poporazzo.

THE GETAWAY

fongstarr — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 07:39:41 +0000

Sometimes when life gets hectic, you just need to get away. Get away from the lies, the deceit….and more important, the bullshit. I knew the feeling about a year ago and I feel like I owe it to anyone that feels those same emotions, to be by their side in comfort and support. But one day things will get better, and we’ll look back at this god awful mess and shit in our pants in hysteria. For now, we can only wait….and heal slow.

THANKSGIVING WEEKEND

fongstarr — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 07:37:10 +0000

Remember, more useless junk can be seen here. Respect to all who read and hope everyone had a good holiday….

MOS DEF @ GOLDEN GATE PARK

fongstarr — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 22:52:48 +0000

One of the best tapas in San Fran has to be Cha Cha Cha’s. Always been to the Mission one but decided to hit up the Haight one before the Mos concert.

So to the people that didn’t go to this, did you miss out? Hate to say it but this one was the second time I saw Mos and it was yet again another bombed performance. Granted the sound check guys had no idea what they were doing but Mos did show up super late (as I expected) and only did about a 20 minute set before the mic got killed (peep the video here). Plus my nipples were hard as nails and my feet were in all jacked up from the walk from Twin Peaks.

Later went downtown to hit up some stuff with my boy Mark and checked out the new MacBook Pros that debuted the other day. Sometimes it can be very tempting to run in this store and take a desert eagle and rob them for everything they got….but instead I have to stand there and piss and moan about how I have no money and settle with what I have….which really isn’t all that bad but considering how Mac runs, my two year old machine will be the next paper weight on my desk (was that a run-on?) Burgermeister was pretty good too.

CHERISH THE DAYS

fongstarr — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 05:12:18 +0000

Big ups as usual to my folks at 510 for the hook up on the SBs and thanks to my roommate for the free tickets to the Alice concert. Another weekend down the tubes….