Heiruspecs Newsletter – 6/17

Right on time and feelin’ fine! – Newsletter published by Felix

Hey all, it’s been a slowish week for Heiruspecs and it looks like this week will be a little slow too.  You can’t always be busy you know?  That’s how you hurt yourself… or make yourself famous.  We can’t have that now.   Having said this, you would think there wouldn’t be much to say in this newsletter but you’d be wrong.

I can tell you that we’re starting to put together a bunch of shows for the fall already and we will be hitting places around the midwest for sure.  I hope to see Chicago, Duluth, Fargo, and beyond this fall and am eager to see some more familiar faces.

WHAT?

Sean “Twinkie Jiggles” McPherson has published a blog post on the Twin Cities Daily Planet site outlining the 5 most uppercrust and embarrasing ways to get a black eye. It’s his response to several peoples snide comments on his recent shiner.  You can check it out right here – http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/blog/2009/06/14/black-eye-straight-guy.html

Sean is also judging a Drunken Spelling Bee being held at the 501 Club on Saturday, June 20th.  Just think about how fun this could be for a second….           ok, now go over to http://www.myspace.com/mplsdrunkenspellingbee for more details if you are thinking you’re pretty good as a spellor.  Rules and other tidbits are on the site if you’re curious.  I’m thinking the drunk who was sleeping on my front steps last Saturday night probably wouldn’t have won this but maybe you can hold your liquor better than he can.

JUNE 27TH MARKS THE BEGINING OF THE MCNALLY SMITH HIP HOP WORKSHOP.  Our good friend DJ Judo will be there teaching you how to use turntables. http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/ is the place to go for more info.

There is some video of Big Trouble playing at Bryant Lake Bowl with Dave Campbell last friday night that may be worth a look if you haven’t made it out to see Big Trouble yet.  If you’re still not sure what this is all about, Big Trouble is a band comprised largely by the Heiruspecs instrumentalists.

Video;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGJFCYKk8SE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG2PNVeroas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=accwwv6Y30E

Still coming up for Big Trouble is a June 27th show with the Sensational Joint Cheifs. Date and showtime will be in next weeks newsletter.

DeVon “DVRG” Gray is confirmed in the MPR/Fitzgerald Theatre Organ Mentorship.  The program features veteran players working with Twin Cities musicians to pass along the history and tradition of a dying art while not neccesarily playing in the olde style.  They are excited to have players that are forward thinking and want to take this dying art and give it new clothes.  We are excited for DVRG to be a part of it.

DVRG will also be returning to his role as Apprentice Conductor with the Minnesota Youth Symphonies for 2009/2010.

Congrats again to our good friend Toki Wright who has succesfully released his album A Different Mirror on Rhymesayers Entertainment.  I picked up the album, have you?  A lot of people who may not know Toki will remember the Twin Cities Celebration of Hip Hop series that he has succesfully promoted with YO! the Movement in the past.  He was the host on the main stage at Soundset this year and had a memorable set there as well.  If you are curious to know more about him, please check him out online at http://tokiwright.com/.

In pseudo fake news, I randomly found out we have a profile on “Who’s Dated Who” – Apparently a few of you are curious to see who Josh Peterson is dating.  Not that any of that info appears on their website - http://www.whosdatedwho.com/topic/6331/heiruspecs.htm.  Will anything of factual actually be added?  Who knows? It’s just funny to know it’s there.

Thanks to the Heiru fans that came down to Elko Speedway this past weekend for the Eve Of Destruction event and watched me host as TMF Opposition did their drifting demo’s.  We put a car into the wall at 70mph and it was lots of fun.  I’m going to have to start bringing Heiruspecs CD’s to sell down there.

Other stuff of note;

DVRG’s Bach & Beer ensemble will be doing a concert Sat. August 1st at MacPhail.  Program will include Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto no. 3, the Beethoven Septet and more.  DVRG will be featured playing bassoon.

Thanks for reading – Felix

Heiruspecs Weekly Newsletter – 6/10

Dammit, I am late again aren’t I? – Felix

OK, as usual, thank you guys for coming out to see us.  Grand Old Day was a good time and we have all survived a week of confusing weather.  Let’s get right into it…

iTunes has officially added up 10 Years Strong and Small Steps for your listening pleasure.  This is perfect for those of you guys who haven’t been able to make it out to a show in a while or don’t have access to the older stuff at your local record store.  Don’t hold me to it, but we may put Antidesestablishmetabolism up there too.  Why the hell not?  A big thanks to our friends over at Eclectone Records for actually doing the work of this.  You may think there’s something happening there but we’re just lazy.  In the coming month, you will start seeing some Youtube style video’s where some Twin Cities greats list off their top 10 Heiruspecs songs.  I am very much looking forward to that.  They’ll all be there on iTunes if you don’t have them.

Here’s a little something from the Bass-man – Sean “Twinkie Jiggles” McPherson;

Here’s my update about the McNally Smith Program:

The hip-hop summer workshop planning is going well and we are very excited to have St. Paul’s own DJ Judo teaching the fundamentals of turntables. If you are a student in a St. Paul Public School be sure to check out the St. Paul Connections program to see how you can attend the workshop for a very discounted price.

Twinkie is also hosting a new blog over at Twin Cities Daily Planet.  Check it out here – http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/blog/2009/06/05/welcome-new-slang-blog.html.  He stared off doing a list of the best things ever to happen at Grand Old Days.

Big Trouble News -

“On June 12 Big Trouble is joining the How Was the Show (howwastheshow.com) 7th Year Anniversary show. It’s a big celebration and Big Trouble will be joined by DJ Giving it to They Ass on vocals (aka David Campbell of the Current). Learn more on this awesome podcast. (http://howwastheshowcast.blogspot.com/2009/06/howwastheshowminneapoliscast-cd-reviews.html).  There is a new Big Trouble track on the podcast called “Joshu” that you haven’t heard yet.

On June 27 Big Trouble will be helping the Sensational Joint Chiefs (firetrunk.com) play their first show club in a long time. The Sensational Joint Chiefs helped raise the Heiruspecs crew and gave them their first gigs at nightclubs in the Twin Cities way back in 1998. It is an honor for Big Trouble to be joining them. Be sure to show up early, these folks can still fill a room.

DVRG has an interesting new thing going on… it’s a Theatre Organ mentorship at the Fitzgerald.  More on that to come!

Felix will be on a racetrack again this weekend, June 13th to be exact, this time with a microphone announcing the TMF Opposition drift demo at the first of many Eve of Destruction events at Elko Speedway.  If you are into schoolbus racing and figure 8 stock cars, this is your jam.  More info can be found at http://www.tmfopposition.com/.

What else???  I think that may really be it.

Big Quarters is out on the West Coast touring.

Toki Wright’s new album A Different Mirror is IN STORES NOW.

Maria Isa’s album Street Politics is IN STORES NOW.

I leave you with this; I just found out my cousin put out a rap video a while back.  He lives in Amsterdam and raps in Dutch.  He goes by the name of Prozak.  It runs in the family. Check this out…

Thanks,

Felix

Grand Old Day – St. Paul – Home Sweet Home

No words, just pics.

Soundcheck;

Damp everything, cold bones…

M.anifest

Steventurous

And as I am on stage, It’s hard to take photo’s.  I have asked that people send me some pics but have not gotten to sort through any just yet.  Here are my crowd shots.  Do you see yourself?  I know some of you fools!

Trying to catch a cold?

And the contingency of kids that couldn’t get in because they were too young to drink.  You guys are the most hardcore for sure.  Even after the cops annoyed ya’ll off of the fence.  Thanks for hanging out and watching from the sides and the back of the stage!

For the end, Martin Devaney came up to join us for Wardrums.

Look at that right foot!  He’s levitating!!!

Seriously, thanks to Salut for having us and Golden for booking us.  It was a blast for sure even though the weather was trying to fight us.  Every year, Grand Old Days is a good time and this time couldn’t be an exception.  Muchas Gracias!

Get Cryphy – Felix Hosts – Noise Ensues

So, running up the steps and through an open door, I was in 1st Avenue’s VIP room for the monthly hip hop/ dance party they call GET CRYPHY.  I begged like a little girl to host this installment because it sounded like fun.  Boy was it…

First a round of pics from WES WINSHIP – shot for City Pages.

Volume was pushed by Jimmy 2 Times, Fundo, So Gold, and yours truly.  It was a blast to do old school crowd hyping and listen to 3 amazing DJ’s mash up big rap songs into dance music and vice versa.  There were a lot of friends and a lot of good dancers in the building and as the Maria Isa show got finished, the place became fully packed.  The booze runneth freely and the asses shake with a ferver.

Here are my less awesome pics.  Exclusive to Heiruspecs dot com.

SPIED! Medium Zach!

Jimmy 2 Times and So Gold

Fundo!!!

Get your hands off my mixer fool!

This was seriously one of the better times I have had partying in recent months.  I wanna do it again this Friday night for real.  I swear, I’ll ask to do it again and I’ll keep you posted on when/if it should go down.

Check out GET CRYPHY on the first Friday of every month at 1st Ave’s VIP Room.

Maria Isa CD Release – 6/5

So, before running over to Get Cryphy upstairs, I hung out in the main room and watched a bunch of Maria Isa’s CD Release party.  I walked in late and saw the last half of Dance Band’s set.  I was bummed that I missed my homegirl Mayda.  (frowns).  All and all, a damned good time though – My pics – Enjoy.

I Self Divine – blurry

Mr. Muja Messiah

Maria Takes the stage – who knew I went to Jr. High with her brother….

It was a good show but I had to dip out about halfway through her set to get my hosting duties upstairs going.  Get Cryphy was the official after party.

Big Trouble caught on video by Howwastheshow.com

Heiruspecs Newsletter 6/5/09

I am supposed to publish these on Wednesdays… dammit – missed again.

Greetings to all of you beautiful people.  Another week is upon us and the time to party is now!  This past week was pretty chill for us but we have work to do this weekend.

First and foremost, we are playing GRAND OLD DAY street festival in St. Paul this Sunday (6/7) at NOON. Its very important that I stress that we are playing at NOON.  We’ll be on the Salut stage which is at 917 Grand Ave St Paul, MN 55105.  True story.  Full info to be found here – http://www.grandave.com/grandoldday/.  Take advantage of another dirt cheap outdoors Heiruspecs show.  Party with several hundred thousand of your neighbors.  This is billed as the biggest block party in the country and it’s no joke.

Friday 6/4, Felix hosts GET CRYPHY in 1st Avenue’s VIP room with Jimmy 2 Times.  Last time Heiruspecs played the Triple Rock, Jimmy 2 Times held down the turntables all night and Friday shall be even more rediculoid.  With original mixes of classic rap and dance tracks, this should be awesome.  More info and a taste of the music can be found here – http://www.myspace.com/cryphygetting.  Details for admission are here – http://www.first-avenue.com/.  Oh yes.

In the main room at 1st Ave on 6/4, our friend Maria Isa is having her CD release party.  Congrats!  If  you want to go check it out please do.  Maria Isa, Muja Messiah, Mayda, Danceband, Kill the Vultures, I Self Divine, and St. Paul Slim will be joining her on stage as well.   If you’ve seen us in the Twin Cities or nearby within the last year, you’ve seen every single one of those acts at least once.  Go check it out!

Maria Isa is featured on the Heiruspecs song “Lenses” and her band has been holding it down for Sota-Rico for a few years now.  Go get em!

Heiruspecs is now on Twitter so come and follow us if you’re up on it.. http://twitter.com/heiruspecs is the lick!  Follow us.  Why?  Because it proves that we’re all up on this social networking thing…

I gotta plug Twinkie’s McNally Smith Program as well – http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/newsevents/summerprograms.aspx.  Please check this out immediately if you have any desire to take part in rap related workshops and classes.

“Hip Hop Workshop. McNally Smith’s first ever Hip Hop Workshop will be under the direction of Sean McPherson, bassist and bandleader of Twin Cities Hip Hop heroes, Heiruspecs. Sean (a/k/a Twinkie Jiggles) will bring in many prominent emcees, producers, graphic artists and others to cover the essentials – and more – of Hip Hop. Instructor demonstrations and Q&A sessions will mix in with recording sessions and side trips to Twin Cities Hip Hop landmarks for a full week of instruction, insight and career guidance. The week ends with a final performance and a CD documenting each participant’s creations. The program is designed for ages 13 and up. Questions? Contact Sean McPherson or visit the Facebook Page.“

Coming up soon –

Big Trouble is June 12 for the How Was The Show 7th Anniversary at the Turf Club

Big Trouble is June 27 at Turf Club for the Sensational Joint Chiefs show

Thanks for looking! See you at Grand Old Days!- Felix

Oh, also… while randomly searching the interweb, I found this.

I am proud to say

Congratulations Central High Schools class of 2009.  It was an honor to speak at your grad. ceremony and a pleasure to shake so many of your hands as you got your diploma’s.  Best of luck in whatever you do next.  I’m sure I’ll be seeing most of ya’ll around the way soon…

The lights were on… that’s for sure.

Seriously, this was nerve racking and amazing  - Thanks for the opportunity to share in your moment!

Felix

Flicks of Soundset – 2009

The following pics are all courtesy of Brandon All Day-Big Quarters – Thanks FAM-O!

Again, thanks to all who came.  If you want to see my take on the car show, visit http://whoisfelix.com/2009/05/25/soundset-09-the-carshow-on-cameraphone/ The pics are all on my camera phone but are still fun.  If you missed the show, shame on you.

Got me a new MN Nice shirt.

Felix