Can't Bring Back My Betty Jean

So anyone that knows me personally knows how close my grandmother and I were. It wasn't like I only saw her at Thanksgiving and Christmas. We lived in the same house together for many years. My Grandmother had this glow and this charm about her. She was in a wheelchair for most of her adult life, but never asked for pity. She was always happy and smiling and grateful for people spending time with her. That taught me the truth - that money isn't everything, time and family is. She never had a great job or a new car, but she was able to experience being a homeowner for the last ten years of er life. She was proud, honest, and stubborn. At the same time, she was understanding, trustworthy, and, my best friend. Her void is something I may never be able to explain, but writing this song and completing this video is a start. I'm happy I captured part of what I was feeling in those first few weeks after she passed. I was truly heartbroken.

So this is for you, Grandmother. My Betty Jean. I'll never forget you or stop missing you. I love you forever.

I Ain't Gotta Win Millions!

By the time u zoom in on the picture and tally my winnings you'll probably be laughing. I look @ it like this, it's $28.95 I didn't  have prior to going, and I was only on the penny machines for an hour or so. Another reason I'm not ashamed, I was able to eat at the buffet, which I didn't have the money to do when I first got there! And, most  importantly, I got to spend time with my Grandma. She and her friends love to come up from East Palo Alto and hit up the casino's. They put a bunch of seniors on a bus, give them a meal ticket, and let them run loose for 4 hours. She told me a month in advance, so I was anticipating seeing her. The buffet wasn't as great as the first time we went, which was for her 80th birthday last year... The casino is so smoky that my cousin smelled tobacco on me when I got back. I find that embarrassing, because I'm not a [cigarette] smoker.. Anyway, Roger went with me and we actually had a lot of fun. He told me plenty of stories and broke down some shit about the government and schools (that's for another blog, another day)...

I spent time with my Grandma, ate with her, took pictures, and won a little change (she was feeding me five dollar bills). Aside from having to drive home stuffed like a turkey for over an hour, I'd say it was one of  my favorite Saturday's in a long time. No stress or pressure of music, just a coo day.

Get off his Nobel Piece!

As soon as I opened up Yahoo this morning, I, like everyone else saw that our President had just become a Nobel Peace Prize winner. I'm not gonna give my opinion as to why I think he won it or if he deserves it, because I'm not on the committee. Instead, here is the reason that was given by the Nobel committee, "His extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

I was happy to hear the news, but also knew there would be some people that were a little less excited...To prove my point, I went Twitter (Follow Me) , already knowing it was gonna be a trending topic, and expecting to find naysayers. I scroll down, and stumble across some b.s. that I had to re-tweet after abbreviating...

RT I knew there was gonna b haters! @stephenjones53 u think a man leading wars is adequate for a #Nobel Peace Prize? Obama hsnt earned it...

Blinker aka bln.kr

Yesterday, Ann Carter sent me a direct message on Twitter and asked me to check out her new song. I loved her song, but loved the site it was streaming thru even more. It's bln.kr, pronounced blinker and is a brand new site for musicians to share their music almost the instant they make it. Now, they're not paying me to endorse the site, which is still in beta mode, I'm just sharing this to put u up on game. I uploaded my entire Ep, "Poker Face" and my mixtape, "Ms.Vybe in the Matrix: Queen of my City". In the first hour, I had about 20 plays, which is more than I'd get on myspace in 60 minutes. It's connected with Twitter, and even uses the same user name and password. It's user friendly, and most of all, a great, free, promotional tool for all musicians. Their blog says they will be adding new features from time to time, and I'm curious to see how much they'll enhance the site. Go try it out. Every song from my Ep can be heard or downloaded by scrolling to the end of this page.

In Moderation, Please!

So, if you're gonna drink, please be able to handle your liquor. I didn't exactly wait until I was 21 to chug a lil sippy sippy, but I did wait until I knew I was ready. I don't appreciate having my buzz killed, and especially don't wanna clean up any barf. U ever hang out with people who start off the night sippin slow and havin fun, then all of a sudden decide to get loud and obnoxious? Even worse, how about crying about their childhood and being overly defensive when you ask them to be quiet? Lemme walk you to the sand, give you your stick, and have you draw the line somewhere! Real talk.

Letterman's Woes

Ok, now let me first say this. Something about this whole thing smells like fish. Why in the world would he tell the world things about his personal life that we didn't need to know just because some hater wanted $2 million? You slept with some of your employees over the years? Wow, never heard that before. You're a married man and father, yet you cheated. Woo, another shocker. What I'm thinking is there's a twist. Why aren't any of the women he jigged extorting from him? Why is it that a male figure was dangling a carrot over his head? Well, here it is. Has anyone suspected that he's been having affairs not just with women, but also with men. A guy here, a gal there...Bat left, bat right...If that's how we lives, that's coo, I have gay friends and relatives, so it's no big thing. I'm just sayin, think about it...

Recording

Ok, so most people think that because you have a home studio you can record everyday, anytime you want. Yes, that's true, however, my issue is one of feeling like it, or laziness, as one may think. I'm always in the mood to work on music, it just depends on what exactly. When I'm in the mood to write, I'm usually not in the mood to make beats. I will sometimes go weeks without making beats because I'm in such a zone with tha pen. When I feel like I don't have anything good to write about or say is when I'm inseparable from my keyboard. I've been on one lately with chords...I have spells where I make a few beats a day, back to back, and before I know it, a weeks has flown by and I have a whole new folder of beats. Usually I go back and listen once I'm feelin my pen again and discover I was really on some shit! That's how "Got It In The Bag" came about. It was a beat called "Jesus Christo" that I made while my Grandmother was sick. I remembered it when I was writing for the EP months later. Since I was in a good writing groove, the words just flowed out like water. Basically, everything for me and music is based on feeling. I don't write everyday, and I don't practice my chords everyday! Big deal. It's about quality, not quanity. What good would it do me to have 500 beats sitting in my computer? I'd rather have five that someone may be interested in using. A song that can make someone break down and cry is way more important than a song that makes you "break it down to tha flo," right?

Ms.Vybe live @ Listener's Lounge 10/4/09

So, last night was my first time performing @ Kamon Japanese Restaurant for Listener's Lounge 916. I wasn't sure how things were gonna go since I had never been there, but things turned really good. I knew the majority of the people there, which always makes it a little easier. I ran into Tori & her honey again, and they stayed to watch my set. Me and Tori go back to 9th grade @ Florin High! Dayum!

Anyway, my energy was low for the first track which you'll see in the video, but I for sure picked it up over the next two tracks. I guess I was slightly nervous knowing Tori was there...This was her first time seeing me as Ms.Vybe instead of Kendra. I wish we had kept the camera rollin because I KILLED "Got It In The Bag", and especially, "Tame Yo Self". I have this new thing where I have my honey Jacc Movez record one song, and get pics for the rest, cause I was realizing that I didn't have any pics from my shows since I was always focused on getting video.... I'm thinkin it would be better to get video of the last song, cause by then, I'm super fired up. If u weren't there, u missed my azz gettin in that zone...Shout out to Task1ne, too! He tells me he's nervous as hell before he goes on, then he shreds the stage like a block of cheese. It was only right that I kicked my shit into second gear...

Mya's Stop in Sacramento

Ok, So last Monday I'm out in the garage working on music, and listening to tha radio also. I briefly hear something about Mya and a contest, so when I heard her voice, I just grabbed the phone and dialed. Lucky me, it rings on my first call, but for almost 4 minutes! ANyway, I was caller 103 and won my way onto the "guest list". My honey was excited to go for free, plus what guy doesn't love Mya? I personally thought the night was a bust, but as a guy, my honey had a different opinion. We stood in line for at least an hour, had to tolerate bitches in my ear talkin shit and security guards buzzin aroubd after too many Rock Stars, cold ass weather...Scrubs low pro flossin in tha parkin lot, knowin they weren't even goin to the show. Then, they pack us in Azukar like some damn sardines. I seriously felt like I was in a foregin country as we stood shoulder to shoudler, pelvis to ass, tits to back. I felt like I was on a ten hour trip to get a basket's worth of sunflower seeds and rice. Some idiot with zero manners managed to get a handful of my ass, as we were on our way out...

Mya's performance was strange. She came out and took pictures onstage and drank champagne, then started this medley of songs that lasted about 8 minutes and 27 seconds. Although her voice was on point (yes, she CAN sing live), her energy and enthusiasm were low. She performed a song or two that I remember and introduced some songs from her new mixtape, in which the crowd grew quite quiet.

The only thing that saved last Thursday night for me was running into some old friends that I haven't seen in years and getting to meet Craig from VH1's "For The Love of Money".

Tempers a'Flarin

Yes, I'll be the first to admit that I'm kind of a hot head with a temper. At the same time, I have cooled down a lot since I've gotten older. The problem I seem to be having is dealing with other people's tempers now. I have no patience. It's like as soon as I get attitude or funk from somebody, I throw up a wall taller than that famous one in China and shut them completely out. The attitude you get from your honey from time to time and the way your parents try to push your buttons I can usually tolerate, but lately, my patience with that is also waring thin...So, I have to ask myself: "Am I doing the same thing to them? Do I have an attitude? Aside from my height, am I bein short with them?" Could be, could be not. Sometimes when I'm working on music they interrupt me as I'm tryin to lay down a bass line or get a melody right on the keyboard. Sometimes they bug me when I'm tryin to write down a hook before I forget it and I may shrug them off, or wave my fingers in the air and tell them to wait. My Mom hates it, Jacc Movez is used to it. But does that make it right? I'm only human, so i really don't know, but I definitely think we should all check our tempers and attitudes @ the door (including me).

Social Network Addiction

Although I have been tardy on almost every social network during it's begininnig, I'd have to say that I am now an addict. Seems like I spend all day tabbing between Twitter, Myspace and Facebook windows. I mean hours, sometimes. My friend Xong talked me into creating a Myspace page I think back in '05. It took months for me to add a profile picture and even longer to learn the functions of Myspace. I heard about Facebook for the last two years but barely took to it this past summer. I love the privacy of Facebook, especially since most of you don't know my real name and would never find me and try to get into my "personal" life. My most recent infatuation is with Twitter. My honey Jacc Movez has been telling me for months to use it to promote my music since I had a cd coming out. By the way, it's now out and u can find 'Poker Face, The Ep' @ Dimple Records in Sacramento, Roseville, Elk Grove and Davis, all in California. For those of you outside of tha 916, u can listen to snippets and purchase it through my page @ www.reverbnation.com/msvybe916. Ok, enough of the pluggin...

I wonder sometimes when I'll realize how spending so much of my time within these networks is a waste because it's like a Catch 22. On an average day I'll send 100 video comments (gotta plug those live performances) and add 3 times as many friends on Myspace. I frantically check my Facebook every 12 minutes hoping I have tens of notifications and wall posts. And Twitter! I was so against Twitter it was like I was campaigning against them. Now I get it, get how it works, but don't get why I'm so caught up...Trending topics...mentions...followers. That's a lot of shit to keep up with. I use all three to promote my music, but I could probably write and produce a few more pieces if I wasn't so busy and distracted in what I call cyber heaven. Youtube is also in the mix, but we'll save that for next time...