So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, Tossed Salad and Rap Ballads

I debated with myself about writing this post for a long time. I thought the situation might change, or people just wouldn't care enough to read it. But the truth is if you've been paying any attention to BR and Timebomb, you may have noticed we haven't done anything together in almost a year. That's right, I had to do a little internet research to confirm it. Five of us played at the Five Spot last August for Shanelle's birthday show (BR was out of town for family stuff). Five of us played (with Frank Schaub subbing for Black Velvet ) at Mi Tierra Community Garden for Digital Duo Day, a digital empowerment event in June 2014. The last show with all 6 members was a memorial event for our friend and benefactor Chantal Legros at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center in March '14.

So what happened? The whole story can be summed up in the words of Posdnous, aka Plug Won, of De La Soul: "Man, life can get all up in your ass. Baby, you better work it out."

Yeah, life gets in the way when you're in your mid-to-late 30s and you're in a local hip-hop band. Black Velvet's life got complicated in many ways and he took an extended leave after our gig opening for Patti Labelle, Tank, Ginuwine, Tyrese, etc. at Groovin' in the Park back in the summer of 2013. BR's life also got complicated last summer and he has effectively retired from music. My brother may be the only martial/graphic/visual/rap artist I know and he's focusing on the first of those four right now. He's started his own business in Brooklyn and is doing everything he can to take care of his kids.

As for the rest of us? Shanelle took her talents (and the Youngbloods Jazz Quartet) to Clinton Hill two years ago, and has kept it going through hard work and indomitable will. Olivia is teaching and playing classical music, as well as playing with YJQ and Devlin Miles' band Sweet Little Bloodhound sometimes. Karnage is the DJ at the YJQ series most Saturday nights, and plays bass with his hardcore band Rebelmatic. You should check them out. I'm playing with YJQ almost every Saturday and a few other bands here and there (Sweet Little Bloodhound, Sasha Anniyah/The Collective, Comandante Zero, etc.). And Black Velvet has come back around to jam with YJQ at the Five Spot quite a bit.

The truth is, it's hard to keep a band of six adults together for 12 years. It's hard to keep all of those disparate personalities and interests and needs and schedules clicking. It's even harder when you're not making a whole lot of money doing it. The average club in NYC or anywhere else is paying you based on who comes to see you, not on how many people you keep in the club because your music is dope. (Never mind the club promoter trying to build a regular clientele or help promote the show.) And our core fan base got older along with us, got jobs, got married, had kids...

So we got real DIY with it for a few years: started playing outside in the parks every summer, bought our own PA system, our own generator, tents. We played in hundred-degree weather, we played in the rain, we played in the snow. And people would come. But after the economy went south, the people stopped putting money in the bucket. I don't want to sound like that's the only reason anyone does this, BECAUSE IT'S NOT, but it makes a difference when you start having mouths to feed besides your own. And we had a lot of musical friends going through the same things around the same time. Some of them gave up, some of them downsized or reinvented themselves. I guess, in our own way, everyone in our band has chosen one or more of those three.

We did some pretty cool stuff in 12 years and some pretty silly stuff. Here's the stuff I remember:

• releasing three EPs and one full-length album, all self-financed
• putting on our own one-day festival in Forest Park, picking up sponsors, getting on NY1
• partnering with BoCoCa Arts Festival to move our festival under their umbrella in Brooklyn for the next three years
• Karnage falling off the stage in Coney Island AND FINISHING THE SONG
• opening up for Patti LaBelle, Tank, Ginuwine, Tyrese, etc. I know I said it already but it bears repeating
• driving to Oberlin, OH to play Shanelle's and my college reunion, partying, driving to Chicago the next night to do a show, driving back to Ohio, partying some more, Black Velvet getting 2 speeding tickets...
• playing outside in every borough but Staten Island (no disrespect, Staten Island)
• performing on Manhattan cable access twice and Brooklyn cable access once
• getting on Eyewitness news at a Parks & Recreation event up in Harlem
• that time on tour in NJ when Karnage said all brown people stockpile napkins and we realized we all did it!
• BR climbing the backstop fence in Carroll Park like Eddie Vedder while rapping
• our webcast at AM Studios that made it all the way to Germany and South Korea
• playing outside for people of all ages, races, sizes, nationalities and connecting with them

That last one is probably the deepest one for me and what I'll miss the most. Because when we were at our best, it didn't matter if you liked hip-hop music or not, we were connecting with you. And for me personally, I felt something with this group different from everyone else I play with. Because they're family. Maybe we'll get it back together, maybe not. Either way, we had a good run.

All Tomorrow's Block Parties

It all started in 2008 when some folks who lived in the same building (124 Willoughby Avenue, Brooklyn) got together to throw a barbecue. One guy said, "I can cook a brisket and roast a pig." Another guy said, "I have a band that can play." And everyone in the building got together to shop, clean and cook. What started off small ended up with blocked traffic to Myrtle Avenue and the whole neighborhood stopping by. By 2010, they got permits to close the whole street and the neighbors lent us a stage they built for Halloween. (Halloween is huge in Clinton Hill. Huge.) Then, in 2011: nothing. Lack of funds and not enough help. Don't let that happen in 2012! BR and Timebomb will be there on September 8 to close things out in our usual fashion! And we've got kids' entertainment! Brisket! Portable toilets! Rock bands! DJ Eddie Nocentelli (aka Karnage from Timebomb)! Jazz bands! Elephants! (We don't have elephants.) Please check out these links to help us put on a great event. Think of it as passing the hat around in advance. BR and Timebomb and the other bands provided gifts for donating at certain levels, and gifts of any amount are accepted. But we don't get anything if we don't reach our target by August 27. If you've been to the Brownstone BBQ before, you know how good it was, and you'll probably see your picture on the website:
Clinton Hill Block Party Event Website
Kick Starter Website
Check out this clip from the BoCoCa Arts Festival June 30 @ Carroll Park:

July Update

Hey, we wanna thank everyone who came out and supported us and all the fantastic acts (Devlin Miles, Onliest, Evan Wilson, etc.) during the BoCoCa Arts Festival. We had a great time this year, as always, even if we played on 2 of the hottest days of the year. And it was great to hear from folks who watched the webcast, too. Big thanks to Eventrix Production for handling the sound and our partners at BAF for putting the whole thing together! And thanks to Marj Kleinman for taking photos like the one above...

We're back in the lab for a little while, putting the final touches on our next EP. Then we've got 3 gigs in a row: Kenny's Castaways on 7/13, a friend's wedding on the 14th, and Union Square Park on the 15th. Hope you can join us for some of these!

Check out BR's Hustle Hard remix, Snuff 'Em. He did the video, too.

This Tuesday night, July 10, 7pm EST: BR, Karnage and Olivia will be back on the Gud Tymez Show to talk about everything going on with the Timebomb. It's been a minute since we've been on the show. We did their theme song awhile back...

Summer, Summer, Summertime!

We haven't been so good about the blogging lately and we're sorry about that. But summer is upon us, and we're back to business. Early May, we were back in Washington Square Park for the 1st time since they started the big construction projects. They're still working on the park, but it looks great. We had a huge crowd that included Jessica Alba and Sofia Vergara! (No, really. Jessica posted our pic on Instagram.) We also did a show May 19 with our friends at Legros Cultural Arts for their Support Women Artists Now series at Club Groove, our first time there since 2008. We backed up three of the 4 fabulous singers and tore it down with our own set. And we've got a lot coming up in June: we're playing Union Square Park for the first time this summer (more in July); we're playing in Mount Vernon for the first time at a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society that will honor Heavy D and Dick Clark; and we're doing the BoCoCa Arts Festival for the 4th straight year! We'll be playing at the Smith Street FunDay in front of Ceol Irish Pub, and we're co-producing BoCoCa Outdoors at Carroll Park. Vendors should definitely check us out for the Carroll Park event: food, beverages, art, jewelry, all is welcome. We'll be doing some art and sports workshops for the kids and we're webcasting the whole thing with our friends at Brooklyn Fans! More info at www.bococaartsfestival.com.

Do You Know What Today Is?

A little Tony Toni Tone humor. This post is about our huge, lavish, extravagant, magnificent anniversary show! On February 3, we are streaming a show from one of our homes away from homes- AM Studios. We've recorded most of our LP and EP here, and some new stuff you'll hear this year. (We'll be playing the new stuff at the show.)

Some of you lucky people will get invited to party on-site with us, Devlin Miles, Melanie Edwards, Shelley Nicole's blakbushe, food and beverages. But if you can't make it, you can watch online for the price of $whatever you want. Seriously. Pay what you want via paypal and get the link. And you can send questions and song requests to all 4 acts on Timebomb's FB and Twitter pages. The whole thing will be hosted by Ms. P and Kevin Murray. And of course, we must thank our sponsors AM Studios and BoCoCa Arts Festival!

End of the Year, or "Wrap It Up, B!"

So, the entire band has been working on new songs- together, individually, and with other people. You can hear some of the new material TONIGHT at Kenny's Castaways, if you live in New York. (If you don't live in NY and want to see us live, we've got something for you. More on that later.) Tonight will be our last show for 2011. We're taking a little time off to finish all these new songs, and rest up a little and spend time with the families. It's been a crazy busy year.

Besides all the new material, we've been working internationally. BR did a track with our friend Bfromlu, a producer and blogger from France who just moved to Montreal. The track is called "Gladiator Matador" and it's the first single from Bfromlu's new EP, "Lights On," available November 15. The rest of the band spent all day Sunday recording with Karnage's friend Lauri Shaw, a singer from New York now making a name for herself in London. (We've got photos from the session up on our Facebook page.)

Like we said, it's been a crazy busy year. We've had the best of times- playing at Tribeca Performing Arts Center for the first time; heading to Chicago to play the Elbo Room for the second year; third year working with the BoCoCa Arts Festival; second year rocking the Atlantic Antic Festival. And we've had some rough times- missing a gig when we broke down on the NJ Turnpike; equipment malfunctions in Union Square Park; getting rained out for outdoor gigs, etc. It's not easy going the independent route, but it's worth the risk and the work.

As for that opportunity for fans outside NYC, we're planning a HUGE event in February to celebrate nine years of BR and Timebomb where we'll be webcasting from AM Studios, our second home for almost all nine. A couple of our friends have signed up to join us- Devlin Miles, Melanie Edwards and Shelley Nicole's Blakbushe. We'll have more info for you on that one soon.

Fallin' Up

So the Timebombs hit Pennsylvania this past Saturday for the first time in two years (!) and had a great time. We played Gryphon Cafe in Wayne, a coffee house with great food and some really fantastic art on the walls. We thought we'd have to play kinda quiet, but management gave us full permission to rock out. And so we did. We met some great folks at Gryphon, including a dude wearing a "Brooklyn" shirt, Sherman from Bed-Stuy.

Saturday was also the inaugural launch of our tour van (or Timebomobile, if you will). Big thanks go to the Beattys for this one. It runs great, and it's got our pictures wrapped along the sides...

Next up, we've got two big shows back in Brooklyn: we're back in front of Linger Cafe for the Atlantic Antic October 2 for the second year in a row. And October 23, we are providing entertainment (and sound) for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention's Out of the Darkness Walk in Cadman Plaza Park. This is an important issue that needs more attention and BRTB is glad to be a part of that effort.

BR and Timebomb and Max Burgundy at the Bitter End 8/20/11

A blog called "The Joy of Violent Movement" covered our show at The Bitter End with Max Burgundy:

The Joy of Violent Movement

Photos. Music. Musings. Assorted wanderings and pop detrius from a freelance editor, music journalist, photographer, New York Yankee, New York Giant and New York Ranger fan. Twitter: www.twitter.com/yankee32879 e-mail: yankee32879@yahoo.com

BR and Timebomb and Max Burgundy

August 20, 2011

Play almost any song from Nas’ Illmatic, Black Moon’s Enta Da Stage, Snoop Doggy Dogg’s Doggystyle or any album of that stature at a hip hop show and you’ll see hip hop fans of all ages faithfully rhyming along to the song as though they had personally written the lyrics down years ago in a notebook. But the current state of mainstream hip hop is something that countless fans have lamented over for well over a decade. It would seem that for many hip hop fans the murders of 2Pac, Notorious B.I.G., Freaky Tah, Jam Master Jay and the death of the O.D.B. have irrevocably altered the creative landscape, perhaps for the worse.... Read the rest @ thejoyofviolentmovement.tumblr.com