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It has been too long. Promise I will be back posting with some great shots. Some quick ones here of a night time tour. I have been wanting a shot of the Philly Church for some time so I am glad I get a good one. MW

Sky Ride

German Chancelor Angela Merkel carving Doner Kebab

I’ll say this right up front, THIS IS NOT A POST ABOUT GYROS! This is a post about the Gyro’s older brother who ran away from home because he wouldn’t conform and now is blowing up the spot doing his own thing. That’s right! those of you who have stumbled on this post after feverishly trying to find a Döner Kebab in Chicago after returning from eating them in Germany know exactly what I’m talking about. I’m here to say that I feel your pain and this post shall serve as an open request for any Turks in Chicago to help us all out and open up a Kebab shack, served German Style. These kebabs are like burritos to Chicagoans, the most perfect, delicious, satisfying thing you could get your hands on at 2AM after a night of drinking.

There are many different versions to the Döner Kebab around the world and this one is very specific as it is the product of Turkish imigrants who migrated to Germany in the late 60′s to help with a labor shortage and thus modified the kebab to suit German tastes. What really makes this sandwich different than any old gyro or kebab is that they also stuff cabbage, lettuce, onions, tomatoes along with SEVERAL different choices of sauce. Not just your run of the mill tzatziki sauce or if you are lucky a tahini sauce… no these Turks said why stop there when you could also offer a choice of sauces—hot sauce (scharfe Soße), herb sauce (Kräutersoße), curry sauce (Currysoße), cocktail sauce (Cocktailsoße) garlic sauce (Knoblauchsoße), or yogurt (Joghurtsoße). The kebab is also not served in pita bread but rather a Turkish flatbread. Now I realize I am being very snobbish about a very specific regional treat but those who have experienced the German Döner Kebab mouth’s are probably watering and are nudging the person next to them saying “see! this is what I was talking about!”

I was traveling by myself for the first time in Berlin, 2003, when i had my first Döner. It was the first leg of a world trip where a friend of mine and I would pull off a double helix of rendezvous around the globe. This happened to be one of the times where we were seperated.  I was staying in East Berlin and was anxious to check out the nightlife so I ventured off to a club boasting a drum and bass night. After taking a series of trains I finally came out of the subway tunnel to very dark streets, few street lamps and graffitti on the side of a building in about 3 foot letters stating “Fuck George Bush!” The US had invaded Iraq about 8 months prior and this was a pretty common attitude that I experienced throughout my travels at this time. People were not happy with the US and American’s image abroad was far from favorable. I’ve never heard more Canadian backpackers so adamantly proclame that they were specifically NOT American.

So i lit a cigerette and hustled to the club as it was late November and pretty cold. I arrived about 9PM which was way to early. There was some kind of meeting that was just wrapping up at the venue so I headed to the bar for a drink. I was trying to hang back and blend in but I could tell it was obvious I was an outsider and underdressed for this thing, I kept asking the bartender if the DJ night was still on and he assured me it was. So I continued to drink myself through my discomfort compelled mostly by curiosity for what the night had in store. Finally at about 10:30 the meeting ended and the staff transitioned the room, the DJ’s threw on the first records and we were off. Took me a while but I finally found some friends to latch on to and we continued to drink and socialize into the evening. Evenutally I needed to leave since I had about a 2 hour head start from the rest of the patrons andso I ventured out into Berlin with my map. Now, this was the beginning of my trip so I was a bit naive and  became much more savvy at this later but navigating huge foreign cities drunk, by yourself, in the middle of the night with only a shitty map from the hostel without a compass is not the smartest move.  After walking about 20 minutes I began to grow concerned, reached for the map and realized I had dropped it somewhere.  SHIT!   It was so desolate, no cars, no streetlights, nothing.  The only answer would be to retrace my steps to find my map.  The streets were poorly lit and deserted and I started my walk back to where I started. I began to recognize a church where I had checked my map earlier and as I approached the church, sure enough, there was my map laying on ground.

So now drunk, tired, lost, cold, confused, alone when a glimmer of light caught my eye. I looked up and saw about 3 people standing under a street lamp about 100 yards ahead of me. I began to walk toward the light hoping that these people would help me and not mug me. As I got closer I realized that the light had actually been on top of what appeared to be a Gyro shack in the middle of no where on the street. I stumbled closer, looked at the menu, grabbed a fistful of cash and held up 1 finger and the rest is history…

I had several more Döner Kebabs before I left Germany and was dissapointed to learn that the way it is served was truly a unique regional version and I’ll have to travel back to Germany to replicate the experience. So if anyone hears of a place opening up in Chicago serving Döner Kebabs, German style, let me know!

Warren G came to the Metro in Chicago and I knew it was something not to be missed. When else would you see such a West Coast legend in a small space that HAS NOT been overblown by their own persona (i.e. Snoop). I ti is hard to think of one West Coast OG who hasn’t turned into something else  - enter Ice Cube.

Warren did not disappoint. His delivery sounds exactly like the first album.

Just look at this cover – it is incredible. Soooo West Coast it hurts and elements of photography here are amazing. I have long loved the rich images of West Coast hip hop film and printed art. Take this more Latino slice of LA lifestyle – Kid Frost La Raza

Seeing these things when I first started listening to hip hop instilled a sense of nationalism. When I would go off to summer camp or travel and meet other kids they all would be either East or West. Rarely would the same listener have a DJ Quik album and a Wu-Tang record in the same bag. I was lucky growing up in the Midwest to have just about zero influence on what I “should” listened to besides what I saw in Yo! MTV Raps and friend’s older brothers.

On to the show…….Like I said Warren was on point and sounding like 1994 all over again. He was creased jeans down and hit all of the hot tracks off his first release. He went into his new stuff some, but it was the nostalgia I went for – which he delivered. At one point he stopped the music and said some words in regards to Nate Doggs health after having two strokes. After his update it turned into a Nate Dogg dance party – the dj flying through all the hits.

When you hear about 15 tracks that Nate touched you realize what an hit maker he was/is. Everyone in the place was dancing and I noticed the on stage entourage starting to grow. There were two characters I have seen before and I could quite figure out who they were. They were def. not with Warren’s crew due to clothing. Later Warren stopped again and introduced the duo as Crucial Conflict.

My history with Crucial is limited – Loved the song Hay (who didn’t) and only other time I have seen them was during the Bun B concert this past winter where a member of the crew sang a new single. It consisted of dude in sunglasses yelling his verses and another dude in a full body Carhartt Suit and orange Ski cap that he would pull down over his face at any moment during their brief performance. When it was his turn in the song he pulled down his hat turned his back to the audience and danced with his drink – CLASSIC.

So when I saw them at the Warren G show I didn’t know what to expect. They fashion is something between a 90′s Mobb Deep video and Outkast. One member fired up a blunt and was quickly denounced by the Metro’s security goons. Let me say this for the record, I have NEVER seen a rap artist be told they can’t smoke on stage. They basicly hung out on the sidelines bouncing to the G Funk and lovin life. Then it came time when Warren allowed a few guys out of the crowd to come up on stage and spit. First dude was horrible and eyes started to dart around on stage wondering how to pull a mic from this guy. Warren introduced Crucial again and I was all ears/eyes wide. They grabbed mics and started to throw down – normal, but then it came out. One member in Andre 3000 sunglasses just started to yell into the mic like he was backup for Bad Brains and his partner followed suite. GREAT!!!! Who else (rapper) you know would do that when given the chance to sing when on stage with a protege. Anyway, I couldn’t have had a better time and Warren couldn’t have sounded better.

West Coast