The year 2008. Worst year of my life.
Started off with getting more and more depressed from months of the "one step forward, two steps back."
Then one week before my birth day the death of a beautiful, funny and talented man named Eddy Shots. Then less then five months later the death of my eldest nephew, Damien.What pulled me through all of this were my friends. All of us holding each other up through the worst of times.I posted posted the news of my nephew on the BLOG and the news spread in little time through the Punk Rock grape vine. Then the "OMG Pedro!" messages of support with the offer of any help I would need.
A few weeks later I sent an electronic thank you to a brother saying "It made me feel less alone." He shot back, "You're never alone."
I've been distancing myself from the scene over the last couple of years.
It was more then not hanging out that much.
When telling stories about the Skinhead scene I'd say "Them", "They", "Those".
On December 1st I was performing for a World AIDS Day event. Near the end of a tale of my time in the scene I stopped short of saying, "they" and said "us."
And so it's been since: "us," "we", "our", "mine."
What is it that I "get out" of the Punk Scene?
It is a family.
Don't get me wrong. It can be a WAY dysfunctional family.
But it's a place where I feel I have something to offer.
And I've been told I do.
Ok,
Glad I got that out of my system.
Time for a pint.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Grow The Beard Back?
I set up a profile on a site called The Big Gay Sketch Show.
Below is a post I put on the BLOG. Give it a read and if you find me worthy vote for me on the site.
Pedro.
"Two years ago I had a big ole beard. In 2003 I had grown fascinated with ancient Spartan culture.
The image of a martial society that accepted homosexual behavior (with a lot of rules of course) inspired thoughts in my mind in what we could promote and incorporate into modern society. My mind would an hold an image from historical memory.
Young warriors, naked, covered in olive oil, and wrestling under the hot Laconian sun.
Um...excuse me I'll be cutting this short.
Something came up I need to take care of.
Anyway after watching the movie 300 about 17 times too many times, I grew a big beard.Thought it made me look like a Spartan warrior!
Then brother of mine named Eddy Shots took one look at it and said, "You look like Amish Bin Laden." And that was it. I shaved it off.
But I've had brothers tell me now I should grow it back. They like the Amish Skinhead look!
I could use an objective view on weather to grow it back.
I'm a subject in a documentary series titled Driving Jersey.
I was interviewed when I had the beard.
To make things easier for you I put links my Big Gay Casting profileCheck em out and let me know if it's worth growing back.
Here's the link.http://biggaycasting.com/people/Poppaskin
THANKS!, in Advance Pedro Angel Serrano
Below is a post I put on the BLOG. Give it a read and if you find me worthy vote for me on the site.
Pedro.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Two years ago I had a big ole beard. In 2003 I had grown fascinated with ancient Spartan culture.
The image of a martial society that accepted homosexual behavior (with a lot of rules of course) inspired thoughts in my mind in what we could promote and incorporate into modern society. My mind would an hold an image from historical memory.
Young warriors, naked, covered in olive oil, and wrestling under the hot Laconian sun.
Um...excuse me I'll be cutting this short.
Something came up I need to take care of.
Anyway after watching the movie 300 about 17 times too many times, I grew a big beard.Thought it made me look like a Spartan warrior!
Then brother of mine named Eddy Shots took one look at it and said, "You look like Amish Bin Laden." And that was it. I shaved it off.
But I've had brothers tell me now I should grow it back. They like the Amish Skinhead look!
I could use an objective view on weather to grow it back.
I'm a subject in a documentary series titled Driving Jersey.
I was interviewed when I had the beard.
To make things easier for you I put links my Big Gay Casting profileCheck em out and let me know if it's worth growing back.
Here's the link.http://biggaycasting.com/people/Poppaskin
THANKS!, in Advance Pedro Angel Serrano
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
At last Sundays music/pizza eating meeting at WRSU I shared an idea with the other DJ's. Encouraged by there enthusiasm for the plan I jumped onto the computer and logged onto the White House website.
"Dear President Obama,
In my fifty years I have never seen this country so divided; Redstate/blue state, Gay/Straight, Democrat/Republican Insurgency...
But I believe there is one thing Americans can agree on.
And that thing is Johnny Cash!"
I then went into a moving argument (which I can't quite remember) for a series of concerts beginning with artists covering Johnny Cash songs.
I recommended that all styles should be represented. From Blues to Punk Rock. I mentioned I had a list of suggestions in that regard.
So now if they just happen to have that concert you all know know where the idea came from.
It doesn't matter whether I get any credit. As long as the Bouncing Souls are on the bill!
"Dear President Obama,
In my fifty years I have never seen this country so divided; Redstate/blue state, Gay/Straight, Democrat/Republican Insurgency...
But I believe there is one thing Americans can agree on.
And that thing is Johnny Cash!"
I then went into a moving argument (which I can't quite remember) for a series of concerts beginning with artists covering Johnny Cash songs.
I recommended that all styles should be represented. From Blues to Punk Rock. I mentioned I had a list of suggestions in that regard.
So now if they just happen to have that concert you all know know where the idea came from.
It doesn't matter whether I get any credit. As long as the Bouncing Souls are on the bill!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Two Philosophies- or Why People Say I think too Much.
I have been waiting a long while for this clip to be posted on.
It's one of the most philosophically significant moments in the film.
What the Joker expresses is a view of humanity that reminded me of Sigmund Freud.
Freud believed that when people were put in a desperate situation the masks they
wear would come off and the face's underneath would all be identical. They would collapse into a brutal state.
A Dr. Victor Frankel was a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps.
And he witnessed people in a desperate environment and the mask's
did indeed come off. But he reported that the faces were all different.
Some folks who were some nice regular people before entering the camps
turned into "pigs" and others who were pigs behaved like saints.
And it's these two views that are represented in the film.
One character it doing what he can to bring about "chaos". and the other
has the goal of providing the peoples with a vision of hope to inspire them
into not being afraid.
Remember the last words of the father to the son in "Bat Man Begins"? "Don't be afraid."
I transcribed a short section from the dialogue.
And though I disagree with his vision of humanity I do agree with
his observation about "plans". When SOME things go wrong, people
are more likely to panic if it is outside there usual routine.
But when "a truck load of solders gets killed", few seem to get that upset.
As evidence for this opinion I have posted another vid from something
most of us are exposed to every day.
What do you think the "plans" of the two apposing views have?
" Do I really look like a guy with a plan?
Do you know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars.
I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it..
No, I just do things.
The mobs got plans, the cops got plans, Gordon's got plans.
Ya know: there scheemers. Scheemers trying to control
there little worlds. I'm not a scheemer.
I try to show the scheemers how pathetic there attempts
to controll things really are....
It's the scheemers who put you where you are.
I took your little plans and turned it on itself.
Look what I've done with a few drums of gas and a couple of bullets.
You know what noticed? Nobody panics when things go according to plan.
Even if the plan is horrifying. If tomorrow I tell the press like a gang banger or a truck load of solders get blown up no body panics, because it's all part of the plan. But when I say that one little old mayor will die, then suddenly every one looses there minds!
Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order and everything becomes chaos. I'm an agent of chaos.
And and you know the thing about chaos? It's fear."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRG1tWQN6e8
FROM MEDIA CHANNEL DOT ORG
Montel Williams Loses Job after Defending Troops on Fox News
By Daily Kos.
For just over three minutes on Saturday morning, TV talk show host Montel Williams owned the hosts of Fox and Friends. A former Marine and Naval officer, Montel lectured the stunned hosts on the stupidity of spending air time on the death of Heath Ledger, rather than covering the war in Iraq. It was a spectacle rarely seen on live cable television, as Montel exposed and condemned both tabloid "news" shows and much of American culture for what they have each become: shallow and greedy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IYyNAXjxS4
Three minutes into this awkward segment on Fox, one host cut off Montel in order to go to a commercial. Montel did not return after the break. Four days later, after 17 years as a television host, Montel lost his job. Variety reported on Wednesday that the Fate of "The Montel Williams Show" was sealed when key Fox-owned stations opted not to renew it for the 2008-09 season.I have no idea whether Montel already knew his show wasn't going to be renewed, and thus felt emboldened to cut loose on the air, or whether his firing was a result of his actions on Saturday. Either way, Montel Williams exhibited courage this week that few in the television industry ever will. And for that, American troops around the world stand with him. We support him not only because he stood up for the troops, but because he did it on Fox News—a station that has done more damage to the U.S. military since 9/11 than any other.Montel Williams is an American patriot. Though he left the military years ago, he has never forgotten "his" troops.
For that we salute and thank you, Montel. Best of luck with whatever you choose to do next.-- by Brandon Friedman
--
Pedro of New Jersey
On the Air and On-Line at
www.HearNewBrunswick.com
Sundays 2 till 4pm EST
www.WRSU.Org 88.7 fm
Tuesdays 2 till 4 PM EST
It's one of the most philosophically significant moments in the film.
What the Joker expresses is a view of humanity that reminded me of Sigmund Freud.
Freud believed that when people were put in a desperate situation the masks they
wear would come off and the face's underneath would all be identical. They would collapse into a brutal state.
A Dr. Victor Frankel was a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps.
And he witnessed people in a desperate environment and the mask's
did indeed come off. But he reported that the faces were all different.
Some folks who were some nice regular people before entering the camps
turned into "pigs" and others who were pigs behaved like saints.
And it's these two views that are represented in the film.
One character it doing what he can to bring about "chaos". and the other
has the goal of providing the peoples with a vision of hope to inspire them
into not being afraid.
Remember the last words of the father to the son in "Bat Man Begins"? "Don't be afraid."
I transcribed a short section from the dialogue.
And though I disagree with his vision of humanity I do agree with
his observation about "plans". When SOME things go wrong, people
are more likely to panic if it is outside there usual routine.
But when "a truck load of solders gets killed", few seem to get that upset.
As evidence for this opinion I have posted another vid from something
most of us are exposed to every day.
What do you think the "plans" of the two apposing views have?
" Do I really look like a guy with a plan?
Do you know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars.
I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it..
No, I just do things.
The mobs got plans, the cops got plans, Gordon's got plans.
Ya know: there scheemers. Scheemers trying to control
there little worlds. I'm not a scheemer.
I try to show the scheemers how pathetic there attempts
to controll things really are....
It's the scheemers who put you where you are.
I took your little plans and turned it on itself.
Look what I've done with a few drums of gas and a couple of bullets.
You know what noticed? Nobody panics when things go according to plan.
Even if the plan is horrifying. If tomorrow I tell the press like a gang banger or a truck load of solders get blown up no body panics, because it's all part of the plan. But when I say that one little old mayor will die, then suddenly every one looses there minds!
Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order and everything becomes chaos. I'm an agent of chaos.
And and you know the thing about chaos? It's fear."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRG1tWQN6e8
FROM MEDIA CHANNEL DOT ORG
Montel Williams Loses Job after Defending Troops on Fox News
By Daily Kos.
For just over three minutes on Saturday morning, TV talk show host Montel Williams owned the hosts of Fox and Friends. A former Marine and Naval officer, Montel lectured the stunned hosts on the stupidity of spending air time on the death of Heath Ledger, rather than covering the war in Iraq. It was a spectacle rarely seen on live cable television, as Montel exposed and condemned both tabloid "news" shows and much of American culture for what they have each become: shallow and greedy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IYyNAXjxS4
Three minutes into this awkward segment on Fox, one host cut off Montel in order to go to a commercial. Montel did not return after the break. Four days later, after 17 years as a television host, Montel lost his job. Variety reported on Wednesday that the Fate of "The Montel Williams Show" was sealed when key Fox-owned stations opted not to renew it for the 2008-09 season.I have no idea whether Montel already knew his show wasn't going to be renewed, and thus felt emboldened to cut loose on the air, or whether his firing was a result of his actions on Saturday. Either way, Montel Williams exhibited courage this week that few in the television industry ever will. And for that, American troops around the world stand with him. We support him not only because he stood up for the troops, but because he did it on Fox News—a station that has done more damage to the U.S. military since 9/11 than any other.Montel Williams is an American patriot. Though he left the military years ago, he has never forgotten "his" troops.
For that we salute and thank you, Montel. Best of luck with whatever you choose to do next.-- by Brandon Friedman
--
Pedro of New Jersey
On the Air and On-Line at
www.HearNewBrunswick.com
Sundays 2 till 4pm EST
www.WRSU.Org 88.7 fm
Tuesdays 2 till 4 PM EST
Thursday, January 22, 2009
On Watching The Swearing in of Barak Hussain Obama.
Anti-climactic. It's the single word that described the swearing in of Barak Hussein Obama as 44th President of the United States of America.
That's not to say it didn't have it's highlights. I was waiting for him to say his name. "Barak Hussein Obama. I could almost feel the psychic atomic bomb go off. It's shock wave radiating outward till it had traveled to the other side of the planet.
That was nice.
But it just didn't match the effect of election night.
On the night of the election I watched the returns alone. When the outcome was announced it was with the image of President elect Obama walking down a runway towards the lectern.
Do you know the feeling of being aware that you're dreaming? "Hey! This is a dream. I can wake up when ever I want to." Well it wasn't anything like that.
It was like waking from a dream.
My earliest memory is waking from a dream.
I dreamed I was a little kid in the 1960's living in the Columbus Homes Housing Projects. When asked where we lived we answered "the projects."
In my dream there had been riots in the streets, cock roaches big enough to ride to school, and cheery blossoms in the spring.
I awoke on a bed.
Looking across the landscape of the blanket I was sleeping on I could see out the window the twelve story high, block long neighbor of a building across a court yard.
The dream I had was the dream of my life. But now it wasn't a dream any more. This was reality.
That was what I felt as I watched Barak Obama walking down that walkway.
It was like waking from a dream.
No ceremony was going to top that.
Rev. Pedro Angel Serrano
That's not to say it didn't have it's highlights. I was waiting for him to say his name. "Barak Hussein Obama. I could almost feel the psychic atomic bomb go off. It's shock wave radiating outward till it had traveled to the other side of the planet.
That was nice.
But it just didn't match the effect of election night.
On the night of the election I watched the returns alone. When the outcome was announced it was with the image of President elect Obama walking down a runway towards the lectern.
Do you know the feeling of being aware that you're dreaming? "Hey! This is a dream. I can wake up when ever I want to." Well it wasn't anything like that.
It was like waking from a dream.
My earliest memory is waking from a dream.
I dreamed I was a little kid in the 1960's living in the Columbus Homes Housing Projects. When asked where we lived we answered "the projects."
In my dream there had been riots in the streets, cock roaches big enough to ride to school, and cheery blossoms in the spring.
I awoke on a bed.
Looking across the landscape of the blanket I was sleeping on I could see out the window the twelve story high, block long neighbor of a building across a court yard.
The dream I had was the dream of my life. But now it wasn't a dream any more. This was reality.
That was what I felt as I watched Barak Obama walking down that walkway.
It was like waking from a dream.
No ceremony was going to top that.
Rev. Pedro Angel Serrano
It wasn't a kick in the nuts!
Last Saturday (17th November 02009) I crashed at a friends house. His name is Richard and we'd seen each other at Punk Rock shows for a while. My reputation had preceded me and we bonded quickly.
Any way the next morning I couldn't find my keys.He apologized and said he'd look for them and call if they were found.
I headed to another friends place whers my back pack was for a quick breakfast. I suspected that my keys might be there. They were not. "This is not good."
I called Richard to see if he'd located my keys. He apologized again and said he'd not seen them. I told him there was no need to apologize. "Just give me a call if ya find em. I think they be on that book shelf next to the sofa bed."
Yesterday He gave me a call and said that he'd found them. He apologized yet again and said that when he cleared the table in front of the couch he'd taken the keys with everything else and oput them in his roommates room. "I'm sorry." I said "There's no need to Apologize! What matters is that ya found em."
I arrived that night to get my keys. The door opens and Richard had the clip with my keys in his hand. "I'm so sorry..."I cut him off.
"Shut Up and Stop apologizing!" He smiled and said, "Then fuck you for losing your keys."
I explained "There's nothing for you to apologize for. Stuff just happens. But if I were to walk up to you for a hug and you kicked me in the nuts, you'd better apologize."
Pedro of New Jersey.
Any way the next morning I couldn't find my keys.He apologized and said he'd look for them and call if they were found.
I headed to another friends place whers my back pack was for a quick breakfast. I suspected that my keys might be there. They were not. "This is not good."
I called Richard to see if he'd located my keys. He apologized again and said he'd not seen them. I told him there was no need to apologize. "Just give me a call if ya find em. I think they be on that book shelf next to the sofa bed."
Yesterday He gave me a call and said that he'd found them. He apologized yet again and said that when he cleared the table in front of the couch he'd taken the keys with everything else and oput them in his roommates room. "I'm sorry." I said "There's no need to Apologize! What matters is that ya found em."
I arrived that night to get my keys. The door opens and Richard had the clip with my keys in his hand. "I'm so sorry..."I cut him off.
"Shut Up and Stop apologizing!" He smiled and said, "Then fuck you for losing your keys."
I explained "There's nothing for you to apologize for. Stuff just happens. But if I were to walk up to you for a hug and you kicked me in the nuts, you'd better apologize."
Pedro of New Jersey.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Radio today at Noon
.
Noon till 2 pm EST.
http://www.wrsu.org
I have no idea what I'll be doing.
Sunday on http://www.HearNewBrunswick.Com
Woke up in the dark.
That's how Like it.
It's too bright at midnight in New Brunswick.
All cities when there's nothing going on after 2 pm.
Guess it's some obsession with "safety".
Walking the streets at nigh would feel less boring if the streets were as pitch black as the woods are: the sky crowded with stars.
Wait a minuet.
What was I...?
Oh yea. I like it dark when I sleep.
Crashed in a friends basement. Completely dark while I slept.
No street lamps making it possible to read a book in bed.
Had dreams with subterranean themes. Kinda scary one of em.
But yea, slept in a heated basement last night.
Liked it.
So good morning folks. Temp is just above freezing here.
Another cup of coffee, quick shower, a bite, and my radio show at noon.
.
Noon till 2 pm EST.
http://www.wrsu.org
I have no idea what I'll be doing.
Sunday on http://www.HearNewBrunswick.Com
Woke up in the dark.
That's how Like it.
It's too bright at midnight in New Brunswick.
All cities when there's nothing going on after 2 pm.
Guess it's some obsession with "safety".
Walking the streets at nigh would feel less boring if the streets were as pitch black as the woods are: the sky crowded with stars.
Wait a minuet.
What was I...?
Oh yea. I like it dark when I sleep.
Crashed in a friends basement. Completely dark while I slept.
No street lamps making it possible to read a book in bed.
Had dreams with subterranean themes. Kinda scary one of em.
But yea, slept in a heated basement last night.
Liked it.
So good morning folks. Temp is just above freezing here.
Another cup of coffee, quick shower, a bite, and my radio show at noon.
.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)