Coffee w/ BBD: Season 1 Finale
One day it will all make sense.
Big Brown Sunday: Buddha Blessed
In case you haven’t heard, the Eagles are not going to the Super Bowl this year.
This means that while many of you are posted up watching sub-par teams work their way towards a rinky-dink trophy, Big Brown Family is out making the most of our Sundays.
And yesterday went a little something like this:
Big Brown Sunday: Claremont Village & Glendora Nursery
With our beloved Philadelphia Eagles out of the playoffs, our Sundays have opened up for more activities outside of the crib. This past Sunday morning, we decided to head out to The Claremont Village for some food and family fun.
First, we grabbed a bite at 42nd St Bagel, a family favorite. Their bagels are fresh and their Iced T has some zing.
Their coffee? Nah, we bring our own.
After the bagels, we traipsed around the Village.
And got into a few things.
And did some more traipsing, this time right into the Farmer’s Market.
Alas, we made our way to the Library. And that’s when this epic #dadfail happened.
You hate to see it.
But our day wasn’t done quite yet. Joaquin had some pouting to do.
We figured we brighten our mood by doing some tree shopping, so we hit up Glendora Gardens Nursery.
And we got home just in time to watch some football.
Not too shabby.
Big Brown Stand Up?
Look.
I like performing.
Feel free to offer your untrained, pop cultural psychoanalysis as to why. I’m more than happy to toss that shit in the trash.
Buuuuuuut…if I had to venture a guess tho, it’s likely connected to some existential angst related to divine hiddeness.
This is my first (and prolly not last) stand up experience. There’s something poetic about having to do this with my son, Joaquin, in hand. But Dad is the way of the walk.
Coffee w/ BBD S1 E12: Lead Poisoning in the SGV?!
12 is the number of completeness and this episode completes Season 1 of Coffee w Big Brown Dad!
PSYCHE!
We still have 3 episodes dropping to round out the season. Stay plugged in.
God, Philosophy of Language and Ethics with the Kids
I have a funny superstitious belief. I don’t know when I acquired it or why I continue to believe it but it’s stuck around.
Here it is:
I think kids have special access to a mystical knowledge. I know, it sounds crazy but when the kids were younger, I low-key wondered if my deceased family members were transmitting knowledge to them or some shit. I know, it’s kind of freaky and naive but there you have it. On a related tip, I wondered if God herself might be communicating through my children.
Yeah, man.
That’s one reason I’d stop everything and listen closely when the kids mentioned anything remotely theological, like this conversation where they take me to task for using ‘bad words.’
Current TV Throwback: Cystic Fibrosis Emcee
Yo.
This is the most meaningful documentary I produced for Current TV…by a fucking long shot.
Sometime in 08, I was invited to Yuma, Arizona by the homies Johnny Awesome and Legal Alien to perform with Odd Thomas and the crew. I took that opportunity to bring a camera crew and document the challenges the homie CJ (Citizen Aim) was experiencing with his illness, Cystic Fibrosis.
I didn’t know jack shit about CF when we started. When we got there, I saw its impacts up close and personal, though.
Fuck, it wasn’t long after this that CJ passed away.
He left a deep impact in Yuma, hip hop and beyond. I’m happy that this video helps, in some small way, to preserve his legacy. One love to the #openaired family for life and through death.
Coffee w/ BBD S1 E10: Keeping It Official
On this episode of Coffee w/ Big Brown Dad I keep it all the way official.
Actually, enjoy this Jaylib banger before the banger that is the episode banger.
Big ups to #urbanbeard for providing some freshness for the face.
Big Brown Dad @ Work
Today, I’m reviewing footage from a recent brand shoot in search of dope gifs (hard G) and sociable moments.
Our offices are adjoined by #Lupettis and #insheepsclothing.
I’m sipping on their drip, “Camber Guatemala Ensenada” from San Pedro Necta in Huehuetenango. It’s a washed process bean with purported notes of Raspberry, Cocoa and Tangerine.
Catch vibes:
Don’t Judge A Book Club By Its Color
In Spring of ’18, I produced a book club in order to promote Phillip Rodriguez’ PBS documentary on Oscar Zeta Acosta, The Rise and Fall of the Brown Buffalo.
I’d encountered the gutsy and bellicose Acosta as an undergrad at #Oxy some 20 years ago, when my budding identity politics were rooted in a white, American, non-denominational evangelical, pseudo neo-Platonism that regarded racial identity not only as non-essential but as a spiritual encumbrance.
So, besides reading his Autobiography of The Brown Buffalo and Revolt of the Cockroach People for class, I really didn’t fux with it. I wasn’t ready.
Later (that’s another story), I’d come to embrace my brown identity and articulate my version of the brown experience through writing poetry, music, TV, comedy and documentary content.
For this project, I wanted to include several types of voices in the discussion. Off-top, I wanted to make sure there were strong female voices. That’s one reason why I invited poet Yesika Salgado and hip hop artist Reverie to participate. Their work pulls no punches. I was excited for my kids, especially Maya to meet them–even if their content is still out of her frame of reference. I also wanted to include a modern day embodiment of someone big and brown and down, which is why I invited the homie and actor Anthony Citric Campos to participate.
More from that discussion:
If you’re a student, fan or follower of Acosta’s thinking, be sure to follow the documentary’s social accounts for supplemental content.
Coffee Snobbery in London
Look at me.
I’m never one to be outshmancied.
In fact, when Big Brown Fam was in London last fall, I walked into 3 upscale coffee shops in pursuit of a decent cup of coffee.
“Uhum, pardon, do you serve a proper pour over, lad?”
Shop 1:
‘A pull-over?’
Shop 2:
‘A pure over?’
(barista turns around)
‘He wants a pure over.’
Shop 3:
Coffee w/ BBD S1 E9: Trying, Dying and Lion
Our most celebrated teachers are animals. Take the tortoise and the hare or the birds and bees. Bambi. Roger Rabbit. Benji.
So, is it any wonder that I brought you your randomized benediction in anything other than my fly lion fit?