Powering Down

I've been in and out of NYC for the past week or so. It's all the little things that make New York so great. Just the things you hear on the street as you walk around make living in New York a great experience. Here are a couple of my favorites from the past few days...

"Crackers always be angry. Always" - Non-Cracker, Central Park
"Pss. Pss. Mami, I love you. I know you're shaking that ass for me" - Maintenance Guy, 57th between 5th and 6th
"Is that bitch smoking Cloves?" - Sassily Dressed Student, Outside of the New School

This is what makes New York the best city, ever. What also makes New York the best city are the ridiculously good radio stations, which I sorely missed while living in Ann Arbor. In order to get reception on a DECENT station I had to take the wire antenna from my stereo, tie it around the cap of a Nalgene bottle, and then run the wire up my wall and tape it to the top of the doorway leading into my kitchen. I wish I was joking.

Environmentally friendly technology

Anyway, now I can indulge in my pre-REM sleep activity of "Powering Down with Power After Hours". For the laypeople, listening to R&B on Power 105.1 after 10pm. Back in the day, when it was Sunday and the Sopranos had just finished and you turned off HBO it meant one thing...work is less than 10 hours away. The Sopranos, or The Wire or whatever it was on HBO on Sunday always meant the end of the weekend. While everyone else was pouting and laying out their Dockers for the next day I was tuning in to "Lock Down Love", a Sunday night special feature on Power 105.1. Lock Down Love was a live call-in segment where people with significant others who were in jail could call in and give a shout-out to their loved one behind "the wall". It's really a nice thing that Power 105.1 does for their listening community. I never had anyone to call, except for that one time, but still, I'd listen.

The shout-outs that I heard and continue to hear on Sunday night are way better than anything I'd ever hear while walking on the street. I'm going to give a sample of what these shout-outs sound like. And mind you, 99% of these calls come from women.

"To my man, Chico, aka Big Killah C, behind the walls at Sing Sing in cell Block D...I just want to tell you your shorty loves you. We gonna ride 'til we die. Keep ya'll head up and I'm going to be here when you get out."

First, in this day and age of fickle love and relationships built on Chinese-made concrete it's nice to hear such commitment. I mean, truthfully, it's not easy to find commitment like that in New York and if going to jail is what it takes, then maybe I should look into subletting at Riker's Island. If Foxy Brown can handle it, then maybe so can I.

Second, if you are Chico, sitting up at 11:30 on Sunday night, hoping that your shorty is going to shout you out, and then she does her whole "aka Big Killah C" thing, you've gotta be sitting there just shaking your head watching that parole offer go down the toilet. Ladies, these guys are trying to get out of jail and by all of you perpetuating the whole murderer-thing it's not helping your man's cause. My suggestion would be to over-compensate the other way. For example, "I just want to shout out my man Mike, aka the Big Bible Reader, aka the Christ Rediscoverer, aka He Promises He's Really Sorry, and say I love you". Is that that difficult? The downside, maybe your man loses some street cred.

I really don't have a third point, but if you're feeling the blues on Sunday night because you have work the next day just tune into 105.1 for some sweet beats and some sweet shout-outs. You'll have sweet dreams about prison, I promise.