Freestyle Blogs

Freestyle fans are pretty much the same age as the Freestyle artist. And if that’s the case, then many of them grew up watching or at least remembering this show. It was  called “To Tell The Truth”

Unfortunately, this is a game show that needs to come back, and it’s contestants need to be those involved in the Freestyle market. We need to sit down those who claim to be or be a part of a questionable artist or group and ask them a slew of questions that only the original’s would know.

Like, what were TKA wearing the day they came up with their name?
What was the hardest part of recording the Cover Girl’s “Show Me?”
Where were the members of Will To Power when they Met?
I have spoken time and time again about deceptive practices within the Freestyle genre, and I can’t stress it enough, just how damaging it is to our market. When I speak of this, I am not just speaking to the Promoters and Agents. I am also speaking to Managers, Artists and more importantly, to the fans who are indeed, the end sufferers! Please, all who read this, leave a comment at the end and feel free to express yourselves. Please no curse words, this blog is set with a filter that detects them and blocks the comment. So many artists themselves claim they don’t support this deceptive practice, yet they are quick to jump on stage with any Freestyle wanna-be. “It’s business Latif!” Is what they say. “Exactly!” I reply. It is business, your business Mr. Artist, manager, promoter and agent, and until you protect it, it’s spiraling qucikly to the ground.” Oh is this about the Phony Girls again?“   Click image below to see how Freestyle is being represented by these imposters.    
 

The Phony Girls
Proof  That Fans are Being  Robbed  

Well, not anymore, the Phonies are going to do their thing, and the idiots are still going to book them. Fans however need to realize that every time they purchase a ticket, they are telling the Phonies that this is okay, it’s acceptable.  Because of this, the illness is spreading like wildfire. Managers who haven’t been in the market for years, are coming out of the woodwork. Why? Because eventhough their relationship with their former client has been over for years, they discovered that the show can still go on, with a chance to still cash in.  All they have to do, is find someone that might (or might not) resemble the act. Teach them the songs and dance steps, print some pictures and Wala! Instant Freestyle artist. If  they were to package this idea, the instructions would simply say, “Just Add Lies” What’s sad is the majority of the Freestyle fans don’t realize this is happening until they either they see the show, or they read something like this blog. So even though I might have a personal thing when it comes to The Phony Girls, my main beef is the overall impact it’s having on ”MY” market.  The Phony Girls do shows for the crooks of the market, people who don’t care enough for their audience to atleast find them the real deal, so these are not people I would work with anyway.  I’ve dedicated many pages such as this to the exposure of The Phonies, and right now,  Angel “The Original CoverGirl”  stays busy, turning it out from Miami to Maui.      
 

Angel “The Original CoverGirl”  

You see, what I need to point a finger at, are some of the other deceiver’s in the market. Those hiding backstage before showtime.  But before I begin. To the so-called artist and managers, this isn’t meant to be an attack against you, but rather a rescue for the Freestyle market in itself! You see, I make a living with this Freestyle thing, so I have a clear incentive as to why I need to protect it, an attitude that should be common among other industry professionals, unfortunately, it isn’t. Believe me, there are many more imposters out there, but I need to focus on a few that are actually affecting the Freestyle market. You see these acts are looked up to and resepected. people watch them and figure, well if they’re doing it, then it must be okay! So I would truly appreciate any help from knowledgeable readers.  Fans, fellow artist, deleted group members etc. But keep in mind, it isn’t going to take just knowledge, it is going to take balls too! I might make a few enemies with this post, but at the same time, I might gain some integrity for the market.  Besides, those who might be offended, are those involved in the deception, so do I really care what they think?  Let me go back a bit, and begin with one company that I had experience with, and that was the old High Powered Records, led by Mr. Tony Garcia.      
 Tony Dr. Edit Garcia   This was an important company at one time, but when you participate in deception, I’m sorry, you are just bound to fall, and that’s what happened here. High Powered had a few credible acts on their label, and were contributors to Freestyle’s  spread throughout the US.  But I can sympathise with them a bit, like I can with many of the other Freestyle labels back in the day. Whereas these compaines were created by some really talented producers, who created some really great music, they had no real business skills. Keep in mind, running a label consist of two skills, creating the music, and managing the business.  Major labels allocate staff for these different jobs, Freestyle label heads tried to do it all themselves.  The label heads wanted to be stars themselves and instead of staying in the office crunching numbers and planning their next move, they went on the road with their acts. They were so caught up in the success of their current act that they neglected the business of keeping that act working, let alone developing new acts. label heads started relying heavily on that current act, putting more and more preasure on them, so much that they got fed up, tired of the abuse and skipped. So there’s Mr. Label head, standing there with nothing but a name that he claims to own. He’s come to truly rely on that income producing artist so much, that in a sort of spiteful attempt to hurt that artist and hopefully help himself, he totally disregards the audience that has actually placed that money in his pocket and now feeds them what I call  ‘Phonies” By re-issuing the “NAME” to a new and niave artist, Shoot some new photos then put them back on the road, confident that the fans won’t know the difference.  This had fans scratching their heads wondering what was going on. I’m only familiar with a few, such as Wicked, NV and Renaldo. There were  others, I’m sure, and if you know who they are, please comment here. Then there was another artist who was part of that camp. An artist that I am extremely close to and have been around since she was just a little girl. That artist is Lil’ Suzy.  

       The Incredible Career Of Lil’ Suzy

Suzy without a doubt put High Powered Records on the map, and till this day she is one of the most requested Freestyle artist in the market. When the numbers weren’t working anymore and the drama was just too much for this very young artist, she was removed from the label. Now keep in mind, she didn’t leave to go with another label, she left simply to get off High Powered, and it was a great decision. It was an unhealthy company about to self-destruct. She was protected by her parents and myself, a relationship that many in the industry envied along with many attempts to throw in a wrench. But what they failed to realize is that my “Personal” relationship with Suzy and her family is more important to me than my “Professional” relationship with them. Her first album on that label was called “Love Can’t Wait” and housed the Freestyle hit “Take Me In Your Arms.” This song catapulted Lil’ Suzy and High Powered to another level. But when you give success to bad business, it creates a monster. Not only was “Take Me” an international hit, Lil’ Suzy was just 11 years old, and a novelty in herself, an even more reason to embrace this incredible little superstar. When Suzy was removed from the label, it was without doubt an end for High Powered. Not knowing what to do, having already created a horrible name for themselves without a loyal artist left, High Powered came up with a plan that they felt would not only recapture their crown, but possibly kick them up a notch, while poor Lil’ Suzy fades away. High Powered found another little girl, who they named ingeniously, Lil’ Johanna.    
  

Lil’ Johanna   

High Powered studied the Lil’ Suzy model which consisted of three main elements; youth, looks and of course talent. The makings of what could’ve been another High Powered star. But instead of giving her originality, her own songs etc. She was brought in, in an attempt to bump Suzy from her spotlight. But evil can not prevail and the one who got hurt during this was poor Johanna. High Powered sold her a dream of becoming a star, when in realty, she was a mere pawn in the labels own little war game.

But you see, Suzy wasn’t new to this, she had been doing this years before she even signed with High Powered. She had more experience as a little girl than the owner of the label himself, and today you can see them on opposite sides of the Freestyle fence. By the way, does anyone know what the hell happened to Lil’ Johanna? 

So there it was, a case of trying to bump one artist with another. It didn’t work! Now we step into another realm, this one was to do with multiple group members.  Now this is tricky ground here and every case has to be dealt with differently.  But before I get into that, I want people to try and remember this. “If all the members of a group are still alive and well, and they want to perform, I feel the group should make an effort. Hey, we don’t always like the people we work with, but we work with them regardless. When members of a group decide to pull out and don’t want to be a part of it anymore, then there I see a legitimate reason to find substitutes. In this case, it is about the fans.  But when you have members of a group that want to get together, but one or two of them are keeping the others out, that to me is unfair, and there will never be any real success in it.  Okay, you might get some shows here and there, but is that real success? Let steps back for a minute and take another look at this situation regarding The Cover Girls. Honestly, who in the Freestyle industry doesn’t know that Angel “OCG” is my wife? Yes I will protect her till the end of time, and with whatever it takes, and she’d do the same for me.  But this situation isn’t about a husband protecting his wife, but rather a manager protecting his artist, or better yet, an industry professional protecting his industry. Way before Angel and I were even dating, she’s had issues with her management, which we all know was at the time Sal Abbatiello, a great contributor in my opinion to the Freestyle Industry, but at the same time, a great destructor. Why do I say that? Because he personified the old cliché’ “He Cut His Nose To Spite His Face.” In other words, since he couldn’t have things his way, he decided to punish the entire Freestyle community. Because he no longer has a hold on Angel, who as we all know is The Original CoverGirl, he goes to great lengths to try and keep her from performing. Unfortunately for him, Angel is married to Freestyle’s Greatest Booking Agent. So she works more now than she did, even back during the old Cover Girl days. She without doubt makes much more money, and for all who have been around her these days, her personality glows with happiness, something she hasn’t experienced in this business for many many years. The handful of shows that Angel has been bumped from are the Freestyle concerts at Madison Square Garden, The Mohegan Sun, and all Fever events. These concerts feature in her place three girls who came from God knows where, to perform as The Cover Girls, (From here on they will be referred to by the industry term: The Phony Girls) another poor attempt to deceive the Freestyle audience. I have approached promoters involved with some of these events and asked why man, why? A few said that they were threatened to be Sued by Mr. Abbatiello. I believed this t be true because one of my trusty promoters faxed me a copy of this general letter Sal sent around. By the way, those letters made excellent toilet paper!  
   To the fans who have attended concerts featuring “THE PHONY GIRLS”. Please do not stand for this. You are giving up your hard-earned money to see a concert. It’s like filling up your tank at a gas station, then finding out that it was just water. You don’t stand for this, you speak up and demand a refund. As long as you accept it, it will not stop!If you thought that maybe Angel just wasn’t performing anymore, so you have to settle for the Phonies, then check out all the concerts she has performed at in just the last couple of years. From here on, when you are sitting or standing in the audience, awaiting The Cover Girls, and you see three unfamiliar faces walk on stage lip-syncing over what is properly Freestyle Most Distinctive Voices, please proceed with a Boooo!  If Phony acts are shown love and acceptance, then before you know it, you will be paying top dollar for what I would call a “Karaoke Concert.”Here’s another letter. This time Sal brought it up a notch and hired an attorney. This letter was sent to one of my promoters over at Cox Radio. Just so you know. None of these letter’s worked. 
     Let me make another point here really clear. When in the world was the last time Angel ever used “Formerly Of The Cover Girls?”  Angel has been billed as “The Original CoverGirl” since as far back as I could remember. Not because we were scared of these stupid threats, because as long as it is a FACT, Angel can use the Term Formerly Of.. This goes for ANY other acts experience a similar situation. But we chose NOT to use formerly. You see, in my opinion “Formerly Of  The Cover Girls,” indicates that the group is still around, but that Angel is no longer a part of it. I coined the name “The Original CoverGirl” because it states a hard fact! And the only other Cover Girls Angel ever performed with were Caroline, Sunshine and Margo and they are no longer in the business.    

Sunshine, Angel, Caroline                      Caroline, Angel, Margo

Oh, and about the contreversy regarding The Cover Girl release of  “Wishing On A Star.”  Sorry folks, that was not The Phony Girls either, but rather the beautiful and talented Michelle Valentine.

 
Click here to check out the video

As long as I’ve been around Angel. She’s always gotten request by promoters as well as fans, to sing “Wishing On A Star.” and her reply. “I didn’t sing that song, that was Michelle Valentine.” Angel knew how she felt when The Phonies pretented to sing her songs, and she said she would never do the same. Besides, she had plenty of her own songs to sing including two incredible ballads, “Promise Me” and “We Can’t Go Wrong.”

Let’s face it folks, we’re all getting older, and there will be a time when we will have no choice but to experience so-called Tribute Concerts. As artist of this genre begin to die off, we will have to replace them in order to give alive their legacy. But to try and due so before their time, is a sad song, and a great misfortune to the Fans who grew up on Freestyle.  

I met this woman who’s name is Suzi Carr.
Suzi CarrMany people know her as the original member of WILL TO POWER. What a great group, what great songs, an incredible contributor to our genre.  
The Original Will To Power with Suzi CarrBut unfortunately, greed stepped into that group as well, and the lead singer was tossed from the group to be replaced by one much younger. I could understand this move if the group is still putting out hits and their want to maintain the youth. But if that was the case, then I would’ve suggested that even the male side of the group, Mr. Bob Rosen also be tossed.I finally got to see Suzi Carr perform at a show in LA, and I seen the current WILL TO POWER Perform without her, and I have to say, that the light of that group was in fact, Ms. Carr.
The New Will To Power without SuziWhen she got up on that stage, it was like she invited the audience into her living-room. The sincerity of the things she said to her audience were unquestionable. At that point I wanted to share my experience with my promoters and I immediately got on the phone and began selling. Booking the shows usually go undetected. But one of the things that we do at La’ Entertainment is assist our clients in promoting their events. Hey, if my promoters aren’t successful, then neither am I. One of the ways that we help is with a marketing machine I had created many years ago called FreestyleBlast. It’s an on-line marketing ad that reaches thousands of people every single week. It is a very important and effective tool. This is when all hell breaks out. This is when what I do is noticed, when Freestyle Blast is let lose. So I received a surprised phone call from Mr. Rosenberg, well it wasn’t really a surprise, I was expecting it. I have to admit, it’s so obvious why he can’t sell himself any shows, his phone skills suck!  He began with a slew of verbal insults that most people only dare to say to me over the phone and from another part of the country. I allowed him to speak, and when he was done, I couldn’t help but to laugh hysterically. He sounded like an old Jewish man cursing out a telemarketer.Of course I had to put him in his place. He threatened to meet me in Florida the following week. I would be there with Angel and Lil Suzy….. Well, he was a No Show!  Yes I received an attorney letter from him as well, though the texture of the paper was much softer than Sal’s.       Let’s  go back several years. Angel and I were just dating and we attended a party at a club in Queens, NY. We both knew practically everyone on our own terms. But there was one guy that I had no idea who he was. He walked around the club talking to everyone. Angel introduced him to me as David Torres, one of the guys from the group Nice & Wild.    
 David Torres   We shook hands and proceeded to talk.  He knew who I was, well most artists do. He was a nice guy, a little jumpy, but nice indeed.The next day, back at the office, Angel asked me. “Why don’t you put David on your Roster and try and get him some shows?” That day David just happened to call. We spoke for a while and I got all the specifics on booking him. Who fly’s? From where? How many rooms? and of course, how much are you asking?  David simply said, whatever you can get me. At that time his going rate, if he was lucky $300. to $500. Again, that’s if he was lucky, which wasn’t often. Most of the time he would settle for just a limo, fruit platter and a spotlight.  I of course can’t make a living on fruit platters, and 10% of $500. wouldn’t even cover all the calls I had to make to pitch him. But Angel stayed on me, and vouched persistently on his behalf. You see, there was a time when Angel was in that same boat, when making a living in this market was next to impossible. She wanted to share her blessings. This is Angel, always is, always will be! So I had booked a show for Angel, Lisa Lisa and Debbie Deb in Los Angeles, I got David on. I bought his fee up to a comfortable $1,000. More than he’d ever seen in his career, especially for the role he originally played as a background dancer. I got him a flight and a room, and I looked forward to seeing him perform. You see, I can only sell something that I believe in, and if I don’t see it for myself, then I can’t believe it, and therefore, I can’t sell it. I need something to pitch to my promoters. I need to be able to tell them, “I saw the show and it was on fire!”Angel had two shows that night. One with David, then we had to shoot over to the second club. I got to see David perform and was pleased with his performance. Though most acts work a bit harder when they know I’m watching, I knew if David kept this up, we could get his fee up a few dollars more. After Angel performed we headed to the second club. I was impressed and excited to get back to the office to start booking David Torres.The following morning as we were leaving the hotel, I saw David pacing the lobby. He looked upset. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “The promoter stiffed me, La!” Was his reply. Apparently David didn’t abide by Performance Rule Number one… DO NOT GET ON STAGE UNTIL YOU ARE PAID YOUR BALANCE! I felt bad, well, could I really blame him? he wasn’t use to making money. But none the less I felt a bit responsible. I stuck my hand in my pocket and pealed out 5 one hundred dollar bills and handed them over to David. “Yo La’ you don’t have to do that!” He said. “I’ll get it back, don’t worry.” It took me about a month, but eventually I got my $500. back from the promoter when he booked Daddy Yankee from me. From that day on, I began booking David at various venues throughout the country. From Chicago to New York, Miami to California and Texas. I placed him on the Freestyle Explosion concert when it first sprang on to the scene and got him $1500. to $2000. a show. he had an incredible season, and I was happy to help!Soon after he began working with Mickey Garcia of Mic Mac Records and I guess Mickey became his manager. (Yes, Mickey Garcia and Tony Garcia, whom I mentioned earlier are brothers. Hmm, go figure)
Mickey Garcia

Anyway, Mickey stayed on me to get him shows, which I did. Then I received a strange from him early one morning. David wanted to know the name of a particular Texaspromoter I booked him with a few shows back. (I have an incredible memory, hu David?)  At the moment I thought nothing of it, and without hesitation, gave him the name. The next thing I know, a flyer pops up in my email about a show David Torres Formerly of Nice & Wild is doing in Texas, at one of my clubs. Yes, the one whom he asked of the promoter’s name.I called David, but to no avail, his caller ID kept me at bay. I started seeing more and more flyers popping up on the internet, with David Torres gracing it’s front side. Then it really happened. David did a show in Chicago (another one of my clubs) with The Phony Girls. All I could think of at that moment was how persistent Angel was at having me book him shows. As much as I hated to do it, I showed her the flyer.Well, in this business, you can’t let things like that affect you. So I did the obvious. I stopped booking David Torres, I even took him off my roster. Mickey Garcia and I continued working, and later on, against my better judgment, I even put David on a couple of more shows, a favor to Mickey. Not once had I ever told Mickey what David had done, it was between us and I didn’t need to involve others, even though I knew Mickey was behind it. Hey it’s business! At least that’s what I was always told by those who somehow someway dealt with The Phony Girls.Starting with The Freestyle Music Awards in which I placed Mickey on the red carpet to DJ along side of La’ Radio’s  Danski. from then on I started putting Mickey on many of my shows, highlighting his name and image in all my FreestyleBlast. I brought his asking up a few hundred dollars and was going. My intentions were to make him the most requested DJ in the Freestyle market. Thank God I didn’t, because I never really paid attention, and overhead someone say that he doesn’t spin live, instead plays Mix CDs during his sets. But that’s just hearsay, I’d have to see that for myself before I can confirm it. I kind of saw our relationship growing, and like always my wife rooted for him and always reminded me to pitch him to my promoters. Mickey somehow hooked up with a Promoter from new Jerseywho wanted to do concerts. Mickey told me about it and I was excited.  Well, I waited… and waited… and waited. But good ol’ Mic never called. Instead he called his ol’ buddy Sal Abbatiello, and lo and behold a new concert suddenly sprang up, and of course, it featured, The Phony Girls!When I approached Mickey about it, he told me that he has to book The Phony Girls because Sal books David. Okay, I saw where that was going and simply left it alone. I knew at that point that Angel wouldn’t be on that particular concert, but I didn’t expect him to keep her off the other half dozen he ended up booking not did Mickey put her on any of the other two that followed. For the second show he did call me for Lil’ Suzy, but she was already booked somewhere, then he called me again for her for the third show. She was about to step out of the market for a minute to become a Mommy, so  I was trying to get her as many shows as possible. But then, I never got a call back. I later on found out that The Phony Girls didn’t want Suzy there because of her relationship with us… Sorry Suzy!Suzy never wanted to do shows with The Phonies either, unlike many whom have proudly shared the stage with them, Suzy is and always has been a loyal friend to Angel and I. Angel even spoke to Suzy and told her to take the shows with the Phonies if they come, money’s tight these days, and you can’t be turning down shows. It didn’t matter, she wouldn’t do it!Though Mickey was booking the Phonies in Florida and Pennsylvania, Angel and I, being the professionals we are still greeted Mickey like a friend. He said it wasn’t personal, just business, and we were grown enough to understand.Then one day, I was put in touch with a guy out of Floridanamed John Minnis. I was told that John was the actual “Voice” of Nice & Wild. This was a fact and confirmed by numerous people in the industry. John and I got to know each other and I found him to be a really cool guy, and very humble. I asked him why he wasn’t out there singing Diamond Girl, the song he recorded many years ago. He told me he just wasn’t interested anymore. As we continued talking I began to up-date him on the Freestyle genre, and he was surprised at the huge turnaround it made the last few years, and even more surprised when I told him how much I use to get David Torres. Of course this was way before I knew the facts. I asked John about David and all he could say was. “I know he didn’t sing anything!” After a few long phone conversations, I somehow convinced John Minnis to step back into the market, no strings attached. Oh, speaking of strings. There isn’t an artist in the market who can ever say that I asked for exclusivity, so let’s put the rumor that I asked David for exclusivity. If I did that he’d be calling me up every week to help him pay his bills. No thank you!I would work solely as a Booking Agent, making my measly 10%, yet I would help as if I was his manager and get him out there. I explained to John what I did for Angel and the huge success she was now enjoying. John was excited and gave me a green light to help get him back out there.    
    

     John Minnis    I immediately got a picture of him, wrote a little blurb about him and launched him with the infamous FreestyleBlast! In no time the calls began flowing in and I was beginning to secure dates around the country. Within one week I had bites from LA, FL, Chicago, San Antonio, Canada and Hawaii. This was great. The first show in Los Angeles was locked. Contract signed by the promoter and deposits were in. There was just one problem. John Minnis went Missing In Action.For some strange reason, I think he caught a case of the jitters and disappeared. I wasn’t upset, but I was disappointed. I felt bad for him. This guy never really wanted to do this. The great salesman I was sold him on the idea, but the fear he had was greater and didn’t allow me to close the deal. “John, please brother, if you’re reading this, give me a call. I’m not mad at you!” It was just a coincidence that my good friend Scott Haslett got hold of Reggie and Remy. The two guys that fronted the group  Nice & Wild when it first hit the scene. The timing couldn’t be better and after many attempts to contact John Minnis, I had to resort to plan B and sell my promoter over to Reggie & Remy.     

  Reggie & Remy (Nice & Wild) I wouldn’t lie to him, I explained to him the same thing that I explained on this blog, and without hesitation and watching the Nice & Wild Video with Reggie & Remy, I sold it and closed the deal.Remember earlier I told you, people don’t know anything about my bookings until they are placed on FreestyleBlast. Well, that’s what happened here! As soon as I placed these guys on my blast, all hell broke out. Do I get calls? Oh hell no! I have to hear things through the internet, via myspace, facebook etc. hey, I guess they feel safe doing it that way.Immediately, post and emails were distributed via Facebook, myspace, twitter, regular email etc. I would love to challenge each and every lying sentence, but honestly, I’m too busy booking shows. Besides, the people who really matter to me, know me well enough to know that I just don’t do things like that.before the first show, Remy decided to step away from Nice & Wild to pursue his own thing, so Reggie went out, got a couple of guys and once again, re-formed Nice & Wild. So, there were once three guys named Tony, Kayel and Aby, and they called themselves T.K.A.  
Aby, Kayel, TonyThey recorded many songs such as Scars Of Love, Come Get My Love, Maria and so on and so forth.  Well, I don’t really need to get too technical because what made the group break up isn’t the essence of this blog.  What is the essence is the fact that there were others involved in this group that are not involved now. In my opinion, if the three people who are involved, don’t have names that begin with a T, K or A, they red flags fly, and it is important to make sure the fans are aware of this. Whether they want to accept is of course on them, but the situation must be void of deception.As time passed, and for whatever reason their was, Aby was replaced with another “A” Angel Vasquez. You can see Angel in the video X-Ray Vision. Why Aby was replaced? I really don’t know, but he is welcome to comment to this blog and explain the situation.When I began booking the group in the early nineties, the group consisted of Tony, Kayel and Angel.  
     Tony, Kayel, AngelSometime around then, Kayel, whom is without doubt the “Key” member of the group and in my opinion very talented, became another group called K7 and The Swing Kids.

  
Prophet, Tre, Kayel, Los

This was probably my favorite group within the Freestyle genre (oh, but it wasn’t Freestyle!) Sorry folks, it was Freestyle, just a matured version of it.Anyhow, Kay rolled with the K7 concept for some time, but there was still a demand for T.K.A. I was probably the first agent to begin selling the combined package of K7/T.K.A. Then somewhere within this time George LaMond was added to the pack, I didn’t understand that at all.
Los, Kayel, TreThe K7/T.K.A. current performing around the country are no other than Kayel and the Swing Kids, minus Prophet, probably because a 4th member would pose too many questions.A talented and entertaining group, but of course, not T.K.A. Okay, before it is brought up by others, yes, at one time many many moons ago, TKA also consisted of a guy named Spider and La’ India… But there is neither an S nor an  I in the initials T.K.A… so they don’t count!Now I was cool with booking this group and there was no beef from Aby, Angel or Tony, till one day, Angel Vasquez called me and asked if I would get behind him and Aby. The first thing I did was call up Victor (13) T.K.A.’s acting Road Manager and let him know that the fellas had contacted me. We spoke for a while and he made it very clear to me that as long as they don’t use T.K.A. that all was cool. They would have to use Aby & Angel formerly T.K.A.  That sounds fair to me. I spoke with Angel and he had every intention to use the Formerly of.So I immediately go them a show and you know, one of the benefits of getting a booking through La’ is the infamous FreestyleBlast. So there it went, one show, two shows, three shows featuring Aby & Angel Formerly T.K.A.  
Angel and AbyNot only do they get the FreestyleBlast, once I book you a couple of paid shows, I automatically put you on my Roster Blast. Hmm, and the phones began to ring!!!Apparently Kayel wasn’t too happy about this and bellowed his trusty road manager to give me a call. It seemed now that the conversation we had a week or so earlier was forgotten and now I was given an ultimatum! Kayel or Aby & Angel?  Well, as much as I would’ve liked to keep them both on, I couldn’t have someone try and dictate to me how to run my business, and where most people would’ve dropped Aby & Angel immediately so as not to ruin a relationship with Kayel and his crew, I opted to roll with Aby & Angel. Whether the decision was right or wrong, I’m not one to allow anyone to Strong-Arm me. At that point I asked 13 (by the way, that’s his name for those who don’t know) does he want me to remove the group from my roster. After a bit hesitation and beating around the bush, I asked again. he said yes! Remove the group.  I knew that this would be a bigger mistake on their part than on mine. You see what happens at that point is we create question in the market. Now buyers have a choice, and people need to realize that as an Agent, I am a Salesperson, and as easy as it is for me to Sell something, it is just as easy for me to Un-Sell something.They have to realize, just as the others should. My intentions aren’t to HURT someone, but rather to HELP someone else, but I guess in this case, one has to be hurt in order for the other to be helped. But after all was said and done, I slept like a baby that night, my personal indicator that what I deed was right!Till this day I really don’t have an issue with the Kayel camp. I think their career choices are something to be considered and that they have a superior product that needs to be nurtured. But I guess the obvious perception people have about Freestyle are based on artists poor decision making abilities.BREAKING NEWS!!!!
during my days writing this blog, I received a certified letter from Mr. David Torres, you remember him right? The guy who’s been pretending to sing Diamond Girl for over “Twenty Years”. The texture of this paper seems a bit rough so I’ll just use this as a coaster to place my coffee mug. Listen, as far as I see it, if a judge would ever agree with yours or any of the other’s claim, then the justice system really sucks, and I try to give them at least some benefit of a doubt. Any way, here’s the letter.          For those who have never started a business. DBA stands for “Doing Business As” It is the lowest form of establishing a business and used mainly to open a bank account under that name. So Mr. Torres, or do I call you Mr. Nice & Wild, how about Mr. Trademark owner. When you start playing with the big boys, it might be a good idea to form a Legitimate Corporation and leave the DBA’s for the Lemonade Stand owners.Well people, there it is! Please try and understand that this is not an attempt of being an ass nor a trouble maker. But rather to shed light on an important issue regarding an industry that I care for and has cared for me and my family for many years. It’s a shame, because when you look at other markets such as Hip Hop. You don’t see things like this. There is and always will be One Rob Base, One Salt & Pepper, One Naughty by Nature. You will never go to an LL Cool J performance and be disappointed when a 17 year old kid walks out wearing a Kangol and rapping over LL’s recorded Vocals.This is why Hip Hop has stood the test of time. Why that genre has expanded into other areas such as fashion, film and sports. It’s created millionaires over and over again. Name me one millionaire in the Freestyle genre. Try and include an “Imposter” act in a Hip Hop concert. It would NEVER be tolerated! The other performers would be the first to step up and speak out, refuse to share the stage with a wanna-be phony who will do nothing but disgrace the stage and tarnish their night. And I wouldn’t put it pass them to physically toss those lying stealing thieves out on the curb where they belong.My wife had asked me a little while ago, why would I post these letters with all the contact information and names. Wouldn’t that make it easy for others to contact the Phony acts and their managers? In my opinion, if a promoter is that stupid, then I wouldn’t want to work with them anyway! Peace Out Ya’ll and don’t forget,   Speak Out Against Deceptive Freestyle Club and Concert Events   Freestyle 4 Life! La’ 

So there it was, the great Carnival Valor. Though this was just my second time on a Cruise, I was sort of familiar with Carnival. Last year, which was our first Cruise, we did on Royal Caribbean. I’ll talk about the differences later on.

My Mom and Sister Cindy were Carnival Connoisseurs. Mom is no longer with us, and Cindy is still sailing. My mother wanted so bad to take me on a Cruise with her, her treat. At the ti,e I just wasn’t interested. Part of me feels bad because she only wanted to share a wonderful experience, but another part of me is glad that my first Cruise experience was with my wife. It was her first Cruise as well.

I won’t lie, I did try and book on Royal, but they were sold out during our Anniversary which is August 6th. So we agreed to give Carnival a try. I did want to see what all the hoopla was about the so-called fun ship.

If you guys read my blog about last year’s Cruise, you’d notice that there were alot of pictures, well, there would’ve been more for this one because we started snapping photos from the minute we woke up ready to leave the house.  The unfortunate thing was, we lost our freaking Camera around the 2nd day.  It was the bummer of my trip. I had pictures of us walking out the door, getting into the car, it was still dark out.  We met with LB from the group Freestyle Evolution who offered to pick us up at Fort Lauderdale Airport and take us to the ship.  Thanks L! He was upset too because we took a bunch of pictures that morning.  We had some time to kill so we went over to Bayside, a shopping center not far from the port where they have tons of stores and restuarants.  If you are ever in Miami, go check out Bayside, there’s a great Cuban restuarant there. We, however decided to eat at Bubba Gumps, one of mine and Angel’s favorite places. We love shrimp! Oh and Angel and LB put away a couple drinks too… okay, I had one!

Well off to the ship we went. This time it was as confusing as the first. We were pro’s now and flowed through this with ease.  We had recently received out new passports and were excited to use them, sounds Corney hu? Well, as you get older, the simple things in life become exciting once again.

Like the first cruise we are led into the lobby of the ship and let go.  So here’s Angel and I, just like when we first boarded Royal. Standing in the middle of this lobby, people rushing pass us in every direction, booking excursions, having drinks, listening to music. We looked at each other and said,”Lets find out Cabin!

Stateroom 7-290 on the Empress Deck was where we stayed. We immediately unpacked and hung up our cloths. Anyone who is thinking about Cruising, remember, there are no Irons on the ship, so iron your stuff before packing then unpack as soon as you board the ship and hang up your clothes. We learned that the hard way the last time.

So we finish up and find our way through the mazz of a deck to the elevators. Up to the Lido Deck, where all the action is. Food, Pools, Food, Music, Food, Drinks and did I mention Food? I started heading to the Buffet, Angel to the Bar. She pulled me back and instead we both got a drink, taps our glasses and said “Happy Anniversary!”  With drinks in hand we stood along the banister overlooking the Port of Miami as the Carnival Valor blew it’s tremendous horn (Scaring the shit out of me), and off we sailed.

Boats and jets ski’s raced along side the ship waving to us, cars on the highway honked their horns as small hands waved to us from a distance. These people knew we were going on vacation and about to have a blast.

First stop… Grand Cayman!

Another advice when you go on a Cruise.  Throughout the ship, on shore, in the dinning room etc. You will have people coming up to you asking to take your picture. Do it! They don’t charge you.  What happens is, at the end of the day, you go up to one of the decks where they display all the day’s photos.  All you do is walk around and look for your pictures. Some you’ll like, others you won’t. You pay only for those you like. If you don’t like any of them, you don’t pay for any, of course you don’t take any home either.

Angel and I made this almost a game, we sought out whoever was taking pictures, stepped up and said “Cheese!” Well, at least Angel says Cheese, if you look at my shy smile, it’s more like “Meeze!”

There we just wanted to take a tour. I don’t know if I’m really feeling the tours.  Unless you are going to go see things that you grew up seeing in photos or TV, like the Pyramids, Mount Rushmore, The Statue Of Liberty or the Grand Canyon, I just don’t see the point.  Most of these so-called paradise destinations are poverty stricken and the thought that so many of these people hardly have enough to eat, yet your wife is spending a thousand dollars on Bahama Mama’s, can be a bit depressing. So I think, from now on, we’ll stick to the activity excursions.

Within the country of Grand Cayman, there is a city that goes by the name Hell!  For real.

We heard a couple of tales of how it got it’s name, I figured it was because the place is so small and not much to see, that you right away say, “Let’s Get The Hell Out Of Here!” 

Honestly, the town basically consisted on one souvenir shop / post office, where the owner dressed like the devil.

So. We got the Hell out of their and headed to probably my favorite stop on the tour.  It was the Turtle Farm!  Yea, it doesn’t take much to hold my interest.  It was however really interesting. It suppose to be the only Turtle farm in the world, wow, and I was there! Lol

No for real, it was really interesting. Turtle come from prehistoric times. Apparently they haven’t changed in like 2 billion years or something. same like the Alligator and the Roach. Damn, Cavemen had Roaches too? I guess the exterminated came over with his club back then. Hahaha, let me stop, Angel hates when I laugh at my own jokes.  So anyway, there are these sort of divided tanks where the turtles are held.

Let me try and remember what the director told us. There was a tank for conservation, you know, saving the turtles till they are big enough to take care of themselves then let go. Then there is the Study tank. This tank is used for… Studying turtles. Then there was the “Consumption Tank”  yea, you heard right. People like to eat turtle. I’ll pass. 

There was one tank that had smaller turtles that you were allowed to pick up and take pictures with. We did that, Angel didn’t want to hold it, but I did!

It was a pretty small turtle, but the only one that they allowed us to pick up.  Of course that wasn’t good enough for me. Directly behind me were the 80 pounders. These things were huge. I gave Angel the camera and told her to get it ready. She got all nervous and asked what I was doing, I said, just focus, ready? I reached in and grabbed hold of the biggest turtle I could reach. I think it was the biggest in the tank. This thing was so strong, I swear, it almost pulled me in. I wrestled it as the people started to gather around. The director was busy telling someone a story over at the baby tank that he didn’t see me. I grabbed hold and yanked up as Turtle swam down back and forth him and I tugged until finally, with all my strength, I pulled the sonofabitch out the water. I don’t klnow where this water came from, but turtle flapped his arms and legs and soaked anyone 5 feet or less in front of us.  Angel snapped the pic and I tossed turtle back into his tank with a victorious smirk!  Everyone looked at me like I was crazy, wiping the fishing water off their faces.

Sorry again, but remember I told you, we lost our camera during the Cruise so I hope I was able to ignite your imagination a bit.

Then there was this tank…

Then we headed back to the ship.

We get back on time to enjoy one of Carnivals fabulous Cheese Burgers, walked around the deck for a while then headed up to our state room for a little you know what!

SLEEP!!! get your mind out the gutter.

We set our alarm to about 7pm Ship Time. Oh another important thing to know.  When you leave the ship, make sure you have a reliable watch. Carnival will not wait for you. Your watch is to be set to what they call Ship’s Time. What’s that? Simple. If you are sailing from Miami, is Eastern Time, you got that right?

So we get up, shower, get dress and head to the Washington Dinning Room. This is a pretty exciting time and actually a great idea. You see Cruise ships like to group new people together. So if it’s just you and your significant other, good chance you will be seated with another couple or even a round table with a few couples. Whichever, it’s great. You get to meet new and interesting people and create long lasting friends ships that will last till you leave the ship then you’ll never see each other again.

We met a young and incredible couple who had been dating for a couple of months. Izzy and Jamie… They were really cool and fun and we are so glad we met them. Hey guys, if you read this, leave a comment, we’d love to hear from you.

We came to have a bit in common, I knew the moment we all ordered the same dish! So we ate our dinner and got to know  . Angel and I usually try and refrain from the typical ice breaker… “So, What Do You Do?”  Most people have great jobs and make tons of money, but of course we are in the music business, so usually the spotlight is on us. But Izzy and Jamie were different. You see, when we were releasing hits back in the day, they were crawling on the floor looking for lead to eat.  They had no idea who Angel was, Freestyle, no one, and as strange as that was to us, it was actually really nice.

After dinner, Angel and I went back up to our stateroom to.. you know……

“CHANGE OUR CLOTHES!” Damn, you guys have dirty minds!

After changing we would go up to the Lido deck, which is the top outside deck where you can grab a drink, a lounge chair and lay back under the stars and watch a movie on this humongous screen at the top of the ship. Under the dark sky and quiet ocean, you saw and heard the movie perfectly. We watch about three movies during our trip and even though a couple we’d seen before, it was the most relaxing time ever.

Well, the movies over and there is still plenty to do on the ship. But not for this ol’ couple. We grabbed a quick bite at the buffet and headed to our room.

Oh yes, the infamous Towel Pals! 

each night that you go back to your room, you should see a new towel pay made by your room attendant.  if you don’t, go look for him and tell him Latif said he better make you a new pal every night or else!

So the next morning, we wake up and go up to the Lido Deck for some breakfast. There’s at least 3 breakfast buffets with a chef behind the counter making eggs. Cheese Omelette well done!  I’m a creature of habit so that was my regular order.  By the third day, the chef knew me and had my egg ready before I even got up to him. cereal, home fries and some pancakes… Hey, I’m a growing boy!  large glass of Orange juice tops it off. Oh, and for you pork lovers!  You name it, they got it! I’ll pass though.

Off the ship we go to the beautiful country of Belize. At first I thought we were in Jamaica when this guy came up to pose in a photo with us. I think he was lost!

beautiful place, but the port was a bit stinky.  I think the guide said that the marina was man-made and what happens is, the water from the ocean comes in, but never goes out. So you get this build up up algae, dead fist and other garbage. I think it gives off a bad first impression for going swimming. Right away you think all the waters like that. We took a tour that was so so.  Again, you’re looking at poverty-stricken neighborhoods. I could see that in my own hood. I took a bunch of picks here, but of course I lost the camera so I hope you have a good imagination.  Okay, back to the boat.

I have to admit. If you are looking for a cruise to “Relax” then don’t go on excursions because they can be exhausting. I personally enjoy sailing time. Angel and I turn our chairs toward the water and sit back and relax. Yea boy, that’s what I’ talking about. We had wanted to go to the clubs and some of the shows while on the ship, but like the last time, we didn’t. We just laid around and ate. Oh and don’t forget our 10:30 PM Movies under the stars.. Probably the light of each day for me.

Next stop Isla Ritan, Honduras.

I never knew people came here to vaca. They do and it is a beautiful place to go. Would I live here? I don’t think so, but to vacation, yes. Lots of Jungle. You can get an excursion to Zipline through the Jungle.  We didn’t do it this trip, but we made a promise to, next time. Supposedly, when you zipline through the jungle, Monkeys jump through the trees around you. Knowing my reflexes, I might end up knocking one out.

here. we took a Taxi to the beach.  It’s cool, because the driver basically sits around and waits for you. he took us to this beach (forgot the name) and there were other cruise-mates there so we felt comfortable. I had forgotten my watch so I was a bit tensed. God-forbid we missed our ship. I can’t see Angel and I walking up and down the beach selling Shark-Tooth Necklaces to tourist.

By the way, yes, many of the locals will approach you to buy their crafts. They are actually very very talented. I had a bunch of guys from Honduras renovate my Bronx house a few years back and they rocked it.

One thing did throw me off though.  That’s when some 12 year old girl approached  and offered me a message for $5.00  Oh boy. “No thank you,” I replied!  ‘I could do your wife too!” She responded.  I bet she could. Again I kindly declined her offer. Scary!

Since we had lost the camera the night before, we bought a stupid 27 exposure water camera from the ship. I’m so use to digital cameras that I almost forgot ho to use one of these. here’s are a couple of pictures I took.

This water was absoultely incredible.

Here’s a picture of my AngelFish swimming. You should’ve seen before before the swimming lesson I gave her! Oh, and I had to crop this photo to give it a PG rating.

It was a great day. pretty relaxing, but now, back on the ship.  We took a nap, then got up and got dressed for dinner.  We decided to stop at a couple of the Photo spots and take some pictures.

I’m not one to do these pose pics. “Turn you body toward her, your head toward the camera with your eyes toward me. Then point your left foot at 12 and your right foot at 6, and just hold it! All along I’m holding my breath. I look like one of those baby pictures, where the baby’s just sort of staring into space.

Next and last stop… Cozumel, Mexico

I always wanted to see this place.  It was my Mother’s favorite place and I could see why. I have a chessboard that she had bought me many years ago. It’s made from Marble and Onyx. She bought it here in Cozumel and had my sister carry it most of the trip. It’s beautiful and weighs a ton.  I saw the same chessboard when I went into one of the shops at the port and right away thought about Mom. It was exact, but pretty much made from the same materials.  My sister told me that Mom didn’t buy it from a shop, but rather from someone at the side of the road who actually hand-crafted it themselves. I don’t allow anyone to play with that chessboard.

This is a place I wouldn’t mind coming back to again.

A couple of days early, I went down to the Service Desk on the ship and bought 2 excursions. I got a pretty good deal on them because they were basically the same thing, just in two different places. I rushed back up to the room and proudly presented the two excursions to Angel. I was waiting for her praise of the deal I came up with. Instead, she looked up at me and said, “Are you F@#$in’Crazy?” My smile quickly dropped. “What’s wrong I asked?” ”You picked two days of snorkeling in the Ocean?” She asked. “Yea, they gave me a good deal!” I replied. “I can’t snorkel!” She said. “Why not?” “Because I’m scared!”

Oh oh! I thought.  “And you bought TWO days? Go down and cancel these right now!” She ordered. “But!” “I don’t want to hear it. Go down and change these to something different.” I even tried to lie and say all the other excursions were sold out. “Then get our money back!”

I went down stairs and stood on the long line. The lady whom I had just bought the tickets from saw me. “Everythings okay?” She asked. “Not really” I replied.

I came back to the room with one ticket for a tour, which was the one we did in Belize and a credit for an excursion in Cozumel. I figured I’ll have the whole night to talk Angel into Snorkeling with me. You see, I never did it, but always wanted to. I would love to Dive, but I guess I’ll start with snorkeling.

Finally, after constant persuasion, I talked Angel into Snorkeling. We signed up for an excursion in Cozumel called Three Reef Snorkeling. Angel didn’t realize this, and I did my best not to let her find out till we were already on the boat, but Three Reef Snorkeling took you out into the Ocean on a boat were you will Snorkel. Then they take you to another part of the Ocean, where you snorkel some more. Then they take you out to the third.

So we get into the boat. There’s about 12 people on board also doing the excursion. They give us a speedy lesson and begin handing out gear. Angel looked terrified. I felt bad, but hey, if I could Para-sail, then she could snorkel.

Like everywhere, Angel and I always have problems fitting cloths and equipment. The stuff is usually too small for me, and too big for her. Her Flippers were the smallest they had, and were still lose on her. Mine were fine. Her Mask was too big, mine, too small and was hurting me a bit. Her life vest covered most of her body, mine fit me like a bra. We were cracking up and so was everyone else on the boat as they came and kept letting us try on other equipment. Finally, though the stuff hardly fit us, we took it like champs and geared up. I was so excited my heart was pounding, then as I got to the edge of the boat and put on my flippers, I kind of panicked. the dive master looked at me and asked “Ju Or dite?” I nodded my head then leaped off the edge of the boat into the crystal clear sea. I stayed floating waiting for Angel to jump in. She stood at the edge looking down. I know my wife and her eyes was saying, I’m not doing this. Finally, the Dive Master gave her a life ring which made her calm. She sat at the edge of the boat (everyone else had already jumped in) and holding on to her trusty life ring, placed her body gently into the water.

She was in, and I excitedly swam toward her. “Get away from me!” Ordered. I quickly floated away. The water was about 15 feet deep. If you have never been snorkeling, the first few minutes are strange. You see, since we were little, we are use to holding our breath as soon as our face comes in contact with water. So here you are, under water and you have to Inhale!!! It’s a crazy feeling, like you’re about to inhale a lung full of salty sea water.

But I did it and it was amazing. Anxiety was trying to step in and i think one of the Dive Masters noticed. He looked at me and asked if I was okay. I nodded. Then after about an hour, we got back on the boat and went out further. The water here had to be about 25 feet. Of course one of the first questions we all asked during the brief lesson was. Are there any sharks. They assured us, there were none. Again we Snorkeled around. The Dive Master would go to the bottom and point out some water life to us. Eels, Stingrays, Barracudas. Then, we were back onto the boat and off to the third and final reef. This had to be about 50 feet or so. Angel was calm now and was getting the hang of it. Yes, she was still holding on to her Life Ring, but she mastered it and was able to snorkel like a pro… well almost like a pro.

One of the Dive Masters had a camera and asked us if we wanted to take a photo underwater. We agreed and so how, a school of fish flocked in front of us just as he took the picture… It was great.

Look at the Life Ring in Angel’s right hand.

Well, back on the ship, we took a short nap and headed for dinner. Tomorrow we will have a Fun Day At Sea, then back to Miami where we will leave the ship till out next Cruise.

We would like to apologize to those whom we bored, and thank you to those who enjoy our trip. We are planning another Cruise in August next year and we would love for all of our friends, family and fans to join us.

Latif and Angel Mercado. Washington Dinning Room Carnival Valor 2009

When July is here, I’m already working on September. I have a lot of new things happening for the fall of ‘09, new products, new concerts, and new markets that I am currently exploring. I would also like to put a little more emphasis on new artist or at least artists who haven’t been getting the shine they deserve.
 
I’ve attempted this in the past without much cooperation, so I kind of pushed it to the side. I could only work as hard as you, so if you feel that you have what it takes, then reach out, and if I can’t get with you immediately because I’m working with others, just hang in there, I’ll get to you! Also keep in mind, I might not think that you are ready for certain things, so the first step, I need your trust and patients.
 
I’ve established many platforms for all Freestyle Artist to take advantage of. From our Messageboard that has been around for over ten years, to LaRadioLive (4 years), FreestyleBlogs, FreestyleBlast, FreestyleFriends and of course The Freestyle Music Awards (FMAs). Oh and how many of you wear the infamous Men’s Cologne Freestyle by La’?
 
These things have been put together for the sole purpose of promoting our genre, yet it becomes a waste of time without the support of our artist.
 
I still have so much hope for this market. It wasn’t that long ago that promoters use to laugh at it. Now look! Everywhere you look there’s another Freestyle event happening. But we have to be smart and realize that the same people who ruined it back in the day, are popping up to cash in once again.
 
Protect your market people, or else start looking for a regular job, because the next time it falls, it won’t get up again. 
 
Last month I asked for your comments regarding my discussion, and the response was incredible, but also way too much for me to place on this blast, so instead I am linking this to out blog site where you can go in and post whatever it is you want. I am really interested in hearing some of the ideas out there. I know there are some incredibly smart people in this market, industry folks as well as fans and we all need to hear what you have to say.

        R.I.P. Michael Jackson 1958 - 2009

Though I’ve never met Michael in person, his death effected me as if he was a close friend or family member. I still can’t believe it. I was taking a much needed nap, something I never do, when my phone rang and it was my sister Cindy. “Are you watching the news?” She asked. “Michael Jackson died!” Those words hit me like a bat to the chest as I turn on CNN and there it was. “I’ll call you back.” I told my sister, then sat at the edge of my bed in total disbelief.

I am no different than so many others in the music industry, because Michael was a tremendous influence to me too. I was about 4 or 5 years old when I first heard The Jackson Five. Mom bought me anything they put out, one of my favorite was the Christmas Album. How can you twist iconic songs, such as Christmas songs and pull them off better than the originals? At least that’s my opinion.

I use to love singing, it was what I wanted to do in life, and The Jackson Five songs were the first I ever memorized. There was one song in particular that stands out more than any of them…. Ben! Till this day, I can’t stand even the sight of rats, but Ben, the song about a Rat, was my very own personal theme.

Mom would have friends over and right before I went to bed, she would beg me to sing Ben for her company. I played like I didn’t really want to, but that was just a front to make everyone beg. “Okay!” I would say, and Mom would put the 45 (record) on the ”Record Player” thats what it was called back then, and the music would begin. I would sway side to side to the music, looking at each of Moms friends, a few smiled, a few seemed like they wanted me to hurry up so they could get back to their adult conversations, Mom smiled ear to ear, then I sang!

Till This day I am still not sure whether I sang it good or not, because even if I was terrible, my family would never say so, but Ben became a life long association to me growing up. From a young boy, to a teenager to a grown man with kids of my own, I still run a cross a family member here or there who would ask me.. “You still sing Ben?”

Wait! Don’t get too excited.
The park so far has nothing to do with Freestyle as we know it, but that doesn’t mean we can’t change that. A couple of weeks ago I got an unexpected call from Mike Cherney, a reporter for The Sun News, a paper out of South Carolina.
My family and I currently reside in North Carolina, just minutes away from where this park was being built, yet I had never even heard of it.
At first I thought, this was just another one of my friends playing a joke on me, then realized that this was indeed a legitimate call. Thank God, because I was about to hang up!
Without any sort of preparation, I found myself speaking on behalf of the entire Freestyle community, a position I would’ve preferred to have taken, had I been a bit more prepared. Mike, did a great job and asked some really important questions, considering he knew nothing about our genre of music, I appreciated his interest as well as his effort to understand.
Once we were done, I couldn’t wait to get to my computer. I started by typing in Freestyle Music Park, and was blown away by the amount of press it had already generated. I spent the rest of the day doing research and speaking with people connected to the park. They too, had no clue as to what Freestyle Music was.

They interpreted it as a word used to describe ”All” genres of  music. A market way too generalized and unfocused in my opinion. I began thinking about the positive effect an attraction such as this might create, and all the artist, producers and of course fans that would really benefit from it, or at least enjoy it.
Then I thought about the time when I began putting together the 2008 Freestyle Music Awards. The negative attacks it got from so-called fans and supporters of the genre. But I couldn’t stay quiet, if this is meant to be, then we all need to get involved. Below is a link that will take you to the actual interview I did for The Sun News.

I am asking everyone and anyone who proclaims to be a supporter of Freestyle, to read the interview, then comment on it. Please register under your name and let the readers know where you are from. This can be an incredible break through people. Put your pride aside and let’s see if we can make some noise. Plans to build other Freestyle Music Parks around the world are already in effect…
Wow! Can you imagine?
I will be looking out for your comments and appreciate all the support.
On behalf of the entire Freestyle community… Thank you
 
Latif Mercado
La’ Entertainment
    
Check It Out!!! 
 
Remember, No comment leaves room for negative comment… 

Yesterday October 30th 2008, I make a huge breakthrough in my life… I voted!
Now it might not seem as such a big deal to anyone else who has probably been voting for years, but for me it is, and I’ll tell you why.

As a young man, I was arrested and convicted of a Felony. Doing three years in the state penitentary. Though we are talking over twenty years ago, for some strange reason, I thought that I had lost that right and would never be able to vote.

My wife had heard different and took it upon herself to look into it.  She came into my office with some very important information.  Apparently, if you are not currently incarcerated and have done your time and successfully completed whatever parole or probation you might have had, your rights are automatically re-instated.

My hairs stood up and I was a bit overwhelmed by hearing this, and so was Angel.
She had already registered, but not yet voted. We drove down to the local library, I filled out the paperwork, with still some doubt as whether this was real or not. Was their something in that clause that I overlooked, where the person behind the counter is going to tell me, sorry sir, you cannot vote?

I filled out the paperwork and handed it in…. It was approved and he pointed to the line where I would stand to vote for the first time ever in my life.  I just recently turned 42 on Oct 25th 2008.

Angel and I stood on line and for the first time, I felt like a total adult!  Well, I cast my vote and so did Angel, we were able to share this historic moment together. For the Presidentiual race, I have been sitting on the bench rooting for my new soon to be President, but with no power to do anything about it, except watch.

I want to get the La’ Organization more involve in the American political system during the next election.

For all who have never voted or even registered, please do so.  For all who have had a past similiar to mine, take a chance and look into it.  Honestly, if it wasn’t for Angel I would still have been watching from the bench.  Thanks baby!

For more info log on to www.rockthevote.com

Okay, now that I have your attention. Let’s begin with a little math.  Freestyle began to sizzle around, let’s say, 1987. At that time, the “Average Age” of the artist were around 18 years old.. With exceptions of maybe Lil’ Suzy who was very young and a few of the acts that were already in their 20’s.   So here we go, a little math. 2008 - 1986 = 22 years ago.

22 Years + 18 Years = 40 Years Old!  There you go, the average age of today’s established Freestyle Artist. Again, these numbers are just my best estimate and don’t apply to everyone.

Now tell me, who are our record buying audience?
Well since this is my blog, let me initiate my opinion. “They Don’t Exist”!
To all the artist and producers, sorry, but we gotta be real here.
Yea, a few people will buy a download or CD here and there, but the number of sales will NEVER again be as significant as they were during said artist’s Sizzle.

This might seem crazy coming from me, maybe even a bit contrary to my actions in the market, but in order to try and find a solution, we must understand the problem, then admit it.

Many people within the last few years have released new material. Most, if not all of it we’ve supported within our organization, namely La’ Radio Live.

So what’s the problem?
First off, many of us don’t buy music anymore. One of the reasons is, it is so easy to get for free. Am I lying? No! Should we expect the Freestyle audience to go out and support us by buying our music? No we shouldn’t! Very few people will pay for something they could get for free, I wouldn’t! Would you? Don’t lie!

This is really not a bad thing. It is just evolution within the music industry.  Think of all the top Pop acts from back in the day. Do you think they could still sell records as they did during their sizzle? Sorry, they can’t either!

You see, the “Average” audience of an act is usually the same age as the acts themselves. Now note, I use the word average for all you analytical asses. When Freestyle artist in their teens grew into their 20’s, so did their audience. Many of the fans began college or entering the work force during this time or earlier. This was still a great time for the market.

When the acts got into their 30’s, again, so did their audience. At this time, most were either done with school and working or were married with children. At this point, the audience begins to conserve, and as much as they would have loved to support us with all they had, it just wasn’t feasible.

Record sales begin to slow down and the clubs weren’t packing like they use to. Radio at this point switches format to a more popular brand of music, why? Not because they don’t like the music anymore, but because they are always after the majority of the listeners.

So here we are, 2008. Can we ever see Freestyle peak again? yes, I think we can, but it will not be with any of the artist who’s sizzle has already passed. We will need new artist, young artist, young producers and then will come the new audience.  I have been saying this for years. Should our established act ever stop recording new music? Absolutely not, and whenever they do, be sure the La’ Org will support it.

But keep in mind and don’t be disappointed when the reaction to your new release is less than desired. Doesn’t mean it sucks, it’s probably better than some of your more classic stuff, it’s just the record buying audience is at a different level as to what they are looking for. Their ears are fresh, and sounds that we hear are not the same sounds they hear. Think about Grandpa when he wants to play you some old 33’s that he claims is the best music ever. You’ll be doing the same when you sit your grandchildren down to listen to your Classic Cover Girl records. They’ll look at you like you’ve lost it and try to sneak out the room when you are busy trying to demonstrate to them that times popular dance.

So what was the point of this blog? You see, even-though “our” record buying audience isn’t buying anymore, and the clubs are starting to attract our children and grandchildren. The Freestyle audience still wants to be entertained, but at a slower and more conservative setting. Say a nice outdoor concert, cruise ship or casino. Yes, eventhough it may seem a bit scary, that’s where we’re heading people!

I use to work at “Freestyle Major” Metropolitan Records during the time of the attacks. I lived in Queens, NY and would take the E Train to The World Trade Center stop. (Last Stop On the E Train).

From there I would go way down to the lower level to catch the New Jersey Path Train. For those who didn’t know, Metropolitan Records was in East Newark, New Jersey.

For about 4 years, I had a routine, where I could get to The World Trade station, go down to the Path Level, and sit in this small cafe and have a cup of coffee and a muffin. I would usually get there about 8:45am and chill till about 9:15am reading and drinking coffee. The path Level was about 6 stories beneath Tower One.
Afterward I would get on the Path and ride to work. It was the same trip going home.
Lil’ Suzy had a show that weekend in Texas and we returned home on American Airlines on Sept 10th. I had picked up money at the show and wanted to deposit it in the bank before leaving to work. So I went to the bank that was just across the street from my building, but of course it didn’t open till 9:00am, so I waited.

It finally opened, I rushed in, deposited the money then realized I left something at my apartment.  No biggie, I lived right across the street. I went upstairs, grabbed what I needed, when I heard a News Flash on the tevevision that a plane had just crashed into one of the towers.

I put my bag down and watched just as the second plane slammed into the second Tower. Just then, I knew it was an attack. I lived on the 6th floor and rush up to the roof because I was able to see the towers from there.

I could see both buildings on fire. I stood there, staring in disbelief. I decided to go back down to the apartment to hear on the News what was going on and just as I got down there, they showed as the first tower collapsed. I ran back up to the roof, and the entire sky was covered with smoke. I ran back down just to see again as the second tower also collapsed.

I tried to called my job to tell them that I didn’t think I was going in today and couldn’t get through for about 4 hours. I am convinced, that if that had been any other day during the week, or if I didn’t have to make that stop at the bank, I would’ve been one of the victims of 911… God Bless everyone we lost on Sept 11 2001

In Memory of all our Hero’s

It was just a matter of time, wasn’t it? To be honest though, I had this idea way before myspace was around, or at least popular. I had mentioned to WMDave that we needed a site that basically would build itself.  Sort of how our La’ Messageboard worked. We build it once and it continues to build from then on with little to no assistance from us.
We played around with the idea for a bit. Created pages with photo, music and data up-load capabilities.  But no matter what, it was difficult to navigate and confusing.
We finally canned the idea for a bit, when suddenly, I was introduced to a site called “myspace”.

This site, in my opinion at the time was no more than a dating site, and as I played around and explored it, I didn’t want my wife catching me and getting the wrong idea.  Anyway, the more I used it, the more I thought, what a great product. I showed it to WMDave and told him, “This Is What We Need”.

This all happened around 2004 and when I saw the speed and popularity that myspace experienced, it was, damn! Once again, another incredible idea that someone else beat me to. So on with our business and life we went.

Many know I am a huge business magazine subscriber, and seeing sites like myspace and facebook take on the front covers, bragging about the millions they made or sold for, I was sick. But eventhough someone beat us to it, we did have on our side a market that we can cater to. Our very own Freestyle market. We had already covered all basis in the market with La’ Radio Live, FreestyleBlast, FreestyleBlogs, our cologne etc… Well what if we created a social site that catered to the Freestyle Market?
Okay, we got the idea, but how do we build it?

We did our research and outsourced a little help, but it was mainly WMDave, who got us what we needed. It was a bit pricey, very time consuming and extremely frustrating. But guess what?

On September 1st 2008 we launched FreestyleFriends.com and within just a couple of hours, we had over 200 registered members. The excitement was incredible. We watched as the numbers began growing, keeping a close eye out for the bugs, complaints and more importantly, the hackers who like to try and enter sites while they are first being launched.

We got a couple of calls and emails about minor things that we needed to address on the site.  One was the actual separation of the Fans and Industry databases. This was tricky because the site was up and running and we can see people registering while we were still doing small changes.

Suddenly, I hear an Oh oh, come from WMDave. “What happened” I asked. “I think I deleted the entire file”. I laughed, because he has cried that wolf before with some of our other projects. “No I’m serious this time”. He was!

I stayed cool, and thought this as more of a blessing, because I rather ask 200 people to re-register while they still hadn’t even built their pages, than ask 20,000. So I told him, shut us down and get to work. For those who think, “I” never sleep… I do sleep, just very little, approximately 4 hours a night.  Now WMDave? He doesn’t sleep. I think he gets most of his sleep while drive… A school bus! Lol.  Just kiddin, don’t wanna get him in trouble.

I tell people all the time, shut down early and try and be in bed before midnight, then get up early.  That’s my personal key to functioning the way I do.

So we fixed one of the problems and quickly re-launched the site. People were confussed. I decided to just deal with them as they come, instead of trying to explain to everyone what happened and what they need to do.  It was simple, re-register and re-build your page and re-request all your friends again. 

The site is running on a more frequest back-up system now, being backed up multiple times a day, instead of just once a week. You see, that’s where running sites like this become tricky and tedious.

So we are back up and running, and we still have a ton of work to do. We did our best to keep the navigating of FreestyleFriends.com as close to myspace as possible, only because we feel it would be a bit more familiar and easier to get started for those myspace loyalist.

I’m sure as you log on and begin to use the site, you will find many areas that need either improvement or even change. Believe me, if you spotted it, so did we and it is on the list of over 100 improvements already logged in out FF To Do List.  But, please, feel free to let us know anyway. Just send your ideas and suggestions to WMDave@La-Entertainment.com (he’s gonna kill me for that)

When you get a chance, please log and and register at www.FreestyleFriends.com it’s fast, free and fun. Then pass it along to your friends and family.

I’ll see you there!

We’ve been together for about a million years, yet on August 6th 2008, Angel and I made our first year “Married”.  To my fellas, a great gift to give to the wife is a cruise.  Doesn’t necessarily have to be a long cruise, just a cruise to a beautiful place, somewhere in the carribean.  Yes, that’s what I did. Our schedule didn’t permit us to go for too long, but a 3 night 4 day cruise was a perfect first time.  Yes it was the first time that either Angel or I have ever taken a cruise and after this first one, we are hooked and will become regular cruisers.  I think it’s a great vacation and honestly, dollar for dollar, the best value.

But what was interesting about our trip, was what I had to go through in order to keep it a secret for as long as possible.  You see Angel and I have expressed our desire to eachother about one day going on a cruise.  Actually, we made plans one time, told a bunch of friends (including Lil’ Suzy) and had to pull out at the last minute because we were closing on our house in NY. Everyone went besides us.

I pretty much knew from the get that we would be taking a cruise for our first anniversary, but like all the gifts I’ve given Angel, I love surprising her, and I’m good at it.

One of the stressful parts that I had to handle was the fact that I couldn’t find Angel’s Birth Certificate. Our Passports were expired and since we haven’t been out of the country in years we never bothered to get new ones.

I had an idea.  I told Angel that one of my promoters from Canada wanted to book her, but that she needed her birth certificate. She looked everywhere but to no avail. So we decided to order them On-Line.  I told her order a new one for me too and get copies of both, just incase! We had them rushed and thank God we got them right on time. Sorry baby, no Canada show.

So about three months before we made a year, Angel began to ask what we should do for our anniversary.  We had been really busy, so I told her we’ll think of something. Time went on and the date got closer. I contacted my good friend Joe Hanna who does travel from Florida and told him that I wanted to book a cruise for our anniversary.

Right away Joe got to work and I booked us a 4 day 3 night Cruise on the great Royal Carribean Cruise Ship “Majesty Of The Seas” By the way, I give it 5 stars. I wanted to book the cruise on a weekend which worked out great because our anniversary was on the Wed before we shipped out. Our anniversary was the 6th of August and I booked the cruise for the 8th (that Friday).  This was perfect because I would be able to surprise with the trip and still give her a little time to do a little shopping.

Weeks prior, Angel was pressuring me about what we were going to do for our anniversary.  I would give it a little thought, then either change the subject or tell her “Let me think about it”.  You see Angel loves to eat at Chilli’s (Fajita Trio is her favorite). So I told her that I wanted to take her to Chilli’s and a movie on our anniversary. The hardest thing I had to do was keep a dumb face as she looked at me in disbelief of my choice of celebration.

She didn’t say anything at first, but then I asked her if we should take the kids, and her already distorted face, distorted some more. The days were getting closer and we changed the Chilli’s idea to going down to the beach for the weekend and yes, bringing the kids.

We came back from a show and went out to eat, about a week prior to our anniversary.  Finally, she couldn’t hold it in any longer.  Angel expressed to me how disappointed she was that I hadn’t put any thought into our 1st anniversary.  She said any other anniversary could have been compromised, but the 1st was supposed to be special.

I threw on my acting face. I played the dumb husband that didn’t know any better because hey, I’ve never been married and had no experience, was my dumb excuse. You can see she wanted to rip my had off.

The night before our anniversary, Angel and I were in Wal-Mart late at night picking up a few things.  I told her I had to go do something and I’d be right back.  I had an idea of how to present the cruise to her. I found this great photo album with a little window on the cover. I grabbed it just as Angel turned the corner. I quickly swung the album behind my back. “What are you doing”? she asked as she tried to peek behind me. “Get away, I yelled! I’m trying to buy your anniversary present. She gave me that “Look” and went outside the store to wait for me. Later she revealed that she had called her sister Maria to tell her “Do you believe he’s buying my 1st Anniversary present from Wal-Mart”? Little did she know, Maria already knew about the Cruise.

So I grabed the perfect Anniversary card and the Photo Album and headed for the cashier along with some of the other things she left in the shopping cart.  I came out of the store with that “Dumb Husband” look, still trying to hide the gift that was in the Wal-Mart shopping bag. Angel didn’t have much to say to me except “So what did you get me”  I said “Something you always wanted” Without saying a word, I could hear her mind saying “From Wal-Mart”?

The next morning I was up around 6:30am (I was really excited) and proud that I was able to make it without her finding out.  I went into my office and locked the door. I never recieved a brochure or any travel info from the Cruise, so I went on-line and started printing photos of the ship. I placed one into the little window of the album and on the inside, I wrote her a letter… This is what it said.

To say she was excited would be a complete understatement. Well I did it! What I didn’t realize was that she didn’t realize that we were shipping out in two days.  She thought it was going to be in October, a time that we had agreed on a few days prior.  As soon as she found out we were leaving in a couple of days, I handed her the Credit Card before she could say “I have to go shopping”!

Friday morning a 5am we were out and on our way to the airport to catch a flight to Miami where we would board our ship.  The experince just boarding was exciting to the two of us.  I had called Joe Hanna the day before to get all the details about the trip. I wanted to make sure we had everything we needed, no disruptions whatsoever.

We are so use to airports, that a sea post was something really new to us. I personally hate going through Customs, for some reason, they make me nervous.  But we did it and all went well. They gave us our “Set Sail Passes” along with a word of the importance of not losing them. I’m telling you, we guarded those things with our lives the whole trip.  They made us fee as though if we lost them, we would be left on one of the islands never to return.

Well we are lead onto the ship and basically left in the middle of the lobby.  If you had never been on a Cruise ship, youwould know what I mean when I say we were lost. People all over the place, going from one part of the ship to the next.

Well we finally found our room.

It was nice.  It was a statesroom, supposedly bigger than your average. But also, that must apply to average sized people. (Okay, Angel is a little below average and I am a little above average so I guess it evens out).

We freshen up a bit and waste no time heading back to the lobby to begin our exploration of the ship, starting with, what else… The famous Windjammer. That’s where the food’s at. That was really cool, it’s set up like a huge buffet with diiferent areas hosting different foods.  Italian over here… Chinese over there… etc.

So we grab some food. A little advice here. Before grabbing the first thing you like.  Walk around the buffet for a minute and visit the other stands. It kind of sucked when I filled my plate with some yummy food, just to pass another stand with even yummier food.

Well we sit down, and wave to one of the attendants. He comes up and I as if we can get a couple of diet cokes and a drink for M’Lady!  The attendant replied.  “I would love to sir, but this is Carlos’ table, he’ll be right with you” I wait a second, because I hate to start eating without something on my plate. I start asking other attendants if they were carlos. They all apologized that they weren’t.  Apparently there is a slight code there.  Attendants don’t violate other attendants sections.

So we starting eating.  Finally Carlos arrives. I greet him like a long lost brother and smack a couple of dollars into the palm of his hand. “Stay close bu okay Carlos?” carlos agrees, still taking care of the other guest, i can see he has his eye on us. So we finish up and are about to leave. Carlos, comes up and says “Would you need anything else?” No thanks Carlos, but we’ll be back later.” He nodded and helped the misses out of her chair. But before we left I asked, hey Carlos, can I take a picture with you? Okay he replied…

Well, we go outside and start walking around the ship.  It was truly incredible. The pool area was already packed. The music was setting the theme as the ships horn blew and we began to sail.

By the time we were deep into the ocean, it was time to get ready for dinner.  We had a 6:pm dinner set for each night.  Angel said, next time let’s take the later dinner, I thing it was like 8:30pm. This way we don’t miss things like, the sunset etc..

The first night was casual attire, so we thre on a little something and headed to Deck 3 where we would sit for our first dinner on a cruise ship. We chose to sit with others and there was a lady and her daughter sitting there. We introduced ourselves and sat down to eat. They turned out to be really nice people.  From the WestCoast, the mother brought the Daughter on the cruise for her birthday. The waiter brought her over a little cake and we got the whole place singing happy birthday.

So after dinner, we went back up to our room, changed into something a bit more comfortable and headed back to deck 11 where the pool was.  We grabbed a couple of loungh chairs and faced them toward the ocean and just chilled out. Now that’s what I’m talking about. It was the most relaxing time I have had in years, and to have my wife with me, it was incredible.

So the next morning we wake up and I rush to look out the window.  We are at Coco Cay, a private Island owned by Royal Carribean. It was a beautiful Island and I couldn’t wait to get off the ship.
We had to take a Ferry from the ship to the Island. The day was a bit cloudy, and a storm was approaching.  I had wished it was a nicer day, but then again, I got to experience a real Tropical Storm.

I was a little nervous though.  I had signed us up for Para-Sailing. What was I thinking?  Angel didn’t know this till we set foot on the island.  At first it wasn’t ready due to the storm.  Good thing, the lightening was intense and Benjamin Franklin already discover electricity. So we decide to chill at the Straw Market, have a couple of drinks and wait out the storm. I could never understand why they called it “The Straw Market”.

Okay Latif, that’s enough!

So we get to the waiting area for the Para-sailing and their are a young couple, two brothers, and some lady and I guess it was her lover she was with. We All pile into the small motor boot with two guys who looked as though they were from one of the neighboring Islands. They were cool though. Angel and I were the first to sit down and then the rest followed. The waters were real choppy because of the storm. We zoom out to the middle of the Ocean, the Island and our ship still very visible. The guy points to Angel and I and say… “You’re First”! The pleasant smile I had on as I boarded the boat suddenly disappeared and nervousness kicked in.  I had told guy earlier that I weighed just 250 pounds and that Angel was just 115 pounds totalling 365 pounds. The weight limit was 375. Just as he was strapping us in, I nervously confessed that I was at 295 and Angel at 120, bringing our total weight to 415 pounds, 40 pounds over the limit.
The guy just waved it off and continued strapping us in… Oohh. Now I was really nervous. Hm, did I sign a waiver when I signed up for this?

So they strap us in. I have my cool smile on, Angel as you can see by the ripples on her forehead was feeling as confident. You know, if I was the correct weight and the person I was going up with wasn’t, I’d have ripples on my forehead too. So he straps us in and ask are we ready?  Hold up a second I yelled.  Any instructions?
“yes” he said, sit up and relax!” then he takes off and the chute yanks us back. I had given my camera to one of the guys on the boat. As soon as we took off, I felt my body fall back and my ass sort of popped out the saddle. I tried to sit up, but to no avail. I even tried to reach under to pull my pants up, I could’ve sworn, until I saw these pictures I thought everyone on the boat was watching my ass the whole time.

So up we went.  whats confussing to me though is, if you look at this picture, how is the brace leaning toward Angel’s side? Hmm..
So we’re off. The boat is going faster, and we are going higher…

… And Higher. let me point out something for a moment here. Now if you look at the strap that Angel and I share in the middle. Now, If I were her, I’d be pissed. There are two other straps right above my head, why would they put me on hers.  If mine snapped, she’d be going down with me.
I want you also to take note of the knot that fastens our chute to the pulling rope. You see, I didn’t notice thats this was just your regular everyday, childrens knot, until I was way up in the air. We’ll get back to that later.

If you look closely, you’ll see Angel turned toward me. This is when I told her that I felt like I was slipping out of the saddle. You see, she’s sitting up like they said, I’m basically laying back, but holding really tight to the straps, so tight that I swear, if it would’ve snapped under me I’d still be holding on.

And even higher.  Now lets go back a second.  Remember when I mentioned that I noticed that the knot looked like it was tied by a second grader?  Well this is where we were when I noticed it. talk about a panic attack. I was able to see the ship and by the strength of the wind and the direction that it was blowing, all I could picture was the knot coming loose and us flying full speed at the side of the ship…
As we are relled down to the boat, the guy yells at us to try and land on our feet. That was easy for Angel, very hard for me.
I decided to land on my but. Take note of the choppiness of the water.

So we made it! And spared the ship a nasty dent on it’s side. We take one last photo of our adventure. It was great, a first for the two of us.

Well that was enough adventure for me… Time to chill and just take a dip!

I’m not particularly fond of this picture. It shows too much Baby Fat.

So back to the ship we go.  It’s getting late and we have to get ready for dinner. You know a brother don’t miss a meal! We shower, change and head down to dinner. After dinner, we decide to walk around the ship and look for a couple of the clubs that are there.  First stop, a Salsa club… Every white person on the ship was there. They love Salsa.
It was cool, we hung there a bit, had a couple of drinks, then we were out. If you think about it, Angel and I basically work in clubs, and eventhough this club was on a ship, it just wasn’t where we wanted to spend out cruise time.

It’s time to call it in and get ready for tomorrow. One note about sleeping on the ship. Not sure if it’s just me, but I slept like a baby. I guess it’s the subtle movement of the ship.  very relaxing. What I also liked was the idea, that when I wake up, I’d be at the next port, which in our case was….

The first thing we decided to do, recommended by my good friend Joe Hanna, was to take a tour around the island, which we did.  Great way of starting your day on the island.  It’s about  hours and very informative. They took us from the rich areas to the Ghetto, Angel and I are originally from the Ghetto’s of New York, the South Bronx to be exact, so it’s always interesting to do some sort of comparison. I have to admit though, New York Ghettos are living large in comparison to some of the Ghetto’s around the world, including the Bahamas.
So we took the tour, went to Paradise Island and into the Atlantis Hotel. Nice place with a sort of Aquarium in the lobby. Huge Aquarium though, had Stingrays, Sharks, Barracuda’s, that was great. More impressive to me than the $25,000 a night suite everyone talks about, where Michael Jordan and Michael Jackson stay when they are in town.
Tours over and they bring us back to the port where the market it. Here is where you get your souvenirs and other island memorabilia.
So after doing a little shopping, a heard this really weird sound. I asked Angel, “Did you hear that?” She kept silent for a second, then said “No, what was it” “My stomach, I’m hungry get’s go get a bite”
The only thing with me, my chosen menu is stuck on the typical American diet, which may include Chinese, Japanese and Spanish, namely Puerto Rican and Cuban foods, that’s it! I don’t experiment. If I ever go to Germany, I’d be looking for the “Golden Arches”, believe that.
So, we found a Hard Rock Cafe, great! But wait, I’m low on cash, and need an ATM machine. I ask someone working in the area where I could find one, and they point to a bank next door.  We go inside. The bank is closed, but like in the states, they have an open ATM in the vestibule.
I like to keep at least 4 or 5 hundred dollars in my wallet when I’m away. Just me, makes me feel safe I guess. But, I know we are about to get back on the ship and I don’t think we’ll be spending that much more between now and when we board the ship again.  So I decide to take out just $200.00.
Cool, I swipe my card, punch in my pin and …. Oh Snap! It shot me out $200. in Bahamian money. Thank God I just took out $200. So we took it to the Hard Rock and had a great time. Bahamian Money and American money have the same Value in the Bahamas.  If you take it back to the states, and exchange it, you’ll take a lost.

So we stuff our faces, give the waitress a big Bahamian tip, and get back to our ship. Earlier on the cruise, Angel had lost one of her earrings. It upsets her, I’m use to it, she’s always losing earrings. Anyway, we get back to our room and sitting on our bed is an animal shaped out of a towel.  This is a regular thing that the room attendants do while you are out… this and I guess go through your stuff Lol.
So he made this towel animal, put Angel’s shades on it and the earring that she had lost earlier in the trip on it’s nose.

I gotta be real here for a minute. Honestly, I have to admit. This could be a great way for attendants to secure themselves a good tip at the end of the trip. Find something of value, in the beginning of the trip, then give it back at the end. Well, if that was the case, then it worked, because Angel was thrilled she got her earring back, and our attendant got a fat tip. We hung out on the deck for awhile, then went to get ready for our final dinner.

Special Thanks to a few of the people that made our1st Cruise Special.

Juan, the Assistant Waiter

Desmon, our Waiter

Alberto, our Room Attendant

Our good friends Black Beard and Poly

All our Fellow Cruisers that weekend.

Our Ship “The Majesty Of The Seas”
And of course….. GOD!

For making it all so perfect!

Thank you joining us on our 1st Anniversary!