Pioneering New Orleans rapper Tim Smooth died yesterday (Tuesday 26th 2011) at the young age of 39, after a long battle with cancer. Though not a household name outside of New Orleans and circles of New Orleans Rap fans, he was one of the undisputed pioneers in the city’s scene. Like a hip-hop Zelig he … Continue reading Tim Smooth, pioneering and influential New Orleans rapper, has passed away
This looks incredible. South By Southwest is hosting a bounce music showcase. This is your chance to experience some of the biggest talents to come out of the New Orleans Rap scene. Although they made their pledge goals, you can still donate and get various merchandise. Now I may have to go to SXSW for the … Continue reading New Orleans Block Party – Bounce Music goes to SXSW 2010
This blog entry is a look back at one of New Orleans‘s more obscure hip-hip labels, Tombstone. Tombstone Records was a notable New Orleans Rap label in the 1990s that released a handful of high caliber releases that sold over 100,000 albums around the South in three years before abruptly ceasing operations after a series … Continue reading Fucking with the Tombstone! — A history of New Orleans’s Tombstone Records
As most of my readers no doubt know, I’ve made neighborhood maps of many of the cities that I’ve explored, including Barcelona, Busan, Detroit, Glasgow, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seoul, and Taipei. There are many more big cities that I’ve visited, however, that I for whatever reason haven’t made neighborhood maps of — even cities … Continue reading New York City Neighborhoods Map
In early January, Una and I headed north over to San Francisco to visit my sister, who was in town for a conference. I figured it might be a nice opportunity to share some thoughts about “the City.” Since first visiting in 1998, I’ve been to San Francisco many times — and yet, for some … Continue reading Where Fools Fear To Tread — A Snapshot of San Francisco
GRIFFITH PARK DRIVE CLOSURE IN GRIFFITH PARK On 27 June, a small stretch of Griffith Park Drive is being closed to cars as part of a pilot program [UPDATE: It’s permanent now]. Inevitably, there were the NIMPS (Not In My Parking Spaces) who cried that they and people like them would no longer be able … Continue reading Nobody Drives in LA — Re-Claiming Los Angeles’s Streets
I have always been an explorer and when I was about eight years old, I became aware of and interested in drugs. In second grade, my main subject of interest was dinosaurs. Dinosaurs were a gateway to Pleistocene megafauna. After Pleistocene megafauna, I began innocently experimenting with legal substances. I started drinking coffee (with lots … Continue reading Cannabis Los Angeles
A few weeks or months ago (I can’t remember which), I decided to make a map of Chicago neighborhoods. I live in Los Angeles and I’ve made a map of Los Angeles Neighborhoods. After I visited it, I made a map of New York City neighborhoods. I’ve also made maps of the neighborhoods of Detroit, … Continue reading A Chicago Neighborhoods Map
Say what you will about Los Angeles but it’s unlikely that anyone has ever described it in earnest as a “city that never sleeps.” It is not, in other words, Barcelona, New York City, New Orleans, or Las Vegas. There are 24-hour businesses in Los Angeles, of course, mostly restaurants. When I was younger, I … Continue reading Swinging Doors — Los Angeles’s Early Houses
INTRODUCTION In 2018, I made a map of Los Angeles’s oldest restaurants and wrote a bit about them. It proved relatively easy because there was lots already written on the subject. When I started writing about Los Angeles’s oldest bars, it proved much more difficult. Not only could I find no serious effort to draw … Continue reading Swinging Doors — Los Angeles’s Oldest Bars
Eric Brightwell 