Rock WILK: NEWS

you can get it here at the "buy stuff" page.............

contracts signed, theater booked, special guest to be announced, get yo' ass to this show, it's gonna be dope! Tix available at the "buy stuff" page....

check www.soundbitesnyc.com , I'll be part of the team TEAM AIN'T NEVER SCARED, check back for more info...... Event happens on April 11th and 12th.........

look for the cd at the end of the February, iTunes, Amazon.com and all other digital outlets to follow shortly thereafter, and a chatbook of my poetry coming soon, as well............

Poetry events at an elementary school and a High School performance for Black History Month, inspiring and being inspired by students, special guest appearances with other artists, community events, an appearance at Borders Books and the next Ma'Plej experience, check the calendar page to keep up!!

check http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=89334024 or www.tribesmagazine.com .
Cool thang!!!

more on these performances later.....

www.returntothedream.com

check the interview here...
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/agsupreme/2009/01/31/TBA-

2 wins in 1 week!! again at Loserslam at the Inkwell in Long Branch, NJ, this was a conventional slam, mad fun, just going with this and taking it all in. Thanks to Chad Anderson, Connor Dooley, and Nicole Homer for their talent, hard work, committment and support, you guys are the best..
I'll keep bothering you down there.....

my first win, cool "theme" slam, 4 rounds to the finals...1-read someone else's poem, 2-original haiku, 3-improv.. come up with a poem "on the spot" given a theme and finally, 4-open round of anything you want to do. Fun, challenging and my first win. Humbled by it, learning alot..............

now you can hear new spoken word pieces as I record them, audio clips as well as videos, so be sure to check back from time to time at the "music and video" page. also check www.myspace.com/rockwilkword for a developing spoken word page. hmmm... there might even be a new "gift" up there for you right now.... check it!

getting ready to be a guest artist with the amazing band, "Return To the Dream", check the calendar page. Also, check the photo page for a gift given to me after performing at Bar 13 the other night in Manhattan, amazing! And more Ma'Plej info soon........... 2009, LET'S DO THIS!!

New season of MTV's "The Real World" begins this January, this one in Brooklyn, and Rock has placed some original music there, so enjoy the show and listen for Rock's music! Honored to be a part of anything MTV does.

please note that my scheduled performance of Ma'Plej at The Stephen Crane House in Asbury Park, NJ for this coming Friday, Nov 7th, has been cancelled.

I'll be performing as part of Asbury Park's "First Night" this coming Saturday, Nov. 1st, in front of The Garden Marketplace, come be a part of the craziness of First Night, especially since it's Halloween weekend! more info at the calendar page...

I'll be "working out" alot of my material every Monday night at Le Grand Dakar in Brooklyn, at 8pm each week. Info at the calendar page, come hang out, get yo' butt to Brooklyn once in a while!!!!!!!!

listen for music written and performed by Rock WILK on MTV"s "Making The Band 4", great show and an honor to be a part of it!!

WILK and BROKE WIDE OPEN reviewed at the following link..
http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/betterlivingthroughmp3/390/free-mp3s-wilk-music-plastic-little-hip-hop-hopefuls

race relations, fear, ignorance, hatred, preoccupation with the surface, it's blocking our progress, it's on my mind all the time.
Authority, trust, guns, drugs, perception, power, helplessness,
IAmAPerson&SoRU

the demo to "Have You Ever Heard" is posted at the music page, check it out.

“Broke Wide Open at Amazon.com”

Whatup, everybody? Been a while since the last newsletter, hope this finds everybody well headed into this holiday season. Alot going on with my album, which I’m happy to say is now available at Amazon.com in addition to iTunes, Rhapsody, EMusic, Napster and pretty much all the other digital stores that you might shop at online. Just search “WILK” or “Broke Wide Open” and download away!! Also, the physical CD is exclusively available at either www.wilkmusic.com or www.myspace.com/wilkmusic , so please keep that in mind for all of your holiday shopping needs!!! ;) Buy 4 or more copies and the shipping is free. You can pay by either credit card or paypal, all forms of payment are accepted.
Also, when you purchase at any of the digital stores, feel free to leave a review there, great to get the word out about the album in every way possible!!!

Some news:
• I’m currently in the process of auditioning band members as I’m getting ready to take this album live, so stay tuned for that. There will be some showcases here in New York City and then we’re gonna hit the road.
• Here’s what’s going on at the WILK MySpace site… over 83,000 profile views, almost 210,000 streams of the songs and almost 8000 people have linked themselves to the site. The buzz is growing every day, for sure, check some of the recent comments:

“Thanks for letting me in your space. Without a doubt, this is one of the deepest and realest pages I came across in quite some time. You speak from the heart, keep on keeping on and continue to speak the truth. Damn if the world don't need more people like you, I swear! Thanks again")”
Dee”

“Wow, what a beautiful dedication to your mother. I like it a lot. I must confess that my favorites are "The Chain" and "Stroke." I have a bunch of them on my regular I-Pod rotation. "Most Played" has grabbed a couple of them up. Incredible.”.. Sara

“SALAM
BYE BYE VERY GOOD!!
BRAVO....
PREND SOIN DE TOI
AHMED EL SALAM”

“I take few moments to hear your song, luv "treat you like my own" and "byebye", Luv the way you improve and sending message through your music. Peace&Luv!
Hg”

“You have a dope sound. Peace always. –ISA”

“great songs!! …Hassan”

“Your poetry is amazing!
AB”

“wow your songs arr really powerful i really enjoy the music and the words . . . . :D i think that black and white is very strong my fave's are the chain and the one i most relate to is treat you like my own. . . and bye bye i enjoy you have great songs i really do like them great work. . . . Jemma”

“I am truly enjoying your sounds. You sound like the pulse of New York-Groove to me. Cheers, Greg”

“You know you are the truth!!!
You are also a great story teller. Your insight to the world is amazing.
Never stop ! …Jeanette”

Be a part of it. GOT WILK?

Whatup, everybody? Hope all is cool in your world, just dropping you some information on what’s going on with “Broke Wide Open”.

If you haven’t already been there, be sure to visit the MySpace site at www.myspace.com/wilkmusic , there is alot going on! With almost 60,000 visits to the site over the past few months and almost 175,000 streams of the songs, the story is really beginning to unfold, and the response has been very STRONG. Just check all the comments at the page, and you’ll see what I mean.

I’m currently exploring alot of opportunities coming in, to begin performing this music, getting ready to take this show on the road, so stay tuned for more information on that. College radio has started to add songs from the album, and I’ll be doing some interviews over the next month, so be sure to check the websites for more information on that, as well.
Also, “Black and White” has been chosen as the first single from “Broke Wide Open”, and I’m hopeful that will be a strong introduction of myself and this album to more and more people, as I venture beyond this mailing list.

So that’s it for now, just wanted to keep you all in the loop, thanks so much for all of the amazing support. Don’t forget that the CD of “Broke Wide Open” is available at either www.wilkmusic.com or www.myspace.com/wilkmusic , and you can also download the album at iTunes or any of your favorite digital stores. Just search “WILK” or “Broke Wide Open”.

Stay well, and stay close, more to come.
Support Independent Music!
Peace
Rock WILK

Now you can download "Broke Wide Open" at ITunes! Just click here or go to the "buy stuff" link.

Spring Valley, New York


Spring Valley, the most beautiful place
When you look around
Trees everywhere
EVERYBODY lives there

No nationality missing
Kinda like Brooklyn
Black White Brown Yellow
“lite” Jews, Hasidic Jews

Downtown spring valley
20 miles from Manhattan
will make you sing the blues
Gospel singin’ across the street from your bar mitzvah
Football practice behind gods words under the cross
Across
from the star of David

244 N Main, like the LG projects of Bed Stuy
Someone’s gonna cry, bullets fly, every day
Again, today, someone’s flyin’ away
Angel’s wings carrying another lost soul
From Spring Valley

This is who lives here
Screams for help
Nobody wants to hear
Money lived on one lily white side
Monsey in the middle
Memorial Park, what makes a downtown?
People hangin’ around

Take your family to the movies on Main St
Hey hey hey
KKK
Don’t use it, then
XXX
Even THAT closed!

Baseball, basketball, Football
Don’t let your kid hang around with THAT kid
Who me?
He’s down in “the park” all day, every day
My father left me there,
when we first got there
That will always be my gift,

IAmAPerson&SoRU
Words from a child
I AM A PERSON AND SO ARE YOU

Like Apaches playing downtown
Pony Express from the other side of the tracks
Remember your father called me the N word?
I remember,
this white boy remembers
That’s why I know what it feels like

Downtown is down, been down, beautiful town
Army and Navy store died in the war
When’s the parade?
Never been to the parade?
You grew up there and don’t even know where
“the hill” really is?
Maybe you should have climbed that mountain
You’d have a nicer kid

Ramapo and Spring Valley High
Kids grow up and die
Not you? What if you were black?
You wouldn’t know, nobody really cares
In Spring Valley nobody dares
To see the truth,

Fond memories, glory days
I got mine, my father dug a pool
wouldn’t swim in my pool
Felt a fool, self hate, overrated,
Everyone around me sedated
Created this disparate fate

Get me back to the D Train
Roots and disappointment pull me home
There’s a soul in that train
We all ride together in that train
We’re all the same in that train

Open your eyes, Spring Valley
Beautiful Spring Valley
Rockland’s jewel, uncut diamond
Just sitting there
All the resources,
EVERYBODY lives there
Diversified
under utilized
Under scrutinized, over generalized

Lies, cries for help unheard, ignored
Community Bored of education
Yea, BORED
They don’t care
Send ‘em to Boces
That way nobody can see
As another girl cries, another boy dies, dreams never survive
Leave ‘em behind
My hometown
Spring Valley

So this one is rough, I’m on the 14th version of this song and I’m TIRED! They all sounded good, and as a matter of fact, one of the lead vocal performances was, without a doubt, the best performance of my life. The thing is, the song is still not conveying what I want it to put across. It just doesn’t “feel” like what I want it to feel like, and this album is all about that. After all, it IS called “Broke Wide Open”. So I gotta stay with it, keep doin’ it, can’t quit on the song, gotta get it right, but here’s the thing…..

I have now done 8 full blown productions around this incredible lead vocal and it’s just not working. I have to get rid of that vocal forever, I have to delete the file, I have to KNOW that it’s gone forever, that it was just a “moment in time”, something special that I can appreciate for what it was, a passing thing, can’t get hung up on a performance if it’s not serving the whole piece, so……………….

I clicked on my hard drive, found that file, that magical file, looked at it for about 45 minutes, and hit delete. Then I cried for about an hour. Cried like a baby, big cry, crocodile tears, snot coming out of your nose crying, making deep primal sounds crying, gonna have the cleanest eyeballs you’ve ever had since you were born crying. Then I let it go.

I sat in the studio with my boxer shorts on, and just got into the lyrics, just kept reading them, over and over, really going back, getting my brain, my soul and spirit back on the A Train a few months earlier, where the song was born. Really stepped back inside, and then I finally got it. The courage to REALLY do this song, I let go of the fear, the anxiety, and I finally agreed with myself to allow this song to happen organically, to reveal it, to cut it loose into the universe.

Boxers came off, set up a click track in the headphones and got on the mic. Then I started to do this rhythmic hand clap thing, it just came out, don’t know where it came from, but I just started clapping. Felt almost tribal, this was coming from my feelings, not my thoughts, so I just kept clapping. I clapped for about 2 hours, literally until my hands were bleeding, until I was dripping with sweat all over the mic, all over my floor, my own salt water dripping down my back, my chest, my face, my arms and legs, sweat splashing all over the place mixed with my blood, bringing my entire self to complete and utter exhaustion.

letting my song loop over and over again until I had about 40 tracks of handclaps. The cool thing about this is that I could only hear what I was doing, couldn’t hear the tracks that were already recorded, only the one I was currently doing, and when I listened back to all the tracks together, they were LOCKED!

So then I just laid down for a while, and let those tracks play in the studio, LOUD, over and over, just listened, tried to get those handclaps inside me, wanted them connected from the inside out, so I just let ‘em play, and I listened, and I listened…………………. About an hour later, I got up, recorded some pots and pans as percussion instruments, programmed some drums, just a bass drum, snare and high hat, and then I had my groove.

Finally, this song was feeling right, after all this time, but now was the moment of truth, could I record another lead vocal that I would be happy with? I got on the mic, and just sang the song. After some sweaty, bleeding handclaps, and some very organic drum and percussion tracks, I finally was swimming in a track that felt like the words of my song, the environment was correct, and the vocal just flowed.

One take, I listened back, and that was it, it just felt right, so I left it. Looped the song again, now with the bulk of the track done, including the lead vocal, and just started singing background vocal parts, just let the song go around and around, and came up with all the parts on the fly. That’s how I arrange background vocals, just hit loop and go. Once I had the foundation parts, I layered everything with more tracks, added some “crowd noise”, {all me again}, and that was it, the song was finally done.

Just wanted to share some of my process with you this week.

“2 Days”

You can hear it on my album, “Broke Wide Open”, which you can purchase here, or at www.myspace.com/wilkmusic . Just hit the “buy now” button.

Hope this finds you happy in your world and I’ll be back soon.

Peace

WILK