Mad One Media

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Where to Shop For Your Hats This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit madone.substack.com/subscribe

I went on a stroll in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park and asked, "What do you do for your mental health?” It’s the revival of a series I did called Mental Health Minute where everyone interviewed is the teacher of their wellness tools. I’ll be doing this in different areas as location-based narratives to highlight how a place tells a story. *Personal Note - I had to move out of my place in a rush...

June. 8th was Oakland Filmmaker and comrade Josh Healey ’s 40th Birthday (another ‘84 baby). He had a roast in his living room that brought The Ruckus . I went up first, and roasted him as the first act, just as I did as the first toaster at his wedding in 2011. After 40 years of life and 20 years of marriage, I celebrate Brother Healey, my Josh from another Jewish Mother. I recorded the living ro...

Man of the Mission  The Mission District  ( Spanish : Distrito de la Misión), [4]  commonly known as the Mission ( Spanish : La Misión), [5]  is a neighborhood in  San Francisco ,  California . One of the oldest neighborhoods in San Francisco, the Mission District's name is derived from  Mission San Francisco de Asís , built in 1776 by the Spanish. [6]  The Mission is historically one of the most...

“Where do I go to rap?” -JW “They don’t want you.” -DW We’ll see. Just My Thoughts. All up in my Feels.  I attempt an additional improvised FLOW offering for subscribers to ye’ old Substack. An additional once-a-week contribution from the poetic state of mind. In rhyming, I’m not saying anything you haven’t heard before, but at least you're hearing it from me.   NEW BAF (Building a Following) I re...

I think, therefore I rap, In trying the next moment of releasing what is new, I’m returning to the old.  This is a sample of what subscribers get, an additional piece on Thursdays THRUST. More musical and all completely improvisational material.  I’ve been in a creative flow recently, recording all the time, and I want to “FLEX” these chops for you to hear.  Creating something from a state of mind...

First, let me say thank you to our esteemed subscribers. Your contributions enable this work to continue. Become a subscriber today to support: “Creativity as Practice for Mental Health” (Press Play for the Audio version/Pic: Miriam’s Garden. Flower Collage) A five-year-old just asked me, “What do I do when I get sad?” Right away I turned into a corny adult who is supposed to have all the answers....

First, Thank You to my readers and subscribers. This work continues with your support of Creativity as Practice for Mental Health. This is an offering for all, Consider Subscribing below. Coming Back to San Francisco for my residency with Intersection for the Arts , I had a daily writing practice. Every day over the Six months I was there I recounted the location I was in as a prompt for past expe...

Thank You to my esteemed subscribers. You are receiving this as a free member, your contributions make this work possible. Subscribe here to support Mad One Media. This week’s piece is from 2012 when I was on a speaking tour in Canada. I’m still returning to these moments, revisiting and piecing together brand-new adaptations of past poetic history. “He who controls the past controls the present,...

Hosting Friends with Families who have come to visit me in Moss Beach. I made it down the steps to show a couple of young nephs the tide pools. Sharing my parents with the families that have me as an honorary Uncle to their children is a sweet appreciation for all the love I’ve received and the beautiful place I am from. The SOFTest Streets of MOSS Sweets  Welcome to the MOSS  The epic seaside Cli...

Thank you to the Supporters of Mad One. Your subscriptions enable this work to continue. If you haven’t yet subscribed, here is your motivation: Today’s poem was written in 2017, 7 years ago when I was homeless. There were a few recitals of this poem to strangers at the West Oakland Bart Station after midnight, and to the EMTs that were taking me to the hospital. I always prefaced it with; I’m on...

Single Man hits the town in San Francisco for a late night meet up with a young woman who he meets spilling out of the bar in North Beach. A romantic moment in time, where they find her record collection as a source of inspiration. This tale has theme of Music, Sex and Psychology that any Dirty Old Uncle would enjoy for a heady way to arouse on Valentines Day. Subscribe for a free 7-day trail, to...

We are celebrating Sammy Obeid today, turning 40 years young, as all of us born in 1984 are destined to achieve this year. To highlight him we went back to the vaults and chopped together some hidden files from our interview in May, that turned into a freestyle/music collaboration. On the recording you’ll here me (J.dubs) playing piano and beatboxing. Musical collabs have been apart of what I do s...

Civil War….World War…there’s a lot of reasons to burry your head in the sand. For me the practice of taking in the small moments and focusing on the little things that bring me joy is about all I can do these days. Maybe it’s all I’ve every been able to accomplish to get through. Today’s piece was written at the beginning of 2020, when it seemed like the walls were closing in. In perspective it wa...

Part of doing a weekly creative content offering, is getting to dig through the files from the past, and bring out some rare and unreleased material. 2015 I was on tour in the US, working on a piece that never made it to Edinburgh when I was in Europe. To put it mildly it was quite a wild year, some of my best moments, some of my worst, and through it all I was writing and performing. For me I don...

Thank You for Reading MAD ONE. Today I am offering a breathwork workshop that includes the art of beatbox. Founding Members are invited to join the group on Feb. 5. (Meditative Music, Oud Playing by Om Ben Avraham ) You will go through hard times. When all you have is your BREATH . It may be the type of situation that puts you right on the edge of living or dying  Your body and your mind are in th...

“The Darkest Days Come Right Before the Light” -Aceyaolone  My journey of being a disabled man on one leg took a turn into the dark abysses of traumatic pain, where the only way out of it was to rap hard before the heavy drugs kicked in. I’m still spinning the moment of falling with humor and positivity, even when the discomfort and limitations are upon some of the most I’ve felt as an adult, or i...

When The Sound Man Dances. There is a man behind the curtain that you can't see. Out of the way and unrecognized, he is a silent supporter of sound. The man is on the dials, who controls the mic level, adjusting for feedback, pivotal to the process. Out of the way, he's seen everything. Your performance is one of the millions of moments categorized in his computer brain. There was a moment when I...

I thought that this week I would actually do more of a concert review something that I did at the start of my journalistic career in school going to shows and writing reviews about the music that I saw and I saw some living legends on Saturday. I went back to the Fox Theater in Oakland and saw Parliament Funkadelic with George Clinton. I mean living legends, you know guys that started so much of t...

My Birthday was this week, and I did what I like to do most on my b. day, perform. I have a long list of birthday shows including The Bach Dynamite and Dancing Society in HMB, Ashkenaz in Berkeley, and this year at a House Concert in the Oakland Hills. Birthday crowds are special, they are cheering for you, and this year I did what I saw Uncle Dennis do on his 65th (or was it 60th) and went around...

I returned to the stage. I have given myself a goal to perform a new hour in one year and have it professionally recorded. I have to work on baby steps to get there. For bigger audiences, I’m out of practice, but I have a routine of going to open mics or smaller venues the week before to “test run” and get a better feel for the piece and how it lands. I also have a slue of people that I can ask fo...

In building a solid hour of material is it important to go back to the skillsets of years past, and take things one piece at a time. In my MANologues, CarRaps, spazzing out in other voices, an endless narrative where the only one listening is the microphone; I am reminded of poetry. Where a one or two-page sonnet was tightly edited and read to an audience from memory. A piece that went on to have...

If you had a year to travel the world, where would you go? Bay Area Musian and Teacher Adam Coopersmith took a year long sabbatical and traveled 5 Continets from the Himalayas to the Galapagos, to the Amazon. He Studied permaculture, Yoga, and searched for epic waves to surf. He learned about the world, but he learned even more about himself. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this...

I wear many hats as an artist. In selecting my piece this week I have been going over poetry, music, comedy, and rarefied gems that have been seldom heard.  Maybe there is a way to do all the things, while still having a niche that’s successful. “Having a Niche, means others outside of your expertise come looking for you.”  -Bryan N.  I’ve got a lot to give. I want to perform on stage I want to wr...