MAJOR STREET ACTION! ALBUQUERQUE, NM 10/28/08

We rolled into Albuquerque around sunset and immediately set about scouting for good spots to tag and get some street actions on. While scouting we came acoss and Obama outpost full of people so we thought we’d surprise them with a little show. We’re still a surprise aspect of this campaign, some people knew about ud but a lot of the volunteers were pleasently surprised to find outside their front door shakin it up. One volunteer, Laurie, said she was dog tired and had gone home to rest, forgot something in her car so she had to come back, she found us upon her return as was completely re-inspired! That’s our hope, we just want to keep the energy high and positive out here on the street and so far it working out great.

The Obama outpost was in a cool neighborhood so we figured we’d set up on a wall down the street at UNM across the street from some restaurants filled with people. This show had cars slowing down to watch and honking in support. We met a group of kids that were loving the show and at 19 Andrew was talking like he was a seasoned political activist. This kind of thing gives me so much hope. We need to inspire these kids and show them that they really can change things, we are inheriting all this madness, we need to sober up and take action, and they are!! by the millions!! its great to see that first hand! I told Andrew that its really up to our generations to really break this open, he felt that too which is why he’d already voted early for OBAMA!

After dinner we started tagging first this time because we couldn’t resist this huge darkly lit building right in the heart of downtown, we loved the odd word plays too – New Mexico… “Banking on HOPE” and “TRUST in “HOPE”. This was our largest Tag yet, over 120 feet high, it dominated the view. After about 10 minutes we were asked to leave by a security gaurd even though we were on top of a city parking garage. He kept flipping these lame excuses at me about why we had to leave, meanwhile the HOPE images is radiating on this massive building. I told him it was just an art project and he said “looks like you’re promoting something to me” I said art does that, it promotes ideas, this is an idea and a vision we’re sharing. Needless to say there were several more minutes of silly excuses which was all we needed, as I gabbed with our friend, Lisa kept taking shots and adjusting the image so we could document it, we got the shot anyway happily moved on.

We were high after that tag and started cruising downtown to see what fun we could instigate, we came across the Atomic Cafe right near our tag. They happened to have a great wall to shoot on and low and behold…a parking space right in front of the club. There were all kinds of people hanging out so we scouted it to see if was right for us and as I walked in this man scoped my “I heart Obama” pins and complimented me. We got a drink, handed out some invites to the show and broke out an completely killer set of tracks including out new “Funk For Peace” video sent by FORT KNOX FIVE. Check out our PLAYLIST to see it, its fantastic and its our favorite way to start the show now.

Micahel,Erin,Mustafa, J-Love - Finally got some Shwag to hand out!

Lisa Loving the crowd!

Turns out it was an Obama Kareoke night organized by Erin and Mustafa to rally their volunteers!  So there were plenty of Obama people there mixed in with McCain supporters who frankly were not so happy at being shown up by all these creative people going off outside the club. One guy tried to get a little rowdy but the sheer positivity of the vibe shut him down. Some people are open to new ideas and some aren’t, we just kept shining and he couldn’t deal so he left. “No Hate in ‘08″ stayed strong! This was THE most mixed, completely brilliant group of people from all walks of life, it was really a great snapshot of America! Cops drove by but not one of them even stopped, the party just went on and on. For an hour an a half we all danced and laughed on the streets. It really was a beautiful moment. MC Yogi’s video got every one bouncing and literally clapping at the end, there’s some video we shot here coming so you can check that out later. We made some great new friends and plan to all stay in touch with all the work that’s coming ahead. Everyone and I mean everyone we have talked to right up to the sweet barista at Starbucks this morning named Stephanie comments on how they know they have to stay involved in order to get all this straightened out. Its really great to see. Obama and his team have really made it clear that this network needs to stay in tact and everyone is exicted about that! YES WE CAN!

The Big Hearted

We always end the show with WILL I AM’s video and it never fails to bring people to tears, that’s really how much this means to everyone right now. People want to see things change and evolve, we see first hand every night people just being people, human beings, not all these separate ethnicities that some folks want to say is THE difference between us all. Sure there are differences AND we have more in common with everyone and everything around us than we could every imagine! Its almost as if this is emerging again, in a deeper way, as a general awareness right now, you can see it and you hear in every conversation. We talked to hundreds of people and its always the same theme.

I think Obama is helping the”Land of AND” to emerge in culture. People are capabale of finally celebrating their unity in diversity! Its the Economy AND the Environment! People AND the Planet! Prosperity AND Responsibility! You AND Me! At last there seems to be another big step in people’s ability to hold BOTH perspectives, multiple perspectives not just “either / or”, “Black / White” mentalities.

We’re holding space and creating containers on the streets for a more matured dare we say evolved “World-Centric” perspective. You can hear this in Obama’s speeches, its much more about BOTH / AND than it is about either / or. Its incredible to SEE it in every day people, they are drawn to the BOTH / AND perspectives, its like fresh air for them and they are exicted! Thank you Albuquerque for all the inspiration and great energy! We’ll be back!!