Week Thirty-Three: Ian and Minta

There isn't a more tumultuous relationship than a friendship turned business partnership. Turned failed band. The failed band was The Let Go. It was a three man group, and if you remember Week 22, one of those men already came to Tune Castle on a DD. This week, the holy trinity of boy-band backpack rap was to be completed. Erica and I opened our doors to the other rapper in the group, Ian (Kublakai), and his girlfriend Minta for dinner.



Both Ian and I being less level headed than Joe (the former producer of the group), we had a harder time straightening things out when the business side of the band fell apart. The entire second album (Morning Comes) was entirely funded by a fan of the group, with the intention of recouping the investment. Things became stressful and plans fell through, including a cancelled tour with Pigeon John and Josh Martinez and mutual agreement to part ways with the group's record label Camobear. Tension was high as we argued about exactly how the investment should be spent, and ended up squandering all of it on tracking, mixing, mastering and pressing up the album. Desperate to promote our music, I forced Joe and Ian to do a free and subsequently very amateur looking music video for an old song ("Sun Don't Shine" posted below). With no gas (or money) left in our tank, The Let Go parted ways without even doing a release party for our final piece of work.



Then drama ensued. I was so infuriated by the situation, I deleted Ian from my Facebook friends and unfollowed him on Twitter. This might seem unimportant or fickle, but in the egomaniac world of rappers, it was a bold move. It was a message. Removing someone from your digital social circle is far beyond removing them from your real life. Think about it, how many extra acquaintances do you have online? I have almost 1,600 friends, I know maybe half of them, and hang out with probably 20. You pretty much allow any person you met once at a bar on board. To dissolve a relationship that is so easy to obtain is pretty mean. It was shitty of me.

Needless to say, my actions were not well received and we didn't speak for that entire summer. Nearing the end of August 2010, a local rapper we toured with asked me if our group would play his album release party. Having never been given a guarantee, without even talking to Ian or Joe, I told him, "sure, we will if you pay us $XXX." I was honestly thinking he would tell me that is ridiculous and I was a jerk. But he said yes, so I had to then reopen dialogue with my former bandmates to see if this was something they were interested in.

Ian and Joe agreed that some extra pocket money would be nice, and so we took the show and began to rebuild our friendships. A string of indicators that the group would've been successful followed. We were nominated and selected as one of the country's top indie groups in an Airwalk sponsored competition, which we placed in the top five bands. A label in Japan optioned to release the better songs from our first two albums as one project overseas. I funded a radio push for Morning Comes, in an effort to up sales and pay back our fan, and we got some nice play all around the country. There were small grumbles about a resurgence, but, ultimately, talks ended and we all went our separate ways to make solo music.

I have maintained contact with both members since, and both Ian and Joe have proven to be very supportive and mature friends. Ian has seen my band play at least three times now and even came to watch one of my standup comedy "performances." At the end of the day, it is too bad The Let Go didn't pan out, but it is much better to still be friends with these guys. I have some very fond tour memories with them and it is nice we were able to move past our creative differences and be buds again.



So the meal of choice was filet mignon. I went to my pals at Rain Shadow Meats in Melrose Market to get the beef. They told me the best way to do it right was get my grill as hot as it goes, and hit each side for four minutes. So that is just what I did. My cut turned out a little on the rare side, but the other ones turned out perfect.



To accompany the meat, I decided to make red potatoes yet again. This time around, I swore to cook them properly. I placed some foil down on a baking sheet, sliced the potatoes in half, poured the remainder of the VEGGIE stock of last week over them in the pan, added lemon, butter, garlic and rosemary. Then I baked them FOR TWO HOURS at 350. They came out great!



To follow the meal, I broke out a classic dessert: vanilla ice cream with chocolate fudge. Overall a successful dinner. You cannot go wrong with steak, potatoes and ice cream! For the first time, the portions were perfect. Not too much, but enough to fill us up.



Shortly after we ate, our roommate Aaron arrived home from floating Green Lake with our friend Mihasha and his buddy Son. We all went out back to the porch and had drinks together. Then Griff got back as well and joined the party.

As always, there was quite a bit of rap talk. Minta and Erica got to relate to one another about how annoying constant talk of the crappy local hip hop scene can be. Ian and I lamented over the fact all our fans enjoy The Let Go material the most and constantly ask for more. We tossed out the idea of doing more work, but concluded we are happier working alone. And thus, sorry folks, The Let Go will not be working on new material.

Speaking of Ian's solo effort at music, he is hosting a big show at Nectar on September 8th. It is called Noisemaker Fest and the headlining act is our former labelmates from Portland the Chicharones. I will be there with Erica, after hosting a dinner for Mike Folden and his lady friend. Mike and Ian prepared this video to explain the event:


Next week, my bestfriend from Middle School Blair returns to Seattle from Phoenix with his longtime partner Andi. I wasn't sure I would get to include Blair in 52DD since he rarely returns from the desert, so I am very excited to see him! You'll be hearing all about it...