Yo.

I'm Alex. Author, artist, rapper, performance poet, web designer,
friendly neighborhood organizer and the like. Which are all basically
just synonyms for storyteller. I'm a storyteller for peace through justice
let's say.

So in the last couple years I've written these two books. Really good
books that everyone should read. I promoted the first one,
Relations: McEmpire, pretty heavily when it first came out. I intended
to do the same for the second one, Relations: SMASH YOUR TV!, when
it came out, but I got really busy being a rapper, artist, webmaster, etc.
So I'm about to just start over again with the promotion. Try to let the
world know that there are these two awesome books out there that
people should read.

Wanna hear something funny? Kinda ironically funny. I wrote these
two awesome books about how the world is quickly going crazy and getting
out of hand and making us all way too busy and too broke and very isolated.
And THEN... everyone's been too broke to buy them, and those that've bought
them have been too busy to read them, and those that've read them have
been too isolated to tell me what they've though of them. Yeah, maybe that
isn't actually all that funny.

So here's what I'm trying to do about it, presently. I'm setting aside
a bunch of my time at the new Wellness Co-op on 640 Breckenridge
(very near to Elmwood) on Sunday afternoons (starting May 28th at
1:30 pm) to actually read these books to you. For free. And, hopefully,
talk about them with you. It'll be a fun time. I'm picturing bringing all the
soft stuff we can find and throwing it all on the floor and laying around
and reconnecting as human beings as we listen to these engrossing novels
read by the author in the most soothing voice I can summon. And eat
snacks probably. Eating and reading go well together. Bring snacks.

If you feel inclined to buy my book after hearing some... that'd be
mighty cool too. If you don't want to attend our lovely read-in and just
want to buy my books to read when you can, you can do that on my
website. Which is AMProSoft.com

YAY!
-Alex




-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Can't get enough Alex? I'll be busy as all get out in the coming
weeks, so check some of this stuff out. It'll be fun!

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Wednesday, May 24
El Buen Amigo
(114 Elmwood just north of Allen) @ 7pm
---------------------------------------------------------
UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE National Co-Chair, Judith LeBlanc
Speaks on the struggle for International Solidarity
---------------------------------------------------------
Don't miss hip hop poets:
My Rap Name is Alex of Hip Hop in Action ( myspace.com/hiphopinaction )
B-Lo's live Drum Machine- Captain Kirk the Smirk
XNow the Last Emcee- Deep Thinka Records
Also, African Drum & Dance-- Ramone, Matty and the crew
---------------------------------------------------------
for more info contact: Mike Graham @ 716-907-0453

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

M.A.P. Open Mic
where: Mass Ave Project - 271 Grant St. (Buffalo)
when: May 31, 2006 7:30 pm

Mass Ave Project Open Mic a.k.a. the Microphone Co-op.

The Mass Ave Youth, Dinner Co-op friends, tons of talented community performers AND ME all gather together for the warmest open mic in Buffalo.

This event is free, but a donation for the M.A.P. Growing Green youth would be appreciated.

Sign up starts at 7:30

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Cooperatives Summit Pannel Discussion

when: Thursday, June 1st at 5:30pm
where: Massachusetts Avenue Project, 271 Grant Street (Buffalo)

Interested in cooperative enterprises like the Lexington Food co-op, the
co-op credit union, Nickel City housing co-op or the new Buffalo Wellness
co-op? Come to this awesome summit and find out all about them.
I, Alex Mead, will be passing out info on our new website ILoveMyCoop.com

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

SECOND ANUAL BEATFEST
June 3rd 2006 at Breezy Hill Manor
10458 Chautauqua Rd. New Albion, Cattaraugus County, NY 14719.
BeatFest.com

All day event featuring live music by national recording act
and Buffalo based Jony James Band, [ONE] of Deepthinka Records,
the Todd Eberwine Band, Jeff Campise, DJ Cutler, Pseudo Slang,
Rhyson Hall and Gr& Phee, My Rap Name is Alex, DJ Rukkus and
more.

All proceeds will benefit People United for Sustainable Housing
(PUSH), a non-profit grassroots organization working to remove
blight and poverty from their community in the city of Buffalo.
PushBuffalo.org

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

For 11 months I was a security guard. For 8 months since I've been a Truck Loader in a warehouse in the same place where I used to be a security guard. I see many of my old security guard friends every day. I have a friend from high school who is the head of security. He helped me get my security guard job there before they had made him head of security. This is the same friend that introduced me to basketball some 20 years ago. Gave me a passion for basketball by beating me so soundly every day in gym class that I became determined to someday be able to compete.

So. Lately my guard captain friend's been telling the security guards about how well he and I used to play when we would play together on the same team. T'is true. There were many years where he and I would team up and we had very complimentary skills and a good sense of what one another would do. So we would win a lot.

So. The young security guard kids don't believe him and there's been a lot of machismo sports talk in the old guard shack and it came down to them challenging him to a game and all that business. My friend and I vs. the kid who had been mouthing off the most and another guard. No! The kid didn't want to have two guards vs a guard and a loader, he knew a loader (because it was his cousin) so the game was going to be the guard captain and myself vs. a young security guard and one of my co-workers.

Now, in sports, there's really no determining how things are going to go before you play the game. I hadn't played much in the last year. Little bit here and there. Would being in better shape help? Would being rusty doom me to embarrassment? Was the young kid going to be much better than my friend? Was my coworker going to be better than me?

Okay. So. We were much better. Much. Like, my friend and I won 4 games to 0. And won each game fairly handily. And a lot of it was just me scoring all over everyone. There wasn't much excitement in the competition aspect of it...

The joy was in all of these crazy new things I could do. I have these basketball instincts, but who can say if not having executed certain things after a while causes you to loose them? But no! On the contrary. I would get the instinct to do things and I would try them and find that I could do even more. I could be in the air longer. Move faster. Aim better. I was really not expecting to be able to do things that were suddenly quite effortless.

Unfortunately I can't play too often because I can't risk injuring myself and not being able to work. But for a couple of really fun hours in the bright sunshine I started working on my tan and pushing my envelope and giving my friend bragging rights around the guard shack for a while.

Playing sports is fun.

On-again-off-again = Off. Over. Done.

Performing = Done for a while. Last night I totally killt it!! FUN!

What's New = I might be hosting a radio show for Hip Hop in Action on WHLD am 1270 here in Western New York.

Writing = Nothing right now, but I'm starting to get the itch.

Love = SWEET LOOOOOVE.

Webwork = Finally making some progress.

WorkWork = Work is work.