and now here we are, hittin’ the stage on a whole ‘nother level…

haha, yup yup, the set was dope. and that’s all i really need to say about that

hehe, but on the low for real y’all, highlight of the night hands-down had to be when Kai of “Fire Nation” (facebook - Fire Nation) jumped in mid-set, and as tends to happen at a peaceofmind show, on-the-spot freestyle in-the-moment creativity began to flow, and the show transcended to a whole new plane, a peaceofmind/fire nation collaboration was born, and the barriers of genre broke down and recombined into something fresh, unique, and one-of-a-kind. as it stands, and deservedly must be called, this set, this night, rightfully-so deserves status EPIC.

now, with djembe thumpin’ deep and raw, dual emcees freeflowing off the top of the dome, and dj u live-beat creating on-the-spot rhythms, the crew represented what a peaceofmind show is truly all about – tapping into the creative realm,  representing the here and now, and doing it all with style, positivity, and a dope fresh message, lyrically packaged and delivered right for all y’alls delights.

oh man fam, i am SOO serious when i say that if you haven’t been to a pom-c show yet, NOW is the time to bring yourself and immerse yourself in the experience. see with your own eyes and hear with your own ears what a peaceofmind show is really all about.

’til the next one y’all! peace, love, and aloha.

- sam the pakman & the peaceofmind crew

huzzah huzoo!! once again we be in the groove! so gather ’round friends and fans! it’s the PEACEOFMINDCREW!

hahaha, hosted by A.M.P. (Aloha Music Project) this special one-of-a-kind event kicked off like a World Cup futbol match, supah-amped, diverse, and oh so LIVE!

taking place at the University of Hawaii Manoa on a clear yet soon-to-be-monsoon-type of Thursday evening March the 4th, 2010, each concert-goer in attendance was AMP’d and in full music-art-swing mode! as the theme of the event “If I Could Tell The World One Thing..” began, PEACEOFMIND took the helm and sounded off the charge for the evening’s festivities right!

now pakman and the pom crew arrived a tad bit late (on account of life shiznit, y’all know how that goes!), but no worries, as luckily they were still well in time for a speedy and thorough (albeit a bit fumbly) sound check. sound checked and all prepped good to go, pakman and dj u opened with “the feeling”, really feeling it, pakman baring his soul in the rhyme. next came “voice”, which really drove home the point pakman was trying to make of why he chooses to flow. with those poppin’ tracks in the bag, brother kai (of roots/reggae/hip hop group “FireNation”) joined us on stage as he proceeded to rock the djembe (a.k.a. Black Mamba!) with simultaneous smooth impassioned singing and hard hip hop flow! epic FI-AH!!

the set was rounded out with a live real-time audience-themed freestyle by pakman (trust me! you WANT to be a part of one of these freestyles if you have not so experienced one already!) to one of dope beat producer malia’s beats and concluded with a spoken-word piece by pakman which he wrote especially for this event (the poem can be peep’d and read by clicking on the “lyricisms” tab of this webpage).

as the night continued, more artists rocked the stage, and even the rain could not hamper nor damper the vibe of the experience! pretty girls dancing as raindrops wet their clothes and bare-naked limbs, scantily-clad and gyrating their bodies, vibing to the music and the passionate soul-stroking rhythms of the grooves, which as always, is a beautiful sight to behold.

as reggae, and rock, and differing yet similar voices sang together, harmonizing, singing, chanting and rapping the night away, the fellas began nodding their heads as the ladies began feeling the melodies permeating the air, and before-long, everyone was involved in what i like to call, “gettin’ down super-sweet fun-kay style oh yea!!” hahaha! it was gorgeous. artists and musicians collaborating with one another (dope videos of which include your boi PAKMAN rippin’ it up reggae-style freestyle with full band backing, coming soon!), bands and fans connecting, and basically, everybody having a good time, is what made this a night to remember for always.

live-art pieces, spoken word, beatboxing, and the unveiling of a brand-new student-run and student-supplied affordable art gallery topped off that which can not truly possibly be described completely in words, but which i have done as skillfully as possible here as i could in order to convey and share with you the true essence of the night.

hope you enjoyed, though my greater hope is that you join us at the next one

anyhow, stay tuned pom-heads and familia! for more shows and more opportunities to catch a peaceofmind performance are coming your way soon! haha, one love mos’ definitely y’all

peace and aloha!

sincerely,

- sam the pakman & the peaceofmind crew

i know what you’re thinking, “coyote nights”?! “what kind of back-alley wild-style karaoke bar venue is this?!” haha, funny thing is, you would be precisely right on while being exactly right off. haha, allow me to explain.

now the night began with dj u and myself and the joey at soho mixed media bar in downtown honolulu for a haiti relief concert (which was incredibly epic by the way) featuring a bevy of incredibly talented friends/musicians of ours breaking it down on stage. however, theirs was not the only show set for the night, for you see, twas a laaate-night 2 am peaceofmind after-party performance scheduled at aforementioned “coyote nights” set for us to cap off the evening’s festivities with a bang!

but ah ha, coyote nights is not quite what it seems. for it’s not a karaoke bar/lounge at all, rather, it’s quite the huge space warehouse-type of venue, with 8 subwoofers comprising the stage and a decked-out upscale L.A. nightclub feel, so we were more than stoked to hip hop the stage right that night! but as it turns out, the night was already top 40’s popping with what seemed like the ENTIRE marshallese population west of downtown honolulu getting down like groovy sexy monkeys drunk and digging it when we arrived! pure caraziness.

after a long 30-minute trek (dj u and i still rollin’ solely mobile foot-style y’all!), we finally arrived at the club, and we immediately sensed something was off. the vibe was ripe with this “this ain’t gonna happen man, and if it does, we might be in for a after-show monkey beatdown oh shit!” kinda sentiment. hehe, TOO much alcohol flowing mixed with our strange faces and alien-like presence had us make the proper decision and decide NOT to perform that night. thank God for listening to your gut instincts.

anyhow, still, i had peoples calling me up ’til 5 in the morning asking if we were still holding it down for the after-party at the club, and regretfully i had to inform them “no”. but no worries! as we still got a date to meet up with the owner of the venue and reformulate a new plan-o-action that will result in a kick-ass performance for our fans reeeal soon at this epic spot, giving them the live and jive that is yours truly, peaceofmind. and this time around, it’ll be the right kind of vibe

so for now y’all, thanks for reading! peace and love always! and many thanks for the continued support

sincerely,

-sam the pakman and the peaceofmindcrew

“it was a good night, and A LOT of fun.” says joey-san, my sweet and beautiful girlfriend, and most definitely, a sentiment that the rest of the peaceofmind crew and i whole-heartedly share, hehe yes!

see, it all started with a craigslist posting (once again! thank you craigslist and the internet!), and TWO very CRUCIAL elements that i believe have been instrumental in our success as a band, 1) being ready to perform anywhere and anytime, like right on a dime’s notice, whensoever the opportunity arises, and 2) being proactive in looking for and booking gigs and performances. that, and more important the fact that the universe aligned itself and delivered us another break

anyhow, we had just under a week to prepare for this one-of-a-kind experience, and since we were only alloted 2 four-minute songs, we felt it necessary to prepare pieces that would represent us properly. very quickly it became apparent that “transition” and “sprtulous” were the duo tracks we needed to really shine bright and rep peaceofmind right that night!

and so we arrived on-set at hawaiian brian’s excited and ready to go, and wow, were we wowed as we waltzed in with our gear and entourage in-tow! the set was DOPE! three HD-studio cameras, a jib (used to move a camera through the air!), producers, directors, lights, make-up, sound, you name it, it was the whole nine yards she-bang-a-bang! most definitely, this was a LEGIT shoot! haha, and the FIRST time we’ve ever had to hit make-up!

haha, now, the taping was for a show called ENTERTAIN ME!, a variety talent show set to air saturday nights at 9 pm on KHON-2 for the next 52 weeks! exciting! so, without further adieu, the performances began, and the audience settled in as talented act after talented act took the stage and shared their gifts with us, and before long, it was time for PEACEOFMIND to hit the stage and bring it LIVE! haha, yes! here we go! a quick meditative sesh beforehand got us good and chilling in the zone, and with our nerves settled, we were given our cue, and hot damn, you know it, it was ON! the energy was SO jive and SO high and it ALL manifested throughout our set, people smiling and digging the groove, dj u and i gifted shifted and lifted like the ceiling! and hoowee! what a feeling apparently everyone was really enjoying peaceofmind! (including the production crew who up to this point had seemed a bit lethargic).

anyhoo, with our set done and everyone in a good mood, we packed up and dove into the audience (not literally that is!), meeting and greeting each person there, speaking, listening, and connecting with them on a more personal level, and boy am i glad we did! cos it’s wild who you meet when you greet people! you’ll be AMAZED at the people you meet…so make sure to meet them all! hehe, remember that…

anyhoo, the rest of the night was pretty standard, with us staying on-set to support and cheer on the other acts, as well as getting our grub on (check out TAB’S STEAK PLATE SHACK! right in front of jazz minds! the meanest ribs i’ve ever had!) and by 1 am, we were spent. what a night out though. so good, and A LOT of fun mos’ def’.

and remember POM heads! keep your eyes and ears open for our DEBUT TV appearance! fo’ sho’ you know we’ll keep you posted on the air-date. but until the next time y’all! peace, love, unity, and respect.

-sam the pakman & the peaceofmindcrew

PEACEOFMIND is ba-ba-back y’all! and livin’ it up HAWAII side oh yea! hehehe, that’s right family, we back on isle and you KNOW we straight vibin’ the jive right like pineapple sweeet delicious ripe! haha yea!

so, for this performance, DJ U (jon price) and myself (sam john a.k.a. PAKMAN) reunited to showcase some core elements of hip hop culture (beatboxing, freestyling, scratching, as well as a live drumming duet featuring jon on a DJEMBE, a traditional african drum, and me on an MPC, an electronic drum!). hehe, also, we UNLEASHED our passion and love for positive and upbeat hip hop music-with-a-message to all who were in attendance! it was so cool to connect with our audience, an eclectic and international mix of faces, peoples of all ethnicities and ages, sizes and shapes, and to see how all of them had gathered at the mall on a sunny saturday honolulu afternoon and then chose to take a break from the shopping and stop in front of the stage to check us out! the event itself was for African-American Cultural Awareness Day and was hosted by the AADCCH and Irie Pacific Entertainment.

as our set began, dj u and i were a tad bit nervous at first (as we had not performed together in over a year and did not have the chance to actually run through our set beforehand!), but the nerves quickly dissipated as we greeted the crowd (huge size now, like 150, because of the Brazilian capoeira dancers who had taken the stage before us!) and hit the stage with smiles and upbeat attitudes posted and in check! everyone there could tell we were having fun with it, because we were! haha, and even though the majority of the faces we saw seemed very stern and quizzical (one of the toughest crowds i’ve encountered thus far!), we still managed to hold captive the audience (even had a couple of peoples realllly grooving with us!)

huzzah! mission accomplished! for as most of you already know, so long as even just ONE single person is digging the peaceofmind vibe, we know we’ve accomplished and done our joy for the day however, by no means was that the only highlight! oh no, for you see, this stage was likely one of the LARGEST we’ve ever performed on! (well, at least dj u and i, as the full band and i have shared some awesomely huge ones as well in cali-land!) and the crowd was one of the LARGEST we’ve ever performed for! also! it was a really kick-ass feeling as well as kick-ass challenge to construct a set that was geared to educate and enlighten as well as entertain, without sacrificing either, and i’m stoked that the G.O.D. helped us pull it all off!

definitely an amazing experience and a performance we won’t soon forget and hopefully, we’ll be seeing you at the next one! until then y’all, PEACE LOVE UNITY and RESPECT!

PS! if you received a FREE PEACEOFMIND CD at the show, we apologize for the disc not playing in standard cd-players! we had a little technical cd-burn mishap, BUT, the good news is that the cd DOES work in computers! so pop it in one and enjoy the tracks today y’all! hehe, peace.

-sam the pakman & the peaceofmindcrew

imagine that! THEY now calling US! haha woo hoo!! oh my oh me, what a GREAT feeling to have people directly calling YOU to book and hook up YOUR band! freakin’ sweet, as i fully believe someone WAYYY up there is definitely looking out for us, hehehe

anyhow, we can’t thank the “INHALE” crew (myspace.com/inhale) enough for hooking us up with this opportunity to open and play alongside them! truly a blessing for us the pom crew. and what an amazing night it was! familiar faces (how nice they are), as well as some new faces (exciting!), stunned, delighted and awed faces (thank goodness!) and a really positive, upbeat and welcoming atmosphere made this show one of like the sweetest of sweetey sweets, the “bees knees” if you will, the “hey-o y’all watch out fifties jive comin’ at ya!” type of deali-o! hehehehe

anyhow, we HIGHLY recommend Dempseys Sports Bar & Grill in Corona, CA, and even more so, the band INHALE! mos’ definitely check ‘em out y’all, as they are easily one of the dopest and most inspiring bands out performing right now! doing it big, doing it independent, and doing it straight out the I.E.! hot damn fam, that descriptive shiznit better get you excited or imma have to eat myself! oh snaps!

oh yea! and don’t forget! make sure to get ya PEACEOFMIND on too! we got lots of new, FRESH, and dope material all coming your way reeeal soon, and i promise, it’ll all be worth the wait for your listening pleasures and delights

hehehe, anyhoo, until we meet again y’all, as always, peace, love, unity, respect and continued blessings to you and yours, our beloved and cherished family and friends! maholler at me! im out!

-sam the pakman & the peaceofmindcrew

everything that goes up, must come down…damn. it’s just the way of the universe. but you know what?! i believe that the inverse of that reality reigns true as well! and everything that comes down?! must go up! and thank God for that, because HOPE for the future is one thing we ALL be needing more of in our lives and is essential to it, and something which we ALL can always use more of

as for the show, my cousin, Abi bhai (“bhai” means “brother” in Urdu) a.k.a. DJ Steel (http://www.myspace.com/412282998) of Phat Dhol Entertainment (who, by the way, is down to hook it up PHAT with the whole complete she-bang-a-bang multimedia package for your next event!) hooked it up with an AMAZING sound system that turned our indie-music-haven off-the-beaten path dive of a bar affectionately dubbed “The Hub”, into a paradise spa of sound! and amazing performances by our friends/fellow musicians, 4-piece rock/blues/reggae crew “The Bomberos” (myspace.com/bomberosmusica) and sick rock-trio “Night Flower” (myspace.com/nightflowerband) helped make and mark the evening a true delight. and even though the show audience was much smaller than we anticipated (just a handful of our homeys showing up) it was still nonetheless a stellar blessing and a major uplifting feeling to have each one of them there and to vibe with each and every one of them!

and so, this show felt like a natural coming down for the peaceofmind crew, a natural and beautiful resolution to that what has without a doubt been an amazing and incredible 5 month PEACEOFMIND ride of performing in, up, across, on top, and down low of this, our sweet southern california, rockin it hard n’ hip hoppin it oh so sweet with our metaphorical, how does one say, “cocks” hangin’ out full-mast phalangelatin’ free in the breeze like Willy over the tank!!

haha, shoots, no doubt this show was the PERFECT ending to what has been an intense and super phenomenal ride. thanks for all the memories pom-c!! and again, big thanks to all who’ve supported us along the way and who’ve helped make it all possible! WE LOVE Y’ALL ALL!! and who knows??..perhaps the peaceofmindcrew has got one more in store for y’all before 2009 says “im outta here!” and 2010 starts waving in hiiii-dee ho!

so yo! check one-two pom-heads! remember to keep U-P UP and we’ll be seein’ ya guys n’ gals soon! much love family! peace.

-sam the pakman & the peaceofmindcrew

ya know, not too much to say about this show other than it was FREAKIN’ AWESOME! hehe, yea!! the vibe was jus’ so on-point that night with the band and i feelin’ it oh so strong that we jus’ had to straight hip hop rock it HARD for this bar full o’ strangers drinkin’ and galavantin’ like the best of ‘em!

mos’ definitely the longest show we’ve played thus far (two 40-min sets) AND as the headlining act hehe, man, it was a GREAT feeling to reallly open up on the mic and see heads we’d never seen before vibing with us

and it was an amazing feeling to connect with people through music, especially since it was music which we were creating right there in the moment! freestyle style y’all! how cool it was to make that connection…and tis’ also a connection (which if we haven’t already done so!) we hope to make very soon with all of you!

peace n’ love family!

-sam the pakman & the peaceofmind crew

FUZZY FEST! ahh!! that was its name…a huge downtown L.A. rave which just so happened to be poppin’ off alongside our encore show here at Crane’s tonight! arghhh!! cos of the Fest, the Tavern was a bit empty, but God thankfully, not completely.

it is worth noting that melanie’s (soul diva singer/photographess extraordinaire) family was in-town and posted up there to support!! woo hoo! however, something else was jus’ not quite right that night. hmm, what was it?? not quite sure, we were all perplexed, that is, until we rolled up and peeked inside the tavern. crane’s had transformed! it was an entirely different space from our first show there 2 months prior! oh no! the promoter, the sound technician, the speaker setup, all transformed! but worst of all, the stage! in fact, A STAGE!! what?!

well see, there was NO stage 2 months prior and that’s what kicked ass about this venue!! now this “stage” felt more like a fenced-in corral for performers than a stepping-point!! oh noooo! hahah, it was a difficult set-up, but we did the best we could with it, and truth be told, after it was over?! we all felt as though it was definitely not one of our strongest performances. but i guess that’s what happens when your drummer can’t hear the music!

haha, but truthfully, every show and every performance is a learning experience, and mos’ def’ we learned a lot and also took a lot from the show and boy oh boy are we ever thankful for that, cos hey-o! now we know more than that what we did before, understanding what it was that was f*n us up, and how now armed with knowin’ THAT, we can make the adjustments and make it better the next time! haha, jus’ like life, wouldn’t you agree?

hehe, much love and peace y’all.

-sam the pakman & the peaceofmindcrew

hoo wee oh my and oh me, what a night this turned out to be!

before leaving the house for bernie’s, the band and i were all geared up! excited and pumped! but, sadly, as the evening rolled on, our high-flying energies and enthusiastic spirits were slowly but surely destructionized by a crew of self-labeled “independent hustlas”. i won’t name any names, but suffice it to say that i almost got jumped by an angry and intoxicated gang of peoples for standing up for the truth and integrity!

now, “was i scared??” well, actually, truth be told, no. i felt completely and totally protected in the knowledge of the truth and of my words, and also, even more importantly so, i feel, for keeping my cool

suffice it to say, we didn’t get to play that night, but it’s all good, no worries, cos we were able to leave that place with the greatest gift we could possibly leave with: our health, our well-being, and our lives. truly a blessing i will thank the Almighty for continually and always

peace n’ love y’all.

-sam the pakman & the peaceofmindcrew