Like many of us Dawin has been making mistakes all his life. Some of them in music with business, sometimes in the studio while producing, sometimes these are just complications from a relationship. What he decided to do for most of 2016 was turn all of those experiences into his full length album, Errors. He still pays of his fan base with bright, catchy and powerful hooks and choruses, but most of these songs are not about empowerment; this batch of audio sings a song of struggle. I went out to LA so we could promote the new LP and got to also spend time with Black Dave who was also in Hollywood making moves after dropping his controversial record, Stop Frisk. The best part of the trip was catching another New Yorker while they were on the west coast for the first time. My mom was in town on vacation with her cousin and my buddy Nolan and I got to take the ladies out for dinner in Venice. Dawin dropped a few cool dance videos to promote the record, check out Pepper Spray below.
Dawin flexing at YouTube with 1 Million Subscriber
Dawin getting fly for pics on the gram
Shazam HQ
Dawin prepping for his Q&A @ Facebook HQ
Brooklyn Dom and Black Dave
L-R Dawin, me, Steve Baldwin, Matt Skiba, Black Dave
Sitting next to my Mon, with Nolan and my cousin Sandy
This month was the saddest of news. I lost a dear friend and a mentor. on Jan 6th, Anthony Colombo passed in his sleep at home in San Diego, CA with his wife of 49 years. I learned so many things from Anthony through discussions and stories, but that story of marriage was one that always made me smile. He found an endless happiness in his relationships with the people he loved and for me it was not only admirable to witness but palpable. I will miss him on my journey to take his story and legacy to the next mediums of art as we venture into the world of film and TV his fathers life story. I watch the videos we made together from time to time hope one day soon we can reach a platform that allows the world to see the difference he and his father made together in 1970 and 71. The NY Times wrote a piece on him right after his passing highlighting a few of the many accomplishments Anthony made with the Italian-American Civil Rights League. His Obituary can be found here.
Anthony to the right of his father Joe Colombo at a rally (1970)
Anthony Speaking with vigor to a 200k plus crowd in Columbus Circle (6/71)
Anthony with Frankie Valli (1971)
Anthony (L) with Nelson Rockefeller at a rally (1970)
Anthony photographed by Estevan Oriol in Central Park. (2013)
This month is the long awaited release of 110 Artist Managements newest artist; Enisa. Her debut single "Burn This Bridge" showcases her lyrical drive that parallels her everyday attitude. A true work of art imitating life. The words are uncompromising and the beat leaves no bars for you to slow down representing Enisa in all her true colors. The track premier was done by Frank 151 here. A few weeks after the release she landed on the iTunes Singer/songwriter charts along side Ed Sheeran and Norah Jones. Following the release I got to take a nice trip to upstate New York to play my part as the best man in my little brothers wedding. A really perfect day and night up in High Falls, NY. An amazing experience making it very tough to leave.
This month we got to drop some exciting new Dawin music. He released four brand new tracks on his "sunlight" inspired new EP Sunday. I went out to LA to catch some rays and get the promo started with him. I also got to spend some time in the studio with Tim Armstrong (Rancid/Operation Ivy/Transplants) and Black Dave as they got some sounds together for the winter. The new music they are working on is like nothing out. Really excited about what the future will be for Black Punk. I headed back to NYC I got to attend a benefit for Dr. Know of the Bad Brains in Tompkins Square Park. It was pretty amazing to see the amount of people that came to the event. Cromags headlined and the warm ups were among Token Entry, Breakdown and Maximum Penalty.
I started off down in Florida doing book promo for Colombo: The Unsolved Murder. My partner and I were guests on the local View program and followed with a book signing. Then I jumped on a plane to LA and spent a few days up a Big Bear for a Power 106 radio show with team Dawin. I ran down the mountain on a Burton snowboard and felt like a kid for 30 minutes. The cabin we stayed in was awesome and the views were enough to come back for so we hope we get the invite next year. While I was at rehearsals in LA a nice piece landed on the front of the Huffington Post for the Colombo book. Anthony asks the question "Did the FBI Kill My Father?" Click on the link to hear his thoughts. We started working with a new artist that I met about a year ago through my brother Skam Dust. He was rapping back then over trap style beats. The new project is Black Punk and the front man Black Dave, a 23 year old from uptown has really found his lane.. Check out the video for "Squad" below.
This month I started in Williamsburg working on the Dessert "Acoustic" Video from Dawin. The song had always been a really cool take to me so we convinced the label to highlight his unplugged skills and shoot a video. Directed by my longtime friend and legendary photographer /director Estevan Oriol, we went for the Tri-fecta of legendary and shot in Fortunato brother's Bakery and were graced with a Cameo appearance from Brooklyn native actor/rapper/visual artist Kaves. Dawin has solid chords so we recorded the live take on the spot and dropped it in for the videos audio. We hopped over to see the folks at Teen Nick Radio who have been supporting the Dessert single. My partner and I have also started working with another artist from Brooklyn. Enisa, a female singer/songwriter, making waves on the internet with only a few cover songs. She is working on a single with producers now, but you can check out her voice on Hozier's "Take me to Church" cover below.
December started off with Danny Diablo's annual DiabloFest show at
Santos Party House. He headlined the gig with Crown of Thornz and White
Trash also blessed the bill. After that my month was about to be life
changing. For years I have been waiting to release a project that took me years to build. I started working on the biography of Joe Colombo in 2010. I completed the writing of the book in 2013. During the production phase with our publisher my agent gave me word that the publisher (Wiley) sold its company. I did not know at the time what that meant, but than months later, we found out our title along with 1000 others were being sold off to the highest bidder. It was a sad, dark time as I watched something I worked so hard on being tossed around to a bunch of indifferent companies looking to make a quick buck. After years of limbo we retained the rights and released Colombo: The Unsolved Murderon paperback DEC 18th. My co-author, and Joe Colombo's oldest son, Anthony Colombo and I did some signings in New York surrounding the release. It was a good Christmas present for all involved. After the signing in my hometown, I went straight to JFK to meet Dawin in the Philippines for his New Years Eve performance at Eastwood Mall in Manila.
DiabloFest Line up 2015
Colombo Book Jacket
Signing in Little Italy with Anthony Colombo
Signing copies with some close friends
with Danny Diablo, Anthony Colombo, and Elmo
At Eastwood Mall the night before making final preperations
With Will, Dawin, and DJ HTown in Manila at the ball drop
