Tell him we're all hoping...

De La Tribe said:
That's awesome! I've been practicing my Rob Ford dance. Maybe I can get up there with you this time? If I could, I'd get the whole PUTS Army up there, uprocking like an old NY breakdancing crew, haha. We'll see what happens; I've got an "anything goes" sort of mentality when I get to the shows (I usually follow PUTS' lead tho).

De La Tribe said:
That's good to hear, I don't feel quite as bad then.

Hey, sac? Are you gonna be at the SF thanksgiving show? Ohhhhhhhh yeah. I'll actually be hitting up both shows. Knew the wife would be cool with me hitting the SF show, but I thought she might object to LA... but she's actually bringing her mother with us, and they'll be shopping / at the hotel while I'm at the show. Family trip! So hopefully it'll be a good post-TG weekend for me, and I don't need to camp out in front of a WalMart and shoulder-check a soccer mom for a widescreen TV to enjoy myself. Thanks, Thes & Double!!

Hey, sac? Are you gonna be at the SF thanksgiving show?

De La Tribe said:
I've been thinking about this for a while...

When I was at the show in Sacramento I had a chance to meet Thes while outside talking to Sactown. I've met some of my favorite musicians at shows before and it's almost always awkward; it's always weird when you know some one really well (or at least think you do) and they don't know you at all. Or maybe it's just me.

Anyway, when I met Thes the last thing I wanted to do was be all gushy and/or talk his ear off (like I was already doing to Sactown), so instead I just shook his hand and said "nice to meet you." That was it.

And looking back that probably wasn't any better than if I had talked his ear off. I should have at least said, "I love the new album, I think it's your best yet," which would have been absolutely true.

So, while on the one hand I think it's annoying to treat musicians like idols, there solely for your entertainment and worship, It's probably just as annoying to not acknowledge the fact that you hold them in high regard. When he met me, Thes probably thought "who the f*** is this guy." That at least seemed to be the look he gave me; and not that I blame him, that's probably the look I would've given me too.

The point being that I wanted to meet him a lot more than he wanted to meet me, yet I played it off like it was just a random meeting through a mutual acquaintance, and that probably wasn't the best way to handle the situation.

I was thinking about this because of the discussion above about the dude with the cellphone. And while I certainly don't think I was as disrespectful as that guy, I wasn't much better. The least I could've done was acknowledge the fact that I admire and appreciate the work PUTS does, which I most certainly do.

Sorry Thes, if I get a chance to meet you again, I'll try to walk that fine line between gushy and too cool for school. Same to Double. If you guys are out there: I love the new album, all your albums, and the work you do in general - you guys make the world a better place to be in. Don't worry at all, man. You weren't talking my ear off; ask anyone I work with: I talk more than ANYONE I know or have met. You guys can probably tell by my essays on here. I seriously talk so much that my wife has to kick me under the table sometimes at get-togethers. I enjoyed talking with you about films and such.

As far as meeting Thes and what you said, I think it's fine, using that kind of simple familiarity is actually what makes PUTS a little cooler, because they want to be more friendly with fans. As for being brief: they'd probably prefer it to people talking their ear off. Honestly, Thes always has this CRAZY serious face on before the shows. He's the businessman of the group, and when he's trying to get a venue set up and ready for the show, he's always got that serious, "I've got things to do!" face on that isn't really aimed at anyone in particular. It's actually kind of funny, because he switches it off like two seconds before the venues doors open for the crowds.

I think Thes and Double draw the "line" at friendliness when it turns into people asking them for favors (because they could never see themselves doing that with the musicians they like), but they certainly seem to vibe on being everyone's homies, you know? I also notice that a lot of people (myself included in my earlier days... not as much now) tend to keep talking and not notice body language that tells them that the other person wants to talk, wants go somewhere else, wants you to be quiet, etc., and I've seen some of those fans talk with PUTS before at the merch table to the point where everyone around the person is sorta like... "uh... we gotta get in there too to get a t-shirt, man." Thes and Double humor them, too... they've got a lot of patience. Go back and listen to the Oakland interview I did with them on my website... that one dude that hung out with us the whole time was getting us all a little weirded out, but we just let him hang.

One last true story: the first time I ever met PUTS was at a DJ set they did (not even a legit show) at the... SOL Bar? I think it was... in SF during the post-Stepfather, early Fun DMC period. I stood around watching the DJ set for a long time, and I could see Thes looking over at me like "Who is this dude? He's not even dancing... he's not even head-bobbin... he's starting at the tables like he's a two-year old!!" (In times since, I've completely jumped up and down and head bobbed and everything else, 'cause you HAVE to loosen up and dance at a show... requirement, y'all. Just took me a while to learn it, you know?) I think I was even wearing a button-down shirt and khakis or something, it was embarrassing. Unless I was trying to pass myself off as a first-Tribe-album Q-Tip, I wasn't doing a good job of even looking remotely hip hop.

Later on, I approached Thes at the bar and told him that I was a huge fan, and I might've even asked if he wanted a drink, on me. It wasn't geeking out like a fan nerd, but it was fairly... oddball. You know how you mean to be one way, and it comes out completely different? Yeah... I think I looked nuttier than a jar of Skippy. Thank friggin goodness I got a second chance on that first impression. Anyway...

When I was at the show in Sacramento I had a chance to meet Thes while outside talking to Sactown. I've met some of my favorite musicians at shows before and it's almost always awkward; it's always weird when you know some one really well (or at least think you do) and they don't know you at all. Or maybe it's just me.

Anyway, when I met Thes the last thing I wanted to do was be all gushy and/or talk his ear off (like I was already doing to Sactown), so instead I just shook his hand and said "nice to meet you." That was it.

And looking back that probably wasn't any better than if I had talked his ear off. I should have at least said, "I love the new album, I think it's your best yet," which would have been absolutely true.

So, while on the one hand I think it's annoying to treat musicians like idols, there solely for your entertainment and worship, It's probably just as annoying to not acknowledge the fact that you hold them in high regard. When he met me, Thes probably thought "who the f*** is this guy." That at least seemed to be the look he gave me; and not that I blame him, that's probably the look I would've given me too.

The point being that I wanted to meet him a lot more than he wanted to meet me, yet I played it off like it was just a random meeting through a mutual acquaintance, and that probably wasn't the best way to handle the situation.

I was thinking about this because of the discussion above about the dude with the cellphone. And while I certainly don't think I was as disrespectful as that guy, I wasn't much better. The least I could've done was acknowledge the fact that I admire and appreciate the work PUTS does, which I most certainly do.

Sorry Thes, if I get a chance to meet you again, I'll try to walk that fine line between gushy and too cool for school. Same to Double. If you guys are out there: I love the new album, all your albums, and the work you do in general - you guys make the world a better place to be in.

I wanna say that crazy home life & work life have kept me off the boards, but you comin' on here with a new baby makes all my sh*tty excuses for being gone look weak, hahaha. Shame on me! What was I thinkin?!

But yeah, completely agree with you on needing to show mad support for the crew. I've tried my best to buy everything, even when Thes offered me a free shirt once for helping him out with some stuff. I'm especially bad, 'cause in college, I downloaded WILD amounts of sh*t, and that includes the entire P back catalog. Since then though, I've bought most everything (direct from the P, if possible), so I've probably paid for my online sins a bunch of times over.

Gave some stuff to boombip before (records and such) too. I don't do a lot of resale; rather give it to people who deserve it but can't afford it.

I hope I didn't sour the board on the fans with all my sh*t talking. For every jack*ss out there with his cell phone out in the crowd asking for free sh*t, there were 10 cool fans who all seemed just as geeked out and wild on the PUTS as me and SLC and YoYoPo and NoProb and... ... I shouldn't let a few bad buds spoil the blunt.

Thes does seem a little tired though. He just posted an "i quit" hashtag on Instagram the other day along with a pic of his PL70 postage spendings (into the tens of thousands of dollars). I'm sure he'll always be putting out the music, but it seems like holding the Piecelock label together and keeping it all functioning is a gargantuan task. He's got other things in his life too (kids going back into school, etc.), so I wouldn't blame him from taking a little "Fall break".

And big congrats NoProblem, cool beans man!