...Beverly Cleary, "Bridge to Terabithia," Vlasic Pickles, Amoeba Records...

I work today and tomorrow we travel to Cedar Rapids, Iowa for my goddaughter's first Communion. It is an "on-the-go" couple of days, so we are kickin' it into high gear with an ALTERNATIVE HIP HOP WEEKEND.
It began yesterday, as the girls and I prepared for school (and school picture day) and work by groovin' to a PHARCYDE "radio station" on Pandora.com.
I listened to a "best of" CD of fellow Oak-Town native DEL THA FUNKEE HOMOSAPIEN as I drove around town yesterday.
I also got "Classic," the latest CD by another Oakland, Calif. crew, LIVING LEGENDS (pictured above).
It's a great album. Any hip hop crew that raps about (yet ANOTHER Oakland resident) author Beverly Cleary, "Bridge to Terabithia," Vlasic Pickles and selling used CDs to (Bay Area institution) Amoeba Records is OK by me.
It's the farthest thing from the posing of gangsta rap, which is one of the reasons alternative hip hop appeals to me.
Del raps about friends who sleep on your couch and the frustration of waiting around for a bus. You wouldn't hear his cousin Ice Cube rap about that stuff.
I interview Sen. Joe Biden later this morning. I will try to stop my head from bobbing to the alt. hip hop thumping in my brain.