Month: January 2011

JASMINE WITH SUPER PRODUCER/ ARTIST DREADY-ORIGINALLY FROM BIRMINGHAM UK, THEN LONDON, NOW GLOBAL.

The past week has seen me interviewing video directors, taking in a soiree at the Pigalle Club for Puff Daddys new music, dining with the Dolce and Gabbana team, watching new film screenings and getting my very first fish pedicure! The fish pedicure was at new celeb spa anesis in Clapham- I might have been there in body but my mind is still so jet lagged it was on LA time.

Out in LA one afternoon I asked my Brit mate who had never visited before what they wanted to see. Imagining they would state sights like City Walk, Universal Studios, Venice Beach, Melrose, House of Blues etc, I waited with bated breath. He said Compton and Roscoe’s Chicken House!!. Well I was as you can imagine not impressed. After dragging them around the main sights-which I think you should always do when arriving at a new city to get a feel of its history- I got a message from my friend fellow Brit music producer and artist Dready. Dready was in LA on business. He’s usually based between London, New York and L.A.  But don’t get his glam travels twisted-he’s born and bred in Birmingham. He agreed to fulfil our mates Roscoe’s ambition and so it came to be that we had a big group lunch at Roscoe’s. It was the worst thing we could’ve done. The food gave us bellyache and wasn’t even as good as KFC. I recall the days it used to taste fresher. Of course chicken accompanied by collard greens, waffles and corn bred is delicious. Alas they were all tasty except the chicken. That’s what happens with mass produced fast food success. The main seller gets over looked and eventually a Nandos comes along and takes all your business!

I’ve always been fascinated watching music producers make beats in the studio so imagine my excitement when a few nights later I got an exciting text from Dready informing me that he was in the studio with his team that night (which included his friend Busta Rhymes) and I could visit if I was free. Well readers, as I’ve always said, when given an opportunity to watch genius at work I’m always free. So in the dead of the night  (nocturnal music folk) we cruised down to one of L.A’s most successful studios (highlighted by the multitude of plaques on the walls) and chilled for a couple of hours watching Dready at work.

As soon as we arrived though we were bombarded by the now expected USA VS UK banter between the Brits and the Yanks. Them cussing our society, us cussing theirs even though we all know its mutual love society in reality.

Dreadys been in America for a few years now where he moved to after about 10 years in London where he moved after his earlier brummy days. As the old adage goes he trekked to London to find his fortune in the music game. He hooked up with South London music pioneers So solid crew in 2002 and joined the group as a producer where he worked on groups tracks (mostly on their 2^nd album) as well as more specifically for both group front acts Lisa Maffia and Asher D otherwise known as Ashley Walters.

Lisa recalls those early days like this ‘’Not only is he like a brother to me cos he helped create my album, he was the craziest and most dramatic out of all of us, his energy was nuts and on a Sunday morning he was the energiser when we needed to be hyped up- the best!’’.

Dready recalls those So Solid days as his first experience with any public acknowledgment and publicly.

Since then he’s worked with many UK acts like Ms Dynmite, Jay Sean, Lemar. Then when the ROC family came to town Dready had the fortune to work with Beenie Seagal and Memphis Bleak. The constant graft paid off and next female MC Rah Digga came knocking at his door. He worked at length with her and it was she who intro him to her conglomerate head honcho- Trevor Tahiem Smith Junior otherwise known as Busta Rhymes in 2005 in Yew york  Now its well known that he’s an essential part of Busta’s camp with he and Busta regularly shouting each others praises on twitter and so on .

Dready has been around the world a few times now, first with his old pal Jay Sean who he worked with back in the day and now Busta who he says he connects well with because ‘’ our Ideas are real creative together- whether we’re in Miami or Europe I know what he likes, a straight hardcore head nod effect with a club feel’’. Dready reminisces about his old music partner Jay Sean as he recalls ‘’I remember doing shows with Jay where there were 3000 people. It was in Dubai with 30000 people on the beach. In India he’s an absolute superstar. I still see Jay and we get drunk together in hotel bars. I did a Sean Paul duet with Jay Sean!’’. Explaining why Jay has made it big in the USA Dready says ‘’Even though the USA are late on some entertainment, as long as it makes money they’ll eventually get into it’’.

Asked why the States was important for him to work in he explains ‘’ I had done a lot of projects in the UK-I’d worked with everyone I wanted to- and had chart hits at home. It was time to conquer the USA’’.

Dreadys also kept himself diverse by spreading his talent around and also worked alongside Jeezy and Noreaga. Just recently he did Llyod Banks  ” any girl” and was particularly ampt about that as he has wanted to work with G Unit for a minute now, He’s also just made a new Chipmunk track that sounded amazing to my ears and had the whole studio bouncing their heads mad bouncy. He keeps Busta ahead of the UK sound by playing him British music and dub step on their tour bus although he does confide ‘’Its about making good music. I get some ridiculous UK acts requests. They demand 16 bars for “my mix tape” by Busta as if its really that easy-its professional business!’’.

Currently Dready has beats on leaked songs “Clear the air” with Shabba ,Mavado and Akon. His own first official song on a new album is called “How yo really want it”  He’s got his feet in all the right doors as he’s also now working heavily with Dr Dre’s new female solo vocalist Nikki Grier signed to Aftermath who was also in the studio alongside us and played us some of her music which sounds very strong.

I wondered whether being on the west coast whether Dready had to get into the ‘’west coast music beat’’ by indulging in the ‘’aroma of the west coast?’’. He laughed and chided me ‘’no Jazz! I’ve never smoked-ever!’’.

Now that he’s an international player his ambitions that are left include ‘’opening a performing arts school back home and saving enough money to send his son to private school’’. What a player. Putting Birmingham on the map with ambition and such positive energy as this, can anything stop him?  Lets hope not.

JASMINE WITH NEW HARRYS LAW STAR AML AMEEN….(BACKGROUND CHOICE AML’S)

So after Christmas in Utah with the Cannon’s (Mariah and Nick) we flew back to LA where we stayed in the Cannons guest room which Mrs C had also turned into a little home recording studio. To see her vocal booth customised with pink initials and butterflies and note her song writing pads in the room was breath taking as I acknowledged that this was a sacred space where hit upon hit was written. Awakening daily to look out across the Bel Air Hills and at the stunning LA view is a sight to behold. Certainly an inspiration to do as well as you can in life and make the most of every moment. Mrs C is truly in domestic mode as she cooked a variety of Italian specialities for our dinner daily. And when I say cooked I mean totally fresh from scratch. No cook-in sauces for this lady as she chops, peels and crushes herb after herb and patiently enjoys her ‘’cooking with Mrs Cannon’’ moment.

It was now only a couple of days before New Years Eve but we managed to fit in a fair amount of fun before the clock struck 12. I enjoyed a couple of moments in the Cannons hot tub overlooking the twinkling lights of the city, we visited our favourite LA shopping area-The Grove- again, we rented a car to get us around and had much fun keeping up with the crazy LA traffic and mad drivers as we missed exit after exit on the notorious 405 freeway-so called cos you can be stuck on it for 4 or 5 hours!

One night the boyfriend took me on a surprise drive up through the winding hills as I wondered where we were going. After a while he stopped and muttered ‘’damn its not even lit up-why not!’’ in frustration. I looked around and noticed we were right underneath the infamous Hollywood sign, which I could just make out in the dark blue night. Even I was traumatised. How many movies have you seen the statuesque, towering letters spelling out the movie industries most sexy location brightly lit up at night?. In my trauma i tweeted to enquire whether this was a one off? Had there been a problem paying the electric bill? , I was speedily (don’t you juts love twitter-your online concierge!) informed that ‘’its only ever lit up in movies Jas cos a film crew lights it up’’. Well, I was flabbergasted. Talk about years of false advertising and myth!. I wanted to start up a petition there and then to have the Hollywood sign permanently lit up at night. How amazing would this be for the millions of annual tourists?.

We also took in Venice Beach. I love watching the muscle men on Muscle Beach do their thing. its old fashioned, fun and free! The one thing that has changed from yesteryear though is the number of hip-hop outfits and crews that have taken up residence there and hustler their CD’s to unsuspecting tourists. Nowadays they even hand you Dre Beats headphones to hear their same ole same ole west coast tinged vocals. Oh how we laughed. if it wasn’t boys peddling their mix tapes it was dance crews taking over the street entertainment with their unison dance routines and theatrical banter. Those Step Up movies have a lot to answer for. Oh well. At least the kids have a side hustle that’s legal!

Finally New Years Eve was upon us and after I called and wished my UK folk a great night with a prosperous year ahead, I settled down to help Mr C and the crew prepare the party room for the 40 or so guests that were expected that night. Mr C was checking his decks whilst we arranged party hats, poppers, beads, top hats and balloons strategically around the room to make it look as festive as Mrs C would expect.

This year the party was a very small, intimate gathering of close family and friends. Debbie Allen- the amazing dancer/actress from the legendary FAME series, who is also good friends with Mariah- made a seafood gumbo and we all indulged in that and a feast of soul food. The bar was overseen by Mrs C who ensured that all her guests had a drink to hand. Everyone danced and were merry and at midnight it was ridiculously festive with confetti bombs and hugs and kisses all round. A lovely L.A New Years Eve start to 2011.

The next few days saw me visiting Debbie Allen’s performing arts school in Crenshaw which was most impressive. A stand out venue in the hood where numerous youngsters attend to do ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop and more. Huge new studios, locker rooms and facilities that were clearly upkept beautifully and adorned with Ms Allens achievements. I salute you lady- very impressive!.

I also spent a long girly 2-hour catch up session in Mrs C’s pool with her as she exercised and we discussed everything under the sun from music, life, love, family, and nappies! Yes- nappies-or diapers as the Americans call them- were a topic that was intriguing. I even saw a shooting star!

One afternoon my mate asked me to open my ‘’tunnel vision-ed mind’’ and join him at LA GUN CLUB. Well you can imagine the hostile rejection I put up. I have always loathed guns and never seen where there could be fun attached to their use. Especially after all the youth on youth gun crime back home that I witness. I was informed that like archery and bowling, to many in the world it was merely another sport skill and I should try it at least once before writing it off. So I did. It was exhilarating and I was surprisingly very good at it considering I’d never even held a gun before. Clearly the shooters along the shooting range were there to test their accuracy skills. But it still wasn’t my idea of fun. Every time a shot went off I jumped out of my skin-even with the eye and ear protectors on. Empty bullet shells were flying all around and I couldn’t believe that I, as a regular Joe Schmo could walk off the street and be trusted to hold and use a firearm of my choice without any previous experience or training. Hilariously my target was riddled with bullet holes whilst my mates was barely hit. At least he now knows not to mess with me. I tried it once. it was an experience. I wont be doing it again.

DINNER WITH FRIENDS INC ACTORS AML AMEEN AND PREEYA KALIDAS.

My final bit of LA fun was organising a dinner with some Brits before I flew home. I reached out to actor Aml Ameen who used to star in THE BILL and movies like KIDULTHOOD. He moved to LA last year with his lady to star in a new Hollywood series called Harry’s Law. He suggested our Brit dinner should be held at Brazilian food eatery Bosanova. I also invited former Eastenders actress and singer Preeya Kalidas  who just happened to be out there and former MTV diva Janet Shaw. We spent a hilarious evening comparing stories and Aml filled us in on his TV series. Weekly drama Harry’s Law began airing in the USA from January 17^th on NBC from 10pm and is the new David E Kelley show. (He made Alley McBeal and Boston Legal too!) It also stars Oscar and Golden Globe winner Kathy Bates alongside our Brit boy Aml!. Whilst in LA I was really proud to read In recent press junkets Kathy said this about our boy… “I’m really taken with this young man, Aml Ameen who’s from the UK who comes over. He plays Malcolm and he’s a wonderful young actor. And we’ve had a lot of terrific scenes together and I’ve enjoyed so much the chemistry between the two of us’’. So Aml looks likely to be a household name stateside within weeks!. We had much fun over dinner breaking down his American accent which to American ears sounds flawless!.

It seems that Aml is not the only talent in his family- whilst he’s carving a career out in Hollywood his brother Mikel Ameen is building up a big following this side of the pond with his music and acting too. His captivating debut E.P album ‘’Gift Rap’’ includes 13 tracks bursting with originality ,charisma & content. With half the tracks produced by Mikel himself clearly creativity runs strong in the Ameen family genes!
Look out for the west end launch of AmeenDream Entertainment in April in the UK( where 3 short films will be screened- The Pick Up, Special Delivery, and Drinks Drugs and KFC (All Directed and Produced by Aml Ameen). On that proud TEAMUK note I jetted off to catch up with yet another Brit doing big things Stateside-more in next weeks juice!

JASMINE WITH THE CANNON’S AND FRIENDS ON THE CHRISTMAS SLEIGH RIDE!

I know we’re already 2 weeks into 2011 but I only just finished my Christmas adventure which this year was longer than ever!. Why not!? I deserve it! I work damn hard all year and you know what they say- work hard, play as hard. My annual end of year frolic with the cannons (Mariah and Nick) this year began in L.A. mid December we flew out to my cousin Jani’s lair where for a solid week it rained more torrentially than I’ve ever witnessed in the UK. It was heavy, non-stop 24-7 pouring cats and dogs. On December 21st we flew into Utah for Christmas week. As Mrs Cannon is pregnant it was decided that our usual Aspen jaunt would be a little too high altitude wise for the Carey-Cannon twins to breath as the oxygen is so thin up that high -its bad enough for us folks outside the womb!. We’ve been to aspen in the past where friends have been hospitalised by altitude sickness so the idea of the cannon twins somersaulting in Mrs Cannons tummy unable to breath was not pip. Utah on the other hand is just as snowy, magical and surrounded by mountains and canyons so we all jetted off to park city where we enjoyed a really relaxed, picturesque, once in a lifetime vacation.

In most of the UK’s cities we cant even imagine what the snowy hilltops and mountains in Utah look like. They’re breath taking, picture post card images that you think only exist in olde world postcards. We stayed near somewhere called ‘Lambs Canyon’ which if you know about Mariah you know was VERY appropriate.

The Cannons do very traditional Christmas’ with stunning magical mountains, covered with snow glistening like millions of diamonds, homes that look like ginger bread cribs with white sugar frosting perching aside the hills. Winter vacation homes in the snow are all similar with varying levels of extreme fabulosity. All are golden wood structures with numerous pillars and alcoves, high ceilings, a multitude of levels, playrooms that contain pool tables, wii consoles, karaoke machines, cinema rooms, and a number of en suite bedrooms. They also include luxuries like roaring log fires (which I tried to build myself a couple of times but then was banned in case I killed us all with smoke poisoning or worse!) , a giant main Christmas tree in the living room, a second tree in the playroom for dressing on Christmas eve, a big family kitchen where families gather around the island worktop, a hot tub outside overlooking the twinkling lights of the city, and of course a view straight out of a block buster movie. This trip was different to all the rest as the Cannons are pregnant and that put a whole new, calm, blessed spin on festivities. We were excited just to be altogether.

Daily our meals were a group effort led by our Swedish friends Kristen and Josephine so we referred to meal times as ‘Kristens Kitchen’. Bedrooms with 4 poster princess style beds were made extremely good use of, the 4 cannon puppies (JJ, Chacha, Dolomite and Jackie Lambchop) were as ever as cute and rambunctious as ever running around causing pandemonium, playing in the snow. I took them all for a daily walk which in itself was a crazy, fun task as they legged it up and down the hills dragging us into deep 4 foot snow drifts as they sniffed out wild deer. We ventured out very few times to shop in town, which had both a quaint little old worlde town as well as massive fashion malls with 75 store minimum outlets.

At the start of the trip Mariah reminded us of her usual vacation rule where we are requested not to spend 24-7 on our electronic gadgets. Between us there were a lot of Macs, Blackberry’s and IPads so it was a relief that the rule was set. After all who wants to spend such a once in a lifetime moment with all around them being anti social on their texts and e mails all day long. So imagine my delight and joy when one afternoon as she popped out for a quick shop and I sneakily logged onto my Mac,I caught her slipping as she had just tweeted! Now the problem was, did I acknowledge I myself had broken the rule in order to catch her? Her bro Shawn and I decided it would be worth the jokes to out her so we told her off via twitter. She gave as good as she got and cussed us back!. Good times!

The one thing we were allowed to over rule the rule was playing Wii- we tried bowling and other sports but it was the Michael Jackson dance game that had us all sweating, screaming, dancing and singing at the top of our voices for hours! I won 3 games, Nick won 3 games but our friend Rachels daughter , lil 15 year Sade got the highest perfect score! (She is after all a dancer and we’d expect nothing less!) . The workout was pretty crazy up in that high mountain altitude, though and 3 of us went through 12 bottles of water in an hour.

One night we decided that Mrs C needed pampering what with the usual pregnancy aches and pains taking their toll so all the girls pitched in to give her girl time with hand, foot and head massages with hot oil until she fell asleep.

Many nights we jumped into the hot tub (minus Mrs C ) watching the twinkling stars in the ink black sky, minus the usual annual festive flute of champagne for obvious reasons. One particular hot tub moment of hilarity came when 3 of us were in the hot tub trying to persuade Nick to join us. He was of course making the usual ‘’black men don’t do snow in their underwear’ noises.

We also spent our nights after dinner playing games like Balderdash and Catchphrase. I should be used to it but whenever the answer to the clue I’m giving comes up as ‘’Mariah Carey’’ or ‘’Nick Cannon’’ it’s the weirdest. Surreal. Imagine being the answer in a board game?

There was one particular night when I was so angry I could’ve exploded. Throughout our years of friendship we have always had the fun UK VS USA banter. This night was one to remember. My word that I had to have my team guess was ‘’cracker-jack’’. I was able to have my team guess the word ‘Jack’ easily as that’s the name of Mariah’s first most loved dog and the worlds most famous canine after his adventures with Mimi. Then I attempted to describe a Christmas cracker-the type that you pull at the dinner table, which contains paper party hats and gifts. Well, a whole screaming drama occurred as I didn’t realise Americans had no clue what a Christmas cracker was. No one knew what a ‘’paper filled column containing gifts and hats that’s placed at the dinner table’’ was. I was cussed solidly for my efforts and when I looked to my fellow Brit for support to confirm that Christmas crackers existed he abandoned me as he was on opposing team America!. Vex.com.

On Christmas Eve we had our usual Midnight mass -at home this year -with our friend pastor Kase leading the proceedings. It was a warm, traditional, festive ceremony that we all partook in and reminded ourselves about the true meaning of the holiday. The same night we were treated to Mrs C’s special clam linguini with stuffed shells, baked clams, garlic bread, salad and authentic red tomato sauce that was delish!

Our Christmas day Sleigh ride was very calm compared to most years as Mrs C is up the duff ‘’carrying dem babies’’. Usually we hurtle through a crazy, bumpy ride through the forest. This year we were ultra careful to ensure the slope was smooth and bump free. After all we had our own bump to look after and protect LOL!. However we still sang Christmas songs and Mrs C’s new Christmas album (particularly ‘’’Oh Santa’’ at the top of our voices!.

In past years we’ve attempted to reason with Mr C about not waking us at 6am, dressed as Santa to open our gifts. Hilariously, it’s taken us this many years to just accept its going to happen. So at 8am after his wife asked him to let us sleep a little longer, ‘Saint Nick’ woke us traditional style with a cowbell and pounding on doors dressed as Santa.

My gifts included a gigantic bottle of hot pepper sauce packed and presented in my name. It was so heavy to pick up and hold that I’ve had to leave it at the Cannons on their bar area in case anyone should ever request a bloody Mary!

I got the usual necessity gifts too like hats, scarves, and smellies, as well as some lovely trinkets and framed photos but my favourites were a flip camera and a pair of Mariah Carey black quilted chain boots that she designed for the HOME SHOPPING NETWORK that I’ll be rolling around with in 2011.

I particularly look forwards to American style Christmas dinner, which this year was bib lettuce, basil-buttermilk dressing, fresh cranberry sauce, traditional mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, candied yams, mac and cheese, collard greens, corn on the cob, stuffing, buttermilk biscuits, turkey, deep fried turkey, honey baked ham, rib roast, dessert, cherry pie, pecan pie, sweet potato pie. Tell me your mouth isn’t watering just reading that.

On December 28th we took our last mountain walk with the crazy dog circus and drove back through the canyons to Salt Lake City airport where we jetted back to Los Angeles for New Year. Roll on 2011!.

JASMINE AND ESTELLE.

Happy New Year dear readers! Here we are again! Another January! Another chance to start a new year afresh with positively new beginnings…where will it lead for us all? Only time will tell! I write this from los scandalous otherwise known as LA. I’m relieved it’s sunny because when I flew out here in mid December it rained torrentially for 5 days. Worse than any Indian or Kenyan monsoon that I’ve ever experienced and much worse than a rainy day in London. La in the rain is so grey it’s hard to acknowledge you’re in the sunshine state! Doesn’t the song go? ‘’it never rains in southern California’’

My life is never calm and before even getting through immigration there was drama. The winter solstice, full moon and lunar eclipse on December 21^st came early for me and I aged 10 years in 30 minutes.

My friend had filled in their ESTA form incorrectly so instead of the usual ‘’Welcome back to the USA’’ and a smile, we were hauled off to a side room where my mate was questioned alongside thugs, dodgy looking folk and other undesirables. Luckily after a lot of sweating – honestly I thought we were both going to be deported back to the UK-it was all cleared up and we were waved through. We had had visions of being put into orange prison overall jumpsuits and staying there for days as all UK airports were shut off by snow.

On arrival at my cousin Jani’s crib in the miracle mile area I plonked myself on the sofa and began preparing to unpack. I dragged my new suitcase towards me and colour drained from my face as I noted that whilst it was indeed the same colour and model as my new black case- but it had a label that stated it belonged to a ‘’Mister M Coleman from Northants ,UK’’ instead of Miss Dotiwala. Eek. This is the reason I have always cited for not wanting a black suitcase. Every other case is black. I felt sick with concern that I would be jazzie-no-clothes in a few days when we were going skiing, even worse I felt terribly embarrassed that poor Mr Coleman must be frantic with worry due to silly lil me scooping up his case from the baggage carousel. After the immigration drama however this felt like small fry. Cousin Jani bundled me into her ride, zoomed me back to the virgin desk where a porter informed me the desk was now closed but pointed out a virgin official outside that was on his way home. We sprinted out to the guy who looked at the case I was dragging-Mr Coleman’s- and said ‘’oh yes-I think I have your case in the office’’ and proceeded to take us to the nearby office, open up, take the Coleman case, swap it with mine (which I practically sank to my knees and kissed), and off we were- happy and relived. I love Virgin Atlantic. Honestly-they couldn’t be friendlier or more helpful. And I’ve been saying that for the past 20 years!

LA meanwhile was just pouring cats and dogs, day and night so regular activities like strolling along 3^rd street in Santa Monica or chilling around Venice beach weren’t going to happen. Instead my international designer friend Adam Saaks scooped me up in his very LA trendy Prius and insisted he was taking us to see his surprise. As we drove down Melrose Ave Adam said ‘’look out the window’’ and there stood a huge very swish looking store called….Adam Saaks!. Adam dragged us inside and proceeded to load us up with free stylish goodies and of course cut a tee-shirt onto our bodies-that which he is famous for. We ended the day chowing down on sliders (mini-burgers to you Brits) and fries at the infamous 50’s all American Johnny Rockets diner. Then we settled back down at home to watch the ‘’Christmas in Washington’’ special that Mariah was singing in and felt extremely proud of her especially since she is heavily pregnant with those twins.

The next couple of days were spent in a frantic shopping whirlwind at the grove and the Beverly centre picking up last minute Christmas gifts before the UK’s finest Estelle pinged me to announce she was going to be in town the next day for a gig and we should do dinner. Never one to do things by half I suggested we invite a couple of friends. Boxer Audley Harrison, actor aml ameen, designer adam saaks, girl-about-town/jewellery designer Britney Gastenau, infamous L.A club promoter Shay, and my cousin Jani….dinner was at a very fashionable restaurant called Koi after which we popped into the infamous Chateau Marmont bar for more bellini cocktails before calling it a night. Estelle looked happy and fabulous with her newly tinted red hair and was on full entertainment mode as she had the table roaring with laughter at her anecdotes. Her next album sounds like it’s going to break some serious ground.

AUDLEY HARRISON AND JASMINE.

Audley shared a carrot cake and cuppa tea with me- typical Brits!. Instead of joining us for the whole evening Audley blew us out to….wait for it….go and play darts with his professional English dart players that live up in the Hollywood hills. Apparently he’s a very good aim with that left hand of his. So living out in la Audleys clearly more excited about throwing darts that punches these days. When he’s not doing that he told me he’s having fun replying to haters that cuss him on facebook. He gets a lot of satisfaction putting certain haters back in their places. I’ve known Audley for years, from the early days when he was wayward and spent time courtesy of her majesty’s service, when he was a nightclub security man and watched as he pulled himself up to Olympic fighter level and now he’s living the good life on the west coast with his beautiful wife and daughter. It’s an inspirational story. Hes happy regardless of the hate he gets. A true positive, spiritual thinker. I was laughing at the size of his feet. Hes a big guy but even I have never experienced size 18 feet! I could live in one of his shoes! But living in my own shoes is more than good enough for me as I recall my annual festive Christmas in Utah with Christmas family-all the juice on that next week! Happy New Year!