President Kennedy

Today is the 47th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. When I first got into this rap/music game JFK was the name I decided to use for myself. The reason I did this is because I was always upset about the circumstances and conspiracies surrounding the assassination. While I no longer use the JFK alias I still have strong feelings about what happened.

My feeling was and still is that the public world really lost much of our mental freedom on that day. There is no way that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.

I remember how my Grandmother would talk of The Kennedys as if there was some magical air of perfection surrounding them. She had seen John and Jackie at different gatherings in the Boston area and had a clear admiration for how they carried themselves. American Royalty.

When I worked as a bank teller I had the pleasure of having Harrison Livingstone as one of my customers. I learned through conversation that he was the author of some of the most popular JFK assassination conspiracy novels out there. He was a bit of an eccentric so we hit it off. He gave me copies of his books and autographed them for me. He told me that young people don't usually care about JFK and he felt that I could help him maintain the search for truth.

Now that current generations have our own JFK assassination in 9/11, it seems as if the truth about what happened will forever be buried in a pile of bullshit on the grassy knoll.

If you are ever in Massachusetts, I highly suggest that you check out the JFK museum and learn more about what type of man he was. I am not going to spend time talking about his accomplishments--look it up.

What I will do is share with you this song I made years ago. WWAP member Random Ran made the beat and its actually one of our earliest collaborations. In honor of the real JFK here is a free download of JFK (come on). This is off my first solo cd Live From Camelot...Enjoy and send a good thought out into the universe today for our fallen president. At the very least you will see how much our skills have improved since the early days...and oh yeah, Screw you Illuminati!

-David Downey, Jr

Hands Up Remix

We are pleased to share this disgustingly sick remix of Hands Up from our friend Judson De La Wickham aka Canyon Rivers aka Deadkidsyntax (like I said previously, you are not a real indie artist unless you have multiple aliases and projects going simultaneously). This song is an excellent remix, one because its slamming and two because it puts a totally new spin on the lyrics. Jud is an accomplished madman of a producer based out of LA and also a longtime friend of WWAP DJ/Live Painter-Random Ran. Do yourself a favor and click on the links so your ears can feel what your eyes are reading.

Thanks to Jud for doing this song and we look forward to more collaborations in the future as David Downey, Jr. is an absolute beat fiend. Until then you can download Hands Up (Deadkidsyntax Remix) for FREE!!!

and remember...EVERYBODY KNOWS YOU SHOULD PUNCH YOUR BOSS AND MURDER YOUR JOB TOO!

-David Downey, Jr.

Mr Dark Keys spotted in Sausalito!

Woke With A Plan beatmaker, producer and ASR-10 aficionado Topher M. Lewis recently had one of his compositions used as the opening music for The Sausalito Film Festival. The song Cognitive Miser was originally released in 2002 on the album Broken Record. Now we all know that you are not a "real" indie musician unless you have multiple aliases, groups and projects going simultaneously. Staying true to that meme, Lewis has used the moniker Mr Dark Keys for years and has a treasure trove of soon to be released instrumentals guaranteed to leave you spellbound. Be sure to follow Mr Dark Keys on myspace and facebook and of course remember to follow his alter ego Topher M. Lewis in Woke With A Plan. I promise, your ears (and breasts) will thank you.

The Rap Money is Gas Money Tour

The Rap Money is Gas Money Tour is rolling through San Francisco and Woke With A Plan is happy to announce our participation in support of Abadawn, Sarx and Name The Uncanny. We recently performed on the same bill as Abadawn at Club Six and let me just say that it is not often you get to witness a skilled rapper rock his set then go into a cover of "Closer" by NIN. Pretty sick, you don't want to miss it so come on out and support this tour. These guys are driving down from the Seattle/Portland area and on their way to LA so lets pack the house. Gas is expensive!

Local Chip-Hop masterminds A_Rival will also be rocking the room so prepare for the house to be brought down. If you haven't heard of these guys you need check out their 8-bit remake of Nuthin' But A G-Thang and see how talented this crew is. Internationally acclaimed B-Boy Jimmy Hits is the DJ for A_Rival so look for him to flex his skills on both the tables and the floor.

We will be doing "our usual unusual" with a few new wrinkles to the set and the song arrangement. One of our newer pieces is live painting where David Downey, Jr. scribbles some doodles and Randy Ziady Huling spends the rest of the set turning it into a thing of beauty while all along Topher Lewis orchestrates the symphony like a brain surgeon lobotomizing and re-animating unknowing patients. Mannequin heads, TV's tuned to strangeness, illumination and other theatrics are guaranteed! On a side note, WWAP frontman David Downey, Jr. is planning a temporary move to Boston so this may be your last chance to see us for a bit. Come on out, have a beer, reminisce, be entertained and let loose. We will actually be removing our beating hearts and leaving them on stage during the show so this will be monumental!

Live DJ sets by Jimmy Hits, Prefix and WWAP's own Random Ran!

Tuesday 9/14/2010 406 Clement St San Francisco 9PM $8 21+

-David Downey, Jr.

The Dark Room at Club Six

Woke With A Plan will be performing this Friday July 23rd inside of The Dark Room at Club Six.

Menno-P will be starting things off and if you haven't heard of this San Fran MC then you have to check out his fresh video with the crazy looking monkeys from the 50's on bikes. Its like a warped sci-fi version of the Dennis The Menace show with some ill hip hop behind it. You can check out "Eyewitness" right here.

After Woke With A Plan manipulates time and creates an alternate universe through TV, antique clocks and possessed heads, we will return you to the present tense for local bay area legend--Dublin.

Dublin has been rocking mics and representing SF for years earning the respect of every person that has had a chance to see him live. Dublin just returned from an East Coast tour with the illustrious Brass, Bows and Beats symphony so now is your time to see this cat locally before he blows up internationally and you have to pay double the ticket price to scalpers. You might have also heard of him from the Jazz Mafia, Shotgun Wedding Quintet or his newest release Ease The Pain.

Next up we have Abadawn from Camobear Records. Abadawn is on tour from Portland OR and has a reputation for putting on an energetic and LIVE live show. I hadn't heard of Abadawn before this gig was booked but checking out his myspace and hearing the song Greasy Burr made me an instant fan. I think I played that song like 20 times so when its played live I'll be that dude in the front row bugging out and repeating the lyrics.

We also want to thank Dave Blank aka Dark Alley Ethics and Level for putting on this show and giving us all an opportunity to gig. This is one of the best lineups I have ever had the pleasure of being associated with so please show your support for Woke With A Plan and these other acts. We promise to leave blood, guts, brains, hearts and other organs on the stage steaming from their fresh removal...but no tears. (rappers don't cry)


Hope to see you this Friday July 23rd at Club Six. 60 6th St. SF 9PM

-David Downey, Jr.

Gallons of Fuel

What is going on right now with the oil spill in the gulf is sickening and totally fucked up. A few years ago I recorded this song called Gallons of Fuel for one of my upcoming solo cds entitled The People Aquarium. WWAP's own DJ Plutoe (Random Ran) made this beat and the song has been sitting in my itunes catalog with only about 5 different people ever hearing it.

This version is unfinished, unmixed and may never see the light of day other than this blog and through this free download. It just seems like a proper time to share a song when we are going through such a serious environmental crisis. Hope you enjoy it (the song not the crisis), thanks for reading this blog and for following our music! Here is Gallons of Fuel.

-David Downey Jr.

We are...

decrepit statues, broken relationships, dreams of flying, alien visions, psychotic multiple personalities, bird communication, rusty playgrounds with steep metal slides, words of vitriol, misguided energy, dreams deferred, marijuana, dolphins rescuing humans, insight of spiders, job disillusionment, untranslatable instructions, forced hypnotism, insane neighbors, passive aggressiveness, aggressive aggressiveness, complicated interactions, not holding back, absolute power without corruption, rock proof glass houses, early bird worm hoarders, silent objections, mental assassinations, undiscovered planets, squeaky swingsets, dusty nooks, painstaking detail, franklin mint manufactured plates of unknown heroes, bounced checks, climbing trees and hiding, hearts torn out, roadkill reanimated, the secret sauce, workplace sabotage, calling in sick, going in sick, driving recklessly, walking carefully, shooting your mouth off, excess, ambience, creation, transference of energy, ancient thought patterns, the superconsciousness, the ability to fly, your first forgotten dream, your first remembered nightmare, what you wanted to be as a kid, who you are as an adult.

-David Downey, Jr.