On 28th October, Cachar Group and Pastor Marvelous host Gospel Laughs N’ Worship at NPC Valley Road from 2PM. Comedians include Erick Omondi, Dr. Ofweneke, MC. Jesse, Joey (U.S.A.), Dr. Shogo (Nigeria), and The Napsta (South Africa).
Tickets go for Kshs 500 at the gate and Kshs 299 (advance) at Naivas Supermarket.
Like the facebook page and follow the event on facebook and twitter.
Posted by The Greatrnk on October 17, 2012
https://alternativefocus.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/gospel-laughs-n-worship/
The past Sunday, after church, I found myself rushing to meet up a friend (hereafter referred to as “my friend”) who was supposed to take me to an event I had only heard of just 15 hours prior. When my friend explained that the event was to be at the Kenya National Archives, I gave her that look that is supposed to tell someone, “is this some kind of a joke?” I had been to the National Archives before, and I did not see how an event would be held there … well, till we got there and were ushered upstairs, where I had never been to. What welcomed us when we got to where the event was to be held was half of the people on the dance floor with Ken the DJ playing Lecrae’s More. And that was my first impression of The Vault.
The Vault is a bi-monthly gospel hip hop event which gives a platform to up and coming artists as well as seasoned artists to perform. It is held at the Kenya National Archives from 2PM to 6PM and the first hour, dubbed the hype session is a session for the Deejays to do their thing and ensure everyone is kept on their feet. It is the brain child of Dangee, whom I had the opportunity to say hi to thanks to my friend. This is my account of the first, of many subsequent Vault events, that I attended recently.
My friend had a role to play in the event, and as a result, I got to sit at the VIP with her, how cool. Moreover, since – not being a hip hop fan – I had no idea of the artists who were going to perform, I needed someone in the know to break it down for me and she did a great job. The hype session extended till about 3:30PM and I must say, Ken the DJ is a really really great DJ, considering I had never heard of him. The MC, Othole, a producer, also did his best to hype the crowd. Within no time, the artists started performing.
SPAT were first on stage because they had to leave early. The event could not have asked for better artists to perform. They did a good job with songs like Don’t Listen, Change and Celebrate keeping everyone on their feet. SoReal performed Let Go – a song I was hearing for the first time, like most songs that were performed, but whose chorus is still stuck in my head. What I liked about him is that he used exactly 10 minutes, which was the allocated time per artist. H3, who I got to hear has a Masters in Finance or something performed No Turning Back (which is a very good song) and Freedom. I am waiting for his new single, Fame, coming out this week. I hope someone will hook me up.
Other performers included Maluda, who has a Barry White kind of Bass. If there is a guy who kept everyone on their feet, it is this guy. And he did it for a whole 25 minutes. We were introduced to a new artist called Sam who performed Amaizing Grace, another song which is stuck in my head. The fact that he came after Maluda did him little justice in that with all the jumping, most people had decided to take a breather. Moreover, I thought the song was kind of slow so people would not really jump up and down. Nevertheless, it was one of the best songs performed, according to me.
My friend and I decided to get juice from The Vault Cafe which has other snacks like Hot Dogs, Samosas and Sodas. She complained that the cocktail was not too good, and I could say the same about the passion juice I took, especially considering the price. Next time I will take a soda. Also, I hope they introduce mango juice because my friend likes mango juice. We found Dan-Gee on stage performing Not Guilty and later a remake of the popular Sunday School song “If you are happy and you know.”
What I will remember for a long long time about this event will be the performance of Nasara. He started with beat-boxing and the guy is like super talented. I had never seen anyone do it like that. Point Black, who is a secular artist, and his friend whose name I cannot remember were invited to freestyle. Again, I think the only place I have seen anyone freestyle better was in 8 Mile and I am not exaggerating. He is that good! He free-styled two songs, Nasara beat-boxing for him, and the second song totally blew me away. Later, Nasara performed Like Christ. Unfortunately, we had to leave just before the main artists of the day, Kelele Takatifu performed.
Perhaps I should mention the good work done by DJ Priestly and DJ Joel, who were working alongside Ken the DJ; and the event’s sponsors Christ Powered Radio, Kelele Republic, xHoodz, Epic Concerts and Try Crew.
My parting shot is that there are a lot of positives with the event. The only downside is time management, which I think the organisers should address. The event almost started on time, but some artists took more time on stage than they were allocated. At some point, we were given questionnaires on our view of the event, which I found to be a good way of getting to know how people view the event. You can follow the event on twitter, thevault254 and on facebook. It is an event I would recommend any hip hop fan not to miss. Make it a date on Dec 2 for the next edition.
Posted by The Greatrnk on October 9, 2012
https://alternativefocus.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/the-vault-october-2012/
Cancer is a journey, but you walk the road alone. There are many places to stop along the way and get nourishment – you just have to be willing to take it. ~Emily Hollenberg
I have never been scared all my life. Forget aliens people, we may have more problems on our hands and I am not even talking about poverty, stupidity and stupidity (the latter has to be mentioned twice due to its abundance). Early today as I was busy doing nothing and basically just minding my own business, my eyes stumbled on mcgothic_‘s tweets. For those who may not know much about her, myself included, she is the self proclaimed chairperson of team forever alone. Not only that, her 15 year old niece has been ill but doctors have been doing tests to determine what was wrong. Finally, the results came in. She had a cancerous tumour and her ovary had to be removed. Problem is the cancer has spread to her urethra already.
How is that for a first paragraph, and I am not even done yet. Last week, milonare‘s dad passed on. The culprit? Cancer of course. The week before last, Caleb who had been battling leukaemia before losing the fight was laid to rest. And the week before, I had to go visit a former colleague who is battling rectal cancer. Now, tell me how in anything’s name I should not be scared to the bone.
According to a policy brief on the situation of cancer in Kenya, over 50 people die of cancer in the country everyday. Add to the fact that both of the Ministers in charge of health matters in the country were both diagnosed with cancer, then the problem is probably bigger than it seems. My view is that the human race is losing the war against cancer. I do not think we have a chance of beating cancer if our efforts are more on curative measures rather than preventive. However, it is not known what causes cancer. Scientists only know of factors that enhances the risk of one being diagnosed with it.
The question I have to ask is, is there anything we can do to fight this disease? I think yes. Personally, I will try and understand it as much as I can. The basics that is, or what I need to know. In the process, I will be throwing whatever I learn here in posts to come. That is my first bullet to the menace. Hopefully, I will find myself other fighters out there and we shall take on the disease like it takes our cells once it attacks.
THE DAY’S
Bonus: The World Cancer Day is commemorated on my birthday. I think that is the only sign I need to sign up for this war.
Posted by The Greatrnk on May 21, 2012
https://alternativefocus.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/the-war-against-cancer/
This post was originally posted by savvykenya here
To understand why I am doing this, please read this post: I Need Your Help.
Maoga is a young man from the previous post who had his jaw removed during surgery to remove a lymphatic tumor.
Maoga with his mother before surgery
After the surgery, I visited him at Kenyatta National Hospital.
Maoga at KNH after his surgery
Today I have spoken with his father. He tells me the surgery to replace his jaw will cost Kshs. 150,000. Yesterday night, the informal settlement he is staying at in Nairobi was demolished by the authorities.
Even if I do win the Kshs.50,000 (I’m told votes alone may not be the judging criteria), we’re still short by Kshs.100,000.
It is because of this that I have decided to ask for your help: MPESA. Send to the number 0727 832685, it’s my number. I will give you a full report. If 200 people reading this send Kshs 1000, that’s Kshs.200,000. If 1000 people send 200 bob each, that’s still Kshs.200,000.
P.S. If you are a blogger, please REBLOG and let’s commence operation Give Maoga a Smile.
For other readers: RETWEET, SHARE on your FB walls, send your 2 cents, do something.
Posted by The Greatrnk on November 2, 2011
https://alternativefocus.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/392/
This was an initiative started by Egichomo here. You simply post five links to certain posts as done below then tag about five bloggers to do the same. Here goes:
Most Popular Post: Why a Kenyan Revolution will Never Happen
This post was written a few days before February 28th. If we can all remember, The Arab revolution was sweeping through countries such as Tunisia and Egypt. Back home, people sort to come up with something that would make Kenyans stand up and tell the political elite that enough was enough. February 28th was chosen as the day in which we would sing the national anthem at 1PM. This post by cdooh sort to explain why a Kenyan revolution would never happen. As we speak, I do not know what became of the Kenya Feb 28th initiative, but I suppose, as a country, we have had to address other more pressing issues.
Post That Did Not Get The Attention It Deserved: The Journey
This is a poem by beenduta. I leave it to you to interpret it as you deem fit.
Post Whose Success Surprised Me: Review: Twitter App LMAO!
This is a review of the twitter API LMAO! that was made by Amasy. The reason why it’s success was such a surprise is because the person who wrote the post, greatrnk, is not such a tech person. As a result, the review was more of an ordinary review rather than a technical one.
Most Controversial Post: The Unspoken Rules of The ‘Kalocal’
This is not a controversial post, since there has not been one written here yet. However, I believe this post by Deestinguished will win if a poll of the most controversial post is done. This is a post which gives some rules on how to conduct ourselves when visiting our various ‘kalocal’
Post I Am Proud Of: Martha aka Thatcher Karua: Is Change Here?
This was the very first post on this blog. It was written by Justalffie just after Mike Sonko and Kabogo had been elected Members of Parliament in by-elections.
I tag the following (who are more than five. Rules are made to be broken!)
Cdooh who blogs at Private Thoughts of A Young Kenyan
Greatrnk who blogs at The Greatrnk
Justalffie who blogs at In His Mind
Deestinguished who blogs at Life In Paragraphs
Beenduta who blogs at Bee Illustrated
Pre7amer who blogs at Pre 7’ame’ers Blog
Ascofu who blogs at Ascofu at Work
Antwarogue who blogs at Rogue Blog
Posted by alternativefocus on September 6, 2011
https://alternativefocus.wordpress.com/2011/09/06/my-5-links/
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