Clay Durward has always been able to read the minds of young children. When he is asked to protect a six year old boy, he learns the child carries the spirit of a ten thousand year old energy locked in his subconscious. In trying to help his ward, Clay finds himself embroiled in a civil war between two factions of Ancient Egyptian deities fighting out their rivalry among the darkest streets in America’s crumbling cities.
This revolutionary science fiction series enthralls your imagination by introducing urban culture into the realms of ancient mythology and taking you on a mind blowing adventure into your own consciousness. Among the Veils sets the foreground in which order versus chaos is taken beyond your average sci-fi book. Your mind and spirit will escape to a place outside of time. Find yourself captivated as you read, enjoy the musical soundtrack, and connect with the author by identifying the characters you imagined to the spectacular art work designed especially for Among the Veils.
Like a lot of other people, I’m saddened, I’m shocked, and I got tears running down my face right now. All my love goes out to his immediate family, as well as his LSN family. The world has lost a titan today.
If there’s a reason most any of you know me, there’s a 99% chance it’s due to Reggie “Combat Jack” Osse. I went from being a fan of his writing, to doing graphics for his Daily Mathematics blog, to creating logos for the Combat Jack show, the Loud Speakers Network, and most popularly making showbills, our name for the flyers we created for the different guests.
From the beginning, I listened along religiously every week to TCJS - those who know remember when the crew of Dallas Penn, Premium Pete, DJ Benhameen, Matt Raz, and Just Blaze (with occasional appearances by Chris Morrow) were the nucleus of the show.
I don’t know if I can convey how important the showbills were (and are) for me. It was a weekly adventure to make something new and interesting and - most importantly - something that would make Combat react positively. That was always the goal. If I could get Combat to get fired up behind it, I would feel good. And if I could make the show look good, so much the better.
To have this guy allow me to be part of that, in any small way I could, with the art I created… it was an honor. I can say truly, it’s the body of work I’m most proud of to this very day.Because of Combat, I got to meet great people IRL - including the man himself. I got to link up with other internets like Jaislayer and LP. I’ve gotten to work with some great indie artists, as well as gotten some shots with the majors. They didn’t pan out, but I always appreciated that CJ would even recommend me. He didn’t have to. He had plenty of talent around him.
And those hip-hop variant covers? They wouldn’t exist without Combat. Period. The ONLY reason I got my shot is from Chris Robinson, now editor at Marvel Comics, seeing the showbills and being into my work. Combat made a life-long dream of mine come true. And as he always said, “dream those dreams…”
A lot of people have listened to that Black Thought freestyle, and those in the know knew what that “this shit for Combat” line meant. And as I listened to it, I thought, I can’t wait for him to get back on his feet. I can’t wait to hear him back on the podcast. I can’t wait to hear what the next season of “Mogul” will be.
The quote in the title of this post, if you might not know, is from The Roots song, “Can’t Stop This.” It’s a track from album “Game Theory” in which the group mourns the loss of their friend J Dilla, which seems (very unfortunately) particularly appropriate now. And if you know from the early days of the show, one of the sayings was, “it doesn’t ever stop.” Reggie Osse might be gone in the physical form, but he has birthed many lives that will continue on. Energy is never created nor destroyed, it is only redirected. If any of us who have been touched by his life take anything moving forward, it should be to use his energy, his drive, his passion, and his intellect in a way that honors his memory.
Rest in Power, Combat. Thank you for everything.
Ill get over this by 2024
December 20, 2017, 3:54 pm
Bret Alexander Sweet was born in San Francisco, California. He was raised between Oakland and Sacramento, settling in San Francisco in 1997. Bret graduated from Berkeley High School in 1995. He is the son of prominent Bay Area civil rights attorney and social entrepreneur, Clifford Charles Sweet.
Bret combined his passion for music and entrepreneurship at a young age by earning himself an internship at PolyGram Group Distribution’s San Francisco office in the summer of 1995. Three months later he was an artist development rep focusing on the company’s urban division associated with Island Def Jam artists. He left PolyGram shortly after the merger to focus more on his college career at San Francisco State University and open his own label. Throughout his studies, Bret invested his time working in various community development organizations as well as running his own independent record label, House Kemetic Suns. Although House Kemetic Suns never reached platinum status with its artists, Bret had established the first online music distribution channel when he was 19; 6 years before Steve Jobs would bring iTunes to market.
In 2002, Bret began teaching entrepreneurship to youth and young adults from under-developed communities. In 2003, he signed on as Lead Entrepreneurship Instructor at BUILD, a non-profit organization in Menlo Park that uses entrepreneurship as vehicle for college admission for first generation students. In 2004, Bret was awarded Certified Teacher of the Year by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship. In fall of 2007, Bret retired from teaching to pursue his life long dream of an MBA at the University of San Francisco. In 2008, Bret began certifying new cohorts of future NFTE instructor as a NFTE CETI (Certified Entrepreneurship Teacher Instructor). Bret graduated from the University of San Francisco in May 2009 with his Master’s of Business Administration with a dual emphasis in Marketing and Entrepreneurship. In December 2008, he received the USF School of Management’s Dean Circle Scholarship for exemplary service in his community.
In 2007, Bret founded the Dualism Group which is early stage venture capitalism firm and consulting arm geared toward helping underserved entrepreneurs launch and expand their companies in order to bring jobs to lower income communities. One of his clients is Robert Simpson of Back A Yard Corporation which led to Bret being instrumental in the founding of Coconuts Palo Alto and the expansion of Back A Yard into San Jose. In addition he established his own property management firm called Sweet Rentality which creates tech innovations for the property rental market.
