July 2007 Archives
Cool Soul
Maya Azucena in Fort Greene Park (7.28.07)
Ledisi Storms the Seaport
Last night, Ledisi, a veteran independent R&B artist, took the KISS 98.7-sponsored South Street Seaport stage in New York City to promote her forthcoming Verve debut, Lost & Found. The grown and growners were out en masse: roller skating, getting down with the get down and otherwise carrying on.
Transitions
On poet, activist and educator Sekou Sundiata's passing.
Chanson Papillon
I wish I had been mature enough to appreciate Luther--"Big Luther, curl not quite right Luther"--while he was yet alive. He hits now but struck as old then. It was music for people who weren't on their parents insurance, whose concerns were how they were going to pay their rent not how to not repeat an article of clothing for 1 month's worth of school days.
"Poetry is not a Luxury"*
I don't always call myself a poet although I have fiddled with free verse for a decade. It's a lot to live up to with wordsmiths like the late Gwendolyn Brooks and still vital Lucille Clifton having already left their indelible imprint on the artform. For me poems are often cathartic; they can be heavy handed, formless, banal, and, if I'm lucky, good. Only once have I stumbled upon a four leaf clover.
The first poet to make a major impression on me was Nikki Giovanni, vaulted back into the limelight recently having taught the architect of the Virginia Tech massacre. Looking back before the tragedy or even her nineties infatuation with 2Pac that resulted in her getting 'Thug Life' tatted across her forearm, Giovanni was an independent spirit and brilliantly simple poet at a key moment in African American history, which she deftly exploited in the struggle for equal rights. Giovanni created depth of meaning through basic imagery: cotton candy, for example. Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day (1978). Her seventh collection of poetry, Cotton Candy... came around ten years from when she was told by a professor at Columbia University's M.F.A. program that she couldn't write, a reminder to not be afraid of or dismayed by no. Giovanni, who had already written her fair share of political pieces, turned introspective to great success as the titular poem illustrates:
Gossip Folks
I never much liked silence so I filled it with gossip. Tidbits I'd overheard, interactions I observed and a lot of suspect information I surmised, I distributed to my adolescent network. Just ask my sister or my middle schoolmates. I was crowned "mouth of the south, north, east and west" from an old friend now flourishing as a singer and writer in L.A. One afternoon she cornered me in the 5th grade block of our middle school and dressed me down for poking in 8th grade business, the first and last time anyone would call me out for my, let's say, chatty nature. In fact, most people liked me for it. Gossips entertain and everybody wants to have fun. Right?!
The Live Experience
Tags: Music, R&B, Raheem DeVaughn, Soul
Raheem DeVaughn holding up his new mixtape at B.B. King's Blues Club, NYC, 7/10/07
Last night Raheem DeVaughn and Julie Dexter revived a sun spent crowd at New York City's B.B. King Blues Club with smart soul music. Opener Dexter, a Atlanta-based British expat and veteran independent artist, was charged with introducing herself to a crowd of mostly DeVaughn devotees. Although versed in jazz and dnb, Dexter kept it R&B, barring the occasional reggae flourish, which generally charmed but drained at least one song, the extraordinary "Ketch A Vibe," of its otherworldly sensibilities.
BEFORE THE KITSCH
I am not my music. I don't flaunt my tastes as a badge of cool or as a marker of membership in a community. Still there are musics of which I dare not be in earshot for fear of my tarnishing my image. Number one on this list is the Black Eyed Peas.
Punk Montage
Afro Punk, the movement sparked by the movie, blazed through Brooklyn this weekend as part of their 3rd annual Music & Film festival. The festival continues through the holiday weekend and includes performances by Game Rebellion, my new favorite band The Smyrk, and Suffrajett among others. The festival's film screenings include music documentaries, chronicles of the Black Panther Party, some little known Black-directed features and, of course, Afro Punk. I popped by their Block Party Sunday and snapped some pics of the party people.
