Gotsa 2 Be Cool
This week, Breath of Life, the excellent audio blog run by insightful father and son team Kalamu ya Salaam and Mtume ya Salaam, takes a look at "So What," the first tune from Miles Davis's Kind of Blue.
October 2007 Archives
October 3, 2007
An Open Letter to Debra Lee in response to BET's "Hip Hop vs. America"
Here, I cede the floor to scholar-activists Moya Bailey and Leana Cabral who composed this open letter to BET's President and C.O.O., Debra Lee, outlining their concerns with the recently aired BET special series "Hip Hop vs. America"
Continue reading "An Open Letter to Debra Lee in response to BET's "Hip Hop vs. America"" »
October 4, 2007
Out, Damn'd Spot!
Please don't wait until February to see the documentary, Banished: American Ethnic Cleansings, when it will predictably air on PBS.
October 8, 2007
Regarding Tony
Terry, that is.
October 9, 2007
What Good Do Your Words Do?*
Audience is a concern for all creators. Musicians, filmmakers and writers ostensibly do what they do so that people will listen, see or read their work and like it. But what happens when people don't get it? What happens when people don't buy it? Do you switch your style up? Well two creatives, writer David Simon and musician Queen Latifah, recently shared with interviewers their thoughts on the mainstream as artists whose sensibilities ran counter to it but still garnered them success and acclaim.
October 10, 2007
Compared to What?
Aaron Douglas, "Aspiration," 1936, oil on canvas
My preliminary thoughts on the recent hate crime at Teachers College, Columbia University's Graduate School of Education.
October 16, 2007
In Wonder
According to this report, Stevie Wonder joined his Motown labelmate Q-Tip on stage Sunday in LA for a performance of "Superstition." Q-Tip plays NYC this evening and I want to go but haven't made moves to make it happen. I'm hoping something as equally jaw-dropping doesn't happen or I'll be feeling mighty regretful tomorrow. That said, Stevie's summer tour, which I caught in LA, was just an appetizer. He's headed back on the road for A Wonder's Autumn Night Tour. I'll be at the Madison Square Garden stop with my mom and sis. Full list of U.S. dates after the jump:
Kid Rock at the Fillmore East at Irving Plaza
Kid Rock at the Fillmore East at Irving Plaza (10.9.07)
Continue reading "Kid Rock at the Fillmore East at Irving Plaza" »
Finding Donnie
Donnie at the Highline Ballroom (10.7.07)
October 22, 2007
New Slang: Young Jazz Trumpeter Christian Scott on Sound & Substance
Photo Credit: Kiel Scott
24-year-old trumpeter Christian Scott called in for this interview late and breathless. Detained at a New York subway stop after a car carrying him was besieged by a gun-brandishing cop despite no sign of criminal activity amongst the commuters, he was aghast and a little bit amused at the sheer ridiculousness that ensued. The 'only in New York' moment just briefly fazed the quick witted New Orleans native who remains confounded by the storm of ineptitude and indifference that flooded his birthplace, a catastrophe he assails on his sophomore album Anthem
Continue reading "New Slang: Young Jazz Trumpeter Christian Scott on Sound & Substance" »
October 23, 2007
"Everything is Valid": Young Jazz Trumpeter Christian Scott's Motley Universe
Christian Scott at the Blue Note Jazz Club, New York (10.22.07)
"I still can't tell the difference between good and bad police," explained trumpeter Christian Scott Monday night from the Blue Note bandstand before charging into "Litany Against Fear." A swelling bulwark to injustice, the song was written after Scott's encounter with a Black boy terror-stricken by the New Orleans police's unprovoked detention of the his big brother. Revealing that he too had been repeatedly culled for police line ups, Scott and band capped a six song set with drama and dexterity before autographing CDs, posing for pictures and mashing it up with members of the packed New York club. Scott, who expressed surprise at show's start that so many had shown up for the Monday night gig, played with an alacrity and aptitude befitting a man familiar with selling out venues and, indeed, secured his current record deal with Concord Music Group by playing to throngs at the Virgin Megastore in Boston, where he attended Berklee College of Music.
While the set tackled fear and loss, Scott, couched it with a good deal of humor, exhibiting a star quality that will soon be on display in the new George Clooney movie, Leatherheads. In this second installment of our interview with Scott (conducted prior to his Blue Note performance), the New Orleans native spoke to his forays in film and the entire span of his creative ventures, from his recent release, Anthem
Continue reading ""Everything is Valid": Young Jazz Trumpeter Christian Scott's Motley Universe" »
October 25, 2007
Is funny as funny does?
Not too fond of Terry Gross interviews but I have to spotlight this one with writer/producer Larry Wilmore over at NPR. It's typically stilted with Gross introducing the former "In Living Color" writer in this manner,
"When "The Daily Show" deals with the thorny issues of race they call on their Senior Black Correspondent Larry Wilmore."
Oh, Terry and/or NPR writers. Thorny issues of race!? While, the interview suffers from unnecessary gravitas (Tavis would have killed on this interview), Wilmore deserves the shine however mildly specious the context.
October 27, 2007
Little Boy Pop: A Halloween Playlist
We're coming up on All Hallows Eve, a holiday I celebrated as a child until an overzealous church member convinced my mom and a bunch of other adolescent parentals that Halloween was satanic and not to be celebrated by God fearing Christians. Luckily, by then I had been put in work, having treated hard through my neighboorhood with my older sister. We even coaxed our dad to chauffer us to outlying areas for additional booty.
October 28, 2007
Let Me Upbraid You: An Unsettling Journalistic Tendency
Earlier this month, journalist Laura Leu interviewed actor Joaquin Phoenix for Time Out New York. The Q&A, which was picked up by a number of outlets, including Page Six, and generated a good deal of press for that Time Out New York issue, was a painful read thanks to Leu's contentious (and cheesy) line of questioning. Here are some examples:
Continue reading "Let Me Upbraid You: An Unsettling Journalistic Tendency" »
