It’s been nearly a month since Michael Jackson died and amazingly it’s taken nearly this long for me to really understand what we’ve lost and how I feel about it. When Jackson’s Thriller came out in 1982 [corrected, thanks Noel] I was a youngster pretty much fresh out of high school. The music of the eighties was the music of my generation and Jackson competed with other artists of the time such as Prince, Cameo, Terrance Trent D’Arby, and George Clinton. There were also jazz, rock and blues artists taking up my attention such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Police, Miles Davis and George Benson.

While I enjoyed the dancing and singing that Mike introduced to the MTV generation, I was way more into artists such as Prince who were more instrument oriented. I was also extremely turned off as Micheal started to bleach his skin and point his nose, which I saw as a rejection of his blackness. As he became stranger and stranger I stopped paying much attention to him, after all, I’d been listening to MJ since the early 70s…yawn.

But you never miss anything until it’s gone.

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I read on the net the other day about the sad case of Jammie Thomas. Ms. Thomas was convicted of copyright infringement on 24 songs she downloaded using a software program called Kazaa. The jury awarded the plaintiffs $1.92 million in damages.

No I didn’t mistype that. It’s damn near 2 million bucks for downloading 24 songs. I’m sure the jury was trying to “send a message” and they did. Loud and clear. If you want to pilfer music, raid you friends CD collections. You’ll get better quality and the RIAA can’t spy on you while you do it. . . yet.

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So the amazing and tragic story of Michael Jackson is now coming to a close. People who weeks ago were using Michael Jackson as the butt their jokes are now proclaiming his greatness and the tragedy of his loss. Jackson’s final performance will be as the star of a media circus that is now pitching its tent and deploying its side show hucksters for one last money grab.  As if on cue his doctor disappears into the night laying the groundwork for more shocking revelations to come.

Jackson, of course, is deserving of a great deal of scrutiny, not only for his amazing talent but for his bizarre lifestyle. His talent is undeniable, his influence on the industry as well. The real mystery though, and the one thing we can never know for sure is . . . what happened? How did the young boy we all loved and admired turn into the odd caricature of a human being that we’ve witnessed over the past couple of decades? (more…)

So after a nice break over the holidays we’re back with our first post of the new year. Seeing as we’re only about a week away from the glorious dawning of Post Racial Americaâ„¢ I thought I’d present this material that reminds us how we’re all getting screwed here in this wilderness called North America and that many times the depth of penetration depends on class rather than race. Because black folk are so heavily represented among the working classes and underclasses, this “classism” effects us disproportionately.

Class War: The Attack on Working People is an audio book of a speech by Noam Chomsky. If you’re not familiar with Chomsky, he is an MIT professor of linguistics, a lecturer, and activist.

From Wikipedia:
His far-reaching criticisms of US foreign policy and the legitimacy of US power have made him a controversial figure: largely shunned by the mainstream media in the United States, he is frequently sought out for his views by publications and news outlets worldwide.

You can read more about him here

What I like about Chomsky is that he calmly and deliberately reveals the reality of the political/economic system we live in and what change really entails. He brings into focus the Matrix like facade that has been so cleverly crafted by the media, the school system and the politicians. Here is an excerpt from one of his speeches. The title says it all. This and other speeches by Chomsky can be found online at vendors like Audible and Amazon.

fyi: hit the little speaker icon next to the name to play the track without leaving the page.
Class War: The Attack on Working People

Here’s a site you don’t want to miss. I won’t go into too much detail. If you know who John Coltrane is you’ll want to hop right over to johncoltrane.com and check out his biography, pictures, and other information. If you don’t know Coltrane then you’re in for a treat as you’re introduced to one of the giants of modern jazz.

The site is Flash based and provides a seamless integration of audio, video, text, and motion graphics. Enjoy!

[Show as slideshow]

Congratulations to Barack Obama and Obamaholics across the nation.

During the last months this site, focused on African American culture, has had a steady dose of Obama related content. That is fitting, considering an Obama presidency’s impact on Black America. We look forward, though, to getting back to highlighting cultural artifacts of interest the the black community. Hence this post.

The idea of a black president is one that has generated much speculation in our community. In film, music, and literature the notion has been kicked around sometimes as an impossible farce and sometimes as a radical, revolutionary challenge. Off the top of my head, a couple of popular tunes come to mind when thinking of a black president. I thought I’d present them here just for kicks since, after today, we can never listen to these songs in the same way. I’m hoping to hear one or more of these cuts at the inaugural.

fyi: hit the little speaker icon next to the name to play the track without leaving the page.

Funky President (People it’s Bad) James Brown-1974

One Nation Under a Groove Funkadelic-1978

Paint the White House Black George Clinton-1993

Young people turned out in force for a political rally at the Quicken Loans Arena on October 29th, 2008. LeBron James, Jay-Z, the Obama Campaign and the Democratic Party held a large rally in downtown Cleveland that was well staged and attended.

News media from around the world were represented, including a Kenyan paper called “The Nation,” “Al-Jazeera English,” and all the major U.S. news outlets.
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I’ve lived in the Akron area for almost 40 years now. During that time I’ve had the privilege of working with some extremely talented singers, songwriters, and musicians. Many of these players would put the latest crop of corporate sponsored, cookie cutter “talent” that we hear on the radio to shame. In fact if someone were to pool this talent I think we could give Motown a run for their money. Right here in little ol’ A-town.

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In part one of this post I asked the question: Are there African Americans who are carrying on the tradition of banjo playing? And answered: Not that I’m familiar with. Of course the fact that I’m unfamiliar with something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. So feel free to hip me to any contemporary or traditional banjo playing that’s going on in the black community. In the meantime I am hip to Béla Fleck and his band The Flecktones. You can’t find a more eclectic and talented ensemble anywhere on Earth. In this article I’ll be reviewing the Flecktones album The Hidden Land.

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Here’s some audio that should have been posted a long time ago. Back in ‘05 I created some jingles for a local pizza shop called Pizza Bogo (buy one get one). One of the things I liked about them was that they focused on international pizzas. Of course anything ethnic captures my attention and I happily scarfed down the Greek and Hawaiian varieties because good research is the heart of a successful project.

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