Check out this great response to my “A Brief Guide to Men” blog. I’ve pasted it below and I’ll insert my comments. This should be interesting. I won’t hit every note but I’ll do what I can. Here goes: Continue reading ‘Really!?! re: “A Brief Guide to Men”’
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Tags: race, relationships
The Letters – P.S.
Ladies. Gentlemen. Other.
When I wrote the letters to black and white people, my mind was a-scatter. Stream of consciousness. That means that there were a few things I didn’t say because I forgot or I was kind of scared to say them. Or I wanted to keep my personal A-hole factor to a minimum.
But since I like to write and all of these thoughts are pinging around in my brain … resistance is futile. Continue reading ‘The Letters – P.S.’
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Tags: diet, letter, personals, race
A Letter to Black People
Whaddup, my Asiatic kings and Nubian queens? Or niggas and bitches. We’ve come a long way, huh. To what, I don’t know but we’re here.
First, let me help you out with something. In my Letter to White People I mentioned that most of my friends and social scene, such as it is, have often been white. Here are a few things that will come up when interacting with others. Continue reading ‘A Letter to Black People’
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Tags: letter, race
A Letter to White People
First, a caveat. Generalizations are what they are. You’re probably an exception to the stereotype. It’s getting harder all the time to generalize, though, because we’re all so connected these days. But hey, this is all in fun. I feel very confident that I can still be trite and shallow at will. Second, there’s a separate letter for black people. Don’t you worry about that. And it’s nowhere near as polite as this one.
My friends. My Caucasian brothers and sisters. I’m a little worried about you. Continue reading ‘A Letter to White People’
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Tags: alcohol, letter, race, slavery
The 3 C’s
If you’ve ever wondered why men are the way we are, there are the 3 C’s I’ve come up with to explain the strange, primitive animal that we are: Cave, Comestibles, Cleavage. Continue reading ‘Why We Blog Presents: A Brief Guide to Men’
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Tags: Life, relationships
Thanks to Todd Marcus for recording the gig. I intentionally left my recorder at home because it’s distracting to be worrying about recording your gig when there’s a zillion other things running through your mind. Todd was like, “Yeh, I know how it is. I’ll record it for you.”
So … this is what I love about music. With a little preparation and forethought, when you get great musicians together something magical happens. There was no rehearsal. In fact, I had never met Quineice, Amin, or Steve before. I didn’t even know what they looked like before Friday night. And Harry I only met once before, which was Tuesday night at Blues Alley.
And even more amazing to me is that this was the first time EVER that these tunes were played live.
Excellent job, lady and gentlemen: Quineice Clarkson, Todd Marcus, Harry Appelman, Steve Zerlin, Amin Gumbs. Absolutely brilliant.
“Liberated Muse: Prologue” Live
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Quineice really brought this song to life with her lyrics. About a half hour before we played she said, “Everyone is singing songs about freedom. I think I know what I’m going to do.”
And the band laid it down just like I imagined it. Better, actually. Listen to Todd soaring on the bass clarinet and Steve is singing on his bass. I should have made sure he had a solo that night. Next time.
“Butterfly” Live
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So out of tune on that first phrase. Oh well. The one thing I forgot to bring was ear plugs. Not for volume, but to put in one ear so that I could hear/feel my voice. Practice, practice, practice.
Check out Amin’s groove on this one. It is tight.
“The Artist” Live
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Again, you can’t hear the vocals at all. I don’t know why. Todd had adjusted the mic so it was right in front of me. Maybe I wasn’t close enough? Or my Nick Drake vocal volume was probaby hard to pick up. I bet whenever Hook tried to up the volume he got feedback.
Another lesson learned.
Check out Harry’s Rhodes solo.
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Tags: liberated muse, mp3
During Liberated Muse and the Saartjie Project event I played for I picked up on a strong vibe.
There’s a lot of spoken word and poetry. It’s a genre unto itself. I’m sure you know it. It has a certain flavor. Strong, talented, beautiful black women speaking on themes of freedom, pride, abuse, recovery, sacrifice, race, etc. Sometimes radical. Continue reading ‘Liberated Muse, Saartjie Project & Me, Pt. 2′
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I’m lucky to have gotten reacquainted with Khadijah and crew. She’s the brain and feet and heart, in part at least, of Liberated Muse, the Saartjie Project and the Capitol Hill Soulfest. I’ll come back and provide links for those at some point.
Potter’s House
I played at Potter’s House in DC last night. I sang in public for the first time, too. I was told later that they really couldn’t hear me, which is fine with me. For the night, at least. But it’s good to have done it. I feel … able … now. I’m even thinking about doing open mics. We’ll see. Continue reading ‘Liberated Muse, Saartjie Project & Me, Pt. 1′
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Tags: liberated muse, saartjie
Hey, Sean Hannity and the like, isn’t this a ticking time bomb scenario? According to some, shouldn’t the authorities be in the right to torture this guy? Ship him off to Guantanamo or a black site prison for “harsh interrogation” and indefinite detention until he spills the beans on planned attacks and collaborators?
The news is getting really weird lately. There’s just too much stuff going on. It’s like being emotionally unstable from article to article. I’m appalled, challenged, confused, titillated, indignant, under-informed, scared, grossed out. It’s just nutty.
I need to do a news/media fast. I almost did while I was on vacation. Almost. Darn cable TV.
Anyway, the recent domestic terrorism — if you want to call it that — incidents have really added a twist to the mix. Oh, check this out. From the June 2nd ep. of the Rachel Maddow Show:
MADDOW: Back in April, the Department of Homeland Security was lambasted by conservatives for publishing a report on the potential for violence from right-wing extremist groups. It was the Bush administration that had actually commissioned the report and they had done one on the potential for violence from left-wing groups, too, but that did not stop conservatives from getting very, very angry about that report.
At least three Republican members of Congress, Michele Bachmann, John Carter, and Michael Burgess said that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano should resign for having issued that report. Republican Minority Leader John Boehner said that report meant that Napolitano had an awful lot of explaining to do.
That report actually warned for the potential for violent behavior from far right-wing groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion. DHS got even more specific in March, warning about, quote, “antiabortion extremism” groups and “sovereign citizen movement” such as a group called the “Freemen.”
We know now the man who is the chief suspect in the killing of Dr. George Tiller was reportedly associated both, with extremist anti-abortion groups and with the sovereign citizen movement known as the Freemen.
Still think Janet Napolitano ought to resign for that outrageous warning about guys like Scott Roeder?
I think that our law enforcement officials are going to have to step up and follow through on all of these domestic nutjobs. Scott Roeder and that recent Islam convert guy who shot the soldier at a recruitment center both had run-ins with the law. And federal authorities were aware of them.
Craziness. Alright. I’m procrastinating and time is flying. Music music music. Web site web site web site.
Hasta.
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Tags: abortion, torture
Expectations
“Billy Corgan. Smashing Pumpkins.”
“Homer Simpson. Smiling politely.”
When you think of relationships how do you think of them?
Like, the vast majority of relationships are temporary. That’s a sad truth, maybe, but that’s the way it goes. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Whether it’s because a couple splits because one has to geographically move away, or because a couple grows apart and realizes that they have little in common. Excruciating yes, but natural and healthy.
I’m not talking about marriage in this context, though, because in my mind marriage is a decision or commitment to weather the vicissitudes.
But when people are in a relationship we all pretend it’s going to last forever. Even teenagers. Then again, teenagers often have the luxury or illusion of Now being all there is.
When it comes to people and relating with others, as with life, I have a kind of philosophy or ideal. Expect nothing, but be open to anything.
I suppose that requires unpacking, huh. Continue reading ‘Expectations’
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Tags: Life, stream of consciousness
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