late night tales

i remember daddy. i remember the way he smiled. how he used the words "baby" and "nigga" interchangably as if they were one-and-the-same. and of course for him they were. he was peachy georgia from his stubby fingertips to the tips of his toes. and though he was transplanted to new york by the time he was two-years-old, that georgia laid-back intertwined with that new york cool co-existing fluidly until the day he died. shit, it still hovers over me. it moves through me. it's buried somewhere in my soul.

i think of daddy now, after popping in jamiroquai: late night tales. the cd makes me want to remember daddy. makes me remember daddy. makes me remember him. yeah, i'm a daddy's girl, through-and-through.

but why is it that i remember him? it's this music. this 70s throwback, funky, groovy stuff that jay-kay selected for this installment of late night. yeah, rae & christrain also picked "california dreaming," by jose feliciano for their another late night (from a totally different label), but it works here too.

as the rolling piano starts up on "happiness" by the pointer sisters, i remember daddy being taken by them as we sat and watched the midnight special hosted by wolfman jack late on friday nights. knowing damn well i should be in bed, he had me there by his side, watching the performers and listening to what was once his down-home blues and gospel merge and transform into funky soul and disco.

wow, these are good memories too. staying up late and not even a teenager yet. but it was because daddy loved the music. and he knew i loved it too. he could see it in my eyes. he could hear it in my virtuous solos on sunday mornings in church. he could hear it in my thunderous fast-paced hand claps. man, he could even see it in my footsteps, as i imitated all the latest dances i'd seen on soul train the saturday before.

back to the cd. second song, "girl, i think the world about you," by the commodores. damn jay kay, you got daddy down to a "T." i can see the 8-tracks now. the columbia house collection growing and growing. and the baddest 8-track player you could ride around in your car with that i had ever seen. the light emitting from it shone bright purple at night. i have belongings around me now that remind me of it. the light from my own car stereo emits a hint of violet light. the gel wrist and mouse pads, here now, as i type this entry, they are of a violet hue too.

but that 8-track player, you could pull it out when you left your car, and the benzi box hadn't even come out yet. yes sir, daddy was georgia laid-back and new york cool.

daddy didn't have to say much, for as big and broad as he was, no one ever messed with him. but he was gentle. oh so gentle. loved my mother madly. and not like he was perfect or anything, lord knows he had his faults. but right now, i just remember him and the music. those damn midnight special episodes and that cool-ass 8-track player that made my heart wonder what a disco might be like. so as my older brother and sister started venturing off to the dances, daddy made me my own at home, and in the car, and taught me how to get lost in the music. taught me how to respect the music and treat it like a lover.

sometimes i feel like i might not even understand music the way i do, had it not been for him. from sharing in miles and coltrane, to war and issac hayes, his taste in music definitely became mine. his support for my love of music encouraged me to dabble in poetic lyrical writing, sing in church, and to handle that tenor saxaophone in middle school jazz band. damn jay kay, this late night shit is taking me back.

sometimes i miss daddy. lost him twenty years ago. wonder what he'd think if he knew that i sometimes write about music. that i sometimes help others to understand music and think about music. sometimes, i really miss him.

pardon me while i pop in this here baaddasssss cinema soundtrack.

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something looks vaguely familiar

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ain't this some shiznit

somehow i ran up on this post at Da Ladiez of M.I.C. blog that references an interview i supposedly conducted with some folks at JMC Records. a visit to the JMC site displays said interview as an exclusive to the site and promises a part 2 and part 3 of the interview and links to online exlusives at vibe.com, the site that most of you know i manage.

here's my problem, either i bumped my head and had a memory lapse or i drink too damn much, 'cuz to the best of my knowledge, this interview never went down. if it did, someone actually did this interview and fronted like they were me, or these cats are just hitting up my name and it's affiliation with the co. i work for to get a little shine. either way - it's so totally wack.

so what should i do about this?

addendum: i don't rightfully know that i can blame da ladiez of MIC site for this, because they picked it up from the JMC Records site, where this supposed exclusive seems to have originated and still bears my name on the article. da ladiez of MIC may have had no idea it was fraudulent.

it's kinda' funny someone asked me did i do this interview and forget that i did. ok, who would forget an interview they conducted? and secondly, the questions asked were not even asked in my voice nor was the entire interview written in my style. i don't even know enough about this company or its playas to have asked such questions in the first place.

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racism in the blogoshpere

A recent article that appeared on Africana.com, written by John Lee explores the issue of racism in the blogosphere, stating that both Gawker and Wonkette "continually joke about non-whites as marginalized second-class citizens."

George says, "Gawker and Wonkette don't have a race problem." While J. weighs in stating that the proof of racism offered in the article falls a little short. But then Prince Campbell kinda' agrees with the article.

I know you've probably already commented on the article and the two sites mentioned in it on other blogs already. But my question goes a little bit deeper. Does racism exist in the blogosphere? Have you experienced it firsthand?

What happens to (and in) the blogoshpere when attacks on race, gender, and sexual orientation occur? How far does it go? Who are the culprits? And should the culprits be chastised and/or educated?

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the kid thinks too much

the kid, yeah that would be me. i am a never-ending continuation of thoughts and thoughts and thoughts and thoughts, and very little action lately. i get these ideas to start writing things, be it here, or other things in my professional life. always consumed with ideas i am. they just keep swimming at me, aiming directly for my head, leaving me tossing and turning in my bed for long hours at night into the wee hours of the morning. very little sleep is had, because the thoughts persist. the thoughts eat at me.

i think therefore i am. is that it?

but what is thinking without action? i know that in zen there is this way of non doing and just letting things happen as they will. letting life unfold and become you, because you are just that. i mean what happens. that's what you are. not what you plan you are or pretend you are. that zen thing is about detachment and sitting meditation, but think about it...

this would mean that things could be accomplished with no effort on your behalf. it's just the natural order of things taking place.

hmm, so here's a thought. ok, i need to stop thinking. in becoming so consumed with thoughts, i do become non-doing, but my non-doing is an anxious non-doing. it is not the relaxed non-doing of the self fully expressed or self realized.

so i need to stop thinking and stop doing and the energies and passions will direct themselves? hmmm, i'm not so sure about this. i suppose i lack faith.

learning to let go. to let be. to see clearly. to breathe.

so what. janet jackson's exposed her right breast. missy's new video is the shiznit. eminem's ex-wife was jailed for using cocaine and violating her probation. michael jackson is not the father of his two children from his ex-wife (not lisa marie of course). the passion of christ is causing an upstir. investigators raided the office of kazaa in australia. halle berry put on a cat woman suit to wish oprah a happy b-day. so what.

non attachment. non judgment. non doing.

i don't know, this post is probably more for me than for you. i just need to write. to get the thoughts out, to get them down. to stop thinking. to get my mind clear.

tv off. book away. typing stops now.

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my two cents

A Week of Booby Obsession and Media Frenzy

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the brooklyn r, b, g fo' life

so i'm ova here listening to hot 97, new york's hip-hop station and i hear this track with an intro about BK and i hear jay-z say "now we're on the same track, what you gonna' do?" or something to that effect. and when i heard stickman and M1 of dead prez rattling off BK street names, i was like aw naw did he really do it?

but i listened and waited and waited for confirmation, and angie martinez came on after the song played and said (Jay-Z and dead prez). BTW, if anyone has a copy of this song, please pass onto a sista 'cuz she can't locate this track anywhere. i'll probably have to go mixtape hunting.

it's interesting that such a track would come out after his supposed retirement.

he did say..."and the music i be makin/ I dumb down for my audience/ And double my dollars/ They criticize me for it/ Yet they all yell "Holla"/ If skills sold/ Truth be told/ I'd probably be/ Lyricly/ Talib Kweli/ Truthfully/ I wanna rhyme like Common Sense"

perhaps if he comes back he'll reinvent himself. nah'mean? shoot he does have plans to marry Beyonce

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i'm looking for writers

most of you who visit here, and whose sites i visit, i have come to respect as writers with strong voices. i've put this call out before, but only selectively and now i'm making it public. i can't pay you, but you get writer's credit at a respected website and perhaps free music or DVDs, or an opportunity to interview an aritst you always wanted to, or even free entry to an event, concert, or film.

jason did it:
an interview with Gang Starr
a movie review of Civil Brand

kevin did it:
a CD review of Mary J. Blige's Love & Life

bonnetta did it:
an interview with Panjabi MC

corey did it:
a think piece on watching tv

why don't you?

and no i can not get you into the magazine, only online. if all the above meet your requirements then...

contact me

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could you get a newsfeed please?

man you folks just don't know how easy a newsfeed makes life. it's easier than saving folks to favorites, a links list, or a blog roll. you get an rss feed, and bam someone can automaticall add you to their newsreader. it would make so many folks lives a lot easier, and your blog easier to visit. do you know what it's like to keep visiting a blog that hasn't been updated in a long time? of course you do, you visit here. but i've got a newsfeed and even before this new design, i had created my own - hand coded, that's right.

and if you still don't know what i'm talking about, here's a few links to start you in the right direction. and for the rest of you who don't care, you know what, that's alright.

All About RSS
Network World Fusion's Do It Yourself RSS Feed
An Introduction to RSS News Feeds
Sharing Your Site With RSS

and here's dmoz's list of newsreaders

and here's another directory that might be helpful.

personally, i prefer bloglines. you can even make a blog roll from your subscriptions.

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talk about family viewing

Singer Janet Jackson, left, covers her breast after her outfit came undone during a number with Justin Timberlake during the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2004. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

Trent says: "Janet Jackson's halftime concert at Super Bowl XXXVIII was full of super sizzle to say the least. Her performance was extremely provocative beyond the fact that the Super Bowl event is usual a family affair. Well, Janet put a stop to all of that. During the R&B diva's show, pop heartthrob Justin Timberlake joined her in a sinful duet of his song "Rock Your Body." At the end of the performance, Justin rips off Janet's right breastplate from her outfit and . . . surprise! . . . Janet reveals a breast with a spikey piece of metal covering her nipple."

To which he adds..."Super Bowl officials are not happy with MTV (who produced the event) or with Janet. They released this statement:

"We were extremely disappointed by elements of the MTV-produced Halftime show. They were totally inconsistent with assurances our office was given about the show. It's unlikely that MTV will produce another Super Bowl halftime."

MTV issued a contrite statement, saying the incident was "unrehearsed, unplanned [and] completely unintentional." "

Trent's overall opinion: "Yeah . . . right. "

I agree with Trent. That thing had to be rehearsed. Did you see it? What did you think?

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photos from cannes

to see the photogallery from cannes, click on the image below and it will take you to thumbnail views of photos @ vibe.com

Ahmir ‘?uestlove’ Thompson of The Roots mixes it up at Club Love at the Noga Hilton for MIDEM opening night Sunday, January 25, 2004. The party was sponsored by Microsoft Windows Mobile and produced by Lauren Coleman in conjunction with Shirlene Head.

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