it's emp pop conference time again

Not sure I'm going this year as I have the past three years, but it's good to see there will be a lot of new voices there.

Here's the schedule...

Ain't That a Shame: Loving Music in the Shadow of Doubt
The 2006 Pop Conference at Experience Music Project
Seattle, Washington
April 27 - April 30

THURSDAY, APRIL 27
7 - 8: 30 pm

* Love in the Shadows: A Conversation with Stephin Merritt Fellow Magnetic Fields member LD Beghtol and Drew Daniel of Matmos talk with the man behind 69 Love Songs and other revisionist masterstrokes about queering the pop song and bubblegumming the art song. Moderated by Ann Powers.

FRIDAY, APRIL 28
9 - 10: 45 am

* Disco Barbie
ERIC LOTT, "My Streisand Problem--and Hers"
ALICE ECHOLS, "The Way You Do the Things You Do"
DYLAN HICKS, "Men in Love: Barbra Streisand, Barry Gibb, and the Autobiographical Criticism of Doug Belknap"
WILL STRAW, "Disco After Expo"

* Hip-Hop at the Crossroads
SHANESHA R.F. BROOKS, "Chilling Thrills: The Spirituality and Religiosity of Hip-Hop Music"
ALI NEFF, "True Blues Ain't No New News: Tuning in to Folk Freestyle
Hip-Hop at the Crossroads of the Contemporary Mississippi Delta"
NEEL AHUJA, "Fatlip Cruises Crenshaw, Shah Rukh Khan Raps in Queens: The Importance of Queer Masculinities in Hip Hop's Global Scene"
JOYCELYN WILSON, "Snap ya fangaz, do da step!: Southern Hip-Hop, Snap
Music, and the Rise of a New Dance Craze"

* People Watching
PETER DOYLE, "Living Large: The Field Recording, the Mug Shot, and the
Early 20th Century Mediascape"
RONALD COHEN, "Why Jews Have Been Attracted to American Folk Music"
YUVAL TAYLOR, "Blues Tourists: Condescension and the Blues Revival
DREW DANIEL, "How to Sing Along with Sweet Home Alabama"

11 am - 12:45 pm

* Rock & Roll Double-Consciousness
RJ SMITH, "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a White Man"
KEN EMERSON, "Minstrelsy on the Mersey"
DEVIN MCKINNEY, "Black Girl in a White Boy's Body"
NATE PATRIN, "I Wonder Who Taught Her How to Talk Like That: The Soul
Aspirations of Mid-'70s Rock"

* Capital Offenses? Shame, Guilt and Cover Songs
DEBRA RAE COHEN, "Is that Cultural Capital in Your Pocket, or Are You Just Glad to See Me?
MICHAEL COYLE, "Cultural Capital: Shameless Jazz Covers"
KEVIN J.H. DETTMAR, "Shame and Cult Capital: U2 in the 1990s"

* TV Personalities
JOSEPH MCCOMBS, "10 Reasons Why the Monkees Should Be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame"
STEVEN ROSEN, "Tiny Tim: The Harry Smith of Adult-Standard Singers"
GLENN DIXON, "Boldly Gone: A Personal Trek into the Shameless, Sincere
Music of Leonard Nimoy"
LIZZIE EHRENHALT, "Truly Outrageous: Towards a Defense of Jem & the
Holograms"

Lunch Session: 1 - 1:50 PM

* New Orleans Trickbag: A Musical Remembrance in Film Curated by Bruce Raeburn, Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University Clips include a spiritual church ring shout attending a mass baptism (1931), Kid Ory's "Creole Song" (1956), a brass band funeral with Dejan's Olympia Brass Band (1966), a March of Time recreation of the first jazz recording session with the Original Dixieland Jazz Band (1937), a Zulu Parade with the Eureka Brass Band (1929), and field tapes of the Black Eagles Mardi Gras Indian tribe (1997).

2 - 3:45 PM

* Mind/Body
GEETA DAYAL, "Shame on the Brain: Music, Guilty Pleasures, and Cognition"
SUSAN RAEBURN, "The Ring of Fire: Shame, Fame, and Rock & Roll"
JAMES HANNAHAM, "Schizophonic: Mentally Hill Singer-Songwriters and Their Public"
TIM LAWRENCE, "Go Bang: Some Queer Songs About Masturbation and Orgasm"

* Bad Subjects
CHARLIE BERTSCH, "From Pleasure to Power: Confessing One's Lack of
Ignorance"
MICHAELANGELO MATOS, "A Double History of the Supremes' 'Love Child'"
ERIC WEISBARD, "For the Love of You: The Isley Brothers as Pop
Unmentionables"
CARL WILSON, "Touch Me, Celine: A Dionysee or, Poptimism Versus the Guilty Displeasure"

*Feeling It
ERIKA MONTENEGRO, "A Reluctant Academic Becomes a Fan: Intimacy and the Fetishization of Absence in Fan Letters"
JOON OLUCHI LEE, "The Voice of Love: Grunge Femininity"
MAIREAD CASE, "I Went to Yr Concert & I Didn't Feel Anything: Women's
Liberation Rock, Le Tigre, and the Performed Ideal"

4 - 5: 45 PM

* Aural Correctness
BAZ DREISINGER, "Should Babylon Release the Cure? True Reflections on
Loving a Reggae-Star Rapist"
ROBERT CHRISTGAU, "Life Is Not Nothing but Bitches and Money: Enjoying
Gangsta, Crunk, Trap Music, and Other Popular Music Subgenres"
CHRISTY TURNER, "Hurts So Good: Guilty Pleasures, Black Feminism, and
Hip-Hop"
SEAN FENNESSEY, "What Happened to That Boy: Cutting Drugs, Deals, and a Dad Complex"

* Guilt Rock
JOSH LANGHOFF, "Carman's 'A Little Bit More Conviction' as Guilt Rock"
JUSTIN MOYER, "Doing It Yourself--Sort Of: Funny Money and Trustafarian Guilt in Punk Culture"
MAURA JOHNSTON, "No Fat Chicks? Weight and Rebellion During a Hard-Rock Adolescence"
BRIAN GOEDDE, "Karaoke Sex"

* Lounge and Muzak
KEIR KEIGHTLEY, "If History Is Written by the Victors, Then Who Won? Boomer Historiography Versus the Lounge Revival"
JESSICA WOOD, "Harpsichord Lounge: Representations of History in Postwar Pop, 1950-1975"
JENTERY SAYERS, "Punk Muzak? Royally Scammed Into Steely Dan Fandom and Smooth Rock"
MICHAEL DADDINO, "How Not to Defend Muzak"

SATURDAY, APRIL 29
9 - 10: 45 AM

* Whiteness Studies
JODY ROSEN, "Ragtime and Its Kings: The Case of Joplin vs. Berlin"
ELIJAH WALD, "Louis Armstrong Loves Guy Lombardo!"
BRUCE RAEBURN, "'That Ain't No Creole, It's A . . . !': Masquerade,
Marketing, and Transgression Against the Color Line in New Orleans Jazz"
TOM SMUCKER, "Horrifying Whiteness: Lawrence Welk and the Carpenters"

* Listening Closets
SARA JAFFE, "Farther From Fine: Coming Out Against the Indigo Girls"
SARA MARCUS, "Oh No Don't Close Your Eeeyyyes, or, Thoughts Regarding
Reconciliation with Reject Music from Homo High"
KARA JESELLA AND MARISA MELTZER, "Cute Band Alert: Sassy Magazine and the New Teen Sex Object"

* Altered Images
THOM SWISS, "Ways of Looking: Portraits of Pop Musicians"
CYNTHIA FUCHS, "'All Over the floor': Selling Lindsay Lohan"
COURTNEY YOUNG, "Gwen Stefani is the new Dracula and Beyonce makes a great Ghost: The Shame of Appropriation and 'Passing' as Attributes to the Success of Gwen Stefani and Beyonce Knowles"
MARK GILLESPIE, "Another Darkchild Classic: The Role of Forgery in Shaping Producer Rodney Jerkins' Sonic Signature"

11 AM - 12:45 PM

* Black Composers
ALEX ROSS, "Black Beethoven: The African American Classical Composer"
JOE SCHLOSS, "Sunday Morning I Forgot My Prayer: Guilt, Signifying, and the Gospel Nihilism of Sly Stone"
JANET SARBANES, "Swashbucklers of Agitproptic Burnbabydom: George Clinton and the Radical Poetics of P-Funk"
CECIL BROWN, "Richard Pryor, Music, and the Guilty Pleasure of Mick
Jagger's 'Some Girls'"

* Other People's Misery
DAVID THOMAS, "Morphic Resonance, Siberian Rock Bands, and the Brotherhood of the Unknown"
BRANA MIJATOVIC, "Guilty Pleasures of Parody: Appropriate and Inappropriate in the Music of a Balkan Rock Musician"
SETH SANDERS, "Tomorrow's Outsider Art--Today! (If You Want Blood, You've Got It)"
DAVID SANJEK, "Rubbernecking at the Record Hop: The Lonesome Sound of Jimmy Donley"

* Timbre!
MICA HILSON, "Squeak of the New Wave Woman"
REGINALD JACKSON, "Toward Humility in Microtones: Styling Shame Through Slide Guitar"
DAVE TOMPKINS, "The Invertebrate History of Bass"
ALEXANDRA VAZQUEZ, "The Shrill Kill Cult: Deep Vocal Currents from Tona la Negra to Ivy Queen"

Lunch Session: 1 - 1:50 pm

* Sin Verguenza: A Conversation with El Vez and Joe Santiago:
Conducted by MICHELLE HABELL-PALLAN and MARISOL BERRIOS-MIRANDA

2 - 3:45 PM

* Let's Call it Art
DAVID GRUBBS, "John Cage, Recording Artist"
SCOTT SAUL, "Crosseyed and Painless: Talking Heads and the Ouch of the
Ordinary"
ANN POWERS, "My Big Hair Hides Big Balls: Ultrafemme Drag from Artemisia to Kate Bush"
DAPHNE CARR, "Poo Pooing Pop's Poseurs: Anxiously Analyzing the
Artschoolers"

* Cringeworthy
KURT REIGHLEY, "Up & Down with the Hi-Lo's"
TOM KIPP, "Kim Fowley's Outrageous: The Plan 9 From Outer Space of Rock Albums!"
WERNER TRIESCHMANN, "Aural Velveeta: Dan Fogelberg's 'Longer'"
BRIAN RAFERTY, "Take a Look at Me Now: Phil Collins and the Great
Generational Divide"

* Girl Groups And Yacht Rockers: Male Sexuality and Its Discontents
CRAIG WERNER, Introduction and Chair
HEATHER STUR, "Nobody Knows What's Goin' on in My Mind: The Girls Tell the Story"
MICHAEL CEPRESS, "Pink Taffeta Gowns: Girl Groups and the Iconography of Sexual Identity"
LEAH MIRAKHOR, "What a Fool Believes: The Enduring Popularity of Yacht
Rock"
CHARLES HUGHES, "From Little Eva to Lil Kim: Girl Groups in the Modern Mix"

4 - 5: 45 PM

* Bends in the Fabric
ANTHONY MILLER, "Rock History as a Novel, the Rock Novel as History"
KANDIA CRAZY HORSE, "Electric Skychurch: The Wax Poetics of Rock Opera as Social and Spiritual Commentary"
MIKE MCGONIGAL, "The Space Cowboy Vocoder Disco String Glories of Electric Light Orchestra's Out of the Blue"
GREIL MARCUS, "Shame, Shame, Shame: Songs as Commercials"

* Guilt to Go Around
JOSHUA ALSTON, "Nickelback Appreciation Syndrome: How Shame Becomes Pride Across the Racial Divide"
JALYLAH BURRELL, "Has Andre 3000 Lost His Accent? Racial Exceptionalism and the Black Pop Landscape"
TYINA STEPTOE, "Confessions of a Black Dixie Chick"
JABALI STEWART, "Fearless Vampire Killers Unite: Authenticity,Black Punk, and Cultural Warfare"

* Life of the Party
CHRISTINE BACAREZA BALANCE, "Guilty Pleasures: The Affective Charge of
Karaoke"
YUKA HASEGAWA, "Practices of Fandom and Connecting 'Japanese' in a Social Networking Website Mixi"
MARIA TESSA SCIARRINO, "Lost in Translation: Musical Selection in Figure Skating"
HOPE MUNRO SMITH, "What Happens in the Party Stays in the Party: Exploring the Guilty Pleasures in Caribbean Popular Music"
Chair: Karen Tongsen

SUNDAY, APRIL 30
9 - 10:45 AM

* Critical Embarassment
MATT BRENNAN, "Comparing the Shaming of Jazz and Rhythm & Blues in Music Criticism"
J.D. CONSIDINE, "My J-Pop Problem--and Yours"
RANDALL ROBERTS, "Dave Marsh-ing My Mellow: The Rolling Stone Record Guide and the Creation of the Canon"
TIM QUIRK, "How to Write About Music You Hate"

* Shame Difference: The Racial and Sexual Politics of Failure
KARA ATTREP, "Shaming the Sixties: Popular Music in Advertising"
KATHERINE MEIZEL, "'Loser Chic' and the Celebration of Failure in American Idol"
ROB WALLACE, "Angels and Demons at Play: Some Case Studies in Free Jazz and Race"
ELIZABETH FREUDENTHAL, "The Rock and Roll Morality of Richard Hell's
'Plan'"

11 AM - 12:45 PM

* Dancing with the Architecture
DOUGLAS WOLK, "The Complete and Utter History of the Numa Numa Dance"
MATT CORWINE, "Super Mario Jams"
NORIKO MANABE, "Ring My Bell: The Impact of Cell Phone Technologies on the Japanese Music Market"
MARC PERLMAN, "Intense Joy and Intense Shame: Dealing with the Ambivalence of File-Sharing"
Chair: Michaelangelo Matos

* Music in Dark Times
JAMES REVELL CARR, "The Cruel Men Were All to Blame: Shaming White Collar Criminals in American Disaster Ballads"
SARAH DOUGHER, "Where I Come From a Lot of Front Porch Pickin':
Internalizing the Patriotic Country Song"
STU SHERMAN, "Life During Wartime: Kosovo's Dissonant Landscape"

tags: emp pop conference | music | media | music journalism | academia

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do you want to get hyphy?

tags: music | hip-hop | hyphy | e-40

I'm still trying to figure out what I think about this hyphy music.I know for E-40 it's just due and I like "Tell Me When To Go," particularly the remix with Game has become as addictive as my Sidekick II (Thanks Michael). On the heels of Crunk and Snap you got Hyphy (and all 3 of these genres are married) so it really shows that the East Coast has fallen off in a major way, er strike that, make that New York. But then has New York even been hot since Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt?

It's kind of ironic, considering the last time I was in the Yay (Vallejo to be exact - and mind you it was at least 4 years ago), hyphy was not what I heard on the radio. It was your typical commercial fodder.

All that aside, E-40's My Ghetto Report has landed itself atop the Billboard chart somehow. So I suppose I need to pay attention.

Watch the video for E-40's "Tell Me When To Go" feat. Keak Da Sneak

additives:

• DJ Heat Presents Hyphy & Flow download (Courtesy of balls and my word)
  
• Marketing E-40: A Thizz Face For Every Name? - prohiphop.com
  
• Hyphy or Crunk It's All About What you Pour - from the Spartan Daily (I love the comparison of the two energy drinks, the writer could have even turned it into a metaphorical comparison of the genres)
  

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the ne-yo marketing success story

tags: music | ne-yo | marketing | t.i.

It started with Def Jam shipping 900,000 Units. And though the RIAA has certified In My Own Words as Platinum, it only means that Ne-Yo's debut album has shipped sufficient copies to sell over one million units at retail.

Released on Feb. 28, it was reported by Mar. 8 that the album debuted at #1 Pop and R&B. Overall, Def Jam's marketing strategy revolved around the selling of the single, "So Sick." On Mar. 16, it was reported that the single led the U.S. singles chart for a second week.

Currently Ne-Yo's "So Sick" is #5 on the Billboard Pop 100 Chart, #2 on ringtone downloads, #4 on hot digital downloads, #3 on hot digital tracks, #6 on hot r&b/hip-hop songs, #3 on the Billboard Top 100, and #4 on Pop 100 Airplay. In My Own Words is #3 on hot r&b/hip-hop albums and #4 on the Billboard Top 200. Crooner Ne-Yo is now a hot crossover act.

So it's safe to assume, at this point, that Def Jam's witholding of the single from iTunes and other digital music services until the CD was released was a smart move. According to Rollingstone.com, 120,000 copies of "So Sick" were downloaded from paid digital music services, and the singer sold 301,000 copies of In My Own Words in its first week, making it the year's biggest debut.

The usual practice of labels is to release advance singles, before the album is released, the generate a buzz. But since this strategy has paid off for Def Jam, other labels are now following suit.

Atlantic Records partnered with Sprint to offer fans exclusive mobile downloads of rapper T.I.'s King up until it's released on Mar. 28. This will be the only digital advances of T.I.'s new music available prior to it's on-sale date. In T.I.'s case, his sales will also be boosted by his acting debut in ATL, that's set to hit theaters Mar. 31.

As labels continue to struggle with record sales, there are going to be a slew of new strategies that buck against the recording industry's status quo for marketing an artist.

Also check prohiphop's Marketing E-40

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advertisers shun social networking

According to an Online Media Daily report, at the recent Advertising Research Foundation Annual Conference major advertisers are avoiding myspace and other social networking sites like the plague. Reasons cited for the avoidance include:

• concern about its potential for criminal use (sexual predators)
• fears that user-generated content--including pictures and text with sexual overtones--will be offensive

Yet marketers pointed out that sites like myspace were good for fulfilling initiatives that major advertisers did not currently have a plan for, such as product specific pages and VOD.

So it turns out that having the most traffic is not always the best biz model afterall.

tags: media | marketing | social networking | myspace

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top 10 artists and tracks Sunday Mar 12 - Sunday Mar 19

I'm a little bit pissed off that my chart doesn't reflect that I've been listening to a lot of ghostface - fishscale the past 2 weeks. last.fm says my tracks are badly tagged, and I've done everything I can to tag them correctly - but no dice. Anyway, check out the stats for yourself or listen to my radio station on last.fm here.

So basically these charts comprise my most listened to artists and tracks on my iTunes at work and at home, as well as what's been synched from my ipod. (Sometimes I listen to my friends' radio or neighbors' radio - and that also gets counted in my weekly charts.)

Top 10 Artists

E-40
Rick Ross
Dj Wonder
Juelz Santana
The Roots
Kelis
LCD Soundsystem
Talib Kweli
Cheri Dennis
50 Cent

Top 10 Tracks

E-40 - Tell Me When To Go Remix f/ Game & Keak Da Sneak (Dirty- Extended)
Cheri Dennis - I Love You
Rick Ross - Hustlin'
E-40 - Block Boi Ft. Miko, Stressmati
Rick Ross - Hustlin' (clean)
Dre f/ Rick Ross - Hot Ridin
Black Buddafly feat. Fabolous - Turn Me Out
E40 f. Lil‚ Jon - Been There, Done That
DJ Khaled f. Paul Wall, Lil‚ Wayne, Rick Ross, Fat Joe & Pitbull - Holla At Me Baby
T.I. f. Ciara & Lil‚ Jon - King & Queen (remix)

tags: music | last.fm | music charts

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lynne d johnson on geekentertainment tv

Had I know this was what I was looking like on that day, I never would've let them tape me. Also on this blogging while black episode was baratunde thurston and george kelly.

Check it out, and while you're at it george has also posted the video from the panel. Like Jason, I've got to delete "ummm"...from my vocabulary.

Also check out Elisa Camahort's SXSW: Blogging While Black Revisited post on the Worker Bees Blog.

tags: sxsw interactive | blogging while black | geekentertainment tv

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lean wit it rock wit it

even before the oscar win of three six mafia, i began to notice that any music containing the 808 (Roland TR-808), synth blips, snaps, and the bounce, as well as any hint of southern slanging drawl was becoming a hit nationwide. but of course it's not just the head-nodding beats making this music affective — tales of crack and cocaine make for good hip-hop music too.

the stickiness factor of much of this type of music is aided and abetted by the fact that the song is often named after a dance step, or that some dance step is created for the song's music video. of course it doesn't hurt to have the polysyllabic-spitting busta rhymes featured on the remix either.

observation 1: it's a saturday afternoon at the foot locker on 125th street. dem franchize boyz - lean wit' it rock wit' it video appears on multiple tv screens throughout the store. there's a freeze in action. everyone stops shopping and starts staring at the television - in a trance. employees and customers alike are glued to the tube. a gaggle of young girls start working their own version of the dance in the corner. things don't return to normal until the video ends. even i find myself caught in the trap.

observation 2: go to any club and hear the dj mix any combination of big boi's purple ribbon allstars "kryptonite," rick ross's "hustlin'," shawnna's "gettin' some," bow wow's "fresh azimiz," and anything by dem franchize boyz, d4l, or three six mafia and the party is sure to jump for several hours. let the dj put on kanye west or black eyed peas and watch the floor clear. (but let's clarify for a second...let this dance club be a dance club primarily attended by african-american, afro-caribbeans, or latino revelers and the party will jump. if it's primarily filled with white attendees then kanye and the peas will be de rigueur.)

bonus: listen to Rick Ross - Hustlin'

tags: hip-hop | music

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xxl mag's foray on to the web

No, I'm not already slow on this. It's just that I thought it best that I not discuss it. And I won't, because others have done it well.

• byron crawford - XXL = the new SOHH? + Will XXL fail miserably?
• clyde smith - XXL's Big Web Plans from Deputy Editor Vanessa Satten
• jimi izrael - XXL's Elliot Wilson ARRESTED, Kevin Powell for Prez (yikes!), Mardi Gras, etc
• hashim warren - A Walk Through The Online Hip-Hop Graveyard

And of course I still have no comment on the move, but only find it interesting to mention b/c when I saw that a magazine like Jane was watching what was happening on the hip-hop Internets, I was a little taken aback.

Yet Another Reason to Graft Your Retinas to the Yr Computer Screen, doth quoteth: "Because The Internet is Where the Vanguard Go, another of your favorite magazines has made the long haul to weblife: XXL, the hip-hop Dianetics, launched a handful of blogs here with columnists like mixtape superstar DJ Drama, legendary scribe kris ex, and Byron Crawford, "your favorite rapper's least favorite blogger." " (readeth more)

Of course I felt less curious once I saw the signature line readeth Julianne. It's got to be that cowboyz 'n' poodles chick I've come to knoweth.

Well alright then, whatever they sayeth above. I still have no comment. So everyone who IMs me or emails me to find out what I think about the potential jack - please, stopeth now.

tags: magazines | media | hip-hop | web | internets

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Understanding Chickheads, Pimps, Golddiggas, and Gangsta Rappers

Understanding Chickheads, Pimps, Golddiggas, and Gangsta Rappers: A conversation with Hip Hop Feminist Joan Morgan and Mark Anthony Neal

My homie, Mark Anthony Neal (black male feminist) — New Black Man, Soul Babies: Black Popular Culture and the Post-Soul Aesthetic, Songs in the Key of Black Life: A Rhythm and Blues Nation — posted a link to a video of a conversation that took place between he and Joan Morgan (hip-hop feminist) — When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost : My Life as A Hip Hop Feminist — at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Morgan's book hasn't only started a movement, but helped provide insight for any female calling herself either a feminist or womanist who has had to negotiate her love/hate relationship with hip-hop. As for Neal, I've always loved his work and am floored that a black man would even think to call himself a feminist. Besides, they're both from the boogie down, so I gotta' love 'em.

Go check out the video linked from Neal's blog.

tags: books | gender issues | hip-hop | african-american issues

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sxsw interactive '06 wrap up

Back in Nueva Yawk - where it's colder than a witch's (you know the rest).

This year was a really fun and interesting time for me at SXSW. There were so many more African-Americans in attendance (j. has a partial list), and as I've mentioned earlier the women of BlogHer put together some truly magnificent panels there.

My goal this year, other than moderating Blogging While Black Revisited, was to go outside of my comfort zone and meet more people who would ultimately have an impact on the way in which I approach my professional career as a new media manager, as well as the way in which I approach my blog. I definitely achieved that.

I met far too many people this year to name them all, but I'd like to send a special shout out to Christine M. Songco for inviting me to the Blogger party and for the schwag. I also don't think I can do enough to thank Hugh Forrest, who I spoke with at the Blogger party, for all he's done. I'm already thinking about a proposal for next year.

Right now I'd just like to take the opportunity to thank some of the people who met with me both formally and informally, either related to my full time gig or the work I do with my blog/journal and as a cultural producer. Following is a list of business cards I collected from some of those people, in no particular order.

SXSW Interactive '06 Business Card Roll

Jeff Bowman (www.ibagit.com )
Jeff is a visionary and futuristic thinker. He's passionate about what he's creating and the power of the Web. I look forward to having many more discussions with Jeff.

Jory Des Jardins (www.blogher.org + jorydesjardins.com)
I can't do enough to thank the founding ladies of BlogHer. They are always looking out for me and hooking me up with very key people. Also they've launched a model that many of my BWB Revisited panelists and I find inspirational and enabling.

Liza Sabater (www.culturekitchen.com)
Not only have we been reading one another's sites for awhile, we also met at BlogHer in the summer and initially at the Brown Bloggers event she put together last year. I'm definitely thinking that whatever we BWB folks are thinking about putting together, that it might be able to work in tandem with what she and Chris Rabb are working on. It's funny that it's taken us all this time to realize that one of her neighbors is my main man in the office who holds it down for me in the coding and systems admin arenas.

Kevin L. McQuarn (The Advocate)
We didn't get to speak much, but I was happy to see how a man from Baton Rouge gets down. Looking forward to reading some of your writing.

Eddie Codel (Geek Entertainment Television)
Thanks for interviewing me for your segments. I can't wait to see how it came out.

Halley Suitt (toptensources.com + Halley's Comment)
She's blog fam now. She's been linking to my posts for a while and reading my hip-hop meanderings here and there. Finally met her at BlogHer Con. in the summer, and it was good seeing her again. We're going to hook up and have that conversation soon, I promise.

Peter Fasano (Armchair Media)
Peter I know that I can find some work we can do together. Let's get the conversation started.

Dawn Green (Thunder Data Systems)
I know you thought my duck and hide tactics were amusing, but you have to admit, Yvonne was one scary chick.

JW Richard (mandrake society radio podcast)
It looks like you're the only one who got to make it to that concert with Erykah Badu, Wendy and Lisa, and Doyle Bramhall II. Damn! I love what you're doing with digitaldrums.

Chris Dawson (webcastinabox)
You know I could use your services in some way. But that's not why you rock, your rock b/c you told me about the The Refugee Allstars film about refugees from Sierra Leone who formed a band while living in a refugee camp and ended up working with the United Nations to help repatriate other war victims back to Sierra Leone. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the re-screen of the film or hear the band as I left pretty early on Tuesday. But I'll be on the lookout for the band and the film. They've got to make it to New York some day.

Andrew Zipern (America Online)
Thanks for lunch @ the Taco Shack. It was great sharing ideas with you, and hopefully we'll talk soon.

Steve Semeisberger (Pluck)
You had to know I was going to like you once you dropped that DJ Mel played your wedding and that you're originally from New York State. Your team has created some really killer products and I'm looking forward to continuing our conversation.

DJ Mel (djmel.com + mindspray)
It's always a pleasure seeing you and hearing you spin. Your skills are awesome and I love that you love music the way you do. To have that breadth of musical knowledge and sense of beat and rhythm to be able to mix crunk with new wave is an amazing gift. I can't believe it's been like two years or more that we've been vibing, thanks to the power of blogs and our Nikon cameras. Can't wait to see you when you're next in the NYC.

EJ Flavors (ejflavors.com)
You gave me your card, so I have to add you to the list. You've been part of my blog fam for eons now, and every time I'm in the ATL or you're in NYC we get to link up. But what I want to say about you is that those Old Skool Wednesday mixes that you put down on your blog every week are heaven sent.

tags: sxsw interactive

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there's a riot goin' on - by miles marshall lewis

got my review copy of there's a riot goin' on by miles marshall lewis. come back soon to see a previous interview with the author discussing his earlier book, Scars of the Soul Are Why Kids Wear Bandages When They Don't Have Bruises. i'll most likely interview/converse with him about this work as well.

from the publisher - continuum books: Miles Marshall Lewis's addition to Continuum's 33 1/3 Series, There's A Riot Goin' On is an analysis of this critically acclaimed and influential album (Sly and The Family Stone - There's A Riot Goin' On). With impressive scope, this small book encompasses more than just the album it's about, as Lewis elucidates with great insight and clarity the rise and fall of a revolutionary band - one whose vision and poise helped to change the American landscape, before falling prey to the worst excesses of the fame which followed.

check out the book's very own myspace page.

tags: music | books | sly and the family stone

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double standards for whites and blacks running for office?

ok, so someone just sent me this link in the daily news...

B'klyn race no place for ex-abuser

Tha main topic of this piece being: "Kevin Powell, a candidate for Congress in Brooklyn who describes himself as "a recovering misogynist" with a history of physically abusing women, a variation on that question must be asked."

Anyway, from what I gather, the writer is saying that Kevin Powell is not a good or qualified candidate because he is human. It appears that Jimi Izrael feels the same way about Powell. To be human is to err. Powell has written extensively in articles and books about some of the many incidents discussed in both the Daily News and on Izrael's blog.

It's not that I don't care about some of the things discussed that Powell has done. I do care - and feel that those issues should be addressed. My main problem with black male writers taking this view and outing Powell in this way, well, is that it's counterproductive. I'm not on some black folks shouldn't air other black folks dirty laundry in public either - what I'm getting at is that it seems like there is a double standard at play here.

How many white elected officials and candidates have had similar issues? Does that sway our view of thier ability to hold office? And before you answer, remember that black folks loved themselves some William Jefferson Clinton.

tags: brooklyn politics | african-american issues

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sxsw semi-live blogging: what people are really doing on the web

what people are really doing on the web

Moderator: Joel Greenberg Sr Planner, GSD&M

Holland Hofma Brown VP Internet Panel Mgmt, Harris Interactive
Joel Greenberg Sr Planner, GSD&M
Michele Madansky VP Corp & Sales Research, Yahoo!
Max Kalehoff VP Mktg, Nielsen BuzzMetrics

greenberg - we are all involved in the web in some way we are all involved in creating things ppl use on the web or some other type of function support your products with real data about what people are doing on the web so when you go back to your projects you can begin to whip out stats or find out where the statistics are to prove your points about functionality or products b/c that's how human beings are working

greenberg - qualitative and quantititative data - use what you learn about people to decide what they need - put it into the brand values you're creating - how can we get to the future

brown - we conducted an online survey on sxsw 2300 respondents balanced data on age sex and region to be representative of us population - internet is not a cutting edge technology it is a way of life - we cannot live without the internet - we'd rather email a friend than call on a phone - even though we can't live w/out it only small % feels comfortable transferring personal data over internet - there is a large segment who has not let the web take over everything - who's reading blogs? young men in particular are dominating - ppl with college degree more likely to read blogs - they want to find out what ppl are thinking - it's mostly a passive activity - not many commenting on blogs - ppl are selective about the blogs they read - personal diaries are at the top of the list while for sxsw folks its technology - content over looks - sxsw folks like visual appeal and frequent updates

madansky - mobile phones are becoming increasingly important - online gaming important globally - in the us only 29% have mp3 player - music huge portion of online searches - music fills key need for youth - new product yahoo answers (social search - ask question and other people respond)

kalehoff - our mission in life is to help marketers measure and analyze consumer generated media - we have a 10 year investment - we first started out with usenet groups - we moved to auto portals - feedback portals - moved into chat and AIM - now we're moving to consumer generated multimedia (podcasts/vodcasts) - how we perceive brands - top search results are in the first person - by listening to consumer generated media marketers have been able to focus and target their products available

audience question - y has yahoo tapered off of using focus groups?

madansky - there is a time and place for it - we think ethnography is a way at getting at people's needs - we chose the most articulate ppl from the surveys in various countries and went into their homes

audience question - how does yahoo use research in product buildout?

madansky - we have idea factory - anyone in company can put idea into software about how product should function, etc. - i help filter through those ideas - it's off the shelf software - it's been very helpful in getting new ideas out there

audience question - difference between snapshot and trend

madansky - looked at consumer response to google offering mail app - 18 - 24 is key demographic

audience question - why does music and sex eclipse sports?

tags: sxsw interactive | web

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last.fm weekly chart

visit my last.fm stats and radio here

Most played artists last week...

Bilal
Mos Def
Arctic Monkeys
50 Cent
Black Star
Jill Scott
The Roots
Maestro
Talking Heads
Tater Chip

I'm not even going to post the tracks most listened to last week, since my 1st generation iPod finally decided to freak out after all these years. And I didn't listen to a lot of music at work or at home, because I was pissed about the iPod. First the software crashed and I had to reboot it, and then the selection button in the center got stuck. The money it would cost to fix it at one of these iPod fixit places just isn't worth it either - it's time for the video iPod.

tags: music | last.fm | ipod

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more sxsw notes - the women are here this year

Public Square or Private Club: Does Exclusivity Strengthen or Dilute? was one of the panels I attended on 3.11.06.

Panelists included:

Lisa Stone (surfette + blogher)
Tiffany B. Brown (webinista + blackfeminism + culturedwino)
Melinda Casino (Sour Duck)
Barb Dybwad (geeked + dykesdodigital + weblogsinc)

I recorded it with audiocorder, but think my sound levels got a little screwed up because I wasn't close enough to the stage. After converting from AIFF to MP3 in iTunes, it didn't sound any better. I'm going to see if I can raise the levels in garageband somehow.

If all works as expected with the sound, then I'll upload the file to my server and use the podcast RSS Feed generator to publish the podcast and then I'll import the feed into odeo so the podcast can be listed both there and in iTunes.

3.12.06 I attended the Increasing Women's Visibility on the Web: Whose Butt Should We Be Kicking?

Panelists included:

Virginia DeBolt (vdebolt + webteacher)
Tara Hunt (horsepigcow + riya.com)
Jan Kabili (The Unofficial Photoshop Weblog)
Liz Henry ( Composite: thoughts on poetics by Liz Henry)
Ayse Erginer (arsepoetica)

I decided to simply use the Odeo studio to record and then publish the podcast, but since I kept getting kicked off the network I couldn't record it.

So instead, here's a written list of some of the things I took away from the panel...

• Jan Kabili - we need to kick our own butts
• Tara Hunt - (in reference to warhol's 15 minutes of fame) now we're famous for 15 people
• Hunt - you put yourself out there for more criticism

How is your blog leveraging career?

Debolt - people contact me b/c of what i was talking about - teaching - started writing tips and it attracts readers to the blog it gives you some credibility if you're looking for work

Hunt - used to work for an HR association doing their online marketing, went to SF and salray and visibility increased - head hunted weekly - speaking on panels - goes toward raising career and value in the market

Overall this panel touched on a lot relating to voice, topical matter, and of course, visibility. The panel rocked. And I'm thankful to Hugh Forrest getting us African-American Bloggers involved, as well as the women of BlogHer.

Later went to the Keynote to listen to the conversation between Heather Armstrong of Dooce.com and Jason Kottke of kottke.org. There was a lot to learn there about how to blog and how to gain readership. Much talk also about the subscriber model .vs the advertising model.

Then it was on to Blogging While Black Revisited. I'm still working on my comments about the panel, but Jason has already fleshed out some of his over at negroplease and links to those who live blogged or wrote about the panel.

I met so many wonderful web, blogging, and technology people this year. There was an African-American contingent that all went to dinner at some Tex Mex joint and then it was on to Club Deville to listen to my boy DJ Mel spin. What this guy does on the wheels is so amazing.

I think tomorrow I'm going to earn my keep and attend some panels related to Web strategy, marketing, and business.

tags: sxsw interactive | blogher | podcasting | blogging while black

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sxsw 06 interactive photos

check out the photos from my brothers j, george, ej, and jason

follow the flickr links to view

jbrotherlove on flickr

allaboutgeorge on flickr

ejflavors on flickr

misterjt on flickr

last night was a blast - we hopped from the frog design party, to the amoda laptop battle, to the local bayou lounge, where we got crunk

tags: sxsw interactive

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sxsw interactive 3.11.2006

Day one notes:

Was a late riser today so not much to say.

While getting my badge ran into Laina and Anastasia. We went to lunch at some little mom and pop mexican spot. I had spicy huevos mexicana and a vegetarian chorizo taco, and washed it down with dos equis.

We chatted up personal vs public web sites/blogs, misogynist blogs, youth blogs, music blogs, and how bloggers attack professional web/writer/journalists.

Now we're back at the conference center and Laina and I are sitting with Jason and we're all on our computers writing and listening to really terrible bands.

Ponzi just walked over and asked if I'd like to do a podcast tomorrow.

At 5, will check out How to Create Passionate Users, Public Square or Private Club: Does Exclusivity Strengthen or Dilute?, and How to Develop for (Convergent) Personal Devices.

technorati tags: sxsw interactive

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when i wasn't posting i was living

2.9.06 - at iced media's relaunch party

(that's john lee in the background sipping)

3.3.06 - at oxygen's ll cool j custom concert

this show at sony studios was completely off the hook. granted LL has been in the game for a very long time, and is the ultimate performer becuase of this. what made the concert more like a party than a concert was the intimacy of the room, and the closeness of the stage. it gave the feeling that the audience was part of the show with big L.

we're still trying to figure out what to make of the new j. lo duet.

background: oxygen invited folks to visit oxygen.com and create the ll cool j concert experience, by enabling visitors to select which songs he'd perform.

the 1-2 punch: ne-yo opened the show and his performance was much better than remembered at some artist on the verge event this past summer, where we saw him last. also, president carter was in the building. we walked by him on one of our trips to the VIP room for an appletini. had he not been so tall and not looking straight ahead, we would have reminded him that we wrote one of the first business stories on roc-a-fella records for a youth publication way back when and we also would have reminded him that he used to live next door to us and hugged us once in the courtyard when he was elated that reasonable doubt was reaching a tipping point.

the follow up: the concert airs on oxygen on march 18.

3.9.06 - at prince's 3121 listening party

i'll save the detailed previews of the tracks for the company that writes my paycheck, but in the meantime i have to admit that the wackness of this event was that his purpleness was not in attendance.

the label rented out a swank penthouse hotel room at the royalton, had lavish hors d'oeuvres and some kindo of purple concoction as libation. we thought it tasted like grape kool-aid and vodka. they also gave out a nifty little gift bag. i really went there hoping to see prince, not just to hear the new album played 3x in a row. not for nothing, but mary j. blige was at her listening party - and that rocked.

it was also cool to hang out with the head of musicoxygen.com. and making the trip down to negril to wish shelly castro happy b-day was cool too.

technorati tags: new york | music | ll cool j | prince

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lynne d johnson in the austin chronicle

i'm in an austin chronicle sxsw interactive feature, along with some other pretty cool web folks. according to the blogher site, there appears to be some controversy about this cover though.

technorati tags: sxsw interactive | blogher

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sxsw interactive bound & who reads this site survey

so it's that time of year again, when we black folks go to sxsw interactive to tell other folks what it means to be black on the world wide web (or more succinctly - what it means to be a black blogger)

as last year - this here's your moderator (though the listing says that george is) and the motley crew of blackness on the panel includes:

George Kelly Online Reporter, N/A
Tiffany B Brown Owner, Webinista LLC/Georgia Institute of Technology
Lynne d Johnson GM New Media, Vibe/Spin Ventures
Monique Judge
Tony Pierce Community Man, Buzznet
Jason Toney Editor,

In the spirit of what other members of the panel have been doing, I've got this survey that I'd like you to take some time to respond to. Basically it's an attempt for me to get demographic information on who reads this blog/diary.

*** Click here to take survey - Who reads this site? ***

Also take Tiffany's, Jason's and George's

technorati tags: sxsw interactive | blogging while black | media | internet

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Beyond Beef .vs All Eyes on Jay-Z and Nas

(Video: Beyond Beef - Toure interviews Jay-Z and Nas on BET)

(Video: All Eyes on Jay-Z and Nas - Sway interviews Jay-Z and Nas on MTV)

technorati tags: TV | BET| MTV | jay-z | nas

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