Hello, Babar

The Cult of Personality

Posted 01/27/2008 at 11:43 AM  |  1 comment/s

Last night or rather early this morning, I was chatting with a friend who was expressing some career frustration. Despite unmatched talent, this individual has found themselves lapped by lesser and astoundingly uncredentialed talents. Outside of the various isms that hold some of us back (and believe you me it's not that "we no know how we and 'dem a go work this out" but that we know that it doesn't benefit 'dem to work it out), I noted that one potential career-hindering factor was likeability. And I hate to invoke that thorn in Hillary Clinton's side as valid as her concerns may be as she's got larger problems with her campaign like her hawkishness, but the fact remains that even is she was a better candidate on the issues, people probably still wouldn't like her and that's a damn shame.

It's not hard to pin point what endears us to some and makes us indifferent to others. Funny goes far, so does cool and, let's face it, fakeness. Some of the most jovial people I know, the thinly dynamic folk that come around and make me change my plans to nip at their heels, I don't trust. And since I don't know how to hold people near without exchanging confidences, I'm either mired in unfruitful and frustrating personal and professional relationships or lonely. So I scoff at amiability. It's nice but not enough. Charisma is awesome, so is charm and flash and humor but nothing matches integrity, in theory. In practice, I battle the impulse to nip by instead adopting a broad facade of indifference.

Overthinker that I am, the joy that laced my viewing of the infamous David Gregory get down video, was partnered with some concern for how some two stepping and a flamboyant R&B twirl would make so many, according to the YouTube comments, gain respect for the journo. Worser still, now I am considering flipping over from BBC America in the morn to catch the Today Show. So broadcasting record aside, even I would join Gregory's fan club on the basis of some enthusiastic on beat white boy dancing or, as another YouTube commenter noted, "gain respect" for Nightly News anchor Brian Williams on the strength of his comic performance on SNL. I've got to be better than that. We've got to be better than that. The cult of personality is what brought us Ronald Reagan, for goodness sake, and we see how that turned out.

Without further ado, here is the gloriousness that is David Gregory. Joy to be.

Video Souce: Remix TV

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You Forgot it in People: Considering Hip Hop Punditry

Posted 01/24/2008 at 9:26 PM  |  1 comment/s

Recently, WNYC's Soundcheck addressed the hip hop steroid/HGH scandal. Host John Schaefer interviewed investigative reporter Bob Port from the Albany Times Union, the upstate paper that broke the hip hop steroid and HGH abuse story, and founder of a hip hop think tank Bucknell College Assistant Professor James Peterson. Port relayed the who and the convoluted how of securing performance enhancing substances and Peterson commented on the why. Both guests annoyed by peppering their commentary with irrelevant or unsupported information but Peterson took the cake when offering his opinion on the hip hop generation's knowledge of or concern for the side effects of HGH use ("the facts" to which Schaefer refers below).

John Schaefer: And James, how widely dispersed are those kind of facts in the community? I mean how much do young people know of any of this?

James Peterson: I would say little or nothing. I think there is a way in which young people from the hip hop generation kind of have a very different relationship with body image and with technology in general so the concept of like performance enhancements as being something that's ethically wrong I don't think really exists for this generation. This is a generation that's like by all means necessary and you combine that with like the focus on youthful appearance and on youthful energy in general and I think its kind of like a ticking time bomb for hip hop in certain ways.

What Schaefer's question demands are facts, not thoughts, and the thoughts Peterson provides seem not only useless but potentially recklessly misleading. Who exactly comprises the hip hop generation to whom he refers? What are these "very different relationship(s)" to body image and technology? Where have they been documented? And what evidence is there that this hip hop generation doesn't see anything ethically wrong with performance enhancements? Referring to a so-called "by any means necessary" ethic only undercuts his dubious point as that phrase peaked over a decade and a half ago and although X caps have made a comeback with some cool kids that doesn't lend his characterization any credence.

Now, Peterson is not alone in this offense. The media is rife with opinionated commentary on current events instead of historical context, informed analysis or detailed reportage. It's so commonplace as to draw even the most cautious and informed commentator in. "Bill Moyers Journal" touched on this issue in his documentary "Buying the War" available on iTunes as a podcast. He called attention to how many talking heads on network TV lacked relevant knowledge of the subjects they were called on to unpack. Just look to the columnists who weighed in on the war and the dearth of military and Middle East knowledge any of their CV's display. Peterson was presented as an authoritative commentator on hip hop and I'm certain he holds some expertise but I still needed him to cite a study or two.

I am compelled to mention a larger problem I have with many hip hop panels and pundits. Seated on a rostrum are often authors, activists, academes and journalists who don't always feel the need to prepare or engage in any relevant research in advance of their appearances. In fact, how many of us recall sitting in the audience listening to panelists proclaim that they don't even listen to hip hop any more, repudiate the current crop of artists and reminisce on the good 'ole days. How can you provide any insight on a culture that you have abandoned? I say this not so much as an indictment, although there may come a time for that, but as a challenge to take ourselves and our work much more seriously, to understand the impacts of broad sweeping statements, and to practice rigor in our work and skepticism in our consumption.

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p.r.i.tt.y Boy

Posted 01/23/2008 at 12:01 AM  |  Comment?

In his heydey, the now reportedly ailing Paul Newman was the prettiest white American man I've ever laid eyes on. I saw him this past Monday on an AMC or TCM Sidney Poitier MLK-day marathon. I had just returned home from a King day tribute featuring Mavis Staples (and some photos of her snapped by yours truly) and had prepared myself a lunch of roast potatoes and tofu. I flipped through the channels for something to watch while I munched and stopped at the description of Paris Blues, a 1961 film set in my favorite city, Paris, concerning one of the favorite genres, jazz, and featuring an interracial cast. I put my feet up and quickly found myself enthralled by Newman, who had a moment earlier been no more than the visage on my bottle of low fat salad dressing. The progressive bent didn't hurt either. I was surprised by Joanne Woodward's portrayal of an unapologetically sexually assertive woman and Newman's character's initial attraction to Diahann Carroll's character despite the race difference. But above all, I found myself arrested by Newman's face and I say this as a woman ever and exclusively partial to ebon. It was Pittish, even a little Ledgerish, God rest his soul, but better even. He's old and wrinkly now, and if the Enquirer is right in its speculation, nearing his deathbed but good lord he shined in Paris Blues. To think I used to confuse him with Richard Dreyfuss.

The other leading man, the trailblazing Sidney Poitier, sort of worked my nerves. His indignation held over at least through Guess Who's Coming to Dinner in 1967, was hackneyed and in both cases exclusively funneled towards Black female characters. I need to again plow through his catalog but I'm wondering to what extent he is a one note performer. I'm not seeing a lot of range, not that the flat Black characters written for film and TV then and now allow(ed) for much else. The jury remains out.

In parting, here is a clip of Louis Armstrong performing in Paris Blues:

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Sathima Bea Benjamin Celebrates Her Record's Re-Release

Posted 01/21/2008 at 3:56 PM  |  2 comment/s

This past Wednesday at a little west village jazz club obscure South African jazz vocalist Sathima Bea Benjamin (pictured left) celebrated the reissue of her impeccable 1963 debut, A Morning in Paris. An unassuming vocalist with a smart and nuanced delivery and Billie Holiday's deft behind the beat timing, Benjamin's profile has never reflected her exceptional talent. And although older, her voice remains clear as displayed Wednesday night when she eased through 6 songs--"Falling in Love is Wonderful", "Star Eyes", "All Too Soon", "I'll Be Seeing You", "Something to Live For", and the ethereal "Wind Song"--before inviting her daughter Jean Grae to join her for a paean to Africa. Grae tentatively took the stage openly shook at the prospect of following her mother. She hummed faintly in and of the composition before delivering her verse from Talib Kweli's "Black Girl Pain", which memorably calls her mother by name and speaks her challenges into hip hop record. Here is a little footage:

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One in a Million: Mavis Staples and the King Legacy

Posted 01/21/2008 at 2:25 PM  |  Comment?

This morning I was treated to three songs from the legendary Mavis Staples as part of Brooklyn Academy of Music's annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration. The gruff-voiced singer tore into two numbers with only the aid of her guitarist, capping her performance with a gospel choir aided rendition of "I'll Take You There." I stood up to the dismay a few folks seated behind me because that song, this day, is about movement. Then and now, Staples and her family invited the fed up and the frustrated to join the civil rights movement while encouraging longsuffering activists to keep fighting the good fight, to keep on moving. And as her 2007 album made abundantly clear, Staples, a recent inductee to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, has no intention of turning back. In fact, today Ms. Staples let it be known that her involvement in social justice has not waned although its cachet has diminished. It is a walk that she said she's willing to walk alone. Who among us can say the same? At a moment when most activism is a hustle, many of us are too busy cutting eyes at smarmy Black pundits to keep our eyes on the prize. The movement wasn't (isn't) about scoring a talk show, spouting soundbytes on Bill Maher's show, selling a book, marketing a record, securing exorbitant appearance fees, or manipulating green behind the ear do gooders into buying whatever it is that your selling, which isn't to say its champions were perfect but that there is a lot younger generations can learn from them and vice versa. I am less interested in debating how and why the youth mistake ballers for leaders or how and why our elders dropped the ball but gathering the strength to pick it up.

*Photo of Mavis Staples at Rockefeller Park (NYC, 8.01.07)

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Life Imitating "30 Rock"*

Posted 01/15/2008 at 8:00 PM  |  Comment?

Last year, one of the most entertaining bits of YouTubery was this Tracy Morgan appearance on an El Paso,Texas, Morning Show:

Morgan's absurd outbursts kill, in part, due to the fan-boy host and hearty off-camera laughter but also Morgan's lucidity and spot-on timing. Morgan may be a sloppy drunk in his personal life (so much so that his wife Sabina just threw in the towel after 21 years) but he's a professional comedian with an expertly crafted persona and act.

But this unsettling clip from last Thursday's "Late Show with David Letterman" suggests his personal vices might be impairing his performance:

He's sluggish and struggling to get his bits out. Morgan's always fumbled his words and that's part of the spontaneous charm of his ribald comedy but it just seems like a substance has thrown him for a loop. It's sad to see because he's got something vaguely Bill Cosbyish (in the speech), a tad Martin Lawrenceish (in the physicality) and quite good. Not that he doesn't have his weaknesses. He's a lazy comic but what Black comic these days isn't. Watch him reach for the sassy Black women joke when he runs out of things to say. There was a choice line amidst all the awkward laughter, though. David Letterman, or DL as Morgan christened him, brings up the writer's strike and Morgan, in a feigned fit of strike-induced career anxiety let his feelings be known.

Tracy Morgan: I don't want to have to join one of them black plays, Man.
DL: What do you mean? What are you talking about?
Tracy Morgan: Once you in play with Cock-a-roach from the Cosby Show, your career is... Black Plays. (Mumbling) I don't want to be in one of them Black plays.

If Hollywood is flat, then Black plays aren't even at its edges, they're in Davy Jones' Locker. And what better segue to Morgan's pithiest comment of the evening.

I found the edge along time ago and jumped off. I'm crazier than a box of rocks.

And just when I thought he'd lost his self-awareness.

• Nota Bene- This incident bears passing resemblance to Episode 7 of "30 Rock"

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Tu Vas Me Manquer

Posted 01/12/2008 at 8:11 PM  |  Comment?

When I was in the 8th grade, I visited France for the first time. My French teacher Madame Koban, a white-haired French woman from Morocco, took a bunch of us to Paris and Nantes. Paris was for sight seeing, Nantes was for homestays and a spell at a collège. I stayed with a lovely girl whose name may or may not have been Aurélie. I can't remember. I do recall that she had a bespectacled little brother, a boulanger father who layed a fresh loaf of brioche on the breakfast table every morn and a darling homemaker mother who slathered my lunch baguettes with an extra thick coating of beurre and pâté. I loved the brioche and I loathed the baguette sandwich but I smiled all the same. I was happy to be abroad. So one day the fam' was toting me somewhere, possibly the beach, and a song came on the radio that I have yet to fish from my head: Pascal Obispo's "Tu vas me manquer." It means "I will miss you" or literally "you are going to be missed by me" and it was inescapable during my time in Nantes. When I left, the thought of it made me sad. France was truly missed by me. I had gone there with my friends, including my ace boon then and now L'Erin Asantewaa. We got in a big fight on a tour bus through the Loire Valley involving my proscribed walkman, a tape with Immature's "Da Munchies" on it, L'Erin dancing in the aisle, and Madame Koban confiscating my walkman. Thanks to the intervention of our friends Jacobe, who all of France mistook for the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and Josh, we patched it up by days end.

I only tell this story 'cause I've been kicking myself over missing some great records in my rush to submit my best of 2007 lists to the tabulators here and there. Of course, I wouldn't hear a few stellar songs from 2007 until the start of 2008. The chief of these is Benny Sings' "We'll Make Love Songs." You have got to have an ice box for a heart to not like this song. I heard it earlier this week on a year end wrap up podcast from Royal Groove Web Radio and it's so sweet it makes me want to stop posturing. Check it out on the Royal Groove Web Radio Podcast then buy it from Amazon or eMusic. Band of Horses' "Detlef Schrempf," also has me broken up and not just 'cause I'm from Seattle. It sounds like longing and the late eighties, like it could soundtrack the flashback sequence that resolves the murder on "Cold Case." I won't add "D.A.N.C.E.", which I hadn't heard until just now. I like it but not top ten like it.

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Deconstructing Obama's Playlist

Posted 01/10/2008 at 9:35 PM  |  1 comment/s

Last summer I bought 2 tickets to see Barack Obama in downtown Brooklyn. After work, I took the R train from Union Square to Metro Tech and walked the rest of the way to the venue, the Marriott-Brooklyn Bridge, but quickly abandoned any hopes of seeing the presidential candidate in person. You see, the line snaked out the hotel's front entrance all the way down Brooklyn Bridge Boulevard and this was an hour after doors were to have opened. The crowd was young, multicultural and dressed for an interview. I was casual, less intent on the off chance that I could make an impression on the harried pol than what impression he would make on me. Impatient as I am, when I didn't see any of my peoples in the long line, I peaced out (If I'd have tarried, I might have encountered a late-coming friend who cut to the front only to be shuttled to a video-feedless overflow room.)

Since then, Obama's held many more rallies, quite a few concentrated in the past two weeks. They may have contributed to his triumph in Iowa and they have certainly buoyed supporters discouraged by his unexpected second place finish in New Hampshire, as any observer of his "Yes We Can" concession speak heard for themselves. At a rally in Nashua last week, Obama camp's played his supporters a carefully constructed playlist as they waited for him to arrive, which he did with reported aplomb to U2's "The City of Blinding Lights." He exited, of course, to his strident supporter Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered." Here's the full list, as reported by the Boston Globe, along with some color commentary:

1. Marvin Gaye, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough''

Appropriate. It acknowledges the steepness of the goal of being the first Black president and suggests a persistence of spirit.

2. John Parr, "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)''
3. Tina Turner, "The Best''

This is a little hokie and heavyhanded but politics ain't about subtlety. I should add that Turner's equine themed video was ALL WRONG.

4. The Doobie Brothers, "Takin' It To The Streets''

This is for all those territorial race men and that ornery Black woman who questioned Obama's racial authenticity. The Black community loves the Doobie Brothers and selecting "Takin' it to the Streets" is proof of Obama's membership.

5. Earth, Wind & Fire, "Shining Star''
6. O'Jays, "Give The People What They Want''
7. Sam and Dave, "Hold On I'm Coming''

Finally something with some grit. This would definitely amp me up.

8. Kool & the Gang, "Celebration''

I'm partial to "Get Down On It."

9. Natasha Bedingfield, "Unwritten''

This is probably for the cornball constituency. I object.

10. The Isley Brothers, "Shout''
11. The Temptations, "Get Ready''
12. India.Arie, "There's Hope''

India.Arie is a simple songwriter in the worst way but she has her moments. This is one of them. "It doesn't cost a thing to smile. You don't have to pay to laugh. You better thank God for that." This is what Obama is selling and it's the real thing. Cue Jill Scott.

13. McFadden and Whitehead, "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now''
14. Staples Singers, "I'll Take You There''
15. Orleans, "Still The One''
16. Sly and the Family Stone, "Everyday People''

I get it. You and your successful and svelte wife Michelle once lived in a small but tony Hyde Park condo and worried about paying down your law school loans.

17. The Doobie Bros., "Long Train Running''
He's one of us alright.
18. Stevie Wonder, "Sir Duke''

You really can feel it all over when he gets to stumping.

19. John Fogarty, "Centerfield''

Some Songs Obama's camp might consider adding:

"If My Brother's in Trouble" - Jeffrey Osborne
"Kind & Generous" - Natalie Merchant
"Optimistic" - Sounds of Blackness
"Tomorrow" - Tevin Campbell

*I'm having difficulty thinking of a POPULAR inoffensive curse-free hip hop song with an uplifting message Obama could adopt . Suggestions?

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Obama Triumphs in Iowa

Posted 01/03/2008 at 10:23 PM  |  2 comment/s

"People who love this country can change it"
-Barack Obama in his brilliant Iowa Caucus victory speech

"Iowa has never elected an African American to anything."
-CNN Contributor Roland Martin on how epochal the Obama victory in Iowa is.

So this evening peppy newswoman Katie Couric interrupted "CSI" to let me know that Barack Obama was the projected winner of the Iowa caucuses and I am absolutely euphoric and will commence to be effusive. When my mom, who's visiting me from Seattle, got in from a day trip to Washington DC, I relayed the news and we high-fived and embraced. I donated money to Obama's campaign the day he officially announced his candidacy and although I could use some more forthrightness and firmness to his statements and positions, I still believe he is the candidate for these times.

I have yet to read either of Obama's books but I am a believer in the importance of audacious hope. I may not practice it but I think that our leaders should. Over the holidays I went to a live interview with veteran jazz singer Andy Bey at the itinerant Jazz Museum in Harlem. It started off relatively smoothly with Bey responding to questions posed by Museum Executive Director Loren Schoenberg about his early family life but soon devolved. To every question Bey voiced his dissatisfaction with the industry, especially it's racial politics. His ideal place to play? Not Jazz at Lincoln Center. The story behind his stellar most recent release, "It Ain't Necessarily So?" Never told as he spent his time complaining about how for so long record companies wouldn't put out his shit. While I respect the hell out of Mr. Bey's talent and certainly know nothing oh his pain, it was sad to witness his immense accomplishment languish in his blind spot. For his gifts to be more fully recognized, he has to acknowledge the possibility of recognition not the inevitability of getting fucked over.

So I return to my boy Barack Obama and his ability to energize a populace. The evidence are all the first time caucusers that powered his victory. He's not the Christ child but he is someone to believe in. There still much soil to till, I know, but I'm feeling great about our chances.

OBAMA '08

PS-How sweet is Obama shouting out Michelle like that in his victory speech.

*Pic Source

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Rock into 2008

Posted 01/01/2008 at 1:17 PM  |  Comment?

Within his first few compulsive paces across the Madison Square Garden stage, Chris Rock let the sold out crowd know he was a little nervous. In last night's New Year's Eve show, Rock ran through a new act after a spell away from stand up. His friend and longtime collaborator Mario Joyner opened - his bit about the cinema ticket ripper was especially funny - and then ceded the stage to Jill Scott and band. Scott, sporting newly auburn tinted locks, blown out and tendriled forward, presided over Rock's dominion as best she could. She never shrunk although the audience wasn't as spirited as she's probably used to. She kicked off with the Go-Go flavored "It's Love", breathed fire into a number of selections from her unimpressive new record and capped her set off with "Golden," an inspirational anthem well suited to ushering in the new year. As Scott exited the stage to modest applause, Mario Joyner returned to perform a few bits before announcing a 25 minute intermission to ready the stage for Rock.

Chris Rock rushed the stage to Playaz Circle's "Duffle Bag Boy" and appeared clean-shaven and looking youthful for his 42 years in a beautifully cut but conservative slate suit. Grinning hard, he seemed genuinely happy as he surveyed the crowd but quickly got to cracking funnies with a long bit about the Michael Vick controversy. As for dogs, he called them "white man's best friend" and explained that Black people have always had fraught relationship with dogs from the slave trackers to the police canines sicked on us from the segregated American south to apartheid era South Africa. Moreover, Chris Rock pondered how it is illegal to fight dogs but legal to fight humans. The crowd's tepid laughter increased but dog fighting still proved to be a touchy subject for many. Rock also commented on the elections, uncharacteristically resorting to tried and true stereotypes when considering how Michelle Obama might thwart Barack Obama's viability by virtue of being a Black woman. Apparently we, unlike white women don't know how to play our position. Beyoncé would not concur. Rock recently introduced Obama to an Apollo crowd at a New York City fundraiser and did later throw out how Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani and Obama all drew punclines with Giuliani's serving as the funniest. To paraphrase: Rudy was great on 9/11 but how was he on 9/10, 4/16, 5/21? As the homeless panhandler on 7th avenue murmured as he counted his bounty this morning, Hamburger. Rock was funniest when considering racism. He showed no love for the founding fathers and called our currency that bears many of their images "rapist trading cards." It was no "Never Scared", which I and my sister saw live at the theater at Madison Square Garden stop of the Black Ambition tour but immensely fun. The work of contemporary Black artists like Chris Ofili and Kehinde Wiley was projected on the big screens between sets to the sounds of an eclectic mix which ranged from Fiona Apple to choice Outkast -"She Lives in My Lap" should be in more deejay's rotations - and made for a brilliantly broad minded event. Rock capped the festivities off by leading the countdown to 2008 and a sing a long of Rihanna's "Umbrella", with bud Biz Markie, as balloons and confetti rained down from the rafters.

Photo Credit: Michael Falco

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