Provoking thought

Ms. Toye over at Webtoye.com shares her thoughts on the direction of music today

For the most part, I have been thinking about the direction of music lately. I see where it's going, and I love it. Strangely enough, though, I see the whole scene bringing back Disco, and parts of the 70's and flashes of the 80's [i.e., Missy's current effort]. Now mind you, I hated the clothes in the 70's, but the music was SHARP! [wooo ... I am dating myself here]. But all this Neo-Soul blah blah and all that ... it's just your Mama's music in different clothing. Even Jahiem's voice is reminiscent of Teddy Pendergrass! And little by little, I see people associating and craving the style of that decade.

Now if we can only go back to some of the ideals and teachings of that decade .. you know, when being Black stood for something other than the diamonds people wear that African slaves die over. When Black was beautiful and it in itself was all the armor you needed. When civil fights begat Civil Rights, and people formulated and digested the Black aesthetic ... When Marvin and Bob, Aretha and Stevie, James and Donny reaffirmed that beauty over rhythm and verse.

Back in the 70's the music was "hard driving" but the lyrics were also sensitive and empowering. That's a hard combination to beat....Some hip-hop groups and many others have indeed picked up on this theme. It would be great to see a return to the ideals of the era, but the world has become so much more challenging and sophisticated that I highly doubt it, but your point is well taken.

While it is true that some segments are craving the style of that decade; I think that the direction may be somewhat affected by an industry (where many artists are being manipulated and) whose sole purpose is to make money and not necessarily to empower the people.

Kid Dynamite

Remember Jimmy Walker, or JJ, as he is well known from the tv series "Good Times"? Check out his website at DynomiteJJ.com and, apparently he is a writer/pundit as well, one of his articles is here

< jjvoice> Dyno-Mite < /jjvoice>

The Wronged Men

NY Newsday has this story about New Yorkers who spent years in prison for murders they did not commit

The typical wronged man was young, poor, black or Hispanic, had a minor criminal record and was convicted largely on the word of a single eyewitness, a Newsday examination has found. In most cases, the testimony was later recanted or discredited, with witnesses saying they had been high on crack, pressured by police or lying for money.

At least 13 men convicted in 11 city murder cases have had their convictions overturned since 1998, Newsday found. The "wrong men,” most of whom were fully exonerated, served a total of 162 years behind bars, from 5 to 21 years each.

Riding on the heels of the recent Jogger Case fiasco, this story is truly a sad commentary on the state of our judicial system.

Faux pas of the week: Trent Lott

"I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had of followed our lead we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."

—Trent Lott at Strom Thurmond's 100^th birthday party, as reported Dec. 6 in ABC News' political Weblog, The Note. To watch a video of the festivities, click here.

"I want to tell you, ladies and gentleman, that there's not enough troops in the army to force the southern people to break down segregation and admit the Nigra race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches."

—Strom Thurmond, then-governor South Carolina, in a speech from his 1948 "Dixiecrat" presidential campaign. To hear an audio clip, click here.


Lott is apparently proud of Thurmond's racist past, which I think even Thurmond has repudiated. The motivation behind Strom's 1948 presidential run was racism, so for Lott to put his foot in his mouth in such a fashion is absolutely repugnant. This is a good example of "backwards leadership" and a disgrace to all decent men and women.


In 1998 and 1999, Lott was criticized after disclosures that he had been a speaker at meetings of the Council of Conservative Citizens, an organization formed to succeed the segregationist white Citizens' Councils of the 1960s. In a 1992 speech in Greenwood, Miss., Lott told CCC members:

"In this room I stand for the right principles and the right philosophy. Let's take it in the right direction, and our children will be the beneficiaries."

Asked to comment on Lott's remarks at the Thurmond celebration, Gordon Baum, CEO of the Council of Conservative Citizens, said, "God Bless Trent Lott."

Blond, blue-eyed Muslim terrorists?

World net Daily has this story

Osama bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, with help from Iran, have recruited and trained brigades of blond, blue-eyed Bosnians and indoctrinated them for martyrdom, according to a report in Insight magazine.

''The next wave of terrorism could be carried out by people with fair skin, blond hair and blue eyes.''

Benzino on Eminem

"Eminem gets to do songs that we would never get to do," he added. "Eminem gets to talk about his issues and his pain ... killing his mother, beating his girl, drugs. We have to rock the party in order to get spins and burn on the radio. We have to entertain more than expose our true issues. When black and Latino people try to give our pain on there we couldn't get burn. The machine doesn't want our pain to be out there."

...I just wanted to raise consciousness. It's not like I'm hating on Eminem, its just a situation that had to be brought up." [more]

It would seem that Benzino is "hating", judging by these Lyrics from one of his songs and the reports on this article from MTV News.

Calling Em a "2003 Vanilla Ice," Benzino's slow-tempo "Pull Your Skirt Up" goes after hip-hop's great white phenom with lyrics like: "Five shades darker, you'd be Canibus/ And no one would care about your complicated rhyme style/ ... What you know about pumpin' on the block 'til you freeze?/ What you know about cutting up rocks, duckin' [detectives]?/ What you know about facing a grand jury indictment?/ As far as I'm concerned, you're just industry excitement."

You think I could grab my crotch and put my ass in people's faces the way he does? No way. But as long as the color of his skin and his eyes fits what America wants, ... it's all right."

Via MTV News

A horse is a horse, of course

Haay Ray

A talking horse? I knew I should have stayed away from that bottle of Boone’s Farm Snow Creek Berry. That cheap wine will make you see things ....Uh, hey there Mr. Ed? Why the long face?

I'm Okay Ray, I'm just enjoying a nice day pasturing.

I see ... So who's your buddy in the background there, looks like he's been horsing around in the paint shed ... How very patriotic of him.

That's Mr Slew, He once was a very spirited horse, but over the years, he lost quite a few races and now that he started to flag, we just leave him to pasture alone.

When did this start to happen?

you mean the flagging?

no silly, when did you start talking?

Since you finished that bottle of Snow Creek Berry, Ray.

oh, wise guy horse huh?

Ray, a guy of your stature shouldn't be drinking that cheap stuff. I would recommend Creek Berry only to people whose taste buds have been surgically removed ... Tastes like heavily sugared anti-freeze colored and flavored with raspberries.

Actually, Mr. Ed, I'll have you know that I'm a class act ... I prefer a cold beer to a cheap glass of wine, NL baseball to AL baseball and Janet Jackson to Britney Spears. And, even if I'm going to indulge on a $3.99 bottle of wine, I usually go for the more obscure grape varietals or anything where the nutrition label on the bottle indicates that I received 6 percent of the recommended daily calcium allowance.

You are hallucinating Ray, ... Any wine under five bucks surely tastes like grape drink fermented under a radiator. Furthermore, they're usually produced in a variety of unholy fruit flavor combinations that all manage to resemble pure rubbing alcohol. Look, I will chat with you again when you're a little less hammered, ta ta..

Mr Ed, *hiccup* thanks for dropping by ... Have a great day at pasture and give my best regards to your buddy old glory.

Greatest Moment

Former heavyweight boxing champions Muhammad Ali, left, and Larry Holmes get together at a New York restaurant, Friday Dec. 6, 2002, as Ali presents "Muhammad Ali - The Greatest,"

a magazine of his choices for the ten greatest heavyweight bouts.

(AP Photo/Radcliffe Roye)

Imagine

Imagine a world where dreams meet reality. Where the childlike hopes and wonders that dwell within each of us do not always fade into cynicism over time. Imagine a world where happiness is not an ambition hoped to be achieved sometime in the distant future, but rather a familiar constant that is experienced daily. Imagine a world where the frequency of finding and keeping true love is more often than not. Where smiles and joy far outnumber tears and heartache. Imagine a world where all this and much more is possible. A world where anything is possible. Just imagine...

... that you didn't have to imagine.

Because you don't.

In reality, anything is possible. And the only way that dreams cannot meet reality, the only way that the plethora of hopes and possibilities that lie within your grasp die...

... is if you let them.

If you're happy and you know it

Bomb Bomb Iraq: Sung to the tune of If You're Happy And You Know It Clap Your Hands:

If we cannot find Osama, bomb Iraq.
If the markets hurt your Mama, bomb Iraq.
If the terrorists are Saudi
And the bank takes back your Audi
And the TV shows are bawdy,
Bomb Iraq.

If the corporate scandals growin', bomb Iraq.
And your ties to them are showin', bomb Iraq.
If the smoking gun ain't smokin'
We don't care, and we're not jokin'
That Saddam will soon be croakin',
Bomb Iraq.

Even if we have no allies, bomb Iraq.
From the sand dunes to the valleys, bomb Iraq.
So to hell with the inspections
Let's look tough for the elections
Close your mind and take directions,
Bomb Iraq.

While the globe is slowly warming, bomb Iraq.
Yay! the clouds of war are storming, bomb Iraq.
If the ozone hole is growing
Some things we prefer not knowing
(Though our ignorance is showing),
Bomb Iraq.

So here's one for dear old daddy, bomb Iraq,
From his favorite little laddy, bomb Iraq.
Saying no would look like treason
It's the Hussein hunting season
Even if we have no reason,
Bomb Iraq.

(Via Karen DeCoster.com Weblog)