In NYC for the weekend on a little get-a-way. Not many plans but I will be spending a lot of time in Brooklyn this trip.
Right now, I have a 2-location photo shoot in Brooklyn, spending afternoon at Coney Island & chilling at Spike Lee’s “Brooklyn Loves Michael Jackson” party.
Before I part for the road trip home, I will be making a stop at the Macaron Café for a dozen of macarons. I cannot wait for that!!!!
If you see me on the streets NYC, holla at me!
Last night I attended the Urban Organic Eric Roberson performance at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History & enjoyed one helluva show.
As you can see in the video above, things were quite electric, which is always the case when Eric is on the stage.
I love live music! Good live music!
BTW, the video was recorded & edited iMovie on my iPhone 4. I love this thing!
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Wait, speaking of good music, I have a few new music recommendations that I need to put out there!
Albums———————-
Zo – Sunstorm | A GREAT showcase of musical talents with songs performed by Phonte of Little Brother/Foreign Exchange, Sy Smith, Monica Blaire, Carlitta Durand & more.
Sunstorm has everything that a choosy soul music needs in an album; hot vocals, meaning lyrics, & catchy hooks on a dope instrumental backdrop.
On my heavy rotation playlist is:
Zo is a musical super talent & just can do any wrong. Pick this up, like right now!
Incognito – Transatlantic R.P.M. | Well, there’s not much to say here because I am talking about an Incognito album so that automatically makes it all that & a bag of Flaming Hot Cheetos!
Like Sunstorm, Transatlantic R.P.M. features some great & eclectic vocal talents ranging from Maysa Leak & Chaka Khan to Ursula Rucker & Tony Momrelle.
One thing that I can say about all Incognito albums is that they are always diverse with ballads, smoking jazz instrumentals & tunes that make you want to dance.
On my heavy rotation playlist is:
Cee Lo – Stray Bullets | I’m not gonna lie, I was not a big Goodie Mob fan. I was mildly interested in Cee Lo with Gnarles Barkley. But….. I’m fucking loving Cee Lo in this “mixtape” release!
I mentioned to a friend recently that this album kinda reminds me of some funky shit from the 70s that was produced during a weed-induced haze.
It’s just something about Cee Lo’s voice that just weird & fresh at the same time. Maybe it’s because he’s defying what would be considered “normal.”
On my heavy rotation playlist is:
So I guess, if your ready for a trippy ride down a musical highway, you needs to cop this!
K-Murdock – Piano-Rama | If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, then you know I love the rap duo Panacea! Piano-Rama is a solo project from producer/beat maker Kyle Murdock aKa K-Murdock & it’s totally on fire with a smooth & interesting hip-hop feel.
On his blog K-Murdock mentions that this project took 7 years to complete. He also notes that Piano-Rama will give listeners a panoramic spectrum of piano sounds that are dark & aggressive, up-tempo & mellow/spacey. I agree with is assessment because this album gives you that and so much more.
On my heavy rotation playlist is
Blue Six – Noesis | Blue Six is back with a tasty new album & it’s like a techo/electric hit of crack because I’m addicted!
This release like their past two is filled with slamming beats, ambient grooves & sexiness! No glow sticks needed!
On my heavy rotation playlist is:
Hot Singles———————-
R&B
House
World
Rap/Hip-Hop
Found the signles via iTunes, eMusic, Amazon.com, Traxsource. Happy surfing!
It’s been many months since I had the energy to do a post on any movie because quite frankly, I’ve seen a ton of bullshit! I would names names but it’s hardly worth it.
I guess all my bullshit movie entertainment ended this week when I ventured out to see “Inception.” I thought it was a good movie with a fanciful story line, good acting & of course out of this earth graphics!
Many of my friends saw it & thought it was like the best thing since cheesy grits but not I. I mean, I liked it & walked away feeling satisfied but I didn’t get that hell yeah that was awesome feeling. Will I buy the DVD, sure, well maybe I will just Netflix it.
This evening, I took a chance & saw “Salt” of which, I decided not to read any reviews nor did I see any previews. I just walk in blindly with no preconceived notions.
Unlike “Inception,” “Salt” was not a film with tons of out of this earth graphics & did they really do that moments. “Salt” in my eyes was the type of action flick that I like that has great chase scenes, gun fights, ass kicking, talented acting, diverse & developed characters & a story line that did not involve taking notes to keep up.
Sure, “Salt” did not have the most original plot but the way that it was scripted out was totally a good look with some fun twists.
I found myself vacillating on wanting the bad guy to win. I love when I have that dilemma.
By the time the movie ended, I still uncertain on what I wanted but what I got was movie satisfaction. That’s satisfaction without a bunch of 2010 Hollywood bullshit.
For the record, “Salt” is a movie, & I did not get hung up on her Super Bionic Russian bitch powers. I took it for what it was.
My “Salt” movie mix includes: The Jackal (1997), The Bourne Identity (2002), In the Line of Fire (1993), The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
The other day, I was telling Cousin Dee about Cee-Lo’s new mix tape “Stray Bullets” & how much I loved it. During the conversation The Yellow African chimed in & stated how he wasn’t feeling Cee-Lo’s singing voice, which I get.
Cousin Dee & I both countered with how we like his singing voice & how he sounds like an obscure 70s throwback.
His “Stray Bullets” mix tape really has me feeling his sound. In fact, I am finding it to be a form of crack because I can kick my addiction to any of the eclectic tracks.
So anyway, I spotted Cee-Lo’s new video “No One’s Gonna Love You” on Soulbouce (a daily haunt) earlier & was all in this artsy short film type music backdrop. This cut is supposed to be from Cee-Lo’s “upcoming” album “Lady Killer.”
My Soulbouce comment:
“Me love Cee-Lo and pretty white people in videos. This song is a win. The video is quite interesting in a good artsy film kinda way.”
You can see Cee-Lo talk about “Lady Killer,” “Georgia” & more here. I can’t wait until this drops.
In the meantime, you can get “Stray Bullets” here while the link is hot boo!
Last night I worked the Detroit Parade Company’s “Flip Floppin Summer VIP Rooftop Party” & had an amazing time!
The event was beyond belief from my POV as a photographer. If I were a kid, I would have been in heaven because of all of the games, ice cream, cup cakes, chicken fingers, face paining, clowns, goodie bags & of course the fireworks.
The cool thing about me working this event is that it was the 1st time that I have ever seen the Detroit fireworks in real life in all of the 30 years that I have been living here.
It was also interesting witnessing the television broadcast live & in person after seeing so many years while sitting in my living room wishing I was there.
Watching the show gave me this sensation of being a proud American & Detroiter. It was a funny feeling because I am totally not patriotic but this one moment, I was all in. Shit, I even wanted to eat a hot dog.
Anyway, the image above is one of my favorites from the show last night.
Later today, I’ll be posting more for you to feast your eyes on so stay tuned!
On a side note, Tamra Barney from “The Real Housewives of Orange County” was a special guest at the party. In the middle of a conversation that we were having, she said that I had “mitties” (aKa man titties). Then she grabbed one. I kinda liked it but damn.
I’m really sensitive about my man tities. Just saying!
Iron Baby is KICK ASS! What a cool video to kick the weekend off with!
We all know that I love a good hot mess but this may just bee too much even for me! Seriously!!!
Hat Tip to Shadow & Act
I fucking love this sing!!!! If you’ve never heard it & have the new Erykah Badu release then”Arrow Through Me” should sound familiar.
Hint: “Gone Baby, Don’t Be Long”
Erykay Badu got the clearance to use a sample of this songs shortly before her album; New Amerykah Part 2: Return of the Ankh was released from Paul McCartney via Twitter connections.
Lucky for Erykah, Lenny Kravitz saw her request for help who then got in touch with his friend Stella McCartney who then connected her dad Paul.
Erykah got very lucky & this is a true testament to the power of social these days.
You may have heard the sad news that Emmy winning TV writer, producer & loved blogger David Mills aKa “Undercover Black Man” passed week.
David’s sudden death came as a huge shock! His last blog post was 3/29/10 & it has been flooded with messages of condolences.
Another factor of this loss is that David was a writer on the upcoming HBO show “Treme,” which deals with the drama in New Orleans post Hurricane Katrina. Treme is set to debut April 11, 2010 & you can see a preview of Treme here. I’ll be watching!
David’s talent, humor & love of music will surely be missed!
So a related lighter note, my girl Thembi of “What Would Thembi Do” pointed to me to one of David’s blog posts where he interviewed Eldridge Cleaver.
The interview covered a lot of ground but my point of interest was the topic of fashion. Yes fashion. Who knew that Angry old Eldrigde could have had people talking at NYC fashion week?
Here is a portion of the interview:
MILLS: A few years ago, you were in the news for designing pants for men with a pouch in front to contain the genitals. Whatever became of those pants?
CLEAVER: As far as a business venture? I’m not a businessman so I wasn’t able to do any spectacular business. I lost money. But from an aesthetic point of view, from the point of view of clothing, I think this whole thing has been misunderstood.
My design had to do with an argument against what’s being done with our clothing. Who controls our clothing? If you notice, the clothing industry is dominated by homosexuals. They want men and women to look basically the same.
There are a lot of problems involved in the design of men’s clothing. The way our clothing is designed right now requires a man to wear his genitals in either his right or his left pants leg. There are a lot of implications to that. Scientifically, it’s been determined that that structure generates a lot of heat that has a decomposing effect on sperm. There’s a whole warping effect that comes from wearing your genitals in your pants leg.
There’s a lot of evil in society that comes from clothing. Most of us are completely ignorant of this. One of the things that distinguishes us from animals is that we have the control of our second skin. This is a great power, because we can go underwater, we can go to the moon, we can go to the desert, to Alaska, because we just don’t have scales or hair. We have a technology where we manage our second skin.
This is a sacred responsibility, yet like many other things it is dealt with frivolously. And one of the most obnoxious things that is happening today is what the homosexuals are doing to our clothing.
If you view your pants as an extension of the fig leaf – which is what clothing really is, symbolically speaking – you begin to see that this is very intimately connected with the whole condition of man in the world. Scripturally, the fig leaf came about as a fallout from the fall of man. And I think from that point on, we’ve made a lot of trouble for ourselves by the way we handle our clothing.
All that I can say is, I’m sure he hated Ms Celie’s “FolksPants!” Nothing more. Nothing less.
You can read more from the interview here:
Q&A: Eldridge Cleaver (pt. 1)
Q&A: Eldridge Cleaver (pt. 2)
Q&A: Eldridge Cleaver (pt. 3)
Kinda funny where conversations can lead when discussing Easter outfits. Thx Thembi!
After seeing all of the 2010 Oscar nominated short films, I was pulling hard for “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” to bring home the gold for best animated short but it was not meant to be. The award winner was Francois Alaux and Herve de Crece’s “Logorama,” which is still a great thing!
I was going back & forth between who I wanted to win, so was still excited to see this very clever gem win.
According to the directors,
“Logorama presents us with an over-marketed world built only from logos and real trademarks that are destroyed by a series of natural disasters (including an earthquake and a tidal wave of oil). Logotypes are used to describe an alarming universe (similar to the one that we are living in) with all the graphic signs that accompany us everyday in our lives. This over-organized universe is violently transformed by the cataclysm becoming fantastic and absurd. It shows the victory of the creative against the rational, where nature and human fantasy triumph.”
The awesome thing about the win is that now, “Logorama can now be viewed online! Yes!!!!
Enjoy…
Full Crate & Mar – She Was Fly from Full Crate on Vimeo.
Love this video, because its visual magic. Love this song, because it’s aural magic. Hate having to wait until the “Conversations With Her” EP by Full Crate is released in January. I guess I can marinate on this single for the next few weeks in anticipation. From the quick snippets, I know that It will be hot!