Odunde festival lives on

NAACP celebrates 100 years of progress

Black PR Society salutes women in the media

Hagley Museum is Keeping History Alive

…Dr. Perri Johnson’s “Healing Feeling” returns to Philly

By Bobbi Booker

The Book Report

It’s been more than two decades since Philadelphia radio emitted the
introduction, “You’re listening to the good Dr. Perri Johnson, Music
Therapist.” While his absence from the local airwaves have been
lamented, Johnson has maintained the “healing feeling” he so often
talked about on WDAS-FM during the last 15 years as a licensed
clinical psychologist in Los Angeles. Johnson (who truly is a Dr. with
two Masters Degrees in psychology and Doctorate)has always maintained
that his work on the radio was intended to produce a pleasurable and
therapeutic effect and explores his theory in his debut book,
“Prescriptions: Therapeutic Poems for the Healing of
Depression”($13.99, Xulon Press).

“Prescriptions” is a self-help book which combines poems to help heal
depression with a discussion of the causes of depression and how to
overcome it. Each poem relates to a common experience of depression
and suggests strategies and behaviors to quarantine and reverse
various types of depression. Johnson renders psychological services to many in the film and
entertainment industry at his private practice in Hollywood Hills, CA.

Johnson grew up in North Philly, graduated from Benjamin Franklin High
School and received a BA Degree in Psychology from Temple University
while working at the school’s radio station WRTI-FM. Johnson’s
distinctive style drew the attention of WDAS who recruited him in 1970
for their experimental FM format to help shape the new sound. “It was
a compromise for me because somehow or another it had to all fit
together,” said Johnson.”We were basically doing underground rock.
They said I could bring in some of the stuff I was doing at WRTI, as
long as it blended. So they really got in my head early on that I had
to to flow.”

Radio programmers were allowing their FM air talent explore the long
play (or LP) albums in ways unknown on the AM side where the three
minute Top 40 radio format ruled. By the 1970s, FM audience size
surpassed that of AM, and Johnson was a pivotal player in that change
that started locally and resonated nationally.

“When Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ came out, I just put it on from
the beginning and let it play all the way through. That was unheard
of, radio just wasn’t do that, except underground radio and they
weren’t playing Marvin Gaye. A.M was playing ‘What’s Going On’ for
three minutes because that was the format. When we put that thing on
it blew up. It put us on the map. Then it became more about theme. And
we became a soundtrack for a lot of the (70s) movements that were go
on.”

One of those movements was disco, the indomitable precursor to hip hop
and both genres Johnson comfortable mixed during his broadcasts. In a
speaking style Johnson had perfected over the years, the popular jock
would effortlessly rhyme over the musical interludes that interspersed
his show. One of Johnson more popular rhymes over the beats of funk
music maker Hamilton Bohannon would lead to worldwide success for both men.
Teamed with Johnson’s syncopated lyrics, Bohannon’s style of music
would eventually influence the burgeoning hip hop scene with a double
hit in 1978 and1981.

“Perri fell in love with ‘Let’s Start the Dance’ and started
ad-libbing to that so I decided to put him on wax,” recalled Bohannon.
“(Philadelphia) is where it started at and then New York and all over
the East Coast and it became real, real big for me.” Bohannon’s
version of “Let’s Start II Dance Again (Rap Version)” featuring
Johnson climbed to #1 on the Billboard Dance Chart and remains among
the most frequently played radio tracks to this day.

After Johnson left the Philadelphia market, he settled in Southern
California, married had three children and eventually divorced after
17 years. “I think I’m living out the dream of my father,” explained
Johnson of his move to Los Angeles shortly after his beloved
father,Andrew, died in 1980.

“I was so close (to my father),” recalled Johnson. “He was the go-to
guy for decisions. I was successful early on and didn’t know how to
handle things, so I would go to him to get advice and just rely upon
him to be my confidante and my manager and to keep me grounded. He
steered me in the right direction and he provided the same support and
advice for others. Teddy Pendergrass use to go to him a lot and sit
and talk after Teddy and I got tight. He had a little office down on
Lombard Street and many guys would go by like Sony Hopkins and Kenny
Gamble. He was a wise guy.”

Recently, the Philadelphia radio market has witnessed a ‘return’ of
popular on-air personalities, including Miriam “MiMi” Brown who
received an on-air call from Johnson during her recent Mother’s Day
debut on WDAS. Brown, who was already besieged with well wishers
welcoming her back, received even more positive feedback after Johnson
called in.

“I believe that a part of what he lives for is to heal others and let
them know that they can be healed,” said Brown of her mentor and
colleague. “That’s what his book is all about. A lot of times we walk
through life and don’t even know what’s wrong with us. Perri’s whole
existence is to give people a better way of living and a better way of
existing on this earth and to be happy within their own skin and be
appreciative for the things that they do have. He addresses those
medical problems and helps bring about healing and solution. He is on
his quest.”

Longtime radio personality Gary Shepard also recalled Johnson’s early
plans to start a clinical practice to treat others like himself in the
entertainment business. “When he was on the radio he was putting out
words of wisdom that help people feel good about themselves and who
they are. It’s just brilliant the way he has used his poetry as a
therapeutic tool for people in a depressed state.”

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Lifestyle/Leisure/Literature

Richard Wright “was very preoccupied by the impact of racism.”

Richard Wright, the acclaimed author of “Native Son” and “Black Boy,”
was born in Mississippi and raised in Memphis, but it is Philadelphia
that is honoring him with the proclamation of Richard Wright Week from
April 20- 27, 2008. Wright, who would have turned 100 this September, will
be the focus of a number of citywide presentations, including a
special Robin’s Bookstore address from the author’s daughter, Julia
Wright. The acclaimed author’s final manuscript, “A Father’s Law
($14.95, HarperCollins)” was just released by the younger Wright in
honor of her father’s birthday.

“As a present for his centennial, I dug up his last unfinished novel,”
explained Wright. “It’s the only existing draft of what he was working
on when he died. ‘A Father’s Law’ is about the relationship of a Black
police chief and his brilliant university-bound son. The police chief
slowly comes to suspect his son is the serial killer that he has been
assigned and promoted to find and punish.”

The novel was written during a six-week period near the end of
Wright’s life. “The book is unfinished, so you don’t know if the
father is imagining it, or whether the father has indeed a serial
killer for a son. It is an extraordinary book. Had he lived to finish
and perfect it, I believe it would have been a masterpiece. As it is,
it is riveting reading.”

Wright, the grandson of a slave, was born on the Rucker Plantation in Roxie,
Mississippi September 4, 1908. Soon after his family moved to Memphis,
Tennessee, in 1913, his father, a former sharecropper, abandoned the family, leaving his mother to support them alone. His family moved to Jackson, Mississippi to live with
relatives, and he graduated as valedictorian of his 9th grade class in May 1925, but left school a few weeks after entering high school. However, even as a youngster, Wright knew his calling. At the age of 15, Wright wrote his first story “The Voodoo of Hell’s Half-Acre”, and it was published in the Southern Register, a local Black newspaper.
Wright’s daughter explained that her father died prematurely at age 52
in Paris from the combined childhood effects of malnutrition and the stress of
the FBI’s continued investigation for being a member of the Communist
Party between 1932 and 1942. He departed the party in 1942 because of
ideological disputes.

“He spent some time in the communist party before effectively leaving
the United States never to return,” said Wright. “For people like (former FBI Director) J. Edger Hoover, once a communist always a communist. My father had grown beyond communism, but remained under surveillance and duress for the whole of his life, especially abroad where they were fearful he would denounce racism in the United States
in France where he lived.”

The literary giant raw and powerful prose was a source of fascination
for poet Lamont B. Steptoe. “I made a point of taking a course in
Black literature where I read ‘Uncle Tom’s Children,’” recalled
Steptoe. “I found the work compelling, poetic, nightmarish and
unforgettable. I made it a point to read everything that was published
by Wright. In 1992, I journeyed to Paris for a conference at the
Sorbonne in honor of Richard Wright, James Baldwin and Chester Himes
that would bring together many of the surviving members of the heady
days of the Black ex-patriot community in Paris from the fifties up
through the late sixties. There I met Ellen Wright, Julia Wright, the
late Ollie Harrington, who was one of Wright’s closest friends and
Wright’s grandson, Malcolm.”

The younger Wright noted that her father tackled astonishingly modern
themes for novels written over 45 years ago.

“He was very preoccupied by the impact of racism on the mind of Black
men and Black women,” said Julia. “That is exemplified in his study
‘The Mind of Bigger Thomas’ and his concerns throughout his whole life
on what makes a Black man angry. (He wondered) can we act on some of
these factors and give Black male minorities a rest from duress? It’s
such a present day problem and it’s being debated everywhere today.
It amazes me when I speak to audiences because I find so many time
bubbles in his work.”

“Red Ink: Celebrating the Radical Tradition in Literature” with Julia
Wright discussing Richard Wright and his work will feature Lamont
Steptoe and other area writers on Sunday April 27, 2008 at 2pm at
Robin’s Book Store, 108 S. 13th Street, Philadelphia. For more
information on various Richard Wright Week activities visit
www.robinsbookstoreonline.com or call 215-735-9600.

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…”Stop being musicians and start being the music.”

World-renowned film composer and trumpet player Terence Blanchard was returning from a two-week stint in Japan when Hurricane Katrina struck his New Orleans hometown. Blanchard and his family were forced to evacuate from their New Orleans homes for months, and his evolution as a displace musician fighting for the cultural rebirth his hometown continues to blossom. A portion of Blanchard journey is captured in both the CD and the documentary, “Flow: Living in the Stream of Music,” that follows Blanchard and his band on a stunning round-the-world musical journey. Additionally, director Spike Lee invited Blanchard to score his tour-de-force 4-part documentary, “When the Levees Broke.” One of the most poignant scenes in the film depict Blanchard and his aged mother and aunt clinging to each other during the family’s first post-Katrina visit to their ravage homes. Today, Blanchard says his mother and aunt are on the verge of moving back into their homes, but he is still concerned about the future of his hometown as it struggles to recover from a storm that occurred nearly two years ago.
During a quick studio break on Friday evening from mixing the “Levee” soundtrack he’s re-scoring for release this summer, Blanchard says he is concentrating on keeping a spotlight on the gravity of the new Orleans situation were thousands of residents continue to suffer.
“One of the things that we’re trying to do with the album is keep the awareness out there,” said Blanchard. “When we were recording the record, we did a take of a tune I had written in the New Orleans tradition in 4/5. It was very upbeat kind of song and I was going to close the album with it. But we decided to pull it form the album because we didn’t want to give anybody the impression that everything was okay. You know, because we want people to still talk about what’s going on and be involved in what’s happening.”

Blanchard was a pivotal voice in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz “Commitment to New Orleans” initiative which includes the relocation of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance to the campus of Loyola University New Orleans from Los Angeles. “The Monk institute has a strong commitment to community service. They have a big outreach program that reaches a lot of high school, middle school and grade school kids. That program in itself will touch the lives of a lot of young kids outside the music world and hopefully will encourage some young musician in the field of jazz. We also told the students to come with a horn in one hand and a hammer in the other cause it’s all about rebuilding the city.”

The Institute’s programs will also provide employment for New Orleans musicians while attracting displaced musicians living in other areas of the country back to their hometown, and unite the city’s jazz, arts, and cultural communities.

“I don’t see the music (in New Orleans) as being lost forever because it’s such a part of our culture,” explained Blanchard. “It’s our DNA; you know, it’s what we’re made of. So I don’t ever really see that as something that’s going to be lost. But I do see (the music scene) taking a huge hit right now because there are a lot of musicians who are just not at home and they’re living elsewhere to make do, and that’s hard. I know some guys who’ve been instrumental in the music scene on New Orleans and they’re not in New Orleans right now. We have to be concerned about that. And there are people making efforts to bring those people back. There’s a lot of work to be done.”

“When it comes to jazz there’s certain cities in certain part of the country that get all the attention, you know, Detroit, New Orleans, Kansas City, New York. But, I went to school at Rutgers University and one of the things I learned is that New Jersey has a vast history with the music. And it gets overlooked a lot one of the pivotal creators of this music. He carved out a new path for the role of the guitar in jazz.

Terence was a featured panelist at this year’s Sundance Film Festival (he will also perform at the upcoming festival in 2007) and served as a keynote speaker at the Billboard Film and Television Music Conference in November. Flow: Living In The Stream of Music is scheduled to screen at various film festivals throughout 2006/2007, and has been touted as an engaging documentation of what it means to commit to a life in music, a landmark educational film for young people — and for anyone of any age facing the uncertain prospect of a career as a musician. “The overriding goal in what we do,” says Blanchard, “is to stop being musicians and start being the music.”

“…This jewelry is like music to me.”

Remembering sculptor John Simpson’s genius through wood, words

John “Yah Yah” Simpson

By Bobbi Booker
Most folks look at a piece of wood and simply see the remnants of a tree. As a sculptor, John Simpson would look at the same piece of wood — a displaced branch or discarded tree trunk — and see a canvas.
Simpson’s death at age 71 on Dec. 3, lays to rest an artistic visionary whose highly evolved senses released the life forces inherent in wood and crafted into life-sized images of human figures that continue to resonate with art collectors, fans and friends alike.
Simpson, known affectionately as “Yah Yah” to many, was a unique and divinely inspired sculptor. He first started his craft as a boy in Norfolk, Va. fashioning play soldiers for himself from discarded wooden clothespins.
He was never formally trained, yet without being well versed in African art, he moved on to creating breathtaking works out of chair legs and baseball bats. When people first began comparing his sculptures to African works, he remained unaware of the connection. Others however, felt the sprit of Africa was clearly present in his artwork and jewelry.
“I feel so connected to Yah Yah’s jewelry,” neo-soul singer Erykah Badu recalled. “I remember when I first saw it, I was automatically taken back to the Congo, or whatever part of Africa represented in these atoms that are caught in this stuff. I could smell Africa with this jewelry.”
Badu, whose distinctive sense of style was enhanced by Simpson’s breathtaking jewelry, took time out from her studio sessions to poignantly describe her feelings after hearing the news.
“When I heard he died, I was wearing a ring that he made me out of turquoise rock and a spoon. This jewelry is like music to me. It carries millions of billions of atoms of those rocks and that metal in them. It’s impossible not to feel the expressions of my ancestors through that because Yah Yah’s hands did it.”
Simpson staged his first one-man show at age 18 with his 1959 Philadelphia exhibit debut. His work spanned over the course of six decades and was featured at the Brooklyn Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and is represented in the collections of such notables as George Dupont, Walter Edmunds and Charles Searles. Simpson taught art for three years at the Christina Arts Center in Wilmington, Del. and for one year in the Philadelphia Model Cities Program at the Ile Ife Black humanitarian Center.
Most recently, Simpson showcased his mixed media collection of wood sculpture and handcrafted silver artesian jewelry at the Ellen Powell Tiberino Memorial Museum.
“John was independent and one of the most productive people I’ve known,” said Richard Watson, curator of the African American Museum of Philadelphia. “He transcended description because his work was motivated by the love of the culture and people.”
Simpson married twice and was the father of five children: Karen Simpson, 50; John Ridley Seal Simpson, Jr., 47; Yvette Penny Simpson, 41; Oladele Simpson, 40 and Nile Simpson, 25. His oldest child remembered her father as an open-minded sprit who was intrigued with learning and sharing his experience from his global travels.
Simpson said her father traveled to South Africa twice, initially meeting with Winnie Mandela and gaining an audience with President Nelson Mandela on his subsequent visit.
“Every time he went somewhere, it was like he soaked up the culture, the people and the everything,” noted Karen. “He had that amazing ability to do that and then bring it back and put it into his artwork. It was unbelievable.”
Simpson’s halcyon years could be described as the period between the 1960’s and throughout the ’70s when maintained a studio at 34th Street and Spring Garden. The space served as a regional artist colony. Some of the guests that stopped by were legendary, yet Simpson, a quietly humble man, never bragged. It was just another natural occurrence in the life of a naturally gifted artist.
“Nina Simone, Sarah Vaughn, George Howard, Grover Washington and Stevie Wonder used to come to his studio when he was in West Philly,” evoked his daughter. “He was cool with them but it wasn’t like he was tripping about it. He would vibe with them and give them what he had to offer and would take in what they had.”
“He did a lot of work with entertainers,” concurred Watson. “He entertained the likes of people like the Funkadelic and Stevie Wonder and he made all kinds of things for people. Philadelphia International and the whole family of musicians frequented John’s studio. Erykah Badu was one of his latest clients and he was making jewelry for her. He did not go unnoticed and unappreciated whatsoever.”
Simpson was also a skilled conga player (he occasionally made and sold congas, as well) who frequently sat in on the jam sessions that would break out at his studio. “That place that he had at 34th and Spring Garden was really wonderful,” recalled friend and fellow artist, Falahuddain Deni.
“All the female dancers that used to be with Alvin Ailey would come down from New York and spend the night over there. He had drums set up in there along with a family of conga drums and an upright metal bass. Plus, he was such a groovy brother, even all the brothers loved him. He was the type of person who was natural with his leadership ability.”
Simpson’s art was the conduit that linked Africa to America and ultimately bridged the timeline between jazz and hip-hop. “Yah Yah” has been creatively described as a sorcerer of wood for his ability to take true nature forms such as a tree or piece of wood and breath a life-like image into it.
A piece of wood Simpson crafted into the image of Badu is prominently displayed in the vocalist’s Brooklyn apartment. “It’s like carving away at a piece of clay only to reveal what’s already there,” explained Badu. “Whatever piece he made, it was already there. He’s just filling the space up with the physical manifestation of it.”
A memorial honoring the life and work of John “Yah Yah” Simpson is scheduled for Sunday, January 6, from 1-4 p.m. at the African American Museum of Philadelphia, 701 Arch St.

=Originally published in The Philadelphia Tribune December 21, 2007=

Rocky + Art Museum Steps = A Real Cultural Phenomenon

By BOBBI BOOKER	–PHOTO/TOM GRALISH Rapper-turned-reality-TV-star Flavor Flav, atop the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, celebrates a victory of sorts. Flav was involved with Brigitte Nielsen, who was once married to Sylvester Stallone, the man who played the Rocky character.
In nearly every hour of every day, people from near and far come run up Philadelphia Art Museum steps and jubilantly raise their fists high over their heads in emulation of Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa character. While this fictional movie character was first introduced to pop culture in “Rocky” over 30 years ago, his real story of triumph over tragedy continues to resonate with people worldwide. And scores of those people have made the Art Museum’s entrance to the U.S.’s most favorite steps. Reporter Michael Vitez wondered what stories these “Rocky” pilgrims had, so he and photographer Tom Gralish staked out the steps for a year. Their inspirational findings are shared in “Rocky Stories: Tales of Love, Hope, and Happiness at America’s Most Famous Steps (Paul Dry Books, $22.95).”
“I live here,” said Vitez. “I’m a storyteller – that’s what I love to do. I’m not a Rocky fan, really, but I’ve seen people run those steps every time I go by there. And I’ve seen them running and they’re always so happy when they celebrate at the top and they’re from all over the world. I knew I would find great stories there. It was a gut feeling I had: who are these people and why do they do it.” Vitez and Gralish uncovered a real cultural phenomenon, one that centers on Philadelphia and draws people to Center City, and yet, as Vitez writes in his introduction, is a true American, and even international, rite of passage. “The stories are as diverse and different as the people who run,” said Vitez. The book, which features 52 profiles and 100 photographs, starts on New Year’s Day 2004 with the ascent of LeShay Tomlinson. Tomlinson, an actress and Los Angeles native, had stopped in town to visit her boyfriend and had insisted on going to the “Rocky” steps. With her luggage still in the back of her boyfriend’s illegally parked car, Tomlinson dashed up the steps, jubilantly smiling and waving her arms when she reached the top. “Her story was wonderful and she was wonderful,” said Vitez. “She’d come to those steps for motivation to have a break-out year as an actress and she wanted to come here to put herself in the right frame of mind.” While many of the runners are fans of the Rocky movies, Tomlinson, like many of the others profiled, simply viewed a run up the “Rocky” steps as a means of personal accomplishment and renewal. Vitez never knew what would happen on the steps or when. Similarly, he never knew whom he’d met there. In a page taken straight out of the six degrees of separation handbook, rapper-turn-reality-TV-star Flavor Flav showed up at the steps because of his involvement with Stallone’s former wife, actress Brigitte Nielsen. “I think what I figured out was it’s the movie and the story that brings them, but these people are celebrating their own lives and their own journey through life.” Although Vitez kept in touch with most of people he met, there is one story that still haunts him. When Spencer Rogers (dubbed the Snowman) was interviewed he was shoveling snow from the Art Museum steps as part of the Ready, Willing and Able recovering addicts programs. At the time of the interview, Rogers was homeless but had been clean for five months, but since then he has seemingly vanished into the urban jungle. “I have not heard from him,” said Vitez. “A lot of people loved that story which is such an inspiring story about a guy who’s been way down and is on his way back and is really trying to make it. You root for him.” Although art critics have long protested, there is no doubt that for millions around the world, Rocky is Philly and the Philadelphia Art Museum steps he triumphantly ascended are magical. “You don’t have to particularly like the movie and a lot of people who run aren’t necessarily Rocky fans,” said Vitez. “A lot of the people who run know that even if they have not seen the movie, they sort of know what the steps represent, that’s why they run. I do think that Rocky and Philadelphia are like Ben Franklin (and the city): they’re just connected and inseparable.” =Originally Published in The Philadelphia Tribune=

…“Everyplace has stories and they don’t get told a lot.”

By Bobbi Booker

Photo Credit: James Keyser 2003
Winner of both the Newberry Award and the Coretta Scott King Medal, Christopher Paul Curtis has become one of the most important voices in children’s literature today. His new book, “Mr. Chickee’s Messy Mission” (Wendy Lamb Books, $15.99) continues to delight young readers with Curtis’ uniquely humorous brand of story telling.

Born in Flint, Michigan, Curtis spent his first 13 years after high school on the assembly line of Flint’s historic Fisher Body Plant #1. Although he resides in Windsor, Canada with his wife, Kaysandra, and their two children, his heart remains in Flint, the partial setting of many of his books. “I’m a Flintstone to the bone,” Curtis enthused. “You don’t think that’s something we say with pride, but we do anyway.”

With grandfathers like Earl “Lefty” Lewis, a Negro Baseball League pitcher, and 1930s bandleader Herman E. Curtis, Sr., of Herman Curtis and the Dusky Devastators of the Depression, Curtis felt he was destined to life beyond the factory. “Oh, I hated working in that factory, but like so many people I was trapped. I had to have a new car and I had to pay the bills and I couldn’t get out. It was soul crushing. It was a really tough job physically, mentally and emotionally. I had to quit finally because I wasn’t heading for anything good working in that factory.”

During breaks at the factory, Curtis honed his writing skills enough to convince his wife to suggest that he take a year off from the factory to see if he could make it as a writer. “We had a long distance relationship and he use to write me a lot of letters,” said Kay. “I know he is funny and a good writer and I just thought it was something that he wanted to do and if I could help him in anyway, then we would see how it goes for a year.”

Throughout that year Curtis crafted his outstanding debut in children’s literature with “The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963.” His second novel, “Bud, Not Buddy,” became the first book ever to receive both the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Author Award.

“I would tell you that even though I thought he was good,” reflected Kay. “But, I didn’t think he was that good.”

Since Flint is an automobile town, once you leave the factory, you also leave behind the social fabric of the area. Curtis, however, remains true to his hometown roots and frequently visits family or catches a pickup game of basketball with friends. Although he’s lived in Canada for nearly two decades, Flint continues to influence his writing today.

“Everyplace has stories and they don’t get told a lot,” explained Curtis. “And that’s what I tell kids, nothing happened in Flint, but I just told my story about Flint. I could write a thousand stories about things that have happened in Flint. Flint is a very important part of all of my stories so far.”

=Originally Published in The Philadelphia Tribune on February 20, 2007=

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…Where Are They Now?An Update on Ex-Music Stars Chubb Rock, Ray Parker Jr. and Others

Originally published on Tuesday, June 05, 2007
By Bobbi Booker, Special to BlackAmericaWeb.com

Just as superstar performers Beyonce, Rihanna and Jay-Z are constantly atop music charts, a mere generation ago, performers such as Ray Parker, Jr., similarly were heard everywhere. While Chubb Rock, Father MC and Miles Jaye didn’t share Parker’s blockbuster fame, they too, constructed the music that a generation of listeners boogied down to at parties or chilled out with on dates.

Been wondering about how some of these acts are faring years after their initial success? BlackAmericaWeb.com hopes to answer some of those questions — and some of those rumors — with the following four updates.
CHUBB ROCK

Long considered one of the East Coast’s most dexterous rappers, Chubb Rock (born Richard Simpson) was a former National Merit Scholar who pre-dated Kanye West as the college dropout. Rock launched his rap career in earnest after dropping out of pre-med at Brown University and released his debut album for Select records in 1988. The year 1990 not only opened Rock’s “Treat ‘Em Right,” his biggest tune to date, but also launched the “Chubbster” — his nickname, and also the title of another one of his hit three singles from his album “The One” which reached #13 on Billboard’s “Top Hip-Hop/R&B” chart.

Although Chubb’s infectious party sizzler, “Treat ‘Em Right,” included referenced to his ample height and girth (“6 foot 4 and maybe a quarter of an inch bigger/Than last year but still a unique figure”), the tune also urged listeners to political consciousness with the plea to “never forget Yusef Hawkins,” a 16-year-old black New Yorker who was killed during a racially charged attack in Bensonhurst.

Chubb’s prolific recording career slowed down in the late’90’s, but the Big Man never stopped performing old-school hits for his fans around the globe.

“I’m in a great place,” explained Chubb Rock, 39. “I just started my new label, History Records. We’re doing the new album, ‘The Grown and Sexy Theory.’ We’re working on this documentary called ‘Old School’ that I’m trying to have released January ‘08. I’m in the middle of writing this book right now. This is a good time for me, man. I’m ready to reenter the system, the game, and finish the report card on a good level.”

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FATHER MCDuring the 90’s, Father MC represented a merger of hip-hop and New Jack Swing. Born Timothy Brown, the former dancehall reggae performer was discovered and signed by upstart Uptown music executive Sean “Puffy” Combs and was instrumental in introducing Jodeci and Mary J. Blige to the listening public.”People will probably recognize me from Puffy dancing in my videos (and) Mary j singing in my joint, ‘I’ll Do 4 U,’” noted Father.From his 1990 debut album, “Father’s Day,” the rapper immediately followed with “Close to You” and appeared on the critically acclaimed Uptown CD, “MTV Unplugged.” As Father MC’s recordings tapered off, he rounded out the decade with a fully nude spread in “Playgirl” magazine.The new millennium brought a different distinction to Father MC, with several arrests for non-payment of child-support. One of his memorable arrests occurred when the radio shock jock Wendy Williams (then working at New York’s Hot 97) set up Father MC to be confronted with police who were called in by the radio host and the mother of Father MC’s babies.

Last year, Father MC’s appearance on the BET Awards sparked more rumors about his future.

“Right now, I’m about to drop an album. It’s called ‘The Noise,’ he said recently. “I got a position at a major label that’s under construction right now. I’ll be a major vice president in ten seconds if everything works itself out.”
MILES JAYE

The mellow tunes of Miles Jaye Davis may belie his early start in the Air Force, the singing cop in the disco group Village People or as one of the early protege’s of Teddy Pendergrass. His 1988 discovery by Pendergrass lead to Davis’ production their successful collaboration, ‘Joy’, which reached gold status.

Much like his namesake — the trumpeter Miles Davis — Jaye has proven to be a distinctive musician, recording 12 different instruments on several of his critically acclaimed CDs. As a writer and classically trained violinist, Jaye has penned, recorded and produced seven chart-topping hits, including “Let’s Start Love Over” and “I’ve Been A Fool For You.”

Jaye’s reputation as an R&B and contemporary jazz writer has seen him partner with some very notable jazz giants on his musical recordings, including Grover Washington, Jr., Roy Ayers, George Duke, Branford Marsalis, Dexter Wansel and Nat Adderley, Jr. He has also performed with Roberta Flack, Najee, Patti LaBelle, Peabo Bryson, Chaka Kahn, Gerald Levert, The O’Jays and dozens of others.

Jaye has scored more than 40 original compositions, and today concentrates on maintaining his fan base via the Internet.

“You know, I’ve decided to concentrate more and more of my time and attention to the website, www.milesjaye.com,” explained Jaye. “Where traditionally you release one single and one CD at a time, we’ve decided to drop multiple singles, CDs at the same time. We got a hot new summer single called, ‘Still Sexy:’ an R&B CD called, ‘Time to Get My Mind Right,’ a smooth jazz CD coming out with the first single leading called, ‘The Truth about Love.’ Probably my favorite project right now is a project called, ‘Secret Waters, Peaceful Meditations.’ There’s something for everybody.”
RAY PARKER JR.

Although Ray Parker, Jr.’s sessions work as a guitarist led him to be known as “the musician’s musician,” he is best known to the public for the theme song to the blockbuster “Ghostbusters” movie. However, Parker’s musical legacy spans back to his Detroit high school days, when he was a sought-after guitarist playing on a number of Holland-Dozier-Holland productions. After graduating high school, Stevie Wonder tapped Parker to join his 1972 tour with the Rolling Stones.

In 1977, Parker formed a fictional band, Raydio, and their first hit, “Jack and Jill,” introduced Parker’s signature catchy and infectious music style to the Top 10 on both the Pop and Soul charts. Thus began a string of hits for Raydio that included the smashes “You Can’t Change That,” “A Woman Needs Love” and “Two Places At the Same Time.” Parker also began writing and producing for a number of other artists, and he scored a number one hit in 1982 with New Edition’s “Mr. Telephone Man.”

By 1982, Parker dropped Raydio and began recording under his name. The hits continued with a more mature sound on “The Other Woman” and “I Can’t Get Over You.” Then in 1984, Parker scored his first across-the-board, number-one song with the theme song from the Bill Murray movie “Ghostbusters.” The tune topped the pop and soul charts for over a month and became one of that year’s biggest hits.

The song also became one of Parker’s biggest headaches when controversy arose with rocker Huey Lewis over “Ghostbusters”‘ similarity to Lewis’s 1983 hit “I Want A New Drug.” Parker settled the lawsuit in an out-of-court agreement with Lewis.

However, after “Ghostbusters,” Parker’s sales dropped. Although he had two more hits (1984’s “Jamie,” followed the next year by “Girls Are More Fun”), his 1991 album barely charted.

Today, Parker, 53, says he’s invested his earnings and is doing all right for himself. He took time off in the ’90s to raise his four children and now performs about 75 times a year.

“Nowadays, I am up to having fun,” said Parker. “I do a bunch of concerts now. I made a new record last year; I think it was the longest running instrumental on Smooth Jazz radio. I only want to do things that are fun now. Everyday I wake up, I just want to play with my kids or play with my family.”

Many in Rap Circles Dismiss Imus ‘Double Standard’ Outrage, But Say It’s Time for Change

Originally published on Tuesday, April 17, 2007
By: Bobbi Booker, Special to BlackAmericaWeb.com

America is taking a deeper look at the misogyny and bitter language of rap lyrics in response to last week’s firing of radio talk-show host Don Imus for calling the Rutgers University’s female basketball players as “nappy-headed hos.” Now the debate is focusing on hip-hop music and the genre’s controversial use of profane language as a lucrative yet destructive cultural force. Critics have singled out performers such as Snoop Dogg, Ludacris and 50 Cent, who they say have built lucrative careers based, in part, on calling black women “bitches” and “hos,” fueling the public discussion on what’s been a private, long-debated issue in the black community.

“We have lost total contact as to why the culture was started, what it stood for and the whole positive movement,” according to Lady B, host of the old-school hip-hop show “BackSpin 43″ on Sirius Satellite Radio. “It was supposed to be the total opposite of what we have now. Afrika Bambaataa and native New Yorkers from the Bronx started hip-hop as a way of healing the community, not destroying it. Its initial dream was to stop drug abuse and gang violence in the ‘hood, in the Bronx. It was a great thing for many people, [inspiring them to] put down their guns and knives and choose to battle with a turntable and microphones instead.”

Those says are indeed dead, she says.

“Now, we’ve totally flipped it,” Lady B told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “Now it’s totally nothing but violence. It’s nothing but degrading to women, and it’s nothing but a cash situation now.”

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As one of the earliest female rappers in hip-hop history, Lady B says she feels that Imus’ use of hip-hop culture to defend his comments was hypocritical.

“We’re paying attention to the (hip-hop) lyrics because some prejudiced fool decided to call some sisters out of their names, and don’t even know why the two are connected,” she said. “It’s been this way, so why are you guys angry now?”

Philadelphia talk radio host Reggie Bryant told BlackAmericaWeb.com that black folks engaged in debate about any link between Imus and hip-hop have been hoodwinked.

“It is a calculated attempt to offset the venal specificity of this active racist by other part-time racists to deflect away from the real issue,” said Bryant. “The Imus thing has nothing to do with hip-hop, misogyny and gangsters calling people bitches and hoes. Nothing! White folk always find a way to deflect away from the point.”

The two issues are “mutually exclusive,” Bryant said.

“They start it off with Imus himself and his absolutely, totally unacceptable bleating about the incidental comment. The thing that’s so sad is that black folks, plus some Negros and a couple of colored folk, bit into it and became completely distracted,” Braynt maintained. “There is nothing at all [in the Imus controversy] that has any relevance to what hip-hop folk have been doing. Everybody knows that, for a long time, there have been people dealing with the lyrics and all that. And its white folk that make the lyrics available.”

Some observers have suggested that the national gag-reflex response to Imus’ venomous statements should not be used as an attempt to censor or silence hip-hop, but to instead examine our individual and collective behavior. Has the “CNN of the ghetto” — as Public Enemy’s iconic Chuck D. famously referred to rap — aired not only African-American socio-political stances, but our linguistic dirty laundry as well?

“We’re our own worse enemies in this case,” former talk show host Dave Warren told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “The fact is that a lot of us don’t take into consideration the things that we say.”

Cultural critic, author and columnist Stanley Crouch, a longtime foe of rap music, suspected the Imus ordeal would galvanize young black women across the country. He said a key moment was when the Rutgers players appeared at a news conference following the outrcry — poised, dignified and defying stereotypes seen in rap videos and “dumb” comedies.

“When the public got to see these women, what they were, it was kind of shocking,” Crouch said. “It made accepting the denigration not quite as comfortable as it had been for far too long.”

Some defenders of rap music and hip-hop culture, such as the pioneering mogul Russell Simmons, deny any connection between Imus and hip-hop. They describe rap lyrics as reflections of the violent, drug-plagued, hopeless environments that many rappers come from. Instead of criticizing rappers, defenders say, critics should improve their reality.

“Comparing Don Imus’ language with hip-hop artists’ poetic expression is misguided and inaccurate and feeds into a mindset that can be a catalyst for unwarranted, rampant censorship,” Simmons said in a statement Friday.

But even longtime members of the hip-hop community suggest the time has come for some introspection.

“It’s out of control right now, and I don’t like where it’s going,” said an exasperated Felicia “The Poetess” Morris, president and CEO of Poetess Media. The Los Angeles-based former rapper and BlackAmericaWeb.com contributor says it is not the words, but the images that are most sinister in hip-hop culture.

“Don Imus as no influence on young Black youth. None! Zip! Zilch! The rappers have got all the influence. So, my initial thought was if they’re get on Imus, (these videos) are really what influences these young girls,” Morris told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “That’s more influential and more hurtful to us than anything Don Imus could say to us. Our own music is more harmful to us that anything Don Imus or anybody else could say.”

According to Philadelphia-based music producer Docta Shock, the language used throughout the Imus debacle is all wrong. The first correction Shock makes is Imus’ intent when he refers to hip-hop.

“The 10 people that are playing all the time are not hip-hop. Three 6 Mafia or 50 Cent are just a couple of groups out of the thousands of people pitting out records,” Shock told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “When they say hip-hop, they’re really talking about a whole culture: Deejays, breakers, writers, rappers, photographers, clothing people. I hear great songs everyday that don’t have a shot to get on the radio, but then they want to blame the rappers. And they don’t make those decisions.”

But in rap music’s beginnings, most of its most successful artists did indeed have more control because the music was independently created, produced and distributed by the artists themselves — and not focused on widespread commercial consumption or radio airplay. Embracing new technology, Lady B says, would enable hip-hop to regain its independence and original artistic message.

“Maybe now, with what Chuck D and other intelligent hip-hoppers are doing — selling their own stuff on the internet and taking back the distribution — would work,” she told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “Maybe we can cut out the middle and just address our people directly.”

Shock concurred, adding that “the difference between old and new rap music is that we lost the support, and we don’t own all those little labels like Sugar Hill and Profile anymore.”

The good old days of “underground” radio airplay, the forum in which rap music delivered its goods years ago, may well be lost on current music lovers, especially younger radio listeners who endure the same limited, daily airplay.

“The general public is generally programmed by radio because they’re playing songs over and over,” said Morris, “so you can’t help but sing along and kind of get stuck on the song. I think if radio programmers put that same energy towards offering rap music that is enlightened or positive, than people would be programmed to like that and that would succeed as well. Radio should give the same opportunity for good music that’s out there as it does the inappropriate stuff.”

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Associated Press contributed to this story.

For Visionary Black Artists Selling Their Music Online, Every Day is Independents’ Day

 

 

Originally published on Friday, June 08, 2007
By Bobbi Booker, Special to BlackAmericaWeb.com

R&B singer Eric Roberson has had over 137,000 MySpace.com profile views, and over 5,000 visitors have listened to or downloaded the several tunes he posts at the site from his CD, “Left.” As vocalist N’dambi prepares for her third album release, over 8,600 guests have listened to her song, “If We Were Alone.” You might not be able to score eight-time ASCAP winner Gordon Chambers at your local record store, yet he is a heralded star on CDBaby.com. And while the soulful sounds of Lady Alma have been in the air for years, hearing her on the air is quite another matter.

All of the above independent artists are bonafide stars in their own right, often selling out venues as they tour the nation or world. Their success stems from their affiliation with online music distribution, which has given independent artists new prospects for production, marketing and circulation on a global level, in an instantaneous fashion.

“When people hear of Lady Alma and a lot of other artists who have created a buzz nationally and internationally, the first thing they do is go to the Internet and find more history and music on these people. And if you’ve got music for sale online, that’s the fastest way people can get a hold of the music,” according to Tony Allen, Alma’s former manager. “It’s faster selling online, as far as reaching out to the masses internationally. People all over the world can buy your music, and you don’t have to worry about going to a retail store in Berlin trying to meet a storeowner and educate him on the artist. The community is right there on the Web.”

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AP VideoThroughout the history of recorded music, independent artists were at a disadvantage to their mainstream music colleagues, who could count on financial and commercial backing from record labels that were often affiliated with large conglomerates that controlled many subsidiary record companies. Today, the Internet has opened up new distribution channels for digital music, and this has leveled the playing field for music artists and performers. The rise of new media technologies, such as digital music and the Internet, has created new opportunities for independent musicians to self-produce and distribute their work on a global scale, both easily and affordably.A decade ago, James Collins, founder of the popular Baltimore-based band, Fertile Ground, created his own label, Blackout Studios, surrounded himself with like-minded musicians and began releasing his own music. To date, Blackout Studios has independently sold 300,000 units.”Each release that we have produced or marketed has a different strategy and doesn’t really follow a blueprint,” said Collins. “We don’t necessarily pump records to a formula. For instance, Fertile Ground, the biggest seller that we have, is a band that stays on the road. The records really support the tour, as opposed to modern black music that creates the inverse — where people only tour to support their new record. Fertile Ground really lives onstage; they have records that capture that light, and that is one of the strongest ways. The band sells about 60 percent of those records touring the 75 to 80 dates they do per year.”The Okayplayer.com form of Internet promotion inspired Collins, he says. In 1999, The Roots’ co-founder and drummer Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson established Okayplayer as the official website for the innovative Philadelphia-based hip-hop band. Okayplayer has since evolved into an influential online community that not only nurtures its artists and encourages fan interaction, but also hosts an independent record label and sponsors a series of concert tours. Collins also credits his label’s success to online independent retailers, such as Dusty Grooves and CDBaby, which offer artists 75 percent of sales on a consignment basis, as well as additional promotion.”Everyone and anyone can do it,” said CDBaby spokesperson Sean Croughon from its Portland, Oregon headquarters. “The world’s changed a lot. It used to be that you used have to jump through the hoops of a few people in order to have your music made available. Before that, there were tons of tiny little labels all over the country that would put out records, but that was destroyed in the 50s and 60s, and now we are kind of returning to that. Everyone can be their own label.”

Online music distribution has given independent artists new prospects for production, marketing and circulation. The Internet has allowed individuals the ability to call their own shots by bypassing “the middleman,” taking control from both record companies and management. Technology has eased the chore of music production and CD duplication. Additionally, online record stores help artists tailor their tunes for music download entities like iTunes and Rhapsody.

“So now, those independent artists can be on the Web site alongside all other major label artists,” explained Croughon. “You can find music from any part of the world online, whether it’s through CDBaby, iTunes or any of the hundreds of independent record labels that sell online. It’s great. It’s just a golden age.”

New York hip-hop artist Count Coolout (born James Minor) recalls the initial street buzz that propelled his 1980 hit, “Rhythm Rap Rock.” Minor, now a music marketing consultant, runs his business online via JaThom Records.

“In the old days, (the major labels) didn’t want to touch us because we weren’t what they considered to be music at one point. A lot of guys were selling on independent labels,” said Minor. “It might be the neighborhood number man, the dealer who lent the money to actually make a label to put a record out. When the labels started to see how this music was being sold, they decided to start signing us and start giving distribution deals as well. Now, it’s come full circle.”

Today, major labels are even more reluctant to accept unsolicited material, forcing potential acts to rely on high-end intermediaries such as entertainment lawyers. Those artists who are signed are often submitted to a formulaic process that leads to similarity in the tunes that do receive airplay.

“What happens today, as opposed to yesteryear when I first started out, is there was no Internet. Back then, if the ‘net existed, there probably never would have been a brother on a major label,” explained Minor. “Today’s artists are selling the CDs from the Internet. They’re on the underground, but they’re still getting fame. The money coming from the ‘net may not be as great as if they were on a major label, but how much of that major money do they keep?”

On average, an artist signed to a major label deals gets about 8 percent of the wholesale selling price of the CD single (about $5) or CD album (approximately $7-$8 each). Depending on the deal the artist signed, they could receive mere pennies on a chart-topping hit song. It was this kind of formula that led to the financial downfall of such artists such as TLC and spurred other artists like Prince to trendsetting online music dominance.

“If a major outfit sells 100,000 CDs, it’s considered a total flop. If an independent person or label sells 10,000 CDs, they’re breaking out the champagne,” says Minor. “Do the math: 10,000 at $10 a pop is $100,000. So the majors, being who they are and doing business the way they’ve been taught to do it, have pushed themselves to the side. And people are just going forward.”

Hot Ghetto Mess is a Hot Damn Mess for BET…

Escalating backlash against Black Entertainment Television’s (BET) decision to broadcast a six-week series entitled “Hot Ghetto Mess,” or HGM, has led two major sponsors to pull their ads from both the program and the channel’s website last week.

As the controversy swirled through cyberspace and the airwaves, there were unconfirmed reports late Friday night from a blogger who claimed to be close to the show’s host Charlie Murphy that BET had decided to pull the plug on the show.

While BET, owned by communications giant Viacom since 2004, continues to be tight lipped about the details of its lost sponsors or HGM, it’s website continues to promote the July 25 debut while tauting a blackface character with a red slash through its face, along with the tagline, “We Got To Do Better.”

HGM is culled from the website of the same name and features photos and video footage of random African Americans engaged in behavior or dressed in attire considered embarrassing and socially unacceptable. Several requests made to BET’s corporate headquarters to speak with the station’s press liaison and HGM founder Jamilla Donaldson were not returned at press time.

However, a little-know blog called “What About Our Daughters” (WAOD) is striking at the heart of the media conglomerate. In April, Gina McCauley answered the call to make a difference after viewing Oprah Winfrey’s two-day town hall meeting following Don Imus’ demeaning comments and debating hip hop lyrics and the use of the n-word.

A guest suggested that Black women were going to have to make their complaints known, and with that McCauley started her blog. She is now at the head of a blogasphere movement that is comprised of 20 and 30-somethings on the Internet–the same demographic BET has targeted with HGM. What started out as an informal think tank about the images that are absorbed by Black youths with a mere 200 weekly views has exploded to 18,000 daily views and now features a weekly podcast.

On July 1st, McCauley contacted State Farm Insurance Co with her concerns over their sponsorship of HGM. By day’s end, the company had pulled the advertisements. Soon, Home Depot also pulled their ads. McCauley, a 31-year old Austin-based attorney, charges that BET cares only about its income stream and does not about the community they claim to represent.

“First of all, our position has been to stop funding the foolishness,” explained McCauley. “BET can put ‘Hot Ghetto Mess’ up without commercial interruption if it wants to, but I am not going to subsidize it and they should ask Black women who go to work everyday to purchase these products and goods and services of these corporations to subsidize something that demeans them. If these corporations know anything about exhibiting people of color for entertainment and amusement, they wouldn’t be doing this. If they knew anything about the history of blackface and how that affected perceptions of African Americans around the world for centuries they would not do this. I think it’s intellectually dishonest to think that people outside the community who view this aren’t going to use it to either create stereotypes or cement stereotypes that they have. I have a problem with BET looking for the very worse, in their opinion, that the African American community has to offer and beam it around the world.”

The channel calls the 6-week series “a blend of tough love and social commentary.” On the HGM site, Donaldson, a Black lawyer who’s also an executive producer on the BET show, calls for a “new era of self-examination.”

“If it happens to be controversial, that’s fine,” she told the Hollywood Reporter. “If it makes it more marketable, that’s fine, too. ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ was controversial, too, but (Michael Moore’s) message got out there.”

Donaldson believes people have misinterpreted the intention of her website. “It’s long-standing among African-Americans that we don’t criticize each other in public, you don’t air the laundry,” Donaldson said. “But I don’t buy into it.”

“Whose laundry and for what purpose?” retorts McCauley.” That’s a charade. It has never been about airing dirty laundry until (BET) got criticized. It was always about finding people who looked ‘funny’ and let’s mock and laugh at them. Part of this is Jam being very elitist in trying to imply somehow that because these people are poor and uneducated that it’s okay for us to mock and scorn them. I don’t disagree with her that people shouldn’t be conducting themselves in that way, but I think it’s a big leap from going from the Internet to international broadcast television and I think that BET is a certain stamp of approval because they’re called Black Entertainment Television.”

More disturbing than the proposed airing of HGM is the recent media coverage of the HGM website that has lead to the discovery of photos of African American youngsters posed in provocative ways. McCauley believes these images represent abuse and neglect and that HGM founder has an ethical obligation as a lawyer to report these exploitive images to law enforcement officials.

“There’s pictures of little Black children with cigars in their mouths,” said McCauley. “The LA Times article mentioned (seeing images) of toddlers drinking beer or whatever. I have not clicked on it because I heard a description that some of it could qualify as child pornography and I don’t want that on my hard drive. I just think it’s morally repugnant and disgusting to have photos of African American toddlers in situations where they are being abused and neglected and put that up for entertainment purposes.”

The success that BET may claim for existing for 27 years has increasing been overshadowed by the criticism it has drawn for what many view as demeaning programming. Some people have even referred to the BET acronym as standing for “Black Exploitation Television”.

“They may think of it as some sort of free publicity campaign for the program,” noted pop culture critic and journalist Richard Torres. “You have a network that’s supposedly Black Entertainment Television which is white-owned. And it’s funny because BET keeps trying to explain itself saying its catering to the 18-34 demographic, the same demographic that by the way is losing it’s life in Iraq and is at risk from various forces, yet they don’t address those issues. You have a Black man running for president, who by all accounts is a credible candidate, and they don’t cover that. Instead you get ‘Hot Ghetto Mess.’”

“The problem is that there are always going to be sellouts in our community who are going to look for the quick dollar or the quick 15 minutes of fame,” said Lawrence Otis Graham, one of the nation’s leading experts on race, politics and class in America. “The problem is that because the white media allows so few Black voice to come through that they often pick the most provocative and shocking person or voice to tell our stories.”

As a way to circumvent broadcasting regulations several years ago, BET created a late-night segment called “Uncut” to air uncensored videos. Perhaps the most notorious video to air, which for many came to exemplify BET’s program choices, was “Tip Drill” by Nelly that depicted him swiping a credit card between a stripper’s buttocks. The video spurred such outrage that Spelman University students teamed up with Essence magazine’s “Take Back the Music” campaign and forced the last-minute cancellation of a Nelly concert scheduled at the Atlanta-based school.

Much in the spirit of Dr. C. Delores Tucker’s epic battle with Warner Records over the depiction of Black women in hip-hop lyrics, there are a handful of Black women who are leading the charge against BET’s insistence on airing HGM. Latrice Janine, a 25-year-old college student out of Chicago, has obtained over 4,200 signatures since January in her online petition against HGM.

McCauley says she finds similarities to the potential airing of HGM and the exploitation of Saartjie Baartman, a 19th century European sideshow known as the “Hottentut Venus.” “Because she looked different they would take her to parties wearing nothing but feathers and just looking at her was entertainment,” said McCauley. “This to me is the exact same thing. For BET, who has made its money on perpetuating stereotypes to now turn around and say that they’re trying to combat the thing that they promoted is like a crack dealer suddenly opening up a rehab.”

… Rebecca Walker’s emotional and intellectual transformation through birth

Originally published in The Philadelphia Tribune, Sunday, March 25, 2007

The generation of child bearing women who are now in their twenties and thirties are faced with a myriad of choices as they contemplate pregnancy. Many young women are faced with uncertainty as they juggle the demand of their personal and professional lives. Like other women in her generation, bestselling author Rebecca Walker’s was at a crossroads when making her life altering decision to experience pregnancy, childbirth and parenthood and she share her concerns in her latest memoir, “Baby Love: Choosing Motherhood After a Lifetime of Ambivalence” (Riverhead Books, $24.95).

For fifteen years Walker recognized a persistent yearning to have a baby but feared actually choosing to do it. As a result, she almost missed what she now knows to be the single most meaningful experience of her life. “When I was writing the book I was thinking a lot about how important it is for young women to strategize and prioritize having a child if its something they want to do and not to let the very finite period of their fertility get past them because of their ambivalence, or because of fear or because of different relationships in their lives that haven’t been resolved. It is such a powerful experience that if you miss it, you miss. It’s a message I really diidn’t get when I was younger, and I wish I had, so I feel like it’s my responsibility having to come into that awareness to just put it out there.”

In Baby Love, Rebecca Walker tells the story of her pregnancy: not just the physical evolution, but also the emotional and intellectual transformation from ambivalence to certainty to unconditional love. It’s the story of the birth of her son, Tenzin, the development of her relationship with her partner, Glen, and the demise of her relationship with her mother and fellow author, Alice Walker.

This older Walker opposes her daughter’s decision to have a baby and challenges Rebecca’s account of their relationship in the memoir “Black, White and Jewish.” Alice ends their relationship and removes Rebecca from her will, and Rebecca endures a tumultuous pregnancy, estranged from her mother as she prepares to become one herself. Tenzin, now 2, has yet to meet his grandmother.

“I think it’s the best thing for everyone’s mental and emotional health,” Walker says. “I support the decisions that I have made to make a better life for my child. I’ve always been open to reconciliation and I always will be, but it has to be in such a way that healing will take place and not harm.”

Like her mother, Walker has received numerous awards and accolades for her writing and activism. The elder Walker is one of the most prolific and important writers of our times, known for her literary fiction, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Color Purple (now a major Broadway play).

Walker acknowledges the sacrifice that her mother made to become one of America’s most recognized African American authors. “In many ways, it’s much easier for me than it was my mother,” explained Walker. “There are some differences in terms of the pressures and the arduousness of the task of being an African American woman writer at that time. She had to break ground that I don’t have to. The pressures and the resistance were tremendous in a lot of ways and so the impact on our home life was more intense. I clearly have obstacles that I have to negotiate, but it’s a different time so I think the extreme of the experience won’t be the same for Tenzin.”

As we speak, the sound of birds chirping emanate in the background of the Hawaiian home she’s made with her son and partner. Walker says she has found a secure place, within her self, to enjoy her life and her decisions. Today, Walker draws strength and serenity from the realization that her unconditional love for her son is vastly different from her mother’s love for her.

“I think (motherhood) makes me more appreciative of this journey to have realized that I could have missed it allows to embrace it even more every day,” reflects Walker. “I could just stare at my son for hours. I have to stop myself because I’m just so in awe of the experience. I definitely think that coming close to missing it has made it a more precious experience for me.”

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From obscurity to worldwide recognition…the rise of ‘Oh Happy Day!’

First appear in Sunday, March 18th edition of the Philadelphia Tribune.

The power of music was clearly demonstrated in the late 1960’s when a simple song recorded in a church basement became an unlikely social phenomenon. An old gospel song had been revamped by Edwin Hawkins and recorded live with the Northern California State Youth Choir as two-track-recording of 500 copies. Street buzz in the Bay Area lead to the track being picked up by a local DJ and subsequently released commercially. The initially humble recording of “Oh Happy Day” would within months transform the worldwide definition of gospel music, soar into the US Top 5, win a Grammy and secure massive sales worldwide. On an international level, you can guarantee that audiences know the lyrics to “Oh Happy Day” just as well as other merry sing-alongs like “Happy Birthday” and “Jingle Bells.

The funky, soulful and R&B infused gospel sound of “Oh Happy Day” single-handedly ushered in the Contemporary Gospel sound that resonate four decades later. The song also introduced us to the vocals of Tramaine Hawkins, the then-16 year old granddaughter of Bishop E.E. Cleveland, one of the founders of the Church of God in Christ. “When they took it underground and they started playing it on secular radio and it caught on, we went on our first tour to New York,” recalled Hawkins. “It was about 60 of us. And we had chaperones, baby! Some of us had never been out of Oakland. We’d never been out of Berkeley.”

“Oh Happy Day” became an instant classic and propelled the Edwin Hawkins Singers to unexpected major cross over success. “That song opened the door for us,” Hawkins said. “We opened for Diana Ross. We were on with the Jackson 5 singing ” ‘Oh Happy Day.’”

By the 70’s Hawkins had become the lead singer for the best-selling “Love Alive” series (spearheaded by her former husband Walter Hawkins) and quickly became a popular solo artist. She would go on to be inducted into the International Gospel Hall of Fame, win two Grammy Awards, two Dove Awards, an NAACP Image Award and a Gospel Music Excellence Award. With 10 solo albums to her credit and a self-imposed hiatus behind her, Lady Tramaine, as she is now known, has just released her latest CD, “I Never Lost My Praise (Zomba Gospel, $17.95) to rave reviews. Many critics are heralding her reinterpretation of “Oh Happy Day,” which Hawkins recorded solo for the first time in her career. She says it was not only time to memorialize her version of the song, but it was also time to honor the creator of the masterpiece. “I felt it was time to give tribute to Edwin,” said Hawkins. “He started all of this before any of us. Edwin is the one who penned ‘Oh Happy Day’ and put the contemporary sound on the map. It’s time, I feel, to allow him to know how much I appreciated his walk with the Lord. Edwin is the same today as he was in 1968 when we all fell in love with the Edwin Hawkins sound.”

The Hawkins Sound allowed Tramaine to travel the world with her musical ministry. “I’m one of the busiest artists out there without having any material or a CD out there,” said Hawkins, who had in recent years lost both parents, suffered health crises and faced “life altering personal challenges.”

She said it was during the 2000 recording of her last CD, “Still Tramaine” that she “could sense that things were really changing in the music and recording industry. And that wasn’t so comfortable in feeling that I had the kind of passion and desire to deal with all that stuff. I come from a different era, so to speak. I’m grateful for the true pioneers: The Caravans, Mahalia Jackson and all of them. They really put Gospel on the map and they were my mentors. I grew up listening to those trailblazers.”

One of the challenges Hawkins faced was fitting into a new music marketing world where focus groups and chart position determines airtime, and ultimately overall recording income. “I been through some real rough places and had some major disappointment, even with this industry and my own record company,” Hawkins sighed. “After six or more years of not recording and becoming, honestly, real, real disenchanted–uninspired–with the industry. Feeling like there is so much now that is totally different from the heydays of the (“Oh Happy Day”) recording I was a part of, the ‘Love Alive’ series and even my earlier albums. It was about the real music. It was about relationships. Now, what I’m told it’s about, is the real business of it with focus groups, this that and the other, making decisions.”

Hawkins also knows that an underground DJ would stand little chance of revolutionizing music genre. Today, the focus is on branding, not cultivating. “Announcers that lived and breathe the music were responsible for some of the airplay that the Hawkins family has received down through the years. Songs that people even continue to sing now, they just continued to play and it didn’t matter if it wasn’t in the top 10 or 30.”

During her recording interim, her producer son Jamie Hawkins, introduced her to praise and worship material. Then the younger Hawkins and gospel hit maker Kurt Carr team up to produce “Praise.” For Lady Hawkins, the timing of her and Carr’s teamwork could not have been better. “He collaborated with my son and just did his thing.”

As the organist of the late Rev. James Cleveland and a skilled performer in is own right, Carr had been a longtime fan of Hawkins. Hawkins said she took one of Carr’s initial calls about the project while she was in the midst of a prayer service. “‘I got a song for you,’” Hawkins recalled Carr saying. “‘God told me to call you and sing it to you over the phone.’” Hawkins sheepishly acknowledged that while she shouldn’t have had the phone on during service she was glad it rang. On the other end, Carr sang what would eventually become the title song of the collection: “I lost some good friends along the way/Some loved ones departed in heaven to stay.”

“Tears began to stream down. I listen to the whole song and afterwards I was just about speechless because I was so emotionally in tune to the song because it was just what God had been allowing me to go through since my hiatus from the recording industry.”

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…Tavis Smiley does it again. And again. And…

By Bobbi Booker

Originally appeared in the The Philadelphia Tribune

Sunday, March 4th, 2007

After receiving the coveted number one New York Times bestselling position for over 13 weeks, Tavis Smiley shopped his “Covenant With Black America” follow-up with several New York publishers, only to be turned down.

“I couldn’t get a single publisher in New York to take this book,” Tavis disclosed exclusively to the Tribune during his impromptu March 1st visit to Philadelphia. “I couldn’t get anyone to take because they thought the first one was a fluke,” he explained, mockingly adding the adage, “Black people don’t read books.”

Well, again, African American readers have proven the publishers wrong with “The Covenant in Action”(Smiley, $10) entering the NY Times list last week at number 14. “They did not ever think we would make another book that would make the list,” Tavis said.

Upon its release during the State of the Black Union 2007 last month, “The Covenant in Action” is a compendium of advice for the African American community to become more civically and politically engaged. “Something is happening where Black readers are concerned,” noted Smiley. “Black America, again, is ready for a thoughtful dialogue about how we advance the community.”

“The Covenant in Action” was developed to continue the inspirational spirit of the “Covenant With Black America” and to empower people to take effective action to achieve “The Covenant goals. The information, tools, and ideas presented in “The Covenant in Action” will enable people to become agents of change in their respective communities and to become partners in a larger Covenant movement.

According to Smiley, proceeds from this recent text will be used to finance the movement. “You can’t sustain a movement without funds,” Tavis explained. “And in the 21st Century, you’ve got to have a 21st Century strategy which means Internet, a website. We had the website up and running, but we couldn’t build upon it, grow it, make it more interactive, or use it as the meeting place for all the covenant activities because it needed funds to make that happen.”

“The Covenant in Action” is organized into three parts: stories about the projects and actions that everyday people have undertaken over the past year that were inspired by the Covenant With Black America; motivational essays from young Black activists who are on the ground impacting their environments; and a toolkit outlining steps you can take to organize, connect, and act.

Many of the hundreds of Philadelphians who came out to meet Smiley during his two area book signings last week said they have already incorporated the “Covenant” messages into their lives. “I think that he’s a trailblazer when it comes to organizing and bringing prominent people together in order to tackle Black issues,” said James Johnson, a 41 year-old poet and prison correctional officer at Graterford prison. “A lot of the things he talks about I implement in speeches or in my poetry.”

As a community leader, Raymond T. Jones, Jr., co founder of Men United for a Better Philadelphia says his group has implement similar innovative approaches to their organizing and community building. “Some of the stuff that we’ve done with Men United has been a quasi ‘Covenant’, if you will,” Jones said. “That’s why we get on those street corners because we have a connection to the plight and the future of Black men. We thought if you’re going to make a change, you’ve got to go where brothers are.”

While in town, Smiley also met with Mayor John F. Street to finalize plans for “Table of Free Voices USA” that will be staged in October in Fairmount Park Philadelphia, with more than 100 leaders for “the world’s largest social discourse” discussing a range of issues and topics with an audience in a Q&A-style setting that will have a Web simulcast. “The concept is basically is to keep The Covenant conversation moving. So, here we are now with a 400 year journey behind us, these presidential elections in front of us.”

Smiley, who hosts an eponymous talk show based out of PBS’ Los Angeles affiliate KCET-TV, will host a forum with Democratic presidential candidates to air June 28 at Howard University in Washington. A similar session with Republican candidates will be held September 27 at Morgan State University in Baltimore. “I get a chance to lead a discussion with all the candidates forcing them in primetime on PBS to address the issues in ‘The Covenant’ that matter to Black people. So the old saying is true that Black folk have no permanent friends; we have no permanent enemies. We only have permanent interests.”

Smiley is heard or seen daily with via the web, television, his nationally syndicated commentary, The Smiley Report or via his political commentary on the nationally syndicated “Tom Joyner Morning Show.”

Smiley’s gift as an impassioned speaker has rallied millions of African Americans to become more politically savvy. Smiley has brought thought provoking discussions, engaging town hall meetings, and exciting consumer expos to communities across the country. Conversations such as “The Black Think Tank,” “Building Inroads to Technology: Bridging the Digital Divide” and the “State of the Black Union” series have reached over one hundred thousand conference attendees and 83 million C-SPAN viewers.

Since last month’s “State of the Black Union” the Virginia state officially passed legislature regretting it role in America’s slave trade—a mere 144 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. “I think it’s an effort—an attempt on their part—and I think that an all-out apology would be very important,” Smiley said. “I wish that Bill Clinton had apologized, when he was president, officially. To express deep regret verses saying, ‘We’re sorry, we were wrong and we apologize’ are two fundamentally different things.”

Last week’s announcement that New York City symbolically banned use of the word nigger today drew a calculated response from Smiley. “My measure opinion is it hasn’t risen yet to the top of my personal agenda for the work that needs to be done,” Smiley said. “That doesn’t mean I condone the use of the word; it just means that investing the energy into that is a fight somebody ought to fight, and I’m glad somebody is.”

And one of the biggest debates mainstream media is engaged in is the definition of “Blackness” when it comes to the presidential candidacy of Sen. Barack Obama, an issue Smiley deftly tackled. “The question as to whether or not Barack is Black enough is a ridiculous and absurd question. We don’t have the luxury in Black America–the luxury or the right, quite frankly–to ask who is or isn’t Black enough. And I don’t know how you define that anyway. So the question for me is where does he stand on the issues that matter to Black people? If Black is the standard, than (Hilary Clinton) and any of the other candidates aren’t Black enough. It’s not about whether you’re Black enough or white enough; it’s whether you are right on the issue that matter to Black people. The bottom line is this: it’s not about Black or white as much as it is about wrong and right. Is Barack right or wrong on the issues that. Once he gets a chance to be heard on those issue, than we can make an informed decision.”

Smiley’s goal to share the inspirational spirit of the “Covenant” continues to resonate with Black America. “Tavis is just very inspirational,” said South Philadelphia resident Katrina Daws, 40. “I think he provides our people speech. He really provides us with a lot of information and I think that’s very important in the African American community.”

For more information, go www.covenantwithblackamerica.com

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“We live in a world where the main sexual position is called the missionary…”

Zane is a one-name publishing phenomena who through erotic novels and millions of fans has become a brand name unto her self. The acclaimed author, publisher, bookseller and producer joins Toni Morrison and Terry McMillan as one of only three African-American women to make the New York Times fiction bestseller “print list” in this century. For years, she kept her identity secret, and still refuses to tell her name, choosing instead Zane, a moniker she picked up while visiting Internet chat rooms. She’ll tell you she’s the divorced mother of three sons and spends her days in suburban Maryland tending them. Yet for Zane, writing erotica is akin to sliding into a sexy negligee. And when readers come away from her salacious books, like “Addicted,” “The Sex Chronicles: Shattering the Myth,” “Gettin’ Buck Wild: The Sex Chronicles 2,” ” Shame on it All, and “The Heat Seekers,” they almost feel like peeling back the sheets and taking a long drag from a cigarette.

Zane, 40, looks very much the suburban mother she is. But she is much deeper. She recalls becoming a speed-reader at age 10 and polishing off several books a day by middle school. Writing came naturally to her, but she chose to follow another career after graduating from Howard University. It wasn’t until age 30 that she started her writing hard-edged erotic stories for her own enjoyment. After developing a cult following through Internet circulation, Zane turned down several deals with publishers who sought to tone down her work’s hard-core sexuality. She self-published her first three titles in 2000, selling over 250,000 copies through word-of-mouth alone. She has since sold over 6 million books.

Recently, the prolific author was in Philadelphia to promote “Love Is Never Painless: Three Novellas” ($22.95, Atria Books) by herself and two other authors, Eileen M. Johnson and V. Anthony Rivers. Next year, Zane will hit the big screen with the release of the erotically charged thriller, “Addicted.” In her partnership with Suzanne de Passe, de Passe/Zane Entertainment, she will produce at least six film projects yearly as well as television series and straight-to-DVD projects.

“Suzanne de Passe and I teamed up almost two years ago and we were going to put ‘Addicted’ straight to DVD, but then Lion’s Gate approached me about doing it as a theatrical release, which made it all the better,” explained Zane. “I mean really, situations just kind of find me. I don’t really go looking for them. It’s kind of strange actually. I didn’t go looking for a movie deal like that but I got one and that all that matters. “

The deal, which will pair Lionsgate’s targeting of specific market segments with Zane’s passionate fan base of predominantly African-American women, continues Lionsgate’s commitment to bringing cultural sensations in large niches to a broader North American filmed entertainment audience.

“‘Addicted’ does for women what “Fatal Attraction” did for men,” said de Passe. “It will make women think twice before risking it all!”
Like many of Zane’s novels, “Addicted”, has been translated into several foreign languages.

“My novels have allowed me to encourage cultural conversation about the taboo topic of women’s sexual desire, and by turning ‘Addicted’ into a feature film with Lionsgate, that conversation will be expanded,” Zane said. “I know from communication with my fans that when women liberate themselves sexually, it improves all other aspects of their lives, so getting my first film made is a personal and political triumph for me.”

Zane has built a fervent following through her explicit, erotic depictions of female desire as told from an African-American perspective. She is also the publisher of Strebor Books International, an imprint of ATRIA/Simon and Schuster. Under Strebor, she acquires 15 to 25 titles a year and currently has nearly 50 authors under her imprint. Next year, she will launch a Christian Fiction Line and a Youth Fiction line, as well as a body product line this summer and clothing and adult toy lines in the fall. 2007 will also mark the release of “Dear G Spot,” Zane’s first non-fiction book.

“It’s really a collection of many of the advice mail I’ve gotten throughout the years, as well as my commentaries on different subjects,” said Zane. “I think it will show people how confused they really are about relationships and their sexuality and also reemphasizes why I do what I do: because there is a need for it and that is the reason why it works and women crave it.”

Although women are Zane’s primary book fans, men have taken to viewing her advice on line at Zaneland where her blog has become quite popular because of her sexual candor.

“We live in a world where the main sexual position is called the missionary position and as far as I’m concerned that says it all: Men think that we are vessels for their pleasure,” asserts Zane. “My whole point is if women are going to have sex in their lifetime—and the majority of us do—there’s no reason we should walk away from the experience any less satisfied than the man.”

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