By Bobbi Booker

October 9, 2007December 22, 2007

…”If you look around the world today, still African Americans are struggling with some major challenges and issues.”

By Bobbi Booker
Few would have single out Iyanla Vanzant when she first arrived in Philadelphia from New York City to become an internationally recognized self-help guru who’d become a force in empowering women of all classes, races and socio-economic backgrounds. Yet, starting with “Tapping the Power Within: A Path to Empowerment for Black Women” in 1992 and for the next decade, Vanzant would go on to write over13 books—some autobiographical—but all containing basic spiritual principles, self-affirmations, and personal rituals. Vanzant graced the New York Times best-sellers list for her works “Yesterday I Cried” (Fireside, 2000), “One Day My Soul Just Opened Up” (Fireside, 1998) and “In the Meantime” (Fireside, 1999). By the 21st century, Vanzant would become an in-demand motivational speaker and television personality recognized as one of “100 Most Influential African Americans” and one of “50 Women Who Are Changing The World” by Essence Magazine.

Vanzant life story of her harsh childhood of being beaten and raped has helped thousands of women (and men) connect and find healing. This week, Vanzant returned to Philadelphia for the duel duties of hosting a three-day a week WURD-AM morning show and presenting a weekend-long self-help conference entitled “Spiritual Living, Spiritual Loving.”

Besides her writing, she has also been involved in television. In 2001 she hosted her own short-lived talk show Iyanla and three years later joined the reality television series “Starting Over” as a life coach. She eventually found the small screen was a big hassle. “When you are doing something like (television) you’re living somebody’s vision of what you should be doing,” explained Vanzant.
“Reality isn’t always real. Television’s commitment is to entertainment, not to healing and my commitment is to healing.”

The majority of Vanzant’s healing lessons takes place at the Inner Visions Institute for Spiritual Development she founded near her home in Silver Spring, Maryland.

When she was introduced to WURD 900-AM listeners this week, many callers welcomed her back to the region. “Philadelphia is where my career took a major shift through the support, encouragement and the nurturing that I did in Philadelphia, particularly at WHAT-AM. It was an opportunity for people to hear me and for me to really connect with people and their ideas, and we’re going to do that again.”

According to WURD 900-AM President W. Cody Anderson, Vanzant’s inclusion to the line up will shore up programming at the sole African American issues focus station in the area. “Iyanla has been a friend for a long time and I really appreciate the fact that she has maintained that relationship,” said Anderson. “She’s willing to do anything that she can do to help us established the kind of image and communication that we want.”

Vanzant emphasized the importance of sharing her message on African American-based radio. “If you look around the world today, still African Americans are struggling with some major challenges and issues,” Vanzant said. “There are so many things that we need to look at and talk about. People are suffering, and our community continues to suffer. We still get the least amount of services. Our children—our families—are in uproar. All of the things that one would think that we had moved through and overcome seem to right back in our face again.”

Vanzant notes that like her students, she had to reevaluate her goals and discipline herself to take time while juggling a hectic schedule, which now includes working on her latest book and multi—media project scheduled for 2008 release. “I’ve learned that it’s not healthy to burn the candle at both ends,” said Vanzant. “So I am learning to be much more gentle with myself and just honor this body, this life in a way that ensures that I’ll be around for a while.”

Spiritual Living, Spiritual Loving with Iyanla Vanzant took place Friday, Saturday & Sunday, March 23, 24 & 25, 2007 at the The Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz & Performing Arts located 736-38 S. Broad Street (at Fitzwater on The Avenue of The Arts).

= Originally Published in The Philadelphia Tribune on March, 23. 2007=

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October 9, 2007October 11, 2007

“Brown Sugar: Over 100 Years of America’s Black Female Superstars”

By Bobbi Booker

Donald Bogle’s road to uncovering the lives of Black entertainers started in the library of the Philadelphia Tribune that he would comb through while tagging along with his father (then a Tribune executive) on Saturday visits to the office. He recalled being transfixed at the obituary image he discovered of songtress Billie Holiday sporting her trademark gardenia. Already a movie buff, Bogle recalled that he “got caught up in the careers of all these personalities, the moments when they first became successful, the years they peaked as artists, and the periods afterwards when some slipped into decline.” The unique perspective Bogle has as an eyewitness to history has been shared in several books he’s authored including “Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films,” “Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams,” and the prize-winning biography “Dorothy Dandridge.”

Bogle continues his historical trek and celebration of America’s “dark divas” in the newly designed and updated “Brown Sugar: Over 100 Years of America’s Black Female Superstars” (Continuum Paperback, $34.95). Originally published in 1980, “Brown Sugar” was also the basis for the four-hour, four-part, documentary that appeared on PBS traverses the career trajectory African American women entertainers have blazed from the 19th century through the new millennium. “There are three new chapters (and) 165 new pages, so it’s almost twice the length of the original,” explained Bogle. “If anyone has the first one, it’s probably going to become a collector’s item because it’s designed in a different way with different photos that we couldn’t include in this one.”

An interpretive history, “Brown Sugar” is not only about the accomplishments but also the sometimes heart-wrenching struggles and tragedies of highly talented and ambitious women who set out to announce themselves to the world – and while doing so, surmounted extraordinary obstacles, both professionally and personally. Included are profiles and lavish images of Ma Rainey, Josephine Baker, Ethel Waters, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Marian Anderson, Dorothy Dandridge, Pearl Bailey, Eartha Kitt, Leontyne Price, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Aretha Franklin, Pam Grier, Donna Summer, Whitney Houston, Halle Berry, Janet Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Angela Bassett, Oprah Winfrey, Lisa Bonet, Jasmine Guy, Lauren Hill, Queen Latifah, Beyoncé and many others.

“The old women (entertainers) most of them came from very tough backgrounds and they were often improvised. Many of them rose out of poverty, which makes their achievement all the more remarkable that they climbed out of that to get to international success. Today, Beyonce and even Whitney Houston grew up in a middle class household, and even Janet Jackson’s (childhood) was even dysfunctional, but it wasn’t what we’d call hardcore ghetto. That’s something that has changed very much for the women.”

Contemporary artists continue to reveal— sometimes unintentionally —that they are inspired by the artist of old and continue to include stylistic dance movements in contemporary. There is an intangible yet intertwined history the women of Brown Sugar share by the dent of commonality as Black women. According to Bogle, this remarkable tradition is largely unknown or not understood—or simply unacknowledged.

“Beyoncé and Josephine (share a) kind of sexuality that is there and the movements as well. You can see that if you see old footage of Josephine Baker. You can see these connections because Josephine Baker moved in a way that white women did not move and that is part of this thing that’s been past on to someone like Beyoncé. A current star might not be aware of where all this has come from. The other thing that Beyoncé has—and there is a connection with these women in the past whether it’s Josephine Baker or Bessie Smith or certainly Ethel Waters—is that Beyoncé never comes across as some sort of woebegone ghetto girl. She exudes this glamour and the idea that she really was born for this life of extravagance and displays a fundamental optimism in her performances. She also has a sense of humor and all of that connects back to these women of the past. You don’t necessarily see that with white female superstars.”

“Brown Sugar” is not only about music stars. It is an unexcelled examination of the lives, careers, and sometimes-contradictory images of African American goddesses of pop culture: the movies, television, music, and theater. Lavishly illustrated, “Brown Sugar” is a pioneering book – for example, in Bogle’s application of the operatic term “diva” to pop goddesses. “One thing about the length of the new book is that there are so many more women working,” said Bogle. “Again, that doesn’t mean that they are working the way that they want to. What we do have now are these women who are able to command multi-million dollar contracts that really were unheard of (before). Someone like Diana Ross and Donna Summer, in the past those women did well and had really good deals for the time, but not like the deals later. Also the women now have their own sort of conglomerate. Beyoncé has the House of Dereon clothing line and these other things that she’s putting together, in addition to her singing career. It mirrors what happens with stars like Jay-Z, P. Diddy. So you do have that sense of women marketing themselves in a certain way and really creating something else besides their music.”

=Originally published in The Philadelphia Tribune on Sunday, July, 22, 2007=

October 9, 2007October 11, 2007

“This is one story the whole world got wrong.”

By Bobbi Booker

“I’m going to tell you a story you’ve never heard before, because no one knows this story the way I know it,” reads the first line of O. J. Simpson’s approved manuscript, “If I Did It. “This is one story the whole world got wrong.”

The story Simpson refers to is the June 12, 1994 murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman. During the sensational trial that followed, Simpson was acquitted but later found financially liable in a civil trial. When it was announced last fall that Simpson had penned (with the help of a ghostwriter) a hypothetical description of the murders, both the Brown and Goldman families urged the public not to by the book or watch the television special tied-in to the book’s publication by HarperCollins. The original release was canceled in November 2006, but by June 2007 copies of the book had leaked online. In August 2007, a Florida bankruptcy court awarded the rights to the book to the Goldman family to partially satisfy an unpaid civil judgment, which has risen, with interest, to over $38 million. The title of the book was expanded to “If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer” ($24.95, Beaufort Books) and comments were added to the original manuscript by the Goldman family, the book’s ghostwriter Pablo Fenjves and journalist Dominick Dunne.

The eventually publication of the book lead to a split between the Browns, who refused to have anything to do with the book’s publicity and the Goldman’s, who have defended their decision in various interviews, including an appearance on ‘Oprah.”

The families quarrels have now been overshadowed by Simpson, whose investigation and arrest in an Las Vegas armed robbery of sports memorabilia have jettison the former sports legend into the headlines again. Simpson’s latest arrest has once again piqued the public’s interest in him and sparked a second printing of his hypothetical murder confession, said the publisher of the rapidly selling tome.

“The arrest brought the whole question of O.J. and the law back into everybody’s consciousness,” said Eric Kampmann, owner of the small, New York-based Beauford, which has commissioned a second printing of 50,000 copies of “If I Did It.”

Overall, the book is a mesmerizing read that deftly intersperses police and court transcripts with Simpson’s recall of the events leading up to and following the sensational killings. It should come as no surprise to readers that Simpson glosses over the actual crime in the chapter entitled, “The Night in Question.”
The Goldman family (whose proceeds will be donated to the Ron Goldman Fund for Justice) views the book as Simpson’s confession and is now encouraging the public to buy the book to learn the truth.
Simpson, who will not receive any payments from this national bestseller, obviously wrote this book as a twisted love story of his relationship with Brown Simpson. “There was no couple like us,” concludes Simpson by book’s end.

=Originally Published in the Philadelphia Tribune on September 24, 2007=

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The Associated Press contributed to this report

October 8, 2007October 11, 2007

…“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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October 8, 2007October 11, 2007

…A subject that is universal to all: Love.

By Bobbi Booker

Social activist, renowned author of more than 20 books, iconic feminist, and beloved teacher—bell books (lower case, please) is well known for her unapologetic intellectual writing. In language that is both spare and powerful, the poetry of “When Angels Speak of Love” (Atria Books, $16.95) offers the romantic reading public hooks as a major modern poet to contend with. Each of the 50 poems of “When Angels Speak” are designed to be read aloud, cherished and celebrated. Each numbered poem captures an emotion, or offers wisdom with straightforward language and clarity, leaving the reader with the resonance of hook’s fiery voice.

Readers of bell hooks’ scorching attacks on racism and sexism might be surprised to see her take on the elusive subject of love, but her previous four titles on the topic—from “All About Love” to “The Will to Change” –have made her the go-to source for contemplative contemporary literature on love. A theme in hooks’ most recent writing is the ability of community and love to overcome race, class, and gender. The interconnectiveness of these series of books on the elusive emotion was evident when she first wrote in “All About Love” the following: “When angels speak of love they tell us it is only by loving that we enter an earthly paradise. They tell us paradise is our home and love our true destiny.”

All of her books on love deal with the fleeting aspects of romance and society’s misuse, yet dire need of it. In poem Number 2 from “When Angels Speak”, hooks writes: in love/there are no closed doors/each threshold/an invitation/to cross/take hold/take heart/and enter here/at this point/where truth/was once denied.

hooks adopted her pen name from those of her mother and grandmother. Her name uses an unconventional lowercasing, which, to hooks, signifies that what is most important in her works is the “substance of books, not who I am.”

In her own unique way hooks continues to engage the public with the subject that is universal to all: Love.

=Originally published in the Philadelphia Tribune on February, 23, 2007=

October 8, 2007October 11, 2007

The DJ Spooky remix of D.W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation”

By Bobbi Booker

Pictured: Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky in the midst of a multi-media presentation of “The ReBirth of a Nation.”

Nearly a century after it’s cinematic release, D.W. Griffith “The Birth of a Nation” remains one of the most influential and controversial films in the history of cinema. Although the 1915 movie’s innovative technical achievements were hailed, the film’s Civil War themes also drew protests due to its controversial promotion of white supremacism and glorification of the Ku Klux Klan, who continue to actively use it as a recruiting tool.

The film’s politics made Birth of a Nation divisive when it was released drew significant protest from Blacks across the nation. Riots broke out in Philadelphia and other major cities because it was said to create an atmosphere that encouraged gangs of whites to attack blacks.

So why is noted independent artist, writer, producer, and musician Paul D. Miller a.k.a. DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid, revisiting the controversial movie in the 21st Century? Because, he says, to forget the past is to repeat it.

“My whole theory about everything right now is that Black culture is a sign of strength and maturity and also just an ability to say that these are issues that don’t define us anymore,” explained Miller. “There a very famous phrase that says, ‘Those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.’ And I think in the era of Condi Rice or Colin Powell, or for that matter Barack Obama as one of the first Black senators to be elected since the end of Reconstruction, there’s a lot of issues that are still lingering. So, I look at my Rebirth of a Nation project as saying there’s strength to understanding the dynamics of history. A lot of these issues are still a part of the basic vocabulary of how we think about American culture, whether you look at Flavor Flav’s Flavor of Love where he’s dressed like a minstrel from the late 19th century or the political dynamics of how Barack Obama is flowing.”

“Birth” smashed previous box office records, while ushering in a new standard in films: feature length movies. In its day, it was the highest grossing film, taking in more than $10 million at the box office. The movie’s controversy stemmed from the way it expressed the racist views held by many in the era in its depiction Southern pre-Civil War Black slavery as benign, and the Ku Klux Klan as a band of heroes restoring order to a post-Reconstruction Black-ruled South).

Eventually, Griffith would try to denounce prejudice in his next film “Intolerance” by showing how slavery was wrong, but his legacy would forever remain tied to “Birth of a Nation”. Miller deconstructs and remixes the original movie by applying DJ technique to cinema as an engagement with film, music, and contemporary art.

“I think it’s one of those films that set the tone for how you think about mass culture,” said Miller. “It was the first film that the term blockbuster was created for because so many people would go to see it that they lined up around the block. Also, the film was meant to be a rebellious statement at that time, but it was a rebellion of what whites viewed as politically correct situation and I view it as an ironic kind of reductionist situation.”

Miller is accustomed to creative exploration and intellectual debate, having been seeped in academia since his birth in 1970. Even his moniker is an arcane reference to a character in a William S. Burroughs novel. As the namesake son of Howard University’s dean of law (who died when Miller was three) and his mother, author Rosemary Reed Miller, who ran an international fabric shop off Dupont Circle, Miller spent much of his childhood in Washington, D.C.’s nurturing bohemia before studying philosophy and literature at Bowdoin.
“I grew up in a household where intellectualism was celebrated,” explained Miller.
“I have to admit, it’s okay to be intellectual and I really enjoy that. And I want people to think that Black culture is just about hip hop, but there also is a whole intellectual relationship going on.”

Today, he serves as professor of music mediated art at the European Graduate School in between his global travels as an internationally renowned DJ. Miller was one of the first international artists invited recently to play in Angola where a 20-year tribal war just ended.

“What I’m trying to do is get people to think that DJ culture is about remixing and sampling, flipping beats in different directions, but also it’s about flipping visual rhythm,” noted Miller. “I wouldn’t say that Griffith was getting jiggy or anything, in fact he’d probably be turning in his grave, but that’s kind of the point. The 21st Century is going to get wilder and more intriguing and my film, as a remix, is a celebration of that.”

The Gordon Thether, 3rd & Pearl Street (at base of Ben Franklin bridge) on Rutgers-Camden University campus, hosted DJ Spooky’s multimedia presentation “Rebirth of a Nation” at 8p.m., Friday April 13th, 2007 proceed by free panel discussion at 6 p.m.

=Originally Published in The Philadelphia Tribune on Friday, April 13, 2007=

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October 8, 2007October 11, 2007

…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

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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.”

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.

Parker, Ray, Jr. - Ghostbusters CD Cover Art

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.”

October 8, 2007

Is Michelle Obama’s Scaling Back at Work for Her Husband’s Campaign Front-Page News?

Originally published on Tuesday, May 15, 2007
By: Bobbi Booker, Special to BlackAmericaWeb.com

News of Michelle Obama’s decision to scale back her duties as VP of community and external affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals and hit the presidential campaign trail with her husband, Barack, has put the spotlight back on the professional and personal choices career women must often make.

The press coverage of Mrs. Obama also reveals the newfound role political spouses play in modern-day elections. Two of the presidential contenders wives — Elizabeth Edwards and Ann Romney — are respectively battling cancer and multiple sclerosis, and another spouse — Bill Clinton — is a former president.

“I think she’s constantly surprised at what people chose to make news,” Katie McCormick Lelyveld, communications director for Michelle Obama, told BlackAmericaWeb.com. Lelyveld said a recent front-page Washington Post story, which first announced Obama’s decision, had initially misreported Mrs. Obama’s intention to leave her job.

“As of May 1st, she reduced her hours to 20 percent and, as we all know in the age of Blackberries, is very hard to quantify exactly how much she is working,” explained Lelyveld. “She still goes to meetings, manages her administrative responsibilities and stays on top of some of the projects that she’s been working on because her career has always been very important to her. Completely leaving it at this point is not something that she’s doing.”

Neighbors stay in on rainy days. Good neighbors save up for them. Visit statefarm.com

AP VideoA lot of attention is being paid as Michelle Obama publicly makes a transition from her status as a private citizen with a white-collar job to possibly become America’s first black First Lady. Last year, Essence magazine listed her among “25 of the World’s Most Inspiring Women” while Ebony anointed the Obamas one of “America’s 10 Hottest couples.”While Obama reportedly makes doubly her husband’s income, she is still the primary caretaker of the couple’s two young daughters. Like her husband, Obama attended Harvard Law School, and according to insiders, she is crucial to her husband’s success. As a Chicago native, Mrs. Obama as been credited with introducing her husband to mainstream America. He is now the junior senator from Illinois.

Last week, Mrs. Obama made her first visit to New Hampshire, one of about a dozen solo campaign stops she has made. Since Barack Obama’s formal announcement in February, she has made 16 joint appearances with him.

“Barack has given people that hope, but he’s going to get tired. This is a long campaign,” Michelle Obama told Democrats gathered for a house party in Windham, New Hampshire. “I joke he’s not going to be able to bring people to tears with every speech that he makes. He’s going to make stumbles.”

She told those gathered of the sacrifices her parents made to put put her and her brother through Princeton University on a working class salary. She said that dream of supporting a family and putting children through college seems to be getting further away, even with loans.

Obama says she believes as president, her husband could change things for the better, and that if she didn’t believe that, she’d tell him to do something else.

Obama told the Washington Post that she grappled with her decision to work after the birth of her daughters.

“Every other month [since] I’ve had children I’ve struggled with the notion of ‘Am I being a good parent? Can I stay home? Should I stay home? How do I balance it all?'” she said. “I have gone back and forth every year about whether I should work.”

Obama does not fit into the neat definition of either stay-at-home or working mom. While she is a vivid example of a full-time executive mother who is supportive of her spouse, her decision to scale back in her job duties is ultimately very personal.

“I believe you should let women decide what they’re going to do, as long as they have all the options, they should do what they want,” Martha Leslie Allen, Web editor for Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press, told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “Part of the problem that pushes women out of most jobs is it is hard to have all the responsibilities of a career with children when there isn’t good child care, and it isn’t equally divided. And those responsibilities fall onto women.”

Lelyveld speculates the reason Obama’s decision is front-page news is “perhaps it’s because she’s a woman whose maintained her own career. I don’t know why that’s news, but people think it is.”

The more than 280 comments in the Post‘s “On Balance” blog late Monday reflected a variety of viewpoints on both Mrs. Obama’s decision and the media’s coverage of it.

“The day I read about the aspiring first husband quitting his job to support his aspiring president wife will be a great day,” opined a poster named Meesh. “I think the media report on this type of stuff because our country is very partisan, and news like this is potential fodder for either side. The media thrive on controversy. Issues like these evoke strong emotions, and people want to read about it.”

“I think it’s clear that in America, we’ve come to expect the two parent household, and women are clearly in the workforce,” according to Kari, who offered that “when you note that women’s work is still not valued as highly as men’s work in real dollars, and then take into account the backlash against strong working political figures like Hillary Clinton and the backlash against the strength the 41st First Lady Bush endured, you could see why Mrs. Obama made her decision … Being smart and funny and articulate is wonderful, if you’re a smart, funny, and articulate woman working to further her husband and family. Following your own ambitions comes at a political price.”

Another comment, from Common Sense, read, “Personally, I’d like Michelle Obama to be First Lady in 2008, but politics is pressure, even for political families. It’s no surprise that she has left her job. I’m certain she’ll be a benefit to her husband in the campaign. Even so, she will have a high profile, and I doubt this will damage her career. By the way, I don’t equate being outspoken with being ‘strong.’ A leader doesn’t simply give orders; a leader is defined by who will follow based on personality, character and principles. Hillary Clinton is not ‘strong’ by that measure. Hillary is a divider, not a uniter. I’m sick and tired of dividers. That’s reason enough to support Obama. I couldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton at gunpoint.”

—

Associated Press contributed to this story.

October 8, 2007October 11, 2007

BlackAmericaWeb.com Exclusive Series: 20 People Who Changed Black Music – The Prolific Prince, the Fearless, Peerless Rock-Soul Star

Originally published on Friday, June 29, 2007

By Bobbi Booker, Special to BlackAmericaWeb.com

The musical genius of Prince was immediately apparent when the teenaged artist released his 1979 hit tune, “I Wanna Be Your Lover.”

The world was just getting a peek at the young man who would blossom into an award-winning performer, a man whose artistry and influence would span the globe. Prince’s music has spanned myriad styles — from his early material, rooted in R&B, rock, and soul — and he has constantly expanded his musical palette throughout his career, absorbing many other genres, including funk, New Wave, pop, rock, blues, jazz and hip-hop.

Born June 7, 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Prince Rogers Nelson honed the circumstances of heritage as the background for his hit movie and Oscar-winning soundtrack, 1984’s “Purple Rain.” Although wildly popular before that point, from there, Prince’s superstardom was launched.

The famously prolific artist has released several hundred songs, sold nearly 100 million albums and won a half-dozen Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards along the way. In addition to “Purple Rain,” his body of work consists of 20 Top 10 hits, which include “Little Red Corvette,” “1999,” “Kiss,” “Cream,” “Diamonds and Pearls” and countless others that remain mainstays among adults, like “Head,” “Erotic City” and “Hot Thing.”

Yet, his achievements where nearly relegated to the B-sides of music history.

Prince adopted an unpronounceable symbol as his official name from 1993 to 2000, thus causing the press to dub him “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince” or simply, The Artist. During that seven-year span, The Artist waged a questionably successful war with Warner Bros. Records, scrawling the word “Slave” along his cheeks and demanding his artistic freedom. He released a number of musically uneven CDs that would alienate some of his fans while drawing puzzled reactions from other music professionals.”His stance about how morally corrupt (his record labels) are after “Purple Rain” and “1999” was a bit hypocritical for me,” said saxophonist Branford Marsalis. “I thought it was disingenuous of him to criticize the system that enriched him. I agree that the system is not fair, but the system made him wealthy. It was kind of like Michael Jackson accusing Columbia of racism. It kind of rings hollow. It’s hard to really bolster your case when there’s overwhelming evidence that you are criticizing the system that has made you what you are. But at the same time, I like the fact that he understood the business well enough. The music industry is rather corrupt. It’s hard to know how much money you really make because there are so many invisible clauses.”Or, as music journalist and author, Richard Torres concluded: “It’s very tough to gain sympathy for a multi-millionaire.”When the dust settled from battle between Warner Bros. and Prince, the Artist had a completely new strategy to ensure his future artistic and financial control of his creative output. He was among the first to create a successful global online music presence where fans had exclusive access to his music.

In 2004, the new-and-improved Prince was ushered back into the public conciseness with the one-two punch of his February performance with Beyonce Knowles at the start of the Grammy Awards and his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Two months later, he would independently release “Musicology,” his biggest album since 1991’s “Diamonds and Pearls.”

LISTEN: Prince’s Musicology

“Prince comes in with the reigning diva of the moment, and he reminded America what he had and what he could do,” said Torres. “And then, it kind of kicked of from there. You get to the ‘Musicology’ stuff where Prince basically said, ‘I’m not gone. I’m still here, and this is the stuff you should basically be listening to.'”Part of the “Musicology” chart success was due to The Musicology Live2004ever summer tour, in which concertgoers received a copy of the album included in the ticket price. The tour was an unparalleled hit, with nearly 100 dates — resulting in a handsome profit for the Artist, and a chart-topping slot for “Musicology” due to the sales link.His scheme prompted both Billboard magazine and Neilson SoundScan to change its chart data methodology, stating that for future record releases, customers “must be given an option to either add the CD to the ticket purchase or forgo the CD for a reduced ticket-only price.””He did the brilliant thing, where he went on tour and every person who bought a ticket was given a CD, and the CD was SoundScanned,” noted Marsalis, “so, he was going to be one of the biggest selling records of all time because if 18,000 people go to a concert, maybe a 1,000 of them will buy a CD. He was selling 18- to 20,000 CD’s a night and SoundScanning them, so of course the record companies got together and banned him from doing that because he wasn’t affiliated with a major label.”A bold move like that “undercuts all the other ticks on the dog,” Marsalis said. “When people get lucky and bump into a system that works and the world changes around the system, the good ones change with the times, and the really lousy ones fight to enforce the system they have. Good for Prince for being in the situation where he could benefit and have a little schadenfreude over the sinking ship that is the record industry.”

Prince continued his reintroduction to American audiences earlier this year with a stellar performance before a worldwide viewership of 1 billion in more than 230 countries during Super Bowl XLII.

“He has always been a phenomenal live act,” according to Torres. “He’s from the tradition that is now lost. You may have your qualms with a Prince album, but you know when you go to see a Prince concert, you’re going to see an event.”

Now Prince has a Las Vegas venue at which he regularly performs exclusive concerts, while continuing to perform around the world. Fans new and old are already clamoring for his highly-anticipated July 2007 release, “Planet Earth,” which will reportedly feature a reunion of former band mates Wendy and Lisa.

“Prince reminds you of how great he is and can be, and unlike Michael Jackson, he doesn’t give you that cringe factor,” said Torres. “He’s got the chops of a jazz musician. He’s got the aura of a rock musician. But he has the deep-down, gut-bucket funk of a true Black musician.”

October 8, 2007October 9, 2007

20 People Who Changed Black Music: Wild Child George Clinton, Funk’s Fearless Godfather

In commemoration of June as Black Music Month, BlackAmericaWeb.com will examine 20 inspirational creative and business visionaries whose contributions to black American music and culture have made an immeasurable impact all over the world.

Originally posted on Thursday, June 21, 2007

By Bobbi Booker for BlackAmericaWeb.com

When you hear MC Hammer’s “Turn This Mutha Out,” Tone Loc’s “Funky Cold Medina” or Heavy D’s “The Overweight Lover’s In The House,” you are actually listening to hit tunes that were heavily dependent on samples (from “Give Up The Funk,” “Knee Deep,” and “Pass The Peas,” respectively) of songs of music pioneer George Clinton. And as you go through a litany of hits from the 1980’s until today, many dance classics have the unmistakable mark of Clinton to credit for their success, or – at the very least – their listenability. The credit due to Clinton comes from his 50 years as a music innovator who has redefined one of the tenets of soul music: funk.

“Funk is a basic soul with a lot of rhythm, and it’s the structure of that rhythm that makes it funk,” music expert Fred Sutton told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “It’s just soul music with a heavy rhythm that involves drums and bass. You listen to jazz in its pure form, you know its jazz, but if you blend in another type of rhythm, it’s called fusion. Therefore, you have jazz/fusion, and you have soul/funk.”

In the beginning, Clinton (born in 1940 in Kannapolis, North Carolina) was influenced like many of the youth of his era by the melodic sounds of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. After founding the Parliaments as a doo-wop group in the 1950’s, the group finally hit pay dirt with their Number One R&B hit “(I Just Wanna) Testify” in 1967.

For some time in the ’60s, Clinton served on the songwriting staff at Motown Records, and in 1968, Clinton formed Funkadelic, a visionary band that combined acid rock with primal funk. By 1972, Clinton renamed the band Parliament and signed them to Casablanca Records, while Funkadelic signed with Warner Brothers in 1976. The brilliance behind the move was that the same personnel housed both powerhouse bands.

“Parliament was more orchestrated with horns and complicated vocal arrangements,” explained Clinton on his website, “while Funkadelic was more a straight-up rock band with a heavy rhythm section.”

“The interesting thing about George Clinton is the evolution from his initial roots from the Funkadelic to going into the whole Funkadelic-Parliament transition,” said Sutton. “They started out on more of a soul kind of thing and went into a soul/rock type of thing which eventually metamophasized into a whole funk situation. Basically, that separated him from a lot of groups in that his music was a lot more syncopated and, of course, the way that they combined the story telling. The lyrical content separated George from other acts as well.”

Clinton and his crew got on a roll, as his bands each had successive chart-busting jams like “Tear the Roof Off the Sucker (Give Up the Funk)” in 1976; and “Flashlight” and “Bop Gun” in 1977. They also hit hard with anthemic funk jams like 1978’s “One Nation Under A Groove” and “(Not Just) Knee Deep” and “Aqua Boogie” a year later.

Clinton also employed The P-Funk mythology in a series of concept albums and live shows. One of Clinton’s more popular characters was set in a lyrical story that spun the tale of Sir Nose, Devoid of Funk, an alien creature who would initially not engage in the funk rhythms he was encountering and, by song’s end, would reluctantly admit to feeling the rhythms. Parliament-Funkadelic concerts would follow the Sir Nose tale, while additionally staging some of the most outrageous concert stunts – from futuristic costumes and on-stage spacehips to grown men beating out tunes in cloth diapers while Clinton and his trademark colorful braids spurred the band on to funkier rhythmic heights.

“He had a major coup in getting Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker, Bootsy Collins,” noted Sutton. “Many of the rhythm aspects of the group at that point where former musicians who’d played for James Brown. It was just a fabulous, rhythmically, syncopated soul-oriented type of group that at that point was playing strictly funk. The musicianship was outrageous because most of these players had actually worked with James Brown for many, many years.”

By 1981, Clinton had dissolved both bands (but held on to the members) and reemerged as a solo act and leader of the P-Funk All-Stars with his biggest solo hit, “Atomic Dog,” in 1983. From 1986 to 1989, Clinton became embroiled in legal difficulties that stemmed from the litany of royalty problems from the ’70s with recordings of over 40 musicians for four labels under three names. However, a generation of rappers who had been reared on Clinton’s music began to sample his tunes, thus making him the most second most sampled artist after James Brown. As always, Clinton retooled himself, and in 1989 signed on with Prince’s Paisley Park label for the release of his fifth solo project, “The Cinderella Theory.” Clinton next signed with Sony 550 for his 1996 release, “T.A.P.O.A.F.O.M.”(“the awesome power of a fully operational mothership”), which reunited the funk pioneer with several of his Parliament/Funkadelic comrades from the ’70s.

Today, Clinton is head of his own label, The C Kunspyruhzy, that will release his first studio album in 10 years, followed by solo recordings by individual members of the P-Funk empire.

“We got four generations of fans out there who keep bugging me to get these live shows out there, and now’s the time,” says Clinton. “I’ve seen what the Grateful Dead have been doing with their archives, as well as bands like Pearl Jam, and I figured it was time to show the world what the funk is all about.” Clinton also plans to release a collection of Parliament-Funkadelic and P-Funk All Stars live recordings gleaned from board tapes. Called the “Uncut Funk Series,” the live CDs will incorporate some of the best shows over the past 30 years and will be augmented with superior graphics and extensive liner notes.

“George Clinton always made the transition from the beginning all the way up until today with film and television score,” notes Sutton. “His ability to write and bridge each segment of each decade has been there from the beginning. Although there is a comparison between George and James Brown, they distinctly have carved out their own niche in music. James Brown has a larger and broader legacy because he started it. From James Brown, you got the best, and George Clinton is one of the best that came from that legacy.”