Dakar on the Charles
Posted on October 30th, 2009 at 4:55 pm by Steve

An amazing night last night at the Lizard Lounge! Malick Ngom and Aziz Faye joined Lamine Touré & Group Saloum for a rollicking night of Senegalese mbalax. In the picture above you see Malick (seated, left) and Aziz (standing, center) playing sabar drums in the foreground; between and behind them, Paa Seck is also playing sabar, while Lamine (right) is singing. You can catch a glimpse of Hiro Sakaba playing bass, behind Malick and Paa, and Masa Sasaki (far right) playing guitar.

Not pictured above is world-renowned djembe player Billy Konate, who’s in town teaching workshops with The Drum Connection. Billy sat in with the band for a few minutes and shared some amazing licks.

It was incredible to have such a confluence of West African percussion talent gathered in the basement of the Lizard Lounge! I’m grateful to be connected with such an amazingly talented group of people from around the world.

Malick and Aziz are members of the Sing Sing (Faye) family, who are the hereditary géwël of the Cap Vert peninsula, where Dakar is located. Friend of the blog Professor Robert Sipho Bellinger has a web site that explores the significance of the Géwël Tradition in Senegalese music and culture. Professor Bellinger is the Director of Suffolk University’s Black Studies Program; in that role, he has brought members of the Faye family to Boston as Distinguished Visiting Scholars (see more information about the program, which is open to the public). Sipho is also the producer of several CD’s that feature members of the Sing Sing family, including the eponymous Sing Sing Juniors release from 2007.

As an added bonus, check out the video below; it shows Paa Seck and his brother Babacar Moha Seck tearing up the sabar in Providence this fall. Enjoy!

Mom Always Said, “Don’t Play Soul in the House!”
Posted on September 30th, 2009 at 3:20 pm by Steve

Jamie Foxx… singing the theme song to The Brady Bunch. In a variety of soulful styles.

ROFLMAO!

The Music Sounds Slower With You!
Posted on August 12th, 2009 at 3:53 pm by Steve

Some songs never get old. People, on the other hand, do. And, given that I’m now older than I’ve ever been*, I still like some of those songs, but I like ’em slower:

[audio:MusicSoundsBetterWithYou_MuxMoolRemix.mp3|titles=The Music Sounds Better With You (Mux Mool Remix)|artists=Stardust / Mux Mool]

Picked that one up over at the excellent ISO50 blog.

*(and now I’m even older!)

It’s a Crime to Be Broke In America
Posted on August 11th, 2009 at 10:13 am by Steve

Barbara Ehrenrich writes an op-ed for the New York Times that tries very hard to wake up the paper’s elite readers to the desperate reality of poverty in America:

Al Szekely… A grizzled 62-year-old, he inhabits a wheelchair and is often found on G Street in Washington — the city that is ultimately responsible for the bullet he took in the spine in Fu Bai, Vietnam, in 1972. He had been enjoying the luxury of an indoor bed until last December, when the police swept through the shelter in the middle of the night looking for men with outstanding warrants.

It turned out that Mr. Szekely, who is an ordained minister and does not drink, do drugs or curse in front of ladies, did indeed have a warrant — for not appearing in court to face a charge of “criminal trespassing” (for sleeping on a sidewalk in a Washington suburb). So he was dragged out of the shelter and put in jail. “Can you imagine?” asked Eric Sheptock, the homeless advocate (himself a shelter resident) who introduced me to Mr. Szekely. “They arrested a homeless man in a shelter for being homeless.”

The viciousness of the official animus toward the indigent can be breathtaking. A few years ago, a group called Food Not Bombs started handing out free vegan food to hungry people in public parks around the nation. A number of cities, led by Las Vegas, passed ordinances forbidding the sharing of food with the indigent in public places, and several members of the group were arrested. A federal judge just overturned the anti-sharing law in Orlando, Fla., but the city is appealing. And now Middletown, Conn., is cracking down on food sharing.

Of course, Michael Franti had this beat well-covered back in 1994:

Beautiful Artwork
Posted on August 10th, 2009 at 2:25 pm by Steve

Enjoy the artwork of Mark Weaver.

Enjoy the beautiful design and music at ISO50.

Enjoy the generative art of Robert Hodgin at Flight 404.

Enjoy the inspirations and artwork of James White at Signalnoise.com, who compiled this collection of design inspirations from the 70’s and 80’s:

Dead Prez: Summertime
Posted on July 26th, 2009 at 10:39 pm by Steve

The Biggest, Most Dangerous Beef in Hip Hop
Posted on June 26th, 2009 at 11:43 am by Steve

It’s not East Coast / West Coast. It’s not Down South vs. Up Top. No. It’s Earth-walkers vs. Moon-walkers!

Can I just say: I fucking love Talib Kweli?

In case you don’t have time to watch it now, here’s a quick excerpt from the video:

Talib Kweli: “The song ‘Whitey on the Moon,’ Gil Scott Heron – what, you thought he was talkin’ about LBJ or Nixon? Naw, he was talking about Buzz Aldrin!”

[Clip from Gil Scott Heron: “I can’t pay no doctor bills / but whitey’s on the moon”]

Buzz Aldrin: “Gil and I are cool now. I explained to him that, we came in peace for all mankind, and… he backed off.”

Talib Kweli: “People think of hip hop, and they think of beefs: we had east coast / west coast beefs, down south / up top beefs… but, it doesn’t compare to the beef between Earth-walkers and Moon-walkers, which I think is a way more dangerous beef.”

Buzz Aldrin: “I don’t have any beef with the Earth-walkers.

I Love Neil Patrick Harris!
Posted on June 11th, 2009 at 8:07 pm by Steve

I assume you’ve already seen and enjoyed him on Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog! Well, he TORE IT UP as the host of the Tony Awards (which I didn’t watch):

So awesome!

A Few Favorite Music Blogs…
Posted on May 21st, 2009 at 2:10 pm by Steve

I’ve been meaning to tag these music blogs as favorites, rather than just keeping a Firefox window with them open forever (“Why is my computer so slow? Oh, right… Firefox has been running for 27 days!”)

First up is DJ Rupture/Jace’s blog mudd up!. He’s an associate of Professor Wayne Marshall, better known perhaps as Wayne’n’Wax, himself the proprietor of another fine music and theory blog. I believe that both of these cats are alumni of Mass Art; in fact, if I’m not mistaken, Jace was the crepe-maker at the Toneburst Collective’s Sci-Fi Lounge party in 1997 (where he also performed as /rupture). In fact, here’s a photo of him DJing at that very event!:

And here’s a photo that captures part of the Noise Laboratories installation at that same event (note Matt in the foreground, and my long-haired self in the background, making video feedback):

(For those interested, you can browse Toneburst’s photo archives.)

Rupture’s blog is equal parts insight, music, geek, and culture, and is not to be missed. I also want to tag a long-form article of his, all about Auto-Tune and its influence on pop music.

Next up, the fine folks at Dutty Artz, a Brooklyn-based collective of musicians, producers, DJs, etc. Interesting stuff, especially the Jahdan Blakkamore stuff.

Also not to be missed: The Heatwave! This is a London-based crew that makes terrific dance hall-style music, promotes events, and also has a wealth of useful information and links. Particularly good: their Rowdy Bashment 2008 mix. You know you understand Jamaican patois if you start blushing when you listen!

KutiMan-YouTube AV Remix
Posted on April 23rd, 2009 at 12:29 pm by dr.hoo

My childhood friend, David Klemes, turned me on to a producer/musican friend of his, and fellow Isreali, KutiMan. Check out his amazing AV remixes of YouTube videos: And if you are new to youtube and want to grow your channel click here to see how you can buy views for your youtube channel.

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