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Notes: 5 / 7 months ago from hautediariesSome Like It Haute: Happy Being Me
I’m biracial…mixed…mulatto…mutt. Whatever you want to call it that’s what I am. I’m the product of a German mother and African-American (with a bit of Irish and Cherokee thrown in) father. I’ve contemplated writing a blog entry about this for a while, but never really knew how to approach the…
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Notes: 5 / 7 months ago from nikiaphoenix
The Nu Cool: Wade Dean
We often reminisce about the heyday of Jazz. Cats like Coltrane, “Bird”, Gillespie, and Davis were hot $hit. These legends may be gone but their influence is still here.
I hear it in Wade’s music. It’s a free form of expression that we need to appreciate more than we do. Support Jazz. Support real artists. Be part of the Nu Cool.
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9 months ago
Its time for another Good Music Tuesday w/ The Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Ensemble feat Bilal
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Notes: 66 / 9 months ago from agrammara grammar: watch the throne, reviewed
Also, Kanye is really tiresome on it. Most of my commentary on Kanye was editorially excised from the Vulture review linked above, on the grounds that…
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9 months ago
President Obama, I don’t like you
Dear Mr. President,
I don’t like you. In fact, I don’t like you at all. You sir are not the man I voted for in 2008. No, you are definitely not. We can not stand another four years of you. Yeah, I said it. Am I sorry…NOPE! President Obama, we the people who elected you feel cheated. The past couple of months have honestly left us, your supporters, confused and aggrovated. We didn’t sign up for this. No sir…we did not!
As a proud member of the movement that helped to elect you, let me be blunt…the past couple of months have left me wanting and annoyed. Simply put, I need Candidate Obama desperately, because President Obama is pissing me off! I need you, Candidate Obama, to remind me that “Hope and Change” is not a slogan…its not a trend or memory. Its alive! Its happening! I need…WE NEED Candidate Obama, the man that surprised person, pundit and politician alike with his genius, perseverance, savvy and cunning. We need Candidate Obama to look us in the eye, demand our attention and re-incite that all too familiar deafening refrain, “YES WE CAN…YES WE CAN…YES WE CAN!”
Now, I’m not naive in the least. I understand the structure of our government and the limits it imposes on the executive office. I understand the stresses of the job are unimaginable. I can’t begin to fathom the level of pressure you must deal with daily. I believe that you are doing all that you can. You came into office and were dealt a bum hand. You’ve dealt with “tongue in cheek racism” and petty political gamesmanship. In the midst of all the partisan muck, you have managed to accomplish a lot during the past 3 years. Though I applaud you, I dare say sir, you can do better. The political system in which we exist is flawed and broken. It is my opinion that the senseless skirmishes that liberals and conservatives have chosen to undertake are the root-cause of the continued state of “wtf-ness” that we have found ourselves in. Mr. Obama…Presidant Obama, I am begging you to damn the nay-sayers and those who have shoved the rules of Washington down your throat. Rise above the fray! Be gangsta once more! Be Candidate Obama and remind your opponents who the hell they are “f’ing” with. Because come 2012, I will not vote for the man that inhabits the oval office presently. No sir I will not. I will without haste or delay guide my pencil to the box marked “write in candidate” and proudly fill in the name, “Candidate Barack H. Obama.”
Photo by:
Tatyana Fazlalizadeh http://tlynnfaz.com
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9 months ago
F the radio. This is real music! Part 2
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9 months ago
F the radio! This is real music!!!
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Notes: 1 / 10 months ago
Microwaves, Pound Cake and Relationships
I was on the phone with a friend of mine yesterday. Some how during our conversation we got on the subject of relationships…why they succeed and why they fail. We each tossed around our respective theories between us; agreeing and disagreeing in tandem. In the midst our exchange, she made a valid point. “Wade, people our age are the micro-wave generation.” “What do you mean,” I asked. “Well,” she said, “we want everything now and right now! We aren’t willing to work and wait for what we want.” This is true to a certain extant.
I’m a observer of people. I suppose you can call it a hobby of mine. The one thing I’ve noticed about people my age(and possibly younger) is that not only aren’t we un-willing to wait and work for success, we tend to procrastinate and put off embracing said success(and/or blessing) when its staring us right in the face. How many times have you heard single folk say, “all men are dogs” or “all women play games and don’t know what they want?” Turn on the tv, listen to the radio, hell even take a walk down the block…its EVERYWHERE. However, what gets me are some folk’s denial of the amount of good men/women that exist. *GASP…DUH DUH DUUUUUUH…shocking ain’t it!*
You see, we(and yes i’m including myself) are treated like a piece of cake. I’m sure most of you can see where I’m going with this, right? You see, being that we good men and women are so plentiful, its my theory that you can’t help but notice us. People aren’t dumb. They know something good when they see it. However, sometimes “singles” like to play the field some more. They say, “Hey…I’m young, I’m bored. There are plenty of fish in the sea and he/she ain’t going no where” So what do they do, they take that generous slice of cake and hide in the back of the fridge. They think to themselves, “I’ll keep this here and come get it later. No one will find it…right?” But, you didn’t count on that pesky “room mate” of yours. The one who’s got the morning munchies. Now…OOPS, he/she’s gone and scarfed down your cake and drank the last swallow of red milk. DAMN!!! Now you’re left starving with the “frowny, who done did it face.”
The point of my metaphor(s) is this…you don’t need to rush anything. Take you time. Be patient. Enjoy the space. Contrary to what McDonald’s has told us, we can’t get what we want in 60 seconds or less. However, if you have something good in front of you…something damn good and exciting, jump on it! Other wise, someone else most certainly will. Don’t be that girl or that guy who’s pushing 38 and rushing to “Nipsy’s Jamaican Soul Lounge” still screaming “I’m yoooooooooung!” You know, I hear people say, “there’s plenty of fish in the sea.” I hear this alot! Well good people, that maybe true. But, if you keep throwing back a good catch in hopes of something better, time will pass and you will most certainly be left in that boat all alone and hungry, while everyone else has taken their vessels back to shore and feasting.
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11 months ago
I wrote this 3 years ago about a student of mine who was struck and killed by a car. Its a month shy of the anniversary of her death. I wanted to share it with all of you.
Wade
When I was 14, my favorite thing to do was play Super Nintendo. My motivation for each day wasn’t school or even the saxophone, but the chance to get to finally beat M.Bison in “Street Fighter 2.” Well, maybe video games weren’t my sole motivation. It was after all the beginning of my eighth grade year and other things were beginning to capture my attention, like girls; one girl in particular, but that I’m afraid is a entirely different conversation. Either way, at age 14, I had no worries. NONE!!! There weren’t any of the responsibilities that tend to consume my day to day activities now that i’m 28. I took a lot of things for granted when I was that young. Each moment was lived as if the next were guaranteed. Even today, I’m guilty of approaching life in the same manner. How naive I was then…how naive I am now.
Two weeks ago, I learned that one of my students was hit by a car. The doctors were forced to induce her into a coma in order to save what little brain activity that was left. On tomorrow morning, if there is no change in her condition, they will turn off the machines which are keeping her alive. This year she would have turned 14 and entered the 8th grade.
Its funny when you work with kids. They change you. In under-grad they preach to you “do not become to close with your students” and “you are not their friend” and blah blah fucking blah. Its bullshit!!! We are human beings who are attempting and in most cases successful in making a connection to other human beings to provide them with knowledge and skills. How can we not become too attached or too close. Most teachers are able or maybe then choose to maintain that buffer zone between them and their pupils. How I wish i would made that decision. If I had, then I would not be dealing the sorrow and grief that I am feeling now.
Oh how I want to live like I was 14 once more. I would give anything to have a life of little regret and a unbridled optimistic view of life. It seems almost like heaven looking back from where I am now. But, I can not do that. I do have regrets. My outlook on life has changed. In the 14 years that have passed since the summer of ‘94, I have learned that life is balanced between good and the unfortunate, both of which I have zero control over.
My student’s name is Ajee Perry. On August 5th, 2008 the possibility of her enjoying the simplest pleasures that life has to offer us will be taken away. She won’t laugh with her friends. She won’t be able to be nervous on that first day of high school. She won’t be able to call her mom with untamed joy because she landed her first job out of college. Tomorrow, her moment ends. So, I ask, no better yet, I BEG all of you…all of my friends and family…all of whom I love and adore…treat each moment like its a pearl. Cherish it!!! Take some time one day and ask yourself, what is really important in this life. Pray to what ever God or deity you hold dear and ask him to reveal to you some amount truth that will cut through your self imposed deception. And after you have done all that, go back to when you were 14; back to when a smile from you closest friend was the one thing that made you day. And you will remember…its not what we do for ourselves that bring us joy, but what we can give to others. -
Notes: 1 / 11 months ago
The soul syllable. What is it? Well, It’s you. It is the in-depth journey into your moment through the lens of the random and marvelous. Meet Anwar Marshall. The gentlest of rhythmic prophets, he is the prism that translates monochromatic sound into 3-D. Wielding drumsticks like daggers, he heralds a conquering 808 boom, all the while spreading the reach of his “trapz” empire. He is the sound of Germantown…He is the sound of Philadelphia…soon to be the sound of the World!
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